Paris Hilton's Racism Exposed

Paris Hilton has been called out by gay leaders for using racist and homophobic slang.

Gay rights leaders in Los Angeles are calling on Paris Hilton to explain herself after making a series of anti-gay and racial slurs in a video that began circulating in cyberspace last week.

The video, which appears to have been taken by an amateur videographer at a private party, shows Hilton referring to someone using the derogatory 'f' word and describes herself and sister Nicky as "n**gas."

Rumors have been circulating for years about a tape on which she was exposed as a total hypocrite and racist. This write-up covers pretty well what I've heard about her notorious use of the "n" word and general contempt for all things non-white.

In 2004, Carole Aye Maung, reporter for the British tabloid News of the World, said that she viewed a tape that showed Hilton and Tommy Hilfiger model Brandon Davis in conversation with two African-American men who asked Hilton if she would model for them. After the men left the scene, Hilton allegedly referred to them as "dumb niggers."

After Carole Aye Maung's report, Hilton issued a statement saying, "I am deeply hurt by recent reports. Anyone who knows me knows that this is not me. I love everybody and am not a person who discriminates against anyone—ever."

Hilton's close friend Nicole Richie added: "She doesn't have a prejudiced bone in her body." Later, Davis claimed in a National Enquirer interview that Hilton frequently used the word "nigger" to refer to blacks and that she "puts down Jews and other minorities, too." Davis said he ended his friendship with Hilton, but has since been seen spending time with her socially, including an overseas holiday in 2005.

After a bit of digging, I'm wondering if the tape that recently surfaced is the one viewed by the British tabloid journalist. But perhaps I'll never know. The tape has apparently been pulled from YouTube and others. I wonder why and at whose behest.

A video was posted this week on YouTube, which appeared to show the heiress and her sister making racist and homophobic comments about other guests.

The video appeared to have been filmed at a party, although there aren’t any specific details in the video that would allow viewers to determine an exact date or location where the video was filmed.

AllHipHop.com reports that the video includes Hilton’s use of the "N" word, as well as comments about Jews and some racial stereotypes that can’t be included here.

As of Thursday morning, the video has been pulled from YouTube and several other video-sharing websites.

And here are some lovely song lyrics by Hilton that have also slipped down the memory hole.

I am a fat ugly Jewish bitch … I’m a little jap-y Jew … I am a little black whore, I got fucked in the butt for coke … I’m a nigger and I’ll (unintelligible) … I’m black and I steal shit, Yo I’m black and I steal…

And they say she has no talent.

I Repeat: Lame President

On Scarborough Country, of all damned shows, a discussion of how Bush is polling worse than Satan. I can't embed YouTube vids on blogger, but here's a link. Worthwhile viewing and very interesting to see Richard Wolffe on the panel. Wolffe of the aforementioned Newsweek article attributing Bush's rude rebuff in a midwest diner to his lame duck status. It just kills me that in a nation that finds Bush worse than Osama bin Laden -- and SATAN -- journalists like Wolffe still coddle the man.

Lame Duck? Try, Lame President.

Rose: It's time...to take a big trip across
the George Washington Bridge.

Celeste: No.

Rose: It's a good idea.

Celeste: It's a crutch. It's a crutch!

Rose: We'll do it this one last time, okay?

Celeste: All right, this once.

Rose: I'm ready. Are you?

Celeste: Yes.

Rose: Oh! Oh, look! Look, look!
Aren't you on that TV show? Oh, look!...

Who could forget that classic scene in "Soapdish" when Whoopi Goldberg escorts Sally Field to the mall for a little ego infusion. Imagine what would have happened if poor Celeste of "The Sun Also Sets" had made her way to the Paramus Park Mall only to be dissed by her core demographic. Well that's what happened to our President on a trip to the heartland.

On Tuesday, President Bush popped in for a surprise visit to the Sterling Family Restaurant, a homey diner in Peoria, Ill. It’s a scene that has been played out many times before by this White House and others: a president mingling among regular Americans, who, no matter what they might think of his policies, are usually humbled and shocked to see the leader of the free world standing 10 feet in front of them.

But on Tuesday, the surprise was on Bush. In town to deliver remarks on the economy, the president walked into the diner, where he was greeted with what can only be described as a sedate reception. No one rushed to shake his hand. There were no audible gasps or yelps of excitement that usually accompany visits like this. Last summer, a woman nearly fainted when Bush made an unscheduled visit for some donut holes at the legendary Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant in Chicago. In Peoria this week, many patrons found their pancakes more interesting. Except for the click of news cameras and the clang of a dish from the kitchen, the quiet was deafening.

“Sorry to interrupt you,” Bush said to a group of women, who were sitting in a booth with their young kids. “How’s the service?” As Bush signed a few autographs and shook hands, a man sitting at the counter lit a cigarette and asked for more coffee. Another woman, eyeing Bush and his entourage, sighed heavily and went back to her paper. She was reading the obituaries. “Sorry to interrupt your breakfast,” a White House aide told her. “No problem,” she huffed, in a not-so-friendly way. “Life goes on, I guess.”

Newsweek is giving this humiliation the gentlest of spin, chalking up the chilly reception to his lame duck status. Even now the mass media coddle this President and refuse to address the obvious. This is not a President with low poll numbers in a difficult war. This is a failed President, who has brought this nation to the precipice with one disastrous decision after another. The American people know it. They know it in Peoria and they know it from one corner of the country to the other. No one but the most die-hard members of Republican base and the money changers on Wall Street, as Newsweek takes pains to point out, can still exhibit enthusiasm for this President.

The mass media still try to portray this Presidency in the context of history and politics as usual. But we left normal long ago. That a sitting President would be dismissed and pointedly ignored in a midwestern diner is positively surreal. He is a hated man who has so disgraced the office of President that people can't even bring themselves to show respect the title in spite of the man. There is really nowhere to go but to impeachment.

Fox's War on News

Fox Broadcasting's "war on news" continues with sniper fire aimed at CNN's Anderson Cooper. One of their talking hairdos describes the newsman as a "fabricated" person like Paris Hilton. Apparently heightening Cooper's humiliation is that he losing the ratings war to a woman -- Greta Van Sustern. Well ratings are everything, after all, when your stock in trade is demagoguery.

Comical Cheney

I love that guy! He can really see the silver lining in any gray cloud.

If [Saddam] were still there today, we'd have a terrible situation.

Today, instead...

BLITZER: But there is a terrible situation there.

CHENEY: No, there is not. There is not. There's problems -- ongoing problems -- but we have, in fact, accomplished our objectives of getting rid of the old regime...

BLITZER: And...

CHENEY: ... and there is a new regime in place that's been there for less than a year, far too soon for you guys to write them off. They have got a democratically written constitution, the first ever in that part of the world. They've had three national elections. So there's been a lot of success.

Brilliant!

And there's more. As he slaps down critics who can't appreciate the "enormous successes" in Iraq; pantywaists like Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel. "Hogwash," I tells ya.

Cheney's bravura performance on Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room" got me to thinking about another magnificent bastard: Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Saha. Or as he was better known, Comical Ali. Who could forget such classics as:

"There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"

"My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all"

"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"

"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."

"We are not afraid of the Americans. Allah has condemned them. They are stupid. They are stupid... [dramatic pause] and they are condemned."

Not many people can stare straight into the light of cold hard facts and still have the brass to say "No it isn't." It takes courage. It takes stunning bravado. It takes a glorious audacity with which God endows few men.

And I love the way he rocked Blitzer back on his heels when he tried to question him about White House allies Focus on the Family.

BLITZER: You know, we're out of time, but a couple of issues I want to raise with you: your daughter, Mary. She's pregnant. All of us are happy she's going to have a baby. You're going to have another grandchild. Some of the -- some critics are suggesting -- for example, a statement from someone representing Focus on the Family, "Mary Cheney's pregnancy raises the question of what's best for children. Just because it's possible to conceive a child outside of the relationship of a married mother and father doesn't mean that it's best for the child." Do you want to respond to that?

CHENEY: No.

BLITZER: She's, obviously, a good daughter --

CHENEY: I'm delighted I'm about to have a sixth grandchild, Wolf.

And obviously I think the world of both my daughters and all of my grandchildren. And I think, frankly, you're out of line with that question.

BLITZER: I think all of us appreciate --

CHENEY: I think you're out of line.

BLITZER: We like your daughters. Believe me, I'm very sympathetic to Liz and to Mary. I like them both. That was a question that's come up, and it's a responsible, fair question.

CHENEY: I just fundamentally disagree with you.

BLITZER: I want to congratulate you on having another grandchild.

So what did I miss? Mary Cheney's a komodo dragon?... Well, what's wrong with that? Who cares if she reproduces by parthenogenesis? What business is that of Wolf Blitzer's?! Thank god there are still men of steel who can look nosey parker reporters in the eye and say, "You're out of line!"

Jim Webb: The Anti-Bush

Last night marked a unique event the history of the SOTU. The response was a real speech. Jim Webb spoke for the Democrats the way an opposition party should. But it was not just a counter-point to Bush's policies. He stood as a sharp contrast to the man himself. He was a kind of anti-Bush.

Whatever the spinmeisters are making of this speech, it was far more than a military man stating clear opposition to the debacle in Iraq. It was a refutation of the entire Bush Presidency; and of the direction the country has been moving in for some time with bipartisan complicity. What none of the pundits seem to want to talk about is Jim Webb's populism. He speaks like a man of the people and about the issues that effect all of us, with an empathy that comes from having lived the life of an average American.

When Jim Webb spoke about taking the picture of his active-duty father to bed with him every night, I don't think there was a parent listening who didn't feel a visceral pang. I know I did. I know my husband did. We thought of our own daughter staring mystified from her car seat as he boarded a plane to Iraq. Said Webb:

I want to share with all of you a picture that I have carried with me for more than 50 years. This is my father, when he was a young Air Force captain, flying cargo planes during the Berlin Airlift. He sent us the picture from Germany, as we waited for him, back here at home. When I was a small boy, I used to take the picture to bed with me every night, because for more than three years my father was deployed, unable to live with us full-time, serving overseas or in bases where there was no family housing. I still keep it, to remind me of the sacrifices that my mother and others had to make, over and over again, as my father gladly served our country. I was proud to follow in his footsteps, serving as a Marine in Vietnam. My brother did as well, serving as a Marine helicopter pilot. My son has joined the tradition, now serving as an infantry Marine in Iraq.

But in Bush's tiny little mind, Americans sacrifice when they see that icky, old war on television.

LEHRER: Let me ask you a bottom-line question, Mr. President. If it is as important as you’ve just said - and you’ve said it many times - as all of this is, particularly the struggle in Iraq, if it’s that important to all of us and to the future of our country, if not the world, why have you not, as president of the United States, asked more Americans and more American interests to sacrifice something? The people who are now sacrificing are, you know, the volunteer military - the Army and the U.S. Marines and their families. They’re the only people who are actually sacrificing anything at this point.

BUSH: Well, you know, I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night. I mean, we’ve got a fantastic economy here in the United States, but yet, when you think about the psychology of the country, it is somewhat down because of this war.

Now, here in Washington when I say, “What do you mean by that?,” they say, “Well, why don’t you raise their taxes; that’ll cause there to be a sacrifice.” I strongly oppose that. If that’s the kind of sacrifice people are talking about, I’m not for it because raising taxes will hurt this growing economy. And one thing we want during this war on terror is for people to feel like their life’s moving on, that they’re able to make a living and send their kids to college and put more money on the table. And you know, I am interested and open-minded to the suggestion, but this is going to be -

LEHRER: Well -

BUSH: — this is like saying why don’t you make sacrifices in the Cold War? I mean, Iraq is only a part of a larger ideological struggle. But it’s a totally different kind of war, than ones we’re used to.

No, Mr. Bush. Because in this particular "ideological struggle" men and women are being killed or maimed every day in open combat, while the majority of Americans shop, watch television, and demonstrate their patriotism by slapping yellow ribbons on their SUVs. This is what it looks like when a nation sacrifices for a war effort:

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But it was not just the difference between a man who knows what it means to put your life on the line for your country and one who couldn't be bothered to show up to a "Champagne" unit stateside, while his countrymen were sinking in the big muddy. Where Webb has really distinguished himself, not only from all things Bush, but from the trend of American politics in general, is that he is a true economic populist. Last night he took on the modern-day robber barons who are transferring the nation's wealth into their pockets, with here-to-fore bipartisan support. Said Webb:

When one looks at the health of our economy, it's almost as if we are living in two different countries. Some say that things have never been better. The stock market is at an all-time high, and so are corporate profits. But these benefits are not being fairly shared. When I graduated from college, the average corporate CEO made 20 times what the average worker did; today, it's nearly 400 times. In other words, it takes the average worker more than a year to make the money that his or her boss makes in one day.

Wages and salaries for our workers are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth, even though the productivity of American workers is the highest in the world. Medical costs have skyrocketed. College tuition rates are off the charts. Our manufacturing base is being dismantled and sent overseas. Good American jobs are being sent along with them.

In short, the middle class of this country, our historic backbone and our best hope for a strong society in the future, is losing its place at the table. Our workers know this, through painful experience. Our white-collar professionals are beginning to understand it, as their jobs start disappearing also. And they expect, rightly, that in this age of globalization, their government has a duty to insist that their concerns be dealt with fairly in the international marketplace.

In the early days of our republic, President Andrew Jackson established an important principle of American-style democracy - that we should measure the health of our society not at its apex, but at its base. Not with the numbers that come out of Wall Street, but with the living conditions that exist on Main Street. We must recapture that spirit today.

Later in his speech he said:

Regarding the economic imbalance in our country, I am reminded of the situation President Theodore Roosevelt faced in the early days of the 20th century. America was then, as now, drifting apart along class lines. The so-called robber barons were unapologetically raking in a huge percentage of the national wealth. The dispossessed workers at the bottom were threatening revolt.

Roosevelt spoke strongly against these divisions. He told his fellow Republicans that they must set themselves "as resolutely against improper corporate influence on the one hand as against demagogy and mob rule on the other." And he did something about it.

At some point, amidst the post SOTU blather, I heard Chris Matthews say something about how the three Presidents invoked by Webb were Republicans. I would point out that none of the three would likely have been comfortable in today's GOP. Not Ike who warned so presciently of the dangers of the military-industrial complex, and certainly not Roosevelt, who was first and foremost a member of the Progressive Movement. Webb, who has been both a Republican and Democrat, appears to be first and foremost a progressive populist.

Webb spoke boldly about an economy that is not serving the majority of Americans, and hinted at an agenda of bold reform, while a sitting President promised to do nothing more than rob Peter to pay Paul; offering schemes like a health care plan that will raise taxes on some working Americans and offer tax breaks to people who can't afford to take advantage of them.

Last night Jim Webb showed us the difference between a morally stunted elitist and a man who knows what life is like for people who work and serve and struggle. And he may just have shown us a glimpse of the way forward.

Tonight we are calling on this President to take similar action, in both areas. If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way.

Harbingers of Watergate Redux

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Is it just me or is it too eerie that E. Howard Hunt has died on the same day that Scooter Libby's trial kicked off. And adding insult to injury, Bush is right now delivering his SOTU speech with the lowest poll numbers since Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal.

As per the New York Times:

“This fellow Hunt,” President Richard M. Nixon muttered a few days after the June 1972 break-in, “he knows too damn much.”

That's the ultimate danger for administrations that avoid transparency at all costs and plot nefariously behind closed doors. Conspiracies eventually unwind; right down to the ugly knot. Then it's every man for himself. Today Scooter Libby threw the Bush Administration under a bus.

"They're trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb," attorney Theodore Wells said, recalling Libby's end of the conversation. "I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected."

Meanwhile Booman has written another lucid, compelling argument for the inescapable wisdom of impeachment. Maybe I'm superstitious, but I think it's inevitable.

Is Bush a Sociopath?

Buzzflash wants to know. To explore that question, they reference Martha Stout's "Sociopath Next Door" and note the following criteria.

As Martha Stout explains, a sociopath is defined as someone who displays at least three of seven distinguishing characteristics, such as deceitfulness, impulsivity and a lack of remorse. Such people often have a superficial charm, which they exercise ruthlessly in order to get what they want. Stout argues that the development of sociopathy is due half to genetics and half to nongenetic influences that have not been clearly identified.

Actually one of the biggest indicators that Bush is a sociopath, incapable of empathy, was noted by Bob Cesca over at the Huffington Post. Cesca was disturbed by Bush's performance on "60 Minutes." I watched every moment of that interview and I actually thought it was his most life-like performance yet. Silhouetted as he was against a fireplace in an obvious nod to FDR, he came across as "warmer," if you will, than he usually does. But Cesca is right. For a man talking about death and mayhem, he was grinning and laughing way too much. It is what we call an "inappropriate affect." Cesca documents three instances, with still shots, of Bush grinning and laughing in conjunction with statements of grave seriousness. The observation is deeply disturbing. Bush seems incapable of grokking the horror of the reality he's created with his decisions.

The part of the "60 Minutes" segment I found most troubling was when he was interviewed after speaking to bereaved family members of the fallen. He was quite animated and a little melodramatic. It rang false to me, though I'm sure to those who want to be convinced of his sincerity, his hammed up performance was believable. Readers of Mark Crispin Miller's "Bush Dyslexicon" would recognize the most obvious indicator of his insincerity. It was his most linguistically compromised moment. He was completely incoherent. Miller's analysis led him to the conclusion that Bush's outrageous verbal gaffes correlate to those instances when he tries to convey empathy. It is these attempts to communicate that he understands the little people that give birth to iconic idiocy like, "You're working hard to put food on your family." When he is in an aggressive pose, talking about "evil-doers" and such, he is much, much clearer.

Bush does aggression well. He does anger well. Most sociopaths do. Marcia Stout claims that anger is the only real emotion sociopaths feel. Their only sense of suffering comes from feelings of frustration or boredom. Like many sociopaths he vented those feelings on helpless animals. As childhood friend Terry Throckmorton conveyed to the New York Times's Nicholas Kristof:

''We were terrible to animals,'' recalled Mr. Throckmorton, laughing. A dip behind the Bush home turned into a small lake after a good rain, and thousands of frogs would come out.

''Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them,'' Mr. Throckmorton said. ''Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up.''

Today he just blows up third world countries.

Lieberman to Whitewash New Orleans

I think it's time at long last for Holy Joe to retire his "I met Dr. King" speech, because the cynicism of his black church, stump classic has now been fully exposed. To paraphrase Kanye West, Joe Lieberman doesn't care about black people. How do I know? Because he's made it clear that he will be letting Bush's White House off the hook for their systematic failures during the Katrina disaster. Read it and weep.

But now that he chairs the homeland panel—and is in a position to subpoena the records—Lieberman has decided not to pursue the material, according to Leslie Phillips, the senator’s chief committee spokeswoman. “The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House’s role in Katrina,” she told NEWSWEEK.

Daily Show's Drunkalogue

Note to Jon Stewart: Life threatening diseases aren't funny. Mr. Stewart, whom I adore 99.9% of the time, made an embarrassing spectacle worse, when he interviewed Peter O'Toole. It was unclear whether the living legend was in the grip of senility or drink when he precariously perched his old bones in the guest seat of the Daily Show, to promote his new film "Venus." Either way it was sad and painful to watch. I don't know whether Mr. Stewart was at a total loss for words facing one of the greatest actors of all time, but he couldn't have chosen a worse focal point -- one quip after another about the famous actor's famous love of spirits.

Mr. O'Toole seemed all too happy to relive his reckless escapades with the fawning Stewart. In AA they call such anecdotes "drunkalogues." Yes, even his well-rehearsed and charming tale of tipping a white wine with the late, great Katherine Hepburn.

But Mr. O'Toole's alcoholism is not funny so much as it is tragic. In its throes he nearly tanked his acting career, and lost a chunk of his stomach and intestines. Though he famously gave up alcohol in 1975, he has appeared visably drunk on many occasions since. To all appearances, his performance on the Daily Show falls into that category. It is a cunning, baffling, and powerful disease, after all. But funny? Not so much.