The Audacity of Racism

This came across my desk and I though I would share it with whoever reads this blog.
It is a bit long, but please read it, whether you agree or not.
This was written by a white American...read on.

Arrogance of being President while being Black
I don't think anyone was under some real illusion that the election of Barack Obama actually means the end of racism in America . I'm pretty sure that the president-elect knew it better than anyone. After all, he saw it every day, from the moment he announced his candidacy. To some degree, he saw it within his own party during the primaries. And he saw it in all ugliness during the general election. For half of this country, he was "That One". No matter how big and clear his victory was. No matter how smart he is. No matter how decent he is. No matter what a true patriot he is. No matter how optimistic and positive his vision for America was. All that didn't matter. Because at the end of the day, he was still black.

I'm quite old. I remember, vaguely, where my parents were on November 22, 1963. I've seen so many presidents. Some were feared, some were hated, some were adored, some popular and some not. But all of them, without exception, were treated with the highest respect deserving the office of the president of the United States .

That is until a black man won the right to occupy this office. It's been 13 months now, and in the eyes of so many, Barack Obama is still that one. He is being disrespected and at the same time being held to the highest standard of any president I've ever seen – and not just by the Republican side! He has to perform three times better than any president in history, and even that may not be enough.

For the media, he is many more times just "Obama" than "President Obama". They create scandals out of nothing issues. It took them at least 6 years to start giving Bush a small part of the shit he deserved. It took them 6 months to begin crap all over Obama because he's yet to fix the catastrophe that was left for him.

They use condescending tones when they talk about him, and only mildly less condescending when they talk TO him. With anyone else, CNN wouldn't dare go to commercials every time the president speaks, like they did during that summit on Thursday. They wouldn't dare be counting how many minutes George Bush or Bill Clinton were talking. Chris Mathews wouldn't dare make an issue out of Ronald Regan calling members of congress by their first name, like he is not actually the president. They fully cooperate with the Right-Wing smear machine when it comes to president Obama's national security performance – even if almost every independent and military expert actually thinks that he's a terrific Commander-in-Chief. You'll never see them on TV, and virtually no one from the Left, in congress and outside, defend the president on this matter.

I don't care about the Far-Right. They're just crazy ignorant Neanderthals. It's the way the beltway and the mainstream treats this president that is shocking. On Thursday, almost every Republican had no trouble interrupting him in the middle of a sentence. They looked like they're going to vomit every time they had to say "Mr. president". They all had this Eric-Cantor-Smirk whenever he spoke. Then they went out and started to spit their stupid talking points, to the delight of the media. Sarah Palin, a woman who can hardly read, thinks that he was "arrogant" towards John McCain, and somehow this is an important news. Because you see, "Obama's Arrogance" is the talking point of the day.

Oh, those talking points. He is arrogant (because he knows the facts better than all of them combined). He is an elitist (because he uses big words that they don't understand). He is weak on national security (because he actually thinks about the consequences). He divides the country (well, he did that the day he had the audacity to win the election). Worst of all, he actually thinks that he's the president. He even dared to say so on Thursday. How arrogant of him. You'd think that previous presidents didn't have any ego. Somehow it turned out that the one president who treats even his biggest opponents with the utmost respect – is the arrogant one. I wonder why?

I expected that his winning the Presidency would bring out some ugliness, but it's been far worse than I imagined. The racism coming from the Right is obviously clear and shameless, but there's also some hidden and maybe subconscious and disturbing underline tone behind some of the things that I read here and throughout the Left blogosphere, even before the end of Obama's first year - 'He's weak, he's spineless, he's got no balls, primary him in 2012'. It'll be dishonest to deny that.

The fact is that for millions in America, Barack Obama is this uppity black man (Not even a "real" black), who received good education only due to affirmative action, and has no right to litter the sacred Oval Office with his skin color. They just can't accept the fact that the president is a black man, who unlike his predecessor, was actually legally elected. But what's really sad is that it's not just the fringe, its deep deep in mainstream America .

Barack Obama's ability to remain above all this slob, to keep his optimism and his strange and mostly unjustified faith in people, while continuing to gracefully deal with an endless shitstorm – is one of the most inspiring displays of human quality I have ever seen. And I can only hope that the Cosmos is on his side because God is and He never makes a mistake.

Sometimes, they make me feel ashamed to be a white man!!

AH SAH
WALK GOOD

Happy Birthday

I became a citizen of this great country in 1974, so I can say with pride

Joyeux anniversaire, le Canada

Walk Good

The Non Rapture

It is May 23, 2011 and if you are reading this you were NOT raptured.
Come on now, did you really believe that Camping could predict the exact date and time of Judgement day?
If you did believe him, I suggest that you go and read the Bible properly, it may help you to become a better christian and stop believing in false prophets.
This story I find hilarious, and I quote "Ensuring your pets aren't left defenseless comes at a cost, however. Eternal Earthbound Pets charges a $135 fee for the first animal and $20 for each additional pet." Eternal Earthbound Pets do not issue refunds, so the pet owners who paid $135.00 can't get their money back, and they are not raptured, now who is the sucker.
Every day is judgement day as it could be tomorrow, next week or any day now.
Some of us are like sheep who follow blindly and are worse that a 10 pound bag of stupid.

Ahh Sah
Walk Good

A bit of This and That

Hi
I am going to cover a few topics in one session, but make each one short.
CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT WINS MAJORITY IN CANADA
This I find a bit paradoxical. They had a minority and were found guilty of obstructing justice and abusing/disregarding the Parliamentary System, hence the "no confidence" vote and a new election. The people voted them back in, but with a MAJORITY... go figure. The hypocritical aspect of all this is the demise of the PQ (Parti Quebecois) whose existed only in Quebec and its mission is to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada. They now have only four seats (no longer classified as a party) and their leader lost his seat and resigned. So far nothing unusual, but this is the clincher... he gets a pension from the Government of Canada in the amount of $156,000 per year. This amount is from the same government that he was working to separate from in the first place...what hypocrisy.
CAN A CLOWN BE RACIST
Donald Trump insisted that President Obama was not born in the US, however, when the President showed the birth certificate, Donald took credit and said this... "I get along well with blacks". A clown with money is still a clown. When he said that, it is akin to white folks saying "I have lots of friends who are black" and that is a racist statement. Can you imaging Donald Trump being President of the USA?
Enough said.
CARIBU BARBIE GETS HER ROCKS OFF
Sarah Palin wrote in a tweet, "Media: admit it, Trump forced the issue. Now, don't let the WH distract you w/the birth crt from what Bernanke says today. Stay focused, eh?"
Why doesn't she stay in Alaska and hibernate.
TRYING TO COUNSEL A 27 YR FEMALE
This is a good one, as I may have to give up and say "I can't help you anymore". Let me give you some background. One of my co-workers is a 27 year old female,(lets call her Mary) who has a child for this man (lets call him Paul). They both cheated on each other before she got pregnant, but she got pregnant anyway (water under the bridge). Now Paul visits the child, pays support and regularly takes the child to to parents, so he is being a Dad. Mary feels she needs more from Paul because she maintains that she is still in love with him, but there is no physical contact between Mary and Paul. Paul has moved on, but Mary is still hanging on to the hope that he will return and make the perfect family of three.
All this stress is affecting her work and we have been trying to tell her that she has to look out for herself and move on with her life, but she seems to be prepared to live in constant hope, that Paul will come back to her.
I feel sorry for her, as she is hurtling toward an emotional calamity which she will have to deal with on her own.
I have no patience for stupid people.
SHOP LOCALLY
Every local paper/magazine you read, is pounding on the ever present adage that you should "shop locally".
I don't mind "shopping locally", but when the local customer service is lousy and the price(with HST) is 20% higher than the online store, shipped to my door something is wrong.
Unless the local stores see the light and notice that "WalMart", "Costco" and the online stores are selling the same product for less, and they need to change their plan and cater to me with better customer service and competitive pricing, then they have lost my patronage.

Summer is here (finally) so my work outside in the garden is more therapeutic than sitting in front of a PC.... so blogging is not going to be as numerous.

Enjoy your summer.

AHH SAH
WALK GOOD

God is Good

If He is good, why do I suffer?
I was reading a blog about this very topic, and I found the urge to use that blog and present it here.
There is a quote in that blog which says "...... sometimes the very suffering we hate is God’s blessing to us."
When suffering hits us we feel abandoned or betrayed by God. But like little children we do not see the whole picture, the whole movie of our lives. We see that painful moment as the whole of life itself. God looks out not only for our present but for our future as well.
Please take the time to read this.

Take Care
Ahh Sah
Walk Good

Thinking about it

What the hell am I thinking about?
Change... changes to this blog.

As British Novelist Arnold Bennett aptly puts it -”Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” But whatever said and done, there is no way to avoid change. You can probably stall it a bit, but not avoid it,as change is the only constant in life.
Within the next month, there will be some changes to this blog, Don't know what, but change it must.

Ahh Sah
Walk Good

Make Things Happen

Go ahead and do it anyway
Somebody is going to criticize what you do. Do it anyway.
There will be problems and complications that come up, and you won’t get it finished as quickly as you planned. Do it anyway.
Right now there’s something you sincerely want to achieve, or experience, or become, or express. And though there are endless excuses for not moving forward on it, there’s also one very compelling reason to go ahead and get it done.
If you truly desire it, and believe in it, and know it’s worthwhile, then it’s something you are meant to do. And it’s something that somehow, in some way, can absolutely happen for you.
But it won’t just happen because you want it to. It will happen when you focus the power of your spirit and awareness persistently in the direction that makes it happen.
Go ahead, and experience the priceless joy of living with meaningful purpose.

Go ahead, and make it happen.

Ahh Sah
Walk Good