Born In The USA

I believe Michael Jackson said it best in the 1978 film The Wiz:

You can't win,
You can't break even
Ain't the way it's supposed to be
You can't win, child
You can't break even
And you can't get out of the game

Yesterday President Obama released the long form copy of his birth certificate with the intent to put to rest all of this birther nonsense…yeah, well not so much. The president stated “We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do," and also said “Over the last two and half years, I have watched with amusement. I have been puzzled with the degree with which this thing just kept going,”… indeed. Donald Trump, who immediately held a press conference after the release of the document, took credit stating he was “very proud” of himself for “accomplishing what no one else was able to accomplish,” before adding that he would still need to inspect the birth certificate…honestly, the balls on this man must be humongous. Meanwhile the Republicans were busy discrediting the President and saying he was distracting American citizens from the matters at hand. Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said, “What President Obama should really be releasing is a jobs plan”. Reince Priebus, newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee declared, “This issue is a distraction. Our economy is strained from out of control deficits, debt, and unsustainable entitlements”, no shit and further added, “Unfortunately his campaign politics and talk about birth certificates is distracting him from our number one priority – our economy.” Wow, his talk about birth certificates? They act as though President Obama concocted this nonsense. These are the same people who have done absolutely nothing to quell the birthers within their own party and some of whom have actually encouraged them. Now when The President finally addresses these nuts, they insist his priorities are out of order.

In the end, will it make any difference? Most certainly not. Donald Trump and the nut job birthers can examine the President’s birth certificate until the cows come home it won’t change a thing because it’s all about race. It doesn’t matter that experts, government officials and even the Republican Governor of Hawaii have verified the President’s Certificate of Live Birth. It doesn’t matter that this is the official document issued to all citizens of the state of Hawaii. Some people just cannot get it in their minds that a Black man could possibly become President of the United States so they have to invent and invoke crackpot schemes and nonsensical issues to question his right to hold the position. I’m sure that right now someone somewhere is insisting the birth certificate is somehow fake or forged. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is questioning President Obama’s admission into Harvard as if he got in on some experimental admissions program or something other than his scholastic aptitude. Oh and by the way Mr. Trump, where are those tax returns you promised?

Words

Kobe Bryant has come under fire for using the word faggot as a derogatory term hurled at a referee who made a call to which he disagreed. When I heard this my first thought was “Uh oh this could be bad” but then he issued an apology and I thought everything would be fine... until I heard the apology. What he offered was the standard celebrity non-apology, sorry you’re so damn sensitive excuse, which typically goes something like I’m sorry but not really because... What he actually said was “My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period,” and “the words expressed do not reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were not meant to offend anyone.” I beg to differ. The word faggot is meant to be demeaning with the intention of stripping the target of his manhood...period. It is a hateful degrading word used to embarrass and disrespect others and whether used in frustration or anger the intent is to offend its target. Within all of his rage and emotional anger Kobe wanted to offend the referee in what he conceived as the worst possible way. If a White player had called Kobe a nigger in frustration and his apology was “I’m sorry but I got mad” would that be acceptable? And it doesn’t matter whether or not the referee was actually gay, it is an offensive word meant to hurt...period. Now is it the end of the world and do I think Kobe is a homophobe? No, he made a mistake but even in the heat of the moment as a responsible adult and role model for children, shouldn’t he have chosen another word to deal with his anger? Even if he didn’t, if he had said so wouldn’t that have been a more appropriate apology?

A couple of days later I was listening to a local Black radio program and when the subject came up the debate turned to the use of the word faggot vs. nigger, the common view being that faggot is not as bad nigger. As I listened it quickly became obvious that the majority of the callers into the program perceived the Gay Movement as a White cause based on their perceived invisibility of Black gays. Now I believe the word nigger does not have the same connotation or history as the word faggot and neither does the history of the Gay Movement compare to that of the persecution, violence and dehumanization faced by Black people in this country, but some of the comments I heard were ignorant, stupid or outright bigoted. The most frequently used being “as a Black person I wake up Black every day, but a gay person can hide who they are". Wow! Whether you perceive homosexuality as a choice or something inherent it should not be something you have to hide or lie about to get through the day. Just because someone can conceal their sexual orientation does not make it "better" and there are people who wake up Black and fight for gay rights every day. Or how about, “those gay people want to hijack the civil rights movement”. This statement is so absolutely ridiculous and exclusionary as it assumes two things. Number one that civil rights are exclusive to Black people only and number two “those gay people” supposes that gay people are automatically assumed to be White. I got a statement for you try being both Black and gay and being called both a faggot and a nigger on a number of occasions.

Bottom line, having hatred hurled at you in any form is a terrible and degrading feeling. Words should not be overlooked as a means of hate and loathing. What Kobe said is homophobic and bothersome. Here's why. He told the world "I am mad at you right now and because of that I equate you with someone who is gay." I don’t care that he said it to a straight person and what resulted may not have been his intent but it's simply homophobic to say being gay is equal to being stupid or an asshole...period.

The Art Of The Comb Over

When I first heard the news that Donald Trump was running for president I thought to myself, “this has got to be some sort of bad joke”. I mean who in their right mind would vote for this self-absorbed, opinionated boob. And if elected are his plans to fire the country when he fails as President? Well it’s true and he’s actually gaining traction among his fellow Republicans and now the hairdo challenged failed businessman has jumped on the “birther” bandwagon and gotten it into his head that President Obama was not born in this country. He first showed up on The View with this nonsense and recently went on the Today Show to inform America that in spite of the fact that the State of Hawaii, as well as the Governor, has certified the birth and citizenship of President Obama, he has demanded to see the President’s birth certificate. He then produced a document intended to prove his own citizenship which turned out to not even be a birth certificate. Now the attention seeking buffoon and possible illegal alien says he has dispatched investigators to the state of Hawaii to look into the controversy.

This is obviously a man who will do anything for publicity and TV ratings. Who does he think he is “dispatching investigators” anywhere and other than the nut job birthers, who does he think will even buy into his findings? He needs to send those investigators to New Jersey to look into his scams and bankruptcies or how about they investigate what he’s hiding under that hair don’t. What his investigators are likely to find is that the State of Hawaii as well many other states no longer keep original documentation and instead issue a Certificate of Live Birth. Do Trump and his birther buddies expect Government agencies to store thousands of boxes forever? Welcome to the 21st century folks and the age of paperless storage. But what more could you expect? This is the same man who claimed the clueless and attention deprived La Toya Jackson a winner on the latest edition of his reality show Washed Up and Craving Attention Nutt Job Wanna Be Celebrity Apprentice. And now this showboating swindler says that President Obama might be a Muslim too?

Even the deceitful and recently fired from FOX News propagandist Glenn Beck said Mr. Trump’s talk makes him uncomfortable, and for good reason. Glenn Beck as well as most Republicans knows that this type of talk can only hurt their party and will send responsible thinking voters to President Obama’s camp. So I say bring it on. Trump is currently polling second in New Hampshire so let’s get more of these idiots with their ludicrous unfounded statements and their “let’s get Obama” agenda. It can only help President Obama in his bid for a second term. In fact where the hell is Sarah Palin when you need her? Oh and be on the lookout for Donald Trump’s next reality show Celebrity Bankruptcy sure to be coming your way soon on NBC. In the meantime how about we fire him…and that thing on his head too.