Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst to President Barack Obama during a speech to Congress last week was an act “based on racism” and rooted in fears of a black president.  From my point of view (raised as a white minority in Indonesia) the racial inequity here is referring to a man whose father was black, and whose mother was white, as black.  In this country, if Michelle was white, we would still call the girls black, although ¾ of their ancestry would be white. 

This would not generally be true of people of mixed ancestry not involving skin color, or other distinctive racial markers.  My wife is some tiny percent Native American; to my knowledge, no one has ever called her an Indian.  I am, as far as my brother, the family tree expert, can tell, a full blooded Clan Gregor Scott.  (My parental grandfather ran away from home as a teenager, and refused to tell anyone anything at all about his past.)  I watch with some amusement at Highland games, those with only a few drops of Scottish blood wearing kilts and swords, and declaring their love of haggis (if you don’t know, don’t ask).

My point is, in this country, if your skin is white and your eyes round you pretty much get to define your ancestry any way you want, no matter what the mix.  Pigeonholing others because of some visual marker is either laziness, or a lack of wit, and is always racist.  If you want to find a way to play a political version of “Let’s You and Him Fight” (Games People Play) pick a weapon that requires an IQ higher than room temperature. If you can’t do better than the old standbys-intelligence, ancestry, personal hygiene, and sexual orientation-just stop.  You’re taking a knife to a gunfight.

Tags: mixed blood, race

At 12 noon EDT Tuesday, September 14, speaking from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va, Democratic President, Barack Obama addressed the school children of the nation.  It was a worthy plan; one previously adopted by Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. 

Oddly, there was and is resistance to this speech.  Associated Press writer Ben Feller, said, “Some conservative critics say Obama is trying to promote a political agenda and overstepping his bounds, taking the federal government too far into public school business.”  First, I take exception to the implication that this is a conservative idea.  If you read my stuff, you know that my politics are just slightly to the right of Attila the Hun, and my response is:

q       Every public word that comes our of any politician’s mouth is political—not bad or good, but by definition political.  It is fruitless to accuse any politician of trying to promote a political agenda.  It’s what they do.  Unless you think the past election was a beauty contest, it’s what the majority of you elected him to do.  (Don’t look at me; I’m a Republican.)

q       Accusing the President of the United States of overstepping his bounds by addressing a group—any group—on a subject of value and interest to that group is arguably the least informed (see, I avoided saying “dumbest”) thing I’ve heard this year, and I’ve heard some duesies.  Oh, and last time I looked, the federal government already had way more than its nose under the education tent.

Individual parents kept their children home from school to prevent them from hearing what the president said.  Entire school districts chose to insulate the tender ears under their charge.  So, what, actually, did Obama say?

q       “You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try,”

q       Study hard and stay in school.

q       Hard work can take you places.

Inflammatory, Left-wing propaganda if I ever heard it.

Ryan Christensen, a carpet cleaner opined, “They don’t need to be told by the president what their responsibilities are. It’s the parents’ responsibility to teach them that, not the government.”  Where was he through the Communist menace, sex education, civil rights (pick your side), and perhaps a dozen other issues where the school system felt empowered to teach in loco parentis.

Make no mistake, the message was irrelevant in the furor over the speech.  It was the man himself the critics opposed.  You are entitled to your opinion on the man, but kindly refrain from taking it out on the generation that will have to deal with the decisions we make today.  They are not as naïve as you suppose.

OK, I was born in the morning, but not this morning.  I try to believe the best about people and organizations until they prove themselves untrustworthy, but there are exceptions.  About twice every week, I get unsolicited mail from someone telling me I may have won a small fortune.  I generally classify these mailings along with 3-card monty, snake oil, and anything the ends with the word elixir.  I once got a flyer saying that I had won a natural fur coat.  When I checked, I found it was true, and they would gladly ship it to me if I paid $175.00 insurance on the shipment.  

This week I got a flyer from Kia Motors, cosponsored by several other nationally known companies that clearly said if the number under a scratch-off tab matched the number printed in the clear, I had won a pre-loaded $10,000.00 debit card.  There was, indeed, a card attached-not one of the cardboard simulations, but a regular raised-letter plastic card with what appeared to be an imbedded chip.  The number matched.  The instructions said to redeem it at the Kia dealership in Grand Junction, Colorado.  As it happened, I needed to travel to Grand Junction anyway, so I stopped by the dealership.

My first concern was that a salesman met me in the parking lot and suggested I should park in a handicap space.  I went on and found a legal parking space, and asked the same salesman to tell me if I had, indeed, won ten grand.  He ignored the question, pulled out a prospect form, invited me to make myself comfortable, and started asking questions.  Name, address, phone, what I currently was driving, etc.  When he asked for my Social Security number, I finally balked.  I pressured him to answer my question.  He said that if my number matched the one on the (distant) wall, I was a winner.  He then quoted a number different from mine.  I never saw the wall number.  I was not there to make a scene.  The flyer said nothing about matching a number to be found at the dealership, but I left quietly with the salesman trying desperately to sell me a car even as I walked out the door.  The final irritation came when I tried to leave the lot.  A knot of salesmen blocked the gate, and showed no inclination toward moving.  I waited a while, but when I was roundly ignored, I stopped just short of bumping one of them.  They made a hole, not a big one, but I left.

Here’s a message for salespeople, automotive or otherwise.  If you had had the car of my dreams for $1.75 I would not have bought it.  Some of us refuse to be herded, and simply expect people to be honest in their dealings.  Kia makes a fine automobile; my brother drives one and loves it.  It now appears unlikely that they will sell me one.  To my knowledge, the dealership in Grand Junction is the only one on the Western Slope, and the only way anyone there will ever see me again is to catch a glimpse of me as I fly by at 55 miles an hour.  You guys should be ashamed of yourselves.

Tags: Grand Junction, Kia, promotions

Today is my wife Charlotte’s birthday.  I’d mention which one, but age is just a number-hers is unlisted.  I will say that in about a month we will have been married 51 years.  When we were first married, as the song goes, we lacked 14 dollars having 27 cents.  We had no vehicle, and no television.  We paid $50.00 per month for a furnished efficiency, borrowed a fry pan and a saucepan from our landlord, and stole 2 bowls and 2 sets of flatware from the U.S. Air Force.  (Sorry guys, there’s a statute of limitations.)  My grandfather’s Ithaca 20-gage made it in and out of the pawn shop every month.  She clearly didn’t walk down the aisle for my money.  It probably wasn’t for my good looks either.  I have decided that it was the bargain hunter in her; she just couldn’t pass up someone who was half off.  Whatever her reasons, a day doesn’t go by without my thanking God that she did.  So happy birthday, love.  You’re the best thing in my life, and always have been.

Tags: Charlotte