So, one day you look down and see your feet in shoes you don't recognize. Maybe you like them, maybe you don't. This is where life begins. Welcome to WSATA, where the Goddess returns.
If I had the musical skills to sing this I would, but I don't sing. Here are lyrics for the GOP on electing its first African-American, Michael Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, as its new chairperson.
I preface my presentation with yes, it will take a man of a man of steel on their side to impress me, but I won't be won this year. I give you a new version of "Color My World" in honor of the GOP's boldly going where they've never been after being shocked with the electoral cattle prod.
Color the GOP's World
As time goes on we realize what brown people mean to us And now, now Steele is near to make dumb people feel like we love people of color but we use them when it suits us. Color our GOP with hope of looking cool.
Sorry, folks, but that's the way I feel. If you don't know the song "Color My World" by Chicago, then here's YouTube video to put so you can imagine how it goes with the words in honor of this historic Republican Party moment.
Originally I'd written the "Color the GOP" lyrics with Bobby Jindal's name as I reflected on the RNC's Obama the Magic Negro Song Christmas gift debacle. Jindal was the brown they really wanted to get down with when McCain chose Palin, in hopes of wooing women voters. It's funny to them when they poke Obama. Would it be funny if the song was about them?
Perhaps the RNC's saving Jindal, Louisiana's governor, for 2012, while they play a game of "spot our Negro" with Steele. However, Jindal keeps saying he doesn't want to play.
Maybe I should cut the RNC some slack for electing its first African-American chair, but I can't in the same way that I don't applaud men for paying their child support only after their wages have been garnished by the courts. If you've been through this, you know it begins with daddy being behind on his payments and putting forth a pittance on payments in arrears while his check is garnished for current needs. Too little and maybe too late, but he wants applause for having to have his hand forced.
Obama winning office, the visibility of more African-Americans who are well-educated and wealthy, the general ass-whuppin' the RNC took because folks got fed up with crazy talk during an economic crisis but also with divisive BS from McCain's campaign was a warning sign to that party. Confronted by the signs of times, the RNC fears death if it doesn't change its image, which are white faces front and center, pissed while privileged, so clearly visible during its national convention as attendees and speakers ridiculed community organizers.
Anyway, here's CNN's lead on the first black RNC chairman:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- ... Steele was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee on Friday.
Steele, the first African-American to hold the post, defeated South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, 91-77, in the final round of voting among the RNC's 168 members. Only 86 votes were needed.
"This is our opportunity. I cannot do this by myself," he told the crowd at the annual RNC meeting Friday. "God bless you, and God bless our party. ... It's going to be a new day."
Steele also told his fellow party members that it will be a "great honor to spar" with President Obama. (CNN story)
I guess that's an open acknowledgment that he knows why he was selected. He's going to be to the GOP what the Juan Williams is to Fox News.
I'm all for unity and people making an effort chanting "we are one," but the RNC's got to more than put on blackface to make me forget what I've seen. And no, I'm not pulling a Limbaugh here and hoping they fail to be inclusive. I hope they succeed if that is truly what they want to do. If they want to do more than play the race card, as they love to say, then time will tell, but all I'm feeling now is they want to play us, play us all.
This week the Old School Friday theme is original vs. remake. My choices are tricky. Both Carole King and Aretha Franklin recorded Natural Woman, but the question is whose version is truly the original? Carole King recorded the song after Aretha made it a hit, but it's King's song. She co-wrote "Natural Woman" with Gerry Goffin.
Aretha recorded "Natural Woman" in 1967 and it became her signature song. King did not record this classic that she'd co-written until 1971. (Song's history)
I'm a fan of both singers. I wore Carole King's Tapestry album out, but I know why Aretha is the Queen of soul. If I had to vote, then for me Aretha is the original because she recorded it first, but King's recording gives us a beautiful interpretation showing how the songwriter feels her own music. She was brave to record the song after Aretha had already done it, sort of like recording a song after it's had the Luther treatment.
Here's Aretha.
Here's Carole King.
And, as mentioned in the song's history at Wikipedia, Mary J. Blige recorded "Natural Woman as well in 1995. You can view her version here, which is similar to Aretha's version.
Carole King also wrote the classic "You've Got a Friend," which has been recorded by multiple stars.
I've never visited the blog, "Stuff White People Like," despite reading in newsgroups/email threads that the site's hysterically funny. I never took a look because I figured I know what white people like. I'm an older black chick who grew up in the 60s, went to boarding school with not just regular white people but rich white people in the 70s, and frustrated my mother by having white friends that I went out with in college.
My mother would warn me, former social worker who'd read studies on black people written by white people and child of Louisiana in the 30s and 40s that she was, "You've got to be careful being friends with white people. You never know when they're writing a book about you." She meant to protect me from exploitation during a time when white people and black people were rarely genuinely friends.
So, why do I need a site about stuff white people like when I've worked with them, studied with them, lived among them, even with them?
But this Canadian guy, Christian Lander, who started the blog and now has a book out is funny. I saw him on CNN today. He explained how he marketed his blog and its popularity grew. And, I confess, a lot of what he said has the old ring of truth. Lander's venture reminds me of "How to Rent a Negro," which some people think may become popular again in the age of Obama, and the white people who neglected to get black friends before Obamamania will want some Negroes on speed dial now.
Lander's hierarchy of friends for white people that he talks about with CNN amused me.
It's important to have black friends, but where do gay friends fitinto the rainbow of white friends? Lander says, "It is white person law that if you are able to acquire a friend from every nation and race on Earth, you are officially declared not racist. Done. ... So white people are out there. They are trying to collect friends from everywhere. It's not easy but there are rankings. There are ways to get friends that are more elite. Black friends are very, very important but if somehow you can find a gay black friend you have reached the pinnacle. ... It's sort of like a quarterback who can play linebacker, a once in a lifetime type friend. (Lander on CNN)
And a gay black friend who is a father is like finding a unicorn, he says. Lander asserts this kind of uniqueness is something marketable to whites, and so if you're a very unique black friend, work it.
If you are this person, do not just dole out your friendship to white people easily. Only give to those who can give you much in return. ... That's what this book is about. It's about how you can exploit white people for personal gain. How to get a ride to the airport. How to get them to paint your house. How to get them to help you move. How take advantage of all the massive, massive resources white people control. (Lander on CNN)
Here's the full list of stuff white people like from Lander's website: list.
If you're black and see that you like lots of the same things white people like, do not be alarmed. Black people liking what white people like is the result of having to learn white culture in order to survive, especially if they wanted to surpass life in the hood. It's also the result of being educated to believe that white culture is superior to black culture, which is one of the reasons, if you're an educated African-American, you may have felt at some point you needed to also like classical music. Enjoying the fruits of "superior culture" suggests you too are superior. Liking only Motown seemed to say "You're an ordinary black person," something akin to not having class.
Lander says some white people also have to pretend they like classical music.
---Begin Tangent Here--- The fight over Beethoven:
I do actually like many classical composers, however. And, people, let's remember a big name in classical musical is Beethoven, a mulatto. There are white people pissed off that black people say Beethoven was a Negro because they like Beethoven want Beethoven to remain white like them.
I think it's the same group that spends years doing meticulously warped research to prove Ethiopians are actually Caucasian in order to offset any lesson that western civilization traces itself back to the Greeks loving Ethiopian culture, and so the greatness that is western civilization has its roots in African culture. You can guess the motivation behind this movement to declare Beethoven, Ethiopians, Egypt etc. white as well as to rail against people who teach tolerance within the context of historical facts about European aggression. They claim it's part of a plot to make white people feel guilty when white people should rejoice in their heritage as conquerors and being inherently superior to other ethnic groups, especially black people for some reason.
Whether Beethoven was all white or part black, who gives a significant damn? Until they dig him up and test his DNA, I'm saying he was mulatto just to piss off those white people who embrace victimhood under false pretenses. White people don't have to learn anything about black people if they want to know it, which is a sign of the privilege some deny. And there's a certain kind of white person who is virulently opposed to learning anything that might make him or her recognize the master race is a myth.
Some others, while not opposed to learning about other cultures and who are not rabidly racist, remain ignorant of blackness to their own detriment. In this case I'm thinking of poetry critics who gave thumbs down to Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem "Praise Song for the Day" and missed the boat analyzing it because they only know about European culture and white ideas of what makes good poetry, nothing of African culture because subconsciously they don't believe African culture has value. ---End of tangent---
Lander's book and blog about stuff white people like are clever humor, but I'm sure there's some white person out there who won't get it or doesn't understand the concept of political correctness and so seeks offenses where there are none or hates what they think tolerance means and so is whining, "It's not fair! Isn't Lander's book stereotyping white people the same way blacks have been stereotyped?"
No, it's not the same. And there are lots of sociological and political reasons for why it's not the same, but I won't go into that now. It's too early in the morning, and I haven't had my cup of Southern Pecan gourmet coffee. Coffee is one of those things on Lander's list of stuff white people like, but I love java anyway.
From the discussions I've read on this book in groups, it seems to be mostly white people who've found the site and like it. Something about it resonates, I guess, especially with younger white people.
The CNN reporter who interviewed Landers says he's half white and perhaps he can both collect friends from other cultures to show he's hip while exploiting white people as the "black" friend. He says in jest that Lander's book has given him a new perspective.
I'm not half white and know I've been the "black" friend sometimes that makes some whites say "I'm not racist. One of my best friends is black," but generally those types of white people aren't actual friends, no matter what they say. They don't know you can see their motivation.
However, I have met some whites who say bluntly, "I'm trying to get a better understanding of people here. I want to be your friend." I dig those. They're up front and authentic. We can have an honest discussion, agree or disagree, because they really do want a friend, not a conversation piece.
You can tell the difference between a person who likes you for you and a person who simply likes the idea of knowing you or people like you. Good friends don't have agendas.
What's the number one reason people hide their Twitter, Facebook, MySpace pages and sometimes their blogs? Don't answer here. Instead, please take the Secret Agent poll at this link. (Scroll down a tad and look to your left on the sidebar.)
Partially inspired by this CNN article about friending your boss on Facebook, the poll gives you an option of five answers. However, this subject has been on my mind for a while because I went through a period of flying under the radar online after three years of being highly visible. I hid as best I could for multiple reasons and came back for practical and artistic reasons.
I know an attorney who thinks anyone who has a page online for any reason other than attracting clients is an idiot asking for trouble. Perhaps he has Facebook phobia, which is an idea from an article on that subject at ThePhoenix.com. The Robert Ullman drawing featured here comes from that piece.
The polls answer choices are pretty light. If you want to say more on this subject, then add a comment to this post please.
You can't miss the commentary blasting President Barack Obama's for letting lobbyists take positions in his administration despite Obama having said no lobbyist allowed. I've been reading, listening, and having a good laugh.
Conservatives have been pumping the scare tactics that Obama's got the media in his pocket and "liberals will never let him be criticized." Only an idiot can be sold that nonsense. He's the President of the United States of America for whom more than 40 percent of voters did not vote. He's going to get a lot of flack, some of it justifiable, some of it not.
There are people on the far right and far left who've got their pitchforks sharpened and aimed at Obama because with his pledge to cross the aisle and be inclusive, he's more centrist than the rabid liberal conservatives said he was during the campaign. So, to paraphrase an old saying, I declare, "Blessed is the man who walks the middle line. He will be shot from both sides."
Neither will African-Americans back off and leave him to govern as he sees fit (nor should they). I've seen blogs by African-Americans worried that Obama is not so down with being black after all, and others that hold nothing back in telling the naive the facts of life about deal-making and Obamba.
The mainstream media doesn't know the phrase "free pass," no matter what right wingers say who can't seem to distinguish between people posting favorable opinions of Obama on websites and what the media's actually doing. That's why when I saw Campbell Brown's headline today, "Obama's hypocrisy showing" (see video below), I had to post her commentary. Later when someone is saying the media is giving Obama a pass, I can point to today's flap about Obama letting lobbyists slip through his administration's door--one of many flaps to come.
It's good that a CNN journalist/pundit speaks out because its anchors seemed rather enamored of Obama during the election and inauguration, but that only shows they're normal people. Even some folks in the country who disagree with progressive philosophy seemed to enjoy Obama's ascendancy because his election to office gives hope that we can work things out together. I think many journalists couldn't help but respond to the hope they saw in people's eyes, and Obama's a likable guy.
However, while some journalists may have had trouble hiding their admiration for the new president, I knew we'd start seeing articles about problems with the Obama administration and commentary shouting his flaws because good journalists by nature are skeptics. They want to believe, they really do, but can't escape the cynic's DNA curling in their flesh, and so a big flag goes up with them when they witness or hear contradictions.
Obama's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's choosing ex-Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson as his chief of staff is one of those contradictions. As Brown says in her commentary, Obama's made a production about the evils of lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Consequently, she's asking President Obama to say what he means and do what he says:
My view is simple: Mr. President, if you want to hire former lobbyists because you think they are the best people to do the job, then hire former lobbyists. Just don't hold a big news conference first to tell us how your administration is going to be so different from previous administrations in that you won't be hiring lobbyists.
... It's the hypocrisy and the double-talk that makes so many of us so cynical. Do what you think is best for the country. Just be straight with us about how you're going to do it. (CNN's Campbell Brown)
The AP reports there have been at least three high-profile lobbyists hired for spots in the Obama administration to date who will work for agencies that deal with the same issues the lobbyists handled within the last two years. This breaks Obama's rule that "no one who has lobbied on a set of issues within the past two years can take a role in his administration that deals with the same subject matter."
The same AP story also reports an off-the-record response of a Treasury official: "Patterson only monitored legislation on mortgage issues and did not lobby ..."
I'm sure some people will say, "Well, it's only three. Stop picking on my man Obama. Give him room to breath and do what he's got to do."
I disagree with that sentiment. We've got to poke at even the little things to send a signal to Washington the people's eyes are on them, and Obama needs to see that the people loving him doesn't mean he has a blank check to play them for fools.
That said, I expected these kinds of contradictions and anyone who thinks Obama is flawless and will never make mistakes or be out-and-out wrong sometimes has mistaken the man for Jesus. I have never seen a politician, even one who acts with integrity, be able to stick to every promise he made while running for office and that's probably because outsiders don't know how hot the kitchen is until they in it and cook.
It's easy to be critical of someone else, in this case a former president with a low approval rating, and say if I had that job I would do thus and so, but once you actually have the job you are privy to more information. With more information, you're bound to change your mind on something.
The AP writers and Campbell Brown are journalists (but Brown is becoming more pundit than journalist), and so we expect them to show objectivity and report problems. But are any liberals or progressive opinion writers criticizing Obama on the hiring of lobbyists? Yes.
The post that had me laughing is published at The Huffington Post, a news site that promotes itself as a progressive website. Speaking of the nomination of William Lynn, the man Obama approved to be the #2 at the Defense Department, HuffPo writer Chris Kelly says:
The nominee is William J. Lynn, who was working for Raytheon until late last Thursday. Since then, of course, he's had his memory scrubbed clean with a powerful amnesia agent -- not unlike the one in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind -- and now he doesn't even know what Raytheon does.
It's like he was never Senior Vice President of Government Operations and Strategy at all.
Obama announced that the revolving door between government and lobbying would be slammed shut -- wait, can you slam a revolving door? -- "for as long as I am president." And broke the pledge while he was saying it.
Talk about hitting the ground running. That's fast. (Chris Kelly)
And Sam Stein also scrutinizes the "not quite true" talking points of one Obama spokesperson.
This is healthy critique, something a democracy must have in order to remain healthy. It's not the naysaying sabotaging rhetoric of a Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter. Aside from saying he hopes Obama fails, Limbaugh asked Republican representatives and senators to vote against Obama's stimulus package because he believes that if America gets on its feet and people go back to work, then that kind of success will help Obama stay in office. So much for being concerned about America.
Yes, progressives and liberals will criticize Obama. Criticizing your own is sometimes a weakness with this group; some do it until the person they supposedly "like" is a savagely dissected eunuch on the floor. At heart, many progressives seem to have a knee-jerk response to authority telling them what to do or to government making decisions that must be made quickly without consulting constituents in detail first. Some progressives balk, envisioning an unrealistic kind of transparency, a clear plastic sheet destined to smother us ... slowly.
Nevertheless, I think conservatives who charge liberals and progressives will not be critical of Obama won't give honest criticism its due. I think what they want to see is Obama supporters viciously attack Obama the way progressives attacked George W. Bush. Do these conservatives live in a parallel universe?
While some conservatives criticized Bush, they didn't inject the kind of venom in their critique that they spewed at President Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary, or now aim at the Obamas. Do they think progressives and liberals should be harder on President Barack Obama than conservatives were on George W. Bush?
I won't elaborate on what I mean by "wannabe big house pet," but I will point you to this post by Professor Kim on Juan Williams calling First Lady Michelle Obama "Stokely Carmichael in a dress." I left my comment there: No new tricks from the opposition, just different dogs.
Professor Kim's post at BlogHer educates readers who may have forgotten history about Carmichael's transformation to Kwame Ture. She also makes the point that Michelle Obama is an establishment figure, not a radical.
Here's video from CNN's Cambell Brown on what may be Michelle Obama's role as First Lady.
Due to a personal experience involving the terror of missing classified data, I had to look at this CNN video about a New Zealand man purchasing a second-hand MP3 player and discovering it had confidential U.S. military files on it. Unlike the comic situation with what looks like secret files in the movie Burn After Reading, trailer above, the files the New Zealander found on his MP3 were real, having the social security numbers of U.S. soldiers and deployment information:
Chris Ogle of New Zealand was in Oklahoma about a year ago when he bought a used MP3 player from a thrift store for $9. A few weeks ago, he plugged it into his computer to download a song, and he instead discovered confidential U.S. military files.
"The more I look at it, the more I see, and the less I think I should be," Ogle said with a nervous laugh in an interview with TVNZ.
The files included the home addresses, Social Security numbers and cell phone numbers of U.S. soldiers. The player also included what appeared to be mission briefings and lists of equipment deployed to hot spots in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of the information appears to date to 2005. (CNN)
Here's the video about how the man found the confidential information on his MP3 player.
PC World says this is not the first time something like this happened.
A similar situation was uncovered in Afghanistan in 2006 when U.S. investigators bought stolen flash drives with military information outside Bagram base--a major U.S. military outpost in Afghanistan.
In November 2008, the U.S. Department of Defense banned the use of USB storage devices to prevent leaks like this from happening again. This was shortly after DoD computers were infected with a worm capable of downloading malware onto the Department's computers. The McCain 2008 campaign also experienced a similar issue when a reporter purchased a Blackberry at the campaign's fire sale that contained secure information. (PC World)
Both the PC World story and the reporter in CNN video says that these kinds of security leaks are increasing in the digital age. That may be true, but when I was married, the world was far less digital and my husband at the time, who worked for a defense contractor on the east coast, moved a box of classified papers out of the car to make room for something else. I don't remember what. Absent-minded as he was sometimes, once he had rearranged the car he hopped in and drove off.
When he arrived home ready to work, he realized what he'd done. Panic city because he was sure he'd lose his job. We drove back to the parking lot, praying all the way. Got there, no box.
This is where the story gets weird and I know some people won't believe it or will chalk it up to coincidence and ordinary good fortune. We went home and had a serious prayer fest (Sadly, I don't pray as much as I once did. Must improve.) Recalling the scripture that we should go boldly before the throne of grace, I said, "God, I want that box on our doorstep by tomorrow morning." And I fully expected to see it. It's easier to have that kind of faith when you're young.
About an hour later, the phone rang. A man asked for my husband. He and his wife had found the box, and the home phone number had been on a note in the box. That was odd since it was not a personal box. The man and his wife delivered the package shortly after that.
No need to worry that my absent-minded ex is out there still working with sensitive military information. He works in a different industry today.
A similar situation happened to one of his co-workers, however, a year later. The man went on a business trip. Got lost, and got out of the car, a rental, to make a phone call. His briefcase was unlocked and in the car, to which he'd left the door ajar. Yes, his briefcase contained confidential government information, mostly fiscal, as confidential as it can be between the government and a major defense contractor.
While he was on the phone, a thief slipped into the rental car door and sped away in the car with the papers, which were never retrieved. I can't remember if the guy was fired or not. Fortunately, an ordinary thief probably didn't know what to do with the data. He only wanted the car.
When I worked at a government nuclear facility years ago, I didn't want a high level clearance. Probably couldn't have gotten it anyway. But didn't want the pressure of knowing what we were really up to in the labs. I love plausible deniability.
This MP3 thing is not funny. What if the man who bought the MP3 player was hostile to the United States. Whew!
I'm older than the age group that made the words "hater" and "hateration" popular as terms for jealous people or people practicing jealousy, but young enough to catch on.
With most Americans, I watched the inauguration ceremonies of President Barack Obama last Tuesday. At times I wept. At others, grinned like the Cheshire cat. And, being a poet, I actually paid attention to Elizabeth Alexander as she recited her poem "Praise Song for the Day," written for the inauguration. I paid attention, but knew I'd have to find the video and text, sit somewhere, and be still before forming an opinion. (Alexander pictured at right.)
Preparing to write this post, I sifted through critiques of the poem, most of them so negative that I considered entitling this post, "Why Y'all Be Hatin' on a Sister?" The content of the post would have been a list of review links with notations beside each link: He a hater; She a hater; Not a hater; Idiot; Look, it's a suck-up! (the last designation reserved for gushers who say things like, "It's a masterpiece, the best poem I've ever read in my life!)
In addition, I procrastinated on reading the reviews for a few days after I saw some of the firsts. I dreaded knowing too much because I'd want to tell it all, which is why I'm glad to have come across ... Please continue reading at BlogHer.
I'm not going to explain anything here because the explanation's at E. Ethelbert Miller's blog post on the inaugural poem "Praise Song for the Day" by Elizabeth Alexander (text and video). He skillfully connects the dots between President Obama's inaugural address (text and video) and Alexander's poem, but more than that he wonders why no one's comparing the poem to the Gil Scott-Heron classic, "Winter in America."
Winter in America By Gil Scott-Heron
And now it's winter Winter in America Yes and all of the healers have been killed Or sent away, yeah But the people know, the people know It's winter Winter in America And ain't nobody fighting 'Cause nobody knows what to say Save your soul, Lord knows From Winter in America
The Constitution A noble piece of paper With free society Struggled but it died in vain And now Democracy is ragtime on the corner Hoping for some rain Look like it's hoping Hoping for some rain
'Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.'
O' Poetry Sing Sweetly By Nordette N. Adams
At man's cruel deeds we gape and cry for peace and wail our stuttered grief upon our knees that grace will bring succour and wars will cease before our legacy's death and disease.
Will we embark to change our savage fate and breathe our hopes to life with breath of stars, thus, bless ourselves to sing at heaven's gate or fall as we perpetuate Earth's wars?
If we had not love's joy to pump our blood and starlight's poetry to calm the heart, this life would be an endless dark and flood of foul sorrows polluting each day's start.
O' Poetry, sing sweetly through this night. So hearing some may rise and seek true light.
I posted this poem because I'm working on something for another site about Elizabeth Alexander's poem for the inauguration of President Barack H. Obama. As I read the comments of nonpoets, poets, and poetry critics, I see that there are still people out there who believe poetry must rhyme. Some are saying Alexander's poem wasn't lofty enough and sounded like a junior high school student wrote it.
I disagree. "Praise Song for the Day" is a poem. And there's also something called prose-poem, but some folks cut her no slack for prose either, saying even as prose "Praise Song for the Day" is bad. I read one person's critique of Elizabeth Alexander's work prior to her writing the inaugural poem, and what I got most from what he said was she couldn't be a real poet because he hadn't heard of her.
And politics come into the critique as well. One person gave the poem a hard time because he didn't vote for Obama. Another person left a comment at another site asking, "Was that an Affirmative Action poem?"
I feel that some people take up poetry not for the pleasure or how poetry may illuminate the spirit but so they can feel superior to other people, claim privilege of the initiated and elite. With these types, only their own writing and that of their inner circle is acceptable.
If Alexander produced something like the poem above, critics would be questioning why she chose to rhyme because rhyme is so cliche. Others would have said it was worse than Hallmark card verse because they generally only accept rhyme if Shakespeare writes it. And then there would be those who loved it because, well, it rhymes.
I'm getting a headache writing on this topic, reading all the people who are full of themselves believing they are the only people who know what "true" poetry is. In reality, they represent why so many people fear poetry and say they don't like it. So-called poetry experts make them feel that no one can understand a poem other than residents of the ivory tower.
Self-proclaimed "true" poets or poetry critics can be worse than political pundits, as fanatical as fundamentalist jack-leg preachers, and snobby as Boston's old money.
Anything else I have to say, I'll save for the BlogHer post.
In this old video below, Rush Limbaugh tells the secret of how to succeed in radio, "the formula for making you, the listener, mad." In his own words he makes the point I keep repeating, that he's a media whore who understands what he does generates hatred, but he doesn't care. He doesn't care if he stirs hatred, often expressed through hate speech, whether his rhetoric results in people hating him personally or in people hating others.
It's all about ratings, attention, and keeping listeners. His ego's as big as Alaska and occasionally larger than Jupiter. Limbaugh says in the video:
The formula for making you, the listener, mad hasn't changed a bit, yet people keep falling for it. It amazes me.
... I have found anytime you express an opinion, half the people that hear it are going to disagree with you by law of averages. If you embellish the opinion with confidence and cockiness, then you're getting into generating hatred and so forth. There are a lot of people who would like to be confident about what they think. Most people aren't. Most people are trepid about what they think. And if they are subjected to someone such as myself who's not, it tends to offend them. But the key is knowing that nobody can get everybody to like them.
Keeping in mind that the law of averages indicates that half the people who listen to you are not going to like you, (you've) still got to find a way to make those that don't like you to enjoy listening to your program and that is really the key to the entertainment that people turn on radio to be entertained, entertained, entertained. ... A lot of people say, "Do you really believe the stuff you say?" I don't know. That's for you to figure out. (Rush Limbaugh)
I found this Rush Limbaugh video while tracking down Jamie Foxx's imitation of President Barack Obama, and then I decided to post it. Last week, when Limbaugh said, "I hope Obama fails," I wrote one line because Limbaugh is Limbaugh. I was going to leave it at that, but I ended up using Limbaugh as an example of someone who practices dishonest criticism when I commented on a BlogHer post about dissent and patriotism.
Naturally, someone who agrees with Rush and hopes Obama fails felt she needed to respond to my comment and explain to me what Rush really meant. You can guess how the rest went.
Inflame but cloak as entertainment: I've known this was Rush Limbaugh's philosophy since I used to listen him in the 90s. He's got that cockiness down and is fearless in going after his share of the radio market. He uses mean humor and twists facts, whatever it takes to keep an audience worked up, and justifies it by saying he's delivering a message. I guess his message is "Hate is good, especially if it keeps you voting the way I vote."
I stopped listening. Anything I hear of him today I learn through another news source. Some people listen because, as he says, he knows how to keep even listeners who don't like him. He appeals to spectacle, the draw that keeps you watching a train wreck even when the bloody bodies turn your stomach.
Others listen and buy into what he says, lies/embellishments and all, and that's fine by him, even if the lie provokes resentment of other ethnic groups or an individual. It's all about him and his need to be King of radio.
The man likes to succeed pushing hate and hopes President Obama fails pushing hope.
Rush Limbaugh is a master communicator who embraces the art of ugliness; he's a media whore and verbal sociopath.
I was once livid because somebody didn't call as promised. I was working on a project and looked up at the clock, and said, "Well, I'll be damned. It's after 5:00 and he said he would call at 3:00. I thought he was reliable."
I fumed for a while. Later, my son, who'd left a book in my car, came inside and said, Mom, here's your phone. Did you know you'd left it on the seat of the car?"
No, I didn't know that. Checked my missed calls and saw someone had called at 3:00 nearly to the dot. I'm such a ditz sometimes.
It's a good thing I didn't call him from a different phone and tell him off.
Being absent-minded strains friendships sometimes.
Who knows what's wrong with me at 2:53 a.m. I should be in the bed, but instead I'm up watching YouTube videos of the late Luther Vandross and tearing up. He died in 2005 and I miss him sometimes like I knew him personally.
He affected people that way. I remember talking on the phone with a friend the day after Luther passed. He said the night before he had cried and I think he said he got pretty drunk too.
Each of us had a tribute to Luther on the web. Mine is offline now as it was music, pictures, and links to stories about Luther. But his is still online, an essay.
When Luther Vandross died, I was in New Jersey about 20 minutes from the hospital where he had been treated for kidney failure. I heard the announcement on the news and had to sit down. We'd been hearing that he was in the hospital, but I'd hoped he would come through it even though his friends seemed to be preparing for his death.
O.K., I'm a little less weepy and moved onto sleepy. Before I go, I'm posting three Luther Vandross songs/music videos.
"A House is Not a Home" live at the 1987 NAACP Image Awards. There's a story behind this song. The camera frequently goes back to Dionne Warwick because she received an award that night and had a hit record singing this Burt Bacharach song. Also, she and Luther were good friends.
An early version of "Superstar" performed live.
Finally, "Dance With My Father," a song that makes me cry pretty much anytime I hear it. The video moreso because it was made while he was in the hospital and celebrities participated to pay him tribute.
He was such a giant in the industry that other singers would call his producer and manager when they were considering recording a song. They'd ask, "Is Luther going to do this?" If they heard he'd planned to record the song, they'd drop it.
Other singers figured it was a waste of time to record anything that Luther recorded because he made each song his own and nobody could touch him. The radio stations would play his version and the other singer's version would be buried. It wasn't an underhanded tactic on Luther's part. It was just the way life was. People prefered Luther for ballads in particular.
Oh, wait! I have to add one more, a favorite. Luther Vandross and the late Gregory Hines together singing "There's Nothing Better than Love." Hines was known mostly as a dancer and actor. People would forget he could also sing.
Learned at Mrs. Grapevine that today's Old School Friday theme is too hot for radio. Like her, I immediately thought I should find a Prince song, mainly because I've been listening to his "Adore" and "Luv U in Me" today and comparing some Alicia Keys tunes, but the video for one of her Prince-like songs, "Like You'll Never See Me Again," isn't sexy like the song. It's a touching tale of near-tragedy. Still, Keys loves her some Prince for inspiration.
Hmm, it's enough to make a celibate run down the street and strip buck naked.
Anyway, the next person that came to me, out of the blue, was the late, incomparable Marvin Gaye. He was a freak who started showing his colors to listeners in his latter years. When I say Marvin was a freak, I mean it. Have you read about his sex life. He's gone now, but we still have his music to get us hot and sweaty.
I know, you're thinking "Sexual Healing." But I'm posting "You Sure Love to Ball."
If old school included Macy Gray, I'd choose her "Caligula," but she's out of date range and "Caligula" is too spicy for OSF guidelines anyway. Don't click that link unless you want to singe your ears.
I had to find me a female mistress of heat for this post, though, and I'm going way back to some real grown folks music, as Revvy Rev would say. Aretha, the Queen of Soul, singing "Dr. "Feelgood." After this song, the live version below, someone may need a cigarette. Listen to the female voices in the audience singing along with her, "Don't send me no doctor, filling me up with all those pills, 'cause I got me a man named Dr. Feelgood and oh oh oh yeah he takes care of all my pains and ills."
There's a communal Big O at the end of the song. And then it turns into church. I almost spit out my coffee because this is the first time I've heard the live version.
Whooo! Now I feel like calling up my old boyfriend, a very bad idea as in Jill Scott's "Cross My Mind," also not eligible for the old school groove.
And what did you think of Aretha's hat at The Inauguration Tuesday? I read the designer has been swamped with orders.
My mouth dropped when I saw the story at CNN about the Virginia Tech decapitation, a grisly murder. Despite this latest tragedy being the act of one man against one woman, I immediately remembered the 2007 massacre that took 32 lives, 33 including the murderer.
Perhaps last night's decapitation is the result of a lover's quarrel or the murderer's inability to accept unrequited affection. The police don't know the killer's motive yet.
(CNN) -- A female graduate student at Virginia Tech was killed Wednesday night when a man she knew attacked her with a knife and decapitated her, a school spokesman said.
Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said Thursday that Xin Yang's killing was the first on the campus since April 16, 2007, when a shooter killed 32 people before turning a gun on himself.
Yang, 22, from Beijing, China, was killed at the Au Bon Pain restaurant in the Graduate Life Center at around 7 p.m., school spokesman Larry Hincker said in a written statement.
Campus police took Haiyang Zhu, 25, into custody at the scene. The Ningbo, China, native has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail at a local jail, Hincker said. (from CNN, link is at end of post)
I won't lie. It was not simply that it's another horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech that caused me to recall the 2007 massacre, but also that again the killer is an Asian student. I'm human and humans connect information according to similarities, but we must be careful when we connect dots by ethnicity, as I discussed shortly after the 2007 case in "The Colors of Killers."
Next I remembered hearing the story of a teenage boy in Japan who decapitated his mother in May 2007. My thoughts followed with, "What's up with Asians and decapitation?" This is how people create negative stereotypes; they notice a type of behavior a few times with a certain group and erroneously jump to a bad conclusion about the group.
As an African-American, I reject developing negative stereotypes of other ethnic groups, especially following tragedy. That's been done to my people so much, and stereotyping has done so much damage that I won't do that to others.
Nevertheless, there's probably something written somewhere about decapitation in Asian culture because researchers study almost anything that crosses the human mind, and because swords were a popular weapon in ancient Asia. Actually, swords are still popular in some Asian countries such as Japan, but for display purposes only in most cases.
Both of my children are fascinated by Asian culture, and so when I misspeak and mix up Asian practices, one of them will jump in to lecture me that Asians are not a monolithic group like I'm an idiot. I'll hide this post from my kids for my peace of mind.
One thing we can guess and probably be correct. The man who decapitated this woman at VT, the mass murderer of 2007, and the teen boy who chopped off his mother's head have something in common that has nothing to do with their ethnic group but the human condition, and that's psychological disturbance. In addition, if I recall correctly, Cho Seung-Hui, the killer in the April 2007 mass murder, killed a woman first on a different part of campus, a woman he knew, causing some bloggers to discuss connections to misogyny and domestic violence.
So, the three murders mentioned in this post also have that in common, violence against women. But once Cho Seung-Hui, a South Korean, shot the woman, he went across campus and shot male and female alike.
After the Virginia Tech massacre, a few "experts" debated whether Asian men raised in Asian countries have trouble assimilating to Western culture and so suffer a specific unidentified stress disorder. When I heard that, I knew there had to be Asian people listening and pissed off. Nothing sucks like having your ethnic group stuck under a microscope and psychologically dissected by "experts" from a different ethnic group. They get either that pitiful sighing in their voices that signals they feel sorry for your people, or they ramp up with righteous indignation as though your group significantly deviates from the norm in the worst way, are freaks.
My prayers are with both the victim's family and the perpetrator's family. Hearing their daughter was murdered and murdered in such a grisly manner probably won't seem real at first to Xin Yang's parents and loved ones. And learning a son confessed to such a gruesome act could send a parent jumping off a cliff. This type of pain last to the grave. Read the full story at CNN.
Since Ronald Regan's departure from the White House, it's been the tradition of outgoing presidents to leave a private note for the incoming president. I wonder what former President George W. Bush had to say to President Barack Obama. Always take out the trash and watch your back, perhaps? Maybe Bush told Obama a good joke with the final words, "So long, sucker!" I doubt that, but certainly Obama's stepped into the fire and Bush into the sunset.
For the Obama children, Sasha and Malia, better than a note from the former president was a note from the former first kids, pictured at left. The outgoing Bush twins made history leaving a public message for the incoming youngsters, and I think that's sweet.
Jenna and Barbara Bush's wisdom for Sasha and Malia is a letter entitled "Playing House in the White House" at The Wall Street Journal.
CNN and other news outlets are loving this story and giving background on the twins:
The twin daughters of former President Bush were 7 when their grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, was inaugurated, and 20 when their father became president. (CNN)
It's wonderful to see people do something genuinely nice, and seeing the older Bush girls extend a warm hand to the Obama children gives us more hope that if we try, we can cast aside pettiness and get along in this nation, be civil. It also lets me know that whatever my disagreements are with Bush's policies, he's produced thoughtful daughters. I hope Malia and Sasha read this gift from Jenna and Barbara Bush carefully and heed their advice. Some of the twins' tips are universal:
-- Surround yourself with loyal friends. They'll protect and calm you and join in on some of the fun, and appreciate the history (Jenna and Barbara)
We all need a good support group, and Sasha and Malia will need more support than their parents and the First Grandma may be able to give. The road ahead may get fairly bumpy for the first African-American family to live in the White House.
The twins' daddy has taken a lot of heat, but that will seem like a matchstick's flame compared to the blaze Obama will face. There are opponents who refuse to give him a chance, and naturally, while Obama has friends among his fellow Democrats, he'll still have opposition in his own party -- some open, some cloaked. On top of this, the number of threats to his personal safety and the rumors spread by paranoid people on the fringe may surpass the number of threats and rumors aimed at past presidents.
The following advice from the twins is touching:
And finally, although it's an honor and full of so many extraordinary opportunities, it isn't always easy being a member of the club you are about to join. Our dad, like yours, is a man of great integrity and love; a man who always put us first. We still see him now as we did when we were seven: as our loving daddy. Our Dad, who read to us nightly, taught us how to score tedious baseball games. He is our father, not the sketch in a paper or part of a skit on TV. Many people will think they know him, but they have no idea how he felt the day you were born, the pride he felt on your first day of school, or how much you both love being his daughters. So here is our most important piece of advice: remember who your dad really is.
For a while there all we heard of the Bush twins is that they liked to party like dear old dad, sometimes ditching the Secret Service. Today it appears they've matured into accomplished young ladies.
According to WSJ, Jenna is a writer who's already produced a book. After reading this letter to Malia and Sasha, I give her a thumbs up on talent. Her sister, Barbara, works for a nonprofit.
Throughout the letter the twins share memories of what it was like coming of age in the White House and have other little tips about loving puppies and White House staff. Beautiful. You may read the full text of the twins' letter at The Wall Street Journal.
Over all, I've liked how the Bush family's helped the Obama family move into the White House. I'm not a fan of the former president, but I'll praise him when he deserves it. His daughters are feathers in his cap.
I'm trying to balance my carbohydrate-to-protein ratio and so instead of eating a slice of double-fiber toasted bread and coffee this morning before I rushed out the door, I told my daughter to put peanut butter on the toast. And then, as she was about to hand it to me, I remembered that I'd heard on the news last night the government has broadened its warning about peanut butter products contaminated with salmonella. But wait! Don't toss out the Jif yet.
I decided to slap roast beef on the bread instead, and when I came back today, I looked up this peanut butter scare.
Bloomberg reported this evening that the Georgia plant has been confirmed as the source of many of the salmonella cases reported in the news recently.
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Tainted peanut butter linked to six deaths and hundreds of illnesses originated at a plant in Blakely, Georgia, U.S. regulators said.
Connecticut officials’ discovery of Salmonella typhimurium bacteria in an unopened tub of King Nut peanut butter from the facility shows contamination didn’t occur after shipping, said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, on a conference call today with reporters. The plant, operated by closely held Peanut Corp. of America, is the only known source of the outbreak, Sundlof said. (Bloomberg)
One of the companies affected by contaminated products, according to Bloomberg, is the diet company Nutrisystem. The company has recalled its peanut butter granola bar, but reports no instances of illness.
This particular tainted food story has been brewing since early fall with cases of salmonella in 42 states. Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention told CBS today that cases are up to 43 states and one in Canada.
The CDC has been investigating and has narrowed down the primary danger, but peanut butter products from Peanut Corp. may not be the only culprits in the deaths and illnesses associated with this salmonella Typhimurium outbreak because salmonella is found in the intestines of animals, including humans, and can be spread by food workers who don't wash their hands and home cooks careless about cross contamination in the kitchen. In July an outbreak of Salmonella saintpaul frightened the public. Due to that scare, WebMd posted this salmonella FAQ that includes tips on how to properly handle food.
After reading earlier this month about the contaminated peanut butter products, I didn't see a danger to my family because King Nut doesn't sell products directly to consumers, and none of the salmonella cases seemed to be here in Louisiana.
King Nut peanut butter is sold in large containers only to institutions. No commercial peanut butter brands sold in grocery stores have been linked to the salmonella outbreak. (WebMD)
When I followed up the story today, I learned the government warnings are not about jars of peanut butter but about products that contain peanut butter or peanut paste such as cookies, cakes, ice cream, crackers, etc:
Several of the nation's largest retailers and manufacturers are voluntarily recalling products that may contain the contaminated peanut butter or paste. Among the retailers are Safeway, Kroger and Meijer, and products include Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies, Keebler Cheese & Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers and Little Debbie Peanut Butter Toasty crackers. A list of recalled products is being kept and updated by the government at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall. (The Washington Post)
The supermarkets mentioned in The Washington Post article don't serve the New Orleans area and none of the products mentioned are in my house at the moment. Still I'm eying my peanut butter warily.
If you have a dog and buy treats at Pet Smart, WebMD reports that "PetSmart's Great Choice Dog Biscuits is made with peanut paste linked to the salmonella outbreak."
Per news reports, authorities don't know the how the peanut butter became contaminated or whether the peanut butter is the sole source of recent cases. So far this "outbreak of salmonella illness ... is believed to have killed six people and sickened at least 485 others across the country," according to The Washington Post.
Jif, Skippy, Smucker's Natural, Peter Pan -- peanut butters I tend to buy -- are not contaminated according to company press releases.
So, how long has the buzz droned on about Michelle Obama's gown. Before inauguration, we looked at proposed sketches, wondered what designer she'd choose. How loud the sound of fashion bees! But tonight the First Lady's gown slipped out the bag and onto the dance floor, baby! Might as well talk about it; however, warning: I'm no fashionista.
All eyes certainly were on Michelle Obama, who had kept her choice of a designer and dress style a secret until literally the moment she entered the dance floor.
The first lady was clad in a long white gown designed by up-and-coming designer Jason Wu. His design style combines modern lifestyle dressing and haute couture, according to his Web site. (CNN)
Later via telephone tonight, Wu revealed to CNN the thought behind white gown. Speaking of the Obama vision, he said, "It's about hope. It's about newness. It's all a little dreamlike. I wanted it (the dress) to have a dreamlike quality."
He also said he didn't find out until tonight with the rest of the world that Mrs. Obama had chosen his dress for the evening. I read somewhere that he screamed like a lottery winner.
"I wasn't given any hints," Wu said to CNN, "... It's a dream come true."
I've got mixed feelings on Jason Wu's gown, but I definitely get the dream vibe he hoped to convey. The gown reminds me of a ball gown my mother had made for me by an exceptional seamstress when I was about 5 years old and the junior queen at a New Orleans event, but my dress didn't have any uncovered shoulders. I was only 5.
Don't take my comparison as a swipe at the First Lady's dress or Wu's talent. I was supposed to look like a queen, remember? And New Orleans, due to Mardi Gras balls, has a history of being a good city for evening wear. Ball gowns don't suddenly appear on store racks here just for prom season. Nearly every woman's closet in NOLA has a ball gown in it, even the maids'.
As far as I'm concerned, Michelle Obama could have worn a paper bag. This day has made me so happy; I had praise song going on like the inauguration poet, Elizabeth Alexander.
Tonight I'm watching the President and the First Lady beaming loveliness. They look like they're in love and mean it, every glance, every turn, every smile. Love is this day's fashion.
President Obama slow-dragged a tad with the First Lady at the Youth Ball and told the 18-35 year-old group, "That's what you call old school." At each ball, I think they danced to the classic "At Last," generally associated with singer Etta James. At one point Beyoncé Knowles serenaded the Obamas with that song. Knowles plays James in the movie Cadillac Records. Ms. Knowles/Mrs. Jay-Z really gets around. I applaud her daddy's marketing skills, and Knowles herself for dreaming her own dreams.
A few TV talking heads complained that the Obamas kept dancing to the same song, but there's a story behind that song for the First Couple, according to MTV.
"Interestingly enough, the year Etta James made this song popular, 1961, is the year Barack Obama was born," Greg Johnson, blues curator and associate professor at the University of Mississippi, told MTV News.
He added that he can't be sure as to Beyoncé's reasons for picking the song, but he is willing to take a few guesses. "The title can imply, 'At last the United States has elected a black president,' " he suggested. " 'At last the United States has overcome its past fears of people of mixed race, at last the United States has chosen positive vision over the status quo.' " (MTV)
Back to Michelle Obama's Ball Gown: (Added in update) If you're totally into the fashion of Mrs. Obama, and want to see gorgeous pictures of the gown, try the blog Mrs. O, tagged "follow the fashion of Mrs. O. -- A regular look at what she's wearing and who she's wearing." Gown talk's under the Mrs. O blog's post on Wu, which is where I spotted the first picture used in my post.
MSNBC calls Michelle Obama the Fashionista-in-Chief. On that network, Robyn Givhan of The Washington Post (and a Princeton University alum like Mrs. Obama) shared her opinion about the inaugural ball gown and Mrs. Obama's inaugural dress from earlier in the day. She and anchor Brian Williams also discussed that we haven't seen a First Lady bare her upper arms in a while. They really admired her arms for a bit, so sculpted, so toned. (For the next four years this woman will be in a fish bowl and I hope she's loving it.)
Givhan showed up on CNN's Larry King Live tonight where she said more of the same, and added that she felt guilty for not being able to talk more about Dr. Jill Biden's clothes, but she dug Jill's cute boots and the red coat too from earlier in the day, which reminded me of a comment on Twitter from Queen Unique, "Mrs. Biden is so cute and tiny in her wee little boots!"
Tim Gunn of Project Runway was on Larry King as well, praising Mrs. Obama's style. We expect Gunn to talk fashion, that's his business. But this morning, even veteran news anchor Tom Brokaw got into the fashionista swing. I wonder if he'll critique the ball gown tomorrow morning.
This article at The New York Times says the First Lady is telling as story with fashion.
If Michelle Obama is a different and more stylish first lady than the country has seen in a while — maybe since Jacqueline Kennedy — she proved it on Tuesday with a coat and matching dress in vivid lemongrass yellow. It seemed a fashion choice meant to stand out against the traditional red and somber black coats on the Capitol steps.
Here is a bolder woman, a serious woman from Chicago and Harvard who is not afraid to express herself with fashion, and it is the kind of confidence that many women will recognize in themselves. (By Cathy Horyn)
You'll have to read Horyn article to see what she means by telling a fashion story. Clearly she disagrees with Anne Coulter.
Robert Verdi said at CNN that Mrs. Obama's gown has a "prom quality," but he wasn't actually hard on the gown. Like Horyn, he compared Michelle Obama's style to Jackie O's. Boy! You should have heard him rattling off how many First Ladies have worn white ball gowns.
I'm also hearing tonight that the presidential pair have a bride and groom vibe, and that's okay since the nearly the whole country's on a honeymoon with the them, even some prominent conservatives .
In addition, the First Lady's been getting kudos for shining light on young designers such as Wu, 26, and people of color in fashion. The yellow dress/ensemble she wore today was designed by Cuban-born Isabel Toledo. Givhan discusses the dress in the MSNBC video above. You may also recall that Mrs. Obama wore a Narciso Rodriguez dress election night.
I learned from a Chicago Tribuneblog post that the First Lady wore "patent green Jimmy Choo pumps and green J. Crew gloves" with her "a lemongrass wool lace sheath and coat" during Inauguration Day activities. The reporter, Wendy Donahue, is quite detailed, even discussing Mrs. Obama's jewelry.
Here's video of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama (I love writing and calling them by their new titles.) at the Neighborhood Ball.
Thank God for CNN and MSNBC video, and to put First Lady fashions into historic perspective, take a look at Yuli's post. She knows more about fashion than I do. And more than likely, one of BlogHer's BeautyHacks will take on the inauguration ball fashion later. So, if you're like me, not a fashionista, you can learn. (Since I first posted it, BlogHer's published a post on Mrs. Obama as "a beacon of style and optimism," and surprise! The fashion expert is from Mrs. O, the blog mentioned earlier. I recommend the post.)
In the meantime, you may take this quiz on First Ladies' inaugural gowns or watch a slide show with commentary on Michelle Obama's fashion sense. A slide show's at HuffPo as well, which is where I found the second picture of the First Couple for this post and where you can read a collection of critiques on Mrs. Obama's style. Hmm, after a a day like today, everybody's quoting everybody.
Oh, I almost forgot. President Obama looked pretty dapper too in his stylish tux.
If I had the musical skills to sing this I would, but I don't sing. Here are lyrics for the GOP on electing its first African-American, Michael Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor, as its new chairperson. 
