Is David Stern The Master Of Puppets?

No, I’m not talking about the old-school Metallica song when I ask: Is David Stern the master of puppets? Many people who follow the NBA live and breathe conspiracy theories: teams with star players are supposed to win, the refs protect star players, the refs and the league join forces to secure predetermined outcomes … yadda, yadda, yadda. I could write forever on all of the conspiracy theories.

In this year’s playoffs, the conspiracy theorists believe the NBA has already decided which two teams should be in the 2009 NBA Finals. Obviously, the two teams that are supposed to play in the Finals are the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers. Why? The Cleveland Cavaliers have LeBron James and the Lakers have Kobe Bryant.

Isn’t that what NBA Commissioner David Stern wants? Doesn’t the commish want to see his two biggest stars playing on the league’s biggest stage for pro basketball’s greatest prize? The devoted conspiracy theorists certainly believe that is the case.

But, two problems exist for what many people feel is Stern’s dream NBA Finals showdown: (1) the Orlando Magic and (2) the Denver Nuggets. Many of the conspiracy theorists tend to believe that Stern is loving sleep and increasing the amount of white hair on his head with thoughts of Denver and Orlando locking horns in the NBA Finals – rather than having LeBron and Kobe going at it on center stage … for real … not as puppets in well-done Nike commercials.

Right now, it’s not looking good for conspiracy theorists: LeBron’s Cavaliers are on the brink of elimination (entering Thursday night’s game) and the Lakers (feeling better than Cleveland) are clinging to a 3-2 series lead heading back to Denver for Game 6.

We’ll see if David Stern is the master of puppets, as so many conspiracy theorists think, or if (at least in this case) the players truly control their own destiny.

Is Fox Nation Showing Fear Of A Black President?

Far-right nuts are continuing to advance the bogus, hate-driven conspiracy theory that President Obama has not produced a valid birth certificate. A generation from now, people will be laughing at how bigots tried to advance a ridiculous notion that President Obama did not produce a valid birth certificate – in spite of strong evidence to the contrary. President Obama, since the beginning of the campaign that landed him in the White House as the first black president in the history of the United States, has been fighting these hateful smears from the far left conspiracy nuts … many of whom have found a new home on the far-right Web site Fox Nation.

Check this out from Media Matters (which has documented the attacks and much of the evidence that refutes the attacks):

A May 28 headline on The Fox Nation – Fox News’ purportedly bias-freewebsite – asked: “Should Obama Release Birth Certificate? Or Is This Old News?” But contrary to The Fox Nation’s question, the Obama campaign released a copy of President Obama’s birth certificate, posting it on the campaign’s Fight the Smears website. It also reportedly provided the original document to FactCheck.org, whose staff concluded in an August 21, 2008, post that it “meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship.” The Hawaii Department of Health also repeatedly confirmed that the birth certificate on record with the state is valid and proves that he was born in the state of Hawaii.

Again, why should people let evidence get in the way of a good smear? How many previous presidents have had this kind of scrutiny over a birth certificate? Anyone who thinks our president and our commander-in-chief is not a citizen is questioning our U.S. government. Isn’t that anti-American? It seems like any time people questioned the government, when George W. Bush was president, they were labeled as “anti-American” or “unpatriotic” or something else negative.

Media Matters:

http://mediamatters.org/research/200905280018

The Right And The Use Of Sexism Against Sonia Sotomayor

It’s no secret that many of the extremists on the far right of the political spectrum are looking for any and all weapons they can use to attack U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and that includes heavy doses of racism and sexism. Sotomayor, who would be the first Hispanic woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, is a hell of a lot tougher than a good number of the far-right extremists(Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck, etc.) realize. For this blog, however, I am choosing to focus on the sexism being faced by Sotomayor.

Here is a quote (as one example) from Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity (quoting others) I found at Think Progress:

HANNITY: [W]hat do the lawyers who have appeared in her courtroom think of her judicial temperament? Well, not much. The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary solicits commentary from practicing attorneys about our federal judges. Now here’s what some lawyers who have argued before Judge Sotomayor had to say about her. Quote, She is a terror on the bench. She is overly aggressive, not very judicial. She behaves in an out-of-control manner. She is nasty to lawyers.

Take another look at the quote and consider the sexism. HINT: The sexism in Hannity’s words are coded. Questioning Sotomayor’s “judicial temperament,” referring to her as “a terror on the bench,” saying she is “overly aggressive” is “out of control” and is “nasty to lawyers.” How often do you hear these used as negative qualities in discussions of males? It’s very rare. You see, these are all aggressive qualities and women, in the eyes of weak men, are simply not supposed to be aggressive. These are words used to label many strong women … words people use when they can’t use the so-called “b-word” in our politically-correct society.

Think Progress (check out the end of the story to see how Sotomayor was really portrayed):

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/28/hannity-sotomayor-terror/

Try to stomach this video from Hannity, who compares the comments about Sotomayor to comments (flattering comments) made about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Anthony Alito. It’s classic sexism. Men are allowed to be aggressive, but women are not. Men are praised for being aggressive. Meanwhile, women are criticized for it.