The Latest Attack on EFCA
Also under review: a profile of Michael Savage, Chuck Todd ventures outside, the best Posthumous album to date, and the D.C. yogurt scene.
By Jake Blumgart, Matt Zeitlin, Emily Rutherford, Ryan Lester, and Kate Callahan
July 31, 2009
Wow, some people out there sure hate unions.
Produced by anti-worker hacks
The National Right To Work Committee
Ad run: just in time for the August Recess
The unfolding healthcare drama has largely obscured the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act. The National Right to Work Committee, a thinly veiled employer front group, has released an ad that is a particularly noxious piece of propaganda. They’ve decided to target Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) and his colleague Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).
It’s true that attack ads aren’t known for their scrupulous honesty, but anti-union ads often feature a ferocity that testifies to the hallowed place the labor movement holds on the big-business conservative shit list. And this one is a doozy.
The ad says that unions are completely beholden to nefarious big labor union bosses who are presumably being controlled by remote from Lenin’s mausoleum. They also say that the bill will only advance these union boss’ “radical agenda,” even though the narrator isn’t completely clear on what that might be (but we can probably guess that it includes—gasp—universal healthcare and immigration reform). Finally, the ad claims that “the card-check forced unionism bill” will result in a blood-soaked campaign of “lies, intimidation, threats, and worse” against American workers. As the stilted narration drones on a ghostly decal of brass knuckles appears over scenes of supposed union-instigated violence.
Union opponents harp on the union boss trope because it spares them from having to do form a coherent argument. Ignoring the fact that the card check provision will probably be dropped, and that majority sign up is more democratic than the current arrangement, the implication that unions engage in brutal violence against workers is absurd. Unions can be voted out of a workplace and whaling on your constituents tends to bias them against you. Beyond that studies have shown that union intimidation of workers is almost non-existent. Unfortunately, the ad is all too typical of other anti-union attacks.
0 out of 10 fair wages and bargaining power
-Jake Blumgart
The most talented of the hate-spewing right-wing radio hacks?
Profile of Michael Savage
By Kalefa Sanneh
The New Yorker
Issue: Aug. 3, 2009
Michael Savage is known, by those who don’t listen his talk-radio show, The Savage Nation, largely through his inflammatory, outrageous sound-bites and clips written about on liberal blogs. Although these clips are necessarily “taken out of context” they aren’t misleading.
He’s an offensive man. He really did once tell a caller to his now-defunct MSNBC show that “You should only get AIDS and die, you pig.” His comments about gay men, Muslims, and even Hillary Clinton are well beyond where most conservative talkers with his national reach are willing to go. But as Kalefa Sanneh’s New Yorker profile (sub. req.) of Savage shows, there actually is a whole lot more to Michael Alan Weiner, PhD than his extreme conservative views. The deftly reveals Savage as a much more complicated man than sound bites reveal.
In stark contrast to the other ubiquitous radio personality, Southeast Missouri State University drop-out Rush Limbaugh, Savage has doctorate in nutritional ethnomedicine from, of all places, University of California–Berkeley. He was friends with Allen Ginsberg, did anthropological research in Fiji, and worked in a clinic for gay men in San Francisco in the early 1980s as the AIDS crisis entered national consciousness. Between bigoted, far-right outbursts, Savage obsessively talks about his mortality, his beloved dog Teddy and will occasionally quote Buddhist poetry.
I listened to the show for about three years, and like Sanneh, I was fascinated by how someone could be so idiosyncratic and could be so nuts. I eventually stopped listening, when the bile because less intriguing and was just bile, but Sanneh’s profile is a good reminder why I was ever a visitor in the Savage Nation.
7 out of 10 entertainingly offensive screeds
-Matt Zeitlin
Who knew Chuck Todd loved the outdoors so much?
Chuck Todd in the Park
MSNBC
Airs: Most weekdays, all day
The TV in the Campus Progress office is more often than not tuned to MSNBC, and MSNBC’s coverage of the White House more often than not features Chuck Todd, NBC’s White House correspondent. From Morning Meeting at the start of our day to Hardball when we leave, Chuck Todd is ever-present, offering his no doubt penetrating commentary on the executive branch (we don’t really know, because we keep the volume muted). And more often than not, the backgrounds of his shots suggest that he’s in the park: Lafayette Park in front of the White House. To be precise, a scant few blocks away from our office.
Or is he? Recently, speculation about Todd’s true location has been rife among the Campus Progress editorial staff. It’s always struck us as a bit odd that Todd should be filmed outdoors multiple times per day, even if he does spend a lot of time at the White House and therefore not in the NBC studio. We’ve begun to suspect that perhaps the background (which does, admittedly, feature passersby and moving cars) is just a feed to a green screen, and Todd is really in studio. This is disillusioning, of course, to any of us who might still have faith in the accuracy of cable news, but on the other hand it would be easy to verify the veracity of Todd’s location once and for all: next time he appears in a split screen with Chris Matthews, we could just dispatch an intern (not it!) to jog the three blocks down to Lafayette Park and see if Todd and his attendant camera are there. (Upon closer investigation, it’s entirely possible he is filming on the West lawn, just outside the White House briefing room.)
Finding out his exact location would just spoil our fun. Our daily exclamations over Todd’s appearance on our TV screen and our invariably subsequent quotidian speculation as to whether he is, in fact, three blocks away provide not just a break in the monotony of our routine but a veritable in-joke. Where would our editorial meetings be without the distraction of Chuck Todd’s besuited and begoateed figure lumbering its way through, as we dutifully scan the background for signs of green screen?
10 out of 10 nerdy Washington media senses of humor
-Emily Rutherford
R.I.P. J Dilla, but his music lives on.
Jay Stay Paid
J Dilla
Nature Sounds
Released: June 2, 2009
In the three years since J Dilla’s death, everyone and their mother has released a Dilla tribute. But now Dilla’s mama, Ma Dukes, is finally dropping her own tribute: Jay Stay Paid, a straight-up posthumous album packed with unreleased beats mixed by one of Dilla’s heroes, Pete Rock.
Posthumous records tend to be ethically questionable excuses for record execs to cash in on an established name, but this beat-tape plays off as a radio tribute to Dilla, bearing the marks of the love of family and friends. Pete’s mix is perfect, the sound raw, and the lovingly unearthed beats fan-tas-tic.
Things peak quickly with the electro-banger King and the heavy trip-hop of I Told Yall, both wobbling with heavily-swung beats (one of Dilla’s characteristic techniques). The album draws much more heavily from ‘70s electronic than Donuts and tends to lean a bit more towards his sparse boom-bap productions with Q-Tip and Slum Village versus the densely layered neo-soul of his final years. As such, a few tracks sound empty and half-baked in the third quarter of the album, but quickly give way to the organic vibes of Coming Back and the elegiac finale and album-highlight KJay And We Out.
A star roster of emcees also drop by to pay tribute: there are old faces like DOOM and Reakwon mixed in with newcomers like Danny Brown. Black Thought and Illa J (Dilla’s lil’ brother) put in the best turns on the Public Enemy’s “Channel Zero”-channeling “Reality Check” and the Detroit grime of “See That Boy Fly,” respectively.
But that’s not the real reason this record is essential: it’s the tribute to end all tributes, showing Dilla for the “astronmicalnomicalnomical” producer he was.
8.0007 out of 10 unquantized beats
-Ryan Lester
Yum.
Frozen Yogurt Craze
Washington, D.C.
Consumed: Summer 2009
When I visited a friend in California last summer, I discovered bliss in Pink Berry and Red Mango. I became addicted, and went back at least four times a day. But then I had to go home to Oklahoma, where I pined beloved frozen yogurt. Oklahoma is a veritable wasteland when it comes to waiting for coastal trends to arrive. Eventually, Passion Berri and Orange Tree moved in.
But nothing could have prepared me for the vast array of frozen yogurt shops that have popped up on every corner of Washington, D.C., each one as quirky and clinically clean as the next. There’s Tangysweet and Sweet Green with multiple locations, Ice Berry in Georgetown, Oh Yeah and Caliyogurt in Adams Morgan, Mr. Yogato in Dupont, Yogi Berry in Cleveland Park and Yogen Fruz and Angelberry just down the street from Campus Progress. Interns and staff can usually be found getting an afternoon snack between 3 and 4pm.
Overwhelmed by the selection, I developed a few simple tips for navigating the DC frogurt craze:
Rule #1: Keep it simple. The different flavors and toppings on display can spellbind, but try to resist the urge to try green tea yogurt with fruity pebbles, white chocolate chips and kiwi on top. Original tart with an assortment of berries never fails.
Rule #2: Don’t be afraid to experiment. Add mochi. And when you find pomegranate flavored yogurt or have the option of blending-in fruit, go for it.
Rule #3: Read the menu carefully. This addiction can be pricey and topping prices are deceiving. To get more bang for your buck, try Caliyogurt, Mr. Yogato, and Yogi Berry for their methods of packing in as much yogurt and toppings into their well-designed cups as humanly possible. For just plain cheap, try Oh Yeah and Angelberry. Avoid Ice Berry for the price and Yogen Fruz for stinginess on the toppings.
8 out of 10 Sweetheart Yellow Panda Papaya Berry Yos
-Kate Callahan
Jake Blumgart, Matt Zeitlin, and Emily Rutherford are staff writers with Campus Progress. Ryan Lester and Kate Callahan are interns at Campus Progress.
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I love frozen yogurt! There is a place that has popped up in Louisville, Ky, Ce Fiore, and it is so delicious and refreshing (:
— kelsi - Aug 6, 03:59 PM - #