Clint Eastwood told Spike Lee to “shut his face” recently after Lee made a comment about the lack of black actors in Eastwood’s films. Some of Eastwood’s films include ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ and ‘Flags Of Our Fathers’ and Lee is noted for directing ‘Malcolm X’, among many others. Lee complained that Eastwood did not include a single black actor in either of his 2006 films listed above.

Eastwood responded by explaining that the African-American troops who were at battle were not part of raising the flag in the famous picture. He said it would just not be accurate if he had included black actors in these films and people would think he lost his mind as a director.

Eastwood then concluded his statements at the Cannes International Film Festival by saying: “A guy like him [Lee] should shut his face.” Eastwood was promoting his new war film at Cannes titled ‘Miracle At St Anna’ about the all-black 92nd Buffalo Division which fought in World War II. Ironic. They’re both still badass in my book.

[The following article, written by Bob Howard for Synthesis Weekly, was originally published in the print version of Synthesis on Monday, May 19th, 2008. He can be reached at bob@madbob.com]

Keep on Drinking
By Bob Howard

“Be it destiny or free will, there are those amongst us who might do the rest of society a favor by staying on the couch, taking bong rips and playing the latest version of Grand Theft Auto.”

A Long History of Stupid: I’ve just started reading a biography of long-time FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and as a result, I’m learning quite a lot about the history of this country and the tradition of our government cracking down on dissent. This latest episode of our history is far from the first time the Bill of Rights has been superseded and suspended in the name of “security.” I have yet to grasp the logic of suspending freedoms to ensure security when I thought that the whole thing we are trying to secure in the first place is freedom; but I digress.
Anyway, here are some interesting factoids I’ve picked up thus far: Remember when in protest of the French dissent against the “War on Terror” our Congress made the brilliant move of re-naming French Fries “Freedom Fries?” Seems like a pretty creative manifestation of nationalistic stupidity, right? Wrong. During World War I, our Congress re-named Sauerkraut “Liberty Cabbage.” Our current stupidity isn’t even original! How do you like that?

Think the threat of terrorism is a new thing? Wrong. Just prior to and then after World War I, the Red Scare developed. Anarchists and Communists were on the rise and there were actually a series of letter bombs and bomb attacks that riddled the nation’s capitol and industrial power figures.
These attacks lead to a complete abridgment of the freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights. Anyone suspected of being a communist, a socialist, or a sympathizer — essentially any Russian factory worker — was rounded up in mass arrests and many were unceremoniously deported so quickly that there wasn’t even time for an appeal.

More heartwarming thoughts after the jump. (more…)