Opinions On Eveything

So i've been watching CNN over the last couple days and it seems Michael Richards has made another apology. This time it was on Jesse Jackson's nationally syndicated radio show. What made this second apology newsworthy in my opinion was the fallout. It seems that black activists and even comedians (Paul Mooney to be exact) are now decrying the use of the N word as a colloquilism. Unfortunately I think this falls into the category of "a day late and dollar short".

I don't know when it exactly happened but the use of the word nigger has become a fashionable way of greeting fellow African Americans. The word has spread into general use in mainstream rap/hip hop to the point that it has lost its original meaning. This is a disgrace on so many levels that it's hard for me to comprehend. There's no other word in the english language that cuts to the bone the way that the N word has. It's the most amoral, humiliating word that conveyed the "supremacy" of whites over their black slaves yet today it's used in the same context as "brother".

The only other word that even remotely comes close to nigger in terms of subjecting power over the insulted is "bitch". What's even more maddening is that word has almost gained a quasi-acceptable status among young people today. I can't believe there are actually young women and girls who strive to be their man's bitch.

These are not the only words that have lost meaning and acquired quasi-positive values among young people but they're the two that immediately come to mind. Maybe i'm too sheltered in some ways but there is a serious lack of respect and understanding to our fellow man. Now a lot of this bizarro use of words, expressions and attitudes can be blamed on a lot of things such as TV, movies and music but that's just a hoary old argument. In my opinion a lot of the blame has to go to parents.

In the last 25 years we've seen the nuclear family crumble to pieces. It's hard to find truly stable families in the lower middle class/poor sections of North America. Now I know that's not all that new of a phenomenon but it seemed to me that in the past even in a one parent household the children would still be instilled with a sense of decency and pride. They were given all the tools the parent could give in order to be successful. The children strove to rise above the muck and be upstanding citizens.

Today those kind of values are almost nonexistent. The mothers have become alarmingly younger and younger which only perpetuates the "blind leading the blind" syndrome. A child can't mother a baby and from that moment on there's little to no authority in the household. Thankfully i've heard that teen pregnancies have dropped in recent years so that is a good thing.

We as a society in North America have ghetto-ized ourselves by falling into the morass of mediocrity, negative stereotypes and losing touch with history. This is why I applaud the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, Paul Mooney and others to spread the message that the N word has no place in society. The word is just too powerful an epithet to be used in any context. As for the socio-economic problems that face us. There is no easy answer. In many ways the politicians and authority figures have abandoned the very people who need them the most. It's up to us as decent folk to make our situation better.

Sometimes I wish we lived in a better world where Israelis and Palestinians can see that they're more or less the same. I want to see a world where people of different races can help each other out without them thinking "oh they're only helping because they have some kind of agenda". I want to see a world of tolerance. In many ways living on earth is a form of hell but we have the power to change our condition.

You know, I apologize if this was a rambling, incoherant post. It's just that this eats me up inside. I physically get sick thinking about this because I know that we can do better then the current conditions of life today.

In closing I want to quote Dr. King

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

We, the human race have't fully realized the Dream. I hope that one day before I leave this mortal coil that Dr. King's Dream will be Reality.

Tonight was like any other night. I was laying down in the living room watching TV when slowly but surely I was getting pain in my right lower area. At first I ignored it because it wasn't really anything but it progressively got worse. A couple years ago I had a urinary tract infection and the symptons were the same but slightly different. I was able to pee while I felt this pain so that seemed odd. Nonetheless the pain escalated to some serious heights. By the time I turned off the TV I had gotten very weak and sick to my stomache.

I tried lying down in my bed but it got worse and worse. My mother came home and I looked like death as I was hobbling down the stairs to tell her I was in tremendous pain. She called my father up and he was on his way home to take us to the hospital. It must've taken him 15-20 minutes but it felt like an eternity with this stabbing, constant pain in my right lower tummy area. As we drove to the hospital I was getting worse and worse. I was getting delirious with the pain. (I've never been very good about my pain threshold) Once we reached the hospital to wait and register I was in such dire straits that I was sticking out my arm and crying out to the nurses to bring a doctor for me and then it happened......

I told my mother I needed to throw up but as soon as the word "up" was uttered I had started heaving. I was shaking violently, I got up off my seat staggering around and vomitting like in that scene from THE EXORCIST. Before you know it I was peeling off my jacket and staggering like a sickly man as I got on my knees shaking like a leaf and throwing up as my father took me to the washroom where I was able to kneel again and regain my composure.

I was escorted back to my seat and went to register myself. I was still shaking like crazy, in fact I was shaking and shivering for a good ten minutes after I vomitted. Strangely enough the ailment that had brought me to the hospital in the first place had disappeared. I was suddenly well again but I went through the bloodwork and saw the doctor.

I got interesting news. It seems my glucosimine (sp?) levels are high. This wasn't shocking news as I have been pigging out on lollipops and icing covered cupcakes this month. So that didn't bother me so much as I only really need to regulate my sugar intake to get the levels down. The next bit of news freaked me out:

"you might find this crazy but it could be a gall bladder"

Immediately my alarm bells began ringing in my head. I was a bit scared because well, my image of people with gall bladder is of 40+ year old fat guys and not a guy in his late 20s who's the right weight for his body type. I was also troubled because I felt that I may need surgery. Anyways i'm going back to the hospital tomorrow morning for an ultrasound to see if it's indeed a gall bladder. I hope to heck that that's not the case. I don't need another surgery. I feel like i've had too many surgeries in my life. I know there are people that have had more then I have but still it wears on one to know that they may need to go under the knife for something like the 10th time in life.

So that was my crazy night. I just hope that there are no repercussions to it.

On Friday a poster at OS posted a video from youtube that was a bit disturbing and distressing that shows a small group of soldiers acting very stupidly IMO. Here's the video:




Now I made a comment and I got criticized for it mainly because I didn't flesh it out. So I feel I should flesh out my comment a bit. Normally i'd leave that to the OS community alone but the thread is closed and I feel that I need clear things up. Here's what I said.

Wow....

and you wonder why some ppl get all up in arms about American arm forces occupying their land.

I hope those soldiers get what's coming to them. (of course not death but still)

I think it's the first part of my statement that offended some folks so I will clarify my position here. 99.9% of soldiers out there in Iraq do a great job in a very stressful environment. It's just that the small things like this can get blown up to epic proportions by the media in the US and abroad. It's stupid things like that that give American forces a bad rap in a region where they already are to some degree or another hated by the population.

Granted, this is small potatos compared to terrorists kidnapping and torturing people but in modern day warfare it's not just about winning the war but winning the hearts of those you're trying to protect. There have been a few incidents in Iraq that have caused geniune concern whether it be true or not. The one case that immediately jumps to mind was when the US military was accused of defacing and treating the Quran like trash. So you see it's the big events like that or the small events like this little video that accumulate over time.

I have great respect for anyone who serves in the military and I have no tolerance for the few bad apples like this small group of soldiers who taunted and laughed at those kids. It's embarassing and humiliating to the good name of the US Armed Forces.

As for my statement about the soldiers getting what's coming to them. All I want to see is a disciplinary action. I don't wish any harm on them. The rank and file soldiers are still young men and they're allowed to make mistakes but one can't let little things slide or it could snowball into abuses of power. Now if this was something on the order of My Lai in Vietnam then the soldiers would definitely need to be court martialed. Obviously this isn't that situation but it still requires some form of punishment.

I hope that those in the thread that thought less of me based on a quick and off the cuff remark will at least respect my opinion at the very least and perhaps see things my way after this thorough expression of my views.

So over the weekend I had a chance to take a peek at a classic Cowboys game from 1993. This was the Week 16 encounter between the 'Boys and the New York Giants to determine the NFC East division champions. It was also the famous game where Emmitt basically carved up the Giants defense but injured his shoulder. Now before I get to my main point I have to say that after watching the game memories flooded back as I vaguely recall watching said game when it first aired. I used to have this big ass old TV in the living room and i'd sit right up in front of it and watch sports or play my video games. It was kind of a melancholy moment to remember back to those days. It was also interesting to see how violent and physical the game was. The crowd at the Meadowlands was also jacked up. It was a very college football like crowd in many ways.

Ok well time to get to the main point of this post.....

One of the great debates on message boards and indeed between football fans is "who was better? Emmitt or Barry?" I was always firmly entrenched in the "If Barry had Emmitt's support he'd have broken Payton's record long ago" camp. Sanders had the terrible luck to be on a team that didn't have all that great of a line while Smith had probably the best O-Line of the 1990s in front of him.

After watching the NYG/Cowboys game this past weekend I have come to the conclusion that Emmitt was better then Barry. One thing that Emmitt had was that he could completely change the complexion of a game. Yes, he was only a cog in that Cowboys machine but if you take Emmitt out of the lineup then defenses can concentrate on blitzing and getting in Aikman's face. Remember Aikman was not the most mobile QB in the world and while that line was very good it was still a line that was more geared run blocking more then anything else. This is why whenever Emmitt was out of the lineup the Cowboys didn't do nearly as well as they would if he was in the lineup.

The Lions on the other hand were a different kind of team. They were mostly a passing team. They loved to spread the ball around and keep defenses off-balanced that way. Sanders was just icing on the cake for them as he was the ultimate RB for the type of O-line they had. He could dance around and make defenders miss and that's what opened the passing game for the Lions. I tend to think that if you plugged in another scat type of back in there that it wouldn't hurt the Lions as much as losing Emmitt would hurt the Cowboys. Yeah, the Lions wouldn't be nearly as explosive but they'd still have a very good offense.

It's still a very tough choice either way. None of those guys get my nod for best RB ever anyways as that goes to Walter Payton who could just plow over you, run around you, and dance around with the best of em when needed. It's just that i've now seen "the light" when it comes to Emmitt Smith. As I said on OS right after watching the game, Emmitt was the straw the stirred the drink for the Cowboys.

It's been a long time since I last posted anything. Quite frankly, I had very little of interest to talk about that is, until now.

I'm a huge U.S. political junkie. I've always found the American political system to be far more interesting and actaully more powerful in terms of how the vote matters. In Canada the parliamentary system can make voting to be a futile exercise. It's kind of hard to have a meaningful vote when a Majority government can be had with only 40% support.

Last night's mid-term elections was one of the more interesting national elections i've seen in a long time. As we all know the Democrats have been painted as extreme left wing liberals while the GOP tries to make itself out to be the social and religious voice of America. Yet during this election season I believe we've seen somewhat of a shift. The Democrats have slowly and with very little media recognition moved to the center of the political spectrum. It doesn't hurt when the GOP hurt itself with ill-timed scandals that struck at the very heart of the GOP "moral authority". The Foley scandal and the fall from grace of Rev. Ted Haggard exposed the Right as a morally bankrupt and corrupt political body. That's not to say the Democrats are angels but they stuck to their message while not really stubbing their toes.

If you look at the makeup of the new congress you'll see that the Democrats, while disparate and a big tent party are generally more middle of the road centrist. This time the label of left wing wackjob liberals didn't stick. The insistence of the Bush admin to "stay the course" in Iraq while stubbornly refusing to listen to different views increasingly frustrated the American Public. The Democrats didn't overplay their hand this time. They emphasized a need for change while dropping the 2004 mantra of "cut and run". This time they were wise to say that change is needed, that there needs to be new tactics in the war in Iraq. It was this moderate speech that hit home with American voters.

I don't think the democrats should take this vote as a mandate but rather a cautionary handing off of power to a different group in the hope that they'd reign in the excesses of the last 6 years. In fact the democrats HAD to move to the center in order to gain votes. If they just revert back to a extreme liberal program then they'll lose A LOT of votes in '08.

Let's look at Connecticut, Ned Lamont is the poster boy for the Liberal Left. He did a great job of bringing the blogosphere and Liberal internet users to his side but look who won the state. Joe Lieberman was basically ousted because he was viewed as being too buddy-buddy with the Bush Admin but in truth Lieberman is one of the most rational and centrist politicians in DC. this was the reason he won last night. He isn't one to gravitate to extremes but rather to work within the framework of partnership and common sense.

This was a rejection of the Liberal wing of the Democratic party. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would be wise to recognize the Conn. result as a micro expression of the overall macro level feeling throughout the country. The United States has finally (IMO) reverted back to its natural political disposition of being middle of the road while leaning toward the left or right without going to the extremes.

The resignation of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and President Bush's conciliatory tone today could be a sign of change in Washington DC. This could be a time for compromise and partnership. On the other hand it could just blow up in everyone's face and we'll be back to "politics as usual".

I surely hope that the next couple years leads to productive and co-operative bi-partisanship in DC.