“Coastie Song' stirs up U. of Wisconsin campus - WBBM” plus 4 more |
- Coastie Song' stirs up U. of Wisconsin campus - WBBM
- An interference call for college football - Durant Daily Democrat
- Caribbean: New Media & Celebrity Fascination - Global Voices Online.org
- WS: Golden Gate Racing signs primary sponsor - Motorsport.com
- The Police State's Sexxxy New Plan - Salon
| Coastie Song' stirs up U. of Wisconsin campus - WBBM Posted: 16 Dec 2009 07:32 AM PST MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- When two students recorded their first rap song together, they wanted to have fun with a cultural icon unique to the University of Wisconsin-Madison: the coastie. The term is widely used here to describe out-of-state students who tend to wear certain clothes, come from wealthier families and live in more expensive private dormitories. They are teased by "sconnies," the Wisconsin kids who make up a majority of the student body. The "Coastie Song," featuring students Quincy Harrison and Cliff Grefe rapping about the coastie girls wearing tights, Ugg boots and North Face jackets, quickly became an Internet hit this fall. Tens of thousands of people heard the song on MySpace and saw the video on YouTube and it's even available on iTunes. While the song has launched their music career, it's done a great deal more on the 42,000-student campus. It's raised complaints of anti-Semitism, shed more light on a cultural divide among students and renewed complaints about a long-standing housing policy. "They say it's just a funny song, but obviously it's come to be much more than that," said Michelle Langer, a sophomore from Milwaukee. Some Jewish students object to the song's references to a "Jewish American Princess" and "My east coast Jewish honey" who wastes her father's money. Greg Steinberger, executive director of Hillel at UW-Madison, a Jewish group, said it was unseemly for Harrison and Grefe to profit from a song "made to purposely make fun of and hurt their neighbors." Harrison and Grefe, known on campus as Quincy and Beef, say the song was not meant to insult Jews. Harrison said in the song he is flirting with a good-looking coastie that he wants to get to know better. "If anything, it's complimentary," said the 21-year-old from Bloomington, Ind. Perla Bernstein, a 21-year-old senior from New York City, said the song is funny, but she worries the term "coastie" has morphed from a good-natured jab to an anti-Semitic slur. "There's so much xenophobia on campus that it's ridiculous," she said. "And it goes both ways." Sophie Bressler, an 18-year-old freshman from Chappaqua, N.Y., said students from Wisconsin unfairly believe she and other out-of-state students are "spoiled and sheltered." She said some of her friends have been heckled for wearing what's considered coastie garb. As for the song, she said: "I think it's funny, but people get offended by it." Many blame a state law for fueling the divide by giving preference to Wisconsin residents for a limited number of university dorm rooms. That forces other students to stay in private residence halls where they don't interact with their Wisconsin counterparts. Other out-of-state students say they choose to live with their own in private residence halls that tend to have more amenities and cost more than the public dorms. Chancellor Biddy Martin said she wants to study the housing issue further and tamp down any hard feelings caused by the song. A majority of UW-Madison students come from Wisconsin and Minnesota, but hundreds also come from California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and elsewhere. The term coastie was likely coined in Madison in the last 15 years, said Eric Raimy, a UW-Madison assistant professor of the English Language and Linguistics. He said other universities in the Midwest use the term, but usually to describe students from the coasts. In Madison, he said, the term is used as a pejorative to describe women with "more Hollywood-esque cultural attributes to them" but the song injects a Jewish component that can't be ignored. Harrison said he and Grefe are recording additional songs to release in coming weeks that will address campus issues, but hopefully not "such touchy subjects." fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| An interference call for college football - Durant Daily Democrat Posted: 16 Dec 2009 06:28 AM PST Two Saturdays ago, the nation was one tick of a Texas clock away from a cultural crisis. Nebraska led Texas 12-10 in the Big 12 Conference championship football game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Texas had the ball on Nebraska's 29-yard line when time expired. Or so it seemed. Texas was unbeaten entering the game and was third in the Bowl Championship Series ranking. But that Saturday, Alabama, which was ranked second, defeated top-ranked Florida. Because, however, 3,600 seconds had elapsed in Arlington, a defeated Texas would not be playing Alabama Jan. 7 in the BCS game to determine the national champion. But Texas was resuscitated by football's excruciating mania for perfection. A game is 60 minutes of actual football sliced into slivers and scattered among almost that many minutes of officials standing around brooding about whether they called the last play correctly. A replay official in Cowboys Stadium consulted videotape and decided that when the previous play ended, only 3,599 seconds of the game had elapsed. So one second was put back on the clock, Texas kicked a field goal and will play Alabama after all. And the nation will be spared the culture shock of seeing one of three other teams — Texas Christian, Cincinnati or Boise State — play Alabama. These upstarts are undefeated, which is admirable, but they also are unglamorous, which is unforgivable: It might mean fewer television viewers for the beer and pickup-truck commercials that will be broadcast during replay delays on the Jan. 7 telecast. Rep. Joe Barton, who considers the BCS part of the axis of evil, is incandescent and prepared. In January, this 13-term Republican, whose district includes Cowboys Stadium and nearly nuzzles TCU in Fort Worth, introduced the College Football Playoff Act of 2009, which says: It shall be unlawful to "promote, market, or advertise" a postseason Division I football game as a national championship game unless it is "the final game of a single elimination post-season playoff system" for which all Division I teams are, at the beginning of the season, equally eligible. Barton believes in limited government, but not so limited that it cannot right outrageous wrongs, such as the absence of a playoff. Bipartisanship lives: Barack Obama, who wants to fix everything — health care, the climate, the pothole on your street, college football — also wants a playoff. "They keep trying to tinker with the current system," Barton says, "and to me it's like — and I don't mean this directly — it's like communism. You can't fix it." He would toss the BCS into the ashcan of history where, arguably, it belongs. "It is," he says, "simply a cartel, much like OPEC." It uses an "arbitrary computer system" and "complicated algorithms" to determine who gets to play in the "mythical championship game." He has a point. January's game will be the 12th since the BCS system was created in 1998, and Alabama will be just the 12th different university represented in the decisive game. (Texas won it in 2006.) By giving the winners of six major football conferences automatic bids to one of the four most lucrative bowl games (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange) plus the national championship game, the BCS virtually guarantees that the rich get richer — and get the television exposure that attracts blue-chip recruits. Occasionally a declasse team crashes the BCS party: Undefeated Utah was allowed into the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Then Utah lost its coach, Urban Meyer, to Florida, a school in the Southeastern Conference, whose winner always plays in a BCS bowl. If congressional pressure leads to, say, a four-team playoff, half a dozen other teams will call that "arbitrary" and will pressure Congress to press for an eight-team playoff. Eventually the season will end when spring practice begins. The BCS has effectively created a two-tier bowl system — the big four bowls plus the national championship game, with their gigantic television contracts, and the 29 much less profitable bowls — which is unfair. It also is none of Congress's business. Barton's bill makes the usual perfunctory nod to the Constitution, finding that college teams travel in interstate commerce and college games "involve and affect" such commerce and therefore — the usual non sequitur — it is fine for Congress to meddle. Barton's bill, which should draw a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness to the idea of limited government, demonstrates how Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce has become an end run around that idea. George F. Will's e-mail address is georgewill@ washpost.com. (c) 2009, The Washington Post Writers Group fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Caribbean: New Media & Celebrity Fascination - Global Voices Online.org Posted: 16 Dec 2009 08:32 PM PST The fascination with celebrities has always been at a fever pitch, but in the current age of new media and consumer-generated content, it's at an all-time high. Now that everyone – from the established media outlets to the average Joe – can share content via blogs and social networking sites, celebrities have found themselves under increased scrutiny. Celebrity blogs are some of the most popular sites on the Internet, with some attracting millions of readers per month. Online, sex, gossip and celebrity sells. Celebrity interest is not geographically isolated either. The true mark of a celebrity is their ability to attract interest from people of all walks of life, and nationalities. International superstars such as Rihanna, Usain Bolt (hailing from Barbados and Jamaica respectively), Michael Jackson, and Tiger Woods have all provided blog-worthy material over the last year, fueling content and traffic for many sites. While Caribbean bloggers do not tend to overly focus on gossip, they also sometimes focus on the current story at hand. Take the current Tiger Woods controversy for example; blogs from several corners of the earth (including the Caribbean!) are covering it, but the really interesting part is to see it expressed through the eyes of different cultures. Bajan-born and bred blogger, Jdid, who currently resides in Toronto, gave his special spin on it, complete with colourful dialect:
Meanwhile, Bajegirl recounts the excitement that took over Barbados when Tiger and his wife got married there in 2004 :
This Beach Called Life takes a more philosophical approach, pondering on Tiger's emotional state:
While Tiger Woods may want privacy during his current turmoil, traditional and new media just won't let him, especially since almost every news site and blog is only too happy to enable a slew of comments on posts such as these. Not to mention, whether it's covering the dramatic tales or giving their opinion on how a celebrity should conduct himself or herself, bloggers are only too ready to make their voices heard. In the Caribbean, it's no different, and especially when the celebrity in question is one of our own, you're certain to find criticism and support alike. New media has certainly catapulted celebrity, giving everyone the opportunity to expose celebrity missteps or to offer their opinions on how celebrities should live their life. Pop star Rihanna, arguably one of the Caribbean's most viable entertainment exports, is a perfect example of how obsessed news outlets and bloggers alike have become in order to supply an equally fascinated public with the latest news. Even before the reported incident with Chris Brown in February, she was fair game for blogs. In the aftermath it seems to have escalated, and her daily activities are constantly analysed by many, especially those at home. When she wore a revealing outfit and breast pasties at Fourth of July celebrations earlier this year in the US, Bajan blogs went afire, especially as she's also an official Ambassador for Youth and Culture for the country. Barbados Free Press stated:
Ian Bourne of Bajan Reporter questions whether she should even be an official ambassador for Barbados:
Bourne also questions whether her experience with Chris Brown has changed her forever. From a different vantage point, when the news first broke of the assault, US-based Trini blogger Afrobella had to contend with the stereotypical views of Caribbean women that commenters were leaving on blogs about the Rihanna incident. There are some who argue that this sort of scrutiny is the price that celebrities pay for their fortune. However, Signifyin' Guyana feels a bit differently about exposing celebrities, expressing the view that no one likes their dirty secrets revealed, especially when they can cause irreparable damage:
Regardless of how you answer that question, the current fascination-turned-obsession with celebrities, which has undoubtedly been fuelled by increased new media channels, is in overdrive… fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| WS: Golden Gate Racing signs primary sponsor - Motorsport.com Posted: 16 Dec 2009 08:04 PM PST Golden Gate Racing Team signs Daystar Television Network as 2010 primary sponsor for NASCAR Camping World West Series SAN FRANCISCO - The Golden Gate - Richard Childress Racing Development Team is proud to announce the signing of the Daystar Television Network as their new primary sponsor for the 2010 NASCAR Camping World West Series. With the new partnership comes a brand new color scheme for the GGRT/RCR #21 Chevrolet that will be driven by Blake Koch of West Palm Beach, Florida for the second consecutive season. "I speak on behalf of the entire Golden Gate -- Richard Childress Racing Team when I say how excited we are to have the Daystar Network as our new primary sponsor for the 2010 NASCAR Camping World West Season," said Jim Offenbach, owner of the Golden Gate Racing Team. "Both Richard Childress and myself love the message they bring along with the outreach in these times when we all need some Christian guidance." The Daystar Television Network is an Emmy award winning faith based network dedicated to spreading the gospel twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week around the globe through all media formats possible. Daystar is the fastest growing and one of two largest faith-based networks in the world today and can be viewed on all major and secondary satellites and cable systems. Daystar programming reaches into 81 million homes in the United States and 670 million homes globally. "Daystar is pleased to be able to sponsor Blake Koch and the Golden Gate Racing #21 team for 2010," said Marcus Lamb, Founder and CEO of Daystar Television Network. "The outreach the team is doing over the course of the season at race tracks across America will reach people who possibly wouldn't normally hear the message of Jesus Christ, just like we do here at Daystar every day through television. We look forward to witnessing the teams continued pursuit of excellence in the field, as we here at Daystar continue to deliver excellence in television," During the 2009 racing season the Daystar Network joined the Golden Gate Racing Team as an associate sponsor for much of the season where Koch drove to an eighth place finish in the series point standings as a rookie. This year the 24-year-old driver is eager to take his talented team and the Daystar Network to victory lane when their season begins in January. bWhen you drive one of these cars I don't know how you could not be close to God," are words that Koch lives by every time he climbs behind the wheel. ""Every time I climb in the car I pray and I ask God to drive this car through me," said Koch. "Through my hands, my feet and in my heart and I just ask him to put this car where he wants it to be." As a 24-year-old devoted young adult, Koch knows first hand how important it is for today's world to have a quality faith based source of entertainment like the Daystar Network. As he enters his sophomore NASCAR season, Koch looks forward to having Daystar as the primary sponsor of the Golden Gate Racing Team. "The new Daystar Sponsorship is just awesome. I was excited last year to have them as an associate sponsor and having them as the primary sponsor of the Golden Gate Racing Team #21 Chevrolet is huge. They reach so many people and impact so many lives. I am really excited to be a part of that." Daystar Television Network seeks out every available means of distribution to a world in need of hope. Through its multi cultural contemporary programming Daystar is reaching an entirely new generation of viewers and changing lives daily. "We feel a calling to spread the gospel in out-of-the-box alternative ways to reach the unsaved right where they are and this is one means to do that," said James Barnes, Director of Marketing for Daystar Network. " In the coming weeks, the Golden Gate Racing Team will begin to detail their associate sponsors as they prepare for the 2010 series with Koch behind the wheel of their primary car and Pat O'Keefe of Bay Bio Diesel in the secondary car for select events. The team is now preparing for the Toyota All Star Showdown in Irwindale next month which will be followed by their quest towards the 2010 NASCAR Camping World West championship. Last season was Koch's first year as a NASCAR driver. After a successful career in motocross, the West Palm Beach Native had limited experience in late models and speedway trucks before testing with the Golden Gate Racing Team. After finishing second in a closely watched battle for the Camping World West Sunoco Rookie of the Year title, Koch finished an impressive 8th place in the standings during his maiden season. This year he returns with his sights set on a championship run. "Blake definitely has the potential to win races this season," added Offenbach. "The Golden Gate Racing Team and Richard Childress Racing has the resources to put the Daystar Network #21 Chevrolet to the front and make this 2010 racing season a success." -credit: ggrt fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| The Police State's Sexxxy New Plan - Salon Posted: 16 Dec 2009 08:40 PM PST So, you see that End the Demand is about prostitution, and sex slavery, sex trafficking, etc. You might be saying to yourself that it seems pretty unlikely that anyone can "end demand" for prostitutes, and well, you'd be absolutely right, but - where have you been living where logic like that has any effect on policy? We've been saying it for years about the Drug War, and specifically about the "just say no" programs from a couple of years ago. If you're like me, you probably realized years ago that the "War on Drugs" was actually a war on certain types of people, sold to us as an effort to protect us, and our children, from the harms of the drug life. You know by now that the "war" has cost way too many lives and put way too many people in harms way, it's cost much more than the drugs themselves cost us. But nothing has changed, well, not much has changed in that situation. "End the Demand" is "Just Say No" - but instead of saying no to the temptation of drugs, it's saying no to the temptation of sexy, selfish women. Instead of saving us from "drug culture" they are saving us from "rape culture". In the US, prostitution has always been illegal, except in a few counties in Nevada and a few loopholes here and there. The rest of the world however, has legal prostitution for the most part, and in Europe "End the Demand" has focused on closing legal brothels and restricting Red Light districts and imposing harsher sentences on both buyers and sellers caught exchanging service for payment in ways not allowed by the state. If you ask a proponent of the Swedish/End the Demand model about it, and what the point of it is in a country where prostitution is illegal, they will tell you that it means that instead of sellers being charged with a crime, now the buyers are charged with a crime instead, and that is true - but that is ONE of the changes to the prostitution laws - it is in no way the ONLY change. The other changes, they are designed to fuck us all. Or at least all of us who consider ourselves enlightened liberals or progressives, and especially any of us who don't subscribe to the "sanctity" of marriage crap or the jesus is lord belief. In addition to laws which supposedly take the burden from women who sell sex, there are laws that make it much easier for the police to accuse anyone of prostitution - and trafficking - in the first place. How many condoms do you carry, do you have a sex toy in your suitcase? Have you pulled over to a rest stop for a BJ from your girlfriend while you're on a road trip? Are you pregnant, underage, and being taken to another state to get an abortion because it's restricted in your state? --- Any of those can get you charged with prostitution, and the last one can get the person driving you locked up in prison for 30 years for being a "sex-trafficker". So, why are we falling for it? I think we're falling for it because they are scaring us, and horrifying us, with stories of "Sex Trafficking" and "Sex Slavery". We are falling for it because they publicize statistics which say that NO woman would freely choose to be a prostitute. You've heard these statistics: the average age for entering prostitution is 13 years old, 85% of prostitutes are victims of childhood sexual abuse, 90% of prostitutes are believed to be heroin users, etc. so on so forth. Here's a great illustration of the "NO woman chooses to be a Whore" perspective of Farley et al. taken from "prostitutionresearch.com" showing us the "pyramid-like hierarchy" that prostitution is comprised of: 2% - Sexually Exploited Elite 38% - Forced By Inequality: poverty, racism, sexism, lack of opportunity 60% - Enslaved That's 100 percent. No woman makes that choice, is what they say. They say any woman who says she did make the choice only made it because she is "elite" or "poor, without opportunity" or possibly "brainwashed" into thinking she chose it. Prostitution cannot be legal or decriminalized because it is BAD for women, is what they say. The situation is framed to shut out all debate. If you question the stats, or the methods, or the conclusions, you are called a rapist, a pimp, a victimizer of women, a killer of children. Men can't voice an opinion in support of decriminalized prostitution, they are accused of being rapists, or they are called ugly losers who must not have any prospects for free sex, so they can't be taken seriously. Women who argue against these laws are called rapists too, or more often told they just don't understand or are selfish and don't care about women in poor areas whose lives are harder than their own. It always reminds me of the "murderer" label applied to abortion providers - these people who accuse sex workers' rights advocates of being rapists and pimps and abusers are no different than the people screaming "murderer" at anyone fighting for abortion rights. So... anyway.... I guess my point is.... You're going to be hearing a LOT about "sex trafficking" you'll be hearing about parents "trafficking" their children... you'll be hearing a WHOLE LOT about women from south of the US border who have been "sex trafficked" here, and how the US saved them and sent them back home without any delay. You've probably heard it a little bit already, you might have even argued in favor of these laws, because they are better for women trapped in prostitution, or at least that's what you've been told. Many people have been saying these laws are violations of human rights, but we are marginalized and demonized... and other than other demons, whores, and demon-whores, nobody seems to be paying any attention. Prostitution, sex workers' rights, sexual freedom - all that is shuffled off into the "womens news" sections, or "sexuality" areas where only feminists want to go, and because of that I'm pretty sure that any feminists reading this are already familiar with the pro-prostitution/anti-prostitution divide in feminism, even if they might not know the long and complex political history behind it. The rest of you maybe aren't so familiar with the whole thing, and that's what they are counting on so please study up, check out what those "sex workers' rights" activists are always complaining about and hopefully you'll start to see how they are sneaking in laws to control us all by saying they are trying to help "women and children, especially". I'm betting that once you start to notice, you won't stop noticing. Check it out for your own good, or for the good of your wife/sister/daughter and not for the sake of the prostitutes, because these laws won't really do much to change the situation of a prostitute who is a citizen in America, (other than possibly putting them in more physical danger)because it's already illegal, there are no rights to lose. But it will do very much to change the situation of every other citizen in America, - well - any of you who use condoms and fuck too much, or take birth control, or might want an abortion, or do drugs and fuck, or have sex outside of marriage, or any men who fuck men... anyone who is "liberal" can get nabbed by these laws, so like, don't support this crap when it comes to your state. -thanks, fw. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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