Yin Yang Calamity (EDIAL in sheep's clothing?)

FIRST OF ALL: Don't forget about Free Darko's cause for the kids!

--Now let's set it off with the most important news of the year in FD-land, which is that Amir Johnson will be the Pistons' starting power forward. We promise there is more to come on this breaking development as the week progresses. This news, combined with the word out of Detroit that Curry is going to expand Tayshaun Prince's game, not to mention the progression of Stuckey, makes me salivating (pause) to watch the Pistons this year.

--A bit of overlooked intrigue on Gwen Ifill's "role" in the debate last week.

--I miss the old days, when we would have been the first to bring you this story, but no doubt it's probably getting pub on like thirteen blogs already. Most notable about this piece is that I forgot Stephen Jackson got RUN OVER BY A CAR.

--Have to link to Zill for his insight on Carmelo and the Nugs. Back when the T-Wolves were competitive, Carmelo + Denver were public enemy No. 1 for me. Now all I can do is shake my head at them for getting in too deep with Karl-ball, tossing Camby into the ocean, and digging a baby blue grave for Iverson. Not that this is the ballsiest of claims, but mark my words right now, after the Nuggets stroll to the All-star break with a barely passable .490-.510 winning percentage, Iverson will be shipped out to a contender and may even win his first ring this year. Could be Detroit, Boston, Dallas, or even Phoenix...I just don't see Iverson going out of this league quietly.


















--On to the topic du jour, what Gawker has dubbed the "Jewish Civil War." I'm sure many of you last week got a chance to see Sarah Silverman's plug for "The Big Schlep," shown below:



Amusing, sure. I admit I laughed. But after the novelty wore off, I started to recall that every election year, famous people from Michael Moore to Ralph Nader pull a whole bunch of stupid self-serving stunts that are supposedly "for the cause" but really do more harm than good and generally don't make people vote democrat, and the Silverman video falls into that dump of stunts. (I will say, however, that the whole cringe-inducing Will.I.Am. "Yes We Can" thing shockingly is an exception...shit definitely caught on). Further unsettling was Jackie Mason's response to this video, shown here:



Now, regardless of what YOU think of Silverman or Mason or their videos, picture that small-but-critical block of elderly Jewish voters in Florida. Assume they are "active" online. First, which video are they more likely to see? Second, which video is more likely to sway them? Silverman is speaking to young fanatics who are already voting Obama and are gonna have a tough time convincing their grandparents to do the same. Mason is speaking to his generation, and actually sounds like a rational human being. It pains me to say it because I was a huge Silverman fan circa Mr. Show, but I am siding with Mason here in terms of effectiveness, utility during a critical election in which old people have been shat on (how is it ok that McCain's death is being discussed as an absolute certitude?), and is just plain right.

As an aside, I've been following Silverman over the years and (HATE TO DO IT BUT I HAVE TO) have become increasingly uncomfortable with how comfortable she is being racist toward blacks. What pisses me off is that it's generally under the guise of "hey I'm making fun of Jews and I'm Jewish, so I can make fun of [black people] too," which is such a piddily defense given that self-loathing is virtually the first principle of Jewish comedy and is therefore a given. Second, she has exploited her hipster cred to where she has clearly become a White Act and rarely places herself in any context where a black person would call her out on it (by the way, did anybody catch her and Jenny Lewis at the Apollo? Wonder how that went over). Third, she's simply doing more racist-at-black-people humor than anybody else. Exhibits A and B (of Z) below.





And of course there's the episode of the Sarah Silverman Program where: "Sarah has been denied entry to a tennis club, supposedly because she is Jewish, and argues with a man that claims being black is harder than being Jewish, Sarah tries to prove him wrong by putting on blackface." Hyuk hyuk. Look, it's not like Jackie Mason is any sort of a mensch when it comes to race relations either, but I find Silverman's brand of "cool racism" particularly annoying. Apologies for my rant, especially to those of you who have given us shit over the past few weeks for not focusing enough on basketball. But when the term "Jewish Civil War" comes up, best believe FD is gonna be there to resolve things.