Being Black In America ~ Or Not So

I admit I missed the flap on the Huffington Post about Sammy Sosa appearing at a fund raiser shades lighter than he was remembered as a baseball player. A skin softening regimen he told those who questioned him.

Leonard Pitts wasn't buying it. Pitts, a columnist for the Miami Herald, is one of my favorites. He tells it like it is. He also minces no words about what it's like being black in America. In a column that appeared mid-November he took Sosa to task for having changed his skin tone. In fact he excoriated him for attempting to flee his heritage.

Letters afterwards took Pitts to task, excusing Sosa much the same way Michael Jackson was excused for the same action. To date Sosa hasn't had his features altered. I'm sure Mr. Pitts is wondering if that's far behind and if so will no doubt have much more to say.

In today's column he answers one of those letters and references the video below. It is as revealing as anything I have seen as to how far we have not come regarding how blacks feel about themselves.

Here we sit smug with the fact we've elected our first black President. He has an attractive wife and children. Blacks are well represented throughout his administration. How many of them, especially the women, have not paid some homage to white style. Especially with their hair. Listen to the young girls in the video. Be aware of the age range. Prepare to have your heart broken.

It could be said we have failed them but I think not. I think their own have failed them. Their lack of being comfortable in their own skin, with who they are, is distressing. What a way to grow up. Wanting to be something you cannot. Is it any different than a chubby youngster wanting to be, say, a ballerina while knowing deep inside it would never be? No. I think not. It goes much deeper.

How, at such a young age, does this happen? It isn't generational problem. It is a people's problem. That lack of self esteem runs so deep a child feels it from the elders who surround her. Some outgrow it. Don't they? I don't know. Michael Jackson didn't. Sammy Sosa perhaps didn't. How many others, who haven't gone to quite such lengths, didn't?

It gives race relations a new layer. New to me anyway. What will it take to teach children such as these that they can be anything to which they aspire, regardless of the color of their skin or the texture of their hair! Those shouldn't even be considered hurdles.

They have a very public role model now. The President of the United States. Perhaps that will help. One can certainly hope.

Kaboom?

We misstepped in Honduras big time. Obama is getting ready for his photo op of the week which will be at West Point to explain his decision on troop levels for the war in Afghanistan. Meanwhile the three musketeers of bad behavior are scurrying around right under our nose. One can only wonder what they're up to.

Who are these pesky fellows? The Castro boys, their student to the South, Hugo Chavez, and the new kid on the hemispheric block, Iran's Ahmadinejad. Here's a trio that ought to make your blood run cold. Let's just hope that's all it does!

When Mahmoud tells Hugo, "we're going to be together until the end", I have to wonder just what they have in mind. Especially when Chavez has just returned from an unannounced trip to Cuba. Both, according to the Jerusalem Post, entertained one another by denouncing U.S. imperialism and that "murderous arm of the Yankee empire", Israel.

I also quake when I read they're talking about a direct flight route between Tehran and Caracas! Think about it. If Iran is successful in getting it's nuclear program against all our efforts and they have a direct flight path to Caracas, it's only a hop, skip and jump to Cuba. It's even less of one from Cuba to the U.S. Kaboom!

Then there is Cuba. Cuba, who's Fidel mentored Chavez. Even though tensions have eased under Obama, the military might feels it hasn't been enough since they are still listed as a "terrorist" country. So what are they doing about it? According to Reuters , they began their biggest military maneuvers in five years because they need to prepare for an invasion by the United States.

Of course this is nonsense, the invasion part. When three bad boys who are little more than dictators in countries that have no free press, what are their people to think? Is our State Department busy trying to quell these fears? I hope so but could find nothing about it.

Perhaps our "free press" should take note. Perhaps it's time to get back to covering the news. What's happening in the world is not predicated on where the President is at any one particular time. It's predicated on what's happening in the world! Right under our nose. Is that so hard to grasp or is it just too much work? Covering party crashers is so much more entertaining.

What's With These Reality Show Folks?

I'm not sure which is worse. The lengths to which people will go to become "reality" stars or the Secret Service considering criminal action against such people because they've (the Secret Service) been duped!

I can understand criminal action against the poor misguided folks in Boulder who floated a trial balloon a few weeks back. The balloon along with their plans quickly deflated after charges were brought for all kinds on improprieties regarding the closing of air space and that kind of thing. At least it had some merit.

But a couple of party crashers at a state dinner in D.C.? If anyone should be charged with a criminal act it should be the multitude of staffers who didn't do their job! You'll note many of the "celebrity" ilk were more than happy to pose for pictures. Isn't that a little hokey for a state dinner? I don't know; I've never been to one but I do think I would pass on cozying up to Katie Couric for a photo op. And Joe Biden and Rahm Emanuel. You have to love it. They didn't have a clue as to who these people were but no doubt figured they were big time contributors to all things Democrat!

You suggest the President could have been in danger? Especially when the name of the gentleman in question was Tareq Salahi? What kind of name is that? Not a good old American moniker like Brian or Katie or those belonging other invitees! Has that ever been mentioned in a story or is it politically incorrect to do so? I'm not suggesting we should profile people attending the events, but really!

Beyond that, let's look at the 'reality' part! Have you even noticed they are either celebrities like the Osborns or very attractive people who want to enter a world that is anything but real?

If you want reality, come to my house. Get a look at me when I roll out of bed and down my coffee. Get a look at me as I go about my daily chores outfitted in Wranglers and a sloppy sweater trying to minimize the effects of age and diet. That's reality and it ain't pretty! You might notice on my Facebook page there are far more pictures of my recently departed dog then of me. He had the looks in the family!

Don't try to convince me the "Real Houswives of New Jersey" of Orange County or Washington D.C. bear any semblance to the reality most of us know.

Had we tried to crash the state dinner we may have gotten past some of the checkpoints because others weren't doing their job but we'd have definitely been held up on the "beautiful people" scale. Unless of course we had Bacchus with us.

You have to wonder where they were seated? Were there place cards for them? I'd think not! What did the others who sat at their table think? "And what do you do for a living Tareq?

Let's remember one important thing buried in this nonsense. This country is a country of laws, not men. Had the unthinkable occurred, we would have survived. We might not be crazy about Biden as President, but we'd have survived.

Nothing did happen, however, other than showcasing how much blurring there really is between politics and entertainment. From the Vice President and the Chief of Staff on down to the lowliest social secretary, not to mention the Secret Service, they were had.

I got a good laugh out of it. Didn't you? Can we still laugh as a nation? Or does everything have to be criminalized?

I had to laugh when I came across this illustration of my favorite Disney character. It reminded me of just how ludicrous things are these days. That anyone would disguise themselves as a turkey! Oh my, it's open to so many punch lines!

But not today. It's Thanksgiving eve. My dinner prep is finished until tomorrow and I've had some time to reflect on what I'm thankful for this year.

~ I'm still here and I still have Hub; a wonderful home and a degree of financial security.
~Though scattered, family.
~ Friends, including my cyber friends. From Dave Oliveria at the Spokesman's Huckleberries Online who helped me get started in this wacky world of blogging to those like Word Tosser and Driving Chairman Bao who've become personal friends. Not to be forgotten in this internet web of intrigue are my Facebook friends. People I rarely see but who I can keep up with by the click of a mouse.
~ Bacchus. I miss him terribly, still, but if he had to leave us I'm thankful it happened the way it did.
~ His medical team.
~ Mine.
~ My readers who keep coming back even when they totally disagree with me!

Have a wonderful, safe Holiday and in your thoughts and prayers ask that we might have even more to be thankful for in the coming year.

Whatever Happened to Moderates?

Why do we have to have to have a piece of bad legislation shoved down our throats just because the Democrats feel obligated to pass something?

For a short time I was delusional enough to think some members of Congress had actually come to their senses and realized the Health Care reform bill now open for debate is just that.A bad piece of legislation. Not just the government option part of it, but the lack of tort reform, the lack of ability to buy across state lines, the medicare reimbursement cutbacks, just to mention a few. Then came Mary Landrieu.

She is one I had hope for then came the $300 million bribe. She even had the gall to point out that the originally reported $100 million was incorrect. No cheap date this Senator! The price has been set for the buying of votes. Granted, these figures aren't going to add to the cost, just shift money around. Being in the Republican state of Idaho, I'm somewhat miffed. Some of that pocket change that will be fattening Louisiana's coffers may well be coming out of ours! How fair is that?

Why is this happening? Because no one has any convictions any more. Oh, I know, this is politics as usual. Bribing members of Congress for their votes. I don't have to like it. And I don't have to vote for the incumbents next go round. The trouble is, no matter who runs, once in Washington, it will all be the same. If the freshmen don't play the game they'll get none of the spoils!

What about the Blue Dogs? They only have clout if they stick together. It isn't going to happen. They are about as close to the center as anyone we have right now and there aren't enough of them.

Moderates don't seem to be able to gain a foothold any more. We're being manhandled by the far left at the moment and the vocal opposition is coming from the far right.

Well, who are the moderates? On the Democratic side can you name one? On the Republican side? Those who are no longer welcome under the big tent? Name one who might be a contender in 2012. Not Palin. Not Huckabee. Who?

Come out, come out wherever you are! We need to see you're still among the living. More than that we need to hear from you! Or are you like the dinosaurs that came before you? Eternally mired in the tar pits.