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VISIT US HERE... The Adventures of DJ and his Tivo. This is revolutionary stuff that presents a typical case of media and technology upsetting our fragile society.

MY EMAIL TO SHARPTON, BRAUN and OTHER AA OFFICIALS

It has now been over 10 days since I emailed Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley Braun, Harold Ford Jr., Barbara Lee, and Alcee Hastings and asked them about the 3 million people killed in the Congo. I figured this group of black American leaders, two of which want to be President, were likely to offer thoughtful answers about what we can do to stop the biggest blood bath in Africa.

Either they didn't answer because, a) their staff is crappy and doesn't answer emails or care about the Congo, b) their staff has set answers, but not one about the Congo, or c) when I admitted in the email that I was not AA, they decided I didn't need an answer. The point of all of this is that the Congo, located in the heart of Africa, is experiencing a Holocaust and the US must do something to stop it.

Making the aforementioned black leaders behavior even more suprising is that the supposedly racist President Bush was called one of Africa's best friend's by Live Aid founder Sir Bob Geldof for his administrations $15 billion dollar AIDS program,. Moreover, Geldof went on to say that Clinton (a white man many Black Americans consider to be the first Black Prez) talked a good game but did little (suprise?) and that the European Union's policies were "pathetic and appalling."

At the end of the day it doesn't matter if honkeys solve Africa's problems or African American leaders do it as long as the problems are solved; its just a little sad that so many of the black leaders, who win black votes by default, had nothing to say when I asked them what we should do about the Congo and why the US had done so little about it. I guess Al Sharpton was too busy attacking the NYPD over its killing of 1 black women. (You know what they say -- 1 murder is a tragedy and 1 million is a statistic)

LEARNINGS FROM MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY

Usually you don't expect to learn much sitting on your butt over memorial day, but while traveling on JetBlue, and enjoying the 25 channels of satellite tv they offer I learned a lot about Russia and specifically Peter the Great during a 2 hour show on the History Channel. Peter led Russia from the mid 1600s to the early 1700s.

In addition to being 6' 7" (probably the equivalent of 7' 6" today -- think Yao Ming) and dominating his enemies thru force, Peter was a wise man. He took over Russia when it was weak, with warring militias and a church that interfered in the functioning of the state. Peter understood that the weakness came from the land's introversion and looked towards Europe, technology, and education for strength. At one point during his rule he left his homeland and travelled thru Europe for 16 months in order to learn how he could strengthen his domains. He watched autospies and even joined the British Navy during some of their war exercises. When he returned he killed off the militias and made nobles dress in modern, rather than traditional garb (even ripping out some of their beards -- I mean this was Russia in the 17th century) The bottom line was Peter turned Russia from a backwards bitch state that the Mongol Hordes dominated into a European Power that defeated the powerful King Charles of Sweden and gave Russia access to the Black Sea.

The point of all this was that Peter understood that modernity was the only way to save his country and grow it, something no modern Arab states have realized. Peter, BTW, was not the only ruler to ever realize this. The Japanese did this in the 1800s and the Turks, under Ataturk did it in the early 1900s. So, why, oh, why can't any Arabs realize it. Why do they depend on fundamental religion and tribes in order to rule? Sure they are racing to get WMD, but those have deterrent value at best, and do not create sustainable value like education, medicine, and modern agriculture.

In the end it is going to take massive subjugation and humiliation in order to get the Arab world to change its ways and save itself. How many more Iraqs and Afghanistans are needed is anyone's guess and how many people will die (both westerners and Arabs) is also unclear. We can only hope that a Arab/Muslim Peter arrives sooner rather than later.

EFFECTIVE MEANS OF TEACHING CHILDREN TO HATE

Beating a child senseless while wearing the mask of the person or group that one wants the child to hate could work and so could be creating a video game that rewards kids for killing that certain group While It wouldn't be suprising if members of the KKK or Hamas abused their kids, the latter is all the rage in the world of hate mongers.

Hizbollah, the terror group based out of Lebanon and supported by Iran, produces its own video game in which young martyr wannabes can "'Be a partner in the victory. Fight, resist and destroy your enemy in the game of force." The name of the game is Special Force and it is produced by the Hizbollah Central Internet Bureau. Targets in the game include Ariel Sharon and it has been sold throughout Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and Bahrain. According to the game's site it was created because computer games create a "life pattern for many generations." Sounds like these guys are really committed to a two state solution.

Radical Islamic is following the trail blazed by Resistance Records, a neo-nazi group that released their first game, Ethnic Cleansing, last year and are set to release their second game, White Law, in the coming weeks. Gamers hitting Ethnic Cleansing can choose to have their character wear a KKK style robe or look like a skinhead as they descend on NY and try to clean it up. Level 1 allows users to kill blacks and hispanics while Level 2 presents the puppet master Jews. Apparently, Ariel Sharon makes an appearance in this game as well. (Sharon must be making a killing on royalties) Whats even more amazing than the game itself is the fact that the site has reviews and also an Amazon-like feature that says, "People who bought Ethnic Cleansing also bought" and then lists other products. According to a spokesman for the National Alliance (a skinhead group) half the kids who buy the game come back and buy books and music. (They must have studied Procter and Gamble's cross marketing programs.)

BTW, while on the site of Resistance Records (the purveyor of white power kitsch products) I saw a banner for FreeChesterDoles.com. Though his name reminds one of a pedofile, he is apparently a white supremacist who has been locked up on gun charges, among other things. Apparently this sick bastard is the Georgia Regional Director of the National Alliance (fellas the war ended over a century ago) and has been an outspoken critic of the Mexican invasion of Georgia??? Thats what their website sayz. Frightening!

$1 WORTH OF OPRAH

Given all the suicide bombings of the past week, and the fact that Tracy Morgan is leaving SNL, I will try and focus on some good news: I paid $1 for the first biography ever written about Oprah (in '87). The title of the book is Oprah! and the author is Robert Waldron (he also wrote the classics: Cooking With the Young and the Restless, Ricki: The Unauthorized Biography of Ricki Lake, and The Bold and the Beautiful). While the book is almost 20 years old, the information is timeless.

Here is at least $10 worth of incredible facts learned in the past 3 days. First, Stedman Graham (Oprah's live in lover) was a model before he met Oprah. Beyond Oprah's good taste in men, anyone who reads the book will find out that when she was little, Oprah was impressed that Ward and June Cleaver didn't whip the Beaver (Insert 'Weren't you a little hard on the Beaver' joke here.) When Oprah attended the NY Premiere of The Color Purple, she wore a fur that was dyed purple. (I bet PETA didn't tangle with Oprah).

Finally, and this is not from the book, it was announced on May 19th, that Oprah will be on the air until at least 2008. While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the Waldron book said she got paid $31 million per year (again the book is from '87!). Damn thats a lotta cash. In fact, Oprah is the only AA women billionaire in the world.

ATTACKS IN RIYADH AND CASANBLANCA MEAN TROUBLE FOR US POLICY

"Realizing the importance of the case, my men are rounding up twice the usual number of suspects," said Captain Louis Renault in the classic film Casablanca. There is no doubt that in the wake of the quintuple-suicide bombing in Casablanca and the triple-suicide bombing in Riyadh, law enforcement in the Arab world is rounding up lots of extremists. Sadly, like Captain Renault doing the bidding of the Nazis, today's law enforcement in Northern Africa (and the rest of the Arab world) is sure to be checking with Islamic power brokers before doing anything. (For example - did you hear that the Riyadh bombers had Saudi police uniforms and keys?)

So who in the Arab world can the we trust in this battle to determine whether terror is an acceptable means of political negotiation? No one can answer that question, but even more frightening is that at the same time that Arab extremists are blowing themselves up all over the place the US is forcing Israel to cut a deal with the greatest terrorist movement of all time.

Perhaps terror is increasing because the Palestinian movement has been repeatedly rewarded by the internatinal community for its killing of Jews (can you imagine how much of Europe Hitler would have been given if Churchill had a late 20th century mindset?). The US has announced its pulling its military out of Saudi Arabia (Osama's biggest demand if I remember correctly) yet terror has not slowed down. Al Quaeda has not announced that it is pleased with this development and will alter its policies accordingly. Reality is that the scourge will not go away until those is leadership positions (the bombers themselves are sheep, like most people in the world) are either killed, imprisoned, or lobotimized. There are other strategies that must be employed (such as the free trade zone Bush announced - it will increase jobs and hopefully weaken the call of extremism.) but let there be no doubt that in the Middle East, little works better than a big ol' can of wupass.

THE MUTATION OF THE NY TIMES / A NOTE TO TOM CRUISE

Watching one's enemies be crushed should make a guy happy. Oddly, the news that the New York Times is investigating complaints about "fudged datelines, composite scenes and too-good-to-be-true quotes" related to staff beyond Jayson Blair doesn't make me as happy as I thought it might. While I once revered the paper as a National Institution, the internet took away is ability to provide news and reality took away its ability to push policy. Tom Friedman forced me to keep my username and password at the website, but I'd buy a USA Today on the street before a I'd buy a Times. Don't even bother asking about a subscription.

From the Bush-Gore Welterweight Spit-Decision Election to the crash of the Nasdaq on thru 9/11 and Iraq, the NYTimes became a thorn in the side of pragmatism and lost any interest in the people that make up a healthy chunk of America (you know... the military, Walmart, Nascar types - even Kristof acknowledged that). The Times had become just another media outlet fighting for its agenda and shouting down its opponents crassly.

Whether the NY Times crumbles like a house of cards (think Enron, KMart, Arthur Anderson) or keeps clipping along its partisan way, its peak has long since passed. Its status as a national arbiter was lost somewhere along the way and its current carictature is still mutating before our very eyes. In the end, The NYTimes is just another player in the ultracompetitive media industry where honesty is not expected by the consumer but entertainment is.

A SHORT NOTE TO TOM CRUISE

Tom, its time to get a new management team. Between the braces and Nicole's success after the divorce ( I hear any average management team never would have let that happen), the decision to be in the Last Samurai seems more like an attempt at seppuku (ritual samurai suicide - no, they didn't kill lots of innocent jews while killing themselves). Firstly, Japan, sushi, samurai, blah blah -- that was so 80s. You remember Rising Sun? Buy American? Export restraints on Japanese Cars? How about parachute pants and Kelly McGillis?

To make matters worse, Japan is a small and diminishing market. Yes Tom, the Japanese and Chinese are different. There are only about 120 million Japanese and the population is shrinking. Not only that, the Japanese are not well thought of throughout Asia (they basically colonized all of Asia from 1895 thru the end of WWII -- check the map). In fact, after white men (like the one you play in the film) imported their thoughts and evil ways into Japan, the Tokugawa era ended, and Japan went crazy on Asia. Whether the new film glorifies colonialism remains to be seen (I'll wait until its on cable), but I am sure the people at International ANSWER will know what to do. (if they can panhandle enough change to buy a ticket)

Good luck Tom, and don't forget you're # 1 supporter in America is out of the closet and off the air. What did your management team do about that? Get the message?