That make sense! What the hell else are they supposed to do? Collect evidence? Look for guns or money? No it’s about who can get their Wii on and be the top bowling scorer! That’s fresh!
And to think folks are tearing their clothes in satcloth and ashes about what the president wants to handle their tax dollars.
Lots going on over the weekend. I wasn’t around to experience much of it but I’ll hit what I know and ask for clarity on the rest.
Sunday Morning Obamathon
After a late night watching the Mayweather fight over my cousin’s house, I totally slept in on Sunday morning and therefore missed Obamathon. I undertand he hit up all of the major Sunday morning talk shows. Saw a few clips this morning along with the standard Republican responses of how ineffective he was in stating his plans etc. It will take some time to catch up to see if anything substantive was there. If anyone cares to comment (intelligently) then let it rip.
Intelligently – Doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with the president. Only that the comment is free from hyperbole, lies and name-calling.
May is Money!
It was amazing the way Floyd Mayweather dominated Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday night in spite of being out of the ring for over a year. Marquez, a well respected fighter who many believe defeated Manny Pacquiao who is considered by many to be the best pound for pound looked like an amateur against the speedy and slick “Money May.”
Mayweather is a “change the game” kind of fighter now. By that I mean he makes us alter the standard in which we view the sport as it relates to the competition. Tiger Woods did this. So did Lou Alcinder. (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) In other words, when the NCAA doesn’t allow dunking because one guy is going to kill the rest of the sport, he changed the game. Shaq did it too in that the NBA allowed zone defenses to be played in a league that prided itself on promoting ‘one on one’ competition. May has now done that in boxing. I know this by the hate he gets from the media. Surely they don’t love him like they loved Oscar. And also the way Marquez acknowledged that he was dominated, but was reduced to feeling that he is now a legitimate fighter after being in the ring with Mayweather. This was Marquez’s comment in the post fight news conference.
“I proved that I can fight. I gave it my all and I tried.”
What? This man, a world class fighter of almost 20 years now thinks he can fight cause he “tried” against Mayweather.
Hey man, whatever.
Mayweather is old school talk the talk and walk the walk. He said all that needed to be said on Saturday night.
Quick Hits
My Steelers lost a tough game! Jeff Reed had one of those forgettable days kicking the ball. Hey, it’s early. Be like that sometimes. Love the way Mike Tomlin handled it after the game. He doesn’t run from the truth but he sticks with his guys in a positive “can do – will do” attitude. True professional and this is why his guys respect him and will continue to play hard for him.
Trojan Horse
It’s been said that Pete Carrol never loses a big game, only the small ones. With or without the true freshman QB, they had no reason to lose to Washington on Saturday night. Perhaps its early enough for them to work their way back into a BCS championship game should they run the table from here. But who knows.
Once again it’s on!
I have not quite gotten the MMA bug as of yet. I hear names of fighters like Silva
But there’s nothing like the ‘sweet science of boxing.’ I love the sport especially when we get to see the best of the best. This will be the case tomorrow night in Las Vegas when Floyd “Money May” Mayweather Jr. takes on Juan Manuel Marquez.
The fight we REALLY want to see is Money May vs. Manny Pacquiao. But thats part of the aura of boxing. Sometimes we have to wait and the build up and ancitipation makes the showdown even more exciting.
As a Mayweather guy though, I know he needs to win this one and he’s been out of the game for a minute. He is a great fighter that’s for sure.
Two weeks, two impressive wins against Florida St. and Georgia Tech. They got a tough couple weeks coming up with the likes of Virginia Tech. Talent wise the Canes are there. College football is great when the U is relevant!
Since CNN was kind enough to share my blog as a link to their story yesterday I received quite a bit of feedback from readers on both sides. Passions ran pretty hot but one question in particular prompted me to respond. That was the question by my blogging friend Jim Thornber.
“If I disagree with you, must it be racially motivated, or could it simply be that I disagree with you? You are African American and I’m not. So what? If you disagree with me, does that mean you don’t like white people?
Is it possible for me to disagree with President Obama simply because I disagree, or must there be, in you opinion, some inkling of racism mixed in there? Just wondering.”
I would like to answer my friend Jim’s question.
Jim, you ask a great and wonderful question. One I am happy to answer.
Let me frame it this way. You are indeed correct that they call me African-American and that they call you white. It is also true that as an African-American I disagree with other African-Americans all the time. I have disagreed with liberal and conservative African-Americans in politics and in media. I disagreed with Kanye West and Serena Williams over the last few days. I don’t consider myself racist by any means towards African-Americans. So the short answer to you my friend is, “No.” Certainly in this great nation of ours you have the right to disagree with black folks for whatever reasons your principles compel. However, you are not the person I was talking about in my post. You are not the person Carter was referring to in his comments.
The people we are talking about started making their voices known after Obama won the democratic nomination. When it became apparent that he had a chance to win the presidency, folks like Sara Palin got the racial party started when she said that Obama was not an American like she and her followers are. (code language to be sure) This continued with congregant rants during town hall meetings and speeches by Sen. John McCain when folks shouted things like, “He’s a Muslim!, or “Off with his head!” Americans mind you.
The people we are talking about are like the guy in Florida who had on the T-Shirt that said, “Nigger please! It’s called the White House,” during the election.
The people we are talking about joined and increased numbers for hate groups. They bought guns and assault rifles at an alarming rate, so much so that places like Wal-Mart ran out of ammunition. The people I am talking about get their que from Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to name a few. These guys fan the flames of racism like no other. Then quickly hide their hands as if they did nothing.
I am talking about are the ‘birthers’ who questioned the president’s citizenship as yet another reason to attempt to delegititimize him and his holding the office.
Jim let me tell you. I had occasion since the election to visit a couple federal buildings since January. When I see that picture of President Obama it trips me out. I saw all of the election results and the inauguration. But seeing that picture of the president in that official federal format is still quite unbelievable to me. I am so serious when I say that. Well likewise many other American can’t wrap their brains around it either. But it affects them differently. I may say, “Wow! Unbelieveable.” They may say “WTF?! Oh hell no he ain’t my president.”
With that as a backdrop here is where I agree with Carter.
I argue that race is what made Joe Wilson comfortable making his remarks. Certainly I knew that Bush was lying about 9-11 being related to Iraq. I was not unique. Other House members knew this. They knew it would cost billions of dollars and thousands of American lives and yet while he made those speeches neither of them thought it righteous to shout the man down and call him a liar.
I didn’t agree with a lot of what Bush did. I didn’t watch most of his speeches because I felt they were mere lies and propaganda. But I’ll tell you what. If the man while he was president walked in the room I’m standing up and giving him the honor the office is due. I’m addressing him as ‘sir’ and ‘Mr. President.’
If you’re not familiar, and I am sure you remember some of my blogs before that detailed some of the pictures and cartoons that have been put on the internet. For example, one show the president dressed in Muslim garb while the first lady totes an assault rifle as they fist bump one another. Another show the front lawn of The White House with watermelons planted abroad. Another depicted the president as a witch doctor. Yet another show two police standing over a dead monkey they had shot. The police then make references to the stimulus package. I could go on but you get my drift. We got wind of these pictures as politicians on the right passed them around to each other in email. Each time they were caught they claimed, “What me, a racist?”
The same people who create and promote these cartoons and caricatures are the same people who believe these stereotypes. These are the same people who tried to turn out the healthcare town-hall meetings. These are the people who are making the most noise; not people like you who may or may merely disagree and take the president to task intelligently.
These people are like the ones who sent Rep. Scott of Georgia a letter saying,
As far as Joe Wilson goes, we have enough evidence of his own work and words where he fits the description of a racist. As Maureen Dowd wrote in a recent column:
“The congressman, we learned, belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina’s state Capitol and denounced as a “smear” the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the ’48 segregationist candidate for president.
But let me say this. Let’s say Wilson isn’t a racist for the sake of argument. He feels comfortable in doing what he did because he knows that he comes from a constituency of people who believe that his actions were justified. He like McCain/Palin early in the campaign against Obama rode the racist base with as much momentum as he could muster. McCain later backed off and tried to quell that base when it became bad press but by then he couldn’t close that barn. Republicans know full and well that a large part of their base is racist and furthermore they are easy to scare and rile up. These politicians at best play on the hatred and fears of such people. It’s a strategic easy sell. The Right is not willing to challenge or risk losing that base. So at the very least they are ‘accessories to racism’ if they don’t personally agree. What you see now is a result of said tactics. Carter, a white man from Georgia no less, is merely calling them out for who and what they are. I happen to agree with him.
Finally, I understand that many are fatigued at the mention of racism. I fit that description as well. I am often reluctant to even discuss this because most won’t even admit that there is still a problem. (Just read some of the comments on yesterday’s post.) Others are perfectly comfortable saying, “Sure racism exists,” as long as we don’t address anything specific that happens. If cops shoot a black man in the back shouting the “N” word many whites and a few conservative blacks will say, “Hold on now, this doesn’t necessarily mean its racist.”
Look, I am not trying to lecture you on race Jim. I know you are a better man than that. I am answering your question still believe it or not. The healthcare debate for you and others like you who may disagree is different from the rants going on out there. I have a few issues I disagree with the president about. I expected to when he won the office. I expect that of any president. Who am I? Still my behavior is in tact.
People like you are not the ones drawing the pictures, carrying guns into meetings, calling the president ‘Hitler’ and ‘socialist.’ In the healthcare debate the name ‘socialist’ is the new ‘nigger.” People like you are not keeping their children from class because they don’t want the president to ‘put his agenda on them.’ This is a different breed and they are making the most noise. They get the most media coverage.
These people don’t disagree with the president. They hate the president for who he is. They feel the country is slipping from their control and, “My God Obama is going to help lazy black people get healthcare. Pretty soon we are going to have to swim with them and then they will sleep with our women.” Trust me it always goes back to that.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If white Americans want people like me to stop talking about racism, all they have to do is police themselves and other whites who step out of line. Check those who speak lies and promote hateful stereotypes. But unfortunately I don’t see the rage in white folks in trying to do that. They rather I just shut up and be glad slavery is over at least.
People can call Carter ‘peanuts’ or whatever. That’s certainly easier to do than to grapple with what the man is saying.
What is that saying about “De-Nile” not being merely a river in Africa?
Well anyway, I hope I answered your question Jim.
Former President Jimmy Carter is keeping it real here. Unlike many others who would like to act as if the majority and intensity of the opposition of now President Obama is not racially motivated. It absolutely is!
This is why Joe Wilson was comfortable saying what he said. This is why he has raised over a million dollars since. This is why teachers, principals and parents, (especially in the South) kept their kids away from school for a ‘stay in school and be responsible and accountable’ speech from the president of the United States. This is why there has been such an uproar in the town hall meetings and folks have said things like, “I want my country back.” They just can’t wrap their brains around a black man being in charge.
Too bad as a nation we are not addressing this head on while we have yet another opportunity.
I was not a big Tonight Show fan at all. I wasn’t when Carson did it either. Late night television shows were never was my thing except when Arsenio was on, or if there was a really special guest like Prince musically. But as I flipped the channels between Monday Night Football commercials I came across the much anticipated new Jay Leno Show that will be on 5 days a week.
The first show was flat out hilarious. I started with the tail end of the interview with Jerry Seinfeld. I never thought the cat was that funny in the first place. I wondered was why was he wearing a tux. But as I said I was late in the interview so it could have really been funny.
One thing is for sure. The ‘interview’ he did with the president was flat out hilarious. Please go to YouTube and check it out as it has to be up by now. When Leno went Sen. Joe Wilson on Obama I almost spit my Widmere on the floor. He also covered ‘tort’ reform and ‘stimulous’ too in ways you have to see for yourself.
The Kanye West interview before the performance with Jay-Z and Rhianna was surreal. They rocked their number though. Rhianna’s outfit was off the hook! I know somewhere Chris Brown was saying, “Damn! I F’d up!”
My schedule is far too busy to get caught up on a weekday television show every evening. But I will be keeping an eye out here and there on Jay’s show. I know this idea is not something easy to pull off.
Pretty much what I have been saying all along! Dowd gives us a little history on the Southern Senator.
Boy, Oh, Boy
WASHINGTON
The normally nonchalant Barack Obama looked nonplussed, as Nancy Pelosi glowered behind.
Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t.
But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!
The outburst was unexpected from a milquetoast Republican backbencher from South Carolina who had attracted little media attention. Now it has made him an overnight right-wing hero, inspiring “You lie!” bumper stickers and T-shirts.
The congressman, we learned, belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina’s state Capitol and denounced as a “smear” the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the ’48 segregationist candidate for president. Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.
I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer — the frantic efforts to paint our first black president as the Other, a foreigner, socialist, fascist, Marxist, racist, Commie, Nazi; a cad who would snuff old people; a snake who would indoctrinate kids — had much to do with race.
I tended to agree with some Obama advisers that Democratic presidents typically have provoked a frothing response from paranoids — from Father Coughlin against F.D.R. to Joe McCarthy against Truman to the John Birchers against J.F.K. and the vast right-wing conspiracy against Bill Clinton.
But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.
“A lot of these outbursts have to do with delegitimizing him as a president,” said Congressman Jim Clyburn, a senior member of the South Carolina delegation. Clyburn, the man who called out Bill Clinton on his racially tinged attacks on Obama in the primary, pushed Pelosi to pursue a formal resolution chastising Wilson.
“In South Carolina politics, I learned that the olive branch works very seldom,” he said. “You have to come at these things from a position of strength. My father used to say, ‘Son, always remember that silence gives consent.’ ”
Barry Obama of the post-’60s Hawaiian ’hood did not live through the major racial struggles in American history. Maybe he had a problem relating to his white basketball coach or catching a cab in New York, but he never got beaten up for being black.
Now he’s at the center of a period of racial turbulence sparked by his ascension. Even if he and the coterie of white male advisers around him don’t choose to openly acknowledge it, this president is the ultimate civil rights figure — a black man whose legitimacy is constantly challenged by a loco fringe.
For two centuries, the South has feared a takeover by blacks or the feds. In Obama, they have both.
The state that fired the first shot of the Civil War has now given us this: Senator Jim DeMint exhorted conservatives to “break” the president by upending his health care plan. Rusty DePass, a G.O.P. activist, said that a gorilla that escaped from a zoo was “just one of Michelle’s ancestors.” Lovelorn Mark Sanford tried to refuse the president’s stimulus money. And now Joe Wilson.
“A good many people in South Carolina really reject the notion that we’re part of the union,” said Don Fowler, the former Democratic Party chief who teaches politics at the University of South Carolina. He observed that when slavery was destroyed by outside forces and segregation was undone by civil rights leaders and Congress, it bred xenophobia.
“We have a lot of people who really think that the world’s against us,” Fowler said, “so when things don’t happen the way we like them to, we blame outsiders.” He said a state legislator not long ago tried to pass a bill to nullify any federal legislation with which South Carolinians didn’t agree. Shades of John C. Calhoun!
It may be President Obama’s very air of elegance and erudition that raises hackles in some. “My father used to say to me, ‘Boy, don’t get above your raising,’ ” Fowler said. “Some people are prejudiced anyway, and then they look at his education and mannerisms and get more angry at him.”
Clyburn had a warning for Obama advisers who want to forgive Wilson, ignore the ignorant outbursts and move on: “They’re going to have to develop ways in this White House to deal with things and not let them fester out there. Otherwise, they’ll see numbers moving in the wrong direction.”
I didn’t watch the VMAs last night . But I heard about Kanye’s latest act of ignorance.
I’m just going to assume that this is not staged. If that is the case I got an idea. This is what should have happened when Kanye West went on stage and bum-rushed Taylor Swift’s speech.
Just as they do in tennis, baseball, basketball etc. When Kanye West got up on stage and it wasn’t his turn, four big az dudes named Tiny should have jumped the stage as well and cold body slammed West to the ground.
Then they should have removed him completely from the venue and had him arrested for peace disturbance. Do this and I guarantee you this will never happen again!
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