Political Animal  Even though polling at this point shows that Sen. Barack Obama gained the most out of last week's presidential debate, there was a glaring vacancy in his answers that he could and should rectify before meeting Sen. John McCain again in front of a national audience. Many pundits, commentators, and journalists seem almost disappointed that the debate was short on the rhetorical fireworks and knockout punches of previous such contests. There were no "You're no Jack Kennedys," no "There you go agai ... [MORE]

by Brian Morton | 10/1/2008

Social Studies  I haven't really been writing about them, but the political e-mail forwards and rumors are still blowing up my in box. One in particular just hit a couple of days ago that got me to thinking. It's one of the anti-Sarah Palin joints that have become such the rage since John McCain's, uh, interesting choice of the Alaska governor as his running mate. Instead of focusing on her "moon baby . . . from the moon!" or the "fact" that her husband used to be a underground terrorist robot pirate, this e- ... [MORE]

by Vincent Williams | 10/1/2008

Political Animal  The 60-day sprint between the conventions and the general election is the time when, every four years, the political experts come out of the kitchen and join the rest of the cocktail party. It's the time when local television news directors actually pay attention to politics, and even the general voter is able to at least feign an interest in what's going on, as opposed to the usual "Screw 'em all, I hate politics" attitude that permeates the electorate the other 46 months of the cycle. Unfortu ... [MORE]

by Brian Morton | 9/10/2008

Social Studies  I think something pretty significant has happened over the past few days in terms of my journey through parenthood. I'm pretty sure that my daughter has turned into a Pixar kid. She's not 4 yet, and we thought she might be a little young for the films, but, a couple of months ago, one of my best friends told me that his son, who's six months younger than my daughter, loved Finding Nemo. I found Nemo a little intense as an adult, but, lo and behold, we showed it to her and she loved it. And we' ... [MORE]

by Vincent Williams | 9/10/2008

Political Animal  I'm not going to criticize John McCain because he was a prisoner of war. The man served his country honorably, and many people, including our president and vice president, found ways to avoid going to Vietnam. Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland went to Vietnam, lost three limbs, and was sneered at by Ann Coulter and pictured next to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein by his senatorial opponent, Saxby Chambliss, who never served. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry went to Vietnam, was awarded three Purp ... [MORE]

by Brian Morton | 9/3/2008

Mr. Wrong  I'm a positive person, you know? I really don't like to complain much, so look, I'm just stating a fact here: My Column only runs Every Other Week in a Newspaper that comes out Every Week, and in two weeks, this here paper and the enormo-gigantical Web Site it has propagated will be jammed full, crammed full, of my favorite-est episode of the year, the Best of Baltimore, baby, all kinds of blurbs about what is the Best, like: Hamburger, Lecture Series, Band, Artist, Place to Eat a Taco, Shoes, ... [MORE]

by Joe MacLeod | 9/3/2008

Political Animal  In the spring of 1988, I was work-ing in radio news in Washington, D.C., and often the editor on the desk at the time would send reporters out into the street to get comment on the "issue of the morning." In the business, this pointless, time-filling and uninformative exercise is called the "man on the street" interview, but it has also been termed by some old-timers as a "Triple A"--"Ask Any Asshole." The "Triple A" never produces any news; aside from filling up a space in a newscast that coul ... [MORE]

by Brian Morton | 8/27/2008

Social Studies  According to news reports, actor Julius Carry died on Aug. 19 from pancreatic cancer, and I'm a little broke up about it. The actor had been a staple in Hollywood for 40 years, appearing in a plethora of TV shows, such as The Jeffersons, 227, Murphy Brown, and Caroline in the City, and co-starring in the cult favorite The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. He also had a pretty decent filmography, including The Avenging Disco Godfather, a flick that, coupled with a trough of buffalo wings and a ca ... [MORE]

by Vincent Williams | 8/27/2008

Political Animal  Back before Sept. 11, the main foreign policy priority (and when I say "foreign policy," I mean "money in the defense budget") for the Bush administration was missile defense. No matter that all the experts were telling George W. Bush that missile defense was less of a bother than terrorism--Bush wanted a national missile defense system, and little was going to get in his way to stop it. Never mind that it raised the hackles of the Chinese and underscored how fragile the situation was with Taiw ... [MORE]

by Brian Morton | 8/20/2008

Mr. Wrong  Somebody fucked with my car again. This time some loser snapped the H off'n my grille, the shiny H signifying "Honda," as in Civic, as in 1996, for fuck's sake. I mean, it's almost a Historic car, why you gotta go and snap off my H?" This is the cherry on the ice-cream sundae of my car crapola lately. A few weeks ago somebody actually tried to steal my fucking 12-year old car, the whole car, with a rusty hood and loose bumper and bald-o tires. Look, fucking Car Thief, why the fuck don't you ... [MORE]

by Joe MacLeod | 8/20/2008

Political Animal  It was surprising but not necessarily a surprise when Mother Jones magazine recently uncovered the true identity of a woman, Mary Lou Sapone, who spent the better part of 10 years as a paid spy inside the anti-gun violence movement. It wasn't a surprise to me that the National Rifle Association would do such a thing, because during my two years working for Jim and Sarah Brady, and then a year as a board member of what is now Maryland Ceasefire, I saw the gun lobby's antics up close and in my fa ... [MORE]

by Brian Morton | 8/13/2008

Social Studies  I don't know . . . B. looks a li'l light to me in that picture, too. As I get older, I tend not to jump on these random racialized-complaint things, whether it's LeBron James looking like King Kong or Cristal not wanting to bring down its brand by being associated with hip-hop. But when critics questioned whether or not the fine folks at L'Oreal had lightened Beyoncé's face in their new ad, well, again, she looks damn light, and God knows Beyoncé was never the most chocolate sister t ... [MORE]

by Vincent Williams | 8/13/2008

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