On “Y’all My Niggas” from Untitled album, Nas raps, “if it offends you, it was meant to, it’s that simple.” I wanted to preface what I am about to write with that line to begin. At the end, if you read that far, you’ll find why it’s relevant and ironic.

This post is about what I’m going to call “The Gibbs Affair.” And no, this has nothing to do with Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s communications director. It does, however, have to do with a rapper named Freddie Gibbs, who hails out of Gary, Indiana, and who is the subject of the esteemed, hipster-must-read alternative periodical called L.A. Weekly.

Gibbs is one the cover and the story is written ever-eloquently by my good friend and former colleague Jeff Weiss (what up Jeff!). I usually pick up the Weekly to specifically find and read Jeff’s work, as I am a great fan of his writing and his blog, but this week I haven’t had the time to do that. But, because I am active on Twitter and stay in touch with enough rappers, journalists and industry folk to start a revolution, I found out about the Gibbs cover.

Actually, to be more specific, my orientation with it came from a tweet from an LA rapper I know who took a cheap shot at the story. Then, I had a phone conversation with XXL’s Brooklyne Gipson, who co-wrote this little jawn on the mag’s web site (full disclosure: I contribute to the site as well, here and there). And I found out about the controversy surrounding Gibbs’ LA Weekly cover and the difference in opinion and perspective that comes with it.

Let me put it very bluntly: I do not see Freddie Gibbs emerging into the star that Skee, Jeff and others think he will emerge into. Not yet, at least. There’s always chance I could be wrong, as I have slighted The Knux in the past and look where they have gone. In any case, my point goes something like this. Freddie Gibbs is an act who was signed to Interscope, got some press, didn’t put out any good music that could reach urban radio, much less commercial, got dropped, and is being salvaged by DJ Skee because, quite frankly, Skee probably feels bad for the kid (I would too). Since Skee has shown love and dope producers started coming around – my boy Cook Classics contributed to Gibbs’ mixtape – Jeff went to work on his profile for LA Weekly.

Let me be unequivocally clear: I have no personal or professional problems with Gibbs or Jeff or Skee. Whatsoever. What I question is whether Gibbs is a worthwhile artist to get profiled by LA Weekly and get put on the cover NOW. I simply hold the opinion that he is not. I went to On the Rox, the little room above the Roxy on Sunset (fits about 100 people) to catch Gibbs perform earlier this year. Most in the audience talked through his set, and when another promising act came on, Pill, the same thing happened. What I figured out that day – based on what I saw – was that both of these guys may be decent songwriters and have strong production, but their live shows need work, at the very minimum. They are nowhere ready to be featured on HipHopDX.com and get strong traffic, much less The New Yorker or LA Weekly. But here Gibbs is, and please don’t get it twisted: I’m not hating on him. Again, I just disagree that he deserves to be anointed the next big hip-hop hope by such prestigious publications at this point in time.

After XXL’s questioned whether a guy from Indiana who couldn’t hold his own in an L.A. cypher for the life of him, I imagine, Skee decided to speak out on his blog. That wasn’t very smart, of course, unless we’re talking 50 Cent marketing strategy (in that case, it’s brilliant). In that case, my boy Jeff Weiss is getting worked over, sorry to point out.

Finally, Freddie Gibbs, who to me resembles Pleasure P, is far from becoming  the new Scarface, as a dear writer friend in Atlanta told me earlier this year. If anything, another DJ Skee-supported artist, Young Dre the Truth, should have been on the LA Weekly cover this week, for several reasons, not the least of which being that he is signed to EA Sports’ in-house label, because he’s from L.A. and because he rocks a killer live show. Oh, and let’s not forget he collaborates with Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte.

So there it is, I’ve said what I had to say, and although I feel like Byron Crawford at the moment, it was necessary (Bol, I’ll still whoop your ass, LOL). Oh, and as far as that Nas reference above, well, here’s what that’s all about. Jeff Weiss happened to be given the responsibility to review Untitled in the L.A. Times. He all but destroyed it in his review, naturally missing the point that the album represented a First Amendment case study set to beat more than anything else.

I’ll get into why Untitled is the Nas’ best work at another time, but get this: when QB’S finest took to the stage at his MySpace release show at the Roxy in 2008, he said “Fuck the L.A. Times!” on stage.

Given this case, unfortunately, I kinda feel where he was coming from.

I recently put forward a theory to explain why the demand for overseas property has increased faster than anyone would have dared predicted ever since there was the first signs that the worst of the downturn was over.

The theory makes a lot of sense even if I do say so myself: I believe that it was not cold hard data that caused overseas property sales to plummet, but fears over just how bad the international downturn might get that was behind the collapse.

Don’t get me wrong, I know as well as anybody that, since the onset of the crisis millions of people have lost thousands of pounds to overseas property; in potential rental yields never achieved and vanishing equity.

However, despite the loose lending behind it, most overseas property was still being bought by predominantly well-off people. There are many of those, said well-off people who were never affected by the downturn in any real and/or direct way. Therefore it was not financial constraints that was keeping them from buying the overseas property like they were in 2007.

It was fear; fear that if the crisis got as bad as the doomsayers said, that they would be directly affected, mixed with sufficient anxiety to make purchasing any non-essential item in the multiple thousands look like pure folly.

Since April this year, it has been becoming more and more apparent that the downturn is not going to get as bad as many people thought it would, and reports of increasing demand for overseas property have been growing since April.

Some people believe that it is the record low interest rates that are behind the increasing demand. I don’t deny that this may well be making an impact, but in my opinion: the people who are saving in the bank are too cautious to invest in overseas property, or they would have done so on the promise of much greater yields than are currently on offer from overseas property investments.

That said: there has been an upturn in the popularity of French leasebacks, which offer a 4-5% rental yield guaranteed by the French government. 4-5% is better than the banks are currently offering and the French government backing makes it about as secure.

Savard will hopefully have many more moments like this in a Bruins sweater over the next seven years. (Boston.com)

Earlier this week, Marc Savard signed a seven-year contract extension that will keep the center in Boston until he’s 39-years old.  The deal was one of the recent ‘top heavy’ contracts that are trendy in the NHL as of late.  Perhaps more importantly,the deal is also one of the recent Bruins deal that has broken the Jacobs mold, and proves that the franchise is willing to spend to win.

Traditionally the Jacobs regime has seen Bruins leave in their prime due to free agency or trade.  These players left because they knew that they wouldn’t be paid what they are worth by Bruins management.  The team has traditionally thrown their best players to the wolves when it came to contracts.  Adam Oates was traded in his sixth season as a Bruin while averaging well over a point per game as a Bruin.  He wouldn’t fall out of his prime for another six seasons.  Joe Thornton was traded (in arguably the worst trade in hockey history) in his eighth season, he went on to become the only player to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophy while switching teams mid season; he isn’t showing any signs of slowing down either, which is also a point per game career average as well as three 100 point seasons.

The point being that the Bruins would have never made this deal 10, or even five years ago.  Jacobs was happy racking in the money from the Fleetcenter/TD BankNorth Garden/ TD Garden/Whateveryouwanttocallit.  He could sit back and collect his money while throwing a mediocre team on the ice, and he did.

From there the Bruins became a team that was built internally through the draft and through young guys.  Although this is fine in a period of rebuilding, a talented veteran and leadership is needed to complement young talent and make the team a viable threat to compete.  In the 2003-2004 season the Bruins finished with 104 points, landing in the second seed in the conference only to be bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Canadiens.  Many fans thought that the team had completely failed after the lockout by not locking up Mike Knuble and Brian Rolston and the 74 point season following the lockout proved their doubts.

The Bruins front office have put the Bruins in great shape for a playoff run now, and in the future. (Charles Krupa, AP)

Since Chiarelli has been named GM the Bruins have done a great job of spending and cultivating young talent.  The Bruins saw value in Savard’s game and Savard saw value in staying in Boston, so much that he took a pay cut.

KPD breaks down the deal on Boston.com as looking like this:

According to sources familiar with the contract terms, Savard will earn $7 million each of the next two years – a 40 percent bump over his average earnings the last four seasons – and he’ll earn approximately another $14 million over the final five years of the deal for a total of some $28.05 million.

The deal’s annual payouts: $7 million, $7 million, $6.5 million, $5 million, $1.5 million, $525,000, and $525,000. Total: $28.05 million.

Dupont also points out that Savard can be bought out of his contract in the final two years for merely $1.85 million.  In short, the deal is an amazing bargain for a certified 90-point cornerstone pivot.  The move allows the Bruins to make important decisions elsewhere on the roster, be it in free agency or trades.  The annual cap hit of just over $4 million per year shows how much Savard wants to win, and how much he wants his team to be able to surround him with as much talent as possible.  Many guys would test the market, cap out a team, and live comfortably on a cushy deal.  This deal shows that Savard truly does love Boston and want to be a part of a championship caliber team.

James Murphy quoted Savvy in a recent NESN.com article as saying:

“I stated in a couple articles earlier that I wanted to stay in Boston for the rest of my career,” said Savard, who has led the Bruins in points the last three seasons. “Looks like I’m going to have that chance. So I’m happy about that. Over the last few years, I’ve watched this town grow back into a hockey town. Hopefully, our goal as a team and a staff comes true that we can bring a Cup here to Boston.”

A lot of guys make that quote without meaning it in the least.  It’s merely a method of keeping the fans and management happy until you dig into their pockets in the next negotiations.  His contract shows that Savard is willing to spread the economic wealth to his teammates, a truly mature and selfless act that he hopes ends in a Stanley Cup championship.

“I look back at the playoffs [last spring] and see what it could be — that really excites me,” Savard said. “Especially when we play the Canadiens in the playoffs and the way the fans react, it’s something that we’d like to try and finish here.”

Savard has improved himself to an effective two-way player without sacrificing offensive production. (sportsgrumblings.com)

It wasn’t long ago when a frustrated Savard would yell at referees and valued his stats over team accomplishments. Many have seen Savard’s transformation to team hockey in Boston.  Savard has become a solid player in the defensive zone, buying into Claude Julein’s game style, where some refused, and became an important defender on the penalty-kill and one of the best two-way centers in the league.

“Obviously Claude has pushed me hard to be a better defensive player, and try to do that every night,” Savard said. “(I) try (to) think about my own zone a lot more than probably I used to. I’m still working on it and hopefully it keeps getting better.”

Savard’s transformation has improved his value to the team effort that Claude Julien craves, but Savard has been one of the league’s best bargains since he joined the Bruins.  Savard joined the Bruins as a free agent before the 2005-2006 season when he signed a four-year $20 million deal.  Savard was coming off of a 97-point season with Ilya Kovalchuk on his wing, many doubted he could replicate those numbers without a 50-goal scorer on his line.  However, Savard proved the critics wrong by snapping off 96, 78, and 88-point seasons in his first three years as a Bruin while also improving in non-scoring aspects of the game.

Wysh at Puck Daddy put Savard’s new contract in perspective sublimely:

For the sake of context: With his $4.2 million hit annually, Savard will cost less against the cap than Tim Connolly ($4.5 million), Daymond Langkow ($4.5 million), Martin Erat and David Legwand ($4.5 million each), Milan Michalek ($4.33 million) and Andy McDonald ($4.7 million).

Not exactly a slew of 90-point centers in that group, huh? Because Boston just signed theirs for seven years. Which probably makes many Bruins fans very happy, and makes non-Bruins fans wonder why their centers cost about $2.5 million more against the cap.

Who knows where the cap will go and how salaries will be effected in the next seven years, but this is a steal of a deal any way you cut it.

The World’s Least Powerful Man – The Obama Puppet

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

It didn’t take the Israel Lobby very long to bring President Obama to heel regarding his prohibition against further illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Obama discovered that a mere American president is powerless when confronted by the Israel Lobby and that the United States simply is not allowed a Middle East policy separate from Israel’s.

Obama also found out that he cannot change anything else either, if he ever intended to do so.

The military/security lobby has war and a domestic police state on its agenda, and a mere American president can’t do anything about it.

President Obama can order the Guantanamo torture chamber closed and kidnapping and rendition and torture to be halted, but no one carries out the order.

Essentially, Obama is irrelevant.

President Obama can promise that he is going to bring the troops home, and the military lobby says, “No, you are going to send them to Afghanistan, and in the meantime start a war in Pakistan and maneuver Iran into a position that will provide an excuse for a war there, too. Wars are too profitable for us to let you stop them.”

And the mere president has to say, “Yes, Sir!”

Obama can promise health care to 50 million uninsured Americans, but he can’t override the veto of the war lobby and the insurance lobby. The war lobby says its war profits are more important than health care and that the country can’t afford both the “war on terror” and “socialized medicine.”

The insurance lobby says health care has to be provided by private health insurance; otherwise, we can’t afford it.

The war and insurance lobbies rattled their campaign contribution pocketbooks and quickly convinced Congress and the White House that the real purpose of the health care bill is to save money by cutting Medicare and Medicaid benefits, thereby “getting entitlements under control.”

Continue reading: COUNTER PUNCH

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. His new book, How the Economy was Lost, will be published in January by AK Press / CounterPunch. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts[a]yahoo[dot]com

(Ye Editor’s Note: The JSA’s Director of Publisher Relations Allison Covey is well-known for her photo-blogging, as she is very involved in a number of different activities and organizations. She just posted her photos from the Awards ceremony and Word on the Street which we thought you might enjoy!)

The 2009 Shuster Awards were held at the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall which was a great venue. The auditorium was the perfect size and gave things a more official feel than in years past where they were held at hotels and the library.

Jonathan Lyr of Hardcore Nerdity and SPACE was our host for the awards. He did a great job! I also loved the presentation behind each speaker. It’s adapted from the poster created by Francis Manapul and Agnes Garbowska.

Jason recorded the ceremony. You can access video and audio of the ceremony and see the full list of winners here.

I was on the committee that nominated the webcomics for the jury as well as another one that selected The Harry Kremer Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Retailer Award. Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart won best webcomic. He wasn’t able to be there so Andy B. accepted the award for him wearing a Cameron Stewart mask. Hilarious!

Legends in Victoria, BC won for outstanding retailer. They were so excited, it was awesome to see. The store kinda reminds me of The Beguiling here in Toronto in that they stock a lot of unusual and indie stuff, not just superheroes and major publishers.

I’ll let you read about the awards on the official site or this is going to be a really long post. They went very well and I was especially impressed with the fact that everyone seemed very at ease when accepting. So many folks are terrified of public speaking that you really never know what you’ll get when you ask someone to say a few words but we lucked out for sure.

After the ceremony had concluded, everyone moved into the Innis Cafe down the hall for some socialising, snacks and and oppotunity to pick up artwork and books. Prior to the ceremnoy, the Visions of an Icon: Wolverine art was on display in the lobby.

Mary Waley and I organised the food which was enthusiastically gobbled up. We served some cold cuts, fancy cheese + crackers, deviled eggs, croutdite, lumpia and samosas. I bet you can guess which dishes I brought.

The crowd mingling. The awards are open to the public so there were quite a few curious comic fans and students amongst the nominated creators, their friends and family.

The program featuring the art by Francis and Agnes. We should have prints of the artwork (minus all the text) available soon.

I love Cakewrecks so I was secretly pleased but we made sure to cut and serve these gems before anyone else could snap a picture of their own. Oh man, where to start? The alignment, the colour or the spelling?

The Visions artwork was also displayed in the cafe during the afterparty. Mary makes custom Munnies using seed beads. They are amazing! I think I could go blind trying to do this! Even the inside of their hands is covered in beads.

I went to bed late after helping pack up and woke up early to get downtown for the Scotiabank 5k. Ack! I ran for the Toronto Vegetarian Association and met my fundraising goal. Interestingly enough, only 2 of my donors were vegetarian. Thanks to everyone who sponsored me! Running a 5k was one of my goals/resolutions and now I’ve done it! I had run Bloody Cross with the Corps before but this was sooooo different.

After the run and some lunch, I dashed home, showered and went back downtown to Queen’s Park for Word on the Street, a Canada-wide book and magazine fair. The Joe Shuster Awards had a booth there selling books from recent nominees and hosting creators for autograph sessions.

Jason Truong in the JSA booth.

Creators sketching and signing for the public. (On the left that’s Faith Erin Hicks and her friend, and beside her (centre) is David Day.

TCAF sponsored a Comics and Graphic Novels Tent where there were panel discussions and book readings.

Kevin kev_the_mev takes part in a panel called “Oh Canada. Surveying the Landscape of Canadian Comics” hosted by Sequential. He represented the Joe Shuster Awards.
Click here to download a full audio recording of the panel, courtesy of Jamie Coville.

David Sirota
Newspaper columnist, radio host (AM760), bestselling author

Just a few quick questions to ponder after President Obama’s speech announcing a massive escalation in Afghanistan:

- What percentage of those kids in the audience will die because of this decision?

- Why do so many pundits and pro-Obama activists continue to focus on how “hard” and “difficult” and “trying” this decision is for President Obama, rather than on how “hard” and “difficult” and “trying” this will be for the soldiers who are killed? Doesn’t Obama get to make this decision, and then go home to the comfortable confines of a butlered White House, while thousands of Americans will be sent 7,000 miles from home to face their potential deaths? Isn’t the latter “harder” than the former?

- Where’s the antiwar movement and the marches and the organizing and the protesting? Where are all those well-funded groups that protested George W. Bush’s war policy? Or was all that really just about hating George Bush and embracing blind Partisan War Syndrome?

Obama Afghanistan Speech TEXT: Read West Point Address

Huffington Post

Today amidst learning to create and use a favicon.ico correctly and proofing eBooks, we read that our favorite Seattle bookstore Elliot Bay Book Co. is likely closing, unless they find a sugar daddy interested in keeping it open as a hobby.

A big part of the problem is location.  The city doesn’t make policing sport rowdies a priority, so people don’t want to go down there.

But EBB’s struggles were compounded by big-box retailers, deeply discounting the easy-to-sell, big-name bestsellers that normally allow stores like Elliott Bay to keep other books in stock.  That’s the publishing association’s position anyway.

Of course publishers (and best-selling authors) decided to sell to big-box retailers. So, they de facto killed off bookstore sales. Bookstores like EBB might have survived if new books were exclusive to bookstores for a period.

With the cyberworld gearing up to POD or PDF a huge back catalog of Out of Print and Public Domain titles as well, taking even that market, most local bookstores may go under.

Publishers, by not embracing POD as integral to the industry relinquished control of that portion of the industry to software firms and big-box retailers. Now that portion has become the industry and publishers . . . may go the way of bookstores.

Will publishers decide to manage their catalogs and new books differently, in an effort to take back control of the industry, save themselves, and perhaps local bookshops as well?

The deep midwinter is the prefect time for such reflection.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-hometown-seattle29-2009nov29,0,4976336.story

I’m reading the articles on the closing of four banks in Venezuela by “socialist President Hugo Chavez.” Something struck me.

Reuters reports:

Venezuela on Monday shut down four private banks a day after socialist President Hugo Chavez warned he would not hesitate to nationalize any financial institutions failing to help national development.

BBC News stated:

Since 2006, President Hugo Chavez’s government has also acquired Venezuela’s biggest telecommunications, electricity and steel companies, as well as major oil projects, as it aims to create a state-run socialist economy.

If you note, the terms “socialist” are carefully placed to put a negative light on President Huga Chavez who, may or may not, be a bad person. They, certainly, do not publish popularity polls on Chavez who is said to be very popular in his country.

These papers are from the U.S. and U.K. The U.K. where cameras are the norm. Where cameras are placed in homes so that they can watch and make sure that you are teaching your children that government is good. The U.K. where “socialism” is the norm.

The U.S. blasts this “socialist” after the government hostile take over our last remaining industry; the automobile industry. And selling part of that to foreigners. The United States is now on the brink of taking over the health care industry and “providing” mandatory health care. If you don’t pay for it, you won’t get it and you will pay a fine. A violation of the Ninth Amendment, for those in the know. In addition, they will determine what health care you will get, such as mandatory H1N1 flu vaccines.

The United States—the land of the free, as long as it complies with the expanded “Patriot” act that Obama seeks. As long as you don’t oppose health care. As long as your Internet blog complies with government “Freedom of the Press” standards. A government that uses CIPAV to search your computer in violation of the Fourth Amendment and, possibly, the Fifth.

And none of these papers every use the term “socialist President Barrack Obama” in conjunction with any of his proposals. Or Comrade Pelosi. Or Comrade Feinstein. The list goes on. They, however, propose the same thing. The “socialism” of America.

Because of “McCarthyism,” they dare not call it what it really is. They never use the “C” word.

C0² is the new name for ambulance.

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” —Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)

“What we are faced with is a tyranny, world wide, over the mind and body of man, and it is the duty of every red blooded United States citizen to oppose with every fiber of his being what is being done…by this Administration to try and sign away your Constitution at Copenhagen.” —Lord Christopher Monckton November 28, 2009

“There’s gold in them thar hills!” Lawyers need to get off their butts, and realize what a financial bonanza the Climategate criminal scam represents. The possibilities for financial remuneration are mind boggling.

For patriotic, conservative lawyers, this should be a “no brainer.” But even ambulance chasing weasels, who care about nothing but money, should be clamoring to get on the bandwagon.

The possibilities for them to make money out of Climategate, are almost endless—as is the amount of money the public has been defrauded of, and continues to be robbed of.

“Global warming” scam, Criminal intent to defraud the public of massive amounts of money, advance an ideological agenda

It is now clear that the entire CO2/global-warming scam has been one Big Lie; a lie that continues to bilk people out of billions, possibly trillions, of dollars. There is no reason to put litigation off any longer.

Co-founder of The Weather Channel, John Coleman, had the right idea last year, when he suggested suing Al Gore for making fraudulent claims. But the proof to back up such a suit, was obscure and scattered. Such is no longer the case.

The leaked documents from the East Anglian CRU (Climatic Research Unit ) have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the “global warming” scam was perpetrated with criminal intent to defraud the public of massive amounts of money, advance an ideological agenda, and make the criminals involved, quite wealthy. All at our expense.

Canada Free Press

This past weekend, The Globe & Mail released their list of the Top 100 books that they reviewed in 2009. They even have an obscure-ish, vaguely intellectual term to define works of sequential art aka comics and graphic novels - Graphica. Clearly Sequential & the DWA’s Bryan Munn is not pleased as the only three “Graphica” on the list are Asterios Polyp (which I felt was okay, but not great), Logicomix (which I looked at while I was in Indigo last night and was severely unimpressed with, but then again I left with the Bryan Talbot’s Grandville and a hardcover collection of Star Trek: Countdown – hey, shoot me if I wanted to read the pre-movie backstory to old Spock’s appearance in last summer’s excellent Star Trek XI) and Crumb’s adaptation of the Book of Genesis, which has been universally been declared as excellent, and definitely deserves to be on these end of the year “Best of” lists.

Of course, what’s wrong with the list is the lack of Canucks – perhaps they are waiting until the 2009 eligible works list is compiled next month, or perhaps they just didn’t review any “Graphica” by Canucks this year (note: see Bryan’s comment to this article – they actually did review some, including George Sprott)… and if they didn’t, well — shame on you Globe & Mail reviewers! You just plain suck for not promoting our country’s excellent creators, and in all seriousness – Bryan is absolutely correct – you have clearly missed the boat. Surely Steve Murray will not allow the National Post to be so lax when it comes to compiling any best of lists they put together, especially with all of that pro-Canadian TCAF coverage they ran back in May.  Hopefully whoever compiles these types of lists at the Toronto Star will also know better… hey, they commissioned work by Darwyn Cooke back in August, and they ran an article on webcomics creators Kate Beaton and Lar De Souza & Ryan Sohmer – so we suspect that someone there knows at least something about Canadians producing comics and graphic novels…

Bryan points out the books that he is upset are missing, and we definitely agree on some (like Seth’s George Sprott), and not so much on others. We’re clearly disappointed that such well-reviewed works as Richard Stark’s Parker Book 1: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke was not there, or the beloved Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim Vol. 5, Jeff Lemire’s The Nobody, Sully’s The Hipless Boy or even Red: A Haida Manga and a bunch of other books which were published in 2009. Then of course there’s the French-language double Governor-General Award winning Harvey. If you want to talk new reprint collections there’s also the gorgeous Prince Valiant Vol.1: 1937-38 hardcover by the late (Canadian Creator Hall of Fame Inductee) Hal Foster published by Fantagraphics.

There was a film in 1962 titled Advise and Consent. The film was about the politics that goes on behind the scenes of the advise and consent clause of the Constitution. That procedure was most recently demonstrated in the Sonya Sotomayer confirmation hearings.

The battle was between two powerful Senators over the confirmation of Robert A. Leffingwell played by Henry Fonda. Leffingwell was believed to be a sympathizer, and possibly a member, of the Communist party; something that does not seem to be an obstacle today.

Constitutional Republic Party

Matt Kibbe; August 25

We know this because a public option along the lines of what is being proposed in Congress already exists. It is called Medicare and the federal government has failed to rein in its costs for nearly five decades. Even with below market reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals, between 1997 and 2005 total Medicare spending per enrollee grew almost three percent faster than did spending on patients insured by the private sector.

And that was despite the artificially high prices for privately insured patients made necessary just to offset losses from government programs. Similarly rapid cost inflation has resulted in Medicare taxes being hiked several different times since the program’s inception.

This will almost certainly continue with the introduction of another massive entitlement.

In fact, according to a recent nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, the plans being discussed in Congress don’t reflect the “fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.” On the contrary, the CBO report notes that “the creation of a new subsidy for health insurance…would by itself increase the federal responsibility for health care that raises federal spending on health care.” Simply put, “it raises the amount of activity that is [already] growing at this unsustainable rate…”

So, why can’t the government control its health care costs?

Real Clear Market

Government Power and Control (PDF); Heritage Foundation

I love the Fall, love everything about this time of year. Autumn more so than Spring reminded me of rebirth and renewal. It takes me back to my youth and reminds me of days long since past.

This evening, on Thanksgiving of all days, as I was filling up the SUV to head to my parents house to observe our second meal of the day and caught the chill in the air and momentum of the wind. For a brief moment, I was catapulted from the present and was out in front of my parents house in 1986.

Those were the best days, the Autumn air adding rouge to ones cheek, nose running, hair disheveled with a sampling of oaks, popular, or pine. The moments between the arrival of night and the fading beams of the late afternoon sun. The dusk hour in the Palmetto offered up such tranquility. It was at this time so many years ago that we would call it a day.

Now the pump has finished and I have my own family awaiting their trip to Grandma’s house. Reality comes back and it’s time to get going again. Time to go join everyone inside the house but my mind still recalls those days back in Greenville and my folks neighborhood and I Ahhhh Autumn.

Fatherhood

Just recently, one of my best friends witnessed the birth of his first child and thus embark on the journey of fatherhood. 

For many in my generation, we have already been down this road and for a few of us still, the journey has yet to start.  To those of us that are priviledge to become fathers, it is something that will define you and fulfill you in ways you cannot ever imagine.  It is the perfect rollercoaster of emotions. 

Now of all the people who I knew that would be or were becoming fathers, my old roommate was by far the most prepared and best equiped.  He has always had a certain level of paternal aura to him and it would have been a true tragedy had it not happened.   Fatherhood is the completion of the life process from child to adult. 

From my own life, perseverance, commitment, responsibility, self-preservation, and discipline were the values instilled into me.  It was from my father’s own experiences that he wish to bestow on me toughness and empower me to survive the harshness of life  that he demanded those characteristics.  It was these indelible impressions of rigidness that lead a teenage son to question a father, based solely on an understanding of envy; a wish for less severe methods of  parenting.  But from these lessons, that I so fiercely came to battle, I gained an understanding and an appreciation that would later be employed in my own fathering and provide me insight into the man my own father was and how he saw fatherhood.

Now in a moment of reflection, I see it as the blending of cultures and of backgrounds and the mishmashing of environments and personalities that would ultimately hold the ingredients to the father I am and the one that I will become and hope to be.  We all hope that when it is all said and done that we did the best job we could with what we had.  I truly hope my own child will understand that during the context of her own life. 

Fatherhood offers us all the chance to play the hero, that impressionable little soul sees you as you see them, perfect.  To my old college roommate, welcome to the club and savior the moments as I know you will.

Last week I wrote about age appropriate comics and the role that retailers have in stocking this material. That was in response to retailer comments about the lack of quality all ages reading material available and the role of comic retailers in sustaining their own markets with the cultivation of new, young customers.

One issue that shouldn’t be ignored, and provides retailers an excellent opportunity to grow their young readers market, is the level of attention that teachers, as well as school and public libraries, have brought to the role comics play in reaching out to reluctant readers.

If retailers want to turn their back on comics for kids, or complain about the lack of all ages superhero comic content, they are missing out on a revitalized attitude towards the role that comics play in reading development and comics ability to engage these reluctant readers.

The Toronto District School Board is working with Eric Walters, a bestselling children’s author, as well as former Toronto Raptor Jerome ‘Junk Yard Dog’ Williams and his brother, Johnnie Williams, as a means to reach out and encourage young boys to read.

With the trio’s latest book, Home Team, the three men will launch their largest collaboration ever when thousands of Toronto Grade 3 and Grade 6 boys act as their story editors. The plot of the book revolves around the efforts of two students who try to convince the Toronto Raptors basketball team to visit their school. It should be published in May, 2010 and each participating student will receive a copy.

Behind this project is new Education Director of the TDSB, Chris Spence, who started in February 2009, but began laying out his new initiatives in September 2009. A former running back with the B.C. Lions, Spence is tasked with reversing the high drop-out rates amongst Toronto’s high-risk groups while reversing disengagement and promoting academic achievement.

Spence has made his way through the ranks holding positions of race relations co-ordinator, elementary teacher, vice-principal, principal, superintendent and Director of the Hamilton school board, Spence is focused on community development and promoting equity with a focus on initiatives for marginalized youths. He is the author of Skin I’m in: Racism, Sports and Education (Fernwood Publishing Company, 2000) and On Time! On Task! On a Mission! (Fernwood Publishing Company, 2002).

Jerome JYD Williams currently works as the Toronto Raptors community representative. He has developed the youth outreach program, JYD P.R.O.J.E.C.T. Williams structured the community-based initiative to combine community service projects with celebrity appeal. From building renovations, park clean-ups, and community programs, the P.R.O.J.E.C.T uses a diverse board including local government, businesses and community leaders that initiate cooperative community efforts. Williams’ goal with the project is to utilize professional athlete’s influence to motivate youth to excel academically. Williams has also participated in the NBA’s “Basketball Without Borders” program, in efforts to teach the game and bring resources to underdeveloped nations around the world.

Walters and the JYD have two previous books, Triple Threat and Boot Camp, published by Orca Book Publishers Canada.

Scientific progress depends on accurate and complete data. It also relies on replication. The past couple of days have uncovered some shocking revelations about the baloney practices that pass as sound science about climate change.

It was announced Thursday afternoon that computer hackers had obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in England. Those e-mails involved communication among many scientific researchers and policy advocates with similar ideological positions all across the world. Those purported authorities were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global-warming claims.

Professor Phil Jones, the head of the Climate Research Unit, and professor Michael E. Mann at Pennsylvania State University, who has been an important scientist in the climate debate, have come under particular scrutiny. Among his e-mails, Mr. Jones talked to Mr. Mann about the “trick of adding in the real temps to each series … to hide the decline [in temperature].”

Mr. Mann admitted that he was party to this conversation and lamely explained to the New York Times that “scientists often used the word ‘trick’ to refer to a good way to solve a problem ‘and not something secret.’ ” Though the liberal New York newspaper apparently buys this explanation, we have seen no benign explanation that justifies efforts by researchers to skew data on so-called global-warming “to hide the decline.” Given the controversies over the accuracy of Mr. Mann’s past research, it is surprising his current explanations are accepted so readily.

The Washington Times

Sibling Rivalry

For all but one plus year of my existence it could be postulated as a rudimentary equation that I existed as one of three.  Now I know that this is really an unattached and callous manner of looking at ones siblings however it was always this link to three that defined my actions and gave me a sense of no matter the situation or circumstances,  I was never alone.  The flip side of this though was that  I truly did not have independence and reliance on myself.  This,  of course, played an intricate part in my development of who I would become both as positives and negatives prongs in my development as person and as a co-dependent of the three.

Segmented by the natural order of inception, we each fit a part and played it well.  Rey was the responsible, mature yet emotional, and the dependable oldest sibling.  She lead the way doing everything the right way, in the right order, the way it was suppose to be done.  Compassion was woven into her soul by my mother and dependability was hammered on her by my father.  I was the befuddled middle child, lost in my own imagination and hell bent on being recognized.  I was neither the baby nor the first born and still identified by the circumstances of being the only male born child of my family I played upon the circumstances of my birth order and gender like a Pro.  I was always both protagonist and antagonist, ying and yang to my siblings.  Last was Mar, who came as the baby and qualified for the attention and doeding  bestowed on the last born, giving way to all the tendencies and favors granted the youngest of the brood.  Mar would have to identify herself apart from Rey and seek out her own niche.  Initially destined to follow behind the two ahead of her she veared to an identity that bask independence and revel in confrontation. We three children of Generation X would accompany each other through a childhood that offered memorable moments of insight, joy, and pain.  We three were inexplicably link to one another.

Through the years, we all found identities through our actions and separated each of us by categories of accomplishment, but still we three were tied; one that graded us as good Manteghi, bad Manteghi, or Lil Manteghi.  Whether it was through activities within the context of a church or religious sect that provided us some type of moral compass, or school where grades and the state governed our interaction, we always followed one after another and were all identifiable as the Manteghi Crew.  Our existence was as fractions to a whole and we bordered ourselves against the world with that in mind.

As we grew and aged and developed into the people we would become, I learned to take pride in the accomplishments of my sisters.  It wasn’t always easy seeing them succeed while I languished.  Often, their successes became my credits to the efforts they invested in honing their craft and developing their professions.  Jealousy would play a role in fragmenting what should have been wonderful moments for them, resulting in deceit and a concocked reality for me.  Their accomplishments seem to come at a time in my life where little seem to be going right and I would be lost.  Seperated apart from them, I happened upon my own identity.  It was the classic astrological consequence of  a moon wishing to break apart from its orbit and coming to acceptance in the reality.  Now Mariners and Explorers often found themselves guided by a compass or stars to bring them back to their quest or right their path.  That was what my sisters, they gave me strength and it reassured me at times of great despair that I was never really ever alone.  They celebrated each inch of ground gain and each victory won by me, I came to understand that that pride was never in the accomplishment itself but in the accomplishment of one of the three succeeding.

So this Thanksgiving as I look upon my wife and children and give thanks to all the things I have in my life, I will hold a moment of reflection on the two people who have always been identified with me and pay tribute to the three.

What I saw in her

This month I will be celebrating nine years since I first met my wife. And what I mean by “celebrating” is this – my wife and I met online by what I like to refer to as happenstance. Through guile and persuasion, this intelligent woman actually bought into who I could be above and beyond who I was. Through the trials of dating and now into marriage and parenthood we still continue down this path together.

Now as we enter a different time in our lives, dominated by a baby daughter that wants attention and a teenage son who requires supervision and direction, we find our relationship maturing. The nuance that is us has been redefined and still exciting.

So while it isn’t the most romantic of anniversaries, here’s why it rocks – I get to walk down this path holding hands with the greatest person I have ever been with who I have hands-down been in hard-core love with for ten years. Yes!!!! This is the girl who, in the middle of the insanity that is our lives, she will look at me and smile and my stomach still does the same crazy somersaults it did when we were first dating. Tingles, seriously!

Here’s why. In the simplest of terms, I married up. She is a fundamentally better person than me, and in committing to love her for the rest of my life, I also committed to always striving to be the best person I can be, because that is what she does too. This ongoing dynamic has been the easiest thing and the hardest thing I have ever done.

And when you are doing this, you have to really look at yourself and what drives you. So loving someone so deeply can be really, really scary because it brings up the “emotional baggage” that we all have. Falling in love with her was easy. Stepping up and being the best husband I could be to her wasn’t.

Not to get too psycho-babble, but I have issues. I have this deep-seated belief that whatever you love goes away. I grew up in a multicultural household which could no better be characterized as dysfunctional. My father set the rules, enforced the punishment, and dictated what was acceptable levels of love and affection. Saying my mother operated in a loveless relationship would only simplify the characterization of abuse that she endured in order to raise her children. Though they maintained the family unit, my interpretation of what was relationship and love where totally skewed by the reality that I was reared in. I came away with a strong sense of family and dedication to my siblings and mother and a disregard and mistrust of relationships. So while my issue stuff runs deep, it has been buttressed by the love and support of my family overall. I think this is why I was able to grow up and be the functioning, successful person I was when I met my future wife.

A few years into our time together I started to see patterns in my behavior that were pretty unsavory. It was me at my worst – cold, distant and sad. This eventually led to our time apart and what I call “my penance.” I got into counseling, and recognized that the fears triggered by loving someone so much weren’t actually real, but emotional memories. That helped me to separate myself from them and get present with the life I had in the moment, freeing me to love without barriers. Do the emotional memories ever go away? Nope. Does it get easier to manage them? Sometimes.

We all have our shit – to put it not-so-politely. And I really believe that if you figure it out and learn to manage it, you can love and be loved in the way that we all want to love and be loved. I think I am blessed that I met someone who I wanted so bad that I was willing to go down into the well of my own crap so I could figure it out and build a life with her. That’s what I celebrated this week. And I hope I get to celebrate it for many more years ahead.

Happy Anniversary

Now for Christians, I am not entirely sure what the debate is, the message is clear and in the context of the word Christmas itself.  Christ and Mass are combined to provide little doubt that the celebration should be on the birth of the Savior Christ in other words, if you recognize yourself as a Christian then the proper greeting should always be “Merry Christmas. 

In terms of other religions or in certain case non-religions, no greeting or recognition is required and quite honestly, the act of wishing one a Merry Christmas should never be taken as any more than a wish of hope and a greeting of joy.  Even for the most staunch atheist or agnostic, deriving any negative connotations from this is sheer folly.

 The point here is clear, it is a greeting and as with all greetings it is up to the individual receiving the greeting to reciprocate a return greeting, ignore greeting, or respond in a neutral or opposite response.  In any these cases, the owness is not on the greeter but on the greetee.

So blood suckers are all the rage these days! Why? Well, seems like Sci-Fi and fantasy become the magical formula for a society wishing to escape a reality that includes high unemployment, high obesity, high depression, high divorce rates, high foreclosures, and war.

Yeah, I can understand that because we have seen fantasy come to the rescue before. We saw E.T. and Star Wars rescue us in the early 80’s. So escape is an active ingrediant however these Vamps also provide the allure of forbidden romance and that adds to the appeal.

I definitely feel that no harm for mature audiances and minimal for the teens who follow. Taken for what it is, Vampires are important contributors to our recovery and hopes that life has a sensible reason. No matter the challenges and the obsticles, Love finds away.

So for Lastat, Bella, or Suki … drink it up and enjoy your bite on fame.