One month in…

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  katrina

  i think my way is one of kanye's best songs. float is about phone sex and i can't totally blame the us team for sucking...there are many reasons and all of em aren't directly on the players who are in greece. alan keyes reminds me of bamboozled, not the funny parts either...it's still my summer vacation, i'll get in english major mode in a couple of weeks...
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  Kirk

  As a white male conservative (within reason), I'm torn about Keyes. Most rational (non-politician) conservatives are dying to see a non-white conservative public figure come to prominence. Partially, conservatives want legitimacy with people that see differently, but they also want to get away from stereotypes that say conservatism = racism or blindness to other peoples problems and concerns. No matter how long I type, I'll never explain things fully. Basically, most conservatives think of Keyes as an unfortunate, but necessary, step in the right direction. I won't pretend to defend most of what he says, but his support is based on the hope that his visibility will atrract someone that most of the poeple in the middle can rightfully support. Keyes at best will be a footnote to better things, we're just hoping that the better part actually comes to fruition.
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  katrina

  keyes is a joke and i'd suggest that you select your token more carefully next time...
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  Kirk

  Katrina, selecting a token has nothing to do with it. If you read a bit more carefully, you would see that one of my main points is that most conservatives would like to see a LEGITIMATE non-white conservative step up and make an impact. Legitimacy is almost the diametric opposite of being a token. As far as Keyes being a joke, I made it a point of mentioning that I was not defending him; if you think he's a joke, I'm fine with that. Unfortunately, a person like Keyes often has to exist before a legitimate rival can emerge. While I respect your opinion, your post has little to offer in terms of real dialogue or insight.
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  bj

  Keyes is an unfortunate individual. He's being used as a pawn in a highly dangerous game of so-called 'race' relations. It will take more than an Uncle Tom in a Brooks Brothers suit to 'hoodwink' hard-working black men and women whether they are conservative, liberal or in the 'middle'.
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  Qubian “Q” Salazar-Moreno

  Skip Madden Bo... ESPN NFL 2K5 is where its at. For only $19.99 too? You can't go wrong. I have both Madden and ESPN and ESPN just looks so much better, plus I believe the gameplay is better. I can get more in-depth if you want to know....
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  J.R.

  Can't wait for the article on my homie Jon Boone. I remember that day in '00 like it was yesterday. I will always have love for that man, he was such an extraordinary individual (and a funny, tempermental lil guy as well). On a lighter note, take your time with getting into Madden '04...it's not all its cracked up to be.
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  rodprime

  On USA basketball: Can we get some SKILLED basketball players? The players on the "Dream Team" are athletically gifted and flawed. Can't shoot. Can't pass. Won't defend. I thought the name of the game was winning. Now the name of the game is to make sure Nike is in a position to sell more shoes on the global market. The conservative ideology sounds wonderful. Judge each man by his own merits. Since when has merit,broadly defined, ever been disassociated from initial conditions. People like Alan Keyes and Ward Connerly say, "I made it. You can too." I find that laughable. The popular media provides incite into this phenomenon. Why is the failure of the scion of some rich person worthy of coverage? It is worthy because people understand that with wealth and the advantages wealth provides failure should be highly unlikely. Why are rags to riches stories worthy of news coverage? These stories are worthy because people understand that statistically such success is improbable. I'm not saying that one's fate is determined by one's iniital conditions. However, I am saying that the failure to consider such factors is ahistorical and immoral.
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  katrina

  most conservatives would like to see a LEGITIMATE non-white conservative step up and make an impact. and since there isn't one any non-white is acceptable? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5747800/ Reversal of attitude: Alan Keyes on reparations Conservative calling for tax exemption for descendants of slaves Alan Keyes, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate who once referred to reparations as “an insult to our slave ancestors,” is now calling for a plan that would exempt the descendants of slaves from income taxes for at least a generation. Tax exemption would give Blacks "a competitive edge in the labor market," because they would be cheaper to hire than federal tax-paying employee" and allow Blacks to be compensated "for all those years when your labor was being exploited," said Keyes, who is challenging Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate seat. Keyes' different turn The ancestors of slaves would be precluded from paying federal taxes for a generation or two. The exemption would apply only to federal taxes, as opposed to state taxes, since slavery "was an egregious failure on the part of the federal establishment,” Keyes said. There would be no exemption from Social Security taxes, however. But Keyes’ recent pronouncements are puzzling some observers, who remember his expressed disdain for reparations not that long ago. In 2002, for example, as a commentator for the MSNBC program “Making Sense,” Keyes lambasted former D.C. Delegate Walter Fauntroy for suggesting that the descendants of enslaved Africans should be compensated for centuries of forced, free labor. “The issue of slavery was very prominent in the minds of the young men who went into the cannon's mouth during the Civil War,” Keyes railed. “[A] lot of folks went consciously, believing that God called them to give their lives to repair the moral wrong of slavery. Something money could not do. So, they gave their blood.” “Now, it seems to me that by the very comparison you're suggesting, almost I feel an insult to our slave ancestors. You want to tell me that what they suffered can actually be repaired with money? You're going to do the same thing those slaveholders did, put a money price on something that can't possibly be quantified in that way.” Conservative critic David Horowitz, also a guest on the show, praised Keyes’ insight. Keyes: "Frivolous suits" “Well, Alan, you put it very eloquently, yourself. This is a shakedown operation; the United States government liberated the slaves…,” Horowitz said. “The United States inherited from Britain a slave system, and within 80 years ended slavery at the cost of the equivalent of 5 million lives. We have dealt with slavery in this country — another thing, Black Americans are the richest and freest and most privileged Blacks on the face of the Earth. “The United States is a country that Americans should be proud of for ending slavery. And this whole, you know — you started with the suits against companies, completely frivolous suits. The companies that exist today have nothing to do with the companies of 150 years ago.” Reparations advocate Charles Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard University, applauded Keyes’ recent conversion. “It’s a step in the right direction,” said Ogletree, whose views on affirmative action, as well as on reparations, have conflicted with those of Keyes in the past. “It captures the sentiments of many who are for reparations. It’s not nearly as comprehensive to address the magnitude of the matter, but it is consistent with issues in finding real solutions.” Keyes is facing a tough battle to unseat the popular, charismatic state senator from Illinois. Obama, grabbed virtually every major headline and lead TV story after delivering a rousing speech at the Democratic Convention last month. Keyes, an African American from Maryland who admittedly knows little about the issues affecting residents of Illinois, was drafted by the Republican Party to run against Obama. But Keyes is no novice to national politics: He ran two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate, and he sought the Republican nomination for the White House in 2000.