8.17.2010

Delicious Desparation


Barack Obama has claimed another victim.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger announced Tuesday she will not renew her radio contract that is up at the end of the year. Schlessinger, who has helmed a successful radio show for decades, lit a firestorm by using the word nigger 11 times during a call on August 10. She apologized the next day and now has decided to end her radio show as of the end of the year.

What does this have to do with Obama? Ever since January 20, 2009, there have been a small but vocal percentage of Americans who just can’t stand the fact the leader of the free world is, well, you know… And every day he stand before the country as the political leader, every day he is seen making a speech to crowds of cheering supporters, every day the realization that this small minority of people are just that, a small minority, they get a little crazier until they burst like a pipe under pressure.

Whether is the Birthers, swearing Obama just can’t be President irrelevant of any facts, or people screaming at town meetings they want their country back (from whom I’d like to ask), to Dr. Laura doing her best Katt Williams impersonation, people are going crazy from the heat.

And I couldn’t be happier.

I call it the delicious desperation. The realization that the world has changed under the feet of this small minority; that their borderline overt racism has been rejected by the majority of voters on November 4, 2008 (happy birthday to me, by the way) and there is not much they can do about it. The thought of them raging against forces totally out of their control gives me a warm feeling. The mental image of this small minority yelling ‘who’s with me?’ and seeing the remainder of the country slowly step back as if they just dropped a turd fills me with delight.

As for Dr. Laura, two other comments. First, in announcing the end of her radio show, she mentioned she wants to “regain my First Amendment rights”. That is a lie. What she wants is to be able to avoid consequences:

Now, what makes me sad...what pains my heart deeply...is that, beyond the reasoned letters which I continue to get, I have heard comments from some broadcasters and letters from some people that cannot be described as anything other than hate-filled diatribes. Hate-filled. This does not make me angry, but it hurts my heart.

My hope with my apology, which was true and immediate and uncoerced, was that the silver lining might be that a dialogue be started to stop hate and bigotry. I still hold out some hope... but I am a realist and I fear that there are those who frankly want to encourage hate and anger.

Dr. Laura insulted people by using the word nigger. She angered people. It would be nice for everyone to forgive her for her transgressions, but some won’t, which is their right. This is the bed you made Dr. Laura, and as uncomfortable as it is to lay in, whining about how uncomfortable it is doesn’t change the fact that it was all your creation.

Second if someone is paying you to talk, the speech is not free. Dr. Laura would be hustled off the air if she decided to insult her syndication company or her sponsors. I can say Comcast sucks (ask me about that company if you have an hour to kill), but I sure can’t say it if I have a radio show and Comcast is buying time. If you want pure free speech (to her, um, credit, Dr. Laura is doing this) get a soapbox, go out to a corner of your local municipality, and free speech away.

8.15.2010

Stevie Wonder - Superstition live on Sesame Street

It is Stevie. On Sesame Street. Singing Superstition.

Stevie should be taught in the schools.

Why Golf Is Fine and the Chicken Littles Are Wrong

Golf is an appropriate pursuit for someone as bourgeois as I. Writing about golf may cross the bourgeois line into stuffy. Nevertheless, I've done such a thing at Waggle Room, a blog dedicated to professional golf. I'm pretty proud of it so I will link to it here.

7.21.2010

A Fire-able Offense


Shooting 106 at Poolesville this morning gave me a lot of time to think about Shirley Sherrod.

For those who don't know who she is or what is the issue, here is my attempt to explain:

Shirley Sherrod was the USDA's rural development director for the state of Georgia. A couple of days ago a video was released, championed by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart and aired initially on Fox News, showing Sherrod, a black woman, stating she found it hard to help white farmers. The NAACP and the Obama administration (through Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture) immediately denounced her comments and she was forced to resign.

Soon after the resignation, video of the entire speech became public. While Sherrod did say she initially found it hard to help the white farmer (in fact, steering him towards an white lawyer), she quickly determined the error of her ways, helped the farmer keep his farm and now she and the farmer are friends. In fact, the farmer in question has come out repudiating any bias against him and his family and called for Sherrod to be reinstated.

Now, everyone involved is scrambling for the lifeboats. Pundits on the left and right are clamoring for Sherrod's reinstatement. The NAACP has apologized for Sherrod. In an embarrassingly tone deaf statement, the Obama administration attempted to lay all blame on on the Dept. of Agriculture (as if it isn't a part of the Obama administration). Even Andrew Breitbart, who is pugnacious by nature (I'm trying to be nice and not call him a asshole) said the video was not released to get Sherrod fired, but to show the NAACP is the real racist organization and not the Tea Party movement, which the NAACP suggested a week ago.

I couldn't care less what Andrew Breitbart does. I care slightly what Fox News does. but they are grown men and women and can run their network as they see fit. My ire is pointed right at the Obama administration and the NAACP. Someone should be fired from both organizations.

The fact that no one in either organization thought to check out the whole tape before running to the closest microphone they could to denounce this woman is as close to dereliction of duty as you can get without leaving your post in Kandahar. The remarks were made an an NAACP function for crying out loud. Here, I'll write your comments for you:

The Federal Government takes raced-based bias seriously. We will fully investigate the charges brought against Mrs. Sherrod and take appropriate action.
Please give me the $200K job of the person who should have done the above.

Not only is it a fire-able offense on its face, it speaks to the lack of readiness the two political organizations have against political opponents. If someone had done a bit of research before rebuking an innocent woman, we would be talking about how irresponsible Breitbart and Fox News are. Instead, we are talking about how reactionary and cowardly the Obama administration is.

Someone messed up bad here, costing a low level civil servant her job. Whomever that someone was shouldn't get another chance to mess up. And those around that someone need to know that screw-ups on such a grand scale have consequences. This is the big leagues. Start acting like it.

7.12.2010

Wondering if the DeLorean can take us back to 1983

This will be impolite, but when did Rev. Jesse Jackson regain national credibility?

Jackson, commenting on Cleveland Cavaliers' majority owner Dan Gilbert somewhat unhinged complaints about LeBron James signing with the Miami Heat instead of James' home state based Cavaliers, went with what he knows; it's a black thing:

He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a
runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship--between business
partners--and LeBron honored his contract.

Jackson is getting smacked around pretty good thanks to the above. And he deserves it. What I find lazy is the mainstream media is treating Jackson as if it is 1983 and he just got the pilot out of Syria. If Jackson had a sliver of juice left, didn't his 'cut his balls off' comment finish that off?