How the fuck have I never seen these videos or heard of any of these guys?  Grimey ass UK shit right here.  Some real shit from across the pond, check it out.

Short Fuze:

Ok, let me just start off by saying that I won't lie to you and say that I wasn't amped about this free agency period, because I was. I thought the Bulls had a legit shot at "the big three". When we first signed Carlos Boozer I was kind of let down, after sitting on it a couple days, I feel like we are a better team. Not championship ready like some people are talking (yes that's actually happening), but I am convinced that those people are just seeing a name and the large number of dollars in the equation.

I also won't tell you that I didn't have my tv tuned into ESPN, because I did. Mostly, to make of fun them for dick riding LeBron enough that they where willing to give him an hour and a half to announce something he already knew. I don't buy it for a minute that those three didn't have this planned out. With that said, I can't say that I am mad at them for doing what they are doing, but let's be real here, a lot of shit hit the fan last night.

1) I feel terrible for the people of Cleveland. Not necessarily because LeBron left, because at the end of the day he can do what he wants. But, by the way he did it. Was it necessary to go on national tv and rip a cities heart out? No. I am sure they knew it was coming, but the way it was done compounded the situation. I am sure that if he announced his decision on a quieter level people would have forgave him over time. He is the new Art Modell. And keep in mind that this is coming from a huge Bulls fan that that hated the Cavs almost as much as I hated the Knicks or Pistons.

2) What happened to loyalty? The way LeBron went about letting the other teams know his decision by not letting them know, is ridiculous and immature. For him not to let the Cavs know until the last minute is damn bogus. What makes it worse is, he is from Ohio. You would think he had more class than that. Seven years have been erased in 30 seconds of speech. I don't blame them for burning his jersey. I don't blame Dan Gilbert for writing the letter, although I don't agree with some of the things he said. Miami will win a title before Cleveland, let's be realistic. With that said, will I respect that ring? No. The Heat are the Yankees to me now, they bought their ring.

3) What happened to wanting to beat the best? I don't blame anyone for wanting to win, but what happened to earning it? I am not going to say that MJ didn't have Pippen or that Magic didn't Kareem or Worthy or Larry didn't have Parrish or McHale, but the difference is those duos and trios became great together not separately. And they made their teams better. I rooted for LeBron and the Cavs this year, I wanted to see them win. The Cavs put pieces around him. He choked.
This Heat team is already being handed the title and they will win at some point, but I hope they fail this year. This team is bad for the NBA and I am sure David Stern is beating off to the thought of all the marketing opportunities at hand.

4) Where does this take the NBA? It's pretty obvious that the power shifted last night. A team like this can't be good. It takes away the excitement of the best players beating each other and having those epic series that everyone talks about for years. If The Lakers and Heat wind up playing for the title at some point and the Heat beat the Lakers, can the NBA be that thrilled? The beauty of this league has been the torch passing. Larry and Magic beating up on each other, Isiah beating Magic, MJ beating Isiah, then it was supposed to be LeBron beating Kobe. While that still may happen, it won't be the same. I just can't and won't take that ring seriously.

5)  As a fan, I lost a little respect for the "big three". It goes back to the competition aspect. I enjoy good teams to beat other good teams. While it remains to be seen how many titles the Heat will win, I am sure it will be more than one. Sometimes the term "if you can't be them join them" isn't always a good thing. So now all we are going to hear about for the next few months is speculation, odds and breakdowns on how great this team is going to be. I am not looking forward to that. I also not looking forward to all the assholes that are going to run the Heat in 2k11. It was bad enough that you had to play the Lakers half the time. Call me a hater, but I rooting against the Heat and if they wind up playing the Lakers...Go Kobe!! (never thought I would say that)

Nasa:

I'll try to keep this brief, since Short Fuze basically said it all.  There was only one thing I disagree with.  David Stern can't be happy about this, and if he is, he's a fucking moron.

Lebron James has basically ruined the NBA's product.  The league is built on the back of player personalities going head to head.  Reggie vs. the Knicks, Kobe vs. the Celtics, MJ vs. everybody.  Even teams like the Rockets and Spurs that were more subdued had Hakeem and Tim Duncan.  You had the greats facing the greats.  Now you do not.  Now you have a league of "have nots".

I'm a Pacers fan, why do I need to watch NBA basketball anymore?  Lakers and Heat, maybe the Celtics compete.  Put it in the books, game over, thanks a lot 2010-11 season.  Lebron has made "have nots" in New York, New Jersey, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago and other locations with this choice.  Those teams will all suffer (with the rest of) to varying degrees, but if you think any of them have a PRAYER of winning a championship, please call me ASAP because I want to place a bet with you.

Another issue with Lebron in Miami, and why it kills the NBA, is now you will have a situation where every time Wade hits a game winner it damages Lebron and vice versa.  Their statistical achievements will both suffer and lesser players on lesser teams will take away shine from where it belongs.  You will never see a great Wade vs. Lebron moment now.  Your 2nd and 3rd player are in the same city, even when you get into jersey sales it hurts, why would you need both of their jerseys from the same team?  Even if you are a legit Heat fan?  And Miami, oh by the way, is a soulless city with no history of sports tradition.  Miami is STILL mostly retirees with no interest in basketball.  In addition, it is a nationally isolated city.  Not in a major market and not in the middle of the country.  Double FAIL.  Picture if the Yankees played in Phoenix or if the Cowboys played in Portland.  Would the MLB or NFL be happy with that?  I don't think so.

Of course they will sell out reagardless, that's not my point.  The level of passion in your fan base is what sells your product, not a bunch of coat hangers in the crowd.  Even the sports bars ESPN filmed last night, that were supposedly in Miami, looked half empty with like 2 guys cheering and everyone else shrugging.  Please.

Finally, to Lebron.  You are a sham.  You will NEVER be considered great.  Wade has his ring with a semi-washed up Shaq and a bunch of role players.  What do you have?  You have 7 years of bullshit.  You showed your lack of passion this year, and your willingness to NOT beat anybody, as I talked about during the playoffs, is on full display by you joining a team where the pressure isn't solely on you.  Dan Gilbert nailed it on the head when he said you "want to get into Heaven without dying first".  Wow, that is a tombstone worthy quote right there.  My respect for Dan Gilbert has SKYROCKETED.

I am now a fan that I hate most.  I'm waiting for Big East basketball to start because I'd rather watch the college product (as corrupt as it is).  Fuck the NBA!

Let me start off by thanking anyone that has purchased or listened to Lobotomy Music, because of all the support I have received, it has already been a success.  Even though the record just dropped a few days ago, Nasa and myself have gotten nothing but positive feedback. I have been putting out music for 10 years and rapping for 15 years, but I have never had a feeling or response like this. I think its because when you are in a group with 2 other people, you can deflect and divert attention to different avenues. When you go solo, its kind of nerve racking because when you're in a group, your time under the magnifying glass is minimal. The beauty of the social networking age is, you are privy to instant feedback. I appreciate the kind words that I have gotten from supporters of Uncommon Records. But, I think I am most appreciative of the recognition that I have gotten from my musical peers because some of you I look up to more than you know and for you guys to say what you have said means so much.

Me and Nasa started this record 3 years ago, and I know that neither of us expected the record to be what it is. To be honest, when I first started the project, I just wanted to do some straight up MC, punchline, B-Boy shit. But, then as I started I knew I was going to be on something different. I was going through some things at the time, so the natural route was to just go with what I was feeling. When I first approached Nasa to do the record, I know that neither of us planned to invest our personalities as much as we did. Shit, at first my game plan was to just get beats, write and record to them and send the songs back, because that's what I was used to. But, then me and Nasa stumbled onto this amazing artistic chemistry. We tossed ideas and feedback back and forth and just ran with it. I'll let you guys in on a little secret, the guest appearances I originally planned out is nothing close to what the appearances are on the record today.

With that said, the guests I wanted originally can't hold anything compared to, Nasa, The Presence, Karniege, Eleven, Passive 65ive,W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S. and Shortrock. Those cats brought more than I asked from each of them to the table and brought that much more out of the concepts that I presented each one of them with. The three things that mean the most through this whole process are that my crew let me step outside the box and focus on myself and supported me every step of the way. Second, the fact that I was able to gain Nasa's confidence with each and every song that was turned in (12 songs were recorded and 11 made the cut) and for him to feel each song was album worthy meant a lot because when you worked on classic albums and run a label that houses so many talented and legendary MC's you have some huge shoes to fill. Lastly, the fact that Nasa became someone that I can call one of my best friends, because when all this music shit is done, you still have to have great people around you.

There are so many things that went right with this project but, a lot setbacks happened too: missing zip disks, re recorded vocals, missing graphic designers (we pulled the cover out of our ass a week before pressing), Nasa remastering the album because neither of us were happy with the original, MC's flaking out on their commitment to do a verse, me going through a damn near 2 month writers block because of personal issues, Nasa getting a month long beat makers block and numerous failed release dates. But, in the end I think all those things that happened were the best things that could have happened because it allowed us to get everything right and made us believe that much more in the album. I got the first crop of beats in Feb. 2007 and from the jump I knew it would something special. So, I say to Nasa, Cirrus Minor, Augury, Denku, Karinege, Passive 65ive, Eleven and Shortrock (who murdered the cuts on all the joints he did), this album is yours as much as it is mine. No matter what it does sales wise, I know it's a classic. Thank you, I stand before you a humbled man.

Let me say this, Ramm was the genuine article.  He was eccentric and lived up to all aspects of his reputation.  In doing some research on him I landed at his website, Gothic Futurism.  At the time it had some past interviews he was a part of and some quotes of his.  Many of them were bitter rants against old graffiti writers and new hip-hop producers.  Along with that were some amazing pics of his art, his deep bio and lots more.  But, after reading some of his comments, I knew I'd be in for a hell of an interview.

After contacting him, we agreed that I would pick him up at his apartment in Battery Park City.  For those that don't know New York, Battery Park City is a part of Manhattan below where the World Trade Center site is.  For the most part the apartments there would be considered "pricey".  I had never been to that neighborhood before.  I pulled up to the drive way, where I was told by security that I'd be allowed to leave my car there for 15 minutes while I get my guest.  Wow, I wasn't used to this kind of shit. 

I went to his apartment and rang the bell, I kind of felt like he was going to open the door in full regalia and didn't know what to expect.  The door opened and a tall man opened the door to a fairly small apartment that was extremely well kept and featured lots of his art throughout.  He invited me in, and while he finished getting ready to head out I checked out his Letter Racers that were proudly displayed in the living room.  He explained a very grandiose story behind the making of them.  Talked about how certain letters "battled" against others in some sort of "league".  It was very intricate, I don't want to do him a disservice by remembering it incorrectly and put words in his mouth.  As we left the building he got hellos from neighbors and the guard, all of them called him "Ramm".  It was a weird cross reference.  A hip hop & graffiti legend living in a high class building in Downtown Manhattan where, as he told me Police Commissioner Ray Kelly held a property as well.

We left and headed back to my place to record the episode on Staten Island, we stopped at the local bodega where he promptly purchased 3 bottles of Old English.  I'll never forget how amped he was that they were so cheap on Staten Island.  We sat down for the interview, he slowly drank and I asked the questions.  He dropped some amazing knowledge.  Really, he broke down things that NO ONE else possibly could.  Literally talking about the very beginnings of hip-hop and how battles started in hip-hop.  If memory serves, I even got him to drop a little freestyle at the end of it.

He was a trip to be around.  None of what he was was an act.  He was all Rammellzee.  In between recordings he told me stories about other abstract artists like Bill Laswell and guitarist Buckethead.  He talked about good times and bad times in addition to what he told me on the air. 

It was an exhausting day, he was an intimating guy at his size and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little scared at times with that combined with some of his abstract thoughts.  Even with that in mind I had respect for who I was sitting with.

I drove him home and our conversation at one point turned to alternative energy.  He explained with all seriousness about a theory of his.  He said the way the United States could get energy would be if we filled the Grand Canyon with water and flooded it.  Then drilled the bottom of the Canyon to create a whirlpool.  Once the whirl pool was created helicopters could create a magnetic force with giant magnets that would make the whirl pool permanent and then the energy could be captured from that whirl pool.  That story was both completely insane and insanely brilliant at the same time.  To think that someone's mind could come up with something that detailed that fast, it was like freestyled science fiction.

I dropped him off, after a long day.  A few days later he called me up screaming about he wanted his copy of the interview immediately.  He was really bugging out.  It all seemed to fit with the profile that his reputation painted.  He was an eccentric dude, with somewhat of a temper.  I explained that I would get it to him and never said he'd have it in days.  He seemed to understand, I hung up.  I sent him the interview (hell yes I did) and we didn't speak again.

As frenetic as that whole experience was, it felt like longer then a day at times, it was all worth it.  Even though we had some friction a few days later, I knew I had sat down with a legendary artist and had to take him as a whole. 

At the time, I was posting Uncommon Radio only at the Uncommon Records website.  Later I moved it to an RSS feed that put it on Itunes and other Podfeeders.  It quickly became one of the most downloaded episodes of the guest oriented early episodes I'd done.  That coupled with the information I was able to get out of the interview made it clear to me that I captured something that was historic.  I'm really proud I was able to do this and hope that now that he is unfortunately gone that this helps spread word about him for younger generations.

Check out Uncommon Radio featuring The Rammellzee:

http://uncommonradio.libsyn.com/2007/04

We mentioned a lot of shows on the podcast that took place.  Below, here are some flyers from that time:

The B Side to the track we played on #16.  Natural Resource's "They Lied!"

The Juggaknots' classic "Jivetalk" from their Clear Blue Skies EP.  Doesn't get much better then this.

The Honorable Mentions that we REALLY wanted to include on the Podcast:

I know everyone on Earth will have a blog on this, so I won't bore you and will keep this short.  There is no swagger in Cleveland, and when I say that I mean on the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Not one player on that team has any drive to stick it to the other team.  Can you picture any of those guys nailing a 3 and looking back at the opposing bench, including LeBron?  NO!

LeBron James proved that he is no where near great in this series.  All great players have off games.  1-14 shooting nights can be found in the box scores of many of the greatest in history.  It's how you react to those kind of nights.  Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant.....these are the best playoff performers of our generation from the Guard position.  All of them have a few things in common.  They had a will, not just to win, but to cause the other team to LOSE.  They shot and shot and shot and continued to demand the ball even on nights where they had nothing.  They never quit on a game and had swagger.

I've rooted for some of them and against some of them.  But what I did, didn't matter.  They were all great playoff performers.  Take a look at these two images.  Can you find a picture online of LeBron James with one of these looks on his face?  No!  These were each on the first page of each of their names in Google Images.  How can Mo Williams take the ball up the court, take a shot and LeBron never touches the ball? 

How is LeBron not screaming on him after that?  How are Mo's other teamates not screaming on him for that?  How is Mike Brown not screaming on him after that?

Why is LeBron constantly looking at the Jumbotron after every play as if he's home watching it on TV.  If it wasn't called a foul, what's the point of looking at the replay?  Move the fuck on.  After every play he's looking at the replay to see what just happened. 

LeBron couldn't carry the jock of Reggie, MJ or Kobe when it comes to the Playoffs.  If he was of their ilk, he'd be driving and creating on EVERY possession.  EVERY SINGLE ONE if that's what it took.  People often say that his teammates don't make shots, if you don't make yourself a constant threat as the best player on your team, it's that much harder to make shots if you are a lesser player.  Steve Kerr and John Paxson wouldn't have sunk shit if they played for the 2010 Cavs with LeBron.

These guys are sorry.  Down 9 with about a minute left, they didn't even foul. 

That makes me never want to watch the NBA again!  Reggie got 8 points in 12 seconds!  They are more shameful then the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns put together for that performance tonight.

I can't say LeBron will NEVER win a Championship.  Maybe he figures it out, maybe he gets lucky in the right situation.  Lesser players have won championships.  Fucking Antoine Walker has a damn ring!

But I'll say this, he doesn't deserve a ring.  He should give his ring to Reggie Miller, Pat Ewing, John Stockton and any player that's been able to lead his team with swagger and hatred for their opponent.

This attempted bombing in Times Square is really messed up.  It's got my head fucked up again.  It's got me suspicious of hard working, often times, fellow Americans.  It's silly, during times where there aren't a lot of attacks, I probably walk passed people that I wouldn't stand next to when there is an attempt. 

Let's put this into proper context.  I'm from New York City, 9/11 took place here.  I was in my twenties at that time, travelling thoughout 3 boros just to get to work at the time.  It shocked the hell out of me.  I was terrified to take the Ferry after that.  Terrified to take the Subway.  The Subway ban lasted about 2 months.  The Ferry, a few years.  After something like that happens you get rules for yourself.

I determined that if a dude is a reading a newspaper, he's probably not a terrorist.  Why the fuck would he care to read anything if he's about to die afterall?  I picture myself jumping up and tackling suspicious looking fools.  Sometimes I don't know if I want to be close to them in case they try something or be far away in case they try something.  It sounds crazy.  But if you live in New York City and you haven't thought about these things, you are either lying or you don't think very much.

The whole thing is fucked up, because the terrorists are attacking us because of the way they are treated abroad.  But someone like myself, has no problem with anyone, and now I'm looking at those very people with a jaundice eye.  Why would someone choose to divide us so much?

It all reminds of one of the first times I was on the Subway after 9/11.  The train pulled up at the platform.  It was packed with people, except in one section of that car.  I approached that section and saw a man with a full beard and a turban of Middle Eastern or Asian decent.  He was just standing there minding his own business, but everyone on the train (and I'm talking several dozen people) refused to stand next to him.  Everyone shoved themselves, packed like sardines around him on all sides at least 5-10 feet away.

The reality is the man was likely either Sufi Muslim or a Sikh.  Neither subscribe to the extremist form of Islam that attacked us.  Not to mention, God forbid, the guy has a bomb.  Standing that extra 5-10 feet from him won't make much of a difference.  It was completely irrational and completely non-sensical. 

But what the fuck can I say about it?  I let the doors close and caught the next train.

At least I know I'm not alone.

This is the first time I've ever posted an interview on "The Prog Blog".  First things first, I want to apologize to Erik for sitting on this for way too long, but am glad to share it now.  Erik is the owner of a music service called Plugola.  Plugola is an innovative new way to promote music online.  For those that don't know, I am currently in the beginning stages of starting a music service myself, so an interview like this was amazing for me to be a part of.  I think it will be interesting to anyone that enjoys music in the digital age and is interested in what goes into these kinds of start ups.  So without further ado:

Let's start at the beginning, what's the name of your service and what does it do?

The service is called, Plugola ( www.plugo.la ) and we are both a social network and digital music/video store rolled into one; aimed at helping independent artists to market their music directly to their fans and to attract new ones. While that may not seem like anything new, where Plugola differs is in that it was designed to market directly to fans of one's genre and to encourage fan engagement. Where the name, Plugola comes from is in one of our stand-out features we call, "Plugging". This feature allows music fans to resell their favorite music they find on Plugola to their friends and earn a commission (set by the artist) for each copy they sell. In theory, artists will be able to sell more music and gain more fans than they ever imagined by simply encouraging their fans to get involved and "plug" their music. Even if a musician is uninterested in earning money for their recorded music, it's a good way to give back to their fans for helping spread the music.


What made you want to start a business directed at musicians, were/are you a musician yourself?

I got my start in music when I was kid; first guitar, then later I took up the drums. I played for several bands until, in the mid-90's a drastic life change led me away from music completely for a few years. During this time I started marketing both physical and digital goods online on the side. It got to the point where I was earning more by marketing online during my spare time, than my day job. So, I went into business for myself. I liked what I was doing, but I wasn't selling anything that I was really excited about. It was about 2005 and I began to keep my mind and eyes open for an opportunity I could get behind. When I attended a big anniversary show of a bunch of indie bands I grew up with, it reminded me how much I missed the music business and the people. I began an indie music video sharing site, similar to YouTube, called Jamphetamines.com (no longer exists due to the bad economy). I made a lot of mistakes getting it going, but also learned what I was doing wrong and what other music services wrong. The initial concept behind Plugola came about when a few friends and I were standing around in our local dog park, discussing how hard it was to find good, non-commercial (or 'indie') music on iTunes; and how much we disliked MySpace to find music. It's the perfect fit for me; combining my passion for music and technology. It took a few days for it to finally dawn on me that a DIY digital music store strictly for independent music was needed. In the late summer of 2007 I began laying everything out for what was to become Plugola.


How hard was it to get off the ground initially and how many hours are you putting into it a day/week at this point now?

Actually, it's been a lot tougher to get off the ground than we originally expected. For one thing, I was very surprised at the lack of enthusiasm from indie musicians. And I quickly learned that it wasn't just with Plugola, but it was the same with many services aimed at helping artists. Trust is a major factor with any web service where the exchange of money is involved, however when there's literally nothing to lose for musicians it baffles me as to why they wouldn't take the plunge. So convincing both artists and music fans that they should be using your site is a big challenge. Plugola is also going a little against the herd, which makes it slightly tougher. While most of the hype in the industry is about giving away music for free, or the all-you-can-eat "freemium" models; Plugola's stance is that musicians CAN sell digital downloads and for a profit if done right.

I'm tackling Plugola duties on a daily basis and I put in almost a full day's work at this point. I also operate a few other smaller e-commerce sites to help pay the bills. So there's a lot of juggling, back and forth, at this point, but I'm getting better at it.


Were there any pioneers in the digital music business that you looked up to, or websites that sparked you to create your own service as you have?

iTunes, or Steve Jobs, was a major influence. At the time, it wasn't an easy or cost effective task for an unsigned or indie artists to get their music in the iTunes store. They more-or-less set the stage for how digital music will be distributed. Indirectly, I guess Shawn Fanning, with his Napster and Snocap services, was also influential. He has been a major driving force in the shift of the industry.

We were really trying not to follow anyone's foot steps too much when developing Plugola. We wanted to stay on track with what we know works and not be influenced by buzz and hype about the latest tech blog darlings. When Apple's Steve Wozniak started out building his own computers, his approach was to figure it out on his own and not to follow how the computer companies where building there's. We took a similar approach and went and did our own thing. Of course, that could also horribly backfire, but it's worth the risk.


How close to a finished product are you with the site?  What are some of the features you'd like to see added and which ones are you most proud of?

We're still tweaking the site, making sure everyone is credited correctly. Plus we want to add several more features. We will be focusing on our media player/digital store and more quick, east distribution methods. We will also be concentrating on making the community more fun and social for music fans. We've been going through a little line-up change at Plugola headquarters, so once we are done with these changes we will be finishing up with Plugola. We have some additional services in the works, as well, but I can't talk about those just yet.


What do you want your users to take away from the site the most, what's in it for them?

We're really aiming at giving artists the tools and control to share, spread and distribute there music how they see fit. At the same time, we also want to give music fans a fun destination to access an incredible selection of fresh music and artists in any genre imaginable. We're creating a community where the control lies in it's members; from the artists in charge of their own pricing and distribution, to the fans deciding which musicians deserve to be featured or rank higher. Quality will speak for itself. Plus, Plugola is trying to provide artists with what is needed in order to sell their music/videos to the people who are interested, and not just another platform for musicians to upload their music.


Where do you stand on some of the models that are out there now- say Streaming services like Spotify vs. ownership models like Itunes.  Do you prefer one of those over the other, or are both too flawed to be sustainable?

Ad-supported models don't work and I don't see them ever working. There's way too much overhead for those services to be profitable. And from the sounds of it streaming services are heading the same direction, but it's still too early to tell for sure. There's a lot of talk of how ownership is no longer important to music fans, but if that were true no one would be using p2p, iTunes/Amazon wouldn't be as successful as they are and the iPod would be meaningless. This isn't to say that streaming services, such as, Spotify won't change this, but past attempts at similar models have failed. Subscription sites, such as, eMusic seem to be doing alright, especially in the indie sector. However, I've heard numerous complaints on how lousy the pay is for labels and artists. At the same time, I have no experience with eMusic, so I can't say for sure if that is true.

What really bothers me the most about all this talk is about which models are sustainable is that, I rarely hear about whether or not the artist is being compensated fairly; especially indie artists. In fact, most of the talk is about the labels, publishers and the services themselves earning or not earning a profit. Of course, they all deserved to be compensated too, but none of them would have a business if it weren't for the songwriters and musicians. I really believe Plugola has devised a system where everyone wins.

Most things are not truly new.  Most events draw a parallel in history.  Even things that are seemingly amazing and unique.  But I'm actually baffled by the Extreme Right, or the Tea Party movement if you'd rather call it that.  I'm searching very hard through my mind to compare it to something that's happened in the past, but I can't.  I guess there are parallels to Nazism.  I'm not making the comparison due to racism, although that is a point that I'll get to later, I'm just saying that the Nazis were able to rally a lot of people around facts that by and large were not true, skew reality and enrage a generation.  But still, this is different. 

Different because it is largely driven by the entertainment industry.  24 hour news channels have made "Current Events" entertainment.  So shows like Glenn Beck's and Bill O'Reilly's get more and more outlandish.  In particular Beck.  The other day my wife told me about a co-student of hers that was quoting a Dentist that she worked for.  The student said that he was from Russia originally and stated that the current Health Care Reform reminded him of Socialism.  His theory was that if the bill passed it would weaken the Private Insurance companies to the point where they would go bankrupt and there would be a massive government takeover.  Where would you get such an idea?  It's so riddled with mistruths that it's really not worth getting into. 

Take a look at a random video from Beck's show that I found, simply by typing in "Glen Beck to Youtube.

Do people really believe this stuff?  Was it just a coincidence that the message he quoted didn't come up at any point during the broadcast?  Does the guest "Anchor" who continues to spew legal mumbo jumbo have any background in law?  If this were really true, wouldn't other networks be covering it?  If this were really true wouldn't Beck have continued to cover it day after day until someone else did?

We all know Beck and FOX News are crazy as bat shit.  That's not really the point.  The main point is that a paranoid movement is now being driven by what is deemed mainstream television. 

Have there been conversvative commentators in the past?  Sure.  Have there been conspiracy theories (on the Right and the Left btw) before?  Sure.  Has there been anger before?  Of course.  But what's different now?

You have a great collision of a few things.  Obviously, we have elected the first Black President of the United States.  To be honest, I thought it was one of the greatest moments in history.  I thought the potential to change the country for the positive racially (regardless of whether he was a good President at the end of his term) was great.  Personally, I don't elect someone to totally change over the country.  The whole Hope and Change thing was fine, that's not why I voted for the man.  I voted for him because he finally called out Bush and his administration for their wrongs.  He articulated my view points very well on a variety of issues.  And as always with American voters, clearly he was the guy you'd rather have a beer with.

All that said, I've been blindsided by the reaction of some people to him along racial lines once he was elected.  The belief in some people that we are still in a "us against them" world and now that "one of them" is President "we've lost the country" is amazing.  I grew up in the 1980's.  That was the feeling of the country then.  The 70's and 80's are a very different world then the burgeoning 2010's, but some people are still there.  Some people's heads, frankly, are ready to explode by this election.

Therein lies the problem.  At the same time that this is happening, 24 hour news, internet journalism and reality tv are all blurring together.  Irresponisble reporting is happening, the discussion of current events on television is more about entertaining then it is about the events and people are desensitized to outlandish behavior. 

This is the ME generation.  A person watches the news channel that feeds THEM their own core beliefs.  They watch reality shows about people that have no talent and are "normal" just like THEM.  They report their movements on Twitter, post pictures of themselves on Facebook.  It's all about ME.  More and more people form their own level of celebrity for themselves, while where they would normally look toward for celebrity looks more and more like them.  This is dangerous.  Because it can lead you to believe things that you wouldn't normally.  One of the biggest tricks ever pulled is to get someone's ego so inflated that they believe anything because they know that they are always right.

This can leave you willing to dismiss the eyeball test.  Dismiss your gut reaction to someone like Sarah Palin when electing a President.  Identifying with someone becomes more important then anything else.  An argument can easily be made that Barack Obama has the least Government experience of anyone elected President.  That's fair.  If you chose not to vote for him on those grounds, you have your right.  BUT, you can't tell me when you heard him speak, saw his manuerisms, watched him explain issues that your gut didn't tell you that he was ready. 

The eyeball test with followers of people like Sarah Palin goes out the window.  It's stopped being the common sense backbone of the American people.  All of this is because of the junk food nature of our entertainment and news.  It makes people more gullible. 

Combine this with some people's fear due to racism making them even more gullible and you have a monster on your hands.

This is what makes what's happening now so unique.  Why people are able to believe damn near anything.  Racism and Ignorance on a massive scale.  Are there honest conservatives out there that are concerned about the budget, taxes, etc.  Of course there are.  But we're not really talking about them, nor are they of concern.  It's the people that are exploiting their beliefs that are a worry.

Racism has existed since the beginning of time, the same is true with paranoia about government.  But in this Reality TV/ME generation era people are willing to believe more and more.

People are willing to believe that Cars.Gov is the door to spying on you now that Barack Obama is President, when it was discovered that the Bush Administration had intercepters at AT & T headquarters doing just that in San Francisco.  People are willing to say that the Bush Administration can do what it wants, even if "I" disagree in the name of Patriotism, but that's not the case with Barack Obama.  Why?  Don't answer that, we know why.

Now that you've read this long winded explanation.  Enjoy this hilarious sketch on Super News from Current TV that basically breaks down the same thing but with more humorous results!

This shit is fucking raw right here.  Don't ever sleep on Shaolin, it's where some of the rawest emcees come from.  Still to this day Shaolin is NOT on no Autotune hipster shit.  This is a High School flashback right here even though it just came out.  Especially with King Just in here!  What!