By now most everyone is aware of the recent claim that Glenn Beck made regarding President Obama on the Fox News Channel. Needless to say, I found this rather outlandish considering Obama's maternal family, the people in his administration, and his success in drawing significant support from voters of all ethnicities when he won the election. My first thought (and probably second, third and fourth thoughts as well) was that the Fox News executives should demand that he apologize for his incredulous statement under threat of dismissal. The fact that he apparently not only hasn't apologized but hasn't even been suspended is rather telling and shocking to me.
But then I remembered what Kanye West said about George Bush following Hurricane Katrina. I have to admit that at the time I wondered whether there was more than a kernel of truth to that accusation, conveniently ignoring the prominent positions that Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice each held in the Bush administration. In retrospect, I believe that Bush was not a racist but perhaps a classist. But getting back to Kanye, I wouldn't have been surprised if he suffered a Dixie-Chicks style backlash which would have effectively ended his career. Instead, these days you can't go more than ten minutes on a pop station, let alone an R&B/hip-hop station, without hearing Kanye on a track. Even I must admit that I have enjoyed some of his songs over the last few years.
So it appears that Glenn and Kanye, despite their inflammatory accusations of Presidential-sponsored racism, will each continue to have successful careers due to the support of fans who ignored if not even believed these falsehoods. And that, I believe, truly makes for a sad state of affairs here in America.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Playing Catch-Up
Hello to everyone out there in Bloggerville!
I just realized that it has been exactly three months since I posted my last blog. Of course, my most loyal readers (ha!) already know behind the scenes that I had quite a busy time preparing for, enjoying, then recovering from a rather busy summer season. But now that I have the time and wherewithall, I wanted to share a few thoughts before what could potentially be a busy fall on the local front. I'll be touching on a number of things, some of which I may expound on later.
First: the Summer of Love tour. That's what Cathy and I called our 37-day, 6550-mile cross-country trip with a not-so-subtle nod to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. One big difference between that event and ours is the only time we got "high" was in the mountains of the "four corners" states. We even managed to survive both of our family reunions located on opposite ends of the country, hers being in Jackson, MS, mine being in Los Angeles. The logistics of attending those events as well as the Vegas BBW Bash spurred us to hit the road instead of the runway. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be able to spending that amount of time traveling through 27 states. While I figure that we'll be making pilgrimages to visit family in Dallas - or at least as far as Jackson - I don't think we'll be planning anything that extravagant again in the foreseeable future. I especially won't need to relive spending two weeks in Vegas. I'm grateful to Cathy for letting me indulge in my sightseeing for the first few days while she mostly enjoyed having her feet up and off the brake and pedal. I still think I'll need to leave the Bash property every so often, but I think I'm more likely to repeat my favorite things to see and do in Vegas than to find anything new there. I do suspect that we will be expanding our social circle which I feel would be a plus.
Wow... is 2009 The Year of the Grim Reaper or what? They say "death comes in threes" but this year, it's more like the dozens! Some of the more poignant passings for me include: Farrah Fawcett, with whom Cathy shared a common bond of an unfortunate illness; John Hughes, the "Judd Apatow" of my teenage years; and, Michael Jackson, if only for the surreal coincidence of staying in a hotel in Hollywood on the night before his memorial service. And of course, my most loyal readers would think me remiss if I didn't mention the loss of two members of the Kennedy clan.
The domestic agenda of President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress seems to be mixed in public opinion if not also in its effectiveness. As much as I dislike the idea of corporate welfare, I believe that simply letting the banks and auto makers fail would have had a ripple effect of millions in job losses that would have cost taxpayers more in the end than the stimulus package. And while necessity may well be the mother of invention, not everyone has the entrepreneurial skill and spirit to rely on themselves instead of an employer.
Regarding health care, I consider it to be the right of every American citizen and legal resident. I believe the status quo is not working, unless you're either an upper-income employee who is happy with their coverage... or the insurance company CEO who is happy with their bonus. While I think a government-funded "public option" should be in the mix, I'm not opposed to state health co-ops as a compromise, despite the unflinching views of both staunch Republicans and Democrats in Congress. I do think that GOP proposals like capping doctor malpractice judgments and opening up insurer competition to all fifty states would have potentially detrimental results for most citizens. One of the best models to build on, ironically, would the one that Republican Mitt Romney implemented while Governor of Massachusetts; it makes sense that everyone should pay into it, just as long as everyone is covered. I am surprised he hasn't received more news coverage these days. Or if he has, it must be on news media that I don't frequent.
Peace.
I just realized that it has been exactly three months since I posted my last blog. Of course, my most loyal readers (ha!) already know behind the scenes that I had quite a busy time preparing for, enjoying, then recovering from a rather busy summer season. But now that I have the time and wherewithall, I wanted to share a few thoughts before what could potentially be a busy fall on the local front. I'll be touching on a number of things, some of which I may expound on later.
First: the Summer of Love tour. That's what Cathy and I called our 37-day, 6550-mile cross-country trip with a not-so-subtle nod to the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. One big difference between that event and ours is the only time we got "high" was in the mountains of the "four corners" states. We even managed to survive both of our family reunions located on opposite ends of the country, hers being in Jackson, MS, mine being in Los Angeles. The logistics of attending those events as well as the Vegas BBW Bash spurred us to hit the road instead of the runway. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be able to spending that amount of time traveling through 27 states. While I figure that we'll be making pilgrimages to visit family in Dallas - or at least as far as Jackson - I don't think we'll be planning anything that extravagant again in the foreseeable future. I especially won't need to relive spending two weeks in Vegas. I'm grateful to Cathy for letting me indulge in my sightseeing for the first few days while she mostly enjoyed having her feet up and off the brake and pedal. I still think I'll need to leave the Bash property every so often, but I think I'm more likely to repeat my favorite things to see and do in Vegas than to find anything new there. I do suspect that we will be expanding our social circle which I feel would be a plus.
Wow... is 2009 The Year of the Grim Reaper or what? They say "death comes in threes" but this year, it's more like the dozens! Some of the more poignant passings for me include: Farrah Fawcett, with whom Cathy shared a common bond of an unfortunate illness; John Hughes, the "Judd Apatow" of my teenage years; and, Michael Jackson, if only for the surreal coincidence of staying in a hotel in Hollywood on the night before his memorial service. And of course, my most loyal readers would think me remiss if I didn't mention the loss of two members of the Kennedy clan.
The domestic agenda of President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress seems to be mixed in public opinion if not also in its effectiveness. As much as I dislike the idea of corporate welfare, I believe that simply letting the banks and auto makers fail would have had a ripple effect of millions in job losses that would have cost taxpayers more in the end than the stimulus package. And while necessity may well be the mother of invention, not everyone has the entrepreneurial skill and spirit to rely on themselves instead of an employer.
Regarding health care, I consider it to be the right of every American citizen and legal resident. I believe the status quo is not working, unless you're either an upper-income employee who is happy with their coverage... or the insurance company CEO who is happy with their bonus. While I think a government-funded "public option" should be in the mix, I'm not opposed to state health co-ops as a compromise, despite the unflinching views of both staunch Republicans and Democrats in Congress. I do think that GOP proposals like capping doctor malpractice judgments and opening up insurer competition to all fifty states would have potentially detrimental results for most citizens. One of the best models to build on, ironically, would the one that Republican Mitt Romney implemented while Governor of Massachusetts; it makes sense that everyone should pay into it, just as long as everyone is covered. I am surprised he hasn't received more news coverage these days. Or if he has, it must be on news media that I don't frequent.
Peace.
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