Uppity-Negro.com

Lynda Barry appeared on Talk of the Nation this afternoon, as everyone probably knows already. Why I hadn't recognized her name earlier, despite having read Ernie Pook's Comeek in the Reader for ages, is probably another sign of encroaching senility.

Later tonight is The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow on PBS, in most areas anyway. Learned a long time ago that they're not really a network as far as that "airing at this time nationwide" thing goes. Would make a joke about the USS Clueless guy passing on this, since it's that stupid, pointless "ethnic studies" garbage, but can't be bothered.

Also, old news, but Priest wrote about that 9/11 anniversary thing a while back:

I live in walking distance of NORAD, the air defense station for the U.S. and Canada. The Olympic training center is here in town. We have a couple of fleets of fighter jets at two air bases and the U.S. Air Force Academy is at the north end of town. I'm used to seeing squads of attack fighters banking overhead (sometimes to my real annoyance). Today, they have a more ominous reverberation: not just of possible jihad, but of the greater obscenity of rich people getting richer off of the tragic losses this country has suffered. And the great WASP moral right taking center stage to corral Reagan-ish "American" values that echo a kind of "Love It Or Leave It" injunctive demand. "With Us Or Against Us," Bush said. But who's "us"? Enron perp-walks and Saddam saber-rattling notwithstanding, this is a government of the rich white people, by the rich white people, and for the rich white people. These are people who cannot fathom the intrinsic threat the word "Us" has when uttered by a Texas millionaire who has little or no idea who Nelly is.

Whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view.

There's also a (p)review of sorts of Marvel's TRUTH at Comic Book Resources. There is Kyle Baker art. This is good from any point of view worth listening to. Unfortunately,

Marvel passed along the first issue of TRUTH, the upcoming 6 part mini-series set to recount the earliest days of Captain America. The story concept is that the Super Soldier Serum may have produced Steve Rogers as Captain America, but that it was tested on enlisted black soldiers first. Given the history of Tuskegee, as is pointed out in all the media material, it's not that much of a stretch. It's also why I was willing to give the book a shot, and not just dismiss it as another attempt to be retro-politically correct. (On the other hand, Bill Jemas is quoted in the press release as saying, "we try to create stories that will resonate with the 21st century readers." I'm not entirely sure how a story set 60 years back is going to do that. ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN's update to the mythos I can see. I'm afraid I don't see that with TRUTH, unless wallowing in our past sins is supposed to resonate with me somehow. Generally speaking, it doesn't. I prefer to look forward.)

the reviewer is an idiot.

Sorry, the reviewer's political biases, which run pretty much opposed to mine, manage to leap out in the first fucking paragraph of his review. And reminded me of this line from MetaFilter:

The problem isn't getting people to remember Tuskeegee, it's getting people to forget it. Everytime it's pointed out that African-Americans suffer disproportionately from high-blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, cancer etc., and low rates of compatible organ donation, somebody starts whining that it's all the fault of the Tuskeegee experiment. African-Americans don't trust the medical establishment, etc. Maybe it's time to get over it, and move on.

Let's see, mentioned the ethnic studies thing, dropped a few references to the Tuskegee Experiment and the whole looking forward/get over it attitude towards same, as well as Priest's essay. Will the right-wingers miss the point entirely?

Does the Pope have a Catholic dick?