Editorial Sketch of the Week: A different double standard

© Dana Summers, Orlando Sentinel

“Runaway slave”

C.L. Bryant, a former NAACP chapter president and current Tea Party activist, is set to debut a documentary-style movie about his journey away from “the Progressive plantations of the government masters, the eyes of liberal overseers and the whips of conformity.” His trailer is definitely worth a look.

Just Thinking Out Loud: The 51st State

Photo by Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press, c/o Examiner

By what legitimate standard, lawful or ethical, are the citizens of this country obligated to approve of an illegal alien population spread throughout our sovereign Republic presently comparable to the size of Pennsylvania?

Some cartoons that recently caught my attention (for all the right reasons)

Sunday's Quote: A foreigner at Ole Miss

It's been a year, almost to the day, since I've been back to Ole Miss. Last time, I watched helplessly as Cam Newton and the future (bastardized) national champion Auburn Tigers had their way with the Rebels. So considering that my visits to Oxford are fewer and further in between than preferred, it is nice to stumble upon a story on occasion that fully depicts the attributes of a special place that doesn't always get its just due. And perhaps most importantly, this review in particular is by an outsider who hails from the other side of the Atlantic:

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"I had been dimly aware that the American South is famous for its hospitality, but was unprepared for a level of friendliness that would have been faintly nauseating if it weren't so seductive. Wherever I went, people smiled at me with their gleaming, perfect teeth. . . . The vibe on campus was such that one could easily strike up a conversation with a stranger. At home this atmosphere had just about lasted through freshers' week; here, it lasted throughout the year. . . .

"A laid-back attitude and general reluctance to sweat the small stuff became uppermost in my daily mentality, and I can say with complete confidence that this was a boon in my academic, athletic and social college life. This is not to say that my fellow students were slobs or lazy. Manners are important in Mississippi, and at big social occasions (namely football games) I have never seen so many students in one place all trying to look smart. . . .

"I spent my time at Ole Miss in a constant slight state of disbelief that the 'American College Experience' was living up to the myth – and then some. This brings me to probably the question most asked about my spell there, put bluntly: 'Is it really racist down there?' Hollywood's interpretation of the South is not exactly glowing. While also not incorrect, it does not take the form one would expect.

"There appeared to be little or no antagonism along racial lines, only a sense of 'mutual segregation'. White guys hung out with white guys and vice versa, with little or no interracial dating. Certain uncomfortable words were thrown around drunkenly in company, which I admit I found surprising. But these encounters were fewer and farther between, however, than I had been led to believe and, all in all, I left with nothing but good things to say.

"I arrived back in an unchanged Edinburgh with a load of work to do, a Southern accent than can best many a New Yorker, a year that I will remember for ever [sic] and dozens of friends I'll stay in touch with. It's good to be home, but I can’t wait to get back."
– from "My year at the University of Mississippi" by Benjamin Cumming, published in The Telegraph; October 20, 2011

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In addition, here's a video tribute (w/ Kings of Leon providing the soundtrack) by a German fellow who also spent a year at Ole Miss. Have a look:

Just Thinking Out Loud: "The Real Enemy"



 c/o Miami New Times

A recent meeting sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus in Miami that was intended to address a persistent lack of inner city job growth turned partisan when Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida, aka The Mad Hatter) said "Let us all remember who the real enemy is. . . the real enemy is the Tea Party. . . the Tea Party holds the Congress hostage."

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) expressed a similar opinion in her district a couple of days earlier, saying that Tea Partiers could go "straight to hell" for their purported, and still unexplained, role in obstructing employment opportunities for those who aren't of the Caucasian persuasion.

This reflects the very nature of the self-righteous beast: Dare to differ from the Obama administration for any reason, and you're held by their protagonists in the most negative regard possible.  Dogmatic partisanship has always been part of the scene, but the difference is that race (and all its tentacles) is now front and center of almost every discussion.

When there isn't a retort that suits their preferences – and when there is nowhere else to go with their talking points – the Left almost invariably screams bloody racist murder, which is only meant to impede constructive discussion and is never, under any circumstances, intended to promote the ever-elusive common ground by which a beneficial end may be reached.

Perhaps those who don't label the gradual crumbling of our nation as progress aren't "the real enemy."  And yes, thinking that makes me a racist.

Willfully oblivious

Copyright CBS Sports

Responding to the scathing criticism former Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton has garnered leading into the NFL draft on April 28, Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon – Newton’s personal mentor – refuted the denunciation of his star pupil by claiming, "A lot of the criticism he's receiving is unfortunate and racially based. I thought we were all past this. I don't see other quarterbacks in the draft being criticized by the media or fans about their smile or called a phony. He's being held to different standards from white quarterbacks. I thought we were past all this stuff about African-American quarterbacks, but I guess we're not."

Moon is responding to the analysis Newton received from Pro Football Weekly scout Nolan Nawrocki. The rough stuff is as follows:

"Was arrested in late November and charged with felony charges of burglary, larceny and intimidating a witness, informant or victim after stealing a laptop computer from a student's dorm room and throwing it out the window when police arrived at Newton's for questioning.  Charges were dropped upon his completion of a pretrial diversion program.  Reportedly transferred rather than face possible expulsion stemming from three incidents of academic cheating, including two as a sophomore when he put his name on someone else's paper and purchased a paper online, attempting to pass it off as his own work. … Was declared ineligible for a day leading up to the SEC title game — Newton's father, Cecil, allegedly enlisted an agent 'runner' to initiate a pay-for-play bidding war for Cam's commitment.  It was reported that Cam's desire was to play for Mississippi State, but he allegedly succumbed to his father's decision (Auburn) based on a six-figure payment. … Very disingenuous — has a fake smile, comes off as very scripted and has a selfish, me-first makeup.  Always knows where the cameras are and plays to them.  Has an enormous ego with a sense of entitlement that continually invites trouble and makes him believe he is above the law — does not command respect from teammates and always will struggle to win a locker room. … Lacks accountability, focus and trustworthiness — is not punctual, seeks shortcuts and sets a bad example.  Immature and has had issues with authority.  Not dependable."

Clearly there is a lot of baggage with this particularly gifted prospect.  Further a great deal of evidence has to be overlooked to make the considerable leap from accountability and sketchy connections to charges of racism, which makes identifying actual racism even more confounding when emotion and double standards are favored over comprehensive truth.

Moon's charge is more than a convenient diversion.  It's also reckelss.

Just Thinking Out Loud: Race, or something

The Pepsi Max "Love Hurts" Super Bowl commercial didn't ruffle any feathers until the cute 2520 showed up at the end.

Sunday's Quote: Why they fought

Almost unquestionably, the Civil War is the most divisive historical topic in our nation's history.  Adding to the mix, The Washington Post recently published a piece by author and University of Vermont professor James W. Loewen that addressed five perceived myths encompassing this bygone era.

Scholarly at the outset of his assessment, Loewen concluded that White supremacy, commingled with a desire to expand slavery beyond the continental border, provided the driving motivation for the South's secession.  In fairness, perhaps, he added that "Northerners' fear of freed slaves moving north then caused Republicans to lose the Midwest in the congressional elections of November 1862."

Although I'm probably just a "neo-Confederate" hayseed simpleton locked into the mythology and lore of the romanticized Old South, I must say that I've mulled over perceptions such as Loewen's more times than I can count since the mid-90's.  And despite all that I've been commanded to believe, I keep arriving at the same questions:

Why would such a sizable uprising of mostly underprivileged, non-slave-holding Southerners -- a fledgling upstart of a nation -- form a citizen-soldiery to battle against their brethren of the North in the interest of maintaining a slavery establishment that, according to the U.S. census of 1860, was perpetuated by a mere 6% of the Southern populace?  Further, why would these Confederates who knowingly faced impossible odds even consider firing a single shot in the name of White supremacy when, according to Loewen himself, such a mindset (however debatable) was largely shared among their northern counterparts?

Here's a quick history review...

During the second session of the 36th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution on February 11, 1861 that guaranteed noninterference with slavery in any State.  Undeterred by the eight slave States that remained in the Union, representatives of the new Confederacy (comprised of only seven States at this point) established a provisional Congress and formalized a new Constitution.  They had also chosen Jefferson Davis -- a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army Colonel, Senator and Secretary of War -- as their first provisional president.

Because the resolution failed to draw the seceded States back into the Union, the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution was passed by both houses of Congress on July 25, some three months after those dastardly Southerners took Fort Sumter, stating that war was being waged to "defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union."  Any document regarding a desire to do away with slavery would not be produced until Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, some 20 months after the War began.

For nearly half my life, I have known what rich and politically influential men of the time have said.  But I also wanted to know about the common man who loaded and fired his musket on the field of battle.  I considered those who were under no delusion about the grievous hardship that awaited them all.  And from this, I was forced to consider if it was possible -- if it was even conceivable -- that these ordinary people from a century-and-a-half ago were driven to fight, suffer and die for reasons other than maintaining human servitude and racial domination.

Consider Judah Benjamin.  Prior to his service in the Confederate Cabinet as Secretary of State, Secretary of War and Attorney General, Benjamin was only the second Jewish U.S. Senator in American history and the first Jew considered for nomination to the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (an offer he declined twice).

Also consider Ambrosio José Gonzales, a Confederate Colonel and native of Cuba who served as chief of artillery and figured prominently in the South's coastal defense.

And let us not forget Stand Watie (a.k.a., Standhope Oowatie).  The Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, he was also a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army who led the Indian cavalry of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi, CSA.

Did such men fight for the causes of slavery and White supremacy?

Some of Loewen's points are accurate.  Those who wished to keep their slaves absolutely existed and held considerable clout.  But are Loewen's conclusions comprehensive in scope, or is this merely another case of the Southland being hit with the inclusive liability of an institution that has prospered continuously throughout our planet for nearly 4,000 years while everyone else, past and present, are given a pass?

The malignancies and complications of this time in history are undeniable.  But what if I were bold enough to define anyone by only the most negative aspects of their culture?  I doubt that would be very well received.  Hence, I never tell anyone why they have to love the former Confederate nation.  I only tell them why they don't have to hate it.  There's a difference.

"The South will rise again!" is unappealing rhetoric to most, including yours truly.  Yet the act of comparing the unashamed Southerner to Hitler and the Nazis ("Godwin's Law," Reductio ad Hitlerum) invariably makes its way into the conversation, usually when the debate has nowhere else to go.  But more interesting still is how America can always depend on those kooky Confederate flag wavers to be first in line for a fight to defend Old Glory.  Define that however you like, but the unyielding commitment demonstrated time and time again by the sons of the South stems from the reasoning behind why George Washington was placed at the center of the Great Seal of the Confederacy. 

Today we mock the notions of smaller government and States Rights, and we act as if the 10th Amendment doesn't even exist.  At present, we have an uncontrollable national government which, by most accounts, becomes more intrusive with each passing year.  And this is notable because, like it or not, that behemoth was born with Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

Instead of listening to the agenda-driven demagogues of the present, it is better to witness the words spoken by those who experienced the unpleasantness of the time firsthand.  Their viewpoints are not politically correct by our current standard.  But they are indeed correct, and it does matter:

"The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their Nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people.  If one of the States chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so."
-- from "Democracy in America" (two volumes, published in 1835 & 1840) by Alexis de Tocqueville

"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to abolish the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. ... Any portion of such people, that can, may revolutionize and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit."

-- Abraham Lincoln, Congressional Records; January 12, 1848

"The Union is a Union of States founded upon Compact.  How is it to be supposed that when different parties enter into a compact for certain purposes either can disregard one provision of it and expect others to observe the rest?  If the Northern States willfully and deliberately refuse to carry out their part of the Constitution, the South would be no longer bound to keep the compact."
-- from Senator Daniel Webster's (D-Massachusetts) Capon Springs Speech; June 28, 1851

"Wealth has fled from the South, and settled in the regions north of the Potomac, and this in the midst of the fact that the south, in four staples alone, in cotton, tobacco, rice and indigo had exported produce since the Revolution, to the value of eight hundred million dollars, and the North had exported comparatively nothing. ... Such an export would indicate unparalleled wealth; but what was the fact?  In place of wealth, a universal pressure for money was felt; not enough for current expenses... and the frugal habits of the people pushed to the verge of universal self-denial for the preservation of their family estates. ... Under this legislation the exports of the South have been made the basis of the federal revenue. ... Virginia, the two Carolinas and Georgia may be said to defray three fourths of the annual expense of supporting the federal government; and of this great sum annually furnished by them, nothing, or next to nothing, is returned to them in the shape of government expenditure.

"That expenditure flows in an opposite direction; it flows northwardly, in one uniform, uninterrupted and perennial stream; it takes the course of trade and of exchange; and this is the reason why wealth disappears from the South and rises up in the North.  Federal legislation does all this; it does it by the simple process of eternally taking away from the South, and returning nothing to it."
-- from a lengthy and perfectly stated offering by Senator Thomas Hart Benton (D-Missouri) in 1851

"A legitimate union of states depends for its continuance on the free consent and will of the Sovereign people of each state, and when that consent and will is withdrawn on either part, their union is gone.  Any state forced to remain in a union by military force can never be a co-equal member of the American union and can be viewed only as a 'subject providence'."
-- from The Daily Union of Bangor, Maine; November 13, 1860

"If we of the North were called upon to endure one half as much as the Southern people and soldiers do, we would abandon the cause and let the Southern Confederacy be established. ... A nation preserved with liberty trampled underfoot is much worse than a nation in fragments but with the spirit of liberty still alive.  Southerners persistently claim that their rebellion is for the purpose of preserving this form of government."
-- Private John H. Haley, 17th Maine Regiment, United States Army

"With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children and my home."
-- Colonel Robert Edward Lee, United States Army.  Lee was President Lincoln's personal choice to lead the charge against the Southern uprising.

"I am fighting to preserve the integrity of the Union and the power of the government -- on no other issue.  To gain that end we cannot afford to mix up the Negro question.  It must be incidental and subsidiary.  The President is perfectly honest and is really sound on the [N-word] question."
-- Major General George B. McClellan, Army of the Potomac, United States Army

"Surrender means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the War; will be impressed by all the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors and our maimed veterans as fit subjects for derision."
-- Major General Patrick Cleburne, Army of Tennessee, Confederate States Army

"So the case stands, and under all the passion of the parties and the cries of the battle lie the two chief moving causes of the struggle.  Union means so many millions a year lost to the South; secession means the loss of the same millions to the North.  The love of money is the root of this as of many, many other evils ... the quarrel between North and South is, as it stands, solely a fiscal quarrel."
-- Charles Dickens, author of numerous all-time classics, as editor of the British periodical All the Year Round in 1862

"All these cries of having 'abolished slavery', of having 'saved the country', of having 'preserved the Union,' of establishing a 'government of consent' and of 'maintaining the national honor' are all gross, shameless, transparent cheats -- so transparent they they ought to deceive no one."
-- Lysander Spooner, philosopher and Massachusetts abolitionist

"Concerning CSA President Jefferson Davis: He was imprisoned after the war (and) was never brought to trial.  The North didn't dare give him a trial, knowing that a trial would establish that secession was not unconstitutional, that there had been no 'rebellion' and the South had got a raw deal -- but he refused to ask the United States for a 'pardon', demanding that the government either offer him a pardon, give him a trial or admit that he had been unjustly dealt with.  He died, 'unpardoned' by a government that was leery of giving him a public hearing."
-- from "The Civil War" (1953) by James Street 

"The American people, North and South, went into the (Civil) War as citizens of their respective states.  They came out as subjects ... and what they thus lost, they never got back."
-- H.L. Mencken, one of the more notable commentators of the 20th century, and ironically, a noted detractor of the South

On This Day in History: Those dastardly explorers

A statue of Christopher Columbus in Providence, Rhode Island was found vandalized with red paint yesterday.  For additional effect, a sign that read "murderer" was left hanging around the statue's waist.  Later that day, dueling rallies were held in Boston, about 50 miles from Providence, to celebrate and protest the observance of the Spanish explorer's voyage to the Americas.

Although anti-Columbus sentiment is not new, it has become more virulent.  As school curricula give way to hypersensitivity aimed at national pride, the disregard of other cultural imperfections that are celebrated ad nauseam while concurrently refusing to acknowledge the achievements of both the explorers and Founding Fathers, without whom our greatness would not be possible, is unavoidably conspicuous.  It's also abject hypocrisy.

Aside from Columbus, the following Europeans deserve some degree of recognition and gratitude for their exploration throughout the Americas: John Cabot (c. 1497, via England), Alonso de Ojeda (c. 1499, via Spain, alongside Amerigo Vespucci, after whom America is named), Vicente Yáñez Pinzón (c. 1500, via Spain), Pedro Álvares Cabral (c. 1500, via Portugal), Gaspar Corte-Real (c. 1500, via Spain), Rodrigo de Bastidas (c. 1501, via Spain), Vasco Núñez de Balboa (c. 1513, via Spain), Juan Ponce de León (c. 1513, via Spain) and Juan Díaz de Solís (c. 1516, via Spain).

Now for some history...

1492 – The first expedition led by Christopher Columbus makes landfall for the first time at San Salvador Island in The Bahamas.

1792 – The first celebration of Columbus Day is observed in New York.  It would not become a Federal holiday until 1937.

1793 – The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest building at the oldest State university in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

1870 – General Robert Edward Lee died.  A West Point graduate (class of 1829) and U.S. Army Colonel whom President Lincoln personally chose to quell a certain uprising in the South, Lee is best remembered as both the commanding general of the Confederate Army and one of the greatest of all Americans.

1892 – The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many public schools throughout the United States as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage.

1901 – The Executive Mansion is officially renamed "The White House" by President Theodore Roosevelt.

1960 – As both General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Premier of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev infamously pounds his shoe on a desk during an assembly of the United Nations to protest the assertion of colonial policy being conducted by the Soviets throughout eastern Europe.

1972 – En route to the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.

1999 – Although its veracity is debatable, "The Day of Six Billion" is commemorated by the United Nations Population Fund as the approximate day on which the number of people in the world reached 6,000,000,000 following the birth of Adnan Nevic in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

2000 – Religion of Peace: The USS Cole (DDG-667), a United States Navy destroyer, is badly damaged in the port of Aden, Yemen by two suicide bombers connected to al-Qaeda, killing 17 and wounding 39.

2002 – Religion of Peace: Terrorists detonate bombs in Kuta, Bali, killing 202 and wounding over 300.

Just Thinking Out Loud: Hey LeBron, go count your money

I would prefer to laud the extraordinary talent of pro basketball's top draw, but the 6-foot-8, 240 lb. Chosen One has been making it difficult to overlook all that comes with the entertainment package.  Though I took a couple of not-so-malicious shots last July (1, 2) for the most unregal way in which "King James" departed Cleveland for Miami, it seems LeBron's dropping Q Score among non-Blacks could explain his recent slip o' the tongue when asked by CNN's Soledad O'Brien about the role he feels race played in the unexpected backlash that followed.

Even if the reaction to his statement was somewhat blown out of proportion, I am already tattered from both hearing and reading (four times today with more sure to follow) that a White guy can't understand how a Black man feels.  Having spent over 30 years in the Memphis area -- where practically every matter remains permeated with racial undertones -- the humble purveyor of this blog has been afforded all the education needed to comprehend how betrayed and oppressed LeBron James must feel when his ethnicity can no longer be used as a protective shield for a heightened sense of self-importance.

Just Thinking Out Loud: Al Sharpton

Tawana Brawley.  The Crown Heights Riot.  Bernhard Goetz.  Dunbar Village.  Despite the bevy of contentions for which Al Sharpton has become so infamously known, it's the "donation" shakedown (extortion) of corporations that possibly fascinates the most.

Having toned his hairstyle down a notch or two and exchanged the trademark jumpsuit for a business suit, "Reverend" Al's image has definitely been tweaked over the years.  But make no mistake, this man -- whose selective outrage is reserved only for that which is monetarily advantageous -- remains chief among all race pimps, demagogues, charlatans and problem profiteers.

Indeed being called a "racist" was once the kiss of death.  But thanks to this man, ironically, it's not such a big deal anymore.

"White folks was in caves while we was building empires... We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it."

-- Sharpton, during a '94 speech at Keane College in Union, New Jersey

Sunday's Quote: A national conversation about what exactly?

President Obama recently called, once more, for a "national conversation" about race, which follows Attorney General Eric Holder's infamous "nation of cowards" comment regarding our purported fear (read: apathy) in addressing the matter altogether.  The quandary itself arises, practically as a rule, when such an enigmatic topic centers upon mere skin pigmentation instead of mentality, or "social justice" rather than social philosophy.

Aimed at assessing blame on issues that are customarily narrowed to focus on slavery -- an institution appropriated by every culture at some point during the past four millennia (that's 4,000 years for you brainiacs) -- it seems that many foresee a national conversation that establishes a benchmark for the rabble-rousing firebrand and a whipping post for the grossly uninformed.

A good writer recently expanded on the topic:

"People who advocated welfare reform in the 1990s were accused of being 'racist.'  If you're for border control, you're 'racist.'  If you criticize Obama, you're 'racist.'  If you oppose quotas, you're 'racist.'  If you say that, be it nature or nurture, there are differences among groups, you're 'racist.'  If you want English to be the national language, you're 'racist.'  The word has become meaningless, used only to stifle and stigmatize opposition.  And if calling you a heretic worked in that regard, the left would do that.  And if calling you a Fig Newton worked, they would do that. ...

"The point is that you can't prove you're not a 'racist' to the left, because they'll just define 'racist' as being whatever you are.  In fact, sap conservatives, understand something: You're not going to 'prove' anything to the NAACP.  You're not going to prove anything to the mainstream media.  You're not going to prove anything to any dyed-in-the-fool liberal.  They are enemies.  And enemies aren't interested in proof; they're interested in propaganda. ...

"And understand something else: Leftists are cowards.  They are creatures of the pack, finding their strength only in numbers.  After all, what do you think being politically correct is all about.  It means doing what's fashionable in our time, what makes you popular.  A man who believes in Truth, such as Thomas More, will die for his principles, alone, twisting in the wind.  A liberal goes the way the wind blows and will die for nothing.  Stand up to leftists en masse, and they'll fold like a tent.

"So free yourself.  Laugh at the 'racism'  shtick.  Make it a badge of honor.  Call leftists what they are: cowards, bigots, liars, demagogues, and worst of all by far, enemies of Truth.  Fight fire with fire.  Remember, millions of good Americans are sick and tired of political correctness and will stand with you.  So just say to our leftist legal aliens: If you like name-calling and you want to fight, OK.  I'm a racist, sexist homophobe, and I'm in your face."
-- from "Hello, I'm a Racist, Pleased to Meet You" by Selwyn Duke; July 22, 2010

And one more, just to nail the point:

"I hope that one day African-American politicians will finally achieve racial equality and that they, too, will be punished for their ethical lapses just like people of no color are."

-- Rush Hudson Limbaugh III; July 29, 2010

As a fear of being labeled fades...

Just as an entire neighborhood is not ruined by a single bad house, neither is the Tea Party movement impeded by a couple of bad apples.  A quick turn of the mirror shows that groups such as the NAACP have been railing against the Tea Party since its inception, so their self-righteous indignation over a billboard in northern Iowa should come as no surprise.

Every faction of society, without exception, has a kook fringe.  But some have more than others.  Selective outrage is galling and spiritless, especially when it comes against Constitutional advocates.  Tactics of deflection, such as calling an opposing perspective "racist" -- the mother of all fallbacks -- just to keep their own motive(s) from being exposed no longer abates the increasingly veritable dissident.  Indeed it now legitimizes them.

Ideology may have let this mostly Right Wing tiger out of his cage, but all is not lost for the Democrats.  If you remember that Bill Clinton's election in 1992 inspired the Republican Revolution in '94, then fair-minded individuals are also likely to recall the GOP's sloppy handling of hot button issues (term limits, ethics rules, deficit spending) that ultimately played a roll in Clinton's easy re-election.  Though such history is not a certain indicator of things to come, at least in the political arena, the impact of the November midterm elections on Obama's 2012 presidential run is hardly etched in stone as well.

When sports and ideology collide

Responding to Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, whose open letter about the departure of his franchise's biggest star drew more national attention than he likely anticipated, Jesse Jackson replied by proclaiming that Gilbert's "mean, arrogant and presumptuous" comments placed LeBron James in unnecessary danger, and that he views the 25-year-old Ohio native as a "runaway slave."

Says Jackson, "[Gilbert] speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers... His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality."  Jackson also claims that Gilbert's open letter was an attack on all NBA players and added that he should face a "challenge" from both the league and the players' association.

Gilbert was fined $100,000 on Monday for his comments, though the always fascinating Roland S. Martin -- a new school version of Jesse Jackson -- wondered if the penalty was extensive enough.  Having initially declined to touch upon the matter, NBA commissioner David Stern later criticized both sides for the debacle.

Whether Jackson was attempting to capitalize on a mini-wave of momentum that resulted from another epic snafu by Mel Gibson is debatable, but it seems the ESPN-produced LeBron-a-thon did little to lift the image of the presumed heir apparent to Michael Jordan's throne (currently occupied by Kobe Bryant).  If the round of boos he received from New York Knicks fans at Carmelo Anthony's wedding last Saturday doesn't demonstrate that, the welcome James will undoubtedly endure at each of the Miami Heat's 41 road games will.

Now take this situation in tandem with an overlooked statement made in a recent column by Kansas City Star and FoxSports.com contributor Jason Whitlock about a completely different event:

"The World Cup narrows our view and, more than any other sporting event, baits us to give in to nationalism, jingoism and racism.  It’s not the Olympics.  Not everyone is invited.  And no one pretends the month of World Cup play is a reason to celebrate and respect the world’s numerous cultures.  The World Cup owes much of its popularity to hate.  It’s the anti-Olympics.  It’s an excuse for bigots to mask their biases in sporting patriotism."

-- from "Time to put that 'miracle' on ice"; June 24, 2010

As if he senses that a certain carte blanche on all things racial is about to be lost, Whitlock went more than an extra mile to mischaracterize an international tournament that has been celebrated in practically every nation (except the United States) for 80 years.  Rowdy fanatics notwithstanding, most zealots don't require such a grand forum to express a prejudice that would exist even if the World Cup did not.  But don't tell that to Whitlock unless you care to be labeled a racist.

Keep in mind that Jason Whitlock, who has written several columns expressing a belief that his former high school teammate Jeff George (million-dollar arm, ten-cent head) is still deserving of an NFL tryout, also claims the NCAA went easy on Duke in the national basketball tournament pairings last March because "Duke (and North Carolina to a lesser degree) score higher on the old 'eyeball' test.  Fewer tattoos and more white guys.  I just made many of you uncomfortable.  Sorry.  But it’s a fact. ... Coach K[rzyzewski] and his band of Boys Next Door are the Great White Hopes of Hoops.  Three of Duke’s five starters are white.  Their top two scorers are white."

The Blue (Or is it White?) Devils, for the record, won their fourth national championship soon after Whitlock's column was published.  And it was earned in one of the best title games in recent memory -- television ratings were up 34% from the year before -- against another squad full of "Boys Next Door," the Butler University Bulldogs.

Pity those who place too much worth in how well an individual puts a leather ball through an iron hoop.  Sports are entertainment and little else.  Yet the relevance in these matters is found in a mentality that isn't necessarily mainstream, but is far-reaching nevertheless.

When Boston sports radio personality Fred "Toucher" Toettcher -- as White and seemingly unathletic as they come -- likened Tim Tebow's NFL draft party last April to "some kind of Nazi rally" because the gathering was "so lily-white," it exhibits a hypersensitive and increasingly pervasive disposition that allows the race pimp to dominate and causes the less informed to yield.

As the aforementioned Jason Whitlock wrote, I just made many of you uncomfortable.  Sorry.  But it’s a fact.

Clinging to legitimacy

Spawned of a race riot in Abraham Lincoln's hometown, the NAACP was once a relevant force for the Black community.  But they have struggled since the '90s, and now they have been reduced to this:

Sunday's Quote: Martin Luther King, Jr.

NAACP chairman Julian Bond -- a man cut from the same cloth as your typical race pimp, demagogue, and problem profiteer -- spoke earlier tonight at Washington and Lee University about his former teacher at Morehouse College, Martin Luther King, Jr.  Below is an e-mail I sent last Wednesday to one of W&L's administrators:

I am writing in respectful dissent to Sunday's speaker at Lee Chapel, a man who was once quoted in The New York Times as saying, "If Robert E. Lee had his way, [Black children] would still be in bondage."

I understand that Mr. Bond was once a student of Martin Luther King's during his time at Morehouse College (which is why he is speaking).  Yet I am also of the inclination that an individual who has spoken with such acute negativity about those who painstakingly laid the foundation that has long established our identity -- and in doing so, looks past the imperfections of those he personally places on a pedestal -- will perhaps endeavor to reference progress by making his case for issues pertaining to everything from reparations for "back slave wages," the "dark underside" of the GOP, the "Confederate swastika," and the Obama administration itself.

I'm not an alumnus; I am merely a thankful admirer of the men -- two of the greatest this country will ever produce -- for whom your esteemed institution is named.  I hope that W&L officials will admonish Mr. Bond to mind his manners in an effort to keep from using his forum as a means of expressing his antipathy in regard to our Defenders whom the majority will always hold as chief among all American heroes.

There are those who would rush to label my message as bigotry and/or racist, and maybe that ought to shake me more than it does.  Perhaps the mere threat of being called a name should rock my very foundation, but it does not.  In fact I could take such charges as a compliment upon considering the source. Indeed I refuse the liability of past indiscretions for which I am not responsible irrespective of my ethnicity or the banners I choose to adorn.  And in the name of focusing on that which matters most...

"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."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.; August 28, 1963

Sunday's Quote: Some hardcore truth

"It just seems like we're making a lot of mistakes on this whole calling everybody racist. Everybody's calling everybody morons and nuts. We're becoming more juvenile as a nation. The guys who won World War II and that whole generation have disappeared, and now we have a bunch of teenage twits."
-- Clint Eastwood, from the most recent issue of GQ