The Second Debate and More Important Things [Updated]

The next installment of the Nattering Nabobs of Mindnumbing Nonsense will be on in a few minutes.

I will provide the live stream when it becomes available, and then the rerun for posterity and my iPod.

Speaking of which, I cannot believe somebody had the unmitigated nerve to post the "controversial" Disney film, Song of the South, in its entirety on YouTube. Guess what I am uploading to my iPod tonight?

I don't understand what all of the fuss is about over this live-action cartoon. I saw it when I was a kid, yet Disney is scared to death to reissue it on DVD in this country.

It's just stupid beyond belief to censor it. We ALL know there were stereotypes of blacks and other minorities in the old days; times have changed. But this and other films and television series of this type (Amos 'n' Andy, in television's case) are part of our heritage and should not be banned because of some silly PC concerns.

Speaking of African Americans and Hollywood, I did recently purchase the excellent all-black Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky, both released in 1943 and both featuring Lena Horne but released by different studios. Thank God one doesn't have to listen to the dumb commentary included on both DVDs by some "expert" trying to explain to the stupid about the "stereotypes" (which really weren't that big a deal) in the pictures. Both films I highly recommend, and they feature some of the all-time great entertainers.

Getting back to SOTS, I was also interested in it because it featured perhaps the most tragic of all child stars, Bobby Driscoll (1937-1968), whose career went down the tubes when he grew up and who plunged into drugs and ultimately homelessness. He was discovered dead in an abandoned tenement in NYC in 1968 and buried in a pauper's grave there. His family didn't even know his whereabouts until a year or so after he died.

A fansite of the movie is here.

If you must see the movie online, here is the YouTube link to the first part, until somebody decides to pull the film from the site.

Update: I just finished watching the movie on my iPod, which I will keep there. Disney needs to release the damned thing on DVD. There is NOTHING wrong with it; in fact, it was a bit ahead of its time showing harmonious relationships between blacks and whites.