Monday January 7, 2002

Quote of The Day

''Following the model of the black diasporan traditions of music, athletics, and rhetoric, black cultural workers must constitute and sustain discursive and institutional networks that deconstruct earlier modern black strategies for identity-formation, demystify power relations that incorporate class, patriarchal, and homophobic biases.''

-Cornel West, Harvard Black Studies Professor

"Not over my dead body........"

Is It "Then" All Over Again? W's "dead body" line dropped like a crate of eggs tossed from the fortieth floor this weekend and sent pundits who didn't want to do any hard work on a weekend to reminding us about 41's "read my lips." If they really knew their man they would realize he plans and means every word he says.

Odd Logic: Remember those al-Qaida fighters who chained themselves to their beds in a hospital near Kandihar? Well, they are still there and their food is running out which poses some kind of problem. What we never understood was their threat to kill themselves if anti-Taliban troops tried to kill them. Think about it.

Action Envy: Pity the poor political pundit. In time of war his editor doesn't love him any more. That's the burning controversy Howie Kurtz devotes this morning's column to. Does it come as some sort of great revelation that people are bored with skewed, whole cloth and biased political reporting after three months of reading and watching what real men do?

Creepy News We Can't Source: In a Fox News roundtable discussion on Friday someone said that folks "inside the Gore camp" - that must mean Tipper and Karina - say the Al is whispering the word that folks should send money, he wants to run again. Anyone who is excited by the prospect of hearing "put it in a lock box" again should call their doctor.

He Knew This Would Happen: Long time Ldotters know our staffer Oblio is named after the boy in the 70s film who was a roundheaded boy in a village of pointy headed people. According to this story, Oblio, if he hadn't left home, would be the only person in his hometown who snored. He's not happy at being outed.

Tell Us More: The weirdest story of the weekend has to be the 15 year old kid who crashed into a Tampa bank building in a small plane leaving a note that said he admired Osama bin Ladin. By the end of the day we should know what fresh madness this all is.

Cut Salon Some Slack: We know there is a small group here that refuses to click on Salon.com when we mention a story there but for those with more open minds, check out Earl Ofari Hutchison's Big Babies At Harvard concerning the current flap-doodle between whining black studies professors and Larry Summers, the president who caved in to them. This is behavior we expect from extortionists and sadly, it looks like it works. Shame of Summers and if we had a kid there we'd want our 34 grand back. (The picture, by the by, is worth the click. Hold your nose and do it.)

-Your Outwardly Mobile LComStaff