A Rubber Door

Apparently another attack took place in the SEPTA terminal near where a man was beaten to death last week. This woman was lucky, and survived her attack. The SEPTA police was able to catch 5 of the 10 thugs by stopping the subway train at the next stop and capturing them there where the woman identified her attackers.

This is ridiculous. On top of this the DA has charged the five with robbery and assault charges; here’s my idea - in light of what happened last week, these idiots should be charged with attempted murder. If you want to send a message this is the best way.

Another thing - for years, crime has plagued other parts of Philadelphia, leaving the Center City relatively safe. Murders in the city, while not non-existent, still are rare. But it couldn’t stay confined for too long. Allowing
crime to run rampant (yes I said allowing) only allowed crime to overflow. Maybe now the city will care just a little bit more. When it was in the poor and working class neighborhoods, it was important, but now that it’s in the tourist and business areas, I guarantee the city will squash this.

A few weeks ago I preordered the latest R.E.M. release Accelerate (iTunes) after hearing all the great reviews. Preordering got me a bonus track and the single early and I would have hoped the album as soon as it was out. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case - the album was available right after midnight yesterday, but as of 3 P.M. I hadn’t received notice that I could download my album, so I sent an email to Apple. A few hours later I had an email saying I could download my album.

In my email to Apple I mentioned that this wasn’t the first time this had happened and it makes no sense. It seems to me that you’d want to get the album out to those he preordered it at least when it is commercially available, if not before then. These are your biggest fans. The ones that would beat the drum for the album.

Then today I got an email from Apple that turned my opinion.

Thank you for preordering “R.E.M Accelerate”. It appears that since you last contacted iTunes Store Customer Support, you have successfully purchased and downloaded this selection. I do apologize for any frustration this issue may have caused.

I have issued you 5 free song credits for your inconvenience. When you sign in to the iTunes Store with this account, the song credit will appear by your account name in the upper-right corner of the iTunes window.

I still think that Apple should work to make sure that their best fans are better taken care of, but this was good customer service. The took a bad situation and turned it good - at least for me. I was planning to write about how they screwed up, and they at least turned it into a compliment on how they take care of their customers. Yeah, yeah 5 free songs makes me feel better - customers can be made happy with free stuff - more companies should remember that.

I usually don’t like gross out comedies, but I really liked the first Harold and Kumar - thought it had a little smartness to it, and it had a great turn from Doogie Howser himself, Neil Patrick Harris (you think How I Met Your Mother’s Barney is bad - wait until you see him playing himself).

Anyway - Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is in theaters April 25.

Thinking about what Jeremiah Wright said regarding AIDS and I dug up the following passage regarding the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis where 399 men where used as human guinea pigs to see what happens to the body after syphilis kills you. The study ran from 1932 to 1972 even though a standard cure for the disease, penicillin, was found in 1947.

The following is from the Tuskegee University Website:

The Legacy of Tuskegee
In 1990, a survey found that 10 percent of African Americans believed that the U.S. government created AIDS as a plot to exterminate blacks, and another 20 percent could not rule out the possibility that this might be true. As preposterous and paranoid as this may sound, at one time the Tuskegee experiment must have seemed equally farfetched.

Who could imagine the government, all the way up to the Surgeon General of the United States, deliberately allowing a group of its citizens to die from a terrible disease for the sake of an ill-conceived experiment? In light of this and many other shameful episodes in our history, African Americans’ widespread mistrust of the government and white society in general should not be a surprise to anyone.

I have to admit not knowing my history here. This is disgusting, and it was done to black citizens by the government.  This is what I’m referring to when I say that  being black in this country comes with a legacy that clouds everything. This is what Mike Huckabee was referring to also - that you really have to walk a mile in the shoes of the oppressed before you start making moral judgments.

More About the Tuskegee Experiment:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

NPR: Remembering the Tuskegee Experiment

Wikipedia: Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male 

I cannot believe that there is a George Bush movie in the making. It will start filming on April 21 starring Josh Brolin as the President and James Cromwell as senior. Apparently it covers just how the shrub became President regardless of having a less than stellar career (hasn’t improved once becoming President). It will be directed by Oliver Stone if you’re wondering if it will be fair and balanced. Here’s the internal positioning statement:

W is the improbable story of a man who went to the White House despite getting fewer votes than his opponent; who became commander-in-chief despite having avoided military combat himself; and who became the least popular president ever to be elected to a second term. W will shock and surprise you and leave you questioning everything you believe to be true.

I can’t wait.

Yesterday in Philadelphia there was a senseless crime - 36 year old manager of a Starbucks was killed by a gang of students from Simon Gratz High School at 2:30 in the afternoon.  He was simply leaving work for the day and never made it home.  This kind of violence is so upsetting; children in the middle of the day taking a man’s life.  The school district, the teachers, the parents, and of course the students seem to be a lost cause - essentially allowing the human version of pack dogs out on the street to murder.

All of that said - I was reading the account of this on Philly.com and the comments of readers and the vileness of the responses are disgusting.  Racist rants threatening violence from the illiterates of our society.  It’s disgusting - and this is on a newspaper  website- not a blog.  I’m all for web 2.0 - but I wonder if all this free speech is worth it when in crosses with the delivery of news.  I know people like to talk and argue, but the discourse found at these websites is generally not intelligent.

I don’t know why I expect more.

God I can’t wait for real TV to come back.  Last night Kristy Lee Cook - the worst singer known to mankind (who is lucky enough to be blonde and cute), was passed on again in favor of letting more talented people go.  She’s like the star football player in high school who never learned to read.  Chikeze didn’t do himself any favors with a bland retelling of the classic Luther Vandross song “If Only for One Night”; but honestly I write about all this because I think I must be a masochist - I know I’m going to hate American Idol - but I’m watching it anyway.  Eeek - someone save me.

Let me say that Cook’s singing Lee Greenwood’s crappiness “God Bless the USA” (you know the song: I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free) was sheer brilliant manipulation.   OK - I know this “song” is supposed to be patriotic - but it may be the worst “song” ever written.  Can’t we get someone who knows how to write a song, to write a patriotic song?  Cloying and amateurish, there’s only one reason to choose that song: it would be unpatriotic not to vote for her.  What’s she going to sing next week - the national anthem?

Elsewhere…

Some nice finds from a couple other bloggers:

• Over at Abbondanza - Kristen found some John McCain supporters of note. After watching American Idol tonight - it fits right in.
• How do you make Garfield funny? Check The Forty-Nine Percenter

The music industry seems loathe to change. At least they seem loathe to change until they’re forced to. Kudos to the management of Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs for releasing their CDs much earlier than normal. Gnarls Barkley released their most recent CD in advance of an April release date last week. The Raconteurs did even better - they finished their CD earlier this month and released it today.

There is no reason for the long turns between recording and releasing a CD. The long lead times lead to bootlegging and lower sales. Record and release. Don’t even create CDs - or don’t wait for them to be ready.

As for the CDs: I can only comment on the Gnarls Barkley CD and it’s better than the last one. No break out hit like Crazy, but it’s more complete, complex and a better listen from beginning to end.

The Raconteurs ought to be good - Brendan Benson and Jack White makes for good music. I’ll owe you a review when I listen to it.