Hypocritical Hilarity

The Republican Leadership Council had an event over the weekend that featured a man by the name of Reggie Brown impersonating President Obama. From the video I saw, he was excellent. He looked like the President, he sounded like the President, he had the same mannerisms. The audience also found him to be a riot ( not in the Vancouver sense), at least in the beginning of his set. Brown started off by making some racist jokes about the President's mixed heritage. He commented that while February was his favorite month, his wife celebrates the whole month and he only celebrates half. The audience laughed uncontrollably at this as well as his next joke where he noted that his mom was a white woman who loved a black man but she wasn't a Kardashian. However, when Brown joked about Mitt Romney having a first lady and a second lady and a third lady and so on, the crowd turned on him. When he was about to joke about Michele Bachmann, his mic was cut off and he was taken off stage to a chorus of boos.

Charlie Davis, head of the RLC, said that he was pulled off for the racial insensitivity of his jokes. Anybody who watched the video cannot possibly buy that explanation. The audience was rolling in the aisles when the Jim Crow jokes were flying around but when it was time to poke a little bit of fun at their own, they had none of it. I can't say this is surpring for the GOP, being that they are largely of the thin skinned and hypocritical nature. But I just wonder how many more of their blatant lies voters in the middle are willing to accept before they begin to sour?

Plenty Of Praise To Go Around

Nearly 10 years ago, the United States of America suffered a terrorist attack at the hands of a global terrorism group headed by Osama bin Laden. This heinous and cowardly act served as a rallying point for a nation divided after a heated election in which there were many accusations of fraud and cheating conducted by the victorious party. Americans bought up every patriotic item they could get their hands on. Democrats and Republicans stood together as representatives of a proud and vigilant nation who would stop at nothing to bring justice to those responsible for this act. The President saw his approval ratings skyrocket.

Now, nearly 10 years later, the person at the apex of responsibility for those attacks has been brought to justice.The President himself reported last evening that Osama bin Laden has indeed been killed by U.S. forces after nearly a year of detailed surveillance concentrating on the Pakistani compound that ultimately housed bin Laden. In his address to the nation, President Obama outlined the sequence of events leading to bin Laden's better-late-than-never termination which included several meetings with intelligence personnel and ranking military officers. Mr. Obama explained his role in the process and that he  gave the go ahead to put the plan in motion to finally take out Osama bin Laden. This plan succeeded and did such with no loss of American lives during the operation.

This result, however, is not good enough for some people. Many posts I have seen on Twitter, facebook, and comments sections of news and political sites are all blasting Obama.  People are accusing him of taking all the credit, laying praise on George Bush, and ultimately passing this off as a publicity stunt. Honestly, I am not sure exactly how many questions Obama has to answer before some people are satisfied but I am going to estimate that some people simply never will be satisfied. Merely days after Obama put to rest criticism that he was not born in the United States, he gave the green light to have Osama bin Laden killed. Not good enough, apparently.

The truth is that plenty of people deserve high praise for taking out a mad man who had zero regard for human life. First and foremost are the men and women of the USA's armed forces whose selfless sacrifices and willingness to put their lives on the line every minute of everyday  to assure we never see another 9/11.
Those individuals, fighting together as one, deserve the largest pat on the back of anybody. We also have the intelligence experts who never gave up on finding bin Laden and used their innate skills to help finally bring him to justice. President Bush deserves some commendation for initiating the effort to find bin Laden, be it unsuccessful under his watch. Lastly, President Obama deserves his share of praise for his handling of the situation since he first received word that bin Laden's whereabouts had been located by US Forces. He was patient but prudent and was involved in the process throughout.

That same synergy that bonded Americans in the wake of 9-11 seems to be absent these last few days. Sure there were people in the streets of NYC and DC waving their flags and singing the "Star Spangled Banner" but that celebration has been shouted over by the screams of the Conservative movement looking for any excuse to denigrate Obama and his presidency. They had to make sure that little to no credit was awarded to the Commander-in-Chief they vehemently detest like a 5 year old jealous of his neighbor's Hot Wheels. Those same people were calling people like myself un-American, un-Patriotic, and instructing me to move to another country when I showed dissent towards President Bush's policies. Funny what life is like when the shoe is on the other foot. 

Nearly 10 years later, that sense of unity felt in the days following the 9-11 attacks is but a whisper amongst screams. I just wonder if that sense of unity will ever find it's way back?

This Flag Bows Before No Earthly King

In case you didn’t hear, they had a little wedding over in England this morning.
If you are one of the millions in the States who are enthralled, enamored, and all wrapped up in this farcical fairy tale, you probably should bail out on this column right now.

You’re still with me? Good.

I do not understand why we in this Country are so smitten with a Monarchy we cast off over 200 years ago. It truly befuddles me. I take pride in our Flag, our Constitution, and our Democratic Republic. Not in some ancient regime which we discarded any allegiance to on the Concord Bridge and in the hallowed Halls of Independence.

This is nothing against the British people, but I despise the very concept of Monarchy, Nobility, and Royalty. The arcane and archaic espousal of power into a familial lineage regardless of their character or qualifications is no legitimate way to determine a Head of State. Who gives them this authority? Is it still some divine right?

At least in modern times they have had the good sense to put a limit upon the powers of this Aristocratic lunacy and the Monarchs whim is no longer the absolute law of the land. The real power is invested in their representative Parliament, and the Monarch in almost all circumstances performs only ceremonial power within the Realm. And if they choose to continue to prop up these antiquated institutions of heralded heredity, then I guess that is their endowed right to do so. Over there. Far away from me.

So why, oh why, do I ask, does the media from the United States cover this outlandish and garish event like it is our own crowning achievement? Are we so starved off from pomp, circumstance and glitterous, glorified extravagance that we need to somehow collectively tap into our obedient collective colonial roots to fixate our infatuation for foppish foolery? I, for one, am sick and tired of being bombastically bombarded with the Royal hullabaloo.

For on July 4th, 235 years gone by, we cast off these tired customs of rulership through arbitrary marriage, life, and death of far off Kings and Queens. We stood up as a nation of Free and Independent People declaring: “enough with your ancient and capricious lordship, our ennobled powers of State shall be invested in the Common Man!”

Our sacred artifacts are not those of Crowns, Carriages, and Trappings of Lordship. They are documents of ink and parchment declaring our Freedoms and Protections from obtrusive intervention by a whimsical Governing Authority. Why can we not celebrate these Freedoms, which are our sacred birthright, as extravagantly as we commemorate far-off nuptials betwixt those whom would station and allot themselves above us in life?

I say what makes our nation great is that we do not sit by and watch as subjects, but instead we take action as free and independent Citizens.

God Save the Common Man

Mass Movement Continue to Rock the Arab World

It started with a fruit vendor in small villiage of Tunisia. Sick of government bureaucrats making his life miserable, he poured gasoline all over himself and set himself ablaze in front of the local municipal building. It was the pebble that started an avalanche of mass protest across the region against totalitarian governence. Tomorrow could be another big day, Libya is engulfed in a full fledged civil war with international intervention. Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain all face serious potential protests. Saudi Arabia and Iran are at a low simmer. It should be interesting to see what unfolds as thousands go out for Friday prayers. This is the biggest shakeup in the Arab world since WWII. How things play out this Spring will have effects for decades on oil prices, global human rights, and terrorist threats.

Free Speech and Manners of Life and Death

This will be the first, and I sincerely hope the only, time I mention the Westboro Baptist Church on this blog. They are a despicable "church" group that travels around the Country protesting funerals of Armed Service Members who have been killed in the line of duty. Their message, as far as I understand it, is that these brave men and women have died because God is punishing our country for our tolerance of homosexual lifestyles. The logical, moral, and tactful gap in their argument is so enormously wide that I will not even bother to go into further discussion in regards to their 'message'. These folks, to me, are the scum of the earth. My primal reaction, if I would encounter these folks at the funeral of someone close to me, would be to take a ballbat to their knees and kick them a few more times for good measure. This emotional response is exactly why an impartial Judiciary is such a crucial part of our free country.
The Supreme Court today upheld the Free Speech rights of this extremely unpopular minority view. Did it hurt to see those bastards 'win' a victory in the Highest Court in the Land? Of course it did. As I mulled it over however, I came to a recognition that it was the right decision. The Courts are not there to protect popular people saying popular things, they don't need the help. The Courts are there to protect the rights of unpopular people who do not violate any laws. As much as I despise their point of view, the church protestors have been very careful not to violate any established laws while making their obnoxious and rancid statement at the worst possible time and place. The right to free speech supersedes good taste.
The importance of this point was really driven home by another event half way around the world in Pakistan, where Shabaz Bhatti, the Government Minister for Religious Minorities, and the only Christian in the Government was brazenly gunned down and murdered for his vocal opposition to the countries harsh blasphemy laws. Here was someone who willingly forfeited his life over a manner of speech. It is obvious from what happened to him that his message made him extremely unpopular with some in his homeland. But he was willing to take a stand and die for his deeply held convictions in the power of free speech. That we all could be so bold.