Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Why Are You Here...

...when you could be reading these posts from a few of my Texas blog buddies.

I get a little too busy every now and again and miss some out on the great stuff these guys write. Here are a few examples.


Big Tex has a fascinating post up concerning this years Presidential election.
Or is it a Minstrel Show?

Nobody has actually donned blackface yet, although SNL has come close with white Fred Armisen handling the Obama impersonations for the show. But it seems obvious to me that there is an obvious and ongoing attempt being made to frame Obama as an "uppity n*gg*r," and I wonder how far we are from crossing that threshold where all of the code words and insinuations are dropped, and naked, unadulterated, 200-proof racism is allowed to infest our political discourse. Perhaps it sounds a bit absurd to some to think that we might get to that point, but look at all of the other previously unthinkable thresholds that have been crossed during the Bush era.


Read the rest, it's worth it.


Shawn comments on Barack Obama's Father's Day speech over at the Dallas South Blog.


One of the gross misunderstandings during the whole “black church/black pastor ” flap was that black folks don’t preach or teach responsibility. The senator’s stance on the role of black father’s is not foreign to black pulpits. Family values are taught right along side equal justice.


Indeed. Even after 400 years of existence in this land, it seems that America still has a lot to learn about it's Black folks.
Thank goodness for the Obama campaign.

Speaking on the recent "Islam flap" in Friendswood, TX (details here), Neil at Texas Liberal wrote:

I’ve no way of knowing for sure, but I bet the great majority of students in Freindswood were not offended to learn about Islam.

Sometimes it seems that a job of parents is to make sure their kids acquire the same fears and prejudices they were left with by their parents.

In any case, some of the good people in Friendswood did speak up. And I believe many young people in this country grasp that a new day of greater acceptance of others is ahead.

Well, we can hope can't we?

Jobsanger has Guantanamo Bay and Bush's legacy on his mind. Bush seems to think that history will vindicate him in the long-run. I think just the opposite will happen. I think as more and more of the truth comes out, future generations will revile him and wonder how our generation could have allowed him to do such terrible things. In fact, I wonder that myself. This generation tried to impeach one president for getting a "blow-job" in the White House, but let another get away with starting an unnecessary war that killed thousand of innocents and tortured and imprisoned many others. I was going to ask where are our values, but I think a better question may be -- do we have any values other than fear and greed?

No doubt. I've ofter wondered the same thing myself.


Menopausal Mick and Llamacorey are leaving the great state of Texas for the Missouri Ozarks, and plan to stop blogging politically and focus of environmental issues. Their farewell post in part reads:

You people do important work. I hope now that the nomination process is finished that some of you will begin to focus on things that will make everything else trivial if not addressed. Democracy has to be reclaimed in order to have the tools needed to facilitate a real change. There is absolutely NOTHING to stop another stolen election. Voting machines will be used this November. The same machines that have been proven by Princeton and other universities to be entirely hackable and untrustworthy will be used to decide the presidential race. In addition to the voting machines, unless free and open media is reclaimed, there is very little hope of any real reform happening. MSM is corporate owned and sells a product that has little resemblance to news coverage of any value.

How does Democracy fail? Make the people afraid. Control the news. Make a free election into a sham. Done.

I hear you guys. But remember all things, including environmental issues are political, especially these days. You'll be missed around here.

Thanks everybody for all of your great writing which allowed me to create this post.

6 comments:

King Politics said...

Love the blog. As an expat Texan living in Mississippi, your blog helps me keep up. You might enjoy my site too: http://blackpoliticalanalysis.blogspot.com/

Big Tex said...

Thanks for the link DP. Looks like you and I have a lot of overlap in our reading list. :-)

DP said...

Marvin - thanks for coming by and commenting, and for your kind words. I checked your site too, very nice, but it sounds like your missing Texas, just a little bit!
We've linked to you as well, and thanks for your link.

Big Tex - Thanks as always for dropping in. You just write so well my friend. I hope that the links help your items be seen by more folks outside our common readers.

Ted McLaughlin said...

DP-
Thanks for the kind words - it's appreciated.
But I assure you, my blog day is not complete without a trip to There...Already.
Vince, over at Capitol Annex, was asking about Texas Progressive blogs the other day needing wider recognition. I made sure he knew about your blog (and Big Tex's), and he's now blogrolled you both.
Happy Juneteenth! (And I agree it should be a national holiday. It marks the end of slavery in America, and that's something all of us should celebrate).

Anonymous said...

Better late than never, right Sugar?

I have dial-up in the Ozarks! I think it's an improvement on wireless hell...but..not much.

Thanks for the mention, DP. I have missed your site and a few others but I haven't missed running a political site.

I'm finding that sitting on my porch and watching life happen in what is almost a rain forest ecosystem fills me with such joy and peace that I can't bring myself to get full-on political. I'm always so very angry when I focus on what is wrong with the world.

These days, a political observer is overwhelmed with the wrongness running amuck on the planet. At least... I was.

Instead of prowling the news that I can glean from the internet for hours each morning... I sit with my coffee and listen to bird song and the creek laughing...and frogs trying to convince some female to come admire their home staked out in the waters of the spring.

I'll probably leave the old site up for a time because we are still getting visitors every day to read one single post I did months ago. One silly post about how the nation could have solar energy mainstream capable in a very short time gets more hits than anything else I ever wrote. It is amazing. So, I'll leave that as readable for a bit I guess.

I'm already planning a new site for environmental issues. My hope is that my temper will stop being so Irish and I'll be able to write about environmental issues without getting so angry.

These days...when I'm in me cups...there is coffee in the mug and NOT scotch.

Take care my friend. I'll be able to read regular-like from now on...so like as not...I'll get mouthy on your site.

I have a great story to tell you about how a horrid hate crime was handled by the gentle people who live in this area. It gave me great hope for humanity.

(this is hard to upload with dial-up..if it posts twice...just delete one for me, please)

Menopausal Mick

DP said...

jobsanger - thank you for the kind words my friend. I've been out of the loop for a few days so sorry for the late reply. Also thanks for the mention to Capital Annex- I've linked him as well. I'll see you at your site soon.

Menopausal Mick - I miss your site already and it's not even gone yet. I do hope to see you here a lot more, and I can't wait for the environmental site to post. Let me know if there's anything we can do to help.

You guys take care up there, and I'm positive these interactions we'll continue as Boo's garden continues to grow!