April 17, 2008

Can Conservatives Trigger Obamaphobia by Tying Him to Rap?

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mojo-photo-william2.jpg The generically-named conservative site HumanEvents.com (not to be confused with RobotEvents.com) has posted a pretty hilarious article which lists Barack Obama’s supporters in the hip-hop world, and then quotes some profanity-featuring lines from their songs. They claim his “rapper” ties are even worse than the Jeremiah Wright scandal:

Although the media has finally exposed Barack Obama’s ties to the unhinged pastor his support from rappers who propagate equally pernicious nonsense has gone almost entirely unnoticed. Rappers are gaga over Obama. The superstar Jay-Z, who raps about “b——,” “hoes” and “n—–,” even urged voters to support Obama in a robo-call for the March 4 Ohio primary and caucus. The equally foul-mouthed rapper Will.I.am, whose hit songs include “I love my B—-,” has hyped Obama in two widely-viewed videos posted on YouTube.

Okay, seriously, trying to portray Will.I.am as a dangerous, profanity-spewing thug is like calling Carrie Underwood a communist. There’s also this most excellent line: “His complicity with rappers dates back to at least 2006.” Well, that’s basically when hip-hop started, right?

On the other hand, JudicialWatch (“Because No One is Above the Law”) is calling for the FEC to investigate Elton John’s performance at an April 9 fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, because he’s a dirty foreigner:

“Recent news reports suggest that Hillary Clinton and Hillary Clinton for President have accepted an in-kind contribution from a foreign national, Sir Elton John, in contravention of federal electon laws,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton stated in an April 14 letter to the Office of the General Counsel for the FEC. “On behalf of Judicial Watch and its supporters, I hereby request that the FEC investigate this matter.”

This wouldn’t have anything to do with his being a gay foreigner, and one who dares own a photograph by Nan Goldin, would it? Of course, McCain’s not immune to the questionable-endorsement syndrome, either: Has anybody ever watched The Hills? That show does more damage to America than a million foreign, gay, profanity-spewing gansta rappers ever could.

Photo of Will.I.am used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user Steve Dinn.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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