A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him,
“Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

“She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be an Obama Democrat.”
“I am,” replied the man.
“How did you know?”
“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.”

The man smiled and responded,
“You must be a Republican.”
“I am,” replied the balloonist.
“How did you know?”
“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You’ve risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it’s my fault.”

Interior Suspends Planned Va. Offshore Oil and Gas Lease Sale

Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure – the ones who are driving the action – we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama.

Imagine that a prominent mainstream black political commentator had long employed an overt bigot as Executive Director of his organization, and that this bigot regularly participated in black separatist conferences, and once assaulted a white person while calling them by a racial slur. When that prominent black commentator and his sister — who also works for the organization — defended the bigot as a good guy who was misunderstood and “going through a tough time in his life” would anyone accept their excuse-making? Would that commentator still have a place on a mainstream network? Because that’s what happened in the real world, when Pat Buchanan employed as Executive Director of his group, America’s Cause, a blatant racist who did all these things, or at least their white equivalents: attending white separatist conferences and attacking a black woman while calling her the n-word.

Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough—“living fossils” as he called them—“so we will never forget what these people stood for.” After all, these are things that Rush Limbaugh has said, about Barack Obama’s administration, Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama, a fight on a school bus in Belleville, Illinois in which two black kids beat up a white kid, and about liberals, generally.

Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.

Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?” After all, those are among the things said by radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage, predicting white revolution in the face of multiculturalism, or said by Savage about Muslims and liberals, respectively. And it was Congressman Culbertson, from Texas, who praised Savage in that way, despite his hateful rhetoric.

Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. This is, after all, what Anne Coulter said about Tim McVeigh, when she noted that his only mistake was not blowing up the New York Times.

Imagine that a popular black liberal website posted comments about the daughter of a white president, calling her “typical redneck trash,” or a “whore” whose mother entertains her by “making monkey sounds.” After all that’s comparable to what conservatives posted about Malia Obama on freerepublic.com last year, when they referred to her as “ghetto trash.”

Imagine that black protesters at a large political rally were walking around with signs calling for the lynching of their congressional enemies. Because that’s what white conservatives did last year, in reference to Democratic party leaders in Congress.

In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. How many whites viewing the anger, the hatred, the contempt for that white president would then wax eloquent about free speech, and the glories of democracy? And how many would be calling for further crackdowns on thuggish behavior, and investigations into the radical agendas of those same people of color?

To ask any of these questions is to answer them. Protest is only seen as fundamentally American when those who have long had the luxury of seeing themselves as prototypically American engage in it. When the dangerous and dark “other” does so, however, it isn’t viewed as normal or natural, let alone patriotic. Which is why Rush Limbaugh could say, this past week, that the Tea Parties are the first time since the Civil War that ordinary, common Americans stood up for their rights: a statement that erases the normalcy and “American-ness” of blacks in the civil rights struggle, not to mention women in the fight for suffrage and equality, working people in the fight for better working conditions, and LGBT folks as they struggle to be treated as full and equal human beings.

And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Game Over.

(H/T ephphatha-poetry.blogspot.com)

Also his support for Massey’s union busting tactics also leave Massey’s employees NOWHERE to go.

The Feds weren’t around (Bush cut staffing to the bone and his coal mine management pimps delayed enforcement), they had no union to complain to, Massey was “the great economic engine” to be protected at all costs, and 25 WV Miners will be having their funerals shortly.

This is the Bush Legacy…

How sad,

b

In an attempt to not reinvent the wheel I suggest that you all read a great book by T.R Reid called The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care. He’s also got a way cool website with some great bullet points about health care systems around the world. I guess one of my biggest gripes with those railing against ObamaCare is that they often have no concrete reasons why it’s bad, they just say “Socialized Medicine is bad” or “this is a Government take over of health care.” The things they want to get rid of, do not include the Veterans Administration Health System, or Medicare or Medicaid.

Reid and I have the same basic premise, Health Care Reform is a moral issue. So many things need taking care of in this country, but I’m dumbfounded by the people that have such a strident position on the unborn, but then have no compassion for the 44 million Americans that have no health care today. The data shows that annually 45,000 Americans die annually because they have no health care. Those in congress that say we have the best health care in America are only partially right. It’s the best IF you can afford it. Click on the graphic below to see where we are today…

One of the things I find most difficult to wrap my head around is that annually in America we have 770,000 Americans file for bankruptcy due to medical problems. So the issue is, to me, moral. How can we reduce infant mortality, bankruptcy’s, increase life spans, reduce health care costs?

I think Obama and the congress did it and there more to come…

b

b

Wow. I gave the concluding remarks and told those in the room that Dr. King was a true gift for America. I shared my ignorance of Dr. King growing up in a small farming community in upstate New York (there were 54 kids in our High School graduating class). Full disclosure, we were ignorant.

I first started to admire Dr. King’s messages when I was on the USS Intrepid in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam. The day after his assassination young black men set fires on the ship. All this while several of America’s cites were also in flames. The only problem was that it’s a bit hard to evacuate when you’re 500 miles from a safe shore.

Keeping with my budding mantra of CYA (challenge your assumptions) I tried to learn what could cause such anger and truly irrational behavior. I learned more and more of Dr. King and especially his stand against the Vietnam conflict. My admiration only grew and my resolve to try to do more to promote justice and equality.

I must admit that I didn’t (and don’t) have nearly the impact of Dr. King, but can be responsible for doing what I can in the moment when I am aware of injustice and inequality. I’ve tried to do that in my life.

I ended my remarks with a quote from Dr. King on persistence and staying the course. He said in a speech as Spellman College in 1968, “if you can’t fly, run. if you can’t run walk. if you can’t walk crawl, but never stop moving.”

I know for me that means accepting incremental change, but doing what you can, when you can. Am I upset that in this great country every American does not have access to quality and affordable health care? You betcha. But social security got fixed after the initial bill was watered down. Crawling. Does that mean I’m going to go easy on Mark Warner and Jim Webb if they vote for less? Not this guy, but crawl…

Dr. King and President Obama got the Nobel prize and both said many others deserved it before them. This I share with them, but I proudly accepted my award, because it’s good to see a fat white guy who believes in Dr. King’s messages – and then does something about it.

The Honor was humbling, and all because of a few fires on an aircraft carrier 42 years ago and a guy who refused to accept the status quo.

Crawl…

b

I am a Washington Redskins season ticket holder.  I was on the list for about 20 years before they called and said some room was available in Section 426 of FedEx near the top.  In  the 10 years I’ve been going to see my beloved Skins,  the Danster bought the team and has proceeded to destroy one of the greatest franchises in the history of the game.  Now he gives $50k to Bob McDonnell.

Now if you’ve every read this Blog you gotta know that I’m a huge Creigh fan and would never vote for McDonnell in a million years.  After all he is who he is.  But if anyone ever needed confirmation about what a loser McDonnell is, the Danster loves him!

Dan Snyder who has brought in a succession of losers and never beens, meddled with what passes for a  front office/coaches, and continues to have an escalator that still doesn’t work, and loves Bob McDonnell!!!!!!  Is there any thing more to be said?  Really!

b

Afternoon All -
I just got off the phone with an aide from Rep. Wolfs office.  I  called because I had been led to believe that the Congressman was supposed to have had his tele-town hall meeting by now and since I signed up through his website and had not heard anything, I was curious.

The woman I spoke with told me that the tele-town hall meeting is scheduled for TONIGHT at 7:10 P.M.  Surprised, I asked her why I hadn’t been notified earlier.  She had no idea when the decision had been made, she just knew was that it was tonight.  I asked her for the number to call into so I could take part in the
event and she responded that there wasn’t one.  “Then how am I going to be able to take part?” I asked.  She said that as long as I had signed up in advance and they had my email address, they would be calling me.

I asked what my email address had to do with making a call and again, she had no answer.   So finally I asked “Does this mean that the Congressman is not going to be attending the President’s Address this evening?”  She laughed and said she didn’t know, unless he was holding the tele-town hall downtown.
Can you believe this crap?  Has anyone else heard anything about this supposed event that coincidentally is scheduled for roughly the same time as the President’s speech?  Just thought you should know.  Feel free to distribute this information to anyone and everyone.

Rich

Sounds like Congressman Wolf has some really neat technology from the House Science and Technology Sub Committee.

On a somewhat related note, the far right is all abuzz with priase for that dufus from South Carolina that acted like some breathless birther blooger during the President’s speech last night.  Not quite the “Free Speech” perspective they applied to Cindy Sheehan.  I’m just sayin…

b