Beware of Buzzkill

First off, as Charo once said, I have something to get off my chest (to which Jack Albertson replied, "This is a job for Superman!").  And it began with a post by my good yet liberal friend Roland Hansen which discussed the validity of this:

Now, my comment here is this: I AM SICK TO DEATH OF LIBERALS (not Mr. Hansen, and not most of those who will read this) TELLING ME MY PROBLEM WITH THE PRESIDENT IS RACIAL.  I dislike him for a lot of things politically;  I dislike his disingenuousness, coming across as if he cares about the little guy, when as a shill in Chicago he defended landlords who literally kicked poor people out of tenements at the coldest time of year.  I dislike that he wears the title of Commander In Chief, only to hold forces back while an ambassador got slaughtered, and then lied about why he was killed.  I don't mind his black skin, his big ears, or his dippy wife.  As I told Roland, Col. Wilkerson is full of it.

True story: when I was a security guard some 25 years ago, my Lieutenant watched a biracial couple exit our factory, and said, "That's just a shame."

"What do you mean?"  said I.

"The kids they have," he replied, "All the trouble they'll have because they're biracial..."

Now, I want you to understand, this was a good Christian man, not prejudiced in the least, expressing a genuine concern for such children.  But I told him, "That will be because of people like you, thinking of them as different."

Which brings me to why I ultimately decided to bring this up.  If you haven't seen this yet, let me give you the two-cent tour:  When the commercial for Cheerios came out- you know the one, where the white mom tells the biracial girl that Cheerios are good for the heart, so she pours a bunch on the chest of her black dad- an MSNBC tweeter came out with this:

Because ALL of us right wingers hate blacks, right?  Then "right winger" Michelle Malkin (herself a Philippine-American) went on twitter offensive, asking right wing mixed families to tweet pictures of THEIR families to MSNBC.  If you use the hashtag, #MyRightWingBiracialFamily, you can count for yourself the number of responses- and so could MSNBC.  It wasn't long before not one, but TWO apologies went up over the now-deleted tweet.  But those of you who follow such things know that this is just one of SEVERAL incidents of race-baiting used by MSNBC, including the infamous joking about Mitt Romney's grandchild.

The sad truth of this is, the liberal side is being represented (not "composed of", but "represented by") by people who cannot understand why anyone would disagree with them, and thus, any dispute with Obama HAS to be because he's black.  And he plays right along, too much of a coward IMHO to admit that a lot of people just think he's wrong.  So he and his handlers pump up the race card- and find idiots like this Wilkerson to go along with it.

So here it is.  You have every right to have your opinions about politics.  I'll allow anyone to have their say here.  But the first one of you that tells me one more time "You don't like Obama because you are a racist," is out of here.  No one has yet, and I certainly hope no one ever does.  But... there IS a line.  And frankly, I'm standing on the other side of it with a 2X4 for the next one that crosses it.


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In the meantime, Scrappy and I did manage to get out for about fifteen minutes yesterday!  I thought it a neat idea for him that we go into the small wood behind the apartment.  Unfortunately, this involved going through a bank of almost knee-deep snow, seeing and then following a pair of deer through brush thick enough that I had to turn my back to it to get through (and believe me, I was praying I didn't trip), and ending up coming out into much the same depth of snow we started out in.  I call it, "The fifteen minutes that lasted forever."

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Next up, when one of my fine Australian friends mentioned an upcoming trip to Perth, I thought about the fun I had last summer following the Australian Hockey league, and got thinking about the three guys that ditched their teams mid season that I'd been keeping an eye on.  Well, Michael Forney was easy- he'd been with my VSV team in the Austrian League all year- until right before they entered the new year.  As the playoffs started, VSV told him they "wanted a different kind of player" (read: one that led the Aussie league in scoring for half a year, rather than one who had just 11 goals on the season) and cut him.  However, he quickly got a new job, and hopes to start Sunday for Sparta Sarpsborg in the Norwegian League.  (Most of this info from a taped interview with Forney on the League site.)

Not quite so good for the Ouellette brothers.  Brother Travis, who had went to camp last fall with the ECHL's Bakersfield team, didn't make that cut, but in mid-December he caught on with the CHLs Arizona Sundogs.  Ten games later, he was waived there, and ended up back in the ECHL with the Greenville Road Warriors.  But after just 5 games, the team suspended him yesterday, and took him off the roster.  No word yet on why.  Track record says he quit the team, but I don't know for sure.

Brother Britt hooked up with the Thousand Island Privateers of the Federal League.  Not that Britt isn't doing well there- he leads his team in scoring- but ... I don't mean to say the FHL is about as low as you can go in North American hockey and still get paid, BUT... there's only 4 teams in the league.


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Finally, a sad note for me.  A similar situation to Saturday's post is springing up with me and a blog friend.  This time, it seems like agreeing with 75% of their point isn't good enough.  I didn't agree with 100% so I got the "I don't know why we're even friends" bit... again.  Now, the other thing is being resolved (hopefully) by e-mail, so do NOT attach any of the following to this. (Read this again- THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE OTHER THING, which is hopefully being resolved.)  But this is the price we pay for the polarized society we are building.  "If I don't agree with you, I'm just not going to listen any more."  Do any of you really think that a political argument (if you even want to call it that) warrants ending a friendship?  I don't and I hope cooler heads prevail.  But damn it, I am sick and tired of hearing that friends cannot disagree.  Of being told I said something I didn't.  Of being blown off when I try to explain.  Even a e-friendship should be built on mutual respect and compromise.

So, here's this, too.  I don't require everyone to agree with me.  I don't mind discussion, and being a Martin, we see arguments as a spectator sport.  But anyone else comes around and says, "I don't know why we're even friends"- bringing personal friendship into places where they DON'T belong, like political discussions- I will take you at your word and say "See ya."  I try to walk on eggshells to make sure I don't wrongfully rope someone into a blanket statement I'm making. (See the "(not "composed of", but "represented by") " comment above.)  Sometimes I don't manage it, and sometimes a person might gloss over my attempt and feel they got stepped on.  But I try, damn you, I tried.  And I'm THIS close to not trying anymore.