As strange as it may sound, during Obama’s multi-country tour of the Middle East I’ve heard several journalists now talk about how he isn’t giving interviews. The entire trip is basically turning into an opportunity for him to get pictures taken in the Middle East. Foreign journalists are being snubbed completely. The German writer Christoph von Marschall remarks:

Surely a man who has said he would talk with U.S. adversaries such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can spend a few moments with journalists from friendlier countries.

Andrea Mitchell even says she doesn’t know what the heck is going on during the tour, because it’s all a PR stunt. Watch the video here. In fact, when I saw video of Barack shooting hoops in front of the troops, I couldn’t help but notice almost the entire crowd was black.

I think it’s funny that the latenight news runs clips like the above and does zero critical analysis. Clearly the people there wanted to be there, but it came across in the news that all of the military was excited for him to be there. Why can’t the news say “a majority of the attendees were black supporters”? Maybe he’s not giving interviews because they don’t have any teleprompters in the Middle East.

And to really hit you upside the head, CNN is posing the question Could an Obama Presidency Hurt Black Americans? Read the following:

Yet there are a few political commentators who warn African-Americans that an Obama victory could be twisted to suppress the push for racial equality.

So let me get this straight. If Obama became President, it would be bad because then blacks would think they are no longer held down by the white man? Obama can be President, just like Oprah, Tiger Woods, Larry Elder, and 50 Cent are all successful black people. How stupid do you have to be to realize the door is wide open for people of all colors? Even when those doors are thrown wide open with throngs of people passing through them, some people have the gall to say an Obama Presidency would convince people that Blacks have come all the way? No crap, because they have. If you can acheive the Presidency, WTF else do you want your ethnic group to achieve?

Let me be clear about the purpose of this post. It is not to debate the recent Israel/Hezbollah clash. I’ve already made my opinion on that clear. Today though I ran across an article on CNN that is a perfect example of why critical thinking is so important. An excerpt from this article:

"The conflict began July 12, when Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid into northern Israel. Israel responded with a massive bombardment of Lebanon and a push into the country’s south to root out Hezbollah, which retaliated by firing about 4,000 rockets into northern Israel."

Instead of just telling you what I see, I want to hear from everyone else. What do you see, and what are the implications?

Update: So here is my take on this paragraph. The main flaw I see deals not with the facts, but with the sequence of events. The implication is that it puts Hezbollah in a good light, and makes Israel the bad guy.

The first sentence is entirely factual, but in sentence two there is a big problem. The way it is worded makes it sound like after Hezbollah’s initial action, Israel then bombed and invaded Lebanon. This is true, but is this all that happened? Here’s the kicker: Hezbollah then retaliated against Israel’s bombardment and invasion. Notice the order of events. Minor action by Hezbollah, huge reaction by Israel, and then retaliation by Hezbollah. The problem is that Israel didn’t go into Lebanon until weeks after July 12, and all the while Hezbollah was firing their 4,000 rockets. A more accurate second sentence might read "The cross-border raid was followed by weeks of rocket fire from both sides, and the eventual push by Israel into Southern Lebanon."

The implications from this statement are huge. It makes it sound like after Hezbollah’s first raid they just sat around for weeks! All the while evil Israel was attacking and invading. Finally, poor and helpless Hezbollah’s hand was forced and they fired their rockets. This makes Hezbollah sound passive, like they didn’t want this conflict, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Is the paragraph riddled with lies? No, but it is quite misleading, especially if you’ve not followed the conflict closely. The ability to discern something as minor as the sequence of events has a major effect on the understanding of the conflict and who is at fault.

Pandering to Blacks at a recent Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, Senator Hillary Clinton made the following remarks: The House "has been run like a plantation, and you know what I’m talking about," said Clinton, D-New York. (See the full article here via CNN.) Update: Video at PolitcalTeen. I could go many directions from here (inspiration via Larry Elder).

I could talk about how most Black voters are taken for granted by the Democratic Party, and sadly a remark like this will do little to affect support among Blacks. The oddest thing of all is that Clinton was using this to rally the Blacks she was addressing. To even suggest that the House of Representatives is comparable to a plantation is ludicrous. Blacks should be outraged that Clinton would suggest such a thing, and even more upset that she is using it to promote her political adgenda.

I could talk about how Clinton is confused about where to position herself leading into 2008. She doesn’t know if she should position herself as a centrist or a far-left liberal. If she positions herself in the center like John Kerry, someone far-left like Dean might give her problems. However, if she goes too far-left she won’t appeal to those in the middle.

I could talk about how the mainstream media is going to give her a pass like they always do. Trent Lott was crucified over his comment to Strom Thurmond, which in and of itself was not racist (it was interpreted as an endorsement of Thurmond’s political stance at the time, though it’s likely Lott was simply saying he was a good man for the job.) Why isn’t the NAACP making an uproar and denouncing Clinton’s comments?

I will leave you with another quote from Senator Clinton from the same speech (this is for those of you that didn’t actually read the article). In two years when Clinton is running for office and promising to bring the country together, don’t forget this mean-spirited foaming at the mouth remark:

"I predict to you that this administration will go down in history as one of the worst that has ever governed our country."

Breaking news out of San Quentin: Tookie Wookie’s vein was hard to find, and the execution took a little longer. "He did seem frustrated that it didn’t go as quickly as he thought it might," said San Quentin State Prison Warden Steven Ornoski. "Yah, this sucks. When I killed those four people they got to die a lot faster. What a rip off," Tookie Wookie said right before he died. "I’ve been waiting 26 years to die, and now they are saying it’s going to take a couple more minutes!"

CNN’s headline isn’t that a convicted murderer was killed, but that poor Tookie Wookie didn’t die fast enough. May God have mercy on his soul.

Poor Tookie Wookie