Free Republic

After House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced Tuesday that the vote on an increase of the debt ceiling would have no strings attached he exited by signing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from the Disney 1946 movie "Song of the South"... to short to excerpt

ORLANDO, Fla. - Walt Disney Co.'s 1946 film "Song of the South" was historic. It was Disney's first big live-action picture and produced one of the company's most famous songs _ the Oscar-winning "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah." It also carries the story line of the Splash Mountain rides at its theme parks. But the movie remains hidden in the Disney archives _ never released on video in the United States and criticized as racist for its depiction of Southern plantation blacks. The film's 60th anniversary passed last year without a whisper of official rerelease, which is unusual for Disney, but President and CEO...

'Song of the South' pits art vs. cultural sensitivity http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=localnews&tableId=136791&pubDate=3/31/2007 http://tinyurl.com/2w5vty BY RON MENCHACA The Post and Courier Talk of a possible re-release of the 1946 Walt Disney film 'Song of the South,' which is criticized for its plantation-era depictions of blacks as the happy servants of wealthy whites, already is sparking a debate. The film was reshown in theaters as recently as 1986, but it never was released on video in the United States. Its cultural and cinematic significance have been the subject of scholarly debate for decades, and bootlegged copies of the film are popular on the black...

CHICAGO, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- More than 10 percent of all Illinois sex offenders on parole live in one Chicago zip code, according to the Chicago Tribune. A total of 158, or 10.5 percent, of all state sex offenders live in poor African-American neighborhoods on Chicago's south side where group homes have been located -- a practice that has angered residents and city leaders. Paroled sex offenders in Illinois are required to spend time at a transitional facility before they can go to permanent homes. "They dump every damn thing here. It's a disrespect to our community," Alderwoman Carrie Austin...