To the Cynical Wannabe Intellectuals:

Because Tumblr is my current Internet addiction, I will redirect you to my (generally) less political blog for this apolitical entry.

Maybe I’m over thinking, but…

This whole “Burn A Qur’an Day” thing has seriously disturbed me. I am afraid. There it is. I’m afraid. And I don’t mean, ‘Ah! …Oh, that’s my shadow’ afraid; I’m talking ‘days after 9/11’ afraid.

We are living in a time where one small group of people, a congregation of 50 overzealous Christians or a rag-tag group of a few hundred overzealous Muslims can demand the attention of the most powerful nations in the world. In this world of instant communication and information, the stupidity of one person can set off a chain reaction that could lead to the deaths of a couple of people in a car bombing, a couple-hundred people in an airplane or even a couple-thousand people in a building. I hate to think that some nut-job can and would hold our national security and the safety of our troops hostage to make a statement against a place of worship. This man endangered the United States and its mission abroad in order to undermine the rights of other Americans. Yet he thinks he is saving the US from falling prey to Sharia Law. Is that not mind-boggling?

My point is that these are scary times. The US of A is hardly putting its best foot forward regarding relations with Muslims in America and abroad. With the hate crimes against Muslims, the appalling poll numbers indicative of our collective opinion of Islam and the wildly incoherent protests against mosques anywhere in the US, it looks like our reputation abroad may be shot to hell as far as Muslims are concerned.

I am in NO way saying that these are the opinions and/or practices of all Americans. I’m just saying that that’s the way we allow ourselves to be portrayed and we are shooting ourselves in the face in more ways than one.

Protesting places of worship (that are not breaking any laws) should not happen in the US of A. It seriously goes against everything we believe in. The right to peacefully practice a religion is a constitutional right in the US; as far as I’m concerned, it ought to be a universal one. It puts Americans against Americans; we just don’t need that.

Putting forth this image of the US as inhospitable—even hostile—to Muslims only does us harm. It gives the terrorists fuel for their propaganda. It drives anti-American sentiment abroad in nations like Afghanistan and Pakistan where we desperately need the support of the people.

I am scared for the future. With the debate about Park51/Cordoba House/’The Ground Zero Mosque’ and the growing anti-Islam sentiment, I fear the direction in which this country is going and the reaction we will receive from abroad.

God bless America. Please. We really need it.

FINALLY!!!

Ever since I was a child, I have had to listen to that shrew Dr. Laura with my mother. She likes that bitchy/'honest' advice, whatever that is. But I have finally convinced my mother that Dr. Laura is a lousy person to listen to. It's a sobering victory, though, since Dr. Laura is 'through with radio' now (http://bit.ly/9IIloU).

The funny thing is that, unlike much of the mainstream, I am more concerned with her comments as opposed to her use of a racial slur. I don't think using the n-word makes a person a racist, but some of the other things she said filled in the blanks and made me comfortable calling her a racist.

Let's chop this up, shall we:

• 'I saw your people doing it on the talking box' is NEVER a good reason to do anything. I still can't believe she seriously thought it was okay to swear at that woman because she saw black people saying the n-word on HBO!
• Obama has absolutely nothing to do with anyone's marriage but his own. Why did Dr. Laura bring up the 2008 election when a woman is asking about her marriage? Hmmm...
• Being offended after you've been cussed at does not mean you are hypersensitive or you don't have a sense of humor. There was nothing humorous about what Dr. Laura was saying. That's why she had to apologize.
• Repeating a racial slur to a person of that particular race does not make them less offended. When you perceive that you have offended someone, you stop. Dr. Laura's parents raised a bully.
• Black-think is 'distressing and distrubing', eh? 'It's all about power'? I do not understand how black-think or (possibly?) black power have anything to do with that woman's marriage. How is 'please make your friends stop calling me names' trying to fight the establishment?

Dr. Laura apologized for using the n-word (http://huff.to/d2TPJo), but she did not apologize for taking a disgustingly prejudiced and offensive stance against a woman who was asking for her advice. As someone who has been forced to listen to this horrid woman for years, I can reasonably assert that, had this woman not mentioned that she was a black woman in an interracial marriage, the good doctor would have told her to stick it to her husband and give him an ultimatum. What Dr. Laura did instead was attack a woman who was already humbling herself by asking for her help. THEN she had the gall to tell the woman that she should not be married to her husband despite the fact that, from what the caller said, the problem was with people outside of her marriage.

I have never been a fan of Dr. Laura, but this time she seriously went out of her way to attack a woman. That was truly and blatantly racist.

For the entire conversation between Dr. Laura and her confused victim, http://bit.ly/arGYmn. I never knew why anyone would call that woman anyways...

I didn't know I hated my country...

So I was on Twitter like I am for about 40-50% of my time. And I get in a conversation with this European woman who lived in Belgium but now lives in the States. The topic of discussion is US healthcare reform. Because I will not be swayed on my stance on healthcare, she tries to convince me that the US is a better country than any European country. To this I respond that I do not consider the US to be better than any country, only richer. I say that because, as an American, I think there are problems in many facets of our society, our politics, etc. The same is true of all other countries. Thus, I don't think any COUNTRY is better than another.

When I tell the woman that she romanticizes the US and makes it into an almost ideal nation (which it most definitely is not), she gets upset with me. She accuses me of thinking like anti-Americans in Europe. To which my response was

I'm not anti-American. I love my country and want to see it improve constantly.

Despite what I say about how I feel about my nation she has decided that

It is sad to see how young Americans have been taught to hate their country so much.

She said this because I claimed that the US had done some not-so-nice things during the Cold War. Anyone who sat through a US history class would know that the US is not blameless in foreign policy. They have staged coups in various nations (Vietnam, Chile, etc.). There have been assassination plots for unfavorable heads of state. Like every government, the US's has it's dark side. I'm not justifying it, but I refuse to ignore it. I love my country but I will not look past it's flaws and it's contradictions because, as a young woman, I want to IMPROVE this great nation because it's mine.

I Can't Believe I'm Defending This Guy...

So, I was talking to my mother this afternoon on my Samsung Propel *bobo Blackberry cough cough* when she said, "Have you heard what they're saying about Crist?"

My immediate response was (naturally) "He is homosexual?"

BUT NO! It gets better! I mean, worse... Hell, it gets to be pretty hilarious in a very sad way.

My dear governor, Florida Republican Governor Charlie Crist, has been given the title of America's worst governor by Forbes Magazine. My question (which is probably the same as yours) is How did that happen? Apparently there are legitimate reasons...

According to Forbes.com, Crist caused controversy when he (a Republican!) gladly accepted Obama's stimulus money. Crist's own reasons for accepting the stimulus cash aren't too shabby, either. Crist had this to say about the infamous stimulus bill (which economists say should have been larger):

"I think it's fantastic. Are you kidding? We don't have to raise taxes." Moreover, Crist contiuned, "we might be able to cut property taxes some more. We have more money for education, so we can increase per-student spending. We can spend more money on our roads and infrastructure. We can provide health care for our people. I mean, it's remarkable."

Sadly, Forbes writer Reihan Salam mocks this as "free-lunchism."

One thing that Salam doesn't understand is that there is always a reason to cut taxes in Florida! Salam gose on to claim that Crist is the worst governor because of his lack of economic savvy. Apparently,

"Crist has committed Florida to a fiscal nightmare, one that will lead to draconian tax hikes and spending cuts long after he makes a break for the U.S. Senate or finds some other comfortable sinecure thanks to the good graces of his many wealthy friends."

If these are the reasons for Crist being America's worst governor, I wonder where that would put California Governor Schwarzenegger on the list? A close second maybe? It seems evident that the state of Florida isn't in the same financial quagmire as California.

And what about South Carolina Governor Mark Stanford who used tax payer dollars for personal business? (We'll leave his mistress out of this.)

And why not discuss Texas Governor Rick Perry who just this summer reminded anti-Obama protestors that Texas has the right to secede? By the way, he did accept the stimulus money.

And how could we forget Rush Limbaugh's wet dream, Sarah Palin? She may not count anymore because she's a bonafide quitter but I think she ruined things for everyone, don't you? Maybe she left to avoid this kind of publicity.

Obviously, there are plenty of governors who make Crist look like a godsend. As a Florida resident, I can honestly say that education is NEVER really a major issue there but it never hurts for the governor to bring up the subject (considering the fact that many people in Florida do not acknowledge their awful school systems). The infrastructure projects are likely to be left half-finished for months when the money does get tight again, but we don't anticipate any bridges to nowhere. Also, the stimulus plan can hardly hope to cover all of the death panel candidates and plastic surgeon fiends that reside in sunny Florida.

Let's face it: it's not like Crist will really change anything but at least property taxes might go down!

Honestly, I think this Forbes article shows a very positive attribute of Governor Crist: He's a genuine moderate. I think the US Senate could use a few of those if they ever want any of that treasured bipartisanship.

All quotes are courtesy of this article.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/25/governor-charlie-crist-florida-opinions-columnists-politics-reihan-salam.html

Angry, Lovely Poem

This poem is probably my favorite poem ever because it's written so plainly and I can relate to every word. I wa introduced to the poetry of Nikki Giovanni in middle school when my class read "Kidnap Poem", undoubtedly a more amiable poem than the following. I liked Giovanni's style so much that I looked for her poetry on the Internet and occasionally checked out some of her collections from the library. But it was this poem that has always struck a cord with me.

When I Die

when i die i hope no one who ever hurt me cries
and if they cry i hope their eyes fall out
and a million maggots that had made up their brains
crawl from the empty holes and devour the flesh
that covered the evil that passed itself off as a person
that i probably tried
to love

--Nikki Giovanni

As an angsty, hormonal young teenager, I liked this poem because of the grotesque imagery and the raw emotion of the sentiment. Because I was angry at the world at that point in my life, I liked how Giovanni took her anger and her words and made people see and feel her emotions along with her. I liked that; I liked that power, that talent to make people see and feel what she felt without actually having to face them or even be near them.

As I got older (and, to some extent, less morbid) I would look at the poem in a completely different light. I focused less on the "million maggots" and more on the "love." As I matured, the poem became less about violence and anger and more about the hurt that only a person that you are close to can bestow. I have had friendships that have failed just like anyone else. The thing is when you trust someone, you never expect them to hurt you. And that makes it so much harder to deal with when they do.

Also, it's impossible to make someone happy when they want nothing to do with you or dislike something that is a fundamental aspect of your personality. Over the years, I realized that no one can be liked by everyone; and no one can honestly say that (s)he likes everyone. All you can do is stick with the people who hurt you sometimes but care about nonetheless and hope for the best.

Beware of Rabid Professors!

Okay, so far this entire story seems to be limited to local news in the Boston area and the social network accounts of indignant Black people, but I think this story might be somewhat relevant to a trend in "post-racial America". Black Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. was arrested at his own home because he was somewhat rude to a police officer. Some (very reasonable) people say that we should wait until all of the facts came to light. Then the police report was released to the public. Obviously, the officer writing the police report would not write anything unbecoming of himself, but some of the things he did write are hard to explain:

I asked Gates for photo identification so that I could verify that he resided at -- Ware Street and so that I could radio my findings to ECC. Gates initially refused, demanding that I show some identification but then did supply me with a Harvard identification card. Upon learning that Gates was affiliated with Harvard, I radioed and requested the presence of Harvard University Police.

This part of the police report made me question the police officer's objectives. If he knew that Gates did in fact live at that address, why was it necessary to involve the University's police. I wonder if the police officer wanted Gates to get in trouble with the University, perhaps endanger his employment. Gates was arrested on the charge of disorderly conduct because he "continued to yell, which drew the attention of both the police officers and citizens, who appeared surprised and alarmed by Gates's outburst" even after the officer had left the house. I wonder which drew more attention: a middle-age man yelling from his porch or multiple police cars parked in front of said man's house? Gates was allowed to go home but another Black Harvard professor claims that he too had been accosted by police.

Professor Allen Counter claims that in 2004 two Harvard police officers mistook him for a robbery suspect as he crossed Harvard Yard. They threatened to arrest him because he could not provide identification. This incident happened in broad daylight.

This is what people are calling "post-racial" America. We have a Black president but children in Philadelphia are being denied access to swimming pools and college professors are being arrested in their own homes for "disorderly conduct". In economically and socially stressful times, we hope that we can press on for a less backwards future.

Quotes and information is courtesy of http://www.boston.com/.