Dedicated to the legislators in Arizona

Albi was a racist dragon. But Albi learned not to be racist anymore by befriending a little boy (that he had burnt the day before because, after all, Albi was racist) after they were both chased out of their town for being different.


Maybe that's what Arizona needs - to be thrown out of the US.

In the eighties through the early nineties they made a ruckus for being holdouts on celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Public Enemy notably produced a gubercidal fantasy song and the NFL (about as conservative a major business as it gets) moved its 27th Super Bowl from Tempe to the Rose Bowl in response to the state's opposition to the Civil Right icon's memory.

And now the state's legislators have brought up another couple of dark kettles. First is this state bill to effectively criminalize being brown without carrying proper ID (whatever the heck that may mean. Is a driver's license good enough?) and authorize unwarranted searches. Stephen Colbert - bless his heart - had an excellent word about that the other day and it is worth a view (or a few).

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - No Problemo
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

And then Senator John McCain (partially known for his flip-flop on MLK day. That is, after he vigorously opposed it throughout the eighties and then found that position to be political suicide) appears on the "O'Reilly Factor" last week to make Bill O seem reasonable and rational. That's some work for a previously respected senator/presidential front-runner. He not only sided with Arizona's state's rights (which, for better or worse, I tend to associate with the Civil Rights backlash and the Southern Strategy) over ineffective immigration laws (which need comprehensive reform, sure enough. The current policies are damaging to immigrants, their families, our economy and all involved) but then added this bizarre but telling comment that immigrants are blatantly responsible for causing crashes on the highways.

McCain, however, is trying to out-Maverick his Tea Party rival. Tells you how crazy the state's politics is getting in that they're basically tied at the moment. But even more crazy is the fact that the Birthers are taking over. The racist movement that questions the birth place and citizenship of a dark-skinned president (despite all the evidence to the contrary) is now asking Arizona (as it tried to gain momentum in frighteningly xenophobic states like Florida and Oklahoma) to require a birth certificate from all presidential runners in order to be on a ballot within the state. And this bill has passed the state House already. (Again, who defines whether or not a form fills the requirement of a birth certificate? Birthers constantly vex the state of Hawaii with requests to see Obama's REAL bc, besides the fact that it's ALL OVER THE INTERNET.)

The ironic thing, of course, is that Arizona's favorite son McCain won't even be able to run for president again. Cuz, you know, he was born in Panama.

I wish the great state of Arizona's legislators (and the nutjobs who keep voting these racist a$hats in) would learn a lesson from Albi, and just stop being so racist.*

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Of course the video and the song - unlike the legislation proposed - are a joke. Racism in this country, much like sexism the world-over, is an inherent trait of our legacy in the US, and we are all slaves to the system. Nobody wants the slightest association with the word 'racism' because they feel it only and solely means that a person is going out and threatening and killing people based on their skin color. They don't realize that racism is truly a system that is so ingrained within us that a member of the powerful majority cannot just turn it on or off - not without severe work, listening and understanding. Therefore, those who do support the racist system (say, birthers and those who argue against the rights of so-called 'illegals') are offended by the slightest suggestion that they support a racist system. They may not personally be bad people, but they play a part in propagating a - literally - deadly way of life.

However, there is much to be clarified on this issue and I would like to start a series on it soon
enough.

News of the Weird: When Jon Beat Me to It

News of the Weird Thursdays is MY BEAT! Yet, here I stand, once again being scooped by the Daily Show. If it weren't for the Daily Show, I'd be big time newspaper tycoon now. But watch, and be amazed:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
News of the Weird - Mark McGwire, Game Change & Sarah Palin
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Click here if the video doesn't show/work.

And don't say I didn't warn you. It's CRAAAAAZY!

Weekly Links We Like to Link to: Election Day

One of the biggest, ahem, distortions of the McCain campaign that's ticked me off (but in a laughable sense) is that Obama is a socialist or that his policies are socialist. McCain knows that that isn't true in the least, but that hasn't stopped him and his campaign from attacking him as such - even though his running mate strictly "shared the wealth." It's just a stupid call, it's distortive, it's divisive, it's a bastardization of truth and of the work of governance. Let's just cut to the chase, eh?

Eugene Cho lets us know who he's voting for, without directly saying it. And I love this car:



Millenials, I don't know what to say... I was born at the tail end of the "Gen X" era, so it's not like I'm all that separated from this generation, but I can't help but feel that they are the most coddled and spoiled one ever. But then I have to consider that we are both products of the most divisive generation ever. Boomers were the first generation to not just defy their parents (who hasn't), but to openly and disrespectfully do so. Ayers was part of a generational seismic shift and merely spoke for his confused times when he said, "Kill all parents." Millenials are like the youngest children from that generation, and like most youngest children, they see more primarily than the others the hypocrisy of their parents, who ask us to trust them now that they've well broached the age of 35 and have left us all with massive debt (that we're still adding to) while burning resources at premium rates.
Hopefully, that wasn't just a rant (that too, of course) but may give some perspective to this:

"Gen Y" or "The Millennials" Gets Wake-up Call with Economic Crisis- ...and Have Little Faith Either Presidential Candidate can Halt the Economic Meltdown

Weekly Links We Like to Link to: Huh?

No promises on the political front this time. I'll just say that it's not as partisan as I tend to be.

Sand Pirates of the Caribbean?
These cats are taking off with hundreds of truckloads of sand (used for building material) out of both private and public lands. Ecologically, at least, it's a baaad idea. Aarrgh!

Professor Glen C. Rowly considers a time when he was caught between his friend (who self-identified himself as Black even though he could easily pass) and complete strangers at a Black Panther meeting and how we sometimes betray our friends and other aspects and responsibilities of ourselves in order to be accepted into our tribes. - as well as how our tribal identity fits in with our politics and worldview and visa versa. Our identities are complex, and our responses to calls of the tribe should be nuanced (My thoughts, not necessarily his).

What is it now, two weeks? I think this is how the last stretch should end.

via HuffingtonPost
. And thanks to Art for reminding me again that I should always check my posts!

We educate those we care about.

From Jason Linkins, live blogging the debate at HuffPost.

Let me ask you: Can you remember a debate in which some moderator did not bring up poor math/science scores? Schieffer says the problem is an "obvious" one. Seems to me that it's not, considering that it keeps coming up, again and again. Here's the truth: America is best in the world at education the students that America WANTS to educate. When you exclude the children that no one cares about educating, U.S. scores exceed the world by every measure. Now, who are the kids that no one wants to educate? Well, I'll put it this way: there's a reason that hearing John McCain call education a "civil rights issue" sets my hypocrisy alarm off.

Personally, I'm not saying that McCain's in the wrong on this one. Or Democrats, Republicans, teachers, teacher unions, principals, Congress, presidential administrations (although I despise NCLB). But I think he makes a great point. The students that we don't care to educate are the ones with the crappiest education. We are failing, failing, failing in urban schools and specifically with minority and impoverished students (which would include many rural districts as well). This is evident in the way that the teachers are overworked until they are spent and either leave early (often for greener pastures), retire from classroom teaching, or continue to deaden their senses (there are, of course, remarkable people who stay on and enlarge their profession and everyone benefits. But few and far between...). Pressure is everywhere put on already burdened teachers - especially new teachers who have and then waste all this energy. It's just not sustainable.

What we need is a full-frontal attack. Not regulations that have elementary teachers constantly teaching to the test for most of the year (the ramifications will be evident when our inner city schools - which are already behind - produce more students who were not taught to think during those formative years); not shutting down schools to start from scratch (at least not necessarily, and certainly not as a threat); not blaming teachers/parents/principals/students. Solutions to these problems could be as simple and yet effective as running clinics like those run by the Harlem Children's Zone that teaches parents how to raise their kids so that they would have the best options (their so-called Baby College is a series of early education workshops for parents where they teach clear and proven skills like, "Read regularly to your kids," and, "Spanking the children teaches them to use force to resolve differences" and "Put your child first so that she will succeed"). We need to do simple stuff like open more urban (and rural) preschools and doing early intervention. How about encouraging corporations and small businesses to sponsor high schools (not, in any case, exclusively, but as one of many)? How about introducing students to various levels of thought and industry in a hands-on method early on? Empowering churches, synagogues, mosques, non-profits, etc. to do more direct and unified community outreaches (after-school programs or homework assistance, for instance) that are less sectarian and more pro-student.

And then there's the money. Many urban (and rural, for that matter) school buildings are run-down and the teacher-to-student ratio is 1:30 in Chicago (sometimes much, much higher). You invest in that you truly care about. In Chicago we are losing 400 million dollars that should be set aside for schools each year to pet projects for industries (TIFFs). Our future is being flushed down the toilet so that Trump and Boeing will consider doing a few more years worth of business in the city and so that developers will keep having unfettered access to clear out the poor. That is bad business. That is bad economics. That is bad humanity.

The children of poor and minority families are suffering because we don't care enough to put them as high enough of a priority. And that's a shame on all of us. All. Of. Us.

Finally! McCain's trying to restore order. May be too late for some, though

McCain's come around and is trying to temper-down his base. Unfortunately, the wolves - having gotten used to the taste of human flesh for the last week - among his crowd are booing him when he calls Obama a "decent guy" and someone "that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States." They booed John McCain because he was willing to re-humanitize Barack Obama.

McCain was again pressed about Obama's "other-ness" and again he refused to play ball. "I don't trust Obama," a woman said. "I have read about him. He's an Arab."

"No, ma'am," McCain said several times, shaking his head in disagreement. "He's a decent, family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about."

At another point, McCain declared, "If you want a fight, we will fight. But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments." Supporters booed then also. "I don't mean that has to reduce your ferocity," McCain responded. "I just mean to say you have to be respectful."

For my part, I'm still concerned about McCain. Earlier in the day, his campaign released a statement blaming Barack Obama for the riled-up crowds, saying that he was out of touch with their needs (need to shred someone apart? need for human blood? need to fear the black man? I don't follow...). But many prominent Republicans and former aids probably finally talked some sense into McCain. And John McCain is no fool. But, he is a gambler and he is tempestuous; and he allowed his campaign to be carried away with this viciousness and stupidity for too long.

How would this thinking be reflected in his presidency?