NWSF Bullet: The Controversy Over Malt Liquor "Energy Drinks"

The old dudes in the neighborhood used to have a saying when someone was trying to insult their intelligence with misinformation...


"Don't pee (um...urinate) on my shoes and tell me it's raining!"


The makers of Four Loko Malt Liquor Energy Drinks(I'm sorry they are PC now, Four Loko Caffeinated Malt Beverage) are trying to justify their pushing of their product to convenience stores and their cute little internet (mis) infomercials.


http://durhamcounty.mync.com/site/durhamcounty/news/story/35583/durham-man-thinks-malt-liquor-drink-looks-too-much-like-soda/


Classic case of a "straw man" argument (arguing a position but evading the main point.)


I wonder how they would respond to this study done by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center a few years back ?


http://www1.wfubmc.edu/news/NewsArticle.htm?ArticleID=2193

"See,what had happened was.....our product is not an energy drink....it's an alcoholic energy booster...like if you accidentally mix your Starbucks with a Colt 45...."

But ,yeah, I hear you, homie when you make the argument that there are other alcoholic energy drinks on the market, why are ya'll pickin' on poor little me?

Let's use dialectical reasoning for a moment that will defeat their argument...

"OK, Skeeter, granted that there are other caffeinated liquor energy drinks, why should the average connoisseur of malt pick your product instead of your competition's?"

"Well, it's because we have 11% alco....we sell cool caps...we get a lot of hits from kids on youtu....we market to a younger Hip Hop demo...DARNIT!!!!!"

It must be noted that folks are concerned about "malt liquor energy drinks" (with less alcohol) in cities across the country.

http://cbs4.com/seenon/i.team.miller.2.643928.html

Public pressure, also, forced Miller/Coors (makers of the popular "Sparks") to take the caffeine out of the drink months ago.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/19/business/fi-drink19

But I guess that the makers of Four Loko think that the folks in Durham are like ghetto versions of Mikey from that old school Life cereal commercial who the neighborhood kids used as a guinea pig.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYEXzx-TINc

"I'm not gonna try it, you try it.."

"I'm not gonna try it..."

"Give to Mikey!"

"Hey Mikey!...Mikey?....Wake up Mikey!"

"Somebody call 911 !!!"

Unfortunately, the folks at Phusion Projects are banking on the fact that their target market, the boyz in tha 'hood, college binge drinkers and sports minded weekend alcoholics won't question their marketing techniques nor be overly concerned about possible health risks.

Although some people might be cool with Four Loko and will find a way to even justify the sell of Arsenic Apple Cider, some of us Durham folks ain't drinkin' the Kool Aid!




In 1998, Paul Scott led a succesful campaign against Phat Boy Malt Liquor. For information about the IMANI (Inspiring Men to Act Against Negative Influences) lecture on alcohol marketing to young people, contact (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

Blame it on the Alcohol

Blame it on the Alcohol:
The Low Down on Four Loko


Paul Scott





It was Memorial Day and, as you know, it gets hot on the streets of the "Dirty South." So, I headed to the local hood store to pick up a Welch's Grape Soda.

Being a tad bit parched a regular 12oz just wasn't gonna get it. Then like a mirage in the middle of the Sahara, I saw a cooler full of beautiful fruity looking cans in generous 23.5 oz servings. So, I quickly stuck my hand in the cooler and pulled out an ice cold tall one.

It looked kinda refreshing. But then I noticed the poster on the cooler with "now available legally" written across a hot Latino lady's cleavage.

Kinda strange marketing scheme for soda pop. I wondered what the "illegal" version tasted like.

Now I'm curious as to what I was about to put in my body so I started reading the label.

"Wow! This soda is an energy drink too?"

It had the usual stuff that energy drinks are made of. Guarana, Taurine, Caffeine....

11% alcohol !!!

I had just picked up one of the latest malt liquors sold in Durham NC and hoods across America, Four Loko...

Maybe, its just me but I have always had a problem with the way that the liquor industry markets their products to the young, hip crowd.

You can usually find booze in the hood that you can't find anywhere else on the planet. (And lots of it)

Sure, you can pick up a cold Bud anywhere but to find a malt liquor with magical, medicinal properties..

Oh, that's hood action, homie.

It really ticks me off when these companies use Hip Hop music to pimp their products. Unlike their predecessors, Ole English and ST. Ides, Four Loco has a high tech website and a couple of funky online jams to help you get yo' drink on. They are also using trendy social networks like youtube, Myspace and Facebook to push their product.

http://www.drinkfour.com/


Did I mention they have their own clothing line, as well, so you can look fly while you're earlin' in the toilet.

http://www.zazzle.com/drinkfour

They also want you to send them pictures of you and the homies gettin' your swag on with a can of Four Loko and to wax all philosophical and stuff about the buzz you get from consuming caffeine and alcohol

"And here's a picture of me in the hospital after stumblin' down a flight of steps at Krazie D's party, last week."

Good times, good times.

In most places, folks would be outraged that this is being sold in their neighborhoods. Surely, a malt liquor energy drink in a Grape Crush looking can should raise some sort of red flags among the AA, PTA, or FDA.

Shouldn't MADD and the other anti-teenage drinking folks be mad at this company?

Passing a malt liquor off as an energy drink is an accident waiting to happen. Don't say I didn't warn ya.

I can see Lil Jimmy now chuggin' down a Four Loko on his way to practice.

So, the next time that your loco actin' track star comes stumblin' over the finish line in record time mumblin' Skiny B lyrics...

As singer/comedian Jamie Fox would say, don't blame me..."Blame it on the alcohol."



Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com (919) 451-8283

In 1998, Paul Scott led a succesful campaign against Phat Boy Malt Liquor. For information about the IMANI (Inspiring Men to Act Against Negative Influences) lecture on alcohol marketing to young people, contact (919) 451-8283 or info@nowarningshotsfired.com

Will Obama Sell Assata Out?

****Last Thursday reports came out of New Jersey that the politicians are stepping up their efforts to have Assata Shakur extradited.
http://www.senatenj.com/index.php/seankean/resolution-urging-the-extradition-of-joanne-chesimard-is-introduced/3172
Therefore, I am reposting the piece I wrote last month.****



The New Assault on Assata Shakur:
Will Obama Sell Assata Out?

Paul Scott

Most Americans are not familiar with Assata Shakur. After all, she's not exactly the type of black super hero that they parade around during Black History Month. This is the type ignorance that some legislators in New Jersey hope will allow them to extradite Shakur back to the US under the cover of our darkness.

Assata Shakur (JoAnne Chisamard) was involved in a 1973 shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that resulted in the deaths of fellow Black Liberation Army member Zayd Shakur and NJ State Trooper Werner Foerster. Shakur was sentenced to life in prison in 1977 but was broken out of prison by her comrades in 1979. She has been living under political asylum in Cuba since 1984.

She still remains on the FBI's Most Wanted List with a million dollar reward for any snitch willing to give her up to the FEDS.

However, with President Barack Obama seeking to open political channels with Cuba and ease US restrictions, politicians in New Jersey have been turning up the heat on the Prez to make the Cuban government give up Shakur if they want to be in Uncle Sam's good graces.

While the current headlines of "NJ to Press for Return of Cop Killer" would lead you to believe that Shakur is some heartless street thugstress that went around shootin' up police stations just for kicks, the truth about the government repression by which groups like the Black Panther Party and its underground military arm, the Black Liberation Army sufferered has never really been told.

We cannot allow the media to even begin discussing Assata Shakur without putting her struggle in the context of COINTELPRO. The Counter Intelligence Program was an effort by J. Edgar Hoover's Federal Bureau of Investigation and its associated agencies to destroy groups that dared stand against US oppression.

It was under COINTELPRO that black leadership suffered under "dirty tricks" that ranged from political assassinations (Fred Hampton) to smear campaigns which are too many to even begin to name here. Even the good Rev. Martin Luther King JR was not immune to Hoover's "dirty tricks."Could you really expect Assata Shakur to get a fair trail under such repressive policies?

According to the late Civil Rights attorney, William Kuntsler in his book "My Life as a Radical Lawyer," a law enforcement agent told him that during Shakur's trial " a member of the New Jersey State Assembly had gone to the hotel where the jury was sequestered and talked to them about the necessity to convict." In the book Kuntsler hints that even he underestimated the lengths that NJ law enforcement would go to get a conviction of Shakur.Today, those same types of people are at it again.

On April 17th, NJ Senator Sean Kean sent a letter to President Obama asking him to "delay normalizing relations with Cuba unless they agree to extradite convicted cop killer JoAnne Chesimard." Also, NJ Attorney General Anne Milgram has been quoted as saying "Obama's move to ease sanctions against Cuba is an opportunity to bring back Joanne Chesimard."

Now, do I think that Obama would sacrifice Assata Shakur on the alter of "Democracy" for political expediency ?

You're darn right !

To appease middle class white America President Obama will throw Shakur under the same Greyhound that he threw Rev. Jeremiah Wright.That is, if we don't raise our voices.

There are organizations that have been fighting to keep the plight of Assata Shakur in our faces for years.
http://www.assatashakur.org/


Black bloggers must start an immediate, emergency mass education campaign to tell the true story of Assata Shakur and COINTELPRO to combat the efforts of the miseducation of the mainstream media.We must make sure that our local and national "urban" radio stations inform their listeners about this issue. (Tom Joyner, Michael Baisden, Russ Parr)

We must arm ourselves with information about Assata Shakur and COINTELPRO through websites, DVD's and books such as "Show Down" by the late Del Jones and "Racial Matters" and "Black America:The FBI Files" by Kenneth O'Reilly.

Finally, we must appeal to the Hip Hop artists who have the ears of the people to raise the issue if only for the reason of reppin' for "Tupac's kin folk." (If that will motivate them to take action.)

If we do not raise this issue, loudly, Assata Shakur will be back in a US prison or worst before she knows what hit her.We owe this much to a sister who, as the rapper Common said in "A Song for Assata," "Went through all this.... so we can be free..."


Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at info@nowarningsfotsfired.com (919) 451-8283

TRUTH Minista on in Jena,LA

I am scheduled to be on Tony Brown's Show, "Eye's Open" in Jena, LA at 7:40 EST 5/19. He is the radio host that did a lot of work during the Jena 6 Case. We will be discussing the fate of black radio.

To listen go to :

http://www.eyesopenwithtonybrown.com/

Listen to "On the Real" Discussion of the Disappearance of Black Radio

This program aired 5/17 on Chuck D's (Public Enemy) "On the Real" show on Air America. The discussion was about the current controversy over the condition of black radio.

To listen click on:

http://airamerica.com/content/broadcast-real-chuck-d-2009-05-17-file-full

TRUTH Minista on Air America 5/17

I'm scheduled to be on Chuck D's (Public Enemy) Air America Show with Bob Davis (Soul Patrol) at 11:15PM EST tonight (5/17) to discuss "Should We Save Black Radio?"

http://www.airamerica.com

Radio Plays Race Card Music

Radio Plays Race Card Music


Paul Scott



By now you've heard last weeks propaganda campaign by Radio One's owner, Cathy Hughes and others warning that black life on the planet Earth will cease to exist if HR 848 (The Performance Bill) becomes law. The bill will require radio stations to pay a "tax" on the music that they play in order to pay the musicians that recorded the songs. This will, according to them, cause black radio to become extinct.

I don't know about ya'll but it bugs the heck out of me when folks use the general welfare of black folks as a marketing tool.

The comments of Hughes and the rest of the anti-Performance Rights Act crusaders are text book examples of hyped up , hyperbole meant to scare black folks who don't know any better.

Let's keep it really real. Black radio has not been "black" since the late 80's. As the popularity of Hip Hop began to grow and the artists began to cross over to the pop charts, black radio to began to attract white listeners and dropped the "black" moniker and became "urban." To identify too closely with black folks would have the potential to alienate their hip white listeners.

It must also be noted that today, the same music that is in heavy rotation on urban radio is also played on white radio stations. If you take away the occasional Molly Cyrus song, the play lists are almost identical.

So what is the actual working definition of "black radio" in 2009?

For most black folks (who are the targets of the Save Black Radio Campaign) a black radio station is a station that plays "black" music which includes cool white dudes like Robin Thick and Justin Timberlake. Most folks don't feel the need to research who really controls what, so to the lay radio listener, a white owned radio station that plays Hip Hop is the same as a black radio station.

Also, if black listeners did do a little research they would uncover how many white radio executives, programmers and radio consultants are actually involved in what "black" music goes over the airwaves. So the line between black radio and white radio gets real blurry, real quick. Is it really black radio or white radio in blackface? For instance, until she retired in 2006, Mary Sneed, a 50 something year old white woman was the chief operating officer at the now super black Radio One.

http://hiphopandpolitics.wordpress.com/2006/06/15/one-of-the-most-powerful-people-in-urban-radio-leaves-her-post/

Kinda blows the whole black empowerment argument out of the water, huh ?

See, Hughes and the rest of them are seeking support from "radio groupies" who believe everything that they hear on the radio or see on TV without asking questions. But the problem that the radio folks will encounter is that radio groupies are notoriously fickle. Sure, they may have your back today but just let your white competition start giving away free tickets to the next Lil Wayne concert and watch your comrades defect to your enemy's side.

In their infinite wisdom ,the execs at the radio stations are also trying to garner support from the community activists and church folks by saying that talk radio and gospel stations will be the first to go if HR 848 passes. That would be all well and good except the bible thumpin' church folks oppose 99% of what the secular money makers are playing for their babies and the community activists are ticked off that their local issues can't make it to the syndicated air waves. While they may feel bad for black folks who may lose their jobs, as one person wrote, "how many local radio people lost their jobs when their morning radio spot became syndicated?"

Also, there is the falsehood that urban radio contributes to the overall economy of the black community. I dare you to listen to any urban radio station and count the number of struggling local black businesses you hear advertising on black radio. I guess the only people who can afford the rates are the major white companies that know the value of the black dollar; liquor companies, fast food enterprises, etc.

So, the misinformation that is being spewed just doesn't gel with the facts.

Even though urban radio is trying to get props for helping to elect this country's first black president, I don' think the fact that the whining of well off black radio executives over having to pay more taxes sounds very, very similar to the rantings of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of those right wing conservatives who took part in those tax day tea parties, last month is being missed by many black folks.

Although, black radio people are reppin' for Obama and the Democrats, now, you better check their voter registration cards. (I'm just sayn')

The question that black folks are asking on the street is why is this a race issue to be viewed in the same way as police shootings of unarmed black men and educational inequalities?

Because the radio execs see most black folks as prostitutes who can easily be pimped.

However, anyone who has taken time to even glance through Dr Claude Anderson's "Black Labor, White Wealth" or Harold Cruse's "Rebellion or Revolution" can easily see through the charade. But the record execs and their advertisers are relying on the idea that black folks only read Hip Hop magazines, urban novels and the sports pages.

To say that black folks have been through a lot in this country is a gross understatement. So, it is understandable that we are a little sensative when it comes to matters of race. However, this has made us vulnerable to every shyster who tries to paint something as "racism" which is, in essence, just a matter of corporate greed and capitalist economics. So anything that effects their own personal pocket books becomes a grand conspiracy to destroy all black folks.

The real conspiracy is not the demise of black radio but the overall dumbing down and corporate exploitation of the black community. This is the real stage and black radio execs are the actors playing the part.

To borrow from Jay Z , there are 99 problems facing black folks but this ain't one.


Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com