Colors from Crayons - All Broken

Evidently, the crayon box is full of missing Crayola colors.  Those remaining in the box have been pulled by the ACLU and other nonsensical groups that still believe that double standards and the PC gurus rule the ideals and premise of free speech.  What a shame - especially since words like onyx and ecru seem to be popping up in more and more crossword puzzles.

Let me establish some little tidbits of facts as they relate to my upbringing.  Much to the shock and dismay or even chagrins of others, I was raised in a somewhat liberal, Catholic Democratic household.  My parents, immigrants from Ireland, were morally conservative, but were socially liberal.  Colors were crayons, not labels slapped on human beings.

However, it seems that those days are long gone; replaced by the PC police.  It's frightening to open my mouth for fear of being labeled a racist.  In fact, this has occurred before.  A work place slander was shot at me, a direct hit to the back of my head.  Apparently, some distinctively ignorant liberals could not differentiate my inability to vote for Barack Hussein Obama due to his obvious lack of experience, and in all their mind-reading talents, thought my disdain to the POTUS was color based.  In all actuality, the USA still does not have a "black president" but rather a man whose father was African and mother was a white American.  But hey, that's just a sticking point.

Personally, I challenge readers to search their minds: past & present as to whether or not they have ever uttered a less than flattering comment about someone based upon their skin color, ethnic DNA, religious beliefs...anything.  Unless you are the Messiah, no one is perfect, and mistakes and regrets are part of the human experience.

The news has been peppered by the major no-no words uttered by Mrs. Paula Deen, a southern style chef, and at one point, a popular show on the Food Channel.  Apparently, Mrs. Deen is part of litigation, and during a recent deposition she was asked, under oath, if she had ever uttered the word, "nigger".  She complied and answered honestly.  I'm not really a fan of Mrs. Deen.  I can't cook to the caliber of my own son's culinary creativity, and as many times as I have watched "Chopped", I am capable only of preparing grilled cheese and oatmeal.

What shocked me though was the Food Channel giving her the axe, and refusing to renew her contract.  I suppose that every media outlet has the right to decide who they want to have representing their product - in this case - food.

However, this whole case seems to reek of old fish and even smelly cheese, in the DOUBLE standard arena.  For the life of me, I am duped.  A black person can refer to another black person as a "nigger", "nigga", etc., and that's appropriate.  Caucasians can be referred to as "cracker", "honky", etc. by blacks and its seems celebrated by pop culture.  
(Just listen to any rap artist i.e. Kanye West, Tupac Shakur, Lil Wayne, Biggie Smalls).

I refuse to embrace the notion that blacks seem to believe there is some sort of due owed them from the horrendous and unfortunate parts of U.S. history and the Civil War.  While I completely agree with the horrors of the Civil War, far more Caucasians were killed during that war.  Let's not forget the disgusting and disappointing prejudices against immigrants over the past 150 years.  Jews coming from Europe were horribly treated, as were the Irish, Italian, etc.  Discrimination is not a color based form of the human condition.  It happens to everyone, regardless of skin color.

Rev. Jesse Jackson might as well be known a race-baiter, along with other boisterous dummies on both sides of the political spectrum.  Who can forget the crap that spews from the likes of Al Sharpton or  anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, directed towards Jews and Caucasians ? Venomous outbursts that go unpunished and/or excused.  Then society picks Paula Deen as the new poster child for race, unsavory comments and a total lack of tolerance or forgiveness.  The double standards astound me.

This is by far one of the most controversial topics to be discussed in current affairs.  No doubt I will alienate half of my reading audience with this topic.  I am comforted by the fact that my true friends now me as someone who could give a bloody damn about skin color.  I don't care.  I tend to follow MLK's words about character rather than skin color.

August 28, 1963 - I was not born yet (4 months later), but I firmly believe that to be one of the greatest moments in history, and the high point of the Civil Rights movement.

MLK spoke of a dream where little white children and little "negro" children could hold hands, and that we would be "judged by the content of our character".  Do those brave words no longer apply to modern day society? 

My crayon box is full of colors.  What about yours? 

House of Cards - A Real Life Political Play

Lately, I have found myself utterly captivated by an original series on Netflicks.  House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright is an exceptional series about the political plays going on inside Washington.  If it were not so utterly plausible, it would not be as entertaining.

Kevin Spacey's character is a politician who seems to be running the other politicians around, dictating just how and when to pull schemes out of hats, like a magician of sorts.  His dutiful wife, Robin Wright, seems to tolerate the political life, although she spends a great deal of time cavorting with a former lover.  Not to be outdone by Kevin Spacey's character, who is also dancing between the sheets with a naive political reporter.  A kind of sex for inside tidbits for the goings on inside Washington's dysfunctional whore house.

I have established that Spacey's character is a democrat and most of the characters are also democrats.  This really is not relevant.  The hysterical parts for me are events like true life Republican Sanford who got lost along the Appalachian Trail a few years ago, and was found to be doing the no-no dance with his mistress instead.  And if his paltry resignation years ago was not pathetic enough, somehow  he is like the prodigal son to South Carolina, and has been re-elected again, beating out Stephen Colbert.  So, the point being, playing footsie is a bi-partisan event.

House of Cards is riveting.  There are new plots running through every episode, with twists and turns along the way.  There are familiar faces throughout the show.  What is scary, almost petrifying about the series is that I imagine real life Washington to be almost a carbon copy for Kevin Spacey's naughty and conniving political figure.  It's as if I have turned on Fox News (any news source would suffice) and am seeing all the dirty politics going on in today's world.  We have the IRS, Atty Gen Eric Holder and what might appear to be a very scary incident involving reporter James Rosen, and investigation which make me believe that Big Brother is really watching us.  We have the Benghazi murders being covered up, which Obama is finding out will be more difficult than perhaps he might have initially imagined. 

Maybe House of Cards and current politics are simply mirroring each other's playbooks.  Oh, that's downright mortifying.