Our Crazy Uncle Seems Totally Afraid To Win

"She really thought I didn't mind that crying baby"

What isn't hard to understand is the love and understanding that we all have for that crazy uncle in our family.  You know who I am talking about because every family seems to have THAT uncle.

Call him Uncle Donald if you will.

He's that uncle who always seems to say something to infuriate somebody, if not everybody at the same time, though some in the family know how to let him have his way and not poke the bear by trying to censor him.

Usually, our crazy Uncle Donald is aided by a fair amount of liquor to increase the audacity of his offensiveness, but he is perfectly capable of pissing off many, with or without liquor. The liquor is usually just an easy excuse for the kind of stuff they do all of the time anyway, but it also gives us something to excuse him for, until the next time.

After all, crazy Uncle Donald is family, and there really is no way to totally disassociate yourself from family....is there?

It was way back in 1989, with Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. campaigning mightily to stop the impending State legislature pursuit in Louisiana of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.  That was the only other time in which a party attempted to oust one of it's own nominee's. It didn't work and Duke won that seat.
(http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/white-supremacists-feel-inspired-trumps-2016-campaign)

THE LESSON?

Sometimes when you DON'T stand up against your unruly family members, they'll only get more unruly and eventually take over the whole party.

Two years later, however, republicans learned their lesson when Duke attempted to win the Governors seat in Louisiana, but was unsuccessful due to a strong stand of resistance from members of his own party.

David Duke is nothing like crazy Uncle Donald. He is our slick Uncle Duke who is rhetorically capable of convincing you of just about anything with his gift of gab and immense intellectual capacity.  As a black political editorial writer who researches constantly, I have to watch carefully to the amount of time I spend listening to David Duke because he can totally focus on elements that you'll agree with him about, and never reveal the other elements of his intolerant self that resides at the core of his being.

Those who keep up with such things know that our racist Uncle Duke rarely talks about blacks anymore, but is an intense skeptic about the pervasive influence of Jewish money in American life in addition to the 8 billion dollar welfare payment we send to Israel even while Netanyahu spits in the face of our president. Uncle Duke and I do not disagree on this bone of contention, yet he loses me on the race purity mission that elevated him to Grand Wizard. Though he has abandoned the sheet and the hood, what became of all of that hatred?

Whether he continues to espouse such hatred and extremes or not, is a risk that Louisiana voters refused to trust again, as Duke has run for many political offices in Louisiana and beyond, but never won another seat after winning the state legislature seat in 1989.

Louisiana voters, and its republican party, have rejected his form of hatred and turned him into a fringe lunatic lost in the extremes of politics and academia until revived by his recent endorsement of our crazy Uncle Donald.

Although much more lucid a thinker and talented as a orator, Uncle Duke was denounced for turning back the clock on race relations in America. In a crazy bit of political irony, Uncle Donald, far from full fledged denunciation, is FINALLY being seen as the sincere threat to the future of the GOP that he has always been from the moment he claimed the label, and a sincere threat to the reputation of those who continue to love and support him too, much like our crazy Uncle who no one knows how to functionally separate themselves from.

The fact that the GOP is talking about some form of nominee switching intervention is good but sad when you think about the damage they have accepted by waiting so long.  At this point in the conversation, it's hard to know if they will be more damaged with a Trump victory and a path or plan that could be so progressive even Obama will wish he voted for him, or if he and Republicans lose once again and fight with presidential defeat depression while searching for the motivation to  redefine their identity by capturing some of these millions of now bewildered voters.

Hillary has a delicate line to walk on as she seeks to secure enough bewildered voters herself to win the electoral map and the presidency. No race against an opponent so immensely flawed should ever be this darn close, but it is because no one really likes Hillary that much either. At this point in the process, she'll never extend her favorabilities to even that of Mitt Romney, who must be chomping at the bit to defy his families wishes and save the country from Trump by being the secondary option of this GOP intervention plan.

The voters that Clinton must pursue are those particular family members who hate Uncle Donald's crap and might choose to spend more time at the reunion with lying Aunt Hillary- who is only hard to believe, versus crazy Uncle Donald who lies and attacks everybody in sight- but only if you make them choose between the two.

In this election, making people choose between these two is exactly what WE must do.  I say WE because Hillary will insult the voter's she needs while blaming our crazy Uncle on their support of him.  She must continue to treat him in the only way that he understands- with ridicule. Rational debate has little value with crazy Donald. With that insecure Uncle of ours, there is actually nothing better than a little name calling to piss him off and take him off his game. Trump can't focus on the issues while defending himself from name calling or angry Gold Star families. Clarifying his existence in this race by calling him crazy Uncle Donald would achieve a very intentional, two-fold purpose.

While Hillary points out how insidious it is to give our crazy Uncle the most powerful job in the world, WE must keep informing our friends and family that THEY are the reason that he is still sticking around.  Donald is showing as many signs of wanting out as that tomato can boxer who needs to last four rounds to insure he gets paid.  Trump is well past that four round threshold and more likely to lose money and power if this keeps up much longer. If he had hired a trusted corner man, he would have fired him already for not throwing in the towel on this thing.

The only person more shocked that you crazy voters still love the crazy uncle is Trump, because he probably never got involved to actually become president.  The reason why he's running will be a secret to history or one hell of a book if he has the courage to reveal the art of this deal he made with the devil, Hillary, or someone really mad at the GOP.

It's not out of the realm of understanding for our crazy Uncle to be up on a soap box trying to convince us that he is the most talented and brilliant of us all. That is what he does at every party.

The reasons why he still has people supporting him is the reason why I am writing today.

Hitler's rise came absent the balanced informational obstruction of the Internet.  Trump is not so lucky.  If you need to know more about what he is all about, the evidence reads like a clear and present danger.  He is a self serving business man with no evidence of being benevolent or particularly good in business because he refuses to release the only proof of such things, his tax return, calling them all "under audit". In the absence of the only resume that a business man can offer for US to review, let US review the details that are available to us.

Every time I take the time out to complain about the pain in the arse we call Trump, I find myself unable to do so without some element of praise that he deserves too.

He deserves the credit for demonstrating political dominance without financially dominating the process too.  He deserves credit for exposing a delegate system that we had little functional knowledge about.  If the electors in half of the United States go rogue, as the Constitution allows, he might soon give an up close and personal look at the electoral college aspect of the two-party hustle, used to maintain the two-party grip on power. He deserves credit for forcing the conversation to happen on several hot button topics that political correctness had previously silenced, and he deserves a lot of real credit for exposing the cracks and flaws in our system of governance including our immense racial and cultural divides that function as wedges to help maintain and expand those exposed cracks in the foundation.

Stated more clearly, he has helped us to see how terribly racist and divided WE actually are.

If his candidacy is reflective of this nation, it is showing that WE are mean, somewhat vile, vain, full of hatred and polarized beyond our ability to even recognize friends and loved ones when examining them through a political lens. This political season has found millions of our friends and family members getting dropped off our social media friends list- assuming they haven't dropped you first.

For a while, both sides had serious reason, other than favorability ratings, to call the two of these candidates equally bad. Trump's former attack of John McCain and so many others after that, wasn't enough to exclude him from presidential consideration, but his recent attacks on babies and Muslim parents of slain war vets while lying about his relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, has at least clarified that he is uniquely horrible.

Trump is that crazy Uncle we all have, the one we would never imagine helping to become president. If you don't know how to bail out for pride or embarrassment, you are like those folks on the Titanic who realized the carrier didn't have enough life rafts for everybody, so you stand resolute in the no way out scenario you've found yourself in. What you are doing by standing steadfast in the corner of Trump is surely a grand display of courage and determination as you sink down to your slow, icy death.

Crazy Uncle Donald is not only sinking the boat on his own political race, he is destroying the political reputations and careers of everyone that hitches their wagons to him. Most of those people I politically oppose, so Uncle Donald has done something great for me. As for the voters, voters don't have to reveal their voting booth selections even though FaceBook seems to make us think we have to declare a pledge of allegiance to someone so that someone else isn't presumably winning by default.

In the words of Vice President Joe Biden, that is a bunch of malarkey.  We'll never rid ourselves of two-party rule if we remain convinced that any vote outside of one party is an instant vote for the other.  If there is no reason for me to know who you vote for, there is no reason for me to ask or care who you vote for either.  WE use a secret ballot for a reason.  If any of US are truly interested in Making America Great, finally, insuring over 90% voter participation gets us closer to a majority selection and not just a campaign season survivor. As long as voter participation remains stuck at numbers barely over 50% of the population, financial influence can, and does, win an election every time.

Hillary can do herself a ton  of supporters and  loads of Super PAC money a lot of good by championing the reforms (campaign finance, immigration) that Trump has brought to light. But don't get it twisted. Our distrust of Hillary is real, and nothing will instantly convince US that she will fulfill her campaign promises or fulfill that progressive platform after getting elected.  So, instead of blowing a bunch of presumed hot air full of political promises that no one really believes, Hillary must keep dishing the ice on the hot rhetoric of crazy Uncle Donald to help expose him as the crazy Uncle that we all know him as.

If you are still in his corner, you are doing a loyal and honorable thing as a member of America's family, but a horrendous thing for the future of this nation. Nobody is telling you not to love him and keep inviting him to the party.  Just don't make him our president.

Hillary's Panoramic Picture Needs A Zoom Lens

I must admit.

I was a little afraid for poor Hillary because she messed up and engineered the best group of political speeches we've ever seen as an affirmation to her credibility and an introduction to her as the official nominee of the Democrat party.

The Reverend Dr. William Barber II turned a more mundane list of final night speakers into a night of speaking just as strong as any of the other nights. But that is only because Hillary did the damn thing too.

I could have chosen much more dignified words to meet the gravitas of the moment and the person who owned it, but it was beyond presidential.  It was real talk like we've never quite seen from Hillary or any presidential candidate.

It had so much detailed specificity that the most common republican critique after the speech was not to the detail and planning, but to the fact that she didn't precede it all by saying "I'm going to ask congress for these things", realizing that the only encumbrance to her thorough dissertation would be those do-nothings.

Donald Trump, conversely, not only insures you that he- and only he- can do the things that he promises, he does so with as little detail as he can get away with.  Thus far, that is quite a bit.

On stage last night, Hillary followed up a man that started out his spiritual lambasting of conservatives- of which all of us who are Christian naturally find allegiance to- with a not so veiled refrain that went as follows.

"I am so concerned about those who say so much about what God says so little, while saying so little about what God says so much"

If the point wasn't quite made clear enough, Dr. Barber later added

"When religion is used to camouflage meanness, we know we have a heart problem in America"   

If Race Is our #1 Issue, Should It Be Our #1 Conversation?

Electing Barack Obama not only represented the beginning of Hope and Change, it allowed America an opportunity to ease long standing guilt.  The White House of only white men  gave race critics plenty of room to complain.  When president Obama moved his family in to the White House, he ushered in a term called post-racial America; an America where race no longer is the limiting stigma that it used to be.  The America that asks, "how did Oprah and Obama happen if America is so racist"?

Whether you chuckle at the very notion of post-racial America, or you believe that we can never move on until we simply move on, America is constantly making a topic out of matters of race while simultaneously running from any genuine conversation about it.  

The truth about the Obama presidency is that Obama has closely followed Clinton's moderate, to right leaning policies, so it seems reasonable to expect that republicans could find as much common ground with this President as they did with Bill.  Shunning the single payer option for a Federal version of RomneyCare  is as right leaning as is the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), Obama's NAFTA equivalent.  To many black people (including me), going through life answering to the name "Barry" instead of Barack is a sign of Barack's propensity towards anglo assimilation instead of the black power persona given to him via connections to Jeremiah Wright or My Brothers Keeper.

Barack Hussein Obama, who has family roots from Kenya, was always going to have a hard time bridging the racial divide in America.  I have a hunch that Barry Obama, the Harvard Graduate who deports more Mexican's than Bush ever dreamed of, might have been received in a different way by those still hung up on his skin tone. During the Bush year's, the KKK was dying into a marginalized group.  Under Obama they are alive and kicking and a group that is back on the move. The fear that white America is becoming a minority speaks to the ear of many  white Americans, even if extremism isn't how they express this concern.

As Black America evolves politically, we remain largely unified on the idea that we have yet to reach the place that Martin Luther King Jr. had dreamed of for America.  Even Herman Cain, once seen as a republican front runner for the presidency, cried racism when seedy stories from his past curtailed his run at the white house. For every moment that we feel progressed as a nation relative to matters of discrimination, we are constantly taken back by stories of voter suppression and of states who've flipped their "white only" signs around in order to write the words "heterosexual's only"

Not every apparent racial debate is naturally divided along racial lines.  Voter suppression, immigration, entitlement reform (which now includes the ACA) are all matters of public policy that do not differentiate on racial lines but  have been primarily drawn on lines of social status (the givers versus the takers).  Yet, when you separate the masses and look at the faces, race can not be ignored as an obvious element within these stories too.  Nancy Pelosi says that immigration reform would have already been signed if the said immigrants were Irish. The difference of course has much to do with the opened border we share with Mexico versus Ireland, but many people would say that Pelosi is right.

Race has conspired against America from the day that it was allowed to be a dividing line between its citizens. Yes Mitch McConnell.  The opposing party to a seated president has always fought the good fight of legislative give and take.  Never have they done it using kamikaze warfare.  To educated observers, the end game of this republican power play will resemble that of Jim Jones during the Jonestown massacre.  It is virtually impossible to explain away your "true motives" when your end game seems to disregard your own safety.  Wallowing in the mud just to get a little of it on your enemy might be a way to cloud the waters on Obama's legacy, but at what cost.? Republican's have always opposed Democrat policy,...... just not like this.  Are they truly attacking the left, or are they left with no other explanations for their intense focus on the failure of America's first brother?

If it is fair to say that the race of Barack Obama has conspired to grind politics (immigration, ACA repair, entitlement reform) to a halt, then it is probably fair to say that race remains our number one issue.

While no one wishes to be labeled a complainer, only unresolved complainers get offended by the label.  (I am personally a classism complainer ) No matter how right you think you might be,  the challenge is to find a way to address issues that matter to you without sounding like a complainer, even when complaining is your only recourse.  Martin Luther King Jr. complained about the nature of this nation and his complaining got him memorialized. Yet, even Dr. King saw the lines between poverty and color blur as he pressed towards a better America for blacks, who's primary challenge was the impact of racism (poverty) and not simply  the viciousness of hate.

There are black people who will falsely tell you that minorities can not be racist' (by definition) because racism is an act of powerful people against weaker ones. Whether the crime is racism or bigotry, there are plenty of examples of how we all let stereotypes of race taint our image of the world, leading to our abuse towards the people in it. As a result, we all expand racism and classism in our own way.  In effect, no one cares to address something that everybody practices.

With as much as we discussed these things in grade school, why is America still full of  racial stereotypes?  

The easy answer is that we forgot the lessons we learned.  We  limited our conversation to those mandatory classes, and forgot to reinforce that, while stereotypes are generally true, they are viciously dangerous to employ.  Our teachers always told us that there are no stupid question because they knew that the height of human ignorance is a question unasked. By asking questions about geometry we indirectly master the language of the craft.  

Race is no different. Without a healthy conversation surrounding race, we do not have the strength of vocabulary needed to further the discussion. In the absence of the proper words for discussions of race, most of us mess up when seeking to learn about others.  Eventually we came up with a term called political correctness (which means the other guy is simply way too sensitive) and refuse to go down that road ever again.

Political correctness has been the fuel to the growth of racial division, but now it is high tide. We must link arms and test these waters for change.  Change is necessary because we take way too much comfort in our stereotypes. Absent of our stereotypes, we are forced to do the work it takes to get to know people independent of their persona, which is largely driven by race and class.  

When it comes to genuine discussion, our reluctance to "go there" as it relates to race is because it is a sensitive scab that just doesn't heal quickly.  Some say that our problem is that we won't leave the scab alone long enough for it to fully heal and fall away.  Some believe that in time, racial division might heal itself because technology has joined people together in a way that removes the ignorance, and thus the fear that we have towards one another.  Unfortunately, this method of racial progress demands the death of several generations of ignorant people who continue to proliferate racial division by breeding the same fear that was bred into them.

President Barack Obama has been extremely aware of the presence of the racial extreme's in America.  Obama needed a significant turnout from his base, so he has tried to be as cool a black man as he knows to be without being a President of just the black people.  As a result, he has offended many of those who voted for him to represent their unheard voices, while simultaneously offending those who generally oppose cool black guys.

It is hard to ever say that 'the time is now' to have this discussion because it is not easy to get any one of the races to embrace their role towards change.  What is an obvious reality is that the Obama family forces everyone (even other blacks) to see black people in a different light.  Before the Obama's, it has been nearly impossible for America to see any black man as smart and passionate and articulate enough to outshine the white guys who have dominated the white house.  Now that the Obama family has come along, the world has an opportunity to see black Americans in a much less monolithic way.  We are more than entertainers.

It is also very hard to gain an understanding about someone else when you start with too many preconceived notions (stereotypes).  Every action that a person does when cast beneath the shadow of a stereotype is darkened by that shadow. Even your positive traits can be rationalized away by someone who generally see’s you in a negative light.  Whites and blacks and all races do this to each other; holding securely to our stereotypes until we meet someone who forcefully snatches them from our grip by defying them all, and then we simply count them as an exception to the rule as we continue to discriminate against the rest. 

Obama has shattered many stereotypes of black people, but he has not removed common questions. Barack Obama has unsettled dust that had long since found a comfortable resting place. He has been a steroid to the leadership journey that  other black leaders started years ago.  Sometimes, their is a legitimate curiosity as to what a black man might do in the face of leadership. Other times, people just want to see what your hair actually feels like. In the end, we haven't given enough black leaders a fair chance to know what the data will show, and we haven't given enough white people a chance to touch our hair. One day we might finally discover that black leaders succeed and fail just the same as others.  One day we might realize that the only true difference does lie in the skin tone and hair texture.

The Obama’s are cool and smart and composed and charismatic and black.  They are the Huxtables who made it to the very top of the mountain.  They make many people have to observe and rethink their impressions of all blacks because if there is one family  like this, there has to be two.   Most importantly, while they help us to accept that we have come a long way, they remind us daily of how far we have yet to go. Especially with matters of race.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
When is the right time to stage an intervention?  

The time is ripe for this debate that we have long since tip-toed around.  We are more polarized than ever because those who are most benefited by divisions of race and class are afraid of what happens when these institutions fall.  The KKK was able to thrive for years by feeding off of the contrived fear that had been developed against blacks and Jews.  As that fear dissipated, so did their power base.  Racism and racist organizations survive from fear. Fear is a funny thing because the less man fears God, the more likely we are to become fearful of one another stifling the quality of our conversation.  In my mind, racism grows because it continues to be fertilized by fear and watered by ignorance.

When race is implicated as a contributor or an impediment to social class, minorities develop class envy breeding a widespread inclination for unhealthy consumerism (keeping up with the Joneses) that only increases the class divide.  Classism is the ugly institution that feeds off of our pursuit to afford an unhealthy version of the American Dream.  Classism thrives from our inability to define the dream for ourselves and not succumb to a force fed dreamlike illusion.  In the end, classism wins if it convinces anyone of us that what I lack is directly related to what you have.  When you then associate this same notion to skin color, you create a destructive convergence which some are describing as the most intense polarization of modern history.

We first allowed fear to polarize us, but now we are letting the fear of our dying familiarity (aka stereotypes) overwhelm the fear of impending change. Our stereotypes are not only easy and familiar to us all, they keep us safe from the unknown and the uncomfortable.   Every black man you once feared isn't necessarily your opponent anymore.  Some of them are like Herman Cain and a few are like Spike Lee who both moved away from city folks when their money elevated their class, but are probably  similarly stereotyped by the suburbanites who they call neighbors.  

Racism may not be gone, but it finds a way to temper itself when confronted by wealth. For people without money, racism seems the same as it ever was.  For those who have money, racism is a taboo topic that most will shun within every environment that money controls.   A person's color might influence our initial impression, but a keenly purchased watch or pair of shoes can offer a sufficient head fake.  Thanks to black conservatism, electing a black president and nice watches and shoes, racism is no longer painted on the face of America even if it remains in our bloodline.

So is racism a legitimate problem worthy of a legitimate conversation, or is the alleged abuse of Barack (because he's a brother) much to do about nothing?....and what do black people's hair actually feel like? 

Who know's because we just won't 'go there.  In order to get a check up, you have to be willing to visit the doctor.  When it comes to getting a checkup on racism, America has yet to make the appointment.

What I know for certain is this.

When you seek to find common ground, you quickly discover how easy it is for any two people moving towards each other to close the gap between them. My hope is for the death of fear and the hope of change wherein lies the conversations of a brighter tomorrow.

Florida Must Protect Michael Dunn In Order To Preserve It's Law

If you go to Colorado and you are an adult, you can now legally smoke marijuana.  If you travel to Washington, the same is true.  Head out to Vegas and there is legal gambling a plenty.  The prostitution is not technically legal in Vegas like it is in neighboring Reno, Nevada, but no one seems to care that prostitutes advertise openly in the phone book.

There are states you move to when you wish to have lower taxes on your income and states that have plentiful wild game, along with the freedom to bag a few.  If for some reason you are a gun advocate and are sick of crime taking over our streets, you could live in a few states that might cater to your qualms, but none better than Florida. Sunny skies, plush beaches, beautiful people and the kind of stand your ground laws that make you excited to be carrying a weapon.

Did you ever get the feeling that the Keystone pipeline is an inevitable that is getting jammed up for as long as environmentalist can?  Guns make me feel the same way.  The more people scream about banning guns, the higher sales rise in response.  Guns are more than a protected constitutional right, they are a big time business and the line of shoppers seems to never disappear.  Anything that inspires big money can only be defeated by bigger money.

Moreover, the voice of those who use guns has made it perfectly clear that we need more guns in the hands of the good guys just to keep pace with the bad guys.  We have to stop relying on law enforcement and make everyone a potential enforcer of the law.  We must encourage criminals to stop and think about the risk of encountering a person who is prepared to shoot first and ask questions later.

What that means in the end is that we must put our laws where our mouth is  by creating an environment that tests the theories.  If Florida is going to create a state that starts teaching these thugs to be afraid, Florida must preserve the rights of the vigilante, rights that Florida forged into law.  Many rats die in the science lab, but not because no one tried to keep them alive.  Florida has to keep this lab rat alive for the sake of the experiment and for the sake of the argument.



Michael Dunn has the weight of a social ideology behind him on this killing.  Zimmerman did too, but Zimmerman silenced the only voice that could send him to jail.  Dunn has voices to the contrary of his recollection, but they are not fighting for the right to bear arms or the right to use them like Florida lawmakers intended in the making of state gun use laws.

If I had only been so clever as a young man, I would have told mom that I shot my brother with the BB gun because he was walking near me with that same look on his face that he had the last time he beat me up.  What does she want me to do?  Take the first strike, or protect myself and explain my motives later?

Since the choice involved a gun, mom probably charges Dunn with manslaughter (in accordance with Florida law) and I lose my gun for the summer, or until she forgets she is punishing me.  Both punishments will hardly fit the crime....(sorry mom).

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Michael Dunn, George Zimmerman and Florida Proving More Gun Theory Before Our Eyes

Michael Dunn, George Zimmerman and Florida Proving "More Gun" Theory Before Our Eyes

Whenever you create laws that protect your use of guns, you run the risk of indisputable vigilantism.

The real surprise is not that we have yet another teen killing in Florida, the surprise is that we don't have more.  'When Michael Dunn gets off for the murder of 17 year old Jordan Davis, we all will get to argue over some peculiar facts.  Dunn will get acquitted for rolling down his window and asking the car load of black youth, "are you talking to me?".  It appears that they were guilty of playing that "rap crap" a bit too loudly for Dunn's liking.  But it was the shot gun that they just so happened to be riding down the street with, which they proceeded to aim at Dunn, causing him to shoot back in self defense.  No shotgun was found so Dunn surmises that they got rid of it before they tried to save the life of their friend.

Did Dunn just so happen to have his gun cocked and ready when he saw the shotgun, or did he swiftly respond to the sight of a shotgun by reaching to get his own gun and opening fire before getting one bullet in return fire; especially from a shooter who already had their hand on the trigger of the gun Dunn claims to have stared down the barrel at.

Much like George Zimmerman, he only has sensibility working against him, none of which resides in Florida.  Well, to be fair, there might be a lot of sensible people living in Florida.  Some might even be on the jury in this trial, but the law that they allowed through intention or neglect has offered an easy way to ease an itchy trigger finger.

You don't have to own guns as an adult to remember your journey with guns.  For boys and girls all over the land, our love affair with guns began long long ago, after fulfilling some birthday or Christmas wish.

Your first piece was one of those noise making kind that look pretty fake, but made you feel like a cowboy.  These guns are wrought with positives and negatives.  The positive is that a kid with a pretty good imagination could spend hours with that noisy crap and never make you worry about damage to anything but your nerves.

The down side is that kids grow up pointing safe guns at the face of one another, which is not a habit that works well when the trigger finally releases more than a noise.  Our safe guns became like candy cigarettes;  probably okay to have, but an odd behavior to promote.

When I first got a BB gun, I couldn't wait to go outside each morning and try to take out a squirrel or a bird in my area.  I tried to be a safe user of the toy, as did my friends, but most of us remember hitting someone in the face with a pellet, or taking one ourselves.

Firing ranges are probably fun, but don't you ever drive around with your legal gun, or walk in an ugly side of town with your permit to carry and think; "I really hope some idiot gives me a reason today"?

No?

Never?

Well, if you never get the urge to wake up early and clean your new assault rifle and stand with it in your front room and imagine that burglar you bought it for, you are better than me. I had to get rid of all thoughts of video games because I get obsessive over new toys.  An actual gun would have me dreaming of making one of those internet videos, 'murder of a watermelon'. My first watermelon was a poor squirrel that got the unfortunate luck of my sling shot and a strong wind when it fell from the power line to the ground. (Head trauma.....didn't end well).

I am certain that this has something to do with my aversion to weapons of all kind, yet the depravity did not end there.

That dead squirrel that I accidentally killed on purpose did not cure me.  Someone, probably not me, had to finish that squirrel with a shovel and dump it in the dumpster because I made excuses when confronted with what had happened, and I ran from the responsibility in the end.  I wasn't quite 7 yet, but I knew better even though killing that squirrel was the reason for making the sling shot.  If I got caught hitting a person I would not get to use them anymore, so I practiced on bottles until I thought I could hit an animal.

I missed every animal, until I didn't.

Guns are so dangerous that most states put harsh penalties around the misuse of them.  Florida has made it easier to consider the option more readily.  Florida has said what all gun rights activist seem to believe, that our problem is not too many guns, its not enough guns in the hands of good people. What that statement declares is that good people, whoever and wherever you are, must start packing a piece and LOOK for an opportunity to do good for your country.  If you do not feel safe to act, the very concept of citizens with guns loses its value and purpose.

You see, the theory is that criminals need to start getting shocked when they discover that people will defend themselves and pop a cap in your ass.  Once again, this demands the willingness and freedom to shoot first and ask questions later....and not go to prison.  You can't claim the power of a gun in the hands of normal people and not make it easier for normal people to use them without hesitation.  The people who write these laws are the normal people with guns imagining what they might need from the law when they are forced to pop a cap in your ass.

They are absolutely right in regards to the demands of a law that says shooting people is the way to get bad folks to worry about who has a gun.  If you make a mistake in the process, you need only the defense of motive to gain the protection of the law.  Even if their theory happens to one day coincide with reduced crime in Florida, the connection to the killing of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, and others before them, and more to come will be coincidental at best.

If Michael Dunn gets convicted to anything, it won't be hard time like some are hoping for.  Such a conviction and sentence would shoot a bullet into the intent of this Florida law.  A soft sentence like probation and anger management training will preserve the sanctity of this stand your ground law.......and will piss off those looking for justice to high heaven.

Next Post:  The Future of Stand Your Ground Laws

Angry White Men: Did America Breed White Men To Believe They Deserve Power?

On the morning of September 4, 1957, fifteen-year-old
Dorothy Counts set out on a harrowing path toward Harding High,
where-as the first African American to attend the all-white school
she was greeted by a jeering swarm of boys who spat,
threw trash, and yelled epithets at her as she entered the building. 
#BlackHerstory Via For Harriet.

When Michael Kimmel, a professor of sociology and gender studies at Stony Brook University in New York, released his new book, "Angry White Men" I had a serious Mitch McConnell image flash into my head.

Actually, I have had repeated Mitch McConnell moments every since he declared that the number one agenda of the GOP would be to make Barack Obama a one term president.  Over the years since he first declared this comment, it has been rationalized as a foregone conclusion of any opposition party, except no opposition party ever declared it in such an honest way.

McConnell was not simply doing his rightful duty as the Senate Minority leader, he was venting a frustration that had boiled itself into anger and his lid came off.  What McConnell was also expressing was a sense of loss that the electing of Obama

Click here to order 

represents to way too many white men who never expected the America that they've discovered in the last two elections.

Kimmel has done a timely release even if he does it a bit narrowly.  In his attempt to achieve a work that reflects the voice of the subject at hand, the angry white man, Kimmel interviews several of them and includes their stories as the framework of the book.  By the end, you would have wished he captured more Mitch McConnell and less white supremacy.

Despite the extreme examples depicted in the book, the topic speaks to the challenge of change within any nation experiencing a shift of power.  Up until now, there has always been a prototype depiction of the white man's  polar opposite's.  Oddly, black men, black women and women have made up the group seen as opposing to white male power.  Statistics would declare that women are the only opposing power base that all men encounter.  If this is a problem for you as a man, you might find yourself angry towards the growing power of women.  For a growing number of white men, this problem becomes displaced anger.  Anger towards blacks, and Jews and women and everything that seems to be challenging the heretofore unchallenged face of American power.

Just look at the history books.  If you spend too long on the page of presidents, you would think that white men are the only one's qualified for the job.  In some ways that may be true, because the process of perfecting one's leadership skills comes from on the job training.  The changing face of power means America has decided that we need to train all of our citizens for the opportunity to lead.

But is it more than that?  Have we gone down the road of white male leadership for so long that we have only one face to blame for our failures?  When congress had  approval ratings as low as 9% it was reflective of both their do-nothing decision and an American belief that congress no longer has our best interest in mind.  When you fall to 9%, it means that even loyal voters have lost confidence in your motives.

Motives.  To begin to speak on any man's motives is a slippery slope because it assumes a seat of judgement. My hesitation in producing this post was the danger of declaring the motives of another.  It took a dear friend to post the photo above of the young lady with the angry white mob behind her before I found  the words to share this post.

When I came across this picture, I noticed for a few seconds the powerful black woman that is the focal point of the lens, but I quickly found my eyes looking into the souls of all of the young men around her who felt justified to behave as they did.  Where did they gain this justification?  I would imagine it came from the angry white man that is leading this pack of terrorist.  In all of their expressions (even those smiling) I sense the spirit of fear. Usually anger is fear in disguise.

Kimmel does a great job in pointing out the generational impact of white male privilege upon white male anger.  The world that white men indirectly promised to their white son's is going away.  More and more the changing economy and the face of leadership is forcing everyone to accept the process of societal evolution, white men are simply the people most displaced by this change.  When you have a seat at the front of the crowd for so long, it becomes emotionally challenging to involuntarily share your seat with others.  It can get infuriating to take a seat in that pack or near the back like the rest.

Yet, the beauty of change is change itself.  This is the process that we ask for when demanding a more diverse world.  Power does not shut itself off or redistribute itself with better discretion.  This has to be done by an intentional, outside force.  Anyone approaching a source of power with the intention of taking it away or redirecting it had best proceed with caution.  

In other words, let us all pray for our angry white men and ease them through this change.

Wallace Suggests Obama Could Be Republican Surrogate

Let's be clear.  There are plenty of liberals who simply do not see president Barack Obama as liberal enough.  They are correct.

Barack Obama is a pragmatist.  Paul Ryan is also and the reality of political pragmatism is that it does not behold itself well to the party line. The dynamic of balanced power is unique, because there is always an opposing force against any political movement.  Even in the redest of red states or bluest of blue states you will find a divided legislature.  Why does this happen if not by design.

America believes in checks and balances above all things, and we will work to maintain them even when the party heads think they've lulled us into political apathy.  This balance of power requires any good politician to be able to garner support and favor.  If you can win those across the isle, than you can win in the game of American politics.

As Barack Obama was handed the white house and a majority in both houses, liberals did the happy dance.  When he only achieved RomneyCare2.0 along the way, they frowned and wondered if they chose the right brother.


Barack Obama is a democrat, but he's not a bleeding heart liberal and republicans need to recognize every opportunity they have to resurrect their fractured image.  Dumping the ACA is probably not a winning plan.  Fixing it, or creating the illusion of a fix could very well be the holy grail to capturing the soon to be vacant white house.  If Barack Obama is truly interested in working with congress to fix the ACA, then the first congressman of either party to jump at this opportunity might position themselves well for 2016. Chris Wallace of Fox Sunday Night suggested this to his panel recently and watched as they all stumbled at the idea of working with Barack Obama on anything.  But he might be on to something.

Repealing and replacing is not a great idea because it will be more disruptive than what we already have.  Selling insurance across state lines is a simple adjustment that could take a year to enact, but would satisfy conservatives who simply wish to feel a part of this law.  Differences between the economies of each state makes this an actuary table nightmare, but not impossible to develop.

The real challenge for conservatives is to hear the Wallace suggestion of working with Obama and not damaging a brain cell (does not compute, does not compute).  This idea is so simple its brilliant, but republican rancor makes it unrealistic at the same time.  Republicans seem happy to keep hurting themselves while aiming to attack Obama.

How many variations of a fix to ObamaCare have republicans offered up?:   (see Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post)