Slaves and Masters

After some thought I have come up with an explanation for why people cannot hear a Black President when he talks. It's based on history. For many years Black people misled much of the nation by pretending that they were happy to be obedient slaves in the fields and bedrooms of the South. Whippings and murders were--they seemed to agree--the price of learning civilized ways. To placate the masters, Blacks pretended they couldn't read or think or dunk a basketball.

Historical falsity of such magnitude lingers. It explains why so many white people today don't hear President Obama when he says he was born in Hawaii. Their deafness is based on 200 years of inauthentic connections between peoples.

Moral: It always pays to be honest with other people, unless it gets you whipped or killed.

Black-Deaf Problem

I realized this morning how hard it is to hear what people with dark skins say. Days after President Obama had come out in support of union bargaining rights, I was watching a group of union supporters demonstrate in Wisconsin; many carried signs that read: "Obama, Which Side Are You On?"

I was reminded of Obama's Presidential campaign, in which he said many times that he intended to ramp up the war in Afghanistan. A year later many on the Left felt betrayed when he ramped up the war in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, at Tea Party rallies, people carry signs proclaiming that Obama is a Moslem (he's said weekly that he is a Christian) and a foreigner (Obama has proved that he was born in Hawaii).

Skin tone induces deafness in certain citizens of the Left and Right. This disease is, from what I can tell, incurable. At best it might be quarantined until it dies out.


--Gary Goss

Gadhafi

I would like to be celebrating the spirit of liberation evident in Libya (and in the Wisconsin demonstrations, for that matter), but I fear for the lives of ordinary people. Dictator Moammar Gadhafi is doing his best to murder the citizens of his country. As I write this the outcome is unclear; Gadhafi may be losing control of the eastern part of his nation. Meanwhile he has imported well-paid mercenaries to machinegun protesters armed with metal pipes.

Closer to home, the Tea Party governor of Wisconsin continues the Republican attempt to destroy the financial base of the Democratic Party. The plan is to make it illegal to negotiate with unions. Bust the unions, and there will be no large entities left to oppose the Corporate State (keep in mind that the Republican Supreme Court recently freed corporations to spend as much as they want in election campaigns).

This is a national push, state by state, to defund the Democrats and turn our country into a one-party nation totally dominated by the greed of multi-national corporations.

I am old enough to remember FDR (barely). These times strike me as astounding in some ways. We've fallen so far. But if you push people hard enough, push them to desperation, they will take to the streets with metal pipes in their hands. Fear of that kind of response helped usher in the New Deal.

An Attack on Women

The Republican Party has declared war on American women. Consider the following. The Republicans are attempting to redefine rape (in order to make the cases against men harder to prosecute). They also intend to change the legal term "victim of rape" to "accuser of rape." In South Dakota they hope to make it legal to kill a doctor who provides abortions. Republicans in congress want to make it legal for a hospital to let a woman die rather than perform a life-saving abortion. And so on. More of the same is in the works.

Why any woman would vote Republican is beyond me, but I guess some women like the Taliban.

Power to the People

The ordinary people of Egypt have thrown out the Dictator Mubarak--which seems astonishing. Hundreds lost their lives in this push, but the demonstrators remained peaceful. I admire their courage. And we should all note a rare event in American history; our President, after a day or two, sided with the Egyptian people and against a tyrant who had supported American policies for 30 years. Another American first for Obama.

On a local scale you might have missed what the Press Democrat reported at a hearing before the Public Utilities Commission, where a 43% rate hike for Larkfield was under discussion. Mike McGuire, our county supervisor, spoke to the commission, noting that the utility's parent corporation had earned "$227 million in profit in the first nine months of last year." McGuire said, "Larkfield residents are helping better the bottom line of fat cat investors, while our seniors are struggling to survive." He went on to characterize aspects of the corporation's arguments as "hogwash" and "a lie."

Blunt truth can be refreshing.

Lara's Theme

One of the current problems Egypt faces is finding a new President, now that Hosni Mubarak's son, Hosni W. Mubarak, has bowed out. Egypt will need a special figure to unite a country new to democracy.

Americans are in an excellent position to advise on this choice, having been voters in a democracy for hundreds of years. We hold the experience needed and the wisdom. My suggestion is that Egyptians elect a charismatic fellow of proven charm who has the ability to read a speech compellingly. In this country no sort of person has better fit that bill--I speak in historical terms--than a former actor old enough to be approaching dementia. That is why I am nominating Omar Sharif.

Who else in Egypt is 78 years old, speaks seven languages, was a leading expert in contract bridge and had an affair with Barbra Steisand?

Blaming Obama

I've been following the analyses of the situation in Egypt, and I have concluded that President Obama is to blame. The protests in the streets have occurred because Obama once made a speech in Cairo extolling democracy. That's Obama's fault. If the protests win, radical Islamists will come to power. I blame Obama. If the protests lose, it will be because Obama failed to support democracy. If the dictator Mubarak turns the situation into a bloodbath, it will be because Obama armed him and failed to restrain him. If Mubarak gets driven out, Obama will be the President who lost Egypt.

We can conclude with certainty that whatever happens to either side, President Obama will be to blame, unless he isn't.