The Body and Soul of Eminem
Across the Borderline
by DAVE MARSH
While I watched Eminem's 8 Mile, the film that replayed itself in parallel wasn't an Elvis film or Purple Rain, which I'd been told to watch out for, but Body and Soul, Robert Rossen's 1948 boxing movie in which John Garfield struggles to survive a world of fixed fights. It's not the plot that struck me as similar-the bouts in 8 Mile are fixed only by the script--it's the way Eminem looks and acts.
Most of Eminem's acting-that is, all the numerous emotional contradictions his character discovers in himself--comes out of his Pinocchio eyes and his small lithe body. In an early, defining scene, he takes a lonely late night city bus ride. He sprawls his small lean body in its baggy sweats across the back seat, and stares out at the barren streets of metropolitan Detroit with an intensity that suggests determination not to beat the bleakness but simply to fight it, without really caring who wins.
Director Curtis Hansen places Eminem in a world so cold and dirty you can practically smell its squalor. The Detroit streets seem as devoid of people as they are full of derelict buildings. Ninety percent of the people we see are black, which must be a first for a film with a white star. The exceptions are Eminem's (Rabbit's) girlfriends, who are both white-of course, if they had been black, that would have had to be the subject of the film.
The true subject here is cultural miscegenation, a more important first. Elvis made 40 films without ever getting to race matters; Purple Rain took the position that Prince transcended race (both true and impossible). 8 Mile takes race as an inescapable social and musical constant.
The film music adds up to very little (the soundtrack sounds way better), largely because the MC battle that's the film's crucible gives each competitor only 45 seconds to perform. The best musical moment comes when Eminem and his best friend, Future (Mekhi Phifer), who is black, are outside working on Eminem's junker. In his mother's trailer, her deadbeat boyfriend plays Lynyrd Skynyrd. In their bemusement at this cracker cliché, they begin freestyling to the tune of "Sweet Home Alabama" an hilarious commentary on how and why Eminem's impoverished trailer trash life sucks. Even more than the final scene when Eminem wins over a black club by 'fessing up to his honky roots, the scene drives home that the only thing that might trump race solidarity is class solidarity.
Eminem says the movie's message is that "no matter whether you come from the North side or the South side [of 8 Mile Road], you can break outta that," if "your mentality is right and your drive is right." But he's wrong. The film actually shows that in a world where everyone is trapped, including prep school kids, the only way out involves using your individual drive and vision to tell the painful truth-it's not identity of any kind that can't be faked but *emotional* authenticity.
So Eminem's victory comes not when he moons his white ass at a lesser opponent but when he tells the whole truth about his trailer trash background. The decisive factor involves championing that experience as more authentic than his black opponent's roots in prep school.
So at the end of the film when Eminem says he needs to work by himself for a while, he walks off not into a sunset but back to the bus stop, back to his factory job, which means, to caring for his family, to accepting responsibility, to struggling as hard he knows how to live in a more decent world. Is that what an artist would or should do?
Apparently.
Right, I've just read the consternation that Stephen Pollard caused by his backing and then subsequent backing down over supporting a smoking ban.
This was in part thanks to a tirade on the part of Harry Hatchett.
I also created quite a stir on my own blog, and there was quite a reaction to my comments over on Samizdata.
The thing is, I have so many arguments coming at me its hard to deal with each one. But I will try and cover the overall thrust of the arguments. I will try and list the objections as I see them...
1. The market should decide.
2. The State has no right to interfere with what goes on on private property.
3. I am a vested interest.
4. The ban is unenforceable.
5. The loss in tax revenue would be substantial.
6. Smoking is a social interaction.
7. Jobs in the tobacco industry would be lost as a result.
Gosh. Where to start.
Firstly, Frank McGahon. He noted:
I maintain that smoke-free workplaces are a good idea. My own workplace is non-smoking. I just don't think a crude government ban, and one which treats all workplaces as identical, is an appropriate approach.
"This will cost the economy" or an argument about health risks of "second hand smoke". Most frustrating of all is the notion that a "correct balance" be achieved between the "rights" of smokers and non-smokers. There is no argument from principle. Non-smokers are all for it and smokers (and publicans) are mostly against it. It seems to be taken for granted that it is appropriate for governments to take crude measures such as these, and the argument is just about the finer points of implementation.
Try to be "critical" of your own position on this. Remember you are a "vested interest". If you work in a smoky premises and you have the opportunity to receive the benefit of a non-smoky workplace "free" (i.e. no loss in salary, convenience, etc) of course you will welcome it. It is a rational selfish choice but that doesn't mean it is a principled position.
I am a non-smoker, I hate smoky restaurants and I'm not too keen on smoky pubs. I will receive a benefit "free" if the smoking ban is successful but it is still wrong. The fact is, people smoke in pubs because publicans recognise that smoking on premises attracts more smoking punters than deters non-smokers. If more people actually wanted non-smoking premises a properly functioning market would provide them (and you see this in restaurants).
Try to imagine the smoking ban from a different angle: take some hobby of yours and imagine that a government restriction was placed on it, not a ban (that would be "heavy-handed"!) but enough to be an inconvenience. Would you feel frustrated or would you accept that the government had a right to regulate and restrict your behaviour?
Yes, Frank, smoke-free workplaces are a great idea. But why the qualification? Why is one persons workplace better than another? If a government imposed ban is not the solution, then what is? God knows the Vintners rant on about 'air-changes per hour', but to anyone who's worked in bars you know that the effect of that is negligible.
Secondly, there is an argument from principle. I believe that people have a right to work in a healthy environment - most especially where an unhealthy working environment can be changed instantly into a healthy one - as in the case of bars. It is incorrect to say that smokers are all for it, indeed in the polls I read, many smokers were in favour of the ban.
Thirdly, damn right I'm a vested interest, as is my health, and the health of all bar workers. I'm not sure of the validity of the position that "publicans recognise that smoking on premises attracts more smoking punters than deters non-smokers". Publicans don't care whether people smoke or not; they want them to buy beer.
It just so happens to some of the public are addicted to a substance that pollutes the environment around them, badly affecting the health of their colleagues and the staff on a premises. The question is whether a persons right to smoke precedes other people's right to health, and whether that position is voluntary or involuntary.
Fourth, you compare smoking to a hobby. It's not, it's a dangerous addiction. People playing tennis is a hobby, and hey I dont mind people playing tennis - people playing cards in a pub is a hobby, and fine, there's no cards affecting my health.
In my view, the government, just like in other employment legislation, has a right to give rights to workers. I have a right to x days holidays, I have a right to a healthy working environment.
Harry Hatchett next:
I could link to some piece of sponsored American 'scientific research' maybe called "Debunking the Myths of Passive Smoking" showing that fags don't really do much harm after all. I could recall the failures of prohibition. I could point out that thousands of workers for tabacco companies will lose their jobs (especially in the developing world that anti-globalisation activists pretend to 'care' about). I could compare the 'damage' from cigarette smoke with the impact of car fumes (I suppose you want to stop my right to drive a car as well Stephen?).
Then I could raise the frightening question of how Stephen's 'Orwellian' lung police are going to enforce such a ban across the length and breadth of our once-free country?
Passive smoking has a serious affect on health, many studies point to it.
Only 30 minutes of exposure to [passive smoke] causes platelets in the bloodstream to become stickier. When that happens, blood clots form more easily, which can block arteries and cause heart attacks.
Dr. Richard Sargent, one of the study's authors, points out that eight hours of working in a smoky bar is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. In such an environment, other studies have shown, workers more than double their chances of developing cancer and asthma, and pregnant workers put themselves at risk for miscarriage and premature delivery.
A poll released this month by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, reported that 59 percent of voters in the [New York] state favor prohibiting smoking in public places. Another survey, commissioned in August by anti-smoking groups, found that 70 percent of New York City voters support it.Smoking in public places also sets off an enormous domino effect in public-health spending by creating or worsening illnesses whose treatment costs are eventually shouldered by taxpayers.
Comparing alcohol prohibition to banning smoking in public places is incorrect. The argument is not to ban smoking outright - it is to ban smoking in places where people must involuntarily inhale pollutants, in a venue where such a situation can be avoided.
As for thousands of jobs of people that grow tobacco - that is also another argument that does not follow. Whether or not smoking is banned in public places, does not necessarily mean people will stop smoking, it might only encourage people to stop. And the subtext of your argument is that people should continue to smoke in order to support employment in third world countries where people are paid pittance by companies to grow a crop that kills the customers of those companies.
Pollution from cars occurs in an open environment that cannot be controlled, unless you ban cars. Smoking in pubs is a closed environment that can be controlled by banning smoking therein, but people can smoke outside where it does not affect the health of those around them.
The policing issue I think is interesting. I could bring up smoking on aircraft, and compare that to smoking in bars. Why no fight for the right for people to smoke on aircraft, or is airline policy/government legislation about smoking on flights also too much of an infringement on civil liberties?
I think people will just get used to it - policing would not be hugely expensive as it would be down to the proprietor to ensure that people are not smoking, as will be the situation in Ireland, and I believe it is in NY.
Interesting from the IHT article is the fact that in Helena, Montana -
For city residents, the rates [of heart attacks] plummeted by 58 percent in only six months.
‘‘We know from longer-term studies that the effects of secondhand smoke occur within minutes, and that long-term exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with a 30 percent increased risk in heart-attack rates,’’ says Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine who conducted the study’s statistical analysis. ‘‘But it was quite stunning to document this large an effect so quickly.’’
Quite. A 58% drop in heart attacks. Think of the money saved by the NHS. In fact, think of the people who would live, rather than die. Furthermore let me lighten the argument with an excellent quote from Bill Hicks (who died of cancer)
Whooh! It's weird not smoking, I'll tell you that. But I'm glad I quit y'know because I felt like to be honest with you I was on the wrong side of the war against drugs, because I smoked cigarettes and gave the tobacco lobbyists and the tobacco growers any more fuckin money for the poison they spread, and advertise all over our world thanks to: marketing! Hey [coughs] looks like that's 15 Luv. You know what I mean isn't that wild? y'know? The war on drugs to me is absolutely phoney, its so obviously phoney, ok? It's a war against our civil rights, that's all it is. They're using it to make us afraid to go out at night, afraid of each other, so that we lock ourselves in our homes and they get suspending our rights one by one. And the fight against the war against drugs . And we're so afraid "It all makes sense to us, it's good they're doing a good job" Because if the cared about us they'd get rid of the number one killer: cigarettes. Kills more people than all of the drugs times one hundred....legally. Marijuana, a drug that kills... no one.... and let's put in a timeframe... ever. Marijuana is against the law. Now you think Pot with those kinda statistics could walk into any debate on the legalisation of drugs with confidence don't you? "I am Pot I am going to meet nicotine and alcohol for a debate about legality hahaha" "Wait 'til they see my stats" "Frame up!" Why is pot against the law? It wouldn't be because anyone can grow it and therefore you can't make a profit off it would it? hahaha I'm spit balling but yeah ok yeah [clapping] alright yeah "Too fucking obvious Bill".
One other notable critic was Verity over on Samizdata, who noted:
Dear Gavin, or may I address you as Mr Intolerance? If you "choose" to work down a coalmine, you will have to accept that you will be working underground and breathing in coal dust. If you "choose" to work as a ship's steward, you will have to accept that you will be spending most of your life on the high seas and be vulnerable to sea sickness. People who "choose" to work in a bar accept that they will be working in smoky surroundings. The world is not going to bend to your personal will and attend to your comfort. Cruise liners aren't going to turn themselves into non-floating hotels in permanent drydock lest you suffer from seasickness and the breadth of your career choice be thus diminished.
By the way, is it OK for people who visit bars to drink, or does the second hand smell of whisky breath nauseate you? We can always ban it and only serve non-alcoholic beverages if that would suit you better.
You don't want to work underground, on the high seas or in a smoky environment? Avoid those careers. By the way, the myth of passive smoking is just that: a myth concocted by the antismoking industry. My goodness, Gavin, lighten up! Or, in your own tolerant words, get over it.
1. A coalmine is not a bar - and little can be done to avoid to pollutants in the air. Unlike in bars, where smoking can be banned, or at least sectioned off.
2. A ship is not a bar, and sea sickness does not kill you (at least as far as I am aware). Please compare like with like.
3. People who choose to work in bars should not have to choose to work in a unhealthy environment. This is the point. I should be able to work in a job that is healthy.
4. They can drink as much as they want, and while the smell of whiskey breath does nauseate, it does not cause the platelets in my blood to become sticky after thirty minutes, or increase the likelihood of my developing cancer by 30%.
5. Passive smoking is not a myth.
6. I take it that 'lighten up' was a pun?
7. 'Get over it' was only added to add fuel to the fire. And it was successful.
Scientists in North Carolina have built a brain implant that lets monkeys control a robotic arm with their thoughts, marking the first time that mental intentions have been harnessed to move a mechanical object.
Has technology really come this far? I guess so.
1. Eminem's lyrics help desensitize boys and men to the pain and suffering of girls and women.
Eminem's fans argue that his raps about mistreating, raping, torturing, and murdering women are not meant to be taken literally. "Just because we listen to the music doesn't mean we're gonna go out and harass, rape and murder women. We know it's just a song." But thoughtful critics of Eminem do not make the argument that the danger of his lyrics (and the lyrics of other artists, including African American rap artists) lies in the possibility that some unstable young man will go out and imitate in real life what the artist is rapping about. While possible, this is highly unlikely.
Rather, one of the most damaging aspects of Eminem's violent misogyny and homophobia is how normal and matter-of-fact this violence comes to seem. Rapping and joking about sex crimes have the effect of desensitizing people to the real pain and trauma suffered by victims and their loved ones. The process of desensitization to violence through repeated exposure in the media has been studied for decades. Among the effects: young men who have watched/listened to excessive amounts of fictionalized portrayals of men's violence against women in mainstream media and pornography have been shown to be more callous toward victims, less likely to believe their accounts of victimization, more willing to believe they were "asking for it," and less likely to intervene in instances of "real-life" violence.
Let us not forget that the culture in which Eminem has become a huge star is in the midst of an ongoing crisis of men's violence against women. In the U.S., rates of rape, sexual assault, battering, teen relationship violence and stalking have been shockingly high for decades, far exceeding rates in comparable western societies. Sadly, millions of American girls and women have been assaulted by American boys and men. Thousands of gays each year are bashed and harassed by young men. For these victims, this is not an academic debate about the differences between literalist and satirical art. It hits closer to home.
2. Girls are encouraged to be attracted to boys and men who don't respect women.
What began as a tentative dance has become a passionate embrace. After initially airing "misgivings" about featuring the woman-hating rapper, magazines with predominantly young female readership, like Cosmogirl and Teen People, now regularly feature "Em" on their covers, posed as a sex symbol, as an object of heterosexual female desire. This is not simply the latest example of the star-making machinery of mass media constructing the "bad boy" as dangerously desirable to women. This sends a powerful message to girls that goes something like this: he doesn't really hate and disrespect you. In fact, he loves you. He's just misunderstood. It's the hip hop version of Beauty and the Beast. You know, underneath that gruff exterior, between the lines of those nasty lyrics, lies a tender heart that has been hurt, a good man who just needs more love and understanding.
This is a myth that battered women have been fed for centuries! That his violence is her responsibility, that if only she loved him more, his abuse would stop. This is one of the most damaging myths about batterers, and one of the most alarming features of Eminem's popularity with girls. Remember, Eminem is the same "lovable" rapper who wrote a chillingly realistic song ("Kim") about murdering his wife (whose real name is Kim), and putting her body in the trunk of his car, interspersed with loving references to their daughter Hallie (their real-life daughter is named Hallie). This is the same "cute" guy who angrily raps about catching diseases from "ho's." ("Drips") This is the same "adorable" man who constantly unleashes torrents of verbal aggression against women, even though he is so sensitive to the potential wounding power of words that he famously refuses to use the "n-word." Why is it not okay for a white rapper to diss "niggers," but it is okay for a man to express contempt for "bitches" and "ho's.
His credulous female fans counter: he doesn't really hate women. How could he? He loves his daughter! For battered women's advocates, this is one of the most frustrating aspects of Eminem's popularity. His defenders – including women – will utter some of the most discredited myths about abusive men as if they have special insight! Newsflash to female Eminem fans: "He loves his daughter" is one of the most predictable excuses that batterers give in pleading for another chance. The fact is, most batterers are not one-dimensional ogres. Abusive men often love the very women they're abusing. And let us not forget that when Eminem verbally abuses his wife/ex-wife through his lyrics, he is verbally abusing his daughter's mother – and by extension his daughter.
3. His popularity with girls sends a dangerous message to boys and men.
Boys and young men have long expressed frustration with the fact that girls and young women say they're attracted to nice guys, but that the most popular girls often end up with the disdainful tough guys who treat them like dirt. We all know that heterosexual young guys are forever struggling to figure out what girls want. What are they supposed to conclude when 53% of the 8 Mile audience on opening weekend was female?
What are men to make of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd when she writes, uncritically, that a "gaggle" of her female Baby Boomer friends are "surreptitiously smitten" with a 30-year-old rapper whose lyrics literally drip with contempt for women? (If you're in denial or simply refuse to believe that his lyrics are degrading to women, do your homework – download his lyrics.) That girls want to be treated with dignity and respect? Or that the quickest route to popularity with them is to be verbally and emotionally cruel, that "bad boy" posturing is a winning strategy to impress naïve (and self-loathing) girls? Surely most of Eminem's female fans would not want to be sending that message to their male peers – but they are.
Boys who have listened carefully to Eminem's actual lyrics -- not just the hit songs or the sanitized movie soundtrack -- know that most self-respecting girls who are conscious about the depths of our culture's sexism are repulsed by Eminem's misogyny and depressed by his popularity. Sadly, many of these girls have been silent, fearing they'll be branded as "uncool" because they "don't get" the artist who is supposedly the voice of their generation.
There are women who like Eminem because (they say) he's complex and not easily knowable; they would argue that it is reductionist to characterize his art as sexist. But the burden is on them to demonstrate how -- in a culture where so many men sexually harass, rape, and batter women -- it is possible to reconcile a concern for women's physical, sexual, and emotional well-being with admiration for a male artist whose lyrics consistently portray women in a contemptuous and sexually degrading manner.
Girls and women, even those who have been coopted into Eminem-worship, want to be treated with respect. They certainly don't want to be physically or sexually assaulted by men. They don't want to be sexually degraded by dismissive and arrogant men. But they can't have it both ways. They can't proclaim their attraction to a man who's gotten rich verbally trashing and metaphorically raping women and yet expect that young men will treat them with dignity.
4. The racial storyline around Eminem perpetuates the racist myth that "hip" white guys are those who most closely emulate the sexist beliefs and hypermasculine posturing of some Black males.
Eminem is popular with white audiences in large measure because the African American gangsta rap icon Dr. Dre and other hardcore Black rappers with "street credibility" have conferred on him the mantle of legitimacy. Dre is Eminem's mentor and producer, signaling to Black audiences as well that unlike Vanilla Ice – a useful object of derision from a decade ago -- this white boy is for real. What's missing from this story is that Dr. Dre himself is one of the most misogynous and homophobic figures in the history of rap music. He has produced and performed some of this era's most degrading songs about women. (e.g. "Bitches Ain't Shit")
In other words, Eminem and Dre are modeling a perverse sort of interracial solidarity that comes at the expense of women. It's an old and sordid story: sexism provides men a way to ally across race and class lines. African American people who are happy to see Eminem earning rap even greater legitimacy in white America might want to consider that this era's white artist most identified as a bridge to Black culture has built that bridge on the denigration and undermining of Black women -- and all women.
5. Eminem's personal trajectory – either the so-called "true" story, or the explicitly fictionalized version in 8 Mile – perpetuates damaging mythology about abusive men.
Eminem's fans like to ascribe to him the sympathetic and classic role of underprivileged underdog. But Marshall Mathers, if he ever was an underdog, has long since crossed over into the role of bully. Unlike most bullies this side of right-wing talk radio, however, he has a very large microphone (and now a screen presence).
You can gain important insight into one key aspect of the Eminem persona by studying both the behavior of men who batter and people's responses to them. The man who is being lionized as one of this era's emblematic artists shares many character traits with men who batter. One glaring similarity is the folklore that Mathers has actively constructed about his famously difficult childhood. Narcissistic batterers frequently paint themselves as the true victims. It's them we're supposed to feel sorry for – not their victims (or the victims/targets of their lyrical aggression.).
It is well-known that many of Eminem's fans, male and female, reference his abusive family life to explain and rationalize his rage. But it is not as well-known that batterer intervention counselors hear this excuse every single day from men who are in court-mandated programs for beating their girlfriends and wives. "I had a tough childhood. I have a right to be angry," or "She was the real aggressor. She pushed my buttons and I just reacted." The counselors' typical answer: "It is not right or ok that you were abused as a child. You deserve our empathy and support. But you have no right to pass on your pain to other people."
6. Eminem's success has unleashed a torrent of mother-blaming.
One element of Eminem's story of which all his fans are aware is that he and his mother don't get along. Many people psychoanalyze him from a distance and argue that his problems with women stem from his stormy relationship with his mother. This may or may not be true, but it is an excuse that abusive men often make for their behavior. As Lundy Bancroft observes in his book Why Does He Do That: inside the minds of angry and controlling men, battered women themselves sometimes like this explanation, since it makes sense out of the man's behavior and gives the woman someone safe to be angry at – since getting angry at him always seems to blow up in her face.
It is hard to say what percentage of the Eminem faithful relate to his oft-articulated rage at his mother. But consider this anecdotal evidence. I attended an Eminem concert in southern California during the "Anger Management" tour a couple of years ago. At one point, Eminem ripped off a string of angry expletives about his mother, (something like "F-you, bitch!") after which a sizable cross-section of the 18,000 person crowd joined in a violent chant repeating the verbal aggression against Ms. Mathers (and no doubt other mothers by extension.)
Why is this aspect of the Eminem phenomenon such a cause for concern? No one begrudges Eminem, or anyone else, the right to have issues – including in some cases being very angry with their mothers. But it is not a great stretch to see that Eminem's anger can easily be generalized to all women – tens of millions of whom are mothers -- and used as yet another rationale for some men's deeply held misogyny.
Considering Eminem's (and his mother's) roots on the economic margins of "white trash" Detroit, class is also a critical factor here. Poor women – especially poor women of color -- are easy scapegoats for many societal problems. Eminem's fans presumably know little about the context within which Debbie Mathers (who is white) tried to raise her kids. Might we have some compassion for her as we are asked to for him? Why was she constantly struggling financially? How did educational inequities and lack of employment opportunities affect her life, her family experiences, her education level, her dreams, her ability to be a good parent? As a woman, how did sexism shape her choices? What was her personal history, including her history with men? Was she ever abused? We know a lot of women with substance abuse problems develop them as a form of self-medication against the effects of trauma. What is the connection between Ms. Mathers' alleged (by her son) substance abuse and any history of victimization she might have?
Further, if Eminem's father deserted him and the family when Marshall was young, why is so much of Eminem's verbal aggression aimed at his mother and at women? If you buy the argument that Eminem's misogyny comes from his issues with his mother, then considering his father's behavior, why doesn't he have a huge problem with men? (Hint: the answer has to do with SEXISM.) It's easy to blame struggling single mothers for their shortcomings; right-wing politicians have been doing this for decades. A more thoughtful approach would seek to understand their plight, and while such an understanding would provide no excuse for abusive behavior (if that is what Eminem actually experienced), it would give it much-needed context. Unfortunately, this context is notably absent from much political discourse – and from 8 Mile.
7. Eminem has elevated to an art form the practice of verbally bullying and degrading people (especially women and gays) and then claiming "I was just kidding around."
In fact, many of Eminem's fans will claim that his Slim Shady persona – or any of his nasty anti-woman lyrics – are just an act. On a more sophisticated level, Eminem's defenders – including a number of prominent music critics -- like to argue that his ironic wit and dark sense of humor are lost on many of his detractors, who supposedly "don't get it." This is what his predominantly young fans are constantly being told: that some people don't like the likable"Em" because they don't get him, the personae he's created, his outrageously transgressive humor. In comparison, his fans are said to be much more hip, since they're in on the joke.
One way that non-fans can respond to this is by saying "We get it, alright. We understand that lyrics are usually not meant to be taken literally. And we think we have a good sense of humor. We just don't think it's funny for men to be joking aggressively about murdering and raping women, and assaulting gays and lesbians. Just like we don't think that it's funny for white people to be making racist jokes at the expense of people of color. This sort of 'hate humor' is not just harmless fun – no matter how clever the lyrics.
Millions of American girls and women are assaulted by men each year. According to the U.S. surgeon general, battering is the leading cause of injury to women. In recent years there has been growing recognition of the alarming prevalence of abuse in teen relationships; one recent national study found 20 % of teenage girls experience some form of physical or sexual abuse from men or boys. Gay-bashing is a serious problem all over the country. Music lyrics and other art forms can either in some way illuminate these problems, or they can cynically exploit them. Eminem is arguably a major force in the latter category. Sorry if we don't find that funny."
8. Eminem's rebel image obscures the fact that sexism and men's violence against women perpetuates established male power – it is not rebellious.
Eminem has been skillfully marketed as a "rebel" to whom many young people – especially white boys -- can relate. But what exactly is he rebelling against? Powerful women who oppress weak and vulnerable men? Omnipotent gays and lesbians who make life a living hell for straight people? Eminem's misogyny and homophobia, far from being "rebellious," are actually extremely traditional and conservative. As a straight white man in hip hop culture, Marshall Mathers would actually be much more of a rebel if he rapped about supporting women's equality and embracing gay and lesbian civil rights. Instead, he is only a rebel in a very narrow sense of that word. Since he offends a lot of parents, kids can "rebel" against their parents' wishes by listening to him, buying his cd's, etc. The irony is that by buying into Eminem's clever "bad boy" act, they are just being obedient, predictable consumers. ("If you want to express your rebellious side, we have just the right product for you! The Marshall Mathers LP! Come get your Slim Shady!) It's rebellion as a purchasable commodity.
But if you focus on the contents of his lyrics, the "rebellion" is empty. Context is everything. If you're a "rebel," it matters who you are and what you're rebelling against. The KKK are rebels, too. They boast about it all the time. They fly the Confederate (rebel) flag. But most cultural commentators wouldn't nod approvingly to the KKK as models of adolescent rebellion for American youth because the content of what they're advocating is so repugnant. (And Eminem would be dropped from MTV playlists and lose his record contract immediately if he turned his lyrical aggression away from women and gays and started trashing people of color, or Jews, or Catholics, etc...) Isn't it plausible that when "responsible" critics, journalists and other entertainers embrace Eminem as a "rebel," it provides a glimpse into their own repressed anger at women, their own unacknowledged anxieties about homosexuality?
Isn't it also plausible that after Eminem has posed for dozens of magazine layouts dutifully wearing the swoosh logo of the Nike corporation, he finds amusing how easily people buy the outlandish idea of him as a rebel?
found on www.jacksonkatz.com
What a bunch of bullshit! Yes I am a adult woman who happens to be a huge Eminem fan and those are exactly the kind of stereotypes I'm fighting against!
Those kind of comments are written by people who first show their ignorance of hip hop culture. Eminem is not the first rapper to use mysogynistic words in his lyrics.He's not the first to use the word "faggot" in his songs, ''faggot " being misinterpreted.The meaning of "faggot" in Eminem's lyrics is
"sissy".
The content of Eminem's lyrics are mysogynistic.For sure. But this doesn't mean Marshall Mathers is a mysogynistic man.Those lyrics are NOT to be taken literaly, of course.I have experienced violence from men in my personal life, but I never felt bad while listening to Eminem's lyrics, simply because I know they are not to be taken seriously.The attentive listener will know that he's joking.
Eminem loves his daughter Hailie, but he also said he loved Kim.He clearly said they he was with her not because of Hailie, but because of the love he felt for her. "Kim" and "Bonnie and Clyde 97" are love songs.Eminem has been hurt by Kim who cheated on him, and he simply expressed it in his songs. Despite the problems he experienced with Debbie,his mom, Debbie said her son has never been violent towards Kim.
I have read some interviews of women who have met Eminem. They said that he was very polite and gentle towards them. He is also known by his neighborhood for being a nice and timid person. He is not what he is saying in his songs, Slim Shady is only a character.
Yes, Eminem expressed his rage towards his mom. He has sufffered from his mom's behavior. Debbie used to suffer from Munchhausen's syndrome."Debbie used to treat her son badly and he justifiedly hates her for that!
"Cleaning Out My Closet " is much more a therapy to teenagers who come from broken homes then an encouragement for young people to express their rage against their moms.
Some people need a psychiatrist, Eminem's therapy is his music. He wants to share his dramas with his public.
8 Mile may be semi - fictional, but it teaches everybody a great lesson. It gives some hope to poor people, it shows them that anybody can make it.
Eminem is a rebel against the American's policy for instance. There is nothing bad about it. He has destroyed the myth of the rich white American man.
If Dr Dre uses mysoginistic lyrics, which is a common thing in gangsta rap, female rappers also use degrading words for men in rap. There is nothing shocking about it. Those are just words...and music.
To all those people who keep stereotyping Eminem: please get a sense of humor!Or just don't listen to him. And about the racial arguments: you're totally wrong! Mr Jackson, your comments are a disaster for hip hop lovers. When will you learn to separate the truth from the entertainment?
By JANET MASLIN
Published: October 30, 2003
Writing seriously about pop idols requires a delicate balancing act, one that positions the author safely on the continuum between fogy and fan. The writer must sound intelligently admiring rather than merely star-struck. The peregrinations must range beyond mere thumb-sucking repetition of the obvious.
Yet the supernova's heat had better come through, or else why read about him? So a book that compares Eminem's Slim Shady persona to Shakespeare's Puck must also find time to describe the star's throwing up a meal of pizza and Bacardi and politely (really) autographing the breast of a female fan.
Anthony Bozza (touted as the author of not one but two Rolling Stone cover stories on Eminem, also hard at work on Tommy Lee's autobiography) and Robert Coles (the revered Pulitzer Prize-winning child psychiatrist with almost 60 other books to his credit) would not seem likely to share an approach. But each has taken a musical figure of great pop-cultural impact and assembled a book-length rumination on how the star mirrors the society that celebrates him.
Dr. Coles has the easier task in "Bruce Springsteen's America," since it has not been hard for him to find Americans who respond to the meaning of Mr. Springsteen's lyrics. In a book that recapitulates much of Dr. Coles's past associations, he summons his 1954 memory of William Carlos Williams speaking about Frank Sinatra to voice this book's operating principle:
"Look, whether we're young, or we're all grown up and just starting out, or we're getting older and getting so old there's not much time left, we're human beings — we're looking for company, and we're looking for understanding: someone who reminds us that we're not alone, and someone who wonders out loud about things that happen in this life, the way we do when we're walking or sitting or driving, and thinking things over."
In a rambling volume that Dr. Coles describes as "not a study of fandom, but a gathering of narrative moments that I as a listening documentary worker and teacher have encountered in recent years," he transcribes the thoughts of listeners who wonder, say, where those Glory Days went or why the Vietnam veteran in "Born in the U.S.A." has any reason to sound so upbeat.
The readings of Springsteen songs tend to be as folksy and colloquial as the material itself. "I don't think the Boss will ever get on the fancy `history of America' courses I took — no way!" one typical speaker says. "But he's sure on my mind!"
Mr. Bozza's "Whatever You Say I Am" inveighs against any conceivable crime against cool. Taking frequent swipes at "nearsighted fuddy-duddies" who were wowed by Eminem at the time of "8 Mile" (as Barbra Streisand remarked, "This kid Eminem is really interesting"), he loves to point out his own prescience in making an early, authorized visit to the trailer park home that would soon become the stuff of — well, if not of legend, at least the stuff of this book. Mr. Bozza's back-patting also extends to revealing how Rolling Stone scooped The Source, thanks to his own contributions, and to describing his brief dealings with Eminem's famously difficult mom.
Although this collection of "snapshots and billboards" is more or less authorized by Eminem, it is no fan-friendly repository of inside information. "I had a hard life, blah blah blah," Eminem reveals conversationally. But of course he says this, and a great deal more, far more wittily and scorchingly every time he goes into a recording studio. And Mr. Bozza has clearly made the Devil's deal common to most celebrity biographers: he has much opportunity to talk about what it's really like to be with Eminem at an after-party, but no motive to jeopardize that privilege by turning nasty.
But it's time for a thoughtful look at what Eminem's appeal really signifies, and Mr. Bozza, for all the self-promoting and padding that goes into this book, has done a creditable job. He considers the way that Eminem "fused the crazy white boy and angry young man stereotypes, playing both to their fullest with ironic, unmerciful insight into white dysfunctional family values, all the more real for the self-loathing present throughout." He also notes that in 1999, a year that brought "The Blair Witch Project" and "American Beauty," Eminem's playful, angry irreverence was one more sign of the times.
Although "Whatever You Say I Am" sometimes bogs down in the minutiae of hip-hop rivalries and cites endless critical yammering about the star's importance, it will still interest anyone seriously impressed with Eminem's abilities and his prospects. Dismissing reflexive invocations of Bob Dylan and the Beatles as fellow musicians who helped shape the lives of their listeners, Mr. Bozza points instead to the more protean and mercurial David Bowie and post-Beatles-breakup John Lennon as forebears.
He also devotes much space to the racial questions raised by Eminem's pre-eminence in the hip-hop universe, as he cites one critic's deeply polarizing opinion that "today, race is performative." It thus comes as no surprise to learn that of 16 African-American critics, academics and artists approached by Mr. Bozza for this book, only 4 would talk to him.
"Whatever You Say I Am" is a compelling but awkward hybrid between fan fodder and serious thought. It has been illustrated with dull, feebly captioned photographs that can be arranged chronologically by the appearance of new tattoos on Eminem's biceps but otherwise reveal little of interest. The anti-glamour of these pictures may signal an aspiration to street credibility. But Mr. Bozza delivers a lot more of that simply by treating the Shadyfication of America as a phenomenon worthy of notice.
Betty Kresin, Eminem’s grandmother from the maternal side , got married at the age of 14. She got six children from 3 different marriages.
She first married Bob Nelson. She gave birth to her daughter Debbie in 1955.She accuses her first husband, Bob Nelson, of being verbally abusive. Both moved to Warren, Michigan, to be closer to Betty’s stepmother .
Despite the problems the couple esperienced, she gave Bob two more sons, Todd and Steven.
They divorced in the early 60’s and Betty came back to her hometown St Joseph, where she met Ron Gilpin, her second husband.
She had two more children with him. One of them is Betti Schmitt (Eminem’s aunt and Debbie’s half sister), who is still in touch and in good terms with Eminem. Ron Gilpin was an alcoholic who used to beat up his whole family. Violence was part of their daily life. Ron left his family in 1968.
Dramas surrounded Betty’s family. In 1991, Todd Nelson killed his brother-in-law, Mike Harris in self defense case. He was sentenced to jail for 8 years.
Betty ‘s sixth child from a third marriage, Ronnie Polkingharn , was Eminem’s uncle and closest friend. He committed suicide in 1991.
Eminem grew up for a while at his grandmom’s home. She talks about his harsh conditions of living in Detroit :
« It was a poor school and they wanted his shoes. He was one of the only white children going to this segregated school. And one time they took the shoes off his feet and he had to come home in a snowstorm with no shoes on. But the story people keep asking me - "he was unconscious and almost died and all these doctors...", now I know nothing about this and I'm his grandmother. »
People should think twice before calling Marshall a racist.
Betty was angry with Marshall because he never attended to Ronnie’s funeral. In fact, Marshall went depressive and swallowed a bottle of Tylenol and survived to another suicide attempt. He was unable to go to Ronnie’s funeral, his pain was too immense.But Betty didn’t know what happened during this period.
"I was kind of bitter about him writing about my dead son, because the last five years of my deceased boy, Marshall had not even seen him. Marshall - Eminem - and my son Ronnie were very close. He idolised Ronnie and Ronnie loved him. He never even came to Ronnie's funeral and he has never put the first flower on
Ronnie's grave. He doesn't do anything - he won't go near the grave. The chain that Marshall wears around his neck, the dog-tag - that was Ronnie's. I gave him the dog-tag, he makes duplicates, he sells them now, and that really broke my heart because this is something sacred to me that I gave the boy. If my son could speak to
you today from the grave he would say, "Marshall stop some of the garbage, make up with your family, life's too short"."
Marshall had a good relationship to his granny until he wanted to use Ronnie’s voice on a tape. He intented to do this as a tribute to his deceased uncle, but Betty thought he was disrespectful towards her son.
In 2002 , both reconciled.
Betty Kresin is currently writing a book on her grandson which shall be entitled « The Tie That Binds ».
Betty says she’s proud of her grandson and that she stands on his side.
"Meanwhile, The Source's Ray Benzino released a statement last night claiming he has damning evidence against rival Eminem that will seal his fate in Hip-Hop. Allegedly, Benzino has acquired an "original cassette recording of a Detroit basement tape which features a series of raps by Marshall Mathers that contain blatant racist and derogatory statements about Black women and Black people in general."
The tape, said to be from around the 1995 era, will be a "nail in the coffin" for Eminem, says Benzino. Tabloid publicity stunt or not, details on the alleged tape will be revealed in the January issue of The Source magazine which hits newsstands in December."
Daily Hip Hop News written by Carl Cherry
Benzino makes me laugh.Who will believe Mr Mathers is a racist?How could
a man who has grown up in the black hood of Detroit,whose best friends are blacks be called a racist? This sounds like a big joke to me.
Eminem has experienced racism from Blacks at school ( we all know he was bullied)and also in 8 Mile...When he was 16, several Blacks pointed a gun on him, he came back home with only his socks and his pants on, he owes his life to a white guy who took him back home in his car.
Those events could have made a big racist of him, but Marshall Mathers always wanted to be part of the landscape, he fully integrated black culture. He never tried to be a Black wannabe, people who call him a wigga are really wrong. Marshall is conscious to be a white man doing black music. He is conscious that rap music has been created by Blacks, but he also knows that his roots are hip hop, since he grew up with Blacks and has been influenced by rap music since his early years.
Whatever the content of this Eminem tape recorded in 1995, you can be sure that Benzino and his cheap ass magazine the Source will misinterpret his words intentionally.
Scientists again warned that communications on Earth could be disrupted this week by another spectacular eruption on the surface of the Sun and that it might even hamper firefighting efforts in California.
"It's headed straight for us like a freight train," said John Kohl, a solar astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. "This is the real thing."
Predictions are it could strike Earth's magnetic field by midday Wednesday.
The explosion of gas and charged particles into space from the corona, the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere, isn't harmful to people. But it can knock out satellite communications, which some emergency crews are relying on in battling California's wildfires.
Similar solar events in recent years have disrupted television transmissions, GPS navigation, oil pipeline controls and even the flow of electricity along power lines.
Space weather forecasters first warned of that possibility last week, when a previous solar flare erupted, and then they saw a new sunspot region developing in another region of the sun's face.
The cloud of charged particles from last week's eruption struck Earth "with only a glancing blow," Kohl said. It disrupted some airline communications.
But Kohl said scientists observed the biggest such explosion in 30 years shortly before 6 a.m. EST Tuesday. It produced a particle cloud 13 times larger than Earth and hurtled through the solar system at more than 1 million miles per hour.
The resulting geomagnetic storm could be ranked among the most powerful of its kind and last for 24 hours.
It is expected to disrupt the communications satellites and high frequency radios.
In southern California, wildfires already have knocked out many microwave communication antennas on the ground, making satellite communications important to emergency efforts. Researchers said safety personnel might encounter communications interference.
Federal researchers said they already have turned off instruments and taken other precautions with science satellites.
A positive note: strong geomagnetic storms can produce colorful auroras in the night sky visible as far south as Texas and Florida beginning late Wednesday.
Sunspots and solar storms tend to occur in 11-year cycles; the current cycle peaked in late 2000.
Scientists compared the latest flare to the "Bastille Day storm" that occurred in July 2000.
"The Bastille Day storm produced considerable disruption to both ground and space high-tech systems," said Bill Murtagh, a space weather forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Dick O'Brien is surprised at my noting that I got the impression that he has 'some sympathy' for Dennis O'Brien It was a straight misread - I read 'a little sympathy' rather than 'little sympathy'. Apologies Dick.
I'm going to have to stop blogging while cider is running through my brain.
I recently met Perry in London where we briefly discussed the ins and outs of banning smoking. He was all against it, and I, for my sins, did not see a problem with it. Maybe its down to personal experience.
Most of the comments left over on Samizdata support Perry in his argument - include my old mate Frank McGahon.
So l am going to attempt some form of rebuttal.
1. Smoking kills.
2. Passive smoking kills.
3. People smoke.
4. People smoke in public places - hence they are called 'public'.
5. People have rights.
I can choose to work in a bar, or I can choose not to. But in choosing a profession or job should I also have to make a choice about my health? Why should I have to choose whether or not I work in a healthy environment?
Surely everyone has a *right* to work in a healthy environment? If you work in an office and a no-smoking policy has been implemented by your employer, is that an attack on your civil rights, or an attempt to either stop litigation, or save the health of employees?
Equally if people work in public places, and believe it or not people do, do they not also have the right not to be exposed to a smoke environment?
I should not have to decide that I can either a) work in a healthy environment, or b) work in an unhealthy one. All working environments should be healthy. If it was a matter of choice not many people would work in bars - but they do, and smoke is an extremely unhealthy side effect.
Perry argues that: I do not smoke, though I did puff on a Havana recently, and I generally do not like smoke filled rooms. However, I do not have anyone holding a gun to my head forcing me to go into a smoke filled room against my will or compelling me to take employment with someone who allows people to smoke on their private property (such as a restaurant or bar owner). And yet millions of people see nothing wrong with legitimising threats of violence against others to force them to not smoke for nothing more than their personal convenience.
Perry, saying that inhaling second hand smoke is a matter of personal inconvenience, rather than a direct effect on my health is to miss the point.
I don't think the State is being heavy handed in Ireland. If people want to smoke, fine, but do it where it only affects the health of the person who chooses to smoke, and their fellow smokers. If you want to smoke around people who are working in public places then tough. Get over it.
25 names have been entered. Smith will be contesting the no-confidence motion.
He fights on.
BY NANCY A. YOUSSEF
Detroit Free Press
After two days of playing hooky - and two arrest warrants - Eminem's ex-wife was ordered to wear an electronic tether when she finally appeared Thursday in Macomb County (Mich.) Circuit Court to face charges she ignored a court date and she had drugs during a June traffic stop.
Kim Mathers' attorney pleaded with Judge Edward Servitto to forgive her for failing to appear Tuesday, saying she was ill. The judge had little interest in her explanation and, instead, ordered that she be placed on the tether.
Mathers, 28, will be allowed to go to only court and counseling, the judge ordered. The court will receive a report about her movements.
Mathers appeared with her attorney, Michael Smith of Sterling Heights.
"Mr. Smith has convinced me to not put you in jail," Servitto told Mathers.
"I understand," she replied, her only comments during the five-minute hearing.
She was supposed to be arraigned Monday, but when she did not show up, the court gave her until noon Tuesday. When she again did not come to court, the judge issued a bench warrant charging her with failure to appear.
On Thursday, Servitto dismissed the bench warrant.
If convicted of possession of fewer than 25 grams of cocaine, Mathers could face a maximum 4-year prison term and a $25,000 fine.
Mathers is the ex-wife of Marshall Mathers, also known as superstar rapper Eminem.
Kim Mathers also faces misdemeanor charges in Warren of maintaining a drug house.
Police said they decided to issue a warrant this week, and were talking to Smith to arrange when Mathers could turn herself in.
Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Dave Portuesi told the court that his office authorized that warrant and that Mathers will be arraigned on that charge by Friday.
But Warren officials said they are still working with her attorney to determine when she will turn herself in.
Maintaining a drug house carries a maximum 2-year sentence upon conviction.
Why does the White House robots.txt file look like this? It appears to mean that searches related to Iraq are being disallowed. Hmm.
This is oh so strange. Perhaps someone with a better idea of search technology can explain it to me? Quite a debate going on over on Dan's blog.
The Democrats have something to say about it too.
Slashdotters are giving it a good going over too!
# robots.txt for http://www.whitehouse.gov/
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin
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Disallow: /history/photoessays/statediningroom/iraq
Disallow: /history/photoessays/statediningroom/text
Disallow: /history/photoessays/text
Disallow: /history/photoessays/vpresidence/iraq
Disallow: /history/photoessays/vpresidence/text
Disallow: /history/photoessays/westwing/iraq
Disallow: /history/photoessays/westwing/text
Disallow: /history/presidents/iraq
Disallow: /history/presidents/text
Disallow: /history/quiz/valentines/iraq
Disallow: /history/quiz/valentines/text
Disallow: /history/text
Disallow: /history/thisday/iraq
Disallow: /history/thisday/text
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/2003/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/2003/states/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/2003/states/text
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/2003/text
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/print/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/print/text
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/states/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/states/print/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/states/print/text
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/states/text
Disallow: /history/tours/eggsbystates/text
Disallow: /history/tours/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/print/iraq
Disallow: /history/tours/print/text
Disallow: /history/tours/text
Disallow: /history/valentines/iraq
Disallow: /history/valentines/text
Disallow: /history/whtour/china/iraq
Disallow: /history/whtour/china/text
Disallow: /history/whtour/images/iraq
Disallow: /history/whtour/images/text
Disallow: /history/whtour/iraq
Disallow: /history/whtour/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /history/whtour/photoessay/text
Disallow: /history/whtour/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/art/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/art/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/barney/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/barney/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/birdornaments/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/birdornaments/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/blueroomtree/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/blueroomtree/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/bushpets/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/bushpets/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/cards/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/cards/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/crosshalls/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/crosshalls/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/eastroom/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/eastroom/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/groundfloor/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/groundfloor/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/hanukkah/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/hanukkah/menorah/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/hanukkah/menorah/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/hanukkah/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/hues/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/hues/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation-review/images/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation-review/images/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation-review/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation-review/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation/images/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation/images/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/rotation/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/images/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/pageant/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/pageant/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/panoramic/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/panoramic/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/petsculptures/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/petsculptures/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/text
Disallow: /holiday/2002/whtree/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/2002/whtree/text
Disallow: /holiday/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/media/iraq
Disallow: /holiday/media/text
Disallow: /holiday/text
Disallow: /homeland/book/iraq
Disallow: /homeland/book/text
Disallow: /homeland/firstresponders/iraq
Disallow: /homeland/firstresponders/text
Disallow: /homeland/iraq
Disallow: /homeland/progress/iraq
Disallow: /homeland/progress/text
Disallow: /homeland/stateandlocal/iraq
Disallow: /homeland/stateandlocal/text
Disallow: /homeland/states/iraq
Disallow: /homeland/states/text
Disallow: /homeland/text
Disallow: /images/text
Disallow: /independenceday/iraq
Disallow: /independenceday/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /independenceday/photoessay/text
Disallow: /independenceday/text
Disallow: /infocus/africa/aids/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/africa/aids/text
Disallow: /infocus/africa/images/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/africa/images/text
Disallow: /infocus/africa/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/africa/text
Disallow: /infocus/apec/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/apec/text
Disallow: /infocus/asdf/text
Disallow: /infocus/backtoschool/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/backtoschool/text
Disallow: /infocus/bioterrorism/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/bioterrorism/text
Disallow: /infocus/children/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/children/text
Disallow: /infocus/citizencorps/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/citizencorps/text
Disallow: /infocus/communityservice/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/communityservice/text
Disallow: /infocus/compassionate/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/compassionate/text
Disallow: /infocus/corporateresponsibility/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/corporateresponsibility/text
Disallow: /infocus/cuba/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/cuba/text
Disallow: /infocus/defense/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/defense/text
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/print/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/print/text
Disallow: /infocus/developingnations/text
Disallow: /infocus/dontcall/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/dontcall/text
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/hspolicybook/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/hspolicybook/text
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/earlychildhood/text
Disallow: /infocus/earthday/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/earthday/text
Disallow: /infocus/economicforum/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/economicforum/text
Disallow: /infocus/economy/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/economy/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/states/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/states/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/teacherpopup/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/teacherpopup/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/teachers/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/education/teachers/text
Disallow: /infocus/education/text
Disallow: /infocus/educationreform/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/educationreform/text
Disallow: /infocus/elsalvadortrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/elsalvadortrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/energy/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/energy/text
Disallow: /infocus/environment/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/environment/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/europetrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/europetrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/firstladyeuropetrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/firstladyeuropetrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/images/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/images/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/prague/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/prague/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicprague/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicprague/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicstpetersburg/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/scenicstpetersburg/text
Disallow: /infocus/europe-200211/text
Disallow: /infocus/eusummit/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/eusummit/text
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/images/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/images/text
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/everglades/text
Disallow: /infocus/faith-based/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/faith-based/text
Disallow: /infocus/farminfo/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/farminfo/text
Disallow: /infocus/firstresponders/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/firstresponders/text
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/photoessay/text
Disallow: /infocus/fitness/text
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/photoessay/text
Disallow: /infocus/freedomcorps/text
Disallow: /infocus/g8/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/g8/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthcare/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthcare/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/bitterroot/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/bitterroot/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/photoessay/text
Disallow: /infocus/healthyforests/text
Disallow: /infocus/hivaids/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/hivaids/text
Disallow: /infocus/homeownership/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/homeownership/text
Disallow: /infocus/httpwwwwhitehousegovinfocusg/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/httpwwwwhitehousegovinfocusg/text
Disallow: /infocus/illegal-logging/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/illegal-logging/text
Disallow: /infocus/internationaltrade/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/internationaltrade/text
Disallow: /infocus/judicialnominees/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/judicialnominees/text
Disallow: /infocus/justice/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/justice/text
Disallow: /infocus/keyhealthposts/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/keyhealthposts/text
Disallow: /infocus/medicalliability/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/medicalliability/text
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/health-care/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/health-care/text
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/medicare/text
Disallow: /infocus/mideast/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/mideast/text
Disallow: /infocus/money/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/money/text
Disallow: /infocus/mothernchild/text
Disallow: /infocus/mutualaidagreements/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/mutualaidagreements/text
Disallow: /infocus/newfreedom/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/newfreedom/text
Disallow: /infocus/overseas/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/overseas/text
Disallow: /infocus/perutrip/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/perutrip/text
Disallow: /infocus/ramadan/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/ramadan/text
Disallow: /infocus/retirementsecurity/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/retirementsecurity/text
Disallow: /infocus/ruralamerica/text
Disallow: /infocus/rx-medicare/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/rx-medicare/text
Disallow: /infocus/smallbusiness/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/smallbusiness/text
Disallow: /infocus/social-security/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/social-security/text
Disallow: /infocus/steel/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/steel/text
Disallow: /infocus/tax-relief/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/tax-relief/text
Disallow: /infocus/taxreform/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/taxreform/text
Disallow: /infocus/teacherquality/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/teacherquality/text
Disallow: /infocus/technology/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/technology/text
Disallow: /infocus/terrorisminsurance/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/terrorisminsurance/text
Disallow: /infocus/text
Disallow: /infocus/united_nations/text
Disallow: /infocus/usmxborder/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/usmxborder/text
Disallow: /infocus/victimsrights/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/victimsrights/text
Disallow: /infocus/welfarereform/iraq
Disallow: /infocus/welfarereform/text
Disallow: /judicial/iraq
Disallow: /judicial/text
Disallow: /kids/abc/iraq
Disallow: /kids/abc/popups/iraq
Disallow: /kids/abc/popups/text
Disallow: /kids/abc/text
Disallow: /kids/afac/iraq
Disallow: /kids/afac/states/iraq
Disallow: /kids/afac/states/text
Disallow: /kids/afac/text
Disallow: /kids/album/iraq
Disallow: /kids/album/text
Disallow: /kids/asia/iraq
Disallow: /kids/asia/text
Disallow: /kids/backtoschool/iraq
Disallow: /kids/backtoschool/text
Disallow: /kids/barney/iraq
Disallow: /kids/barney/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/photoessay/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/baseball/print/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/baseball/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/tbphotoessay/iraq
Disallow: /kids/baseball/tbphotoessay/text
Disallow: /kids/baseball/teeball-20020923/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/baseball/text
Disallow: /kids/connection/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/connection/print/text
Disallow: /kids/connection/text
Disallow: /kids/constitution/iraq
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay/iraq
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay/text
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay2003/iraq
Disallow: /kids/constitution/photoessay2003/text
Disallow: /kids/constitution/quiz/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/constitution/text
Disallow: /kids/contact/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/baseballcards/iraq
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/baseballcards/text
Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/dreamteam/text
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/iraq
Disallow: /kids/eggroll/photoessay/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/eggroll/quiz/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/eggroll/text
Disallow: /kids/firstlady/iraq
Disallow: /kids/firstlady/quiz/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/fitness/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/fitness/text
Disallow: /kids/flatstanley/iraq
Disallow: /kids/flatstanley/text
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/holiday/iraq
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/holiday/text
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/iraq
Disallow: /kids/games/concentration/text
Disallow: /kids/games/iraq
Disallow: /kids/games/text
Disallow: /kids/giftsofchildren/iraq
Disallow: /kids/giftsofchildren/text
Disallow: /kids/guide/iraq
Disallow: /kids/guide/print/iraq
Disallow: /kids/guide/print/text
Disallow: /kids/guide/text
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2001/iraq
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2001/text
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2002/iraq
Disallow: /kids/holiday/2002/text
Disallow: /kids/holiday/iraq
Disallow: /kids/holiday/text
Disallow: /kids/india/iraq
Disallow: /kids/india/text
Disallow: /kids/iraq
Disallow: /kids/media/iraq
Disallow: /kids/media/text
Disallow: /kids/mrscheney/iraq
Disallow: /kids/mrscheney/text
Disallow: /kids/news/iraq
Disallow: /kids/news/text
Disallow: /kids/ofelia/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/pasteggroll/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/pets/iraq
Disallow: /kids/pets/text
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/barney/iraq
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/barney/text
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/pets/iraq
Disallow: /kids/photoessays/pets/text
Disallow: /kids/photos/iraq
Disallow: /kids/photos/text
Disallow: /kids/president/iraq
Disallow: /kids/president/text
Disallow: /kids/presidents/iraq
Disallow: /kids/presidents/text
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/color/iraq
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/color/text
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/videos/iraq
Disallow: /kids/presidentsday/videos/text
Disallow: /kids/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/spotty/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/stateoftheunion/iraq
Disallow: /kids/stateoftheunion/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball2/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball2/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball2003/images/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball2003/images/text
Disallow: /kids/teeball2003/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/teeball3/iraq
Disallow: /kids/teeball3/text
Disallow: /kids/text
Disallow: /kids/timeline/iraq
Disallow: /kids/timeline/text
Disallow: /kids/tour/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/valentines/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/valentines/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/iraq
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/pets/iraq
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/pets/text
Disallow: /kids/vicepresident/text
Disallow: /kids/westwing/quiz/iraq
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Disallow: /kids/whlife/iraq
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz/iraq
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz/text
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz2/iraq
Disallow: /kids/whlife/quiz2/text
Disallow: /kids/whlife/text
Disallow: /liberation/iraq
Disallow: /liberation/text
Disallow: /library/omb/text
Disallow: /live/iraq
Disallow: /live/tech/iraq
Disallow: /live/tech/text
Disallow: /live/text
Disallow: /march11/coalition/iraq
Disallow: /march11/coalition/text
Disallow: /march11/iraq
Disallow: /march11/text
Disallow: /march11/timeline/iraq
Disallow: /march11/timeline/text
Disallow: /media/iraq
Disallow: /media/text
Disallow: /mrscheney/iraq
Disallow: /mrscheney/news/iraq
Disallow: /mrscheney/news/text
Disallow: /mrscheney/text
Disallow: /national-anthem/iraq
Disallow: /national-anthem/text
Disallow: /navy/iraq
Disallow: /navy/text
Disallow: /nec/iraq
Disallow: /nec/text
Disallow: /news/briefings/iraq
Disallow: /news/briefings/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/briefings/print/text
Disallow: /news/briefings/text
Disallow: /news/freedominitiative/iraq
Disallow: /news/freedominitiative/text
Disallow: /news/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/images/text
Disallow: /news/iraq
Disallow: /news/nominations/iraq
Disallow: /news/nominations/text
Disallow: /news/orders/iraq
Disallow: /news/orders/text
Disallow: /news/press/radio/text
Disallow: /news/press/text
Disallow: /news/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/print/releases/text
Disallow: /news/print/text
Disallow: /news/proclamations/iraq
Disallow: /news/proclamations/text
Disallow: /news/radio/iraq
Disallow: /news/radio/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/radio/print/text
Disallow: /news/radio/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/01/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/02/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/03/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/04/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/05/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/06/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/07/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/08/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/09/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/10/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/images/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/images/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/print/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/print/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/11/text
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/images/iraq
Disallow: /news/releases/2001/12/images/print/text
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Disallow: /news/releases/2003/09/images/text
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Disallow: /news/usbudget/states/iraq
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Disallow: /nsc/iraq
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Interesting debate on last night's Newsnight on BBC2. You can watch it here, until the link changes at 23.30pm today
Here Kirsty Wark presents a discussion between New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Rupert Murdochs associate, and member of the Hudson Institute, Dr. Irwin Stelzer.
I typed out a transcript it was that interesting...
Kirsty Wark: Well I’m joined now by the aforementioned Paul Krugman who has just a written a book, the Great Unravelling, a selection of his columns on the Bush administration, and by Irwin Stelzer from the Hudson Institute who writes columns for the Sunday Times.
First of all, Paul Krugman, let’s just pick up on one of the last speakers there, that you have delivered a concerted onslaught, em, against Bush’s economics and essentially that he is dishonest and lying to the American people and you’ve been accused of a deep psychological problem in returning to this time and again.
Paul Krugman: Yeah except the trouble is he does lie a lot. Now some of it is actually, y’know, he said repeatedly, that ‘most of my tax-cuts is going to middle class and working class Americans’, that’s simply untrue. But some of it is things that are literally true but are designed to mislead. So when he said in the State of the Union and repeatedly afterwards, that from his latest tax-cuts 92 million Americans will receive an average tax cut of $1000 a year. That was intended to convey and did convey the impression that typical family was going to get $1000. The fact is, it was going to base that on people not understanding what average means - if Bill Gates walks into a bar the average wealth of the patrons is several billion dollars. But in fact, em, the majority of families got no more than a couple of hundred dollars a year. So it was deeply designed to mislead and they do that all the time.
Kirsty Wark: Bush designed to mislead - Stephanie Flander’s figures show that the richest people get the biggest tax cuts, the rich people are best off by the tax-cuts.
Dr Irwin Stelzer: Well the richest people pay most of the taxes so they would get most of the tax-cuts. I think, I think what you have to keep in mind is that, em, the, ah, someone in American earning $40,000 a year with two children now, under Bush, given the child tax credits, pays no taxes, now that figure was about $25,000 under the previous administration.
Paul Krugman: This is what I talk about, pays no taxes. You mean pays no income taxes.
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Income tax, that’s what I said.
Paul Krugman: No you didn’t, you said taxes, and this is what I’m talking about. That’s a wonderful line, but in fact 80% of American families pay more payroll taxes than income taxes. So then what you just said was, ‘pays no taxes’. This is the kind of thing, this campaign to mislead, I’m sorry I’m being very (inaudible). But this is how it works.
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well you see, you have to, I mean I read Paul’s book and it’s, it’s, I agree with a lot of things he says about fiscal policy and so on, the problem is that if you read the introduction, it’s a background, the background is that these are liars, you can’t believe anything they say. There are legitimate policy disputes, there are legitimate policy disputes about how you distribute…
Kirsty Wark: revolutionaries …they are not legitimate…
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well there’s a sense in which they are radicalists, they do not like the system they have inherited, either in international relations or in economic affairs. There’s nothing wrong with being radical. The problem I think Paul has is that they are radical right.
Paul Krugman: Well no the problem I have is that the radicalism is not sold honestly. Now I have a problem with the radical stuff, but. I’m sorry, I’m being just eh…
Kirsty Wark: No, no. Let’s just eh, let’s go with, so. (Inaudible)….goes for a big campaign in tax cuts. It grows the economy but it doesn’t actually grow many jobs.
Dr Irwin Stelzer: Well but, well we know two things about jobs. One is that they are a lagging response to a growing economy, I think everybody concedes that. The second, the second issue is we know that a lot the data are very difficult to handle, is that there has been a net loss in jobs under the Bush administration. Look I don’t speak for the Bush administration, the only thing I speak for is to have policy disputes based on policy issues, not based on assumptions that we’re dealing with liars.
Kirsty Wark: What would you do about, eh, the jobless recovery?
Paul Krugman: Look, we’ve spent, this, the, the three elements of this administration have been tax-cuts for the wealthy, tax-cuts for the wealthy and tax-cuts for the wealthy. There are certain things that you always do during a sustained job slump, that they haven’t done. Ah, one of them is aid to State and local governments. Now it turns out that we have…State and local governments are required to have annual balanced budgets, they’ve been laying off school teachers, firemen, policemen. Ordinarily you would expect the Federal government to be providing some aid, they haven’t done that. That’s a major downdraft on jobs. Another thing is, there’s a certain amount of public works spending on tap. A lot of Homeland Security…
Kirsty Wark: A New Deal?
Paul Krugman: Yes except in this case it’s a relatively easy New Deal. That they are not doing inexplicably like rebuilding New York, like defending ports against terrorists attacks. And the last part is temporary tax-cuts directed towards those people who are most likely to spend the money, who are cash-constrained middle and lower-income families.
Kirsty Wark: …rethink?
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Right, some of it makes sense. I mean I’m not here to defend the Bush administration. But what I am saying is…
Kirsty Wark: But why, tell me, you are not defending it, tell me, why aren’t they doing it?
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well first of all, it is true that the history of public works does not show that those are very good jobs, very productive jobs, they add much to national wealth. Second as far as spending the tax cuts, the best data we have, the data aren’t very good, show that about 75% of the tax-cuts were spent. I don’t think anyone denies that this recession would have been much worse and in fact short term tax-cuts would have been helpful in this part of the business cycle. Whether or not they have a plan to eliminate these as the economy recovers, that’s an interesting issue. There I think they do have a problem, they haven’t, they haven’t solved that. They certainly made the recession, as Larry Lindsay said, a lot less severe than it would have been had they not cut taxes.
Kirsty Wark: What about the mismatch between, eh, the deficit and the fact that people don’t care?
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Well I don’t know people don’t care, its very hard to say. The latest polls show that about 50% of the people feel that things are fine, very good or good. And about 42% feel that they are not so good and so on. I don’t know if people don’t care, I think people have some…what they care about is whether the President cares. That was senior Bush’s big mistake, he didn’t seem to care about the economy. I think at least that this President has shown that he does care, and he cares about jobs. Whether or not people are going to buy into his program, and that will also be affected by Iraq, we’ll see in the elections that, again, that I think Paul has gone a little too far saying that Bush sort of doesn’t really want to have elections any more.
Paul Krugman: I didn’t say that.
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: Yes you said, and possibly eliminate elections.
Kirsty Wark: Lets take it up on the deficit, if people don’t care, that people are unconcerned at the moment about the deficit, then that’s not going to play very well in terms of a democratic, economic platform.
Paul Krugman: I don’t, I don’t want to really, who knows in politics. It’s all packaging. In California the voters were outraged at a deficit that turns out to have been about 10% of State spending and in national politics we are told that they are indifferent to a deficit that’s equal to about 25% of Federal spending. So it’s all how it’s portrayed. Now if it’s treated as a non-issue by the media then maybe it will be a non-issue in the election, but y’know the election doesn’t end history. We’re on a course towards a very serious fiscal crisis, eventually, but not probably next year.
Dr. Irwin Stelzer: I think there is two things wrong with that, with respect. One is the notion that the media are not properly portraying this, from someone who writes for the New York Times which you said lands on a million doorsteps, your column twice a week, is a little far-fetched. I mean the fact is that the media are talking about this. The second thing is the question of whether the long run, in the long run we will solve this deficit as a long run matter, having properly built one up in the short-run, I think just remains to be seen. I mean there’s no, these predictions of what the deficit is going to be ten years from now are unworkable, and neither were the predictions of the surplus.
Paul Krugman: I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said ‘why do people always expect surprises to be positive’. I think the situation may well turn out to be much worse than we imagine.
Kirsty Wark: Thank you both very much indeed.
When you see my Dad, tell him that I slit his throat in this dream I had.
Those are the words Eminem uses towards his father in his well known song from his debut album “My Name Is” from the Slim Shady LP.
Marshall Bruce Mathers II stepped out of his son’s life when he was 6 months. His marriage with Debbie only lasted one year.
Young Marshall has suffered a lot from his Dad’s absence. Betty Kresin (Eminem’s grandmother) remembers her grandson drawing pictures and asking her to give them to his Dad. Young Marshall has suffered a lot from his Dad’s absence. Betty Kresin (Eminem’s grandmother) remembers her grandson drawing pictures and asking her to give them to his Dad.As a teenager, Marshall made many attempts to reach his Dad . He wrote many letters that were all returned to him.
Now that Eminem is famous, his Dad wants to get in touch with him and asks his son for forgiveness.
He explains how his son Michael (22), discovered his famous half brother Marshall on MTV. He was totally sure it was his “lost son” thanks to an article from the Rolling Stone Magazine where he saw an old photo of Debbie hoding Marshall in her arms.
He wrote an open letter to his son which was published in the “Daily Mirror” in 2002.
According to Marshall’s Dad, Debbie left their son to his great aunt Edna’s home. It is known that Marshall spent more than 3 years with her. Debbie reappeared in her son’s life just before his fifth birthday.
According to Eminem’s Dad, she dropped her son there without telling anything to her husband. Debbie told Edna that he was abusing her and she was supposed to keep the secret although she was in touch with Marshall’s grandmother from the paternal side (Rae).
Recently, a greeting card from Marshall addressed to grandma Rae was discovered. It begins with “dear grandma”.
Even if some facts related by Marshall Mathers Jr are true, why didn’t he try to contact his son before he was famous?
He wrote an open letter to his son which was published in the “Daily Mirror” in 2002.
"Hello, son. You won’t remember me, though I held you in my arms when you when you were a baby. You think I dumped you and your mother and never came looking for you. You’re convinced I’m a drunk who never answered any of your letters .Well, I want you to read this and realize you’ve been fed lies all your life. Now you’ll hear the truth for the first time. "
Marshall’s father, who is now a construction worker, reveals his son that he’s got two half siblings, Michael and Sarah. His intention is to tell his son that he cares: "The one ambition left in my life is to give you a hug and tell you I’ve always loved you," and he says "I’d get on a plane right now, this second, and go anywhere in the world if you’d meet with me .Please get in touch." No contest that Eminem’s father’s letter is touching, and he tries to explain the circumstances. He insists on the fact that he always tried to search him, and his children discovered one day there was a new rapper having the same name than him. Marshall Mathers II looked at the "Rolling Stone Magazine" his son Michael had just given to him, showing a photo of Debbie and little Marshall. Marshall Mathers Jr relates this event:
“Michael, my other son, came to our house one day and asked me what his half-brother’s name was. He’d seen a video clip of Eminem on MTV.
I told him it was Marshall and he said I might like to sit down because he had something to tell me. At first I just thought it was a coincidence. Then about two months later Rolling Stone magazine did a big article on him.
My daughter Sarah brought the article to me and in it was a picture of Debbie holding Marshall as a baby. I thought, ‘Oh my God, so much for coincidence.’ I was just stunned. First of all I was really grateful he was alive — that was the main thing.
“I had no idea what had gone on. Then, to have all that recognition on top, I was flabbergasted. It’s still hard to believe.”
“I don’t want to see a cent of Marshall’s money. He has become famous and I’ve found out where he is it doesn’t mean I’ve found a meal ticket. »
Marshall Mathers Jr’s letter may be touching, but we may doubt his sincerity. Maybe this letter is just a way to get attention from the media.He denies being interested in his famous son’s money.One thing is sure:he’s been manipulated by Debbie. He was supposed to take a job as a hotel manager in North Dakota.When he came back home to their home, he found an totally empty appartment.
But the fact that he reappears years later when his son is famous and successful is suspicious. He also expressed the wish to see Hailie.She is his only grandchild.
Marshall has never met his two siblings Michael and Sarah .
Eminem’s Dad says he suffers a lot from his “lost son’s absence” .He is certain to meet him someday. But the final decision belongs to Eminem who is clever enough to elude those tricks from his family.
[Eminem]
Sometimes I just feel like, quittin I still might
Why do I put up this fight, why do I still write
Sometimes it's hard enough just dealin with real life
Sometimes I wanna jump on stage and just kill mics
And show these people what my level of skill's like
But I'm still white, sometimes I just hate life
Somethin ain't right, hit the brake lights
Case of the stage fright, drawin a blank like
Da-duh-duh-da-da, it ain't my fault
Great big eye balls, my insides crawl
and I clam up I just slam shut
I just can't do it, my whole manhood's
just been stripped, I've just been ripped
So I must then get, hope the bus didn't split
Man fuck this shit yo, I'm goin the fuck home
World on my shoulders as I run back to this 8 Mile Road
[Chorus]
I'm a man, I'ma make a new plan
Time for me to just stand up, and travel new land
Time for me to just take matters into my own hands
Once I'm over these tracks man I'ma never look back
(8 Mile Road) And I'm gone, I know right where I'm goin
Sorry momma I'm grown, I must travel the alone
Ain't gonna follow no footsteps, I'm makin my own
Only way that I know how to escape from this 8 Mile Road
[Eminem]
I'm walkin these train tracks, tryin to regain back
the spirit I had 'fore I go back to the same crap
To the same plant, in the same pants
Tryin to chase rap, gotta move ASAP
And get a new plan, momma's got a new man
Poor little baby sister, she don't understand
Sits in front of the TV, buries her nose in the pad
And just colors until the crayon gets dull in her hand
While she colors her big brother, her mother and dad
Ain't no tellin what really goes on in her little head
Wish I could be the daddy that neither one of us had
But I keep runnin from somethin I never wanted so bad!
Sometimes I get upset, cause I ain't blew up yet
It's like I grew up, but I ain't grow me two nuts yet
Don't gotta rep my step, don't got enough pep
The pressure's too much man, I'm just tryin to do what's best
And I try, sit alone and I cry
Yo I won't tell no lie, not a moment goes by
That I don't pray to the sky, please I'm beggin you God
Please don't let me be piegon holed in no regular job
Yo I hope you can hear me homey wherever you are
Yo I'm tellin you dawg I'm bailin this trailer tomorrow
Tell my mother I love her, kiss baby sister goodbye
Say whenever you need me baby, I'm never too far
But yo I gotta get out there, the only way I know
And I'ma be back for you, the second that I blow
On everything I own, I'll make it on my own
Off to work I go, back to this 8 Mile Road
[Chorus]
[Eminem]
You gotta live it to feel it, you didn't you wouldn't get it
Or see what the big deal is, why it was and it still is
To be walkin this borderline of Detroit city limits
It's different, it's a certain significance, a certificate
of authenticity, you'd never even see
But it's everything to me, it's my credibility
You never seen heard smelled or met a real MC
who's incredible, up on the same pedestal as me
But yet I'm still unsigned, havin a rough time
Sit on the porch with all my friends and kick dumb rhymes
Go to work and serve MC's in the lunchline
But when it comes crunch time, where do my punchlines go
Who must I show, to bust my flow
Where must I go, who must I know
Or am I just another crab in the bucket
Cause I ain't havin no luck with this little Rabbit so fuck it
Maybe I need a new outlet, I'm startin to doubt shit
I'm feelin a little skeptical who I hang out with
I look like a bum, yo my clothes ain't about shit
at Salvation Army tryin to salvage an outfit
And it's cold, tryin to travel this road
Plus I feel like I'm old, stuck in this battlin mode
My defenses are so up, and one thing I don't want
is pity from no one, the city is no fun
There is no sun, and it's so dark
Sometimes I feel like I'm just bein pulled apart
from each one of my limbs, by each one of my friends
It's enough to make me just wanna jump out of my skin
Sometimes I feel like a robot, sometimes I just know not
what I'm doin I just blow, my head is a stove top
I just explode, the kettle gets so hot
Sometimes my mouth just overloads the gas that I don't got
But I've learned, it's time for me to U-turn
Yo it only takes one time for me to get burned
Ain't no fallin on next time I meet a new girl
I can no longer play stupid or be immature
I got every ingredient, all I need is the courage
Like I already got the beat, all I need is the words
Got the urge, suddenly it's a surge
Suddenly a new burst of energy is occured
Time to show these free world leaders the three and a third
I am no longer scared now, I'm free as a bird
Then I turn and cross over the median curb
Hit the burbs and all you see is a blur from 8 Mile Road
[Chorus]
The 8 Mile song is my favorite from all Eminem songs. It is a great hymn of hope.
The first part exposes Jimmy Smith’s struggle. Jimmy has to face a double fight: his struggle as a white M.C for recognition and his harsh conditions of living.
He feels divided between real life and the place where he wants to be.
His stagefright and the racism he experiences during his rap battles add a lot to the pressure he feels.
The second part describes his monotonous life as a worker at Detroit Stamping. He is also worried for his half sister who lives in unstable conditions with her alcoholic mom. He wants to protect her and wishes to play the role of their absent father, but he knows he has to fight for a better future first.
He’s got so much pressure put on his shoulders and it comes from so many directions (home, work,stage).
He addresses to God, he doesn’t want to go on living his monotonous life, he wants to escape from 8 Mile Road.
In the third part, Jimmy suddenly becomes conscious of his value. He is still unsigned and having a rough time, but now he feels the urge to act the right way. He knows ”he got every ingredient, all he needs is the courage”. He is no longer scared of the “Free World leaders”. He can feel his freedom and is able to smell the taste of his future victory. He is ready to drop bombs on his mic.
This song shows a path of hope to many people who are going through harsh conditions of living. It shows us that it is possible to escape to our “8 Mile road” if we don’t give up your dreams. We all got every ingredient. All we need is the courage to fight to the end and enough faith in our dreams.
THE EXAMINED LIFE
ON JAN. 23, 1963, Robert Lowell wrote to fellow poet Elizabeth Bishop with news of a periodical "about to be set floating during the lull of the newspaper strike here that has temporarily put the New York Times book section out of existence." That publication, conceived of by a group of writers and critics that included Lowell, Elizabeth Hardwick, Robert Silvers, and Barbara Epstein, was The New York Review of Books. Silvers and Epstein, who remain its editors, are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the journal with the publication of the Nov. 6, 2003 issue.
The first issue included essays by Norman Mailer, W.H. Auden, Mary McCarthy, William Styron, and Gore Vidal. Before long, the Review vibrated with the excitement and energy of New York intellectual life, causing Lowell to half-boast, half-complain, in another letter to Bishop, that working on it was like living "in the fire and burnt-outness of some political or religious movement." Lowell's two letters appear in the Nov. 6 issue, along with essays by Margaret Atwood on Studs Terkel, Elizabeth Hardwick on Nathanael West, John Updike on El Greco, Joan Didion on apocalyptic Christian novels, Garry Wills on Thomas Jefferson, and Ronald Dworkin on our endangered civil liberties.
Although the Review often runs with its stable of distinguished veterans, the anniversary issue does contain some offbeat surprises. In one essay, Luc Sante, author of "Low Life" and one-time mailroom employee at the Review, fondly recalls life on the Lower East Side before the gentrification of "the entropic slum that was my home." In another, the 35-year-old Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan favorably compares the artist known as Eminem with the poet John Berryman.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
This is curious stuff, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States might have to supoena the White House in order to gain access to documents that it believes are being withheld.
According to the cover story on today's New York Times, Thomas Kean, the head of the Commission is not satisfied with the behaviour of the White House.
Could this have anything to do with an election next year, and information that might come to light involving warnings about planes flying into buildings before 9/11?
I wonder.
Nothing’s more impressing than Eminem’s rapid way to the top. In his song “Marshall Mathers” from the Marshall Mathers Lp, he says: “Last year I was nobody, this year I’m selling records”.
When Marshall Mathers left school, he found a job at Gilbert’s Lodge where he worked with his high school friend Mike for a 5.50 dollars per hour salary.
But his life wasn’t only limited to this activity: Marshall always had his great dream to become a rapper in mind and he was determined to “make it”.
Mike and Marshall used to record songs in Mike’s basement.. Mike’s nickname was “Manix” and Marshall adopted the name M&M (from his initials) which later became Eminem.
Eminem recorded only one song for “Bassmint Productions”. It was “Crackers ‘N Cheese.
Marshall also made some attempts to rap outside Mike’s basement when he went to clubs, where his skin color was a real issue.
Even if it was difficult for him to be accepted , he managed to be accepted at the Hip Hop Shop of Detroit.
He remembers: “The Hip Hop Shop was the heart of Detroit and it was definitly a place to come to show your skills. But it was MC’s who were like, fuck the bullshit, we don’t care what color you are, just rap. If you can rap, you got a place with us. So basically that’s where I felt at home. The first time I rapped there I got a warm reception, then it became an addiction, every week just going there and freestyling. And I have never lost a ( freestyling) battle in Detroit so that was a big thing too”.
First, Eminem had to fight to be accepted by his audience, but in the end people were looking forward to him coming to rhyme.
Eminem battled an Mc named Kuniva (who is now a D12 member) to prove his credibility.
Marky Bass was impressed by Marshall’s first performance when he was 15 years old. He was freestyling.
He has always been good at rhyming and playing with syllables.
Marky Bass who became one of the producers of his debut album “The Slim Shady Lp”, explains that Marshall was brilliant from the beginning, but there was something missing that would bring him to the top.They created the concept of a shock rapper to attract people’s attention.This concept has proven to be successful.
“We came out with the idea of shock rap. When we went to Interscope, we worked him as the Marylin Manson of rap.Marshall was about 24 at this time, things were going a little beserk in his life, we were getting tuned away by labels who din’t want a white rapper and some of the anger started coming out of him.”
His alter ego Slim Shady is an ill psychopath character who is there to shock people.
Of course, he’s been talented from the beginning, but he has improved his art that is becoming more mature with each new album. He also owes a great part of his success to Dr Dre who signed him to his label and from whom he also learnt a lot of techniques.
But the pupil has even become better than his teacher. Marshall is not average, he’s a phenomenal in rap music.
Who said that white men can’t rap?
"Two student groups based out of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania announced today that they are rejecting Diebold Elections Systems' cease-and-desist orders and are initiating an electronic civil disobedience campaign that will ensure permanent public access to the controversial leaked memos. You can read the memos, search the memos, or download the memos."
This is huge. I think I will mirror said memos here.
Whoops, there's the archive there - on the right side bar.
Dick expresses 'some' sympathy for Irish uber-entrepeneur Denis O'Brien. I have no sympathy for him at all - in fact I think he should be fined the sum total of his profits from selling Esat - and you all know the reason - corruption.
Esat Telecom, based on all the evidence from Moriarty, as I watched personally for weeks on end at the Tribunal, got the second mobile phone licence by buying off Michael Lowry.
Lowry awarded Esat the licence - and Lowry got lots of benefits directly and indirectly from Denis O'Brien and Esat. If you can't draw a line between a and b then don't, but its plain and obvious to us all what went on, is it not?
O'Brien had no right to the licence, and got it on the basis of corrupt payments. The entire thing is a travesty, and now he tries to hold on to his ill-gotten cash, giving the Revenue and the Moriarty Tribunal a big '***k off'
Fuck him too.
The infamous Andrew Orlowski covers the story of Google buying a competitor. Can the Google train keep going? If it makes upwards of $15 billion from its IPO, what will it do with the money? Will Microsoft buy Google?
Sony has started to ship its new blue laser technology - how long before red lasers become defunct?
Sony's 23.3GB blue laser optical storage system will finally come to market next month, when the company ships products based on the technology. Those products were to have shipped in the summer.
Aimed at the kind of high-end storage applications traditionally delivered by 5.25in, 9.1GB Magneto Optical (MO) discs, the Professional Disc for Data (PDD) - as Sony is now calling it - was launched last April.
Paul Mason from AK13 dropped me a mail about his latest post - interesting reading.
Political power is usually defined as the ability to make someone do something they would not otherwise do. It is a very general definition, saying nothing about how you make someone do something – you could, for example, pay them or hold a gun to their head. Power, as the academics say, is multi-dimensional.
I had a little look around AK13, seems that an intern I met briefly from the New Statesman, Kathryn, has written for them in the past.
A great night was had by all -Dan had to leave a bit early as he had to catch a flight today, but it was great to put a person to the blog, so to speak. Also there were another half a dozen bloggers, mainly from Samizdata, I spend most of my time chatting to Perry De Havilland and David Carr, very interesting exchange of opinions and ideas, fueled by alcohol.
I will have to get into some debates with Samizdata in the future.
An editorial from the New York Times - covering a topic oft covered on this blog. The growing thirst in Europe for a greater military power, to rival the United States, is something that seems to have affected the Bush administration.
The Bush administration has identified yet another threat abroad. This time it's the proposal by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to create a European Union military planning and command center separate from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, declared this no less than "one of the greatest dangers to the trans-Atlantic relationship" and summoned the allies to give an emergency display of fealty in Brussels.
It was as if the Europeans were seriously considering the creation of a European army that could challenge the United States, rather than another bureaucracy that might be simply redundant militarily and irritating politically. A separate headquarters is not a good idea, and the French and Germans should be regularly cautioned against letting defiance of the United States, or of NATO, go too far. There is ample provision in procedures agreed between NATO and the EU to cope with the sorts of limited operations France and Germany cite. But Washington's overreaction only feeds the spreading fear that the United States seeks to maintain total control over Europe, a fear that could create just the sort of danger that Burns warns against.
What so worried the Bush administration was not only more insubordination from the French and Germans, but also that Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain did not leap to Washington's side. Last month, Blair met in Berlin with President Jacques Chirac of France and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany to talk over European defenses. Exactly what transpired is not clear, but from all indications Blair rejected a separate headquarters as unnecessary, and talked instead of letting interested EU members, Britain among them, pursue greater unity through "structured cooperation." There's nothing particularly radical in that. Blair and Chirac had already spoken in 1998 of a European force. Britain, moreover, has been consistently staunch in its rejection of any European structures that could weaken trans-Atlantic ties. And a separate European headquarters would never have the forces or assets to conduct more than minor operations. Yet in the aftermath of the bitter disputes over Iraq, the Bush administration saw "structured cooperation" as a potential seed for the decoupling of Europe and the United States, and lost its cool.
Kim is Eminem’s ex wife and the mom of his daughter Hailie Jade.
Their relationship has always been complicated, it the kind of love-hate relationship that is always on and off again. They were both unable to live together, but their couldn’t live with each other either...
Debbie has accepted Kim like her own daughter in her house, because Kim had been kicked out from her house by her alcoholic parents. She used to live at Debbie’s home as Marshall’s foster sister. She first couldn’t stand Marshall, they used to fight like brother and sister, but suddenly became inseparable.
In 1995, Kim got pregnant from Marshall and gave birth to their daughter Hailie Jade.
It is Hailie who gave Marshall the courage to fight for his dreams and also to take his responsibilities as a father. He wanted to be different from his own father.
He used to work very hard at Gilberts’ Lodge during this period.
His life in the neighborhood was really bad. Their appartement was visited very often and stolen.
Their couple life started to become very hard in December 1996 when Eminem was fired from Gilbert’s Lodge for his absences. He was unable to feed his family and Kim simply left him. According to her, a man has to take financial care of his girlfriend or wife. That’s what we could call a “dependant woman”.
During the night Kim left him, Eminem wrote “Rock Bottom” and attempted suicide.Fortunately , he survived to his suicide.
Kim used to forbid him to see Hailie. One day, he went to his stepfather’s home to see Hailie, but he pulled out a gun and told Marshall: “You are no good. I don’t wanna see you again or I’ll kill you.”
Kim was using Hailie as a weapon and Marshall was suffering from the situation.Once he told Kim he was going to take Hailie to a fast food, but he took her to the studio and used her voice in the “Bonnie and Clyde 97” song. He uses Hailie’s voice and talks about murdering Kim.But the hidden message behind “Bonnie and Clyde” is an expression of love. It was just another way to tell Kim to come back to him.
People who are shocked by the lyrics of this song seem to forget that Kim was Marshall’s first love.Eminem himself expressed it very well : “Me and Kim, we been through our dramas and shit, but I’ve been bald-faced lying if I said I don’t love her or I’m with her because of my daughter. I’m with her, ‘cause I really wanna be with her. I love that girl, man. I really do."
On June the 14th 1999, Eminem married Kim, but he filed divorce one year later because he saw another man –John Guerra- kissing his wife.This event could have cost the famous rapper his career, because he pointed an unloaded pistol on him. Kim pretended that this kiss was innocent.Who is going to believe her? The kiss John Guerra gave to Kim seems to be a rather intimate kiss...John Guerra admitted it.
In July 2000, during Eminem’s “Up In Smoke Tour”, Kim attempted suicide. She tried to slit her wrists with a razor.She felt humiliated, because Eminem was using a naked doll on stage that was called “Kim”. She also filed a 10 Million dollars lawsuit against her husband for defamation.
Kim has shown some instability in her behavior after her suicide attempt.
After visiting a nightclub she fought with her twin sister Dawn. The Detroit police accused her of hitting her sister in the head and in the face.
Kim also seems to have some cocaine addiction problems.She was found twice in possession of cocaine betweeen 2001 and 2003.
In her relationship to Marshall, Kim’s problem has always been to share her husband with the whole world. Nobody could blame her for that, but rather on the fact that she always broke up with her husband when he was financially down or facing some personal difficulties.
We may doubt her sincerity, because she always comes back when Eminem is wealthy and successful.
Eminem’s divorce was finalised in 2001.Both share the legal custody of Hailie Jade, a joint custody Marshall had to fight for, because Kim wanted to prove Marshall was unable to raise Hailie.
The recent events (Kim facing drug possession problems) have rather shown her weakness and instability , again. This might compromise her chances to avoid a jail sentence and to be judged as a decent mom.
During his Anger Management Tour in June 2003 , Eminem came back to Detroit on a private jet to ask the Court for Hailie’s full custody, because he knew Kim had been arrested for cocaine possession and he was worried about Hailie landing in a foster family.
Since his probation period, Eminem has shown much more stability for the love of a little girl, “the only lady he adores, Hailie.”
Actor Jim Caviezel has been struck by lightning while playing Jesus in Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion Of Christ.
The lightning bolt hit Caviezel and the film's assistant director Jan Michelini while they were filming in a remote location a few hours from Rome.
It was the second time Michelini had been hit by lightning during the shoot.
And the chances of a Michelini being hit twice on the same set? God must not be happy! LOL
Dan and I have decided on a time and place -
When: Friday at 18:30.
Where: Red Lion, Westminster, 48 Parliament St.
Who: Whoever wants to show up.
Why: You have to ask?
A Shady mom : Debbie Mathers
Every Eminem listener knows that he hates his mom. Some people don’t understand why the famous rapper expresses so much hatred about his own mom.
Debbie Mathers seems to have a complex personality.She has abused her son emotionaly, verbally and even physically. She is a sick person who used to suffer from Munchhausen’s syndrome (“...victim of Munchausen’s syndrome, my whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn’t /till I grew up). This line from “Cleaning Out My Closet” defines Debbie’s sickness.
What is exactly “Munchhausen’s syndrome” ? It’s a kind of psychological illness that was discovered in 1977. A person with Munchausen’s syndrome gives fake symptoms of illness and insists on the fact she is sick. This kind of sickness (which is Debbie’s case) can also take the form of child abuse ( the mother uses the child’s fake sickness to gain attention: this particular kind of desease is called Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy.
The mother makes her kid believe that he’s sick and convincesd him to take some medication which creates other symptoms like vomiting for instance.
Debbie Briggs Mathers is the first to make a drug addict of her own son.
Eminem had to testify against her in Court and he shares his statements in an interview given to the “Rolling Stone” Magazine:
“In Court I had to testify against her. Nate who was 9 at this time was too scared to testify against his mom. His mom made him believe he was an hyperactive kid and that hje was suffering from “Attention Deficit Disorder” . My mother said I was a hyper kid and I wasn’t, he said. She put me on Ritalin.”
Debbie who pretends that she still loves her sons and that she suffers a lot from his rejection also filed a 10 Million dollars lawsuit against him for defamation in June 1999 because on the verses of the song “My Name Is”: “I just found out my mom does more dope than I do”.
He jokes about in his song “Marshall Mathers”:”My fucking bitch mom is suing lme for 10 Million : she must want a dollar for every pill I’ve been stealing/ Shit where the fuck do you think I picked the habit/All I had was to go in her room and lift a mattress. “
But the whole story started with the interview Eminem gave in the Source Magazine called “fear of a white rapper” where the rapper relates many facts about his childhood.
As we know, there is no defamation in telling the truth. That’s exactly what Eminem points out in the same interview:”As bizarre as my shit might be, it’s still the reflection of the truth. When I say my mom does more dope than me, people I’m just craking jokes, but that shit is real. It’s part of my childhood. 100 % fucking true.”
Of course Debbie denies his allegations. But for Eminem , truth always matters. He is well known for always speaking his mind.
There are hidden reasons for Debbie’s lawsuit , but we can guess them easily. Filing a lawsuit is a good way to make dollars the good old American way.
Marshall also declined an out of Court offer to settle a 10 Million dollars lawsuit for 2 Million dollars. It shows how much she was in need of money.
Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s manager, managed to prove the authenticity of Eminem’s allegations.
Later on , Debbie filed another lawsuit for 1 Million dollars because her son said “She does have no leg to stand on (in her defamation suit) and she’s looking for things I say in my interviews to help her.”
Debbie is also known as a “bingo addict”.
She also wants a lot of publicity. She released a record ( a three song CD) with X-ID where she addresses an open letter to her son .It is called “ Dear Marshall”:
dear *Marshall*,
I just wanna start out by saying
I still love you
even when i was pregnant with you
it was very hard for me
so many times of torture was worth every minute of it
cuz wen i looked in to those big blue eyes
this was the first time i had ever felt true love
in my whole life
we have a problem marshall
the past 2 years..something really went wrong
i was so excited about your success yet so let down by your
betrayal
playing the role of both mum & dad must of taken a toll on you
more then i ever imagined
*marshall* i did the best i could
i went without seeking half
it was rong of me and i see it now as giving you everything
and never questioning ne thing you eva did
as you were perfect in my eyes
my unconditional love created a spoiled young man
an angry one too
now before god and every1 i must apologise cuz at the time
i thought it was the right thing to do
im torchered daily *Marshall* by people always asking me where
such an angry young man ....................
being the only role model in your life, of course they're gonna
blame me
the demeanin me needs to stop and i speak 4 lots of mothers
the words really hurt and they cut like a knife
but theres no way to mend a bleedin heart
if not 4my frenz who ave been there for me and yes
*marshall* they really truely care
i pray some day your not going to be alone and you'll ave frenz like
me.....and they wont be there just for your fame
and no more attacks on me
and vicious acts of heat cuz it really hurts
will the real Marshall Mathers please stand up?
and take responsibility 4his actions
and im gonna close this *marsh* by saying
its not too late for change
and always sincerely your mother
It sounds like a comedy knowing so many facts about Debbie.
When Marshall was a little boy, she used to treat him so badly.Once she came back home, and for no appearant reasons, she hit him, spat at his face, calling him “little bastard”.
Debbie has deeply hurt her son, what does she expect from him in return.
The worst sentence she has ever said to her son can be found in “Cleaning Out My Closet : “Remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished it was me”.
This sentence is killing love forever.
In the “Sally Raphael Show”, Debbie said that her son Marshall has been told by managers what to write in his songs and that his rage is just artistic expression.
People who know Eminem as an artist also know that he is not a commercial rapper . He has enough money and he doesn’t need to dis his own mom for recognition.
Debbie claims to be a good mom, but many other facts are talking against her.
When she left Marshall Mathers Jr, she didn’t spend his early years with Marshall. In fact, Eminem’s great aunt from Missouri, Edna Swartz, was taking care of him.
Debbie is also known for her instable relationships to men. She was dating many men. She’s been married four times.
Don De Marc, her former boyfriend says: “She complained of headaches, backaches and toothaches, she always seemed to be in pain. She was always looking for pain pills.” He also insists on her irrational character.
Nate is Eminem's half brother.He's been placed in a foster family for one year, because Debbie was abusive towards him.
Fred J. Samra (Nate’s Dad) also expressed about her :”She is lying about drugs and stuff, I won’t say any more.You would not believe the shit he( Marshall) has been through.
One of Debbie’s former husbands, Berger Olsen Au Gres remembers the time he was married to Debbie: “She was throwing him of the house all the time. I remeber Marshall telling her : “I want to do my rap, and when I do, I’m going to do all about you.”
Marshall Mathers is lucky to have found some consolation in his music , even if he is still hurt from his horrible past. His music helps a lot of kids who come from broken homes to overcome their problems. “Cleaning Out My Closet” is a real therapy for kids from dysfunctional families.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. — A judge issued a bench warrant today for Eminem's ex-wife after she missed two court appearances in a cocaine possession case.
Kimberly Mathers is accused of possessing up to 25 grams of cocaine, driving with a suspended licence and unsafe driving near a stopped emergency vehicle. She was expected to stand trial next month.
Mathers, 28, failed to appear Monday at her arraignment in Macomb County Circuit Court, Assistant Prosecutor David Portuesi said. The judge gave her until this morning to appear, then issued a bench warrant when she failed to show up.
Portuesi said he didn't know where Mathers was. A telephone message was left at the office of her lawyer, Michael Smith of Sterling Heights.
The former wife of the Grammy-winning rapper has been free on bond since her June 10 arrest. She's also under a judge's orders to be tested for drugs every two weeks.
Police probably wouldn't search for Mathers, Portuesi said. Prosecutors could charge her with absconding while on bond or contempt of court, but that was also unlikely, he said.
St. Clair Shores police say an officer stopped Mathers after she allegedly failed to properly merge with other cars before a construction barricade and steer clear of a police car. After arresting her on the driving charges, police said they found cocaine on her and in the car.
Mathers and the rap star, whose legal name is Marshall Mathers III, married in 1999 and divorced in 2001. They have a daughter together, Hailie Jade.
Eminem has rapped in his songs about killing his ex-wife. In '97 Bonnie and Clyde, he talks about stuffing her body in a trunk.
At Monday 20th October, 2003, Posted by Emil
Eminem was speechless for once when mates threw him a surprise birthday party. The rapper turned 31 last week so his sidekick and best mate Proof organised a treat for him.
My source in Detroit explained: "Proof took Eminem to his favourite club and told him his arch-enemy Canibus was waiting to battle him on stage.
"Em got really hyped up and was eyeballing Canibus.
"But then Proof got up and revealed the guy was actually just a look-a-like."
Em has re-named the rapper "Canabitch". They hate each other. But the best was yet to come.
A flabbergasted Eminem stood back as rap vets Big Daddy Kane and Doug E Fresh leapt up and performed a suprise birthday gig. My source said: "These guys are giants in the rap world. They are Eminem's idols and he was lost for words."
Em has reunited two other hip hop heavyweights by producing "Runnin (Dyin' To Live)" featuring the deceased Tupac and B.I.G. for MTV movie "Tupac Resurrection".
Source: D12World
Calling all London bloggers!
Myself and Dan Gillmor from the San Jose Mercury are trying to arrange a blog get together in London this Friday the 24th of October.
Anyone interested leave a comment or drop a mail, we are not sure where would be the best venue, London bars are packed Friday nights!
Despite the fact Eminem has constantly been attacked by conservative people for downgrading society’s values and for being a perfect nihilist, his voice goes straight to the heart of the underprivileged of the society who have nothing else but drugs and broken dreams. Eminem is a living proof that anybody who strongly believes in his dreams and never gives up can make it. He has shown that anybody can be a hero.
Eminem also reunites white and black lower class people, his music is a strong weapon against racism. He understands the youth very well and speaks the same language as young people who often can relate to what he’s saying in his songs.
His own example as a poor white trash kid, the events he personaly went through, his determination never to give up, whatever happens, gives some hope to the poor working class.
Eminem offers some criticism about the American society and politics. The fact that he criticises American society doesn’t mean he doesn’t like his country. He’s proven to be a real patriot.
In the song “My Dad’s Gone Crazy” from the “Eminem Show”, he compares his own pain to the pain of a little girl inside of a plane, which is a clear reference to the drama of September the 11th :
More pain inside of my brain thatn the eyes of a little girl inside a plane aimed at the World Trade, standing at Ronnie’s grave, screaming at the sky.
He shows how this drama affected him and how much he’s sensitive to people’s pain.
Among all the pop stars, Eminem is the only one to raise serious debates on serious issues like society, drugs, misunderstood children, child abuse, Freedom of Speech, love and hate, murders, politics.
Eminem’s is an engaged rapper, he considers himself a political rapper. He talks and makes jokes about the “Lewinsky affair” in the “Marshall Mathers Lp’ and shows that he is clearly opposed to President Bush’s “holy crusade” against terrorism:
The boogie monster of rap , yeh, the man’s back!
With a plan to ambush the Bush administration
Moosh the Senate’s face in, push this generation
Of kids to stand for the right to say somethin
You might not like, this white hot light I’m under
No wonder I look so suburnt
The new generation is tired of the empty speeches of the government. The young generation refuses to be manipulated and to be the government’s puppets for war purposes.
Eminem’s voice sound like the voice of a “White Trash Prophet” and started opening people’s consciousness which is the first step to a new world order with more justice, hope and ,above all, free speech.
For Wesley Clark to become Howard Dean's running-mate. It would be a great, centrist Democrat-Republican ticket
I had this discussion a few weeks back after the seminar in the US Embassy. Jim Ledbetter and Ben made the very same point - it would be a great combination.
Deborah was back in action recently and I failed to blog on it. She has a great tirade against the US media for failing to investigate Arnie's relationship with Enron.
I just had a dream about Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, not that kind of dream. I've been plagued by headaches so I took a nap after lunch. Just before I woke up, there was Arnold. We were in some kind of meeting in an anonymous looking boardroom of sorts and running late. A judge, I think, was worried about the time because of the governor's next meeting. It wouldn't be a problem, said the He man, and got up and started to do a little soft-shoe dancing. "The money men, they wait for me," he sang, "they wait for me." I'm sure they do.
Dann also shares some thoughts on blogging, journalism and how to write.
Nick Denton has something what has happened to some of the webs bloggers since they started blogging:
A smart piece in Chicago Tribune, about blogs as a proving ground for journalistic talent. Elizabeth Spiers' move to New York Magazine is cited, and I hadn't realized that Matthew Yglesias had got a job at American Prospect on the back of his political blog. Other examples, not mentioned in the piece: blogs brought Ken Layne and Matt Welch to the attention of Richard Riordan.
An unlikely new source of writing talent: Blogs [Chicago Tribune]
A job at American Prospect? I'm gonna have to pull my blog socks up.
Another day, another tube crash. This story about PPPs in the underground is a major story, and one that should be looked at.
I'm going to start looking into it.
The Dirty Dozen are six emcees from Detroit (Michigan). Their names are: Eminem, Bizarre, Proof, Swift, Kon Artis and Kuniva. Each member has his alter ego, so that makes a dozen. Proof, Eminem’s best friend had the idea of making a rap group in which each member had an alter ego.
The members Deshaun Holton (a.k.a Proof a.k.a Dirty Harry); Rufus Johnson (a.k.a Bizarre a.k.a Peter S.Bizarre); O. Moore (a.k.a Swifty Mc Vay); Von Carlisle (a.k.a Hannz G. a.k.a Kuniva); and Slim Shady a.k.a Eminem a.k.a Marshall Mathers are all known separately for their talent. The group was founded by Bizarre and Proof in 1990, but it only became a complete group when Proof brought a white M.C called Eminem into the group, and Swifty.
Bugz (who died in 1999) belonged to the D12 group.
The first time Proof introduced Eminem to Kon, Artis was very surprised: "Hmm, what’s the f…? White boy at my door!"
But within two months they were all rhyming together. Eminem was writing the rhymes and Kon Artis made the beats. Bizarre says that Marshall’s race wasn’t really a novelty on the 7 Mile Eastside. In fact there were many other whites living in the black neighbourhood .The D-12 members never saw Eminem just as a white boy. "That nigga ain’t white", Kon Artis says about his friend." He got white in him, but he ain’t white. "
To the D-12 crew the word ‘nigga’ isn’t negative."
Eminem showed his loyalty to the group when he went famous: the first to become famous was supposed to come back to the others, and he was the first to go to the top. He says: "Aside from everything, aside from all the bullshit ,I know I've got a good heart, I know where my loyalty is. Pretty much all the guys in the group have told me that they never doubted me (coming back for them) because that was our pact from way back, from when we first started the group 5 years ago."
"The D-12 crew was including the M.C Bugz (whose real name was Karnail Paul Pitts), who was shot on May the 21st in 1999 at Detroit’s Belle Island amusement park (*).
Eminem talks about the circumstances of his death: 'He got shot in the face twice, then run over by a car It was over some stupid shit. He wetted this girl with a water gun and these dudes came over and got their revenge.' (*)
Each D12- member has a tattoo on his forearm to remember him. He was respected in the hip hop scene and was familiar with Swift, whom he brought into the group.
Swift remembers:" Me and Bugz rapped together, laughed and got drunk together; He’s still with us, tough. Before we go on stage, we pray and he’s right there, over us."
"He had a big influence on us. Bugz had a lot of energy and a lot of respect in the hip hop scene. He was cool to everybody." Bizarre says.
Bugz was only 21 years old when he died. Before he died, he wanted Swift to be a member of the group and the D-12 members respected his wish and brought Swifty into the group. Bugz was supposed to perform on Friday, May the 28th, for a show in Grand Rapids (Michigan) on an Eminem tour, but he never appeared on the show. On Saturday, the sad news reached the D-12 members. The tragic death of Bugz increased the group’s determination to make an LP.
Even if Eminem produces the D-12 group, each member has his creativity and creates his own lyrics and songs. They first think about a concept, and then they try to make the beat and submit it to each other .If everybody agrees with the beat, they start to find the vocals, which word rhymes with which, other. They trust each other’s criticism.
Rufus Johnson has an interesting musical profile. He’s a member of the Dirty Dozen and of the New Jersey Outsidaz. His seven tracks EP "Attack of theWeirdos" has been successful.
Bizarre music is funny and amazing, and sometimes he makes his fans feel confused about his character. "I’m the type of guy that talks to bums. I don’t avoid to greet them. I ask them for money, before they can ask me." ,Bizarre says.
Bizarre also has many affiliations :Outsidaz Young Zee, Pace Won, Rah Digga, Eminem, etc….He has also done concerts with Redman, Alkaholics ,and Wu- Thang Clan Method Man. Bizarre style is unorthodox and ill .Bizarre probably writes craziest rhymes of the group, and he sometimes dyes his hair green or red. He’s really amazing. His rhymes sound crazy and disturbing: "I ain’t got food in my house/My job I been cheated/ My girl had a miscarriage / I had to eat it(."Amityville")
Kon Artis
Kon Artis used to be a member of a group called Da Brigade (with Kuniva).
Proof
Proof, Eminem’s best friend, took place in a freestyle battle in January 2002 and was first in Source Magazine freestyle competition in New York.
Kuniva
Kuniva, who also belonged to the group Da Brigade along with Kon Artis, had an unreleased
EP, but unfortunately the label had broken up, before it was released.
Eminem
Eminem is the producer of the D-12 crew…Before being famous, he belonged to the D-12 group.
MOUNT CLEMENS -- A Macomb Circuit judge threw out a $1 million lawsuit Friday filed by Eminem's elementary school classmate against the rapper for defamation of character.
DeAngelo Bailey of Roseville sued the rapper, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, in 2001, claiming his song "Brain Damage" depicted him in a false light. In the song, Eminem says Bailey beat him up regularly in elementary school.
Eminem asked Judge Deborah Servitto to dismiss the lawsuit, which she did.
In her written opinion, Servitto wrote a song saying Eminem's lyrics about Bailey posed no grounds for a lawsuit.
"The lyrics are stories no one would take as fact/ They're an exaggeration of a childish act," Servitto wrote in her 36-line rap. "Any reasonable person could clearly see/that the lyrics could only be hyperbole."
Bailey, a trash collector, is accused in Eminem's song of being a bully who shoved Eminem into school lockers and broke his nose on a bathroom urinal at school.
Eminem's lawyer, Peter Peacock, sought dismissal of the suit because he said the lyrics were true and that Bailey was an opportunist trying to cash in on the rapper's success.
Eminem's mother filed suit against the Roseville school district in 1982 over incidents between Bailey and Eminem at Dort Elementary School. The lawsuit was dismissed the following year because of governmental immunity.
Bailey said in court papers he never broke Eminem's nose or beat or choked him in the school bathroom, like the 1999 song on "The Slim Shady LP" says.
Bailey's attorney, Byron Nolen, said he was surprised Servitto wrote a rap to explain the case.
"I'm shocked that a judge would do that," Nolen said.
There is no defamation in telling the truth. It is kind of shocking to hear those sarcastic rhymes.
Eminem's story is a 100% true.
Bailey, who was two years older, a much bigger guy than him, terrorized him with a group of kids at Roseville Elementary School. About Marshall, D’Angelo says: "He was small, plus he had a big mouth." According to legal sources (Debbie Mathers sued Marshall’s school), there are four recorded incidents of Marshall getting beaten up.
On October 15th, 1981, he got beaten up, was bruised, and got the wind knocked out of him. The consequences were nausea, abnormal sleepiness and had injuries on his lips and tongue.
Later November 14th, Marshall took another beating. He suffered from insomnia, vomiting, nightmares and antisocial behavior.
And it went on like this on December 21st: Marshall had injuries on his face, head, back and legs after another beating.
But the worst was to come in 1982, on January 13th. Marshall was intentionally hit with a snowball containing a heavy object, was wounded severely while lying on the ground and went into a coma. He also suffered from intermittent loss of vision in his right eye and from an intermittent loss of hearing when he woke up from the coma. When Marshall was transferred to the hospital, the doctors thought he was to die, but Marshall woke up 10 days later, and the first sentence he said was: "now I can spell elephant". Debbie Mathers tried to sue Roseville Elementary School in 1982, because of Marshall’s head injury. She tried to prove that her son suffered from a lot of post-beating symptoms. But, unfortunately, the lawsuit was dismissed in 1983.
Who was talking about exaggeration?
1.) The weblog comes out of the gift economy, whereas most (not all) of today’s journalism comes out of the market economy.
2.) Journalism had become the domain of professionals, and amateurs were sometimes welcomed into it— as with the op ed page. Whereas the weblog is the domain of amateurs and professionals are the ones being welcomed to it, as with this page.
3.) In journalism since the mid-ninetheenth century, barriers to entry have been high. With the weblog, barriers to entry are low: a computer, a Net connection, and a software program like Blogger or Movable Type gets you there. Most of the capital costs required for the weblog to “work” have been sunk into the Internet itself, the largest machine in the world (with the possible exception of the international phone system.)
4.) In the weblog world every reader is actually a writer, and you write not so much for “the reader” but for other writers. So every reader is a writer, yes, but every writer is also a reader of other weblog writers—or better be.
5.) Whereas an item of news in a newspaper or broadcast seeks to add itself to the public record, an entry posted in a weblog engages the public record, because it pulls bits and pieces from it through the device of linking. In journalism the regular way, we imagine the public record accumulating with each day’s news— becoming longer. In journalism the weblog way, we imagine the public record “tightening,” its web becoming stronger, as links promotes linking, which produces more links.
6.) A weblog can “work” journalistically—it can be sustainable, enjoyable, meaningful, valuable, worth doing, and worth it to other people —if it reaches 50 or 100 or 160 souls who like it, use it, and communicate through it. Whereas in journalism the traditional way, such a small response would be seen as a failure, in journalism the weblog way the intensity of a small response can spell success.
7.) A weblog is like a column in a newspaper or magazine, sort of, but whereas a column written by twelve people makes little sense and wouldn’t work, a weblog written by twelve people makes perfect sense and does work.
8.) In journalism prior to the weblog, the journalist had an editor and the editor represented the reader. In journalism after the weblog, the journalists has (writerly) readers, and the readers represent an editor.
9.) In journalism classically understood, information flows from the press to the public. In the weblog world as it is coming to be understood, information flows from the public to the press.
10.) Journalism traditionally assumes that democracy is what we have, information is what we seek. Whereas in the weblog world, information is what we have—it’s all around us—and democracy is what we seek.
Mathers, 28, who awaits trial on allegations of cocaine possession during a traffic stop on Interstate 94 on June 10, now faces charges for a Sept. 29 party held in her Warren hotel room, according to police.
Acting on a report of a disorderly person, Warren officers spotted Mathers talking on a cellular phone outside her room at the Candlewood Suites shortly before 3 a.m., according to the Macomb Daily.
Police told the paper they heard yelling and loud music coming from inside. When she opened the door, officers saw several people inside, "several" open bottles of alcohol and cigarette rolling papers, according to a police report.
When officers tried to arrest a 27-year-old Warren man after spotting a small bag of suspected marijuana and a marijuana cigarette at his feet, the man quickly put a small bag in his mouth after an officer asked him to open his clenched fist, according to the paper.
Police believe the bag contained marijuana. A struggle with the man ensued, and police gave him a burst of pepper stray to subdue and handcuff him, the paper reported.
The suspect swallowed the bag, although he denied swallowing anything, according to the report.
A 28-year-old West Bloomfield man was arrested after tossing a bag of suspected Ecstasy pills on the floor, police told the paper. Ecstasy is a popular illegal synthetic drug.
Mathers apparently told police the room was in her name and that people were using marijuana and Ecstasy at the party, the police report states.
Prosecutors expect to obtain a warrant charging Mathers with maintaining a drug house.
Maintaining a drug house is a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison, a $25,000 fine, or both.
Mathers is also expected to stand trial some time next month on charges that she had cocaine in her possession during a traffic stop on June 10.
The drug charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Mathers divorced rap star Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, in 2001. They have a daughter, Hailie Jade. Kimberly Mathers also reportedly has another daughter from a relationship after her split from Eminem.
50 Cent, Obie Trice To Tour Australia
--Hiphop's highest selling artist of 2003 is headed Down Under in December to both Australia and New Zealand for the 'No Fear, No Mercy' Tour. Joining 50 Cent on the tour will be Shady Records recording artist Obie Trice who recently released his debut album 'Cheers'. Lloyd Banks and Young Buck of G-Unit may also make the trip but this is yet to be confirmed.
--In what is almost a carbon copy of Eminem's Australasian Tour, local press have commenced the negative 'gangsta rap' campaign, focusing on 50 Cent's past which included drug dealing and being shot 9 times. Promoter Michael Gudinski (who also did the Eminem / D12 tour) envisages no problem with authorities over the tour. "50 Cent has been to England and Japan, and there has been no issue in those countries," he said.
--When asked whether he would wear a bullet proof vest while on tour in Australia, 50 responded by saying "Even if things are going well for me at this point, I am not exempt from the situations that killed Tupac and Biggie, so I take precautions. It's not that I'm anticipating that. But in the event it does happen, I would like to be prepared for it."
--Dates for the shows in Australia are below. Tickets go on sale October 24th.
Fri Dec 5 : Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park
Sat Dec 6 : Sydney SuperDome
Sun Dec 7 : Brisbane Entertainment Centre
(Raptism.com)
Rosemary Ellis from the NYT, talks about the town of Helena, Montana, where dramatic effects were seen on health when smoking was banned in public places and then reintroduced.
First a note on Rudolphs recent visit to Ireland - who are about to ban smoking in all public places, and also have the highest incidence of heart disease in Europe.
Six months into New York City’s smoke-free ordinance, there has been a spate of criticism about the wisdom of sticking by such a ban. The most notable came in a roundabout swipe from none other than former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who declared during a trip to Ireland last month that Irish citizens should have the choice to smoke in public places. (Giuliani later tried to distance himself from his comments.)
Then this staggering figure:
The study showed two trends. First, there was no change in heart attack rates for patients who lived outside city limits. But for city residents, the rates plummeted by 58 percent in only six months.
‘‘We know from longer-term studies that the effects of secondhand smoke occur within minutes, and that long-term exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with a 30 percent increased risk in heart-attack rates,’’ says Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine who conducted the study’s statistical analysis. ‘‘But it was quite stunning to document this large an effect so quickly.’’
And like Ireland, pressure was put on by the Vintners:
It was also stunning to witness what happened next. The Montana state legislature, under pressure from the Montana Tavern Association and tobacco lobbyists, rescinded the ban in December. As a result, heart-attack rates bounced back up almost as quickly as they dropped.
And I work in bars too, by the way...
The bottom line of Helena’s plummeting then soaring heart attack rate is painfully obvious: Secondhand smoke kills. Only 30 minutes of exposure to it causes platelets in the bloodstream to become stickier. When that happens, blood clots form more easily, which can block arteries and cause heart attacks.
Dr. Richard Sargent, one of the study's authors, points out that eight hours of working in a smoky bar is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. In such an environment, other studies have shown, workers more than double their chances of developing cancer and asthma, and pregnant workers put themselves at risk for miscarriage and premature delivery.
All of which make Giuliani's comments particularly ill informed. And although the tobacco lobby continues to finance a campaign claiming that New Yorkers are unhappy with the ban, a poll released this month by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, reported that 59 percent of voters in the state favor prohibiting smoking in public places. Another survey, commissioned in August by anti-smoking groups, found that 70 percent of New York City voters support it.Smoking in public places also sets off an enormous domino effect in public-health spending by creating or worsening illnesses whose treatment costs are eventually shouldered by taxpayers.
For all of these reasons, New Yorkers can't afford to be as easily defeated as the citizens of Helena - nor as easily manipulated by the tobacco lobby and the politicians who are in its pocket.
Ban smoking in public places, everywhere.
William E. Howard the 3rd has quite a unique piece in today's Tribune. He argues for human colonisation of the moon - and for greater cooperation between nations. I absolutely agree - if we do not get off this planet, we will not survive.
What might we do on the moon? We can test applications involving nuclear propulsion, radiation control and advanced communications. We can gain experience building habitats in a hostile environment. We can develop solar-powered devices for use in space.
We can investigate the practicalities of using laser power transmission for electricity and develop and refine other power technologies for future exploration. We can develop better long-term life-support systems and medicine appropriate to sustain life in low gravity.
Of course, these suggestions are for the short term. The U.S. space program has already had many spinoff applications and technology developments that have improved our way of life. Just as those improvements could not have been foreseen, there will be many practical spinoffs as the United States develops a permanent lunar habitat that will lead to improvements in our quality of life that cannot now be predicted.
Especially in view of China's achievements, the lunar space station should be an international program. It would be a powerful vehicle to bring nations together, decreasing the chances for international conflict.
A reoriented and reinvigorated manned space program would offer a viable partnership to other space-faring nations that might welcome this opportunity to participate with the United States in developing a lunar habitat. For the United States, it would be a chance to explore practical ways to exist in space for very long periods.
Superstar rapper Eminem says Britney Spears "can't sing" and her music is "corny as hell".
The "Stan" singer insists he has nothing against the sexy singer personally; he just doesn't like her music.
Eminem says, "I've met Britney a couple of times but I'm not going to demolish her in public.
"I'm not a fan of her music though, that's for sure. I think it's corny as hell, but whatever. I can't knock her for doing her thing. She sucks and she can't sing."
But the rapper is forced to listen to Spears' songs - because his young daughter Hailie is a huge Britney fan. He says, "Hailie listens to Britney. She also likes Christina Aguilera, watches MTV and likes lots of people I don't. But what am I going to do?"
In his song “Hailie’s song”, Eminem says:’’ I love my daughter more than life in itself." Those are not only words put on a song, those are the expression of true feelings.
Eminem is well known for his vulgar vocabulary, his references to drugs and his dark humor. But there is one subject on which he never jokes: his daughter.
His feelings for his 8 year old daughter are authentic. In “Say Goodbye to Hollywood”, he states:” All I wanted was to give Hailie the life I never had.”
He’s a dedicated Daddy to his daughter, even if he barely spends time with her.
He also explains how she gave him the strengh to believe in himself and to fight for his dream to come true:
”I think that in a roundabout way she did save my life. I always had drive coming up and I always wanted to make it as a rapper. That was my dream. But when she was born, it was the reality of "I have to do this." I had nothing else. I had no high school education. I want her to be able to grow up and look back on this and be like — whether people agree with it or not — "My dad put me on a song. My dad wrote songs for me, my dad said my name all over the place." I want her to be able to look back in magazines and everything and just know. I don't ever wanna be like my father was to me.”
It seems like Hailie actually saved her Daddy’s life.
Eminem also tries to protect his daughter from the media as much as possible. He wants her to live a fairly normal life. He always feels concerned about the well being of his daughter. He talks about a typical day with Hailie in a “Rolling Stone” interview:
“When I’m home, I wake her up in the morning. I feed her some cereal, watch a little TV, take her to school and pick her up.Lately, I’ve been taking her to the studio, because that’s where I spend most of my time. She has fun there, there’s video games for her and stuff.
Coloring books and crayons- thank God for those. We watch a lot of movies, just typical shit. She’s real into The Powerpuff Girls and Hey Arnold! And Dora the Explorer-ever seen that one? It’s the same episode all week long because it teaches kids numbers and how to speak Spanish; By Friday, you know it by heart. I watch that with her, then I go listen to my songs over and over. I’m gonna fucking jump off a bridge.”
Eminem also makes clean versions of his CD’s and allows Hailie only to listen to the clean versions of his songs. But he’s got a liberal attitude to education and he doesn’t hide people’s bad mouth.He doesn’t want his daughter to grow up in a close world, which is a good thing.
He takes his role as a responsible father very seriously. He’s conscious to be a father before being a rapper. He says :”I’m a father before I’m Eminem.”
Hailie goes first. He also saves a lot of his money for his daughter, because he wants her life to be different from his. He wants her to be a graduate.
In an interview from November 2002 in Vibe Magazine, he declares :"So all I can do is to be the best father and try to instil Hailie the best values, because I do care about what is said around her and done around her."
To those who still think Marshall Mathers is a criminal, he replies in “Sing For The Moment": "It’s all political, if my music is literal, how the fuck can I raise a little girl?”
This text is dedicated to Marshall Mathers III who will be 31 on October the 17th. Happy birthday!
Many supporters of the magazine think it has made a big mistake by taking sides in the Benzino-Eminem battle.
Last February, David Mays, CEO and founder of The Source, and I talked on the phone for almost an hour. He was trying to explain to me why he had decided to put the power and reputation of his 15-year-old magazine behind rapper Benzino's fight with Eminem. Mays described the battle in racial, ideological terms.
''Hip-hop made me respect black people,'' said Mays, a white man who started The Source while a student at Harvard. ``Eminem's impact is reversing that entire trend. White kids are growing up claiming hip-hop as their own. That's the agenda Eminem's machine is passing.''
What he failed to see is what's plain to even the magazine's supporters: That it's an egregious conflict of interest for The Source to take sides, since, under his given name, Raymond Scott, Benzino is a co-founder and executive of the magazine.
''Benzino needs to be more professional with it,'' said Wilkine Brutus, a college student who came down from Tallahassee for the Source Awards show on Monday. ``He shouldn't knock a performer as high class as Eminem.''
Everyone I talked with last week, from some of the music industry's top leaders to young fans, think The Source has made a big mistake. The Benzino-Eminem battle has now mushroomed into a ''battle royale,'' as former Source editor Selwyn Seyfu Hinds put it in February. On The Source's side: the record label Murder, Inc. camp, including rapper Ja Rule. Many other acts, such as producers of the year The Neptunes, also turned out for the awards show and gave the magazine their respects.
''It's unfortunate everybody can't be a part of it,'' said Cam'ron, who won the Source's best-acting award. ``But the world doesn't stop.''
On Eminem's side: 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Interscope Records, and XXL magazine. 50 was the night's big winner, but he, Em, and such top artists as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott were M.I.A. in MIA.
''It would have been great if there had been more support from artists out here,'' said one executive involved in the show, who requested anonymity. ``But acts are wary of lining up with a supposedly unbiased publication that's clearly choosing sides.''
HISTORIC MOMENT
Mays won't talk to me anymore. Upset with my February article, The Source's publicist refused my requests for an interview and denied me credentials for covering the show -- a remarkably unprofessional way for a magazine to treat journalists. So instead of being stuck in a press room, I watched from a seat bought by The Herald. Though the show was a logistical nightmare, it was also a lot of fun.
The Source's historical timing was excellent. Last week, for the first time, the top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 were by black artists. Hip-hop is to today's youth what rock was in the '60s: the defining music of a generation (or two).
''I love it, mostly because hip-hop has not gone pop; pop came to hip-hop,'' says Stephen Hill, the senior vice president at BET who supervised the taping (to be broadcast 8 p.m. Nov. 11).
But this historic chart moment also disproves Mays's argument: Eminem isn't whitewashing hip-hop; instead, pop is blacker than ever.
It's strange that 50 Cent won three trophies. The awards are determined by a panel of DJs over whom Mays could presumably exercise influence. Did he let 50 win as some kind of olive branch? Or did he have to bow to the demands of the hip-hop community, which stands behind 50 despite The Source's efforts to discredit him? Whenever 50's name was announced as a nominee, the crowd cheered. Ja Rule was booed.
What's sad about The Source war is that Mays constantly says hip-hop is a unifying music -- and he's fostered the biggest schism since the East Coast-West Coast rivalry of the '80s.
SOCIAL WORK
The controversy also takes away from the important political and social work people in hip-hop are doing. Last Saturday, the Source Youth Foundation, which gives money to inner-city organizations, and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, an activist group founded by Russell Simmons, held a concert and meeting. The event was moved at the last minute, received little promotion from The Source, and was the most poorly attended summit in HSAN history.
Thousands have shown up in Detroit and Philadelphia; there were about 100 people at the Caleb Center in Liberty City. Too bad, since if there's an area that could benefit from the organization's drive to register black voters and improve public education, it's South Florida.
''We're trying to build an infrastructure around a new kind of consciousness,'' Simmons said Saturday. ``It's becoming in style to pay attention to social issues.''
Mays says it all the time: Hip-hop is at a historic moment. He sees it as a crisis, the cooptation of a black art form by Eminem's ''mainstream media'' minions.
But Darryl McDaniels, the DMC of legendary rap group Run-D.M.C., put it differently when he accepted the DJ of the year trophy for his slain band member, Jam Master Jay:
``This hip-hop thing is gigantic. It's big, it's ridiculous -- and we are all in this together. We've got to take this hip-hop s - - - and change the world.''
The Source's statements are becoming more and more ridiculous. We all know that hip hop is a genre created by Blacks.Eminem is very conscious of his skin color and of being a white man growing up among Blacks. I think Eminem has opened a new path to the youth...thanks to him, hip hop is becoming more universal. There is nothing bad about, if non- Blacks love black music.Moreover it is a strong weapon against racism. Eminem reunites the black and white underclasses.
According to me, music doesn't belong to a specific ethnic group,even if it has been created by it. Music belongs to anybody , music is universal. There shouldn't be any racism in hip hop. The Source owner's arguments are even not credible.
NEW YORK - Afeni Shakur, the mother of rapper Tupac Shakur, says she's touched the hip-hop community continues to be supportive, seven years after her son's death.
"I always feel like I get special treatment. I never felt that I couldn't ask anyone for anything," Shakur told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.
"I respect them, I have a lot of respect for them. I like them. They're nice to me, and they're good to my son."
Shakur created Amaru Entertainment-Amaru Records after her son was shot to death in 1996, and the company has put together albums of his unreleased work.
She's also an executive producer of a film documentary on his life, "Tupac: Resurrection," and oversaw a book of the same name, which will be published later this month. The movie will be released in November.
Shakur says she's relied on help from rappers including Dr. Dre and Eminem to help keep her son's name, and music, alive.
"I'm conscious of the fact that I'm 56 trying to do my son's work," she said. "I don't know that we would have been able to keep an ethical, quality project without the hip-hop community caring almost as much as me."
On Sunday, The Source Youth Foundation will honor Shakur for her charitable work, including the creation of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation Inc., which encourages children in the arts. The awards dinner in Miami, to be hosted by Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton, will also honor LL Cool J, Nelly, boxer Roy Jones Jr. and dancer Crazy Legs.
Shakur says receiving the award is bittersweet, because it reminds her that her son isn't around.
"Who knows what would have happened (had he lived)?" she said.
"I'm sad that he can't see how much people appreciate his work. I think he would have been pleased. I think he would be pleased to know how much people appreciate his mom, too."
The whole movie’s success is mainly due to Eminem’s great charisma and ability to act, but some other actors like Mekhi Pfifer have shown great talent too.
Eminem plays the character of Jimmy Smith Jr (Bunny Rabbit) who works at the Detroit stamping plant.He lives in a trailor park with his mom (Kim Basinger) , her abusive boyfriend Greg and his half sister Lily after being dumped by his
girfriend.
The movie shows the harsh conditions of living of Jimmy and the fun he has with his friends and co workers.Moreover, it shows the hard struggle of a white MC to be recognized at the rap battles that take place once a week. He first gets boed on stage because he is so much impressed. The words just don’t come out of his mouth.
The first scene of 8 Mile, in the restroom clearly shows B.Rabbit’s weakness, his stagefright.
When B. Rabbit shows up on stage, his facial expression is an expression of fear, he is so much impressed in front of the crowd, despite the support of his friends.Papa Doc has won one battle, but he has not won the war at all...B.Rabbit will shut him down at the end of the movie by exposing some private details of his life (like the fact that he went to the private school Cranbrook) in the last rap battle.This is a well known principle of the rap battles. You have to diss your enemy and to reach your goal you are allowed to use any detail of his privacy to make him look ridiculous in front of the whole crowd.Winning a rap battle is like winning a battle in real life, it has a real meaning for an M.C. Eminem pointed it out in an interview about 8 Mile.
8 Mile exposes the life of Stephanie(Bunny Rabbit’s mom played by Kim Basinger) who is always drunk and addicted to bingo (like Debbie Mathers).Her life is a succession of dramas, she risks to get evicted from her trailer because she’s late in paying her rent.Her son Jimmy fights Greg and manages to get rid of him as he begins to become violent towards Stephanie.
Her boyfriend is constantly drunk and violent.Lily, Jimmy’s half sister lives in a constant atmosphere of insecurity and violence.Jimmy is the only person who really takes care of her.
The relationship Jimmy has with his mom is complex. His mom’s behavior bothers him a lot, he sometimes feels ashamed in front of his friends, but inside of him he still got a lot of tenderness for her.
Two friends are trying to push Jimmy in two different directions:
-David Porter “The Future” played by Mekhi Pfifer, who wants him to face lyrical battles and to get recognition at the local scene.
-“Wink” rather believes in connections to important people.
8 Mile is moving, it refers to real life in Detroit, even if the movies is semi autobiographical.
In one scene (which is also my favorite), we can see Rabbit in his trailer home sitting on his chair, looking for some inspiration. You can see how he uses each space of the paper sheet, writing on each space, each corner, on the left, on the right of his page, until the page gets filled.
While writing and smiling in direction of his half sister, the melody of “Lose Yourself” is popping into his head. The words “Lose Yourself” and “If you only had one shot” resound in his head like an echo while Rabbit is writing his rhymes on each corner of his paper sheet. You can see a genius at work.
The relationship between Bunny Rabbit and Future symbolizes the friendship between Eminem and his best friend Proof in real life.
Alex (played by Brittany Murphy) plays Jimmy’s love interest. Alex and Rabbit’s characters have something in common: they both want to reach their goals, but in different directions with a main difference: Rabbit never loses his integrity, but Alex is ready to cheat on him in order to reach her goal.
The context of 8 Mile might be different from Eminem’s life story, but musically we find Eminem’s style in the rap battles as well as in the songs he composes in the movie.
An excellent and authentic movie, the lyrical battles are worth seeing.
George Monbiot argues that appeasing the US armed forces has become a priority for the US president.
The relationship between governments and those who seek favours from them has changed. Not long ago, lobbyists would visit politicians and bribe or threaten them until they got what they wanted. Today, ministers lobby the lobbyists.
Whenever a big business pressure group holds its annual conference or dinner, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown or another senior minister will come and beg it not to persecute the government. George Bush flies around the United States, flattering the companies that might support his re-election, offering tax breaks and subsidies even before the companies ask for them.
But while we are slowly becoming aware of the corporate capture of our governments, we seem to have overlooked the growing power of another recipient of this back-to-front lobbying. In the United States, a sort of reverse military coup appears to be taking place.
Tom points to a strongly worded article in the Independent, on electronic voting.
Something very odd happened in the mid-term elections in Georgia last November. On the eve of the vote, opinion polls showed Roy Barnes, the incumbent Democratic governor, leading by between nine and 11 points. In a somewhat closer, keenly watched Senate race, polls indicated that Max Cleland, the popular Democrat up for re-election, was ahead by two to five points against his Republican challenger, Saxby Chambliss.
From all his albums, the Marshall Mathers Lp has raised the most controversy. Eminem’s rhymes have shocked a lot of people . Among them, the GLAAD (Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation who have spoken against his lyrics. Eminem has also been protested against by the same association. The whole controversy can be summarized in three points (in the Glaad’s point of view):
-the inserability of Eminem’s music and his violent lyrics
-the refusal of Eminem, Interscope Records and Universal Music to take personal responsability for the lyrical content of the Marshall Mathers LP
-the Grammy nominations: on the 21st of February 2001, they protested against his nomination in L.A.
The big problem is always the misinterpretation of Eminem’s lyrics. The GLAAD in particular took exerpts of his lyrics to make a real monster of Mr Mathers. If he really was that homophobic, why would he have performed “Stan” with Elton John?
I am an adult woman who enjoys very much tracks like “Kill You”. I don’t feel insulted nor humiliated by those lyrics.Why? Simply because I know Eminem is joking during the whole song.He adds “I’m just playing ladies, you know I love you” at the end of his song.Why did the Glaad and other conservative people just ignore this sentence?
To me, Eminem’s lyrics are not more dangerous than watching “Scary Movie” or playing some violent game on the playstation.
Slim Shady is a fiction...Slim Shady is mean ,violent in his words, but he is NOT Marshall Mathers.
Like he expresses it himself, Eminem’s music is his therapy.”Kill You” helped him to work out his problems with his mom as well as the song “Kim” helped him to express his problems with his ex wife Kim. Moreover, the song “Kim” is a deep expression of (unhappy ) love.
Among the provocative songs, you can count “The Real Slim Shady” where Eminem disses people like Christina Aguilera for her personal comments about Kim and the content of Eminem’s lyrics.In this fake pop music world, Eminem has the honesty to show when he doesn’t like somebody.
“The Real Slim Shady” has also shocked a lot of people because of its sexual content. A Colorado radio station has been condammned to pay 7000 $ for playing the uncensored version of “The Real Slim Shady”. Mtv also censors words like “clitoris” in that song as if it wasn’t a part of the human body.
“The Way I Am” expresses Eminem’s pressures on the way to the top.
In his song “Who knew”, Eminem points out that he is not the one to be held responsible for some teenagers’ crazy behavior. It’s the parents’ responsability to take care of their kids.And for the parents who are really worried about the “Marshall Mathers Lp” lyrical content, clean versions do exist. Why not buy them?
Eminem is all about Freedom of Speech. People shouldn’t deny him the right to say what he wants, even if they strongly disagree with him.
The First Amendment of the American Constitution allows the Freedom of Speech to any citizen. Marshall Mathers has the right to use it, and even to be politically incorrect.
I have written a biography on Eminem which has not been published yet. My manuscript is currently in Paul Rosenberg's hands and I am asking for Eminem's permission to publish this book.
I would like to share the synopsis of "The Real Story Of Eminem" with you.
SYNOPSIS
CHAPTER 1:EMINEM A.K.A MARSHALL MATHERS A.K.A SLIM SHADY
The first chapter describes Eminem’s childhood,the harsh circumstances he went through,constantly moving from Kansas City to Detroit.
The fact that he was constantly switching schools made it difficult for him to build up true frienships. His only close friend was his uncle Ronnie.
When he finally moved to Detroit in a predominantly black neighborhood with his mom, he was constantly bullied at school.
Chapter 1 also explains how much Eminem suffered from his mom’s illness. Debbie Mathers suffered from Munchhausen’s syndrom.In this kind of desease,the mother makes her child believe that he is sick when he is not,just to get some attention and in order to prove she’ a caring mother. This kind of desease can even lead to the child’s death.
Debbie Mathers can be considered the first person responsible of Eminem’s drug addiction.She put him on Ritalin with no reason, which is a medication for hyperactive kids.
Eminem’s love hate relationship towards his wife has always been complicated d has finally lead to their divorce in 2001. He is a devoted father to his daughter Hailie Jade who is the most important person in his life.
CHAPTER 2 : MARSHALL’S WAY TO THE TOP
Chapter 2 is about Marshall’s rapid assumption from the bottom to stardom. It clearly shows his struggle to succeed.
During his rapid way to the top, Marshall Mathers has been facing financial and personal difficulties.
The start of his career put a lot of pressure on him.
CHAPTER 3: THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL RAPPER
Chapter 3 exposes the mind of a brilliant artist and lyricist and also tries to do away with the stereotypes attached to Eminem.
Its offers an analysis of his lyrics and of his sense of humor.
People who know Eminem talk about him.
CHAPTER 4: THE DIRTY DOZEN: EMINEM’S GROUP
D 12 is Eminem’s group. The D12 album shows a perfect reflection of the ghetto life in Detroit.
It has a thug life. It shows the harsh daily reality ofthe Detroit ghetto, that is a dark place where murder is law and where black people are constantly discriminated against.
CHAPTER 5 : 8 MILE, EMINEM’S MOVIE
8 Mile is a semi-autobiographical movie. 8 Mile refers to 8 Mile Road in Detroit , which is the border between the black neighborhood (7 Mile Road) and the white neighborhood (9 Mile Road). This border is also psychological: it represents the border between two different cultures.
But it represents even much more: it is also the border between our current situation and the place where we want to be,our dreams and our goals in life.
The message contained in “8 Mile” is very positive: if you believe in your dreams and if you work hard enough at it,you will manage to succeed.
CHAPTER 6: HISTORY OF RAP
If you want to understand Eminem, you must understand where his roots are. He is a white man who totally integrated hip hop culture. His struggle to be recognised as a white M.C. in a black audience has been far from easy. A brief examination of the rules of rap game can make people understand Eminem’s behavior as a hip hop artist. Many negative critics come from a total misunderstanding of rap culture.
I am a rap music listener and lover. To me, the answer is clearly no.
I am conscious that rap lyrics usually contain a lot of references to drugs, sex, violence, etc...Many people would object that those lyrics may endanger the youth.
I think parents should allow their children to listen to rap music. Rap music cannot be held responsible for their kid's behavior. The parents have to teach their kids to distinguish between right and wrong.
Rap music is the reflection of ghetto life. There is nothing wrong about telling the truth. Many gangsta rappers talk about racism, police harassment and bad treatments from the police. They refer to reality.
We need people like Public Enemy to shock people's conscience about racism.
"By the time I get to Arizona" has shocked many people. But the same people who are so shocked by this video should take a look at the facts: Arizona is well known for its racism, it's a matter of fact.
The only way to make things move is to shock people's conscience. Censoring rap music denies our fundamental rights and is a danger to democracy.
Investigators think they've found some of Hussein's loot.
Since the fall of Baghdad in April, American officials have scoured the globe in search of Saddam Hussein's legendary fortune. Now they think they have found a big chunk. According to a U.S. estimate, as much as $3 billion in Iraqi assets is sitting in Syrian government- controlled banks, a senior U.S. official tells Time, and Washington is anxious to determine that the money is not funding violence against Americans in Iraq, or being drawn down by regime officials and supporters.
Bob Herbert from the Times has a good article in the Herald Tribune -
The United States has tried again and again to get help from the United Nations as a way of legitimizing its tragic misadventure in Iraq. But the UN, which was founded in 1945 to foster international cooperation as a way of promoting peace, is following the quiet guidance of its secretary general, Kofi Annan, whose response to the latest U.S. entreaty has been a polite but firm no.
.
At a private lunch last week with members of the Security Council, the secretary general made it clear that there was no chance he would go along with a U.S. proposal to have the United Nations assist in the effort to rebuild and reestablish security in Iraq even as the United States retains full control of the country.
"The U.S. would like to have its cake and eat it," said a diplomat who attended the lunch. "It wants to fly the UN flag to demonstrate to Iraqis and others that it is no longer an occupying power. But the U.S. would still be the occupying power because it would still be ruling the country." The latest American request, a proposed Security Council resolution calling for a multinational security force in Iraq, is going nowhere, officials said. The word Thursday was that the U.S. might well abandon it.
Maureen Dowd with another, controversial, piece in the Times.
Most notably this accusation:
Mr. Cheney lumped terrorists and tyrants into one interchangeable mass, saying that Mr. Bush could not tolerate a dictator who had access to weapons of mass destruction, was allied with terrorists and was a threat to his neighbors. Sounds a lot like the military dictator of Pakistan, not to mention the governments of China and North Korea.
To back up his claim that Saddam was an immediate threat, the vice president had to distort the findings of David Kay, the administration's own weapons hunter, and continue to overdramatize the danger of Saddam. "Saddam built, possessed and used weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Cheney said. Yes, but during the first Bush administration.
Perhaps the president now realizes the Cheney filter is dysfunctional. If Mr. Bush still needs a daddy to tell him what to do, he should call his own.
BOO YAA! That’s the sound of a shotgun. Like a sneak attack, the Boo Yaa Tribe is back for the kill with a bangin’ new album, West Koasta Nostra. So let’s go down to the outfit’s Santa Monica offices and catch up.
Ever meet a small Samoan? The Boo Yaa tribesmen are 6-foot, 300-to-500-pound, tatted-up, braided-down, white-T-shirted, sagging-khakied, Chucks-shod, street-talking dawgs. Growing up, these seven sons of the Reverend Tauilima Devoux learned by ear to handle the instruments their dad bought them. He preached; they played. But growing up in the eight-ball city of Carson, the brothers exchanged the house of worship for the harbor streets: They got jumped into the O.G. Piru West gang and became Damus (Swahili for Bloods), known in order of age as Godfather, Murder One, Youngman, Kobra, Ganxsta Ridd, Monsta O, and the baby of the family, 500-pound Gawtti.
During the ’80s N.W.A era, gangbanging and doing time became a way of life for the brothers. Ganxsta Ridd, who had always written dirty poems to beats, decided he’d turn to rap. The Tribe put their money together, hooked up with DJ/producer Tony G., and in 1987 self-released the 12-inch single “One Time,” which drew A&R attention at Island Records.
In 1988, as the Boo Yaas were about to get signed, Youngman (Robert, the youngest to attend Folsom) was shot to death by rival gangsters, their uncle was smoked by a Shermed-out homeboy with an AK-47 as he watered his grass, and their grief-stricken grandmother followed. Three deaths in one month — but the Tribe kept their focus, inked with Island, and in 1990 busted out with New Funky Nation.
The day before the Boo Yaas were to board the bus for the 1992 Lollapalooza tour, says brother Gawtti, he was “caught slippin’” as he took out the trash in front of his house, and was shot at close range six times with a .45; doctors said he survived only because of his size. Once again the group turned to the music, and on the tour played the style they call “ghetto metal,” a mix of rap and rock they’d come up with before Ice-T’s Body Count went that way. Kobra and Ridd say that all the main acts, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were coming down to the second stage to check them out. The Tribe got offers to perform with the headliners, but they weren’t into “alternative” acts; they just wanted to bang backstage.
Between then and now, great stage shows haven’t helped the Boo Yaa Tribe in the studio: A number of small labels have seemed unable to get beyond the image and let the brothers’ rapping, singing, playing and dancing shine. “They let the intimidation overshadow the talent,” says Kobra. So the Tribe invested in a new label, Sarinjay Records; G-funk producer Battlecat (Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg) marinated Boo Yaa’s sounds in the studio; and 11 bumping tracks resulted.
One cut, “911,” was produced by Eminem; according to Kobra, he “saw the struggle, the blood in the eyes of the Boo Yaa Tribe.” The number is a warning call: “Hip-hop is in a state of 911,” rap Eminem and Cypress Hill’s B-Real to the sound of gunfire (à la Tupac’s “Against All Odds”). A regular gangsta gumbo, West Koasta Nostra also ended up including Mack 10 (on the flamed-up single and DVD video “Bang On”), WC, Kurupt, Crooked I, Knoc-Turn’al, Kokane, Short Khop, Eastwood and Gail Gotti.
No set-trippin’ here; do the ghetto math: red + blue = green. “We’re tired of pointing guns at each other, when we could go make this money,” says Ganxsta Ridd.
You’ll feel a family’s pain on this album, but just listen to the funky last cut, “Beautiful Thang” (a remake of Chaka Khan’s “Sweet Thing”), featuring Baby-Down; it will take you back to old school, when times were simpler. With the brothers playing live bass, keyboards and drums, Ganxsta Ridd sings: “Boo Yaa Tribe till I die/In a all-burgundy Bentley/It’s a beautiful music flowin’/Three-part harmony blowin’/And you can tell that they’re churchgoin’.”
“Tupac put impact in our life, now we’re trying to hit an artery; Boo Yaa goes straight into your heart,” says Ganxsta Ridd. “I’ve been telling my little homies in the hood, it’s all about divide and conquer. They put labels to divide. Fuck that, music is music.” Brother Kobra jumps in: “Chaos brings order. Boo Yaa’s been through every fuckin’ chapter, and it was the music that saved us.”
Source becomes an origin of controversy
Every month across America, more than 400,000 people go to newsstands or their mailboxes for copies of a magazine called The Source. What they find in its pages is a lively update on the fast-moving, often combative culture of hip-hop. And lately they are finding something else: Along with the expected rapper profiles, topical essays and album reviews comes coverage of a feud -- the one The Source has engaged in with some of the biggest names in the multibillion-dollar rap trade.
So as players and hangers-on gathered in Miami this week for the Source Hip-Hop Music Awards, the ceremony found itself competing with subplots for the attention of hip-hop consumers.
Launched by The Source in 1998, the awards show takes place on Monday at Miami Arena and will be taped for broadcast next month on BET. Whether the candidates for, say, album of the year generate as much buzz as the magazine's de facto enemies list -- the latter led by rap star Eminem -- is anybody's guess.
"From where we sit, it is clear that our culture is being destroyed, and The Source is the only media outlet that will step up and try to save it," says a letter to readers in the latest issue. It's written by Source Enterprises CEO David Mays and his second-in-command, Raymond Scott -- also known as rapper Benzino. "We aren't afraid to speak the truth, and expose the fake, plotting, scheming, selfish people in the industry."
But some observers wonder whether the magazine is not engaged in some diversionary scheming of its own. The baiting of Eminem, a past winner of Source Awards and former recipient of favorable coverage, started shortly before the release of a new album by Scott under his rap alias of Benzino. Scott mocked Eminem as "the rap Hitler, the culture-stealer" in a song called "Die Another Day," while his magazine weighed in with stories questioning Eminem's legitimacy in a genre with roots in urban black poverty. Scott and The Source have argued that Eminem's success and critical acclaim -- no rapper has sold more records in the past decade -- are due to his skin color.
Critics fear that Benzino is using his position as a journalist to further his rap ambitions -- picking a fight in The Source's pages to generate interest for his album and in the process endangering the magazine's reputation as a fair, trustworthy voice on hip-hop. Benzino's "Redemption" reached stores in January and has garnered a Source Award nomination: single of the year by a male solo artist for "Rock the Party."
Eminem, a male solo artist, received no nominations despite critical raves and box-office success for "8 Mile," the soundtrack and movie that starred the rapper and spawned the hit single "Lose Yourself."
The Source flatly denies that its impartiality has been skewed by the magazine's relationship with Scott. "Benzino and The Source are not interchangeable," wrote Source.com editor Gotti Bonanno in an online editorial. "The Source has always made it a point to keep Benzino's music career and the magazine business from interfering with each other."
The Source declined a request to make Mays, Scott or any editorial staffer available for a discussion of these issues. But some observers say the magazine's behavior over the years contradicts its claim of editorial separation.
In 1994, Mays wrote an article about Scott's rap band at the time, The Almighty RSO, and ran it over the objections of his colleagues. Eight staffers resigned in protest.
The magazine more than survived that scrape. Its circulation only grew as the parent company expanded into Web publishing, compilation albums, a youth foundation and the awards show.
Benzino and the Source owners have proven to be big racists. How can they accuse Eminem of stealing a culture in which he grew up? Eminem embraced black culture, his roots are hip hop. He grew up in the black hood of Detroit.
He didn't choose his skin color and he is conscious to be white and to do music owned by black people. Eminem has struggled very hard to be recognised as a white M.C. among a mainly black audience, he's brilliant in rhyming and doing his music. The fact that he's so successful causes a lot envy in the world of hip hop.
Marshall Mathers is the first to be conscious about racial discrimnation, he knows that he probably would have sold less records if he was black.He has proven to be a non racist person, his best friends, like Proof from the D12 group are Blacks.
To me, Benzino is a gangsta wannabe who wants to make easy money off Eminem's back. He is not even famous, he is jealous of his rival's success.
In my opinion, the Source has lost its credibilty by making racist statements against Mr Mathers.
Critics should focus their interest on the artist's talent or work, but not on his skin color...
This album ,which was released in 1999, relates real life dramas along with fictional murdering and rape fantasies. Eminem talks about drugs, alcohol and violence. It also refers to a period where Eminem was facing a lot of financial and personal problems.
The Slim Shady LP gives birth to Eminem's alter ego who is a mad character, a psychopath killer. Slim Shady also represents our hidden thoughts, each person's dark side.
"Brain Damage is a mixture of autobiographical facts (it's the story of Marshall Mathers getting bullied by D'Angelo Bailey at school) and fictional facts (like his retaliation). The discerning listener will understands easily that the killing and murdering fantasies are not serious.
"Bonnie and Clyde 97" is a fantasy about killing Kim. Some sensitive people may be shocked by the lyrics of Bonnie and Clyde, but they should try to understand the context in which it was written: Kim had dumped Marshall and she tried to separate him from Hailie. This song is a retaliation and Hailie whose voice is used in the track, is his accomplice.
If you have ever experienced financial and personal difficulties, you will probably be able to relate to "If I had" and to "Rock Bottom". "Rock Bottom" is a song that moves me deeply and reminds me of a very dark period of my life.
"Rock Bottom" is themost realistic song of the whole album... It was written the night Eminem attempted suicide. He addresses to people who have comfortable lives and who don't realize the hard conditions of living of poor people. This dedication is sarcastic. Usually those people who live so comfortably are blind to pain and misery.
When you've hit the bottom, you've been humbled to the point that you know "we are all going the same way when we die". You are much more closer to this metaphysical truth. "Guilty conscience" which was co-written with Dr. Dre, envisions the reality of the American society.
As you probably all know, Eminem doesn't mind offending you.
But if he did: Good! Cuz he still "doesn't give a f..."!
In a day of escalating violence in Baghdad, a Spanish intelligence officer was shot to death in front of his home Thursday and a car bomber plowed into a crowd of Iraqi policemen waiting to collect their pay, killing himself and at least eight others.
The bomb, which blasted a deep crater outside a police station in Baghdad's biggest slum, wounded more than 40 people. Another casualty was a U.S. soldier with the 4th Infantry Division, who died early Thursday morning from wounds received Monday during a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy northeast of Baghdad. Spain's Foreign Ministry said the slain officer, José Antonio Bernal Gómez, 34, was an air force sergeant attached to Spain's National Intelligence Center. A Spanish diplomat in Baghdad told The Associated Press that one of the gunmen who killed Bernal had been disguised as a Shiite Muslim cleric.
In a supposedly well-protected, expensive part of the city, the Spaniard was chased from his home by three assailants and gunned down, barefoot and in his undershorts, a Spanish official said. The Spanish foreign affairs secretary, Ramón Gil-Casares, said that the Iraqi authorities had known that Bernal belonged to Spain's intelligence body and that he had been gathering information.
"He was a security professional and we don't know why he opened the door so easily, or if he could have known one of the men in the group or not," Gil-Casares told reporters in Madrid. The suicide bombing attack and the death of the Spanish officer renewed fears about the vulnerability of so-called soft targets, which have been hit more often since the U.S.-led coalition forces and the civilians working for them tightened their own security.
It was also the latest attack against Iraqis holding official positions, who are often denounced as "collaborators" by people hostile to the American presence here. "I do not want to work anymore for the police," said Jassim Mihsin, 31, a police officer for 13 years who was only several yards away from the explosion, as he recovered in a hospital bed here. "I am going to find a simple job to avoid problems and explosions." At the bombing site, mangled police cars were scattered around and debris filled the big courtyard in front of the one-story police building. Scores of American soldiers surrounded the building in Humvees. The attacker drove a white Oldsmobile through the police compound gate, was fired at by officers, then detonated the bomb, Major Majid Abdel-Hameed of the Iraqi police told The Associated Press. An Iraqi policeman who pushed through the huge crowd around the scene was stabbed in the upper right arm after being set upon by spectators. He was treated by military medics. His arrival created a commotion among the crowd, which began chanting, "No, no to America!" A dozen ambulances raced toward the facility after the blast, which occurred about 8:45 a.m. in the sprawling slum of mostly Shiite Muslims known as Sadr City in northeast Baghdad.
The bombing was the latest in a series of assaults that began in early August with an attack on the Jordanian Embassy, followed by car and truck bombings at the UN headquarters in Baghdad and at a Shiite shrine in the southern city of Najaf. More than 120 people were killed in the Najaf attack, including a leading Shiite cleric.
The American soldier, who was not identified, was the 92nd to die by hostile fire since President George W. Bush declared major hostilities in Iraq over on May 1.
Bush, trying to defend the Iraq war in the face of growing doubts at home and mounting U.S. casualties, said Thursday that he had acted to protect Americans from a "madman," Saddam Hussein, Reuters reported from Manchester, New Hampshire.
"Who could possibly think that the world would be better off with Saddam Hussein still in power?" Bush said during a visit to New Hampshire, site of the first major presidential primary election next year.
"I acted because I was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman. I was not about to stand by and wait and trust in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein," Bush said.
Bush has faced growing public suspicions that he exaggerated an Iraqi threat of unconventional weapons, which have not been found, to justify the war. Officer is chased from home and shot; 9 die as bomber drives into policemen
This is all very worrying.
Few Americans are even aware that the Chinese are preparing the launching of Shenzhou V. That it is likely to occur while the U.S. shuttle fleet is grounded will magnify how the United States and the world perceive China's technological achievement. Certainly, some in Washington will react by claiming that the launching requires the United States to spend more money on space. In policy circles, its perceived strategic importance could also chill recently warmed U.S.-China relations. But will it also trigger a demand to reinvigorate the U.S. manned space program? At the moment, although an austere version of the International Space Station is in orbit, it has been a stepchild while military space has ascended in importance.
If China successfully launches a taikonaut into orbit, it is likely to "win" in all the ways the United States did during the Apollo series. If the launching is not a success, China will suffer and mourn just as the United States did after the loss of the Challenger and the Columbia, and then it will rethink whether to continue with the program. Success in the heavens is spectacular, but so too is failure.
The writer is chairwoman of the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College. The views expressed in this article are the author's alone. Reprinted with permission from YaleGlobal Online (http://yaleglobal.yale.edu).
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists said Wednesday the universe could be spherical and patched together like a soccer ball -- and it may not be infinite.
Jeffrey Weeks, a MacArthur Fellow based in Canton, New York, and researchers from the University of Paris and Observatory of Paris analyzed astronomical data which suggests the universe is finite and made of curved pentagons joined together into a ball.
In research reported in the science journal Nature on Wednesday, the scientists said data from NASA (news - web sites)'s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotrophy Probe (WMAP), which maps background radiation left over from the Big Bang, is not consistent with an infinite universe. "Since antiquity, humans have wondered whether our universe is finite or infinite. Now, after more than two millennia of speculation, observational data might finally settle the ancient question," Weeks said.
In a commentary on the research, George Ellis of the University of Cape Town in South Africa, said if Weeks and his colleagues are correct we might indeed live in a small, closed universe.
If our universe is finite, I wonder if there is something else over the universe?
Top Stories - Reuters
Catholic Churches Say Condoms Don't Stop AIDS - BBC
LONDON (Reuters) - The lives of Roman Catholics in some of the countries worst hit by HIV (news - web sites)/AIDS (news - web sites) are being put at even greater risk by advice from their churches that the use of condoms does not prevent transmission of the disease, according to a British television program.
If condoms cannot be absolutely guaranteed to block sperm, they stand even less chance of stopping the much smaller virus, the churches' argument runs.
The Roman Catholic church opposes any form of artificial contraception -- particularly condoms, which it says promote promiscuity.
But the traditional opposition is now being reinforced by arguments over their efficacy.
"The moral argument against the use of condoms is being superseded by a clinical argument which is flawed," said Steve Bradshaw, reporter on the BBC Panorama program "Sex and the Holy City" that will be aired in Britain on Sunday night.
"The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon," Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican (news - web sites)'s Pontifical Council for the Family, told the program.
"The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom."
He said that just as health authorities warned about dangers like tobacco, so they had an obligation to issue similar warnings about condoms.
The Archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki told the program: "AIDS...has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms."
While in Luak near Lake Victoria, Gordon Wambi, director of an AIDS testing center, said he had been prevented from distributing condoms because of church opposition.
Bradshaw told Reuters the program team did not go out looking for the story, but stumbled across it during research.
"We heard the same line so many times from different people in different places that we decided to approach the Vatican," he said.
The World Health Organization (news - web sites), guardian watchdog of global wellbeing, rejected the Vatican view.
"These incorrect statements about condoms and HIV are dangerous when we are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people, and currently affects at least 42 million," the WHO told the program.
It conceded condoms could break or be damaged and permit passage of semen, but said they reduced the risk of infection by 90 percent and were certainly secure enough to prevent passage of the virus if not torn.
Panorama said scientific research had found intact condoms were impermeable to particles as small as sexually transmitted infection pathogens -- a view rejected by Trujillo.
"They are wrong about that...this is an easily recognizable fact," he told the program.
From Nicaragua to Kenya and the Philippines, the Panorama team found the same tale from the Catholic church -- that condoms can kill.
No official comment from the Vatican was immediately available on Thursday.
Honestly, I think that Catholic Church tries to take people's lives under control.
Condoms have been proven to be efficient and to make aids decrease,
even if they're not a 100% secure.
Churches should not get involved in people's sexuality. In my opinion, it's a private matter and has nothing to do with faith and religion.
As Giles Foden espressed it before, “Stan” is a masterpiece of work. Mr Foden says that “Stan” has the depth of the Shakespeare verses. I totally agree with him on the fact that “Stan” is great poetry.
As a French citizen, I dare comparing “Stan“ to Rimbaud’s “Le Dormeur du Val”. Even if the story is different, the structure of both works is similar. Rimbaud’s poem first pictures a sleeping man, lying down in the grass near a river.
Gradually the reader understands that the young man is a dead soldier: “he’s white as a sheet and he’s got two holes on his right side”.
The pictures drawn in Stan’s story are similar. It’s the story of a fan writing to his favorite singer : he shares pains and sorrows with him, tells him that his girlfriend is pregnant.
Of course, he‘s disappointed, because Eminem is late in answering his letters.
Gradually, the listener understands that Stan is sick (“sometimes I cut myself to see how much it bleeds, it’s like adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me”) and his passion for Eminem becomes more and more obsessional.
The last picture is terrifying : Stan driving his car off the bridge with his pregnant girlfriend inside....
Stan is also a warning for each fan and listener not to misinterpret Eminem’s words and this song really proves Eminem doesn’t want his words to be taken litterally.
For those who still think he’s a violent mysogynist, remember who ties his girlfriend up : it is Stan ,not Eminem. Eminem tells Stan to treat his girfriend better “I really think you and you girlfriend need each other/Or maybe you just need to treat her better).
He never encourages him to act foolishly (“I’m glad I inspire you,but Stan why are you so mad,try to understand that I want you as a fan. I just don’t want you to do some crazy shit.")
Who said Eminem is a bad influence?
Michael Moore with some pointed questions for Bush, some nonsensical, but some fairly straight forward. Including:
What exactly was that look on your face in the Florida classroom on the morning of September 11 when your chief of staff told you, 'America is under attack'?
Slugger O'Toole has got a copy of the article in the Sunday Tribune by Matt Maggee where I was quoted:
The down side of the non-mainstream nature of the blogs, though, is that they do not operate the same checks and balances to ensure accuracy and accountability. ‘The checks and balances of blogs are entirely horizontal. Blogs check themselves in most cases,’ said Gavin Sheridan who runs Gavin’s Blog. ‘The more well known your blog is, the more aware you have to be of accuracy.’
While the Marshall mathers Lp is known as the most provocative of Eminem's albums, the Eminem show is getting more personal and also more introspective.
Eminem exposes his life like a show to his public.It's like a total exposure, something he wants to share with his public.
Some of his songs like "Cleaning Out My Closet","Soldier","Saying Goodbye To Hollywood","Hailie's song" are personal.Some others like "White America","Square Dance" do raise political debates.
Eminem also targets his enemies like Moby in his album.
"Cleaning Out My Closet" is an emotional and moving song. This songs helps Marshall to work out his hatred for his parents. Often misunderstood for the hate he feels towards his own mom, his hatred is justified,though. Debbie emotionaly abused her son, she's also responsible of his drug addiction: she put him on "ritalin"( which is a medication for hyperactive kids) when he was little.
Woul you forgive your mom if she said she wished you dead? I guess the answer is no.
Moreover,if we take a deeper look at "Cleaning Out My Closet", we clearly understand that this song has not been written to express selfish views. It has also been written to prevent from children abuse.
This song helps many young people who come from disfunctional families to work out their problems with their parents and to express the rage they feel inside. Hailie's song is a beautiful hymn of fatherly love and an expression of Eminem's real side.
According to a new survey, Eminem is "more truthful" than President George W. Bush. How is that possible? Simply because the youth is fed up with empty political speeches. Eminem clearly shows the hypocrisy of politicians.The assassination of Dick Cheney in the "Without Me" video is a symbol for freedom of speech.
Eminem fights for the right to say " something you might not like" (Square Dance''). He doesn't rap to please people, he speaks his mind.He is an engaged artist.
The "Eminem Show" is excellent. It reveals the mind of a genius, as Eminem expresses it so well in "My Dad's Gone Crazy":
My songs can make you cry, take you by surprise at the same time, can make you dry your eyes with the same rhyme/see what you're seein' is a genius at work, which to me isn't work, so it's easy to misinterpret it at first"
Eminem masters his art.
If you haven't done it yet,go buy the album!
Last week I was buying some detergent at a local laundromat in rural Nebraska. This is what was occupying my mind: "See, I don't give a fuck, that's the problem/ I see a motherfuckin' cop, I don't dodge him." Now, based on my limited experience with law enforcement, I've found most cops to be cordial, beneficent protectors of the law. Yet, at that moment, I didn't just want to fuck tha police, both physically and figuratively; I wanted them lynched, drenched in gasoline, and burnt alive. It's one thing to get a catchy couplet stuck in teenagers' heads; it's another to convert half the nation into murderous psychopaths hell-bent on riot and rape. N.W.A. accomplished the latter.
Straight Outta Compton was not the first gangsta-rap album, nor was it the first album to use such disconcerting and scabrous blasts of sound, but the music was revolutionary for two reasons. First, Dre and Yella took the vitriolic, cacophonous rampage of Public Enemy and discarded all the motivation and history behind the anger; second, they sampled laid-back jazz, psychoastral-lovetron p-funk, sweetly romantic soul, naïve doo-wop, Martha Reeves, Charles Wright, Marvin Gaye, and proceeded to lay it under the most gruesome narratives imaginable, dead hos and cop killers. This is tantamount to using a "Happy B-Day, Grandma" Hallmark card to inform a family you just slaughtered their grandmother. It's cruel, duplicitous, perverse, horrifying, hilarious.
In some ways, it's the archetypal rap album, the one you would send into space if you wanted to ignite a stellar holocaust. It unites the paranoia of It Takes a Nation of Millions with the chill of The Chronic, while still retaining an old-school, Run-DMC-style playfulness. The opening squall of "Straight Outta Compton", "Fuck tha Police", and "Gangsta Gangsta" is still as confrontational and decimating as it was at the dawn of the 1990s. The bass throttles, the funk combusts, and the sirens deafen as Eazy-E dispenses with tired romantic clichés: "So what about the bitch who got shot? Fuck her!/ You think I give a damn about a bitch? I ain't no sucker!" And this is the least misogynistic of N.W.A.'s albums.
In the remaining ten tracks, the group depicts a paranoid, conspiratorial wasteland where faggot cops "thinking every nigga is sellin' narcotics," where niggas often are selling narcotics to buy gats to kill cops, where bitches have two functions in life-- to suck dick and get shot when they stop-- and where there are two only professions: bein' a punk and shootin' punks. The mind itself is a ghetto and the ghetto is universal. A lot of people, for whatever reason, take offense to such ideas. William S. Burroughs writes the same thing and gets hailed as the greatest writer of the twentieth century. There is no hope, no messages, no politics, rarely an explicit suggestion of irony. The only respite is "Express Yourself", the sweetest anti-drug song to ever take place in a correctional facility. Musically, the rhythm pummels and the scratches are strong but sparse; lyrically, Dre says it best: "It gets funky when you got a subject and a predicate." For all the genius, there are some tracks that simply can't compare to the classics. "If It Ain't Ruff", "8 Ball", and "Dopeman" are triumphant rap songs, but they consist of minimalist beats and the silly battle raps that N.W.A. helped eliminate.
Efil4Zaggin, meanwhile, is about as close as you can come to a death metal/hip-hop hybrid. People will get hurt here. The group, sans-Cube, is simply trying to further their status as icons of shock-rap. Unlike someone like Alice Cooper or Marilyn Manson, though, N.W.A. sounds like they've actually gone insane: The song titles alone ("To Kill a Hooker", "One Less Bitch", "Find 'Em, Fuck 'Em and Flee") are enough to send some people into seizures. I have no idea what Eazy-E was doing between albums, but it clearly involved a lot of sadomasochism and PCP-- his lyrics are revoltingly unlistenable: "Yo, I tied her to the bed/ I had to let my niggaz fuck her first/ Loaded up the 44, yo/ Then I straight smoked the ho/ 'Cause I'm a real nigga." The main musical motif is the Psycho theme.
The songs here sound like the Bomb Squad in the graveyard Superfly got buried in. "Approach to Danger" is essentially rapping over a Halloween FX record. It's complexly debauched, fantastically jagged terror-hop that at its best challenges anything on Fear of a Black Planet and at its worst challenges anything off Dre's 2001. It's also much funnier than Straight Outta Compton. Eazy-E's Ten Commandments on "Appetite for Destruction" sets the bar so high on his first command that he can barely think of enough vices to finish it. In the skit "Protest", an N.W.A. concert turns into a scene from Platoon. Eazy also sings on two tracks, one of which ("Automobile") may as well be titled "With a Little Help From Your Pussy". Ten seconds can barely pass before someone is murdered or raped. It's the sound of an expletive anger at its breaking point.
The reissues sounds pretty tight, but high-quality audio was never really the point. The supplementary tracks are a more interesting point of discussion. Straight Outta Compton adds extended mixes of "Express Yourself" and "Straight Outta Compton". The former may be a better song, but only because it uses more of the Wright sample, whereas the latter regrettably decides to disturb the propulsion of the original by inserting spoken dialogue. The B-side, "A Bitch iz a Bitch", however, is one of Cube's finest moments, beginning as a specification of what he means when he curses, and ending with a tirade against a "contact-wearin' bitch." Efil4Zaggin just adds the 100 Miles and Runnin' EP, which is fairly superfluous. The title track, though, is easily one of the best rap songs of all time-- N.W.A. if commissioned to write a James Bond theme.
After listening to this again, it reminds you how ludicrous this whole Eminem controversy was. More than a decade ago, N.W.A. was instructing suburbia to smash bitches' brains in with a cock in one hand and a glock in the other. In comparison, Eminem's harshest lyric ends up sounding like, "I may slightly disagree with certain tenets of popular ideologies." When Eminem rapes and kills his mom, it's because of a long-standing psychological disorder that relies on a complicated relationship with his family. When Eazy-E does it, it's because nothing good was on TV that night. These are the most nihilistic, apolitical recordings since the Nixon tapes. Anyone who disagrees is a cracka-loving faggot.
-Alexander Lloyd Linhardt, October 3rd, 2003
www.pitchforkmedia.comRap lyrics shouldn't be taken literally...
An Internet worm that disabled networks across the U.S. Monday and Tuesday temporarily thrust the nation into its most severe maelstrom of productivity since 1992.
He he.
Secrets are spilled of 1993 deception that allowed president to suppress parliament. This is amazing stuff.
Officials and participants today paint a fresh picture of the clashes that began with rioting on October 2 and led to tanks rolling up to the parliament building on October 4. The Kremlin and western governments portrayed the unrest as a liberal regime suppressing angry communist hardliners and rightwingers. Yet 10 years after the bloodshed, in which at least 123 people were killed, Russia is exploding the myth that the crackdown was anything other than a putsch against Mr Yeltsin's political opponents.
The unrest was sparked by his decision in late September to dissolve a parliament increasingly opposed to his economic reforms. He also scrapped the constitution, replacing it with another that gave him near-monarchic executive powers. Rebel MPs, comprising communists, liberals and fascists, responded by barricading themselves into the parliament.
Tom Mangan reports that the Tampa Tribune has ordered three staffers with unauthorized blogs to stop. He hopes it's in service of a higher cause, such as publishing in-house blogs
Ive seen this happen before, and Dan Gillmor, as ever, is right.
The BBC are reporting that some of the source code to Valve's new game, Half-Life 2, has been leaked onto the net. Apparently the company have been a target of hackers for some time, keen to find out about the long awaited sequel. Key loggers and hacked email accounts are evident, and the company are appealing for net users to give them any useful information they may have.
I have interviewed Backstab the Kingpin (another white rapper from Detroit who has known Eminem and the context of 8 Mile in the early 90's). He expresses his point of view on 8 Mile, Eminem, and other artists and gives us his perspective.
"Much of what existed in the 90's is now gone......In the early 90's (post L.A. Riots; during the peak of West Coast rap's success) there was still great tension between whites/blacks in Detroit. At that time rap/hip-hop was black culture and a white b-boy, emcee, or producer was refered to as another Vanilla Ice.
During that time, guys like Proof use to run St Andrews. He has dred locks and ran with this b-boy dreadlock crew, that whenever a white emcee would step to the cypher he'd get barraged with peckerwood/cracker references. I was there> i saw it first hand. I would get dominated away from cyphers but brute aggression. To the effect that I would choose to rap in a corner alone rather than jump in the cypher. I would hit the infamous "hip-hop shop" where when they passed the mic, theyd pass it right by me....This had nothing to do with skill, cuz these people never gave me a chance to spit. It had everything to do with color.
We played a show at Alvins, a bar near Wayne State University that featured Wall Street (royce 5-9 crew) Eminem anchored by hypeman, bizzare, as well as some other groups. I begged my way on stage that night to perform. When my music started and they annouced my name people started to cheer and clap, but when i took the stage, a whiteboy---backed by a mid 40's black singer who always remained half in the bag---they began to boo. I mic checked and started my 3 song show. Half way through the first song the women in the audience cheered and started dancing. It was just moments after that a crew of dreds began to boo and yell and throw things at the stage. I had a pocket full of cassettes to hand out to the crowd (no cd burners back then) I knew that it wasnt me or my skill but simply my color. This crew of dreds were hating something fierce. and the sound got lower....as i looked over i noticed all kids of guys standing around the mixer...someone had turned my music down intentionally. I started to get mad. Heres me and only 3 other white spots in the whole bar (eminem, kim & another white couple they were with) I started to middle finger the crowd of haters who were tryin their best to yell louder than my performance. They started to get a bit violent and moving towrd the stage---that's when I started throwing my cassettes give-a-ways at them like a pitcher throws a fast ball. Needless to say I was escorted offstage in a hurry and rushed out the backdoor by the promoter.. He kept yelling at me "your crazy, you need to get the hell out of here!". I missed Em's performance that night but was later told by his manager at the time that he got so drunk he was falling all ove the place and skipping his music. My assumption is that he saw what he was up against and had to put back a few.....
DESCRIBE THE DETROIT STYLE.......
Detroit style (as much as the shady camp hates to admit) is derived from Esham the unholy. A solo rapper known for birthing "acid rap" and talking about sick, twisted, "wicked" things such as the devil, murder, drugs, and degredation. Just about every success story to come out of detroit has a touch of "wicked" to them. Most Detroiters know that Eminems "shock" lyrics are directly influenced by Eshams persona. Mix the raunchy metaphors with typical braggadoccio emceeing and you get a detroit lyrical sound. The beats? They tend to me east coast derived, however some west coast/dirty south type of groups like cheddar boys, street lords, mc breed, and other have also found success. But for the most part, detroit hip-hop is based one wicked metaphorical lyrics backed with east coast driven beats.
BRIDGING BACKSTAB WITH EMINEM.........The "8 mile" reminds me of that night at Alvins, one thing Em did not do is touch on the reverse racism that I felt back in the mid 90's, I think this is for obvious reason--his friends and labelmates being all black. Another that I thought was funny is that St Andrews which is protrayed in the 8 mile movie as an all black club was actually a majority white crowd or at least half. One thing I did see when Em blew up is the lack of depth in lyrics. I think he single handedly changed the rap game by making it ok to talk about anything that rhymes.
Em refers to such abstract shit as tubby sub buns, post toasties, sulfuric acid and other obscure shit. Now anything is up for grabs when spitting lyrics. Before you only mentioned cool, popular shit, now kids wanna hear raps about how their mom is fucked up...My recognition from hard work. Day in and out doing shows. I've done over 75 shows in 2 years. Thats more than most national artists do in that time. I've got more hatred from the detroit scene than 90% of the artist from Michigan. It stems from my stance on the powers that be and the upper echelon of the hip-hop artists in Detroit.
I think Eminem has done wonders for hip-hop as wel las white emcees, but I also think he plays a role much larger than he can fill. I am suprised no one has caught up with him and hurt him--quite frankly. since his success, he has not set foot in the city except to film his movie or shoot a video or perform at his only show this summer. This is not his city by any means, but he does bring it a spotlight. I think if he wasn't so damn popular and sought after the same things that were going on the 90's would be happening now.
I grew up (in school) in the suburbs so I wasn't subject to any type of reverse racism during that time. At that time I was siding with the minority becuase I have major native American roots and lived in a racist town called Livonia where blacks got pulled over randomly and often. If you are black--you dont drive thru Livonia at night--you will be arrested for one thing or another. This is why I chose a urban college and left for th city at my most influential years (18-25) I have lived in the cass corridor & brightmoor. Both neighborhoods known to Detroit as some of its worst parts. Run-down bruned up buildings, crack and drugs, prostitution and transsexuals running the streets. Fights, and shooting heard all night. Detroit is not a safe or happy spot. Its a city thats felt years of oppression and contains people who have worked their hands to the bone at factories and auto plants trying to provide a good living for their loved ones. Its a materialistic city that thrives on stepping on the next man to better yourself.
I think if i had $5,000 I could turn it into $10,000 in a few short months--by way of hip-hop. I think if I had $100,000 i could make a half million thru hip-hop in little time. I beleive hip-hop success is all about financial backing and money. In my opinion, most of the best lyricists I have ver met are the ones dirt broke with no money to even record music. The day Eminem gave me his slim shady ep I knew he had major talent, and in my opinion since his initial success, I think he's gotten worse and worse. I think money has wrecked his pureness and style, and to be quite frank, i think he sucks and i dont listen to him or buy his records. I think his choice to come out with "my name is" as his break out song--broke my spirit in liking him. I know this is somehting you will not agree on but I have a different perspective and was able to hear his early music (which i still have alot of)and hes only a shell of the emcee he once was. I think money fucks everybody up. thats why i choose to stay at the bottom , at least i can stay true to my roots.
MY LYRICS I write for me--I try not to be cleaver, to rhyme key words, to have funny punchlines and to not bite others style- I just write for me and hope other people enjoy it too. I can only hope to find some type of national/international success but if it takes me changing or playing some role (which i know Eminem is doing) then i'll be happy right here being some local fame rapper who never quite made it. I'd like to send you my entire album. Did I mention I know Deangelo baily--? He's an idiot!
I wasn't tryin to shit on your hero I'm just giving you my perspective. I have mad respect for Eminem and the day i saw him at the MTV music awards performing for the first time I stood up cheering. heres a guy, local like me, rapping like im tryin to, who made it! It was a great feeling. But like I say after seeing him develop, it kinda depressed me to see what hes become.
Mz corona in 8 mile--was a militant whore who use to talk shit to me for being white back in the day---she may not remember it but she talked mad shit to me one day at a Wayne State hip-hop convention with her girlfirend while i was posting flyers whe gawked at me--so when we both opened for mc Breed last year, i acted like i didnt know her even though she knew very well who i was then cuz I was making more noise than 80% of the city at that time. But I didnt forget how she played me before Em blew up. Now her little part in 8 mile has got her all famous--how fitting.any other questions id be glad to answer--
Backstab the Kingpin
I've added in a French person, Isabelle, to my weblog. She wanted an avenue to express her thoughts on Eminem and other things - and I was happy to oblige her. She is a school teacher living in Metz.
Her views are her own, and I do not necessarily agree with them - I may comment on what she has to say.
Some of her stuff is quite controversial, and as English is her third language some grammar and spelling may not be fully up to scratch, please bare that in mind.
Eugene Tucker is my penpal from Arizona. A friend of mine, Grant Carpenter, gave me his address. Eugene has been sentenced to death for triple murder. His trial seems to be a big plot against him. He’s a Black American. Arizona is well known for its racism. I think his story needs to be told to the world. He claims his innocence and I believe him. He is currently asking for his re-trial.
Eugene is 22 years old, he’s been sentenced since he was 17.
Here’s the story told in his own words:
“When I was 17 a bi-racial boy was murdered. A Caucasian dude that I hang around was arrested and charged with first degree murder. When I was arrested, he had the murder weapon in his possesion. The ballistics matched and they found his fingerprints at the crime scene. He was facing the death penalty and was suposed to be charged with a hate crime. So the detectives on that case made a deal with him and let him go.
Then on the 15th of July 1999 three people were killed. The detectives tried to pin the hatecrime on me!
They arrested the Caucasian boy before they arrested me. When the detectives talked tohim, he told them specific details about the triple homicide. Then he told them that I did the hatecrime and the triple homicide.Which was a bunch of bullshit.
So the detectives gave him full immunity from the triple homicide and charged him with the “hatecrime”or “first degree murder”. The detectives charged him with plain muder. He continued to blame me for everything and he pled guilty to plain murder. Now the detectives are the same ones in both cases! Before they arrested me, they wanted to “talk”. I told the detectives that if they checked the crime scene, they would find Patrick’s fingerprints (Patrick’s the Caucasian’s name). Because they said that there was 59 sets of fingerprints found at the crime scene. I told them that I knew the three victims and had been inside the appartment a few times. So they told me the name of all the places that I had been inside the appartment. I said the living room, both bedrooms, the kitchen and the bathroom. I told them that I opened the refrigerator and got something cold to drink. So at my trial they swore that they found my fingerprint on the door handle of the refrigerator. I'm the one who told them that the fingerprint was there!
Plus the print was only of one finger. Now out of 59 usable prints only one was mine. Two of the victims were female and the other was male.
Here’s the name,race,sex and weight of the victims:
Roscoe Merchant: Male-biracial weight 150 LBS
Cindy Richards: Female white weight 140 LBS
Ann Marie Merchant: Female bi racial weight 350 LBS
Roscoe and Cindy were a couple. But Roscoe and Ann Marie were brother and sister. I had consentual sex with Ann Marie twice. We had sex on July 14th ,1999. I used a condom the first time, but the second time I didn’t.
At my trial the states own DNA expert stated that semen can reamain in a woman’s vagina for 60 days after intercourse! He also stated that the semen can leak out at anytime! I told them at my trial that during sex I told Ann Marie that she was too wet, so she used her shirt and wiped her vagina and my penis. The state entered the shirt into evidence at my trial. Yet their own DNA expert stated that the semen couldn’t have been deposited on the shirt on July 15, 1999 because the sperm was dead. The State paid some experts to take a look at the shirt. The experts said that it wasn’t sperm, but a discharge!
So the prosecution said the experts lied. They asked a worker for the department of public safety what it was and right off the bat she said sperm. Now how is ist that two priced experts said it wasn’t sperm,but a worker for DPS said it was. Plus they swore at my trial that there was sperm on her leg
Yet they don’t have any proof of that. When they searched at my parents’ house they took:
-three pairs of handcuffs
-two knives
-a roll of grey duct tape
The three pairs of handcuffs didn’t have any blood on them. The duct tape didn’t match either. Hell to this day,the murder weapon hasn’t been found. They took my Dad’s 357 and ran ballistic tests and found out that it wasn’t the murder weapon. Yet detective Joseph Petrosino told the grand jury that they had the murder weapon. Joseph Petrosino also told the grand jury that the three victims were murdered with a 35. When the three victims were murdered with a 38 special.
Eleven of the jury members had family members who were murdered. Yet before my trial when one of my attorneys asked them if they had any family member who were raped, beaten, shot. All of them swore up and down no. Yet 11 of them did. Plus all 12 jury members were white. So I never had a jury of my peers.”
I fully trust Eugene for the story he is telling me.
Logically he weighs 158 LBS. How could he fight a 350 LBs woman without having any single cut, scratch, wound or mark on his body? The detectives asked him to strip butt naked and he did not have any kind of marks on his body. He also has the right to be trialed by a black jury,so why did they deny him this right?
Free Eugene Tucker, he’s innocent!
8 MILE TEACHES EACH OF US A GREAT LESSON OF HOPE
8 Mile is not a biographical movie.It is just a semi biographical story in which Eminem appears as an authentic actor.Jimmy Smith Jr struggles as a white Mc to be accepted among a mainly black audience.He expresses his rage and his frustrations through his music.
8 Mile Road in Detroit between Blacks(7 Mile Road) and Whites(9 Mile Road),but psychologically 8 Mile represents the border that separates us from reality(the problems we may be confronted to(our current standart of life) and the place we want to be (like our dream coming true).
Anybody of us can relate to this psychological border.We all want to escape from our “8 Mile Road” and to fullfill our dreams.
Eminem has shown through his own life story,but also through his semi fictionnal movie a new path of hope to many young white trash and underground people.He has shown that anybody can make it if they try and believe hard in their dreams.
In his song “Lose Yourself”,he says:”You can do anything you set your mind to, man.”
If you apply to this, you will be able to escape from your own “8 Mile Road”
I have been in touch with another white rapper from Detroit via email whose name is 'Backstab the Kingpin'. He had known Eminem before he was famous and here he talks about his former performances on stage.
"The year was 1996, We were at a joint called Alvins near Wayne State University. I met Em's manager (Mark Kempf) who connected me with the promoter of the event. I played him some of my songs in our car for him to verify that I was good enough to perform. He gave me the ok and allowed me to perform. Wayne state is on the outskirts of Detroits grimiest neighborhood known as the Cass Corridor. Its a small section of Detroit near the downtown area known for prostitution and crack sales. Em and I were the only white people in the entire building.
Back then, there was no doubt that Proof, Em's current hypeman, was a complete racist, along with his fellow dreadlock partners. I was the first to take the stage that night. When I came out, the crowd instantly started booing me. the music hadnt even started, and they were booing. I hadnt even grabbed the mic yet and they screamed racial remarks at me. It was apparent it was because of my color. The beat dropped and i started, Most of the woman in the audience started to dance and scream. That only instagated the balck men in the audience to yella dn throw things at the stage. I think this may be where 8 mile might have derived from. the all black crowd hesitant to give some white kid a chance.
By the end of my show, I was escorted off stage for throwing things back at the crowd. The promoter said "man you better go out hte backdoor, unless you wanna get your ass beat to death" I was rushed out the back. I never got to see em perform that night but i heasrd from his manager aftyer seeing me he got real drunk and fell all over the stage and skipped his music alot. He was most likely scared. He showed up only with his girl and another couple. He had no fan base at all.
We exchanged cassettes that night. He gave me the slim shady ep, that had I just dont give a fuck and bonnie & clyde on it. I thought he was hot then and might find some success, but never imagined hed be what he is today. i have much more insite and etails about his camp, how they came up, who he chose to have around him, and what he did before he made it real big........"
Eminem’s latest protégé Obie Trice who’s been signed to Shady Records in 2001 promises to become big in the rap industry.His debut album “ Cheers” has been released last week.A chance has been given to Us residents over 18 to win the Golden Ticket (included in the winning Cd package) and to hang out with Eminem in his studio while he’ll be recording his next album.
Obie’s debut album is promises to be successfull.Many great hip hop artists (Dr Dre,Eminem,D12,Nate Dogg,50 Cent,Lloyd Bank of G Unit) have contributed to the album.It’s worth listening to.