so much self-riteousness, so little analysis...

all weekend i've alternately hidden from and soaked up as much of the news coverage regarding reverend wright and trinity as i could, all along figuring that i'd have ammunition for a great blog come monday morning. boy, i was so right, there was so much coverage, my mind is jumbled with so many ideas...only one thing to do: let my fingers do the talkning and edit, edit, edit. at this point, i'm turning off my mind-filter until my brain dump on this topic is complete. i'll rejoin you in 1,000 words or less...

if your chickens come home to roost, keep them away from foxes (and fox news)

don't get me wrong, i hate all the news networks equally, i just hate fox more equally than the rest. maybe it's their "wow" factor, because "wow" was what i kept hearing myself saying every minute or so i was tuned into the coverage on fox. from the cross-examination of sen. obama by major garrett to the near-continuous airing of rev. wright's remarks ("in case you missed it the last 20 times we've shown them this hour, here is what has everyone in america outraged"). at one point they had me so fired up i was ready to rouse the townspeople to go around the corner to castle trinity and kill the monster and dr. wrightenstien. the shocking thing was that mister conflagration himself, bill o'reilly, was actually the voice of reason...i'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop on that one. sean hannity was in rare form though, calling for obama to not only quit his presidential campaign but to resign from the senate. wow.


stupid is as stupid does

imagine me calling a harvard-educated senator and his team of political ringers stupid but...back last year, when obama started his campaign and asked rev. wright to "sit this one out" on the capitol steps in springfield, the thought, "say...you think we might wanna keep an eye on this old codger in case he gets extra crotchety? and while we're at it, maybe we might wanna see if there are any more codger-esque moments that we've missed?" growing up in chicago we usually test out of the 100-level politics courses, so i'm gonna give obama a pass since he didn't land here until the 80's, but david axlerod gets 1000 demerits and has to sit in the corner with a dunce cap on for the rest of his life if obama's campaign flames out because of this.


shut up already, damn (since you damnin folks)

you'd think that rev. wright would have gotten the message when he got benched for the opening tip of obama's campaign. he's obviously an intelligent man capable of making deductions (do i need to mention his talent for jumping to conclusions?), what da hell was he thinking? of course he can't take back the stuff he said back in '01 and '03, but if he's so concerned about changing the fact that america is run by rich white men, why didn't he just shut his ass up for a couple years so a poor mixed boy could become the speck in the grits? i don't know where i heard it but i live by the saying, "just because you can say something doesn't always mean you should." i think ima make that into a plaque and send it to rev. wright as a retirement gift.


condensation leads to corrosion, condescension leads to presumption

if one more white person talks as if they know what it's like to be black, because they have black friends or have been to black churches, i'm going to become a skinhead because i know what it's like to hate niggers. i love the fact that white folks think that successful black folk have no reason to be angry because they made it. no matter what they had to endure being the previously mentioned speck in the grits to get there, no matter how many times you heard, "i'm not talking about you, of course." or "you're so well spoken.", among other, not-so-niceties. no matter how many times you were told you couldn't, shouldn't or aught not because of any reason other than the fact that you're black (when you know that that is the reason). do white people have conversations amongst themselves about having to live in two separate worlds every day? about having to choose between the "new" life that we've earned and letting go of everything that drove us to become who we are? are white people considered sellouts because they become successful? if you're white and know someone who's black, ask them about these things...it's the closest you'll get to walking a block in our shoes. a mile is simply out of the question.


eat, drink and be merry...for tomorrow we might be on the bus back home...

the general consensus among the talking heads is that obama needs to "hit one out of the park" tomorrow to get his campaign back on track, but i think that's a bit of an understatement. he needs to load the bases and hit a grand-slam, all while having pitched a perfect game. the damage that this "crisis" was meant to create cannot be undone. the white voters who were on the fence about obama will, most likely, fall off into hillary's yard, giving her more ammunition come super-delegate time. if obama happens to escape this firestorm and make it to the general election, this phoenix of an issue will rise again. honestly, i don't know what he can stand to gain tomorrow. i doubt he can change the minds that have been influenced by rev. wright's sound bites, no matter how silver-tongued he is. those who were determined to see this story come to light aren't going to give up just because obama gives good microphone. but while i don't think he can gain much, the country just might gain a great deal if he opens a frank dialogue about prejudice in america. that's a big if, but it would be worth losing an election.