A Rock and a Hard Place

In the world of journalism, Bill Moyers Journal is one of the best shows on TV right now. This week's show centered around secret tape recordings president Lydon Baines Johnson made during his presidency. In the recordings, LBJ discusses escalation of troops in Vietnam with aides such as Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara, among others.

The tapes are glaringly poignant, given the current situation in Afghanistan. As LBJ debated the roads to take, there were three choices. Pull out the majority of our forces, try the middle road of supporting the South Vietnamese via military/financial means, or send in substantially more troops.

Getting Out
Pulling out troops was a politically dangerous move to make. The American people would see it as defeat and political enemies would be sure to declare a cataclysmic fall of the dominoes.

The Middle Ground
The middle road faced the same problems in South Vietnam as Afghanistan faces today: A hopelessly corrupt local government, lack of support from the local population, and an unprepared and incompetent local army/militia.

Getting Deeper In
Gen. Westmoreland was requesting 41,000 additional troops. The president and his advisors knew that giving him the additional troops would lead to a snowball effect of troops in the future. McNamara called the situation, "a hell of a mess."

We all know the decision LBJ ended up making and the consequences it had. While Vietnam fell, the dominoes didn't. The threat of a red globe was real, but years after Vietnam, the Cold War came to an end as the Soviet Empire crumbled away from within. A significant contributing factor to that crumbling was the U.S.S.R.'s own Vietnam: Afghanistan. (Watch the Tom Hanks movie, Charlie Wilson's War for more on that.)

While today's situation in Afghanistan is similar to LBJ's Vietnam, differences are abound as well. The fight is against a different -ism this time. It is one without a superpower nation to support it, but instead consists of disparate, loosely connected gangs of religious zealots who all share a common hatred of America. If some form of 'victory' is ever achieved, it will not be in the form of a Berlin Wall, but rather some other, less tangible, symbol.

Let's look at a miracle situation. Five to ten years down the road, we destroy the inner workings of the Taliban and their poppy fields, wipe out major political corruption in Afghanistan and revive the country into a safe, democratic, functioning nation. Even if this happens, there will still be scores of other Bin Ladens out there chanting "Down with America," plotting and hoping for another 9/11.

If Obama decides not to listen to Gen. McChrystal's recommendation of 45,000 additional troops, Fox News and the Rush Limbaughs of the world will surely tear him a new one. The American public might do the same. This is the kind of decision that people from the left and right will be talking about in 2012. Pulling out of Afghanistan will be seen as weak. Obama's patriotism will be called into question. Victory will be declared by the Taliban. These will be the immediate consequences.

As for long-lasting consequences, no one can call it for sure. One thing is certain though, in the midst of economic peril, a dizzying deficit, and a health care system that is out of control, the fiscal consequences of a continuing commitment to Afghanistan is something worth considering. And then there's the human cost.

How many more American deaths will be worth the cost of success? What does success even look like? Can the United States and its people be safe without a large ground presence in Afghanistan? Will the next 9/11 be plotted from those mountains yet again? Will we ever catch Bin Laden?

These are all important questions that hover over our presence in Afghanistan. Anyone who claims to unequivocally know the answer should not be trusted. There is no black and white in this case, only gray. Unfortunately, the 24-hour news cycle and partisan politics don't see foreign policy in the foggy shade of gray it certainly is. Fortunately, I think we have a president who does. Let's hope he makes the right decision, whatever that may be.

When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong

Katt Williams was recently arrested for burglary. He's claiming innocence, but still, how do you get yourself in a situation like that?

Ever since Katt signed with Cam'ron and the Diplomats, it seems like he's been trying to impress them/fuck his life up. The first time was at LAX, en route to a show at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Three guns were found among his 10 person entourage. The guns were registered, but they were registered out of state.

More importantly though, who the fuck thinks it's all good to bring guns to an airport?!

C'MON SON!

You got lucky with the LAX situation, but don't get it twisted pimp, Dip-Set didn't sign you because you're a thug, they signed you because you are a funny muthafucka.

Maybe you need to relax, listen to your own advice and smoke some weed and see if it don't help the quality of your muthafuckin life. Or maybe you smoked too much weed and think 'borrowing' diamonds is cool now.

Either way, good luck in court, homes.

"I Didn't Play This One on the First Set": Maceo Parker: Jazz Man at Heart

I recently had the chance to see Maceo Parker in the Allen Room (above) at Jazz in Lincoln Center. It was my first time there and it is a really nice venue. The Allen Room is small enough for the set to seem intimate, but is grandiose enough with its Columbus Circle view that you feel like you're seeing something important.

I saw the second set of the night, which consisted mainly of funk; it wasn't gritty, old-school, analog funk, but it wasn't some fusion muzak bullshit either. He primarily played James Brown (R.I.P.) songs, but with himself as the front man this time. To introduce the third or forth song of the night, he teased, "I didn't play this one for the first set". Musicians often feel more laid back for the second, later set, which seems to give the artist a bit more freedom.

With this freedom, Maceo chose to play what I thought was the best song of the set, a straight-ahead Jazz ballad accompanied only by the keys, which were on a Rhodes setting that gave the song a voluptuous, soft feeling. Most of the funk musicians of Maceo's day were/are Jazz musicians at heart. After all, funk is an off-shoot of Jazz in the history of African-American music.

In the realm of funk, Jazz can be seen as the requisite training necessary to really prove oneself as a serious horn player. Jazz instills in its students the creativity and technical mastery necessary to play a nasty solo and think of a compelling melody or simple riff for a funk song. Maceo's solo channeled Sonny Stitt style hard-bop, with a layer of Maceo's signature funk in the mix as well.

Maceo killed it.

This was the serious song of the night, played amidst the playful funk which characterized the evening. For this one song at leat, school was in, as the title of a recent Maceo album suggests.

Nike Tokyo Flagship Store

From www.coolhunting.com, here are some photos of Nike's new Tokyo Flagship store.

Looks pretty cool and I bet they have some nice Tokyo exclusives.

I wanna see some rising sun AFIs.

Filthy McNasty

A little over a year ago I made two music podcasts. Here's the first one.

Tilapia Sandwich

Tilapia is a cheap fish found at most grocery stores. I encourage everyone on a budget to make more of it. It is cheap and easy to make. Here's my current favorite recipe:

Tilapia Sandwich with Chipotle Mayo

Sounds kind of fancy/impressive right?

Here's how to make it.

FISH:
ingredients: fish, seasoning

Throw some seasoning on the fish (something simple like salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, a little cayenne pepper does the job), pour a bit of oil in a pan, and cook on medium-high heat, about 3 minutes on each side.

MAYO:
ingredients: mayo, canned chipotle peppers adobozado, cilantro, lime juice

I don't like recipes with weird ingredients that are hard to find, but I promise you that while it may sound outre, canned chipotle peppers adobozado are not hard to find. You can find them at most markets but if that fails, check your local bodega (if it's owned by Mexicans I can almost guarantee they will have them)

Either way, buy a can, take out a pepper, finely chop it up, and put it in a bowl with mayonaisse (two large scoops). add some of the sauce from the can depending on how much kick you want in the mayo. Next, squeeze juice from half a lime into the mixture and finely chop up some cilantro to mix in as well. A little lime juice goes a long way to cut the sauce a bit and make it a little thinner than the normal texture of mayo.

Also, for a nice addition to the sandwich, throw some minced onions in a pan with some salt and pepper and chopped up cilantro to simmer until the onions are nice and translucent.

SANDWICH:
ingredients: fish, chipotle mayo, lettuce, onion, roll of ciabatta bread

Cut a roll of Ciabatta bread in half. I like Ciabatta bread for it's soft, airy flavor. Add a generous portion of chipotle mayo to both sides of the bread. Add the onions to one side of bread. Add a bit of lettuce (preferably salad mix lettuce, not big ice berg leaves) to the other side of bread. Cut tilapia filets in half and add to sandwich.

enjoy.

Anyone who Hates on Lil Wayne Just Isn't Listening

He's baaaacckkkk...Lil Wayne "No Celings" mixtape recently dropped and it is the shit.

Lots of people hate on Lil Wayne.

If you don't like him that's fine, but you can't deny his skill on the mic. Musical taste is subjective, but fluid lyrical sorcery is not.

Accordingly, I feel obliged to break down a couple of his couplets for the haters out there.

From "Wasted" on the "No Celings" mixtape:

"Your flow never wet, like grandma pussy, i'm always good, like grandma cookies. Call me the sweene or the swine fixer, it's going down like the Catalina Wine Mixer"

He goes from alluding to the crudest of things, an arid post-menopause vagina, then harks back to the purest of memories, grandma's cookies (which were always good, just as he states).

Next, Wayne drops some shit that forces the listener to accept the fact that mere mortals might never fully understand weezy's free-flowing ideas: "Call me the sweene or the swine fixer". I think he's trying to comment on the confusing labeling of the swine/sweene/H1N1 flu, whatever the fuck it is, Weezy fixes that shit! That's how powerful he is, he can stop a motherfuckin epidemic!

Next comes a personal favorite of mine, a reference to the Will Ferrell movie Step Brothers ("it's going down like the Catalina wine mixer"). at the end of the movie, the brothers finally grow up and succeed at the Catalina wine mixer, which is the cinematic equivalent of the academic decathlon in Billy Madison, the event at which our protagonist(s) finally prove themselves. In referencing said movie, Wayne provides further lightness to what is a both poignant and nostalgic portrayal of the woes and joys of female old age, menopause and baking for one's grandchildren.

But lest we forget this is hip-hop, so above the subtle undercurrents I've described here, he is ultimately telling us how fucking good he is at rap, nah, at life.

"I got 27 years of this, hit or miss, I hit your misses, you a local news, I'm 60 minutes. I hit the target, I hit the witness, I work out in my office, guess I'm fit for business"

In this verse, Weezy gives us a lesson in one of his favorite lyrical spells: the quadruple entendre; as opposed to that more common of entendres, the simple double. Wayne plays with the multiple meanings of the word 'hit', starting first by describing a topic anyone can relate to, his/her legacy.

Wayne is 27 years old and throughout the trials and tribulations ('hit or miss') of Lil Wayne's 27 years of life, one thing is certain, he will fuck your bitch ('hit your misses') because, just as 60 Minutes is to local news, Weezy is superior. He is a sharpshooter ('hit the target') who can eliminate a witness to any impending court case ('hit the witness') if need be. He ends this part of the verse with a standard Weezy double entendre, further describing how ready he is for any damn thing that comes his way on either main st. or wall st. ('I work out in my office, guess I'm fit for business').

And so, to the haters out there. Stop hating, you have no case.

P.S.
Big up to Rapexegesis.com, which served as inspiration for this posting.

Is Murder Ever Right?

I heard some news this morning that got me thinking...

On September 28th of this year, protesters in Guinea filled a stadium to demonstrate against current ruler Captain Moussa Dadis Camara's military junta running for office in upcoming elections. He came to power via coup last December under claims he would not be running for election.

In response to the protest, the government opened fire on the protesters. Anywhere from 57-157 have been counted dead, depending on whose numbers one looks at. The worse part though is not the dead, but the living. The soldiers began to rape women in the stadium out in the open, in the light of day. After raping them, many soldiers put their guns up the womens' vaginas and either fired shots or caused severe damage. Additionally, they brought some women back to various locations and locked them up for rape multiple times per day.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113966999

In response, there have been some vigilante killings of soldiers.
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE59M0HD20091023

This brings up the question: Is murder ever right? I do not mean is murder ever justifiable. If someone had family involved in this atrocity, I would say they are undoubtedly justified in wanting to see the perpetrators killed.

I am taking this a step further.

In this case, or any comparable cases like it, is murder the RIGHT choice? That is, when one allows oneself to commit such utterly sick acts for which there is no justification, does he give up his right to life? Not that the raping soldier is conscious of this decision, but still, in the grand scheme of things, after violating humanity to such a degree, does not the raping man's life become worthless, at least in the eyes of the victims and their families?

In general, most people would say that murder is wrong. Although, do cases such as the Guniea massacre create extenuating circumstance for the morality of murder? Anyone who answers 'no' can probably understand the sentiment of the person who answers 'yes' and vice versa.

Where does this leave us? What is right and what is wrong? Can we use absolute terms to characterize morality or is it a case by case endeavor? The soldiers in Guinea were unquestionably 'wrong', so in that sense, morality can be objective. But, were the vigilante pursuers of revenge who murdered the raping soldiers 'wrong'?

When objective answers are unobtainable, all humanity is left with is a subjective rationality. We are given the facts (rationality) and left to deduce what we can from them (subjectivity). In the Guinea case, the facts are undeniable. What happened, happened. How one should respond though, is purely subjective.

The righteous vigilante thinks he is right, while the mother of the rapist, per se, doesn't want to see her son die. Viewing this through the lens of subjective rationality, both the mother and the vigilante have understandable views, but if we attempt to view this through a lens of austere morality, we have an awfully foggy perspective.