On Kanye and newly found balls

I guess everyone on the world wide interweblogosphere's talking about Kanye West thing so I might as well jump in the fray too.

1. He's right and we all know it.


2. But in Bush's defense, he doesn't care about poor people in general, regardless of race.


3. Well, he does care about poor white people, only to the extent that he needs poor people to sacrifice jobs, healthcare and education for the GOP rhetoric. But ultimately, poor white people are but a tool to keep Bush and his friends in power.


4. And let's get this clear - no politician cares about black people except as a voting bloc.


5. Back to Kanye - will he face a backlash from the public or the big media conglomerates? Well, given his audience and his chart power at the moment, I doubt ClearChannel will try to Dixie Chicks him.


6. Still, his entire statement, not just the final remark, was refreshingly sincere, introspective and ballsy. I'm almost tempted to go out and get the vastly overrated Late Registration. I think I'll give to a relief agency instead though.

At the risk of sounding callous, if there is anything we can take away from this tragedy that has stretched much longer than it needed to be, it's that people in public grew balls and learned to call things as they are over the past week.

There's Kanye, breaking through the forced feel-good vibe of the NBC benefit. Mayor Nagin calling out Bush's BS. But most surprising and refreshing take-no-shitters came from the media. Anderson Cooper smacks a US Senator's face with the open palm of reality. Robert Siegel of the otherwise gentle NPR dunks Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff's head in the toilet until he answers a simple question. The tag team partners, a visibly pissed off Shephard Smith and a sobbing Geraldo Rivera tell Hannity & Colmes to shove perspective up their smug asses.

Sure, it would've been nice if the media had taken its responsibilities more seriously, like, when this country was going to war or during the last Presidential election (though to be honest, neither candidate deserved to win), but at least there's hope.

But I'm really grasping here. In my entire life, I've only cried once while watching, reading or listening to the news - September 11, 2001. I've teared up three times this week. It's one thing for people to die because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's whole another when thousands are lost because of utter incompetence.