If you have been following the back and forth partisan politics of the 2008 Presidential Election, you probably found yourself reading a news story a few weeks ago about a Congressman from Georgia who referred to Barack and Michelle Obama as ‘uppity.’

Uppity.

Yeaaaaaaaah, uppity.

The best (and by best, I mean worst) part about the controversy surrounding Representative Westmoreland’s statement is that he claims to be ignorant of the FACT (yes, no debate here) that ‘uppity’ is an undoubtedly racially charged word. In fact, when asked to clarify his statement, he responded with a hearty “yeah, uppity.”

Not only does this cause me to question Westmoreland’s humanity, it also draws attention to how very little he knows about the history of his own state.

The first use of the word ‘uppity’ can be found in the Uncle Remus tales, a blatantly racist set of stories first featured in the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION (!!!!) in the 1880s. It was used to describe African-Americans (often by other African-Americans) that seemed to be striving to rise above what their critics believed to be their station in life.

Earlier, I said that the worst part about this whole situation was Westmoreland’s ignorance about the history of the word ‘uppity.’ Coming in at a close second is that most of the population of the United States didn’t know that ‘uppity’ had racial connotations either.

Luckily for me, I have the great fortune of a college education that includes an African American Studies course with Dr. James Anderson.

Although this personal tidbit may seem irrelevant, it seems to be the crux of the problem.

People in the United States today, yesterday and sadly, tomorrow, do not have a sufficient knowledge of the history of race relations. And the skies aren’t getting any sunnier.

Instead, many Americans have chosen to fight the racism that still exists by pretending that it doesn’t. As the international community saw with the rioting in France in 2005, this method isn’t exactly highly effective at dealing with cultural differences.

I honestly can’t tell you where exactly I’m going with all of this. I can tell you that claiming that racism is not still a real problem in the United States today is just as ignorant and unbelievable as anything Representative Westmoreland could possibly get caught saying.

On a lighter note…

Source: The Hill
Dictionary.com
Colbert Nation

Two days ago, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his first in a series of lectures at Yale University. You might know Yale as the same college that educated this stud of U.S. foreign policy:

Blair, who took heat for speaking openly about his Christian faith while Prime Minister and gained headlines with his recent conversion to Catholicism, will give five lectures a year for three years on religion and globalization.

Blair has previously described himself in his college days as “a complete pain in the backside,” and a habitual absentee.

Imagine blowing off Tony Blair’s lecture like so many Friday morning classes.

Tony Blair: Why, hello Mr. Johnson! I do seem to have missed you at our last lecture.

Me: Yeah, well, uuuh. I….

Tony: I do hope you haven’t taken to a spot of whooping cough, have you!? Ever so dreadful!

Me: Yeah, I just, well, me and the bros played a little pong last night, and uuuh, I guess that 12:30 just wasn’t doin it for me…

Tones: Think nothing of it. Back in my romp at Oxford I was a truant little sprite as well. Tis’ nothing.

Yale may have educated and employed the two people most responsible for the greatest foreign policy blunder in several generations, but they do hire professors who understand that a hangover is a legitimate excuse.

Go Bulldogs. Beat Harvard.

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hH_rZ5YHJoc2bn9wdH04m4f45wkg

I have no tolerance for boring things. Fashion, for instance, can be a major source of boredom, particularly around Champaign-Urbana.

However, I would expect more from people who have unlimited money and resources who also live in LA (and probably have their whole lives).

Now, LA isn’t New York, where everyone who touches Manhattan pavement instantly turns into a fashion icon for everyone in the rest of the U.S., but you would think that being around all those movie stars and crazy people all the time would at least give you SOME inspiration.

Not so for Lauren Conrad. She’s a budding “fashion designer” who somehow was able to “start her own clothing line” while going to “fashion design school”. And it blows.

Not in the way that, say, econ classes or cheap hookers blow, but in the Forever 21 sense. That shit is boring, and it’s all been done before.

Case in point: when LC wore HER OWN “design” to the Emmy’s, not only did she epically fail at the whole dressing-yourself-for-an-award-show thing (by wearing HER OWN DESIGN), but it was boring. I could see if you’re Betsey Johnson and you’re like “Whatever, mere mortals design clothes that are too boring to touch my body” and THEN you wear your own design, but come on, people. I’ve seen this dress a million times before. Hell, straight men could recognize they’ve seen this dress a million times before (and they probably don’t even like it because it makes you look pregnant).

So, LC, I think it’s time for you to call it a day with the whole “fashion line in LA” thing, and do what Isaac Mizrahi did: accept your market of boring people who don’t want to spend money on exciting clothes. I bet it would work out well for you, I really do.

She can’t figure it out.

And what a week it was for the almighty dollar.

First, Lehman Brothers, an investment giant that managed to brave the Great Depression, threw in the towel when it announced that it would file for bankruptcy and liquidate its assets. On the same day, fellow Wall Street powerhouse Merrill Lynch, about to go belly up, agreed to sell itself to Bank of America. Insurance giant A.I.G., teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, was bailed out by the feds for a tune of roughly 85 billion simoleons. And with a $700 billion bailout of financial firms on the horizon, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley–the Biggie and Tupac of the investment banking world–agreed to play second fiddle to the government intervention that they have lobbied against for as long as they have been in business.

There are lots of reasons and million opinions on what exactly went wrong on Wall Street, but in essence (and I simplify) the “best financial minds” of our time fucked up.

They fucked up HUGE.

They got greedy. They loaned money to people who they should have known couldn’t pay it back. They invested in markets they shouldn’t have. They were stupid. They were greedy. They fucked up. Have you ever heard the expression, “If this place were a business, we’d be bankrupt?” Well, these were businesses, and they are bankrupt.

But, neither of the Lehman Brothers tossed themselves out a window and onto the Wall Street pavement. Why?

Because the federal government is bailing them out. The same uber rich executives who have railed against big government and higher taxes on the wealthy got their asses saved by the government who just handed them a whole lot of tax revenue.

These are the people who fell in love with “trickle down economics.” (You might know it as “supply side” or “Reagonomics.”) This is the idea that by cutting taxes and regulations for the wealthy (i.e. A.I.G. and Merril execs) they will soundly spend and invest their excess income and the higher demand for goods and services will “trickle down” to the lower classes, who will be paid to fill these needs. This would provide more expendable income for the lower classes, allowing them spend more, perpetuating the cycle and growing the economy for everyone.

What actually wound up happening was the lack of regulations allowed a bunch of rich dudes to invest irresponsibly and throw the market into a tailspin. Every middle class household with a modestly sized investment portfolio signed on to E-trade this week and realized that Timmy and Tina’s college fund just dried up, but their tax dollars are going to bail out the very people who just fucked them.

This is called “flood up economics.” Or, as I’ve been calling it lately, “there goes everyone’s student loans and Medicare economics.”

Is it better to bail out these Wall Street institutions than to let them fail? Yes. Letting them fail completely would be catastrophic. But, the next time someone tells you that just because they have a lot of money they know what to do with it, tell them it’s just like Biggie said:

“Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”

A.I.G. Execs

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4_Dei5srfM

A brilliant social commentary on the tribulations of our time, a scathing indictment of the perpetuation of social inequalities by an establishment all too eager to do so.

As I checked my gmail a few weeks ago, I didn’t immediately delete a Facebook email inviting me to join yet another group. This was one group I couldn’t pass up. With a click of the mouse, I was a member of “Intelligent Women Against Sarah Palin.”

Whoops, guess I let the cat out of the bag with that one. I am a liberal woman on a college campus who does not appreciate getting her intelligence insulted by septuagenarian presidential candidates.

As I did my daily perusal of slate.com, I came across a September 2nd piece on Sarah Palin. Featured on the XX Factor, a blog by women about how we fit into the world today, this particular post was entitled, “Questions for a Superhuman Mom.”

The blog focuses in on what I feel is and will always be one of the central issues of being a woman: what makes someone a “good” woman.

Sarah Palin’s answer is implied by her deliberate choice to paint herself as a “hockey mom:” in order to be a good woman, a woman has to be a mother.

Palin has been heralded far and wide about her choice to keep her baby even after prenatal tests revealed that the child had Down Syndrome. She has been criticized and lauded for her help in her 17 year old daughter’s decision to keep her baby and to marry its father. Although Daily Show bits on these topics make me laugh, they are not what concerns me about Sarah Palin.

Instead, I agree with Slate’s position that “feminism, to the GOP, appears to mean never having to say you’re exhausted.” This nouveau version of feminism scares me.

Life sometimes shows us how cyclical it truly is. However, in the paraphrased words of George Santayana, those who haven’t read The Feminine Mystique are condemned to live in a world without knowledge of its meaning. Sarah Palin seems to be trying to steer women clear of Betty Friedan and towards Betty Crocker.

I know that women will sympathize with the non-child care usin’, five children raisin’ ways of Sarah Palin. To them, I pose this question: “How does her mommy cred prepare her for vice presidential duties?” When I am given a believable answer to this question, that’s when I’ll vote for Sarah Palin.

Source: Slate Magazine

Mommy Dearest

Go Cubs Go

Note: These will not be unbiased posts. Cardinals, Packers, Pistons, and Wolverines be forewarned.

Two things happened this weekend that signal that either A) I am in God’s favor or B) The end times are upon us.

1. The Chicago Cubs won their division in back to back years for the first time in a century.

2. Yankee Stadium is no more. And the Yankees, with almost 100% certainty, will not be playing in the post-season for the first time since 1995.

The New York Yankees, possibly the most identifiable sports team in the entire world, a team responsible for 26 World Series Championships in the time the Chicago Cubs have won a big fat zero (0), are making history for not reaching the playoffs. In the same weekend, the Cubs, by far the biggest losers in the history of sports, just shrugged off a one hundred year drought like it was so much old news.

The mighty have fallen and the pitiful risen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen.

It is too early to tell if this is a sign of a permanent shift in the bed rock of life (and yes, for Cubs fans as well as Yankees fans, OCTOBER IS LIFE) or just an aberration from the norm. Either way, fans of the underdog can relish in the fact that we might be seeing quite a bit more of this:

And hearing a lot less of this :

Whether you love or hate the Yankees (or whether you love or pity the Cubs), the fact remains: Yankee Stadium is dead. And on October 1st, Wrigley Field will be the most alive place on the face of the planet.

Source: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy