Hot Potato Mash

The Short And Simple Story Of The Credit Crisis

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Shirley Phelps Roper Interview Outside Of The Academy Awards

In his acceptance speech last night Sean Penn mentioned the "signs of hatred" he passed on the way into the Academy Awards. He was referring specifically to Shirley Phelps Roper and the rest of her "God Hates Fags" brethren from the Westboro Baptist Church. Since I didn't have a ticket to get into the awards ceremony I spent a bit of time interviewing Shirley Phelps Roper. Note that many of my questions were culled from the comments section of a video I posted last year of Shirley Phelps Roper also from outside of the Academy Awards.

NOTE: There are some really entertaining parts if you can stand to make it through the entire video!

And last year's short video:

Tanner Kinda Apologizes For Racist Email

Former DoJ Voting Rights Chief John Tanner kinda apologizes to Professor Mary Frances Berry for his recently publicized racist email about her (from Talking Points Memo):

And University of Pennsylvania Professor Mary Frances Berry briefly responds:

Tanner has a history of ridiculous apologies as evidenced by the following exchange with Rep. Keith Ellison during Congressional hearings spurred by other racist comments he made which I caught on videotape:

Bush's RACIST Civil Rights Division at Justice Department

NEW VIDEO UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST

People have often asked me whether I felt even the slightest guilt for my role in John Tanner losing his job as the Voting Section Chief of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice at the end of 2007. Briefly, I videotaped Tanner making racist and untrue comments about Photo ID laws which led to embarrassing Congressional hearings and his resignation. The Washington Post's Dana Milbank would later tell MSNBC's Dan Abrams that Tanner had to be "cut loose because of [that] one bad line" captured on videotape.

Well, today the DoJ released a report that contained a few nuggets about John Tanner. For example:

In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief John Tanner sent an e-mail to Schlozman asking Schlozman to bring coffee for him to a meeting both were scheduled to attend. Schlozman replied asking Tanner how he liked his coffee. Tanner's response was, "Mary Frances Berry style-- black and bitter."

Berry is an African-American who was the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from November 1993 until late 2004.

Only in the perverse Bush administration could you have a bunch of racists in charge of civil rights at the DoJ. For much more on the racism at DoJ and the Justice report in general, see Brad's latest post or watch the Olbermann video above. The Tanner racism stuff begins at the 4:00 mark.

BTW, I have never felt even remotely guilty about Tanner's forced resignation.

UPDATE: A great video about Tanner from TPM...

BEST VIDEO BLOG NOMINATION FOR HOT POTATO MASH

In a BIG surprise, Hot Potato Mash was nominated for a Weblog Award -- Best Video Blog -- for a second consecutive year. My immediate joy in garnering the nomination, however, has quickly given way to embarrassment as my current vote tally barely registers. Thus, I encourage, no, implore, my humble readers to vote for me everyday for the next week!

Now while I am clearly not beyond begging for the sympathy vote, I actually do believe there is good reason to cast one's vote for this blog. So here's my pitch...

The year began with my confrontation of Karl Rove about the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Rove's expressions in the video below are great and few things were more satisfying to me in 2008 than Siegelman's release from prison a month later.

By the way, Hot Potato Mash has the largest Don Siegelman video archive on the internet!

Karl Rove would also figure prominently in a few more of my bigger posts including one where I asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi about whether she planned to authorize a full House vote on contempt charges for Rove. Unfortunately, as an article I wrote with investigative journalist Jason Leopold at The Public Record illustrates, the Secret Service would have none of it:

Immediately following his query to Pelosi, Alan Breslauer was grabbed by Secret Service and dragged away from the table where Pelosi was signing copies of her book. The Speaker did respond to Breslauer's question, however, saying a vote on contempt charges against Rove is "up to [House Judiciary Committee Chairman] Conyers."

Below is a video mashup I made of Pelosi's talk which included confrontations between a visibly upset Pelosi and protesters:

I was also the first to question Ambassador Joe Wilson about Congressman John Conyers' subpoena of Karl Rove:

While the above posts rank among my best of 2008, I would be remiss if I didn't also mention my greatest achievement of 2007 which occurred barely more than a year ago -- the resignation of John Tanner. Tanner was the chief of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division Voting Section when I captured him on video stating that it's a "shame" that the elderly might be disenfranchised by Photo ID laws, but that minorities were not disenfranchised because they "don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first."

After posting the video on Brad Blog, it spread like wildfire which led to embarrassing Congressional hearings and Tanner's resignation. Here's the vid:

EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS

Hot Potato Mash also featured numerous exclusive videos in 2008 of some of the years most prominent voices. Few posts proved as popular as Vincent Bugliosi talking about his bestselling book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder". C-SPAN would eventually show the same talk a month later.

"The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder" (Vincent Bugliosi)

That was not the only Hot Potato Mash video exclusive of Bugliosi in 2008. A few weeks later I was the first to get Bugliosi on camera speaking about his support for the compassionate release of Manson Family member Susan Atkins:

"Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders" (Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry)

After Bugliosi, the most popular video exclusives in 2008 involved 9/11 "conspiracy" gurus Dr. William Pepper and David Ray Griffin.

In addition to 9/11, Dr. William Pepper also spoke about war crimes, the MLK, Jr. assassination and Sirhan Sirhan's innocence in the RFK assassination. The latter of which can be seen in the video above.

"Orders to Kill: The Truth Behind the Murder of Martin Luther King, Jr" (William F. Pepper)

In the video above David Ray Griffin states, among other things, that "the evidence that 9/11 is an inside job is now overwhelming".

"The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11" (David Ray Griffin)

Other video exclusive highlights include:

Questioning presidential hopeful Ralph Nader about election integrity in the 2008 election.

"The Seventeen Traditions" (Ralph Nader)

A conversation between Gore Vidal and Missouri Congressional candidate Byron DeLear.

"Empire (Modern Library)" (Gore Vidal)

Reza Aslan talking on a variety of subjects including American misperceptions about the Muslim community above.

"No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam" (Reza Aslan)

Shirley Phelps Roper (AKA The Crazy Christian Lady of the God Hates Fags Church) explaining to me why Heath Ledger is going to hell.

Election integrity guru Mark Crispin Miller explaining the state of American democracy.

A Senator John Edwards presidential rally in Los Angeles.

Tony Snow proclaiming that Fox News "has enough conservatives" well before his untimely death.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair telling the story of the spilled soup.

Exclusive Entertainment Videos

In addition to the exclusive political videos sampled above, Hot Potato Mash also provided some exclusive entertainment videos including:

Lili Haydn playing "Denied" off her latest album.

"Place Between Places" (Lili Haydn)

Hilarious political comedian Betsy Salkind.

Opera singer KB Solomon singing, "The Impossible Dream".

Chris Bennett singing a song she wrote for George W. Bush.

"Chris Bennett" (Chris Bennett)

Rebirth Brass Band from the French Quarter in New Orleans.

"Do Whatcha Wanna" (Rebirth Brass Band)

Finally, Hot Potato Mash is nothing without mashups! So here are some of my favorites from 2008:

ABC News - George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson - debate protest!

Thought Control.

John McCain and the economy.

Outside the democratic debate in Hollywood.

May Day Rally.

And that's my pitch. If I won you over OR you still feel compelled to give me a pity vote, please visit the Weblog Awards and cast your vote my way! And while you are there, might I also recommend voting for the witty Jon Swift (Best Humor Blog) and The BRAD BLOG (Best Liberal Blog). FYI, you are allowed to vote once a day but there is no rule against coming back day after day for the next week!

Finally, I bid you farewell with my favorite video of the year:

My 89-year-old (now 90) great uncle Julius dancing and singing, "Yankee Doodle Boy".

BUSHED! Siegelman-Gate

UPDATE: More Allegations of Misconduct in Alabama Governor Case (h/t 99)

Ron Howard's Call To Action

Very cool!

Generation WE: The Movement Begins...

Millennials are the largest generation in American history. Born between 1978 and 2000, WE are 95 million strong, compared to the 78 million Baby Boomers. WE are politically, socially, and philosophically independent, and are spearheading a period of sweeping change in America and around the world. The new book, Generation We, explains the emerging power of our Millennial Generation, and shows how WE (and older people who think the way WE do) are poised to change our nation and our world for the better.



Visit the website.

Conservatives For Change

Turdblossom Part 2: Hacking The Machines

And just in case you missed Turdblossom's Insider's Guide to Swinging Elections:

VIDEO: Alan Breslauer for President!

You too can be a grassroots internet phenomena!

Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas 'Welcomes' Sarah Palin To L.A.

California State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas "welcomes" Sarah Palin outside the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Learn more about Ridley-Thomas who is running for the extremely important L.A. County Supervisor position against ex-police chief Bernard Parks.

Not only do I endorse the progressive, community oriented, Ridley-Thomas over the virtual Republican, business first, Parks, but I'm now working to get Ridley-Thomas elected. For Angelenos this election is almost as important as the presidential election so please consider volunteering for the campaign if you are local.

The Coming Police State (Example 4,587)

HPM MASHUP: John McCain And The Economy

I made this mashup in July but it seemed like an appropriate time to revisit.

John McCain Equals More War