Something I Have Learned

Putting pictures of that girl from The Exorcist on household cleaners and other household poisons is far more effective than just telling little kids to stay away from them.

Roland Burris Poems Inspired by the Stylings of Mike Meyers

ROLAND!
RO-LAND!
ROOOOOOOOOOO-LAND!
He wants this seat
Despite all the heat
He just got new stationary

Barack. Quinn. Harry and those hot Democrats
They want him gone
Tossed out on the lawn
Much attitude
Against this old dude
Blago's appointee is screwed

Jane, get me off this crazy thing called...the Senate

********

Roland Bur-ris
Burrowing in his chair
Dems hate him--he don't care
He furrows...AH-HAW!

New York Post Protests Escalate

Let's take a look at the situation: a racially sensitive cartoon was published when the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, the 200th celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday and Black History Month were occurring simultaneously while the country's first black president is in office.

What the hell did you think would happen?

Obama Pledges Deficit Halved by 2013

Good luck with that, buddy.

Quote of the Month

“We need messengers to really capture that region - young, Hispanic, black, a cross section ... We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings. We need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.”

- Michael S. Steele, Republican National Committee Chairman

************

I don't know what is funnier: the idea of the GOP adopting rap as a medium or...no, that's the best part.

New York Post Shows True Colors

Before I comment on this...before I even post the article and the cartoon, I am going to save myself a lot of trouble by going ahead and replying to the typical responses to situations like this:

1.) Al Sharpton is just using this as a excuse to get back into the news.
A: Normally I would agree with a statement like this, but this is a "duh" moment. If a race has had a history of being referred to as apes and chimps, then of course making a cartoon like this is going to be offensive. This isn't a situation exclusive to blacks...every race has a disparaging stereotype. The chimp cartoon is offensive because it taps into generational wounds.

2.) Bush was referred to as a chimp and no one said anything...isn't that racist that it is a problem to criticize the black president but it is OK to criticize Bush?
A: It is OK to criticize a president. Clearly no one has a problem with that given that there are already dozens of cartoons that do criticize him that have not made the news. If Bush's race had a history that was comparable to the one mentioned in the response to Statement #1, it would be a problem, too.

3.) Congress wrote the bill, so the cartoon is talking about Congress, not Obama.
A: The New York Post--which is owned by the same company that created Fox News--referred to the stimulus bill as "Obama's Economic Stimulus Bill." Nice try. http://www.nypost.com/topics/topic.php?t=Barack+Obama

4.) I'm black and I don't find it offensive.
A: Congratulations for finding the cure to generational wounds! Why don't you bottle it up and sell it to everyone else? And on a side note, when did you become the spokesperson for the rest of us? No, I am not acting as a spokesperson myself by pointing this cartoon out. I am stating the obvious: this cartoon is going to strike a deep-set and painful nerve on a level that doesn't equate to other critical cartoons.

5.) The First Amendment protects their right to publish anything they want.
A: Of course it does...it also protects our right to speak out against it.

6.) Why are you trying to stir up trouble with this race stuff?
A: Spoken like a true racist on the defensive.

Well, hopefully that will save me the trouble of dealing with cliché responses. Here is the article:

Feb 18, 10:28 AM EST



NY cartoon appears to link Obama to dead chimp

By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press Writer


NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton says a New York Post cartoon that appears to link President Obama to a violent chimpanzee is "troubling at best."

The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows a dead chimp and two police officers, one with a smoking gun.

The caption reads, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

The cartoon refers to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Conn., on Monday after it mauled a friend of its owner.

It links the chimp to Obama, who signed his administration's economic stimulus plan on Tuesday.

Sharpton called the cartoon offensive and divisive.

The Post had no immediate comment.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Comment:

OK, New York Post...this is as transparent as plastic wrap. To try to throw this one off as being "made into something it isn't" is insulting. Why don't you just call it a day and reinstate your hoods-and-sheets dresscode? Not everyone is as ignorant to reality as your readers.

"The Most Vilified Mother in America?"

We have all heard about Nadya Suleman, the mother of the octuplets that this country loves to hate. She is called selfish. She is called insane. She has been getting death threats and action groups are politicizing her story. People are going through her finances and publishing the name of the sperm donor and harassing him. And now Dateline NBC has dubbed her the "most vilified mother in America."

The basis of this hatred towards this woman is the fact that she is no longer married, she can't conceive children naturally--and please do not be silly enough to suggest adoption; married people have problems adopting children, do you really think the system would give her a break?--so she chose in-vitro fertilization. Everyone is so busy basking in the glow of their unearned sense of self-righteousness that they won't even acknowledge that the fact that these children survived is a miracle.

I'm not going to pass judgment on this woman for her decision (and I don't think that anyone else should, either), but there is a gross double standard that is being glossed over. The Duggar family is on its 18th or 19th kid and plans on having more and they get cooed on the Today Show with gifts and even get their own television show. They have a place on their site where people can donate money to them, and that is OK with everyone. The Duggar family gets nothing but praise. They keep having kids because it "makes [them] feel young" and soon as the child starts talking the kid is dumped on one of the older children to be raised in their "buddy system." Everyone is fine with the fact that Bob and Michelle Duggar have a permanent baby shower registry at Wal-Mart or wherever it is that they go. No one feels sorry for those kids or thinks the parents need to be locked up. But this woman "has issues" and everyone is pitying her kids for her "irresponsibility." This woman chooses to have a large family and she is branded as being mentally unstable because she chose not to get married? Her mother condemns her to anyone that will listen because she "wasn't raised to have kids without getting married?" If she were married would that make her more "stable" in their eyes?

She had 14 children. There is no evidence of abuse or neglect, but she is the mother that everyone loves to shake their fingers at. She is the most hated mother in America. She is getting death threats not for running a child prostitution ring, but for giving birth. There are children being neglected at this very moment. There are children being verbally abused and underfed at this very moment. There are mothers and fathers at this very moment in this country right now beating, sexually abusing or selling their children to be sexually abused by paying pedophiles...yet Nadya Suleman is the most vilified mother in America? Instead of spending all this rage on someone whose crime is wanting a large family, why not put that rage where it deserves to be: at the people that have children and are actually abusing them. I think some of those children would love to have some of the indignation thrown at the Suleman family to be applied to their situations.

The only thing that seems to be the big problem with people in regards to this woman is the fact that she is unmarried. No one is asking where the Duggars are getting the money to take care of their kids--they are realtors and the market is horrible. Why is it an issue with this woman and not with them? And why is no one disgusted by the Duggars accepting donations on their website? Is it because their family is "natural" and therefore that double-digit population doesn't count since "natural" parents are less to blame for conceptions?

This woman did not seek out the media, the media sought her out so they could ask belittling rhetorical questions about how irresponsible she is on camera. People only want to see her so they can tell her how much she disgusts them for being a single mother with a large family. They only want to shake their finger at her, evaluate her finances and tell her how selfish and "crazy" she is because she couldn't find a guy like Bob Duggar. Michelle and Bob Duggar are cooed and given gifts but the single mom is a selfish psycho. It's OK because they are married.

Having two ringmasters doesn't make it less of a circus.

A Casual Observation

Do you notice that when many Democratic-leaning voters do not get the outcome they want in elections, they pout for a while. The most extreme action is that they move to another area. They may even grumble every few months, but bottom line is that most of the responses are low-grade verbal ones. That tends to be the average reaction from the base.

But when many Republican-leaning voters do not get the outcome they want in elections, they buy guns, make death threats, go on every pro-whomever site and make vicious commentary, try to block the Democrats in their churches from getting Communion or kicking them out of church completely. That tends to be the average reaction from the base.

Disturbing, isn't it?