I bet you think it'd be keen to see 50 Cent get caught in an embarrassing display of lip syncing. I won't keep you.

I will be truthful with you. I like 50 Cent, but I don't respect him. He's pretty much a huge schmuck. He is great to listen to and he got shot a whole bunch of times, which is pretty awesome. He's a great bragger except when it comes to sexual exploits. He'd do best to stick to generalized bragging. I think Hate It or Love It is a fantastic song (great video too), and I think his ridiculous feud with The Game is ridiculous.

A lot of it is the fun of listening to someone with a horrible speech impediment rap and knowing that it is not because he has cerebral palsy but because he got shot in the face. That is about 50% of the enjoyability of his raps.

He just doesn't seem like he gives a fuck anymore. Dude wants to get at that cash, fuck everybody else.

"I got shot a whole bunch of times and am also a millionaire, I can do whatever the fuck I want guys and I don't even care"

He will probably pretend it never happened and just continue not giving a fuck. God bless you 50.

Labels: 50 cent, rap

There is something going on with Dick Cheney, about what part of the government he is in, whether he has executive privilege or not, something like that. It is very confusing, because he's saying all sorts of stupid shit. I stopped trying to "get" this administration just like I stopped trying to "get" my ex-girlfriend. Neither of them makes any sense, so you just wait until the time is right and cut off all ties with them altogether.

Also in the news: Bush rejected a subpoena about firing all those attorneys, citing executive privilege. "We didn't do anything wrong! You just have to trust us!"

So I will talk further about Executive Privilege. THATS RIGHT ITS CLEVELAND AGAIN MOTHERFUCKERS

Washington established the precedent just like every other thing he did, and said that since the Senate makes treaties only they were allowed to read the pertinent documents, not the House. Then John Marshall pulled it back from Jefferson, and said that it's the court's decision what is and is not pertinent. Some privilege.

So it's fucking Cleveland time woo

So the other day I mentioned that Cleveland employed similar executive privilege. What I didn't mention is the circumstances. Cleveland was the first Democrat to enter office since Andrew-Johnson-Sort-Of (aj - lowercase cause he sucked - technically had no party in office, but was a Democrat before and after). Here's how it went down:

Cleveland: I'm removing your guys from office
Congress: Your files, let us see them
Cleveland: FUCK YOU

Sound like anyone we know?

The law that got aj impeached was the Tenure of Office Act, which said that if a President appointed someone and Congress approved it, when the President elected to remove said official the Senate would have to approve the removal. aj defied it, because he thought it was unconstitutional, and he paid for it in spades. It was repealed halfway through Cleveland's first term. In fact, where Johnson had faltered, Cleveland succeeded, mostly due to his severe popularity. In his 1904 book, "Presidential Problems," Cleveland said:

"I am not responsible to the Senate, and I am unwilling to submit my actions and official conduct to them for judgment."

Cleveland argued that the President was directly responsible to the people, not the Senate, and the Senate backed off him - Cleveland was so popular at the time, and was removing the officials because they had been appointed for patronage reasons so that he could replace them with more "deserving" individuals. There wasn't a question of Cleveland's integrity - check out one newspaper's endorsement for him:

"Four Good Reasons for Electing Cleveland: 1. He is honest. 2. He is honest. 3. He is honest. 4. He is honest."

It was a pretty universal sentiment.

The difference between the two, I think, is that in Cleveland's case there wasn't the mounting evidence of wrongdoing. Nixon claimed executive privilege regarding the tapes of conversations regarding criminal charges against some in his administration and was denied - the the Supreme Court said that the importance of finding the truth in a criminal investigation was more important to the public than some generalized confidentiality. This isn't quite a criminal investigation yet, but the evidence of wrongdoing here is much stronger than it was against Cleveland.

But, like in Cleveland's time, this will play out as a power struggle. Few know what will come out of this case, but Congress is certainly justified in asking.

Next time: Not Cleveland!

Labels: dick cheney, executive privilege, george w bush, grover cleveland, presidents

New Kanye!

Props all around for the video, but what's with the eyegear lately? First R. Kelly's weird bejeweled eyemask from the "I'm A Flirt" video, and now this? OK guys, I know you both have the right to do what you want, double up because you're from Chicago, but YOU CAN'T SEE OUT THAT SHIT.

Labels: kanye west, rap

Directly after what Historians widely refer to as the "ugliest Presidents," Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, the United States had a long line of bearded or mustachioed presidents, as well as a few who were, for lack of a better word, rotund. With Woodrow Wilson's election over Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in 1912, however, the US ceased its practice of electing Presidents that were round-n-fuzzy. Sure, Herbert Hoover and Calvin Coolidge both had very soft features, but even our jowlier presidents like Nixon were fairly lanky from then on out. Eisenhower himself seemed to be a rebellion against all things hairy (and in some respects, Harry, har har).

Every directly elected president from Lincoln's assassination until Cleveland wore a beard. Ulysses Grant, Rutherford Hayes, and James Garfield all had formidable facial hair. Hell, throw Benjamin Harrison in there, too. Chester Arthur, though president by happenstance, had some not-to-be-tussled-with muttonchops, as well. What do all these men have in common?

They were weak leaders in an era in which American politics was dominated by the Senate.

It wasn't until Cleveland's first term that the Presidency gained some real power again. He used his veto more than twice as much as all previous presidents combined in his first term alone. He established the presidency as an autonomous branch of government that reports directly to the people. Employing executive privilege regarding congressional approval of his nominees was a huge boon to the executive.

So naturally, Cleveland only had a mustache. It signaled the end of the post-Civil War era that had been mired in mediocrity and helped to usher in the Modern presidency that grew so powerful during Teddy Roosevelt's turn in office.

Wilson, then, likely brought an end to the rotund-with-facial-hair era because he entered as a quiet intellectual who advocated peace like none other, focused almost exclusively on domestic issues but still managed to become one of our greatest presidents, setting the US on a path of morality on the global stage - he was the most inspiring leader in the world by leaps and bounds in that era. Perhaps being a dignified intellectual suddenly seemed like better qualification for the gig than the rough-and-tumble mustache and an imposing round figure.

Taft Anecdote Tuesdays:

Taft's girth once prompted New York Sen. Chauncey Depew to survey his protruding belly and joke to a crowd of supporters that the president was "pregnant with courage ... pregnant with integrity." To which Taft is said to have retorted: "If I give birth to a girl, I shall name her Courage. If it is a boy, I shall name him Integrity. But if, as I suspect, nothing but a great bag of wind, then I shall name it Chauncey Depew."

(courtesy of sfgate.com)

Taft++

Labels: appearance, facial hair, grover cleveland, presidents, william howard taft, woodrow wilson

I know you are here to hear about Presidents and Rap. You will hear about them soon.

I have to fix a few things in the layout. Little things.

I will kick it off, though, with something to think about. Isn't Dr. Dre the Grover Cleveland of Rap?

I will talk more about Cleveland later.

Labels: dr. dre, grover cleveland, presidents, rap