Shirley Sherrod

This woman has gotten royally screwed, and it's a national disgrace. If you don't know who I'm talking about, you're probably not much for paying attention to the news. Understandable, I say, when the news is so full of information that makes one a little bit stabby. Regardless, Shirley Sherrod used to be the Georgia State Director of Rural Development at the USDA. She held that post until the useless piece of human excrement over at biggovernment.com decided it would be just awesome to cut video of a speech she made at the NAACP back in the 1980s to make it seem as if she was bragging about withholding assistance to white farmers (Ms. Sherrod is black), post it, and make sure Fox News got its subhuman little hands on it. From there it was a short trip to mainstream media and the government, who demanded her resignation, calling her on her BlackBerry to let her know her career was over, and telling her she needed to pull over to the side of the road so that she could email in her resignation ASAP.

Okay, deep breath. If this woman had actually been boasting about being a racist, and had followed up her statement of "I did not give (a white farmer) the full force of what I could do," with "I told that cracker to go fuck himself!", then yes, she should have lost her job. But, oh, hey, she wasn't standing in front of the NAACP regaling members with her bigoted shenanigans, she was telling a story about how she learned to overcome her own prejudices and recognize that white farmers were as deserving of help as black farmers (by the way, those prejudices may have been formed when her father was murdered by a white man who was acquitted, despite overwhelming evidence, by a white jury. It's a possibility).

And it might be easy to see why people got so upset about this and jumped the gun, except for a couple of issues. One, you would have to be a combination of crazy and stupid to think that the edited clip was the extent of the point she was making. I've seen it, and she is clearly making a bigger point than "I don't like white people"; there is quite obviously more to the story she is telling.

Two, you would have to be lazy as fuck to take the word of an anti-government Tea Party blogger, and run with the bait he so carefully laid out, rather than, oh, I don't know, practice a little journalism, a little research, and see what the entire speech said. No one should ever take the word of any blogger, including me. Look it up for yourself and get your own accurate and reliable information before you open your cakehole. Blogs are free and easy to set up, and having one only guarantees that the blogger can type and navigate the Internet. That's all. Everyone in the media, as well as the government, should be good and goddamned ashamed of themselves for being such a bunch of unquestioning, let-others-do-the-work-for-you suckers. I'm amazed they're not all broke from sending their bank account numbers to deposed Nigerian princes.

And three, the fact that so many people blindly accepted this pile of crap as true shows their own racism, in that they think that such an open statement of bigotry would be par for the course at an NAACP meeting, as if such gatherings are all about celebrating situations when they were able to stick it to Whitey. This may be the most depressing point of all. The NAACP is far from perfect, but the assumption of inherent racism in their organization, and the antagonism between the races that has been teased out of this whole fucked up story makes it abundantly clear that we are nowhere near the "post-racial society" that all of the idiots on CNN and MSNBC were crowing about on Inauguration Day.

The Haters

So prominent "Christian" Pat Robertson has determined that the earthquake and consequent horrifying suffering in Haiti is due to their "pact with the devil", i.e. the voodoo ritual that was performed before the slave revolution in the early 1800s. I guess God would agree that revenge is a dish best served cold, according to the illustrious Rev.

This man is a douchebag. And while he is being roundly condemned in the media and by many, many pastors and priests, I know that there are plenty of people who think he's right on.

Let me just say that I am not a fan of organized religion in general. I think that too often, it is used to justify hatred, violence, oppression and intolerance. I'm not opposed to Jesus, but I find many of his followers nauseating.

I don't claim to be an expert on the Bible, but I have read enough to know that Jesus was the original bleeding heart liberal. He talked a lot about kindness, caring for the poor, reaching out to those in need. He also, if I recall correctly, made it a point to say that one should not be talking shit about "God's Will" and taking it upon himself of herself to determine whose misfortune is a result of punishment for their wicked, wicked ways.

I am incredibly sick of people who split their time between proclaiming their superior Christian-ness and spewing hate. I know too many people like this and I want to punch them in the throat. Not very Christian of me, either, but then I'm not pretending to be the Supergirl of Holier Than Thou. As my mother likes to say, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car." How 'bout a little more "Love thy neighbor" and "Judge not, lest ye be judged", and a little less "Yer goin' to hell, sinner!" Just a thought.

And regarding Haiti, since no one ever comments here I have no idea how many readers I have. But I know I have 510 views on my profile, so someone's reading. I posted this link on Facebook this morning and I'll put it here too. Partners in Health has people and facilities already established and on the ground in Haiti, and they do really good work. I know that some people are running donation drives on their blogs, where they donate so much money for every comment they get. I wish I could do that, too, but I want to at least put this link up. I urge everyone to click on the link and donate, even if it's just $10. It adds up, and since PIH is already established, more of your money will go to the people who need it, rather than to setting up an infrastructure for the org. Thanks.

Photo taken from hotindienews.com

People Who Get Paid to Say Stupid Shit

So I was reading the paper today, minding my own business, when I came across this little editorial by Kathleen Parker. In case you don't want to bother with the link, she was essentially discussing the people who have their collective panties in a bunch over the prospect of Caroline Kennedy being named to the Senate because they think it's unfair that she might get that job while Sarah Palin, who does have actual government experience, was considered unqualified to be Vice President. As Parker (more diplomatically) points out, it's a stupid argument, and I highly doubt that anyone who supports Kennedy for the senate seat would claim that she had the background to be one metastasizing melanoma away from being President of the United States. Senator does not equal Vice President on the scale of importance, symbolic though it may be.

In any case, I don't really care all that much whether Caroline Kennedy gets Clinton's Senate seat, and I was reading along with only mild interest until I got to this:
Suffice to say, she (Palin) worked hard to get from Wasilla High to the governor's mansion.
Not so Kennedy, who, upon her marriage to Edwin Schlossberg, never changed her name. The girl-child of Camelot, Kennedy was to the political manner born and heiress to a famous brand.

Oh. I didn't realize that married women who don't change their names automatically have ulterior motives! Silly me! And here I thought I chose not to change my name because it was the name I grew up with, the name I had for close to thirty years, and I felt really uncomfortable with the idea of a new name. If Kathleen Parker hadn't informed me otherwise, I would have made the same assumptions about any woman who kept her "maiden name" (and gag to that phrase, by the way), Caroline Kennedy included. I wish I'd known it was such a subversive act at the time; I would have made a really big fucking deal about my radical street cred.

Your stupid! No, you're stupid.

On a website I visit frequently, there are always little links or banner ads that say things like "3 people have a crush on you. Find out who!" Or "Paris Hilton/Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton has an IQ of 120. Bet you can't beat it!" Who knew Paris was just as smart as Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? Not me. Clearly, I can't beat that IQ.

The ad that's been up the most lately says "2 of your friends think your dumber than George Bush." Your. Your. Your. Seriously, if you're going to try and provoke someone into clicking on your spam by calling them stupid, proper spelling and grammar might help your case. Lazy, uneducated spammers are just the worst.

I'm a little cranky this morning.

Things that irk me:
1. People who lecture others on subjects they have only the thinnest understanding of. Please, know your subject matter before you start expounding. Or at least admit that you only know a little bit about it and be willing to recognize you may be wrong. And no, I'm not just talking about Sarah Palin this time, although she could use someone with her at all times to whisper "Psst, shut the fuck up, you sound like a moron," when, say, she starts telling third graders that the vice president is in charge of the Senate and gets to make policy. For example.

2. Similar vein, different approach, people who act all snippy and annoyed when working with or training in someone who has no prior experience in whatever it is they're doing, because the trainee does not have an inherent expertise. Thursday night, my second night at work, I had a woman, we'll call her Broomhilda, training me. She seemed to think that "training" consists of rolling her eyes when told I had never done this kind of work before, telling me she did not have time to explain why she did certain things (then, later, saying "Ask if you have a question, I'm not going to bite your head off." I composed a lengthy and expletive-laden response to this obvious lie, but bit my tongue), talking to me like I was a drooling idiot, and essentially treating me like shit for eight hours. It was a lot of fun and excellent for my self-confidence. When, against every instinct and desire in my body, I dragged myself back to work last night, I was told that this is how Broomhilda treats almost everyone, which made me feel slightly better.

3. Tom Brokaw. I just can't stand his voice or his tiny, tiny eyes.

4. Undecided voters. If you can't make a decision between Obama and McCain, two people who are VERY VERY different, 9 days before the election, I kind of have to wonder who holds your gum for you while you walk.

International Relations 101,

Or, I have to put my very expensive education to some use, even if it's only in a blog read by approximately no one.

Ahem. Diplomacy is a political tool, used for centuries, involving talking to people with whom you disagree. If you agree with them, you don't need to have diplomatic negotiations. You can just have a state dinner and call it a day. This whole idea that it's the height of absurdity to suggest sitting down for talks with Iran or North Korea or Syria because they're just so hard to get along with is the most ignorant thing I have heard in a long time. I'm not quite sure how it came to be accepted as God's truth by so many people.

"Bush Doctrine"? Like anyone knows what that is.

Due to the spiking effect she has on my already-elevated blood pressure, Kevin would like me to avoid all things related to Sarah Palin. However, I would like it to be known that for the near future, I plan to answer all questions with a snotty and slightly panicked "In what respect, Charlie?"

A Stellar Sales Pitch

The title of an email in my spam folder this morning:

"Dumb and poor? Here's a simple way to make money"

Nope, just poor, thanks. I wonder how many people see that pitch and think "Hey, that's me! Finally, the answer to my prayers!"

After a 16-month flirtation with MySpace (I don't know why), I'm coming back to my abandoned blogger account. I promise never to leave again.

I need to stop reading the comments on CNN's "Political Ticker" section. The illiterate rants that make up the bulk of the comments paint a vivid mental image, and that image is "Red-Faced Idiot". In a recent post about Obama, one person actually said that Obama was a crazy liberal who wanted to destroy the economy in the name of the environment, specifically, to save polar bears, and don't you know that polar bears are dangerous and if you came face-to-face with a polar bear, it would kill you? You can't even have a reasonable discussion with someone who says something so insanely stupid. Just reading that made me a little dumber.

This is one of the downfalls of the Internet, that it gives an anonymous platform for those who have absolutely no qualms about letting the whole wide world know what moronic, racist, misogynistic, or all-around hateful assholish thoughts are rolling around in their big empty heads.