Kwame Brown

Kwame Brown, the first overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft, has agreed to a 2-year contract worth $8 million with the Detroit Pistons. Brown has averaged an unremarkable 7.5 points and 5.7 rebounds while playing for the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, and Memphis Grizzlies. Joe Dumars, the Pistons general manager, has demonstrated uncanny adeptness at resurrecting the careers of players who fell short of expectations with other teams. But in Brown, Dumars might have met his match because Brown is on course to go down as one of the biggest busts in league history. That Brown is still in the NBA and able to ply his trade with yet another team underscores an old NBA adage: as long as you're tall with a modicum of agility, you will always have people willing to take a chance on you.

Fiddy's Good Name

Rapper 50 Cent is suing Taco Bell for the latter's nationwide advertising campaign that is "diluting the value of (50 Cent's) good name." Excuse me, but I didn't think it was possible to make any serious claims about the existence of Fiddy's good name, much less its alleged value.

Misspent Resources

Yesterday the Washington Post's unprecedented 12-part serial on the death of intern Chandra Levy based on more than a year of investigative reporting came to an end. Admittedly, I read every installment, trying desperately to find a justification for the paper's decision to run the story. And aside from the obvious - the death of one white woman who was romantically involved with an obscure, inconsequential California congressman - there really is not a good reason for the Post to devote this much space to what is essentially one unsolved homicide among many such homicides. By focusing such exclusive attention on the Levy case, the Post, perhaps unwittingly, made a value judgment about all those other nameless, unsolved homicides.

McCain: The Man and the Myth

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert raises an interesting question: Who is the real John McCain? Contrary to the conventional wisdom which says that mainstream media has given Barack Obama a free ride, a strong case can be made that McCain is the recipient of media favoritism, having glossed over McCain the man in favor of McCain the myth. Just this week, McCain accused Obama of putting personal ambition ahead of the national security interests of the United States and, in what can only be described as risible absurdity, blamed Barack Obama for Americans having to pay more than $4 a gallon for gasoline. Not exactly behavior one would associate with McCain the mythical figure.

Johnny Griffin 1928-2008

Tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, 80, famously known as the "Little Giant" for the incongruity of his short physical stature and prodigious technical facility and musicianship, has died.

McCain: Fit to be President?

John McCain invariably touts his considerable experience in the realm of foreign affairs that allows him to assume the awesome responsibility of Commander-in-Chief on day one. Apparently, that knowledge does not include facts about basic geography. In a recent Good Morning America interview he referred to the situation in Afghanistan as "a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border." Needless to say, those countries, as any schoolchild will attest, do not share a border.

Osama's Driver to Stand Trial

This is an historic moment in the War on Terror. A federal judge has cleared the way for the first military trial next week at Guantánamo Bay of Salim Hamdan. Mr. Hamdan is noteworthy for serving as the elusive Osama bin Laden's chauffeur. Apparently, the thinking is if bin Laden is unavailable, get the next best thing: his driver.

McCain: Viagra and Birth Control

When questioned about the disparity in the way insurance companies cover Viagra and birth control, John McCain, the self-styled straight talker, had remarkably little to say, straight or otherwise. His pregnant silences were deafening. And he came across as something less than a candidate knowledgeable about issues that matter to a lot of people. Too bad his good buddy Joe Lieberman wasn't available to bail him out.

Bernie Mac Bombs

Comedian and actor Bernie Mac apparently violated what should be a cardinal rule for those who speak or perform in public: know your audience. The self-described king of comedy had the privilege of opening for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama at a Chicago fundraiser but unfortunately his choice of language and crude jokes proved be less than a hit with the 600 donors in attendance. Among Mac's gems that didn't go over well: "Being a president is tough 'cause you're not just running the country. You got to run your family too. Having a black first lady is different. You're still going to have to do the dishes and the laundry and all that shit. 'You got to pick up the kids. You didn't pick up the kids?' "

The New Yorker Gets It Wrong

This current New Yorker magazine cover has produced criticism in some quarters for perpetuating rumors and falsehoods about Barack and Michelle Obama. Both the Obama and McCain campaigns have condemned it. Editor David Remnick defends the decision: "It is clearly a joke, a parody of these crazy fears and rumors of scare tactics about Obama's past and ideology. And if you can't tell it's a joke by the flag burning in the Oval Office, I don't know what more to say." Employing satire to make a point is often a dicey proposition at best, and that is especially the case with a significant number of Americans already predisposed to believe all the lies about Obama bandied about primarily over the internet. For this group of literal-minded numbnuts, the cover only serves to reinforce their prejudices and preconceived ideas.

Bush's G8 Farewell

In a defiant farewell to members of the G8, which is emblematic of his term in office, President Bush said: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." January 2009 cannot get here soon enough.

Nuttin' Out

Okay, a whole day has passed since we learned of Jesse's desire to sever Obama's nuts for having the temerity to speak out about the need for black males to take responsibility for themselves and those that they bring into the world. And I still can't figure out why the Country Preacher felt the need to use castration, from all the metaphors that were available to him, to register his displeasure. Judging from the video clip, he seemed to take unusual delight in the choice of words. Jackson's remarks were punctuated with an emphatic thrust of his right fist, as if to drive the point home. Given his outsized ego, it is entirely plausible as some speculate that Jackson is envious of Obama's success. But one thing is certain: his unfortunate choice of words did him, not Obama, more harm than good.

Centering Obama

Barack Obama claims that critics who accuse him of moving toward the political center haven't been listening. In recent weeks, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has applauded the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the District of Columbia's gun ban, despite saying the opposite before the decision was rendered; effectively endorsed Bush's faith based initiatives that blur the distinction between church and state; and voted for FISA despite asserting his opposition to the bill during the Democratic presidential campaign. Apparently Sen. Obama, it isn't only your critics who haven't been listening.

Cashing In

Getting your own reality TV show after engaging in morally dubious or scandalous behavior is rapidly becoming part of the American Dream, a means of cashing in on one's 15 minutes of fame. The latest individual to take this path to celebrity and riches is Ashley Dupre, the $4,300 a night prostitute, noteworthy for her contribution in ending former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer's once promising political career.

Renee Marie and the Star Spangled Banner

Granted, the Star Spangled Banner ain't exactly the easiest song to sing but Renee Marie's decision to sing Lift Every Voice and Sing, based on nothing more than artistic license, is a bit much. There just isn't any justification for substituting your personal preference for a situation where you were expected to sing a specific song, regardless of the aesthetic considerations.

Two Perspectives About America

Washington Post op-ed columnist Colbert I. King offers a comparative look at Frederick Douglass's famous 1852 4th of July speech before the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society and Barack Obama's recent speech "The America We Love." King writes, "The two men's remarks, touching on loyalty, race and the country's moral foundation, underscore the difference 150 years has made in the life of the nation."

Obama on Israel

There is an interesting piece in the London Review of Books by Uri Avnery, leader of Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, that examines the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's appearance at the Aipac conference. In Avnery's view, Obama's speech "broke all records for obsequiousness to the Israeli lobby. That is shocking enough. Even more shocking is the fat that nobody was shocked."

Interesting still is Avnery's analysis of what accounts for Aipac's influence in US politics:

What has caused the rapid ascent to power of the American Jewish establishment? The more I think about this phenomenon, the stronger my conviction becomes that what really matters is the similarity between the American enterprise and the Zionist one. The Mayflower passengers, much like the Zionists of the first and second aliya (immigration wave), fled from Europe, carrying with them a messianic vision, whether religious or utopian. (The early Zionists were mostly atheists, but religious traditions had a powerful influence on them.) The founders of American society were pilgrims, the Zionist immigrants called themselves olim – short for olim beregel, or ‘pilgrims’. Both sailed to a ‘promised land’, believing themselves to be God’s chosen people. Both suffered a great deal in their new country. Both saw themselves as ‘pioneers’ who would make the wilderness bloom, a ‘people without land in a land without people’. Both completely ignored the rights of indigenous people, considering them savages. Both saw the resistance of the local peoples as evidence of their innate murderous character, and felt that this justified even the worst atrocities. Both expelled the natives and took possession of their land, settling on every hill and under every tree, with one hand on the plough and the other on the Bible. True, Israel hasn’t committed anything approaching the genocide performed against the Native Americans, nor anything like slavery. But in the unconscious mind of both nations feelings of suppressed guilt make themselves evident in the denial of past misdeeds, in aggressiveness and the worship of power.

Jesse Helms 1921-2008

Jesse Helms, the arch-conservative and unreconstructed racist, is dead. May his soul, or whatever passes for one, experience nothing but eternal, unrelenting unrest and damnation.

Obama's Faith

Hardly anything new about a candidate after securing the party's nomination and promptly moving toward the center in the general election campaign. Traditionally, Democratic nominees move from the left to the center; Republicans, right to center. But Obama's announcement that he will rename and expand on Bush's faith-based initiatives makes even Obama's most fervent supporters somewhat uncomfortable.

Clark Hangs Tough

Perhaps it is just me but Barack Obama is starting to resemble Bill Clinton in demonstrating a propensity for bailing on supporters for what the opposition perceives as controversial remarks. The latest example is Obama distancing himself from Gen. Wesley Clark for questioning John McCain's qualifications to be president. To Clark's credit, he is hanging tough as evidence by the following statement:

There are many important issues in this Presidential election, clearly one of the most important issues is national security and keeping the American people safe. In my opinion, protecting the American people is the most important duty of our next President. I have made comments in the past about John McCain's service and I want to reiterate them in order be crystal clear. As I have said before I honor John McCain's service as a prisoner of war and a Vietnam Veteran. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. I would never dishonor the service of someone who chose to wear the uniform for our nation.

John McCain is running his campaign on his experience and how his experience would benefit him and our nation as President. That experience shows courage and commitment to our country - but it doesn't include executive experience wrestling with national policy or go-to-war decisions. And in this area his judgment has been flawed - he not only supported going into a war we didn't have to fight in Iraq, but has time and again undervalued other, non-military elements of national power that must be used effectively to protect America But as an American and former military officer I will not back down if I believe someone doesn't have sound judgment when it comes to our nation's most critical issues.