Don't Make "B" No Differ'nt

My childhood, once the family left the rather bigoted and white beyond measure area in St. Louis that we made the mistake of subleasing in for a semester, was spent in a nicely mixed-race school system.

I learned a thing or two there that has served me well, such as:

The answer to the question "Is they somethin' WRONG wit you?" is always "no."

and

"Don't make me no differnt" is not much of a shield for bigotry, but it has more power than someone like that racist radio jerk Cunningham could hope to understand.

As we move toward the political conventions this summer, and Mr. Obama continues to pick up steam and votes and delegates, the Republican party and hangers-on will continue to refocus their attacks on him.

I wouldn't expect that Barack Obama would ever respond with "Don't make me no differnt" when attacked with one of the spurious attacks that are so beneath contempt, but that's a shame.

Most of the Republican playbook is about right for a 7th grade playground, and once, just once, I would like to hear a candidate respond in kind.

A Breath of Fresh Air... in Sports?

ESPN.com is reporting that the Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane has not decided to immediately dump Roger Clemens from the roster due to his being the subject of an investigation.

WTF?!!!? lol, doesn't he pay attention? This nation dispensed with due process years ago, and wisdom, thoughtfulness and prudence went out either shortly before or after that. We rush to judgment, and just because things look bad for someone, that is clearly enough to justify punishment by whatever means are available to us.

Interesting that a team owner is showing better judgment than either the House or the Senate. In the House they are now beginning a criminal investigation re: perjury over tesimony given in a monumentally unimportant steroid investigation. In the Senate, Arlen Specter's home team got trounced by the Patriots on their way to the Superbowl, and he is now investigating the taping they did, got caught doing, and were spanked for, back at the beginning of the season last year.

Meanwhile, the VP's former Chief of Staff is still convicted of Perjury, though his jail time has been vacated, the President is still calling for the telephone companies to receive immunity from prosecution/liability for their part in invading the nation's privacy, the rape of the environment and the trashing of the Constitution continues, the economy is in the toilet, America's reputation around the planet is sinking from an all time low to new lows, and both houses of Congress follow Nero's example of doing what they think they can get away with, while the neo con's new Rome burns, figuratively speaking.

So, WTG Drayton McLane. Are you running for office?