Sep
17
2009
Former President Jimmy Carter has gone on record asserting that racism and fear are driving the anti-Obama anger, protests, and “heckling” even within the U.S. Congress.
My opinion is that the “good ol’ boy” network of aging white men just can’t come to terms with the decline of their power and influence. They still consider Barack Obama (and his wife) to be “uppity nigras” who seek to usurp the prepotency enjoyed by the white majority for two centuries of United States history.
Recently, Carter wrote of the repugnancy of religious fundamentalism that promotes the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men and therefore justifying slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and rape. Such beliefs are manifested in the official governmental and societal sanction to deny girls and women equal access to education, health care and employment, and to dictate when and to whom they shall marry.
Is this really so different than the fundamentalist religious beliefs that apartheid is based upon? Racial superiority or Gender superiority, it all comes down to white man keeping control.
However, I must opine, the most interesting thing that I see is how many Black men, once emancipated and ascendant, perpetuate the subjugation of women, thus joining with their White Gender-mates, to maintain control over women.
I don’t doubt for a minute that, had Hilary Clinton won the U.S. Presidency, she would be subjected to the same anger and heckling that Obama is experiencing. That is a common acknowledgment: in surveys, white men, having to choose between a Black man in the Presidency or a White women….would prefer a Black man.
Note: The “Possibly-related Articles” below are links to other Today.com blogs which may or may not include other posts here on Grugger’s Way.
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Jul
20
2009
What a popular topic today, the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, July 20, 1969.
Like so many other space travel enthusiasts around the World, along with science fictions crazies, we thought a new age had dawned and that space travel was just a few years away for the rest of us.
Such was not to be. Not only is space travel not available to any but the very richest individuals in the World, a Russian Soyuz trip is about the only way to get into space. A trip to the International Space Station for ten or twenty million dollars is not what we had in mind for the masses.
Space travel is very limited even for the few countries who have engineered a vehicle capable of reaching orbit and returning. In fact, AFFORDING a national space program has become a real question of priorities in virtually every country, including the USA.
Back in 1969, NASA officials probably thought they would be engineering trips to MARS by the beginning of the 21st Century. So did I.
Now, however, even a return trip to the Moon is being re-tooled to do it on the cheap. Forget about Mars; the economy is so bad and the NASA budget so tenuous, that the “return to the Moon” plans are becoming doubtful.
For the population at large, the exploration of space, and manned space travel in particular, has lost the romance it once had. We need to feed our people, educate them, provide for their health and for their old age, not spend billions to put a man on the Moon. BEEN THERE; DONE THAT!
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Jun
24
2009
Here is a governor who admits to having an extramarital affair for the past year, disappeared for several days, had his office AND his spouse cover for him as to his whereabouts, and still expects to remain in office…at least as of today.
What a JERK! How disrespectful! How disgusting!
Why is it that such people enter politics? Or is it politics and power that changes them into jerks?
I have no use for his kind. The State has no use for such a governor.
As a matter of fact, such behavior shows such contempt for his family that he is unfit to be a husband or father.
Get a divorce first!
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May
18
2009
There is a scene from the 2009 season finale of “Desperate Housewives” where Lynette’s husband plans to return to college to study the Chinese Language to better position himself as a “marketing” executive.
How times have changed just during my lifetime! When I was in high school, most kids studied German and Spanish and French. Russian Language studies were not even offered in high school (where I went). Then, American universities began to promote Russian as the language skill most needed for the diplomatic corps and the military service. Russian History was a big deal where I went to college, and there were several different courses offered. Yes, the Russians were Coming, the Russians were Coming!
Fast forward thirty years and the Soviet Union is defunct, the Russian Federation sounds like something fictional from Star Trek and Russia is allied with the West (well, almost). The new Power player in World Politics, World Economics, and World Olympics is CHINESE!
A friend of mine graduated in Business with a minor in French. He is unemployed, (for now).
One of my sons works in retail. He showed me how nearly every clothing product in his sporting goods store was made in China. So, the Desperate Housewives story line is right on the mark.
We live in a different world than I grew up with in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In a way, I miss the good old days of the Cold War and the KGB. What great fiction it made!
To many Americans, me included, China seems even more foreign than Russia. The people look different. They eat different food. They have different social customs and manners. They use a different way of writing. We have much to learn about them. Language is just the beginning.
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