Dr. Luara AKA Michael Richards

In the case of Laura Schlessinger’s use of the “N” word, what we’re beginning to see in America is a growing number of Whites who don’t feel particularly connected to the plight of African Americans, who don’t feel necessarily racist, or who have African American friends and family, so it becomes very difficult for them to understand what they see as a double standard, that is, how it is alright for one race to use the “N” word but not another. In a sense, they truly see a homogeneous America where everyone is equal, and therefore, they struggle with this issue. At least, that’s their argument.

I don’t know whether Laura, like Seinfeld’s Michael Richards, is a racist, but I can say that flaunting the “N” word in the ear of an African American female caller, did show her lack of sensitivity to the issue. To say the least, she’s got a lot of ‘splaining to do.

What I am afraid will happen in this case, however, are many jumping on Laura’s rant as proof positive that racism is still the sole determining factor keeping many Blacks disadvantaged. Unable to see beyond race, many in these Black communities are completely unaware of an even larger problem, disparities between class.

However, what is perceived as a double standard is merely an issue of identity. Some African Americans use the word as a gesture to identify with one another. Although I have a hard time accepting it, and I believe that Blacks should not be degrading each other with a word whose socio-historical significance has been one of degradation and humiliation, I have come to understand it slightly: to own it and have power over it.

Fratricide - Wrong Term

Much has been said and written about Maj. Hasan Nidal, the military psychologist who murdered 13 soldiers and wounded dozens more at Fort Hood last November. Even more so, questions have arisen as to when the miltary knew about Hasan's mental instability, his ties to radical Islam, and his disdain for the military, and why no one did anything to confront him. However, even more astounding than this is why when military officials knew of problems with Hasan did they not confront the issue, rather, they promoted him?

From a sociofeminist perspective, I would go one step further, why does the military continue to use the term fratricide when describing the horrific attacks committed by Hasan? The correct term should be honor killing, or customary killing. This term refers to killing a family member, and is much more gender nuetral than fratricide.

Now I know the argument seems petty, but what I am trying to establish is the continued sexual discrimination by the military to not recognize the strong roles of women in the military, let alone, recognizing the slain female soldiers. I also believe that the military continues to disrespect those female soldiers killed by Hasan by not using the correct term. Why, may you ask?

Fratricide is a latin term used when one kills a brother. Frat meaning "brother," and cide meaning "kill." Sororicide is the term used to describe killing one's sister. Now I do not propose using sororicide over the previous term; I am merely saying, for the sake of political correctness, that we use the term honor killing, or customary killing, to describe Hasan's atrocious attacks. In the end, I believe both male and female soldiers would be honored and memorialized by being referred to as a family.

Re: Healthcare Reform

Health care reform in this country seems analygous to our country's car culture. If it aint broke, don't fix it. In fact, we would just as soon drive our car until the engine blows in the fast lane of the freeway heading up Cajon Pass, as happened to the car in front of me this past weekend, than replace it with a new, more economical and more reliable one.

But even more than running our country's health care and budget into the ground, the arguments in the debate regarding reform seem a bit skewed.

The Washington Post's Robert J. Samuel posits, "If they [the uninsured] become insured, they would use more health care, possibly as much as today's insured. That would increase both government and private health spending, depending on how the insurance is provided."

I imagine the Obama Administration is conveniently leaving this possibility out of the debate, yes?

And here's a nother thing: this week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate will take up the health care reform debate after its summer recess, maybe this fall, or winter, or whenever it becomes a priority.

Three Month Update

I haven't written in a while, as you can read, mainly because of a cyber stalker vitiating every website I belonged to; but hopefully he's moved on and I can continue doing the things I love, writing and developing healthy relationships with people who value the same things I do: family, friends, education, politics, etc.

So what have I been up to? To begin, I'm in escrow on the model of home that you see in the picture above. It is currently being constructed by KB homes. To boot, I will be taking advantage of a state and federal tax credit that will line my pockets with $18,000 after I move in and amend my 2008 taxes. I boast, though I do it humbly, knowing that there are many out there who are not as fortunate as I am. However, I will say proudly that this will be my first home and I've fought tooth and nail to get it, saving, researching, and ostensibly sacrificing many enjoyments for the sake of providing my family with much more than I had as a child. In fact, I am incredibly grateful for the work ethic that was instilled in me during my childhood as a result of mowing lawns and working at Del Taco, though a brief recess from reality during college turned me into a penniless, debt-ridden student which haunted me until the past few years when I was able to control it and rebuild my credit.

Although credit repaired, I had just about written off owning a home. I thought that if housing prices continued to increase or even level off and stay as high as they were, I'd just as well be a renter for the rest of my life. I remember talking with friends about this at the local watering hole, GFE coffee shop. I argued that I would never have a mortgage I could not afford. So, when the housing bubble burst and housing prices plummeted, there I was, first in line with my savings and good credit, ready to buy. And Buy I did!

After some research, and a horrible real estate agent, I found online that KB homes was still building houses in the area, and at "very" affordable prices. So, one day I stopped by the KB office located in one of their model homes and talked to an agent about the process. It was unbelievably simple. In fact, for over a year, I looked at previously owned homes and even bid on 6 of them, but always lost out to higher bidders, usually to people with cash. I assumed they were buyers who sold their homes for $300+ thousand during the housing boom and now had cash in hand for houses 50-60% lower in price than their previous home. In contrast, the process of having a house built didn't involve behind closed door bidding wars, or even dealing with other potential buyers at that. It was a first come, first serve transaction that included merely having a "Pre-approval" from a lender, $2000 deposit for the lot premium, and a down payment of 3.5% (FHA loan minimum). That weekend I signed the papers, made the deposit, and now I'm waiting for them to finish building my home.

Purchasing a home changes one immensely! First of all, I've become a huge fan of HGTV, perusing every show for design ideas, landscaping techniques, and first-time home buying tips. It is not uncommon for me to stay up well into midnight watching shows merely for painting styles, knowing that I need to wake up early for work the next day. But all the hard work will pay off. Already I have a clear understanding of how to install flagstone walkways, and build a wood deck, and you can bet your bottom dollar that I will do both with that tax credit money.

I know that home ownership is not for everyone. As of June, the national unemployment rate is 9.7 percent, and locally (San Bernardino) 12.8%, though I believe it's higher because these statistics only report those who qualify for unemployment benefits. I assume it's closer to 14-15% locally. To add to these woes, the metro foreclosure rate for Riverside-San Bernardino ranks 5th in the nation, and that's set to rise, as the next round of foreclosures will be from those who before the crash had perfectly good credit and even reasonable mortgages, but because they are now out of work, they can't make their mortgage payments. It will also come from those who refinanced under the boom and didn't reinvest into their homes. Instead, they bought "toys": off-road vehicles, cars, motorcycles, etc, all of which require expensive vehicle registration fees. Now their weighted under massive debt and their home isn't worth the amount of their refi.

If there is one thing we as a nation can learn from this economic crash, it's that we must begin to be more frugal and even savvy with our finances. It's time that we quit living in excess and stop shopping for needless crap: large flat screen TVs, big trucks, worthless collectibles etc. and start thinking about our future and our children's futures. With that said, I hope many will come out of these hard economic times in much better shape, financially, than they went into it.

Thought of the Day

Why don't we ever see the headline "psychic wins lottery?"

You Better Start Swimming

Unless you're a Bob Dylan fan, my title to this blog makes absolutely no sense. It's a reference to the song "The Times They Are A'Changin'." I mention this not to confuse my readers, but to bring them into a discussion about a paradigm shift that has occurred as a result of the changing of administrations, Bush to Obama. Since Obama has taken office, Republicans alike have spouted off hateful rhetoric accusing and depicting the Obama administration of being soft on military, willing to dialogue with rogue nations or terrorist groups hell bent on destroying the U.S. My description here isn't wildly facetious or hyperbolic either. Ask any political analyst and they'll tell you, this is exactly where republicans want to paint Obama. So, as with any other day, today I was reading the Washington Post and found Richard Cohen's article "Moralism on the Shelf" whereby Cohen posits that:

Obama's apparent willingness to divide the Taliban into awful and less awful is just the latest sign that a sterile but necessary realism has settled over American foreign policy. In recent days alone, the Obama administration has indicated that it is willing -- for the moment -- to hold its tongue regarding China's voluminous human rights abuses and has hit the "reset button" on relations with Moscow, Vladimir Putin's neo-Stalinist fits notwithstanding. As for Israel's insistence on expanding West Bank settlements, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced it as "unhelpful" -- a whisper of a rebuke that, in the transcript, should have been rendered in italics.

The Obama administration is talking to the Syrians. It is willing to talk to the Iranians. It will parley with the North Koreans. It has kicked the wheels off the "Axis of Evil" and has, in general, shied from the lofty language of the Bush years, especially all that stuff about wars on terrorism and spreading democracy. This is an administration to bring a lump to the throat of Brent Scowcroft, the arch realist, who has never mistaken foreign policy for missionary work, even though they both usually take place abroad.

Although Cohen goes on to say that "for the most part, this is good," he clearly is trying to imply that Obama is willing to deny the historical atrocities committed by such groups, as if Obama condones and even endorses beheading women accused of adultery, disfiguring schoolgirls merely because they want an education, or starving a nation but yet spending billions developing nuclear arms. Is this really the discourse conservatives want to have? If so, then they will have to be willing to accept that this mess didn't start under Obama's administration, and that all preceding policies have been abject failures.

Thought of the Day

Why can’t women put on mascara with their mouths closed?

Ban on Embryonic Stem Cell Research To Be Lifted

On Monday, President Obama will sign an executive order removing restrictions for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The ceremony will take place around 11 am according to White House officials.

The move fulfills one of Obama's campaign promises and satisfies the scientific community's strong demands for more funding in this area. However, more than that, it ends an eight year stalemate whereby any real efforts to find cures for such ailments as diabetes, Parkinsons, and spinal cord injuries were all but shelved.

No Surgeon General Job for Sanjay Gupta

Less breaking news than let's say an arrest warrant being issued in the Chandra Levy murder case, but hey, I've got to report something. Looks like Dr. Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn his consideration for Surgeon General saying that he will not leave his job as CNN's chief medical correspondent. And I'm glad. Remember this interaction between Gupta and Micheal Moore when Gupta admits that he denies patients who don't have healthcare simply because he's in the pocket of insurance comanies who tell him who he can and cannot operate on? Or how about when he admits our health care insurance industry is a "precious" commodity, further admitting that for him as a doctor it's not about healing but about the money. Check it out for yourself:

Thought of the Day

Why don’t sheep shrink when they are out in the rain?

I Shutter to Think

Obama has told us over and again that the worst is still yet to come. Well, maybe this job-loss chart will help Americans realize just what that word "worst" means. Here we are now:

Rush Is a Big-Fat Liar!

Political cartoonists are a dime a dozen these days, but very few of them have mastered the use of irony as Tom Toles of the Washington Post has. Yesterday I posted one of his cartoons regarding the economy and how it's in the "shitter" as my old man used to say. But today I'd like to use this cartoon from Toles depicting a grossly obese Rush Limbaugh high on his throne. The depiction isn't unique. There are many who feel this gluttonous wretched bastard revels in his own filthy pool of anger, hate, and food addiction. Sorry if that last sentence had faulty parallelism, but my point is that Limbuagh is a disgusting wretch who doesn't need to be propped up in our society, even for the sake of ratings. And it bothers me that even moderate Republicans bow to this man, as Toles so clearly has drawn into his cartoon. With that said, this is the last thing I will post about Rush the magic blowhard. Enjoy Toles' cartoon: