What Jay-Z and Glenn Beck Have in Common

Class takes sociological view of rapper's work

(NEWSER) - He’s already a hip-hop superstar, a big-shot exec, and married to Beyonce; now, Jay-Z is also the subject of elite academic discourse. Georgetown students are flocking to a sociology course on hip-hop and Jay-Z’s rise, taught by author and radio host Michael Eric Dyson. “Sociology of Hip-Hop—Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z,” as the class is called, seeks “the intellectual, theological, philosophical predicate for Jay-Z’s argument.” More»

He agrees with the left at times—but for different reasons

(NEWSER) - Even those who typically write off Glenn Beck as paranoid, even crazy, must admit sometimes he “catches a real-life demon in his fantasy-world gallery of rogues, and he becomes oddly reasonable”—and he did so twice this week. First, he argued the alleged Times Square terrorist should have been read his rights; then, he offered “a partly coherent and even accurate critique of the International Monetary Fund,” writes Gabriel Winant on Salon . More»

Obama 'makes us look evil as he tightens iron grip'

(NEWSER) - When liberals aim to discredit right-wingers, they accuse them of plotting violence, complains Rush Limbaugh. The current "meme to equate skepticism of the Obama administration with a tendency toward violence" is just like former President Clinton blaming "loud and angry" conservative commentators for the Oklahoma bombing, he writes in the Wall Street Journal. "What self-serving nonsense." Liberals "are perfectly comfortable with anti-government protest when they're not in power," he adds. Anger is "in their DNA." More»

From condoms and KFC to Cuban cigars and Hennessy

(NEWSER) - Drawing on the Smoking Gun ’s collection of concert riders, Sam Greenspan of 11points.com offers a list of the 11 craziest demands made by rappers:

• DMX: Three boxes of condoms and a gallon of Hennessy—that’s anywhere from $300 to $800 worth of cognac.
• Public Enemy: Kosher food—odd, because “Public Enemy is famously associated with anti-Semitism”—and a bucket of KFC.

Top Republicans complain talkers are pushing party to fringe

(NEWSER) - Top Republicans are fed up with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh—off the record at least. Without naming names, Politico says that “congressional leaders” privately complain that the conservative commentariat is hurting their chances in 2010 by pushing the party too far to the fringe. Operatives close to top 2012 presidential contenders say they’d like to harness the grass-roots anger against Barack Obama, but worry about seeming too extreme. More»