Quick! Let's target the Chicos!

Adweek.com reports that new Latino-oriented Hip Hop magazines are springing up like STDs in order to capture this growing market. Among the rookies is the new Bridgez Magazine which aims to:

... focus on aspects of hip-hop that are of particular interest to Hispanics, such as fashion, urban music and graffiti.

We just hope Bridgez and all of the other companies jumping on the nuts of the Latino market don't just use us for getting rich without helping to improve our communities. We suggest they use their media power to shed light to issues that affect Latinos, give scholarships, cover independent artists and small businesses along with the majors. If not, we'll send a few cholos to their magazine's offices for some redecorating.
Along with Bridgez you got The Source Latino, Lokera Magazine, Boom Hispanic, Batanga, In the House Magazine, and Urban Latino battling for similar Urban-Latin audiences and advertisers. Whoever wins out, remember to keep it real if you cherish your furniture.

ACLU vs. the Bush Crime Family!

From the patriot act to the military using torture, to feeding tubes and stickers on science books, the American Civil Liberties Union is fighting mad to keep Dubya and the gang from imposing their radical agenda on decent Americans (and immigrants)!

In a weird twist of fate, some conservative groups that would otherwise be bad-mouthing the ACLU, are now joining in the fight, namely to repel the God-awful Patriot Act (that is about as patriotic as fascism). CNN reports that this coalition of Left & Right wing groups aims to:

... repeal or let expire prosecutors' Patriot Act ability to easily obtain records in terrorism-related cases from businesses and other entities, including libraries; the provision that allows "sneak and peek" searches conducted without a property owner's or resident's knowledge and with warrants delivered afterward; and what they called an overbroad definition of "terrorists" that could include non-terrorism suspects.

Thank God the conservatives are finally coming around and taking notice that this administration is causing more harm than... anything for that matter! Email your local congress person, let them know you're on the side of the ACLU, keep our civil liberties protected and our feeding-tube decisions out of the government's hands!

Death to the GOP's Elephant

Bill Mitchell has got to be one of the best politcal cartoonists ever!

Check out his latest take on the Republican party's symbol. It seems like the GOP's Elephant kicked the bucket. Check it out here!

Time to invest in Alternative Energy?

With prices at the gas pump leaving us broke, isn't it time to start investing in alternative renewable fuels instead? A new report by E-Magazine shows that stock in companies like Ballard(BLDP) and FuelCell Energy(FCEL) are at bargain prices while CleanEdge.com estimates that "Solar Photovoltaics, Wind Energy, and Fuel Cells [will] Exceed $100 Billion Market by 2014".

Also, GM and Shell partnered up to solve the catch-22 issue that plagued the creation of a Fuel Cell economy... you know the one where the gas companies wouldn't make the Hydrogen pumps if there weren't any cars and that the car companies wouldn't produce the vehicles because the hydrogen pumps didn't exist? Yeah, THAT catch-22 situation. GM and Shell are getting in bed to jump-start the revolution.

Chicotown.com isn't a financial advice website but we do suggest you study all of the links we've posted here for yourself, this smells like a great investment opportunity that not only helps our society move forward but may actually put some change in your pockets. Maybe by the time $3.00 a gallon for gas sticks you where it hurts you'll consider it...

(Note: if you get mega rich cuz you read this post, how about sending us some unmarked bags of money? We're good for it!)

Hypocrisy 101: Delay & Dubya

Terry Schiavo, Terry Schiavo, Terry Schiavo!!!

Republicans took over the media's attention with the Terry Schiavo case and drowned out other important news items such as: 1) Tom Delay getting indicted for ethics abuses; 2) Allegations of Halliburton ripping off the Pentagon & US Tax payers; 3) Wolfo-bitch stepping up to the World Bank's top spot, therefore affecting the future of countless 3rd-world countries, especially in Latin America; 4) 2nd anniversary of Iraq war spurring massive protests & new reports showing that the US military is stretched too-thin to continue this illegal occupation.

These hypocrites are using this poor woman and her family's personal issue to drown out other issues and push their agenda further. Dubya is the rotten bastard who signed a law in Texas that allows Hospitals to pull the plug on patients if they cant pay the bill, causing the death of a 6-month old child, and now Bush is acting like he cares about Terry Schiavo.

Oh yeah, and Lil' Kim is gonna get time in prison, maybe she can drop a single featuring Shine and C-Murder called "Commissary Pimps".

P. Diddy to get Political

Good news for politically-minded artists, Diddy is calling on Common and Talib Kweli to ghostwrite for him on his next album. Sohh.com reports:

Diddy is apparently looking to express his new penchant for politics on his next album. Puff has enlisted the services of socially aware emcees Common and Talib Kweli to pen some of his material.

Hopefully this adds fire to the current trend of embracing politically-charged Hip Hop songs in time for the likes of Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Caliba, Paris, and the legendary Public Enemy to take the national stage again. Hey Diddy, how about a collabo with Chuck D?

That's the Sound of your Tax Dollars goin' FLUSH!!!

Iraq could possibly be the biggest corporate scam in the history of modern man!

The latest news pouring out of Iraq is that Dick Cheney's own Haliburton and it's subsidies are swindling millions of dollars in ridiculous rebuilding contracts. In one instance they were getting paid 5.5 million dollars for a job that would normally go for $600,000. In the Asia Times online they report:

International watchdog group Transparency International said in its Global Corruption Report 2005 that profiteering threatens to undermine the reconstruction of Iraq, where most of the companies operating are US-based.

"When the size of a bribe takes precedence over value for money, the results are shoddy construction and poor infrastructure management," said Peter Eigen, chairman of Transparency International (TI), in a statement. "Corruption wastes money, bankrupts countries, and costs lives."

Why did we go into Iraq again? WMDs? Nope, we went in to rape, steal, and pillage the people of Iraq and our own tax dollars. Freedom is on the march, the freedom of big corporations to steal!

WTF??? - There goes the World Bank

Talk about the bad news of BAD news. Bush is nominating one of the most notorious characters from the Bush Crime Family to head the World Bank. WTF?? Really, whut da fuk???

This is the douche bag that helped orchestrate the Iraqi invasion that resulted in the US spending BILLIONS of dollars on turning Iraq into another Islamic Theocracy (think Iran Jr.), and now Wolfo-bitch is nominated to head the international organization that has a "goal of eliminating global poverty and manages a US$20-billion annual loan portfolio to the world's poorest nations". Fat chance buddy! The Neo-Cons want to take over the world and twist the arm of poor nations with the World bank if they don't comply with the Bush Crime Family's model of running a Corporatocracy.

If you don't know the half then follow the links and READ! Again... WTF??? Just when you thought sh*t couldn't get any worse...

What's Beef?

Freelance entertainment writer Morris O' Kelly broke down the current trend in Hip Hop to start beef and let it saute for the sake of record sales. He touches on Foxy Brown's recent assault charges stemming from an unpaid manicure bill, Lil' Kim's troubles on trail, 50 and Game kissing up, to Biggie's unsolved murder. It's actually fun to read O' Kelly ripping into the beefing artists as if he himself was a battling emcee, for instance:

50 Cent and The Game kissed and made up…sort of. I’ll be completely truthful. I don’t know ‘what’ the ‘beef’ was between these two…and don’t really care. All I know is that Hip-Hop isn’t happy unless it’s unhappy. If 50 Cent is not dissing The Game, then it’s Ja Rule or Fat Joe or somebody. If I got any of the names wrong, who cares. Same song, different year. So-n-so doesn’t like So-n-so, because So-n-So dissed So-n-So on So-n-So’s record.

Yeah, so?

On the other hand, a little battling now and then is healthy for hip hop, especially when the emcees can keep it on wax. Who can forget the classic battles like KRS-One vs. MC Shan, Ice Cube vs. NWA, Common vs. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre vs. Easy-E, Canibus vs. LL Cool J, Redman/Kieth Murray vs. Mobb Deep, Def Squad vs. Hit Squad, Aftermath vs. Deathrow, etc. Alot of these spawned classic rap battle songs that were milestones in Hip Hop history. It's just that a few knuckleheadz ruin it for the culture, especially when some chumps on the block take a few battle raps personal and want to get physical because they lack the skills to match you lyrically.

Anyways, the best song about "BEEF" ever made in our opinion is Mighty Mos Def's "What's Beef" where he drops lines like:

Beef ain't the Summer Jam for Hot 97
Beef is the cocaine and AIDS epidemic
Beef don't come with a radio edit
Beef is when the judge is callin' you "defendant"
Beef, it comes with a long jail sentence

Like we do all day everyday, we beef with the Bush crime Family and their Corporatocracy that's sucking us dry, these emcees need to keep the beef on wax, their manicure bills paid, and the coffin sales low. Lets feed some children instead. Peace!

Corrupt officials in Mexico catching "heat"

All of us who's families originated from some Latin-America country know that corrupt governments and police forces is the norm. But recently in Mexico the people are taking matters into their own hands and literally burning corrupt officials alive! CNN reports:

Scores of angry residents in the town of Magdalena Tequisistlan broke into a municipal government building to seize the [corrupt] officer, who was thrown from the third story to the town plaza, then doused with gasoline and set on fire, according to the Oaxaca state attorney general's office.

It's terrible that anyone's life had to end that way, but supposedly the officer had "shot a taxi driver on Friday night after arguing with the man at a bar". Karma is a bitch. Also in Panama citizens take matters into their own hands and give their corrupt government officials a beating for giving them a "beating". We say those corrupt governments need to clean up their act and let the people live in peace! (Before you get yo' ass whooped!)

Check your Posse at the Door

It looks like New York's Hot 97 is catching the heat from their landlord over the recurring shoot-outs and fights that take place when rappers show up with big crews, some, they say, come looking for trouble. Here are two of the most notable events :

A man associated with 50 Cent was shot outside the building when the rapper was on-air in Feb. 28, and Lil' Kim is currently on trial for perjury during the investigation of a shootout outside the music station.

The landlord's lawyer said:

"We have a problem with the number of people who come with them -- their posses," O'Dwyer said. Sometimes there are 20 or 30 people coming in and obviously some of them are armed coming through the door."

Wow, these rappers are doing wonders for the positive image of our culture. The next time police beat up another emcee you can thank your local rap celeb and their big mouth for adding fuel to the negative stereotype and stigma our people already carry!

The biggest pack of Hypocrites on Earth!

Condi needs Jesus! This cartoon was reprinted in the Miami Herald from the Al-Ghad Newspaper from Amman, Jordan by cartoonist Imad Hajjaj. It merits reprinting here on Chicotown.com for the world to see the Bush Crime Family's hypocrisy at work ...

Tarantino might resurrect Jason

Good news for fans of the good ol' school cult classic "Friday the 13th", Director Quentin Tarantino who's famous for cooking up such classics as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Reservoir Dogs, now has his eye on doing the next sequel for Camp Crystal Lake's most infamous resident. Who can forget the masterpiece blood-and-gore scenes from Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs that Quentin crafted on film? Imagine a Jason flick just as much mayhem but with an added plot line and some decent characters.

The last Jason flick, "Freddy vs. Jason" was like watching a cartoon. The supporting cast of teenage victims (that included Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child) was so god-awful that we were rooting for Freddy & Jason to keep killing em' at will. Now with Tarantino meeting with New Line Cinema execs this week over possibly taking over the helm, it gives promise to the future of the franchise.

50 Cent & Game - Blood Money

Check out this tight article posted on GuerrillaFunk.com written by Adisa Banjoko. It reiterates the point we made in the JadaKiss post a few days ago. The article gets deeper though, they explain how this beef affect Hip Hop on a larger scale. Check out the following excepts:

Hip-hop has gone from a non-violent reaction to racism, economic and cultural oppression to being a key factor in why Black women lose their sons and husbands and why children lose their fathers.

The leaders of the white corporate-run rap industry are the main culprits in the shift from the non-violent aspects of the music to the murderous ones we see today. They have turned their backs on life-affirming rap and choose to promote much of what we see and hear today on MTV, BET and on all the major radio outlets across the planet. It is indeed racism in its most insidious form.

Read it Here!

Chavez Promises NO MORE CHEAP OIL!

Coño!! Why do we have to put up with this in the first place? With Iranian president Mohammad Khatami set to visit Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, the meeting is bound to piss off the Bush Crime Family as Chavez promised "The world should forget about cheap oil," during a recent trip to India. CNN reports:

Both Iran and Venezuela are fierce price hawks in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, where they favor keeping world oil prices at well over $50 a barrel. This means more expensive gasoline for Americans and is a potential threat to U.S. economic growth.

Why are we still using and fighting for OIL? With innovations like GM's Hy-Wire car that uses Hydrogen fuel Cell technology and with new breakthroughs in Solar Energy begging for a good push in funding and attention there is no excuse for the U.S. to feel the crippling effects of high oil prices. Lets change our policy and clean up the environment in the process. Don't talk that "it costs too much" bullshit, dealing with Chavez & Khatami and loosing over 300,000 lives in Iraq seems more expensive than any Wind power generator ever cost!

O' Reily sez ACLU are terrorists

The sick bastard of all sick bastards, Bill O'Reilly is calling the ACLU terrorists for:

... filing a lawsuit against Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and for opposing Bush administration anti-terrorism measures that the group believes are unconstitutional. The lawsuit accuses Rumsfeld of approving illegal interrogation methods that led to the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody; the ACLU also believes that measures such as federal "no-fly" lists and expanded investigative and surveillance powers for federal law enforcement under the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional. O'Reilly added: "They're terrorizin' me and my family. They're terrorizing me. I think they're terrorists." From Media Matters

The ACLU lawsuit has merit unlike O'Reilly's retarded accusations. Anyone who fights for our Civil Liberties is alright in our book! Join the ACLU today, we need to continue fighting these chumps.

Jadakiss to EAT 50 Cent Alive

Looks like 50 Cent has 2pac-itis, but he lacks the skills to fend off the growing-list of enemies he's racked up. Lets start with Jadakiss, one of the sickest lyricists alive (other than Caliba). On Sohh.com Jadakiss explained:

"Piggy Bank" was funny to me. He's gotta have something else. That can't be it, it's garbage!" Continuing, "I don't know what's wrong with 50," Kiss said. "But I thank him for the opportunity to [let me] air his ass out." In the upcoming diss track, Kiss taunts 50 with lines like, "I made actual songs with Biggie and you had to make fake ones." Kiss also spits, "Me without them things ringing, that's like 50 going on stage without singing." Word on the streets the track will be leaked next week.

Also, we don't know why 50 really kicked The Game out of G-Unit but in the end the beef will help BOTH of their albums sell like hot cakes. Jimmy Iovine will bank at the expense of 50, Jada, and The Game since he owns all of their asses at Interscope Records! If only these emcees could spend their energy attacking real problems like this class-war the Bush Crime Family is waging on the poor...

Fidel segregates his own people from the World

Talk about crazy, Fidel's government is prohibiting the people of Cuba from talking, mingling, becoming friends, accepting tips, or any other forms of contact with tourists and foreigners. How are you going to enforce that? Supposedly, Cubans who work in tourism must:

must limit their contact with foreigners to what is "absolutely necessary" for their work.

Also...

While in the company of foreigners, workers are also urged to remain faithful to Cuba's socialist system and abstain from opinions that go against the "prestige" of the country or workplace.

Again, why do governments try to keep the human spirit down? Why do governments try to suppress humans from expressing themselves, learning about new cultures (even when these cultures clash with the government's policies), and keep them from being... HUMAN? You can't keep the Cubans from getting their tips, any extra money they can get to feed their kids is necessary. Also, Cubans are cool people, they'll do what it takes to make their workday enjoyable, if that means kickin' it with some tourists and enjoying a fat cigar, Fidel you can't stop the Human Spirit! Beeyatch!

Electronic Monitors on Immigrants?

The Dept. Of "Homeland Security" is putting Anklets on Immigrants to keep track of them 24 hours a day. Supposedly they want to make sure they don't duck-out the system, but the real problem is that the department doesn't keep adequate records of immigrants seeking to become residents. So because some disorganized bastards in the government cant keep their records in order they are going to violate the Civil liberties, privacy, and the dignity of immigrants!

Actually I think it goes deeper than that. The Dept. Of Homeland security just needs guinea pigs to track for the coming of the VeriChip (which the FDA already approved). The Mark of the beast anyone? Call it a conspiracy theory or call it connecting-the-dots, but we need to speak up and defend the least among us before these violations are passed on to everyone!


(The infamous Verichip! Implanted in a fetus near you. Watch out for those satellites!)

Real way to Support the Troops!

AnySoldier.com is one of the best sites out there that you can use to ACTUALLY support the troops. It's not about lip service and putting a crapy sticker on your car and then turning around and supporting more deployments and the Bush Crime Family's trigger-happy habbit of pissing off more countries and dropping more bombs! Anysoldier.com lets you browse thru a list of soldiers, you can read their story, what they need (from fruit roll-ups and cheetos to Toys for Iraqi kids) and the address where you can send it to em'! Great site, keep it book marked, and support the troops! (for real...)