May 08, 2008

The New Great White Hope

Stephen A. Smith (who else?) writes in the current ESPN Magazine that the NBA is not racist, and only has European and white players because it helps the team get better, spreads the game around the world and makes more money for the owners.

Makes some sense to me. But in yesterday's Daily News, boxing was shown openly advocating for a white American champion, writes Mark Kram:

Setting aside the question of whether or not Joey Abell can actually become what [promoter Don] Elbaum envisions, he does seem to bring something to the table other than a healthy appetite. In fact, he is a symbol of eternal longing: A heavyweight who is not just American but the color of driven snow. While it is politically incorrect to say so, even Abell understands that when it comes to forging a boxing career, the only thing he has missing at this point is a tattoo on his arm that says MOTHER. "Not to sound racist or anything, but a white heavyweight from America would be a big thing," said Abell, who would indeed be a big thing for a sport that has slipped so far out of the public consciousness that some would say it could be packed up in a pine box. Because far larger than even the raw abilities of the still unproven Abell is what someone like him represents: The possibility of a new face that can coax the sport out of the crypt.

This is why sports journalists enjoy covering boxing: None of that PC crap; it's all "yes, the sport would like a white American heavyweight champion."

Up Front [ESPNMag]
Interest in boxing bruised, not broken [Daily News]

Posted by D-Mac at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2008

Obama Campaign Needs More White People

PW's Alli Katz notices something interesting about Barack Obama's appearance at Carnegie Mellon. Quoted from The Tartan:

While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.”

It's nice to see that Obama's people are attempting to make every single one of his rallies a giant college brochure. That's some attention to detail.

The Fight For White People! [Independence Brawl]

Posted by D-Mac at 01:59 PM | Comments (0)

April 08, 2008

Experts: 100% Of Philly.com Readers Racist

Let's play a game today, shall we? Philly.com's lead story right now is about after-school policing on SEPTA. (30 new cops!) I haven't written much about the subway attacks despite being a regular subway rider (from Center City!) because it's a SEPTA story I can't really blame SEPTA 100 percent for. And that's no fun.

We all care about El safety now because a white person died, so SEPTA is adding 30 cops to police the subway between 2 and 5 p.m. (How many will be at York-Dauphin station, I wonder.) Philly.com currently has it as its lead story and (oh no) they are allowing people to write comments. After yesterday's Sierra Leone boy/Chris Wheeler fiasco, one can only assume roughly 200 percent of the comments posted to this story will contain code words old white people say because they can't say "nigger" in polite society anymore. Aww, too bad, white people!

Anyway, let's track this comment thread throughout the day. it's already at a critical mass where I believe comments will start to be deleted, and then people will cry censorship and wah wah wah. It's like the Courier-Post comments section all over again!

SEPTA to increase after-school policing on subway [Inquirer]

Posted by D-Mac at 09:32 AM | Comments (5)

March 02, 2008

Hamels: $500K Salary Is A 'Low Blow'

Phillies ace Cole Hamels (at right), who despite not being the opening day starter is clearly set up as the Phillies #1 pitcher, is poised for a big year. Well, ha ha, too bad, now he's pissed about his contract.

Hamels called the one-year, $500,000 deal a "low blow" but also hoped that Phillies fans won't think he's greedy.

"They do want to keep you happy, and that will affect down the line with certain things that come up because you can’t just all of a sudden throw everything out at (a player) at the last second and think that’s really going to make him happy, because he’s still got check marks for what they didn’t do in the years before." Hamels told the Daily News' David Murphy, who I know because his name is on my bedroom wall on some plaque.

This is a boom for all the fans, of course, who were worrying about being able to complain about the Phillies being cheap when they've actually had a respectable payroll recently. Also, if Cole Hamels doesn't want Phillies fans to think he's a greedy athlete, maybe he should pitch the Phillies to the World Series. After that, some fans might be willing to donate a couple thousand to Hamels himself.

Posted by D-Mac at 06:03 PM | Comments (400)

February 08, 2008

Columbus Gets To Keep America After All

Even thought we Americans may not have been all that nice to the people living on this continent before we arrived, at least we honor them with sports team logos. We also honor the American Indians by realizing that, well, they were here first.

Or, you know, maybe not. Newtown Elementary school recently held a "mock trial" debating whether Columbus discovered America or if the Indians were here first The case -- debated in front of an actual district judge -- ended in a hung jury, of course, but America was declaring victory.

Despite the hung jury, the defendant [Columbus, I guess] — played by 11-year-old Ryan Conner — felt victorious. “We had all the proof we needed,” he said after the court adjourned. “The prosecution had a lot of evidence, but they couldn't prove the Indians had a civilization.”

Continue reading "Columbus Gets To Keep America After All"

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February 06, 2008

Guy You Don't Know Apologizes

Hey, remember when Louis DeNaples said that he couldn't recognize John Street because all black people look the same to him? No? Come on, he's the casino guy who allegedly lied about his mob ties, and we want corporations to make a ton of money on gambling, not mobsters.

Well, anyway, he apologized.

I want to apologize for the insensitivity of this remark. It was wrong, I shouldn't have said it, and I am very sorry that I did. It came during the course of an exhaustive day of testimony, and it occurred as I was being shown a number of black and white photographs and being asked whether I recognized any of the individuals in the photos.

When I answered, I was referring to my inability to distinguish the people in those photos, and I just didn't do a very good job of making that point. My remark really was in reference to the difficulty I was having identifying anyone in the photos.

Continue reading "Guy You Don't Know Apologizes"

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February 04, 2008

Teacher Protested Over 'Flying Nun' Remark

Hey, kids! There's a race war going on in East Falls, where the white people are rich and the poor people are poor and even the NAACP is split over it! But whatever, let's just read why the former principal -- looks like this story is over, actually! -- upset some black parents:

Robey was one of about a dozen Mifflin teachers and parents who testified about their concerns at a City Council hearing Dec. 27. Another parent, LaShya Taylor, said she heard [principal Allyssa] Schmitt make the comment about Muslim children looking like the "flying nun."

You know, she should be fired. If she thinks Muslims look like the The Flying Nun she's clearly unfit to lead a school.

Rift over ex-principal has East Falls on edge [Inquirer]

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January 31, 2008

Well, At Least He's Honest About It

Louis DeNaples in 2006 told investigators from the state Gaming Control Board: "To me, black people all look alike."

Eh, it's not really all that much different from John Street asking if a dead Frank Sinatra would make a campaign appearance for him.

Street 'wouldn't recognize' big donor [Daily News]

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December 19, 2007

Princeton Virgin Beats Himself Up, Breaks Law

Of all the annoying complaints, #1 on the list has to be a rich white dude complaining about discrimination. It used to be the only white people who could legitimately complain they were being seriously discriminated against were suburban skateboarders, but now that John Street gave money to build the John Street Memorial Skate Park (actually, Franklin's Paine, which I guess sounds better than Rizzo's Goode), who knows anymore. But, yeah, white dudes complaining about stuff is pretty much "the Internet," which explains a lot.

But, anyway, sometimes people complaining will go to great lengths to prove they actually are under attack. Case in point? Princeton University junior Francisco Nava, who faked an attack on himself and reported it to the police. Nava claimed the attack took place because of his conservative views. He even sent threatening emails to himself, fellow students and a professor to give his fake attack some merit!

Nava, you see, is part of the Anscombe Society, a campus group that opposes premarital sex. (It is the most popular group on Princeton's campus.) The group has pow wows where they fantasize about small government and moving to gay-free countries like Iran, but nobody really pays much attention to them because they're against premarital sex.

Anscombe president Kevin Staley-Joyce, though, shed some light on the situation after a meeting of the club's virgin members to the Princeton school paper.

"He wanted something big and showy as opposed to the approach that we set out in our mission statement," Staley-Joyce said. The statement describes Anscombe's goals as providing "social support and a voice" for students committed to its ideals and "intellectual engagement" on campus.

Once again, a sub-par mission statement has caused more problems than it's solved.

Posted by D-Mac at 08:07 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

November 06, 2007

Mummers Finally Put White People Into History Books

Photographer E.A. "Ed" Kennedy III, who is originally from New Orleans, is amazed at how little appreciation Philadelphia seems to have for the Mummers.

"We're tolerating them, we're putting up with them," he said. "There is really an antipathy toward white, working-class culture in the United States."

Kennedy, who is African-American, added, "If these guys had been black, there would have been four or five books like this."

The Mummers are apparently finally getting the respect they deserve, after being held down by the black man for so long. Finally, a win for the white man. Um.

Inside the Mummers [Daily News]
[Photo by andrea2382, CC license]

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June 26, 2007

Fumo Unable To Get Verizon To Just Give Him $15 Mil

Turns out Vince Fumo's "I'm being unfairly targeted by President Bush" letter to his constituents (which was also paid for by his constituents) was pretty timely after all. Currently, Fumo's lawyers are in court arguing for their right to represent Fumo in the most boring hearing in American history. The Inquirer is, of course, liveblogging it.

During yesterday's portion of the hearings, prosecutors alleged Fumo and Verizon struck a "gentlemen's agreement" that if Verizon gave the state senator a handjob (in this case, "handjob" means "millions of dollars to a law firm of his choosing") he wouldn't push to break up the company.

As talks proceeded, prosecutors say, Fumo offered to drop his fight and pushed Verizon to give $15 million to Citizens Alliance. Unlike Peco[, who gave $17 million], Verizon refused to do that. But according to the testimony yesterday, [ex-Verizon prez Dan] Whelan did agree to give an unspecified amount to the Philly Pops - orchestra conductor Peter Nero and Fumo are close friends - and to hire a law firm designated by Fumo.

Then everyone involved went to their vaults of gold coins and swum around a la Scrooge McDuck. Ha ha, rich people are awesome, aren't they?

Details emerge on Fumo, Verizon [Inquirer]
The Case Against Sen. Fumo [Philly.com]

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May 07, 2007

Rich People To Sell Giant Property

On Sunday, the Inquirer spent a majority of its front page on a story about Ardrossan, the mansion that inspired The Philadelphia Story, a movie you will remember if you are 70. (According to IMDB, the 1940 film's tagline is: "Uncle Leo's bedtime story for you older tots! The things they do among the playful rich - Oh, boy!")

The Montgomery-Scott-Wheeler family is putting the mansion's 360-acre grounds and the 50-room mansion on the market because they are renouncing capitalism and donating all the money to the poor. Well, okay, probably not. But the sale of the Radnor mansion has not only ruffled the feathers of the very rich, but also the feathers of the regular rich, who are concerned about preserving open space in the township.

For Elaine Schaefer, executive director of the nonprofit Radnor Conservancy, Ardrossan offers "a relief from the density and sprawl" all around it.

When The Inquirer told Schaefer of Ardrossan's prospective sale, her first reaction was stunned silence. When she found her voice, she vowed to work to protect as much of it as possible from development.

The further adventures of the soap opera about the mansion that inspired the movie you've probably heard of but never seen will continue to be chronicled on the front page of the Inquirer. Meanwhile, the boat that inspired The Philadelphia Experiment is still missing. Priorities, people!

End of a class act [Inquirer]

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September 18, 2006

If Shitty Bands Can't Stop Genocide, Who Can?

Penn student and online Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Stephen Morse went to a rally against the Darfur genocide recently and posted about it on the DP's blog.

Morse was shocked -- shocked! -- that the rally was mainly attended by rich priviliged people who had the time to attend the rally. And he blasts American blacks for not attending.

My problem was the sea of white faces who were rallying in Central Park against the injustices of the Sudan. In every corner of the field I counted no more than 20 minorities among the tens of thousands of people who were packed into the park. ¶ I also observed (not scientifically, I must admit) that the majority of the crowd were Jews.

We can only assume that he went around Central Park checking to see if the males were circumsized to confirm this not scientific (he must admit!) hypothesis.

I approached each black person I saw throughout the day. The scary thing was that I saw but one person the entire day who was African-American, rather than an immigrant from Africa.

This event was a disgrace. It was not a unified America. It was a majority of Jews and some Catholics from their faith-based organizations, and a contingent of hippie liberals from Amnesty International. There were no Muslims there.

Ahh, see, he approached every black person and assumedly asked them why there weren't more black people at the event. Way to make them feel welcome! Not sure how he checked to see if there weren't any Muslims there, though. Maybe there was an anti-Pope rally across the street or something.

American Jews stepped up to the plate this summer to help their brothers and sisters in Israel. When will African-Americans do the same for their brothers and sisters in Darfur?

Well, at least he didn't write "brothas and sistas."

After an imam gave a speech Morse didn't like, it appeared that he'd get some salvation for the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately...

Not even a performance by OAR to end the event could help the crowd overcome such harsh and dismal words.

You see, people? OAR is against genocide! Why didn't you get your free $15 bus from your Ivy League university's Hillel to attend?

Barely a dark face in the crowd [The Spin]
Editor's Note: This is headline is approaching "He lost a toe, but gained a thumb" status.
Update, 10:00 a.m.: Fixed (1) the bus cost $15 and (2) Morse's first name.

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