Obama vs I Spy

I have read Obama’s book Dreams of My Father and had I read it before the election I would have worked even harder to have keep him from becoming president. Reading the book made me glad I was not a relative or friend of his, because he slammed everyone of them! They, not he, were racists! His white family, who raised him, loved him, clothed him, fed and nurtured him, educated him, and gave him the courage to run for president were slammed worst of all. His white grandfather is a racist because OMG! He plays poker with black men! How dare he be so racist! And his white grandmother is a racist because one day at her bus stop a black man acting suspicious made her nervous. Well, dang! I guess if it had been a white man acting suspicious who made her nervous that would have been okay. As long as you don’t get nervous when someone of a different race is acting strangely.

Whoever wrote this book for him really needs to learn to write dialog! The dialog was stilted and sounded so phony at times you knew it didn’t actually take place. It was supposed to have been conversations between Obama and his friends, family, etc., where he set them straight on racism. But it was terrible! The conversations were either embellished or just made up, but either way the dialog was very badly written.

But the part that cracked me up the most was where the writer started slamming I Spy! Yep, Obama is supposed to have said it was a racist show because the white guy always got the girl. OMG! That is so stupid! He obviously never watched the show, and I think I will remind him that black people didn’t like Bill Cosby (Scotty in I Spy) because he acted too white! Oh, and BTW, Scotty got the girl in many episodes.

So here’s the thing…Sheldon Leonard broke the color barrier in television when he cast a black actor and white actor in equal parts in a TV drama. In many of the episodes the cast was over 50% black and all were serious dramatic roles. Alexander Scott, (Bill Cosby) was a Rhodes Scholar and the brains of the operation. When he had a relationship with a woman it was serious. Kelly Robinson (Robert Culp aka the white guy to Obama) was a tennis bum who had many frivolous affairs and a couple serious ones. They were cast as good friends and if the color barrier was mentioned it was in joking between them as friends will do. It was equality for both actors and just for future reference in 1967 Bill Cosby won the Emmy for best actor in a dramatic series.

So Mr. Obama and whoever ghost wrote your book for you. Before you start making empty statements about racism, get your facts straight. This show broke the racism barriers in television dramas! It did not set them!

Aunt Bea

This week’s topic for Obladi, a new blog about getting older and all it entails, is changing expectations.

As you've gotten older, have you found that you are doing things you never thought you would? Maybe something you never thought you could and finally learned? Or maybe something you swore you never would, but find yourself doing? Or even maybe something your mother said you would do one day!

I had been planning a blog post called I wanted to be Aunt Bea and this seems to fit perfectly here. When I was growing up, and I’m sure it’s still the same today the emphasis for girls was you had to be thin. Even a hint of extra fat was unacceptable. I wasn’t a fat child, but I was a healthy one. I bordered on just over the acceptable and was called chubby. I look at older pictures and realize that all my angst about this was not necessary as I was just a normal sized child. While all my friends wanted to be Sophia Loren or any of the other super beautiful thin women I wanted to be Aunt Bea. For those who don’t know who Aunt Bea is catch some old episodes of Andy Griffith. Aunt Bea was the maiden aunt who took care of Andy and Opie (his son) after his wife died. She was a big happy loving woman whose baked goods and canned fruit and veggies won prizes at the state fair. Everyone loved her and no one care whether she was fat or thin. All through my childhood I couldn’t wait to get old so I could get as fat as I wanted and no one would care.

Well, one day I found I had gotten fat. I mean really fat! And suddenly realized it wasn’t what I wanted. Oh, I still didn’t want to be thin and could care less about my size, but I did reach a point where I had to trim it down some. After all, even Aunt Bea wasn’t that fat. Of course, I fell short of my plans and expectations in other ways too. I can’t bake worth a darn! I couldn’t make a pie crust if my life depended on it. Canning is too much work and not worth the time or energy! I am not a very nurturing person, as Aunt Bea, was and certainly wouldn’t put up with the things she did with such a good nature. No, I am not and will never be Aunt Bea. But, I find while that was an interesting ideal to aspire to, it is not my reality.

So, Aunt Bea you were an inspiration to me as a young child, but dang, I am not and never will be Aunt Bea!

Tuesday Newsday

My sister, Victoria, and I have restarted an old meme, tuesday newsday. Each tuesday one of us will post a news topic and invite others to comment on the post. I had the honor of doing the first one, and had just heard some news that really upset me. While listening to early morning talk radio some one called in about gender based abortions now being legal in Sweden. So, the host invited callers to call in and give their opinions. What bothered me was this was the only place I heard this and it may have passed quietly by had I not had a sleepless night.

Why did this disturb me since I am pro-choice? Because that was a difficult decision for me to make. I don't believe in abortion and when faced with the choice I chose adoption. But, I am also aware there are others who can't afford that option. Rape victims, young college women who's entire lives could be changed and futures ruined,women living in poverty who can't afford to care for the children she now has. And the list goes on. So, I decided I had no right to choose for these women and stepped over to the side of pro-choice.

But we aren't talking about any of the above named circumstances. We are talking about healthy women who want a child and can afford to have a child, are deliberately getting pregnant to have a child, and then aborting if they don't like the sex of the child! Now, there are some who would say, oh, so you're pro-choice as long as it fits your agenda, but not pro-choice for everyone. I am pro-choice for those who need that option not those who choose it for selfish reasons. That's like saying I'm for welfare as long as it only benefits the poor, but the rich shouldn't be able to get it. There is a difference between having to choose abortion and choosing it to get the gender you want. In my humble opinion this does empower the anti-choice side.

It doesn't matter which exit you use!

We've been having rain a lot this past week and today was no different. Our little stray, Little Friend, likes to come in out of the rain. The problem is once inside she figures if she can exit through a window, rather than the door she entered, there will be no rain. I keep trying to explain to her no matter how hard she tries she can't get out through the closed window and besides it will still be raining regardless of which exit she uses. She doesn't believe me and will keep trying. I keep opening the door for her to which she runs and then stops when she sees it's still raining. She also seems to feel I have some control over this wet stuff that falls from the sky and complains bitterly to me until it finally stops. Then with great indignation she will leave the captivity of this room and go back outside. Her attitude seems to be that I make it rain so she will have to come inside and then I force her to remain indoors by not stopping the rain. When I did stop and she went back out her cohort Scarface was waiting and he had a few words to say to me also. This is the thanks I get for feeding them every day, providing a warm dry place when it rains, and getting them to the vet when they're sick...and they aren't even our cats!!!!!

Graduation chaos

Saturday was graduation day for Morris College and as usual it was held at the convention center here. There is a huge parking lot and you get their early to get the closer spaces. So, I drive Keith and bring books, writing materials, cell phone, etc. Things to keep me busy while he has to sit in there and listen to all the boring speeches. I won't even get into those and why I stopped going in. Let's just say hearing about all the evil white people who are holding them back, when it's white faculty sitting there who are educating their precious little darlings. Note sarcasm. Anyway, the ceremony started at 10 a.m. and of course, people were still arriving long after 11 a.m. And instead of parking in the parking spaces in the back of the lot they started double parking (0n both sides) and blocking in the cars in the first rows.

Picture being at the supermarket and parked in a space and coming out to find someone had parked their car on the lane in front of your car.

So, they were blocking people trying to get in as well as blocking those who would be coming out to leave. Well, I figured I wasn't going to let them block me in, so moved the car up far enough no one could park in front of me. There was a car blocking the car to my left and soon one blocking in the car to my right. Another late arrival, four young black men (and I use the term men loosely) stopped and one approached me in a threatening way and said...so whatcha gonna do. you be comin or you be goin'? I said, neither I'm sitting here and not moving so you can't block me in. He glared at me and started to move towards the car and said, no, whatcha gonna do (sneering) go or move? I said, neither, I am sitting here. Another got out of the car and I stood my ground. They left cursing and cussing me and I will refrain from posting the words used to describe this white honky bitch....whoops! anyway...

back to the cars on either side of me. When the young man in the car on the right came out, for some balloons, I made a remark about these rude people blocking others in and he got snotty and said, it be a gradyeateshun so dey gonna park dere. I am using the vernacular used when they spoke...these young college students. Well, I got the last smile in when he came out to leave early and found his car blocked in and mine not. He glared at me as if I had blocked his car in, got out his cell phone, and started cussing into it about being stuck there. Some others got the security guard but little he could do, so they had to wait. When Keith came out we pulled out and left. On a side note, when the security guy drove by my car and saw what I had done he gave me a big smile and thumbs up.

I will give the security man credit. He did try to keep up and keep people moving, but he would be at one end making people move and others would be blocking in cars at the other end and leaving before he could get there. Once the proceedings started he could not longer go to the mic and ask people to move their cars.

This rudeness and lack of consideration is something I am seeing way too much of here. If I hear one more person talk about southern hospitality and how rude us northerners are I think I'm going to puke on their shoes!

Seven years!!!

Hard to believe, but yesterday, marked our 7th wedding anniversary. We almost forgot and let it slip by. Keith remembered this morning. Yesterday we were busy with the last day of school - getting all checked out so we could start vacation. I probably wouldn't have remembered at all. Maybe I don't want to remember how long I've been in Swampter, SC aka Bumf*ck Egypt, USA. When you are surrounded by so much ignorance it makes it easier to pretend you are leaving soon and not remember how long you've been here. I tell my husband I must really love him, because if not for him I would have been out of here long ago. So, it's been 8 years total I've been here and 7 years married. I keep saying it's three strikes and your out or third times the charm, as this is the third time for me. So, we had a mexican bake to celebrate and hope for another good year together.

Same track minds

Well, figured I would take a few minutes to write on my blog today, since I have been neglecting it as of late. I was going to write about how I had all these great ideas for postings while thinking when I wake up in the middle of the night, or when sitting at the laundramat watching the clothes spin around, or.... but then I always forget and thought today I would write about nothing and all that at the same time. But, along the way I stopped in at my sister, Victoria's, blog and had to laugh because she had done the exact same blog, except she beat me to it. So, go read her blog!