Schmayce-ism

The title of this post is the second half of the phrase, "Racism, schmayce-ism."

I was raised in NY, so despite my thoroughly Gentile credentials, part of me is culturally Jewish. My first real experience of cultural diversity was a year I spent studying in Dayton, Ohio. I found that my English, aside from being heavily accented (Who Knew?), was peppered with Yiddishisms: schmaltz, kvetch, schlemiel, meschugganah, schiksa, yenta, etc.

Anyway, a writer in Slate just announced that The Only Reason Obama Can Lose Is Racism.

I could care less that Obama is half-white. And if there were a black politician whose policies didn't give me upper GI distress, I'd be fine voting for him. [Although I am honest enough to say that an American president named Barak Hussein gives me the willies, especially post 9/11. Symbolically, it's off.]

But it just may be, it just may be, that his friggin' policies, such as they are, (leftliberal every one) and his lack of achievement behind the faux-preacher* persona might, just might, have something to do with it.

Now I could point out that about 90% of the black vote is his, according to polls. I guess that voting for someone because he looks like you is not racism, but not voting for someone because he does not look like you is.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone of Progress.

If Hillary had gotten the nomination, As Was Her Right!....:-))...you'd only have to change the article's title to "Sexism". It's always some fucking -ism with these people. But if Mitt Romney had the GOP nod, the same author would be sounding the clarion call to man...I mean, person...the ramparts against Religious Fundamentalism. That would not be bigotry, that would be Saving The Republic.

Damn! I'm sorry. I forgot one of the Rules: only whites can be racist, never blacks. Even Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barry Hussein O's two-decades-long pastor, only said vile things repeatedly because....well, you fill in the blank. It's not his fault. He's black.

Black-schmack.

*And while I'm at it, many people of a certain type --You Don't Know Who You Are--are entranced with his language. Two thoughts. A lot of his public speeches are in the faux black preacher mode, really short on substance and full of rhetorical sideshows. Empty of content not a little. And his ability to express himself without a teleprompter is not very impressive. All that stumbling and all that re-spinning after Gaffe #33 to tell us how he was misinterpreted, probably for nefarious reasons.

George W Bush's brand of language has been pilloried now for years. Not without reason.
But I note this. BHO sells a lot of empty bullshit. But he bullshits in a mode that his audience, especially the CaucoLiberals, loves. It is the way that THEY bullshit. Eg:

"...one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy."

So I will give Barry Hussein this: he plays the faux black preacher role to the delight of blacks and to those whites for whom it is cool to like faux black preachers. (And some of them are damned fine rhetors.) But he also has managed to speak like a Berkeley intellectual. Now that is a feat which, however unattractive, impresses. But that's just the opinion of yet another "typical white person."

PS. While I'm at it. The picture, via eddiebutler.com, shows a common trope in advertising. In addition to men as a gender being portrayed as idiots, whites as a race are the ones who have old service, can't figure things out, etc. in commercials about technology. People of Color are, like, so cool.

Woof

Woof. In a certain subculture, a friendly bark of one dog to another, an expression of appreciation from one man for the fineness of another. Not a phrase I utter often, but some men just bring it out of me.

Fred Ward, for example. A fine and under-rated actor. In comedy mode, in Tremors (1990), when he was in his late forties, he was pretty well my idea of Woof. Even then I liked my men...well-seasoned. I am watching the flick right now, having stumbled onto it on TV whilst playing with an Excel spreadsheet. I'd rather play with Fred.

The frame. The mug. The voice. The moves. The grin. Woof.




I loved BBM, the short story --stunning-- and the movie, which I have seen a half dozen times. It may be the most spoofed film in history. But here I post one just because of Fred.

Saved from Islam, again

Most Westerners do not know or care to know about the history of Muslim imperialism. They prefer to believe that Islam means "peace" when it clearly means "submission" or that jihad is an internal moral struggle for righteousness (as particularly defined by...Muhammad, btw).

Here's an account of one more event which saved us from Muhammad and his totalitarian Ummah.

HT to VDH, The Man.

Just What I Was Thinking

It came to me recently that one way to put my disaffection with and resignation from the Democrat party is to note that it is The Party of Europe.

America-bashing is reflexive where I live and Europolatry is common. Europe (and this means Western Europe) is better and Europeans are better. In every way.

Looking at Democrat positions and values, most of what they are about is turning the USA into the European Union.

Oddly Eurocentric for the Party of Diversity and Inclusion. :)

Yankee patriot that I am, I am not a Know-Nothing. I see nothing wrong in adapting successful phenomena abroad to my native land. I don't reject Let's Make America Into Europe because Europe is foreign but because of what Europe has become and what it is likely to become.

Canada is well advanced in the process and some of it is not pretty at all.

Here's an article which says just what I was thinking. Smart fella!

An American Carol

You know I will go see this.
Even if no one will go with me.

Just the lure of watching
"Michael Moore" get slapped a few times...:-)

Ahem, well, I , uh, yeah, kinda, do

Harry.
(The prince on the left)

He wouldn't have to ask twice.

On Iraq

An unusual take on this war, which, I should say, I have supported from the beginning. The author writes:

The problem is not American force levels in Iraq. It is divisiveness at home. While our military has adapted, our society has disconnected from its martial values. I was standing beside an Iraqi colonel one day in war-torn Fallujah when a tough Marine patrol walked by. "You Americans," he said, "are the strongest tribe."

Rational animal

You may know the TextMessage abbreviation ROTFLMAO.

It means, "Rolling on the floor, laughing my ass off."

Consider which of the two animals involved is the more rational
when they interview the "victim" later in the piece.

Hey, I'm a Pisces...."Here, Jaws, wanna play?"

Rational animal. Yeah. Right.

Formerly Great Britain, continued

Whether you like the Brits or not, (us Hibernian descendants, who speak Sasanach, have some history there) they have played a crucial role in the rise and strength of the West.

This piece illustrates their decline and what awaits us all as the Nanny State smothers the life out of life itself, for its own good.

Plants? To check the plants???!!!

Surprise! :-))

PS. BTW, this is not USMaleSF. :) HT to Bookworm.

PS. I go along with this fella on a lot of, not all, his points.
But though I often vote for them, I am not a Republican. By and
large they are corrupt pussies.

For the boyo

My musical tastes are eclectic. Country, DooWop, Mozart, Beethoven, Respighi, Bluegrass, Celtic, Armenian chant (yes, it does exists), Bob Seger, CrosbyStillsNash&Young, Handel, Elvis in Latin, Arvo Part and the 80's. Hell, during the 80's I used to dance, regularly. Thankfully, there are no videos.

And August 7th this year (it's already August7th in the Eastern Hemisphere) is a notable day for me: retiring from a job I have done for thirteen years and marking one year of a totally surprising and majorly terrific human connection. The ending of one thing and the beginnings of another.

So for the day and its events, a musical offering in text and YouTube: DeNiece Williams' 1984 "Let's Hear It For The Boy", as background for Ren and Willard in the "Can-You-Possibly-Be-More-Eighties" flick, Footloose.

Here's to you Ren and here's to you Willard.
Keep dancin'.

LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY

My baby, he don't talk sweet
He ain't got much to say
But he loves me, loves me, loves me
I know that he loves me anyway
And maybe he don't dress fine
But I don't really mind
Cuz every time he pulls me near
I just wanna cheer

Let's hear it for the boy
Let's give the boy a hand
Let's hear it for my baby
You know you gotta understand
Whoa, maybe he's no Romeo
But he's lovin' one-man show
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Let's hear it for the boy

My baby may not be rich
He's watching every dime
But he loves me, loves me, loves me
And we always have a real good time

And maybe he sings off key
But that's alright by me
Cuz what he does he does so well
Makes me wanna yell

Let's hear it for the boy
Let's give the boy a hand
Let's hear it for my baby
You know you gotta understand
Maybe he's no Romeo
But he's my lovin' one-man show
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Let's hear it for the boy

Maybe he's no Casanova
Still his kisses bowl me ov-ah!
Let's hear it for the boy
Let's give the boy a hand
Let's hear it for my baby
You know you gotta understand

Oh, he don't score at Bowl-A-Rama
Still, you gotta thank his Mama
Whoa, whoa whoa whoa
Let's hear it for the boy
Hear it for my man

The Rules

I first was gifted with the revelation of this text back in the late 80's, when a member of the Wymyn's Caucus showed it to me, as if it were a joke. She gave herself points for self-criticism, but I thought it was literally true.

The original is about women and males. I have taken the liberty --white male privilege and all-- of changing that word to "victim". The group or person involved can be connected to any Officially Designated Victim group, such as non-whites, females, poor, foreign, disabled, fat, gay, trans, young, Muslim, old, unattractive, etc.

Just so you know how to proceed correctly, whether you are an Oppressor or a Victim:

THE RULES

The Victim always makes THE RULES.

THE RULES are subject to change without notice.

No Oppressor can possibly know all THE RULES.

If the Victim suspects the Oppressor knows all THE RULES,
they must immediately
change some of THE RULES.

The Victim is never wrong.

If it appears the Victim is wrong, it is because of a flagrant
misunderstanding caused by something the Oppressor did or said wrong.

If the previous Rule applies, the Oppressor must apologize immediately
for causing the misunderstanding.

The Victim can change their mind at any time.

The Oppressor must never change his mind
without the express written consent of The
Victim.

The Victim has every right to be angry or upset at any time.

The Oppressor must remain calm at all times, unless the Victim wants him to be
angry or upset.

The Victim must, under no circumstances, let the Oppressor know whether she wants
him to be angry or upset.

The Oppressor is expected to read the mind of the Victim at all times,
while affirming that he can never do so, being an Oppressor.

At all times, what is important is what the Victim meant, not what she said.

If the Oppressor doesn't abide by THE RULES, it is because he can't take the heat,
lacks backbone, and is a wimp or a privileged lackey.

Any attempt to document THE RULES could result in bodily harm.

Oops.

Nanny City

Good ol' San Francisco, one of the most beautiful places on earth, is also full of some of the most irritating people on earth, but since they are progressive --and who can be against progress?-- then it must be ok. They are the ones they've been waiting for. And this will never stop, since it is in the nature of progress to progress. Is there another word for constant growth like this? Oh, yeah. Metastasize.

My generation's obsession with health and safety AND making sure that we are all supervised properly by the (click them) Board of Supervisors...

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” — C. S. Lewis

Queer

Why have the transgenders become so powerful in gay politics?
A teeny tiny minority, even smaller than the maybe 3% of us who are homos.

My rejection of the sexual Yugoslavia known as the LGBT community is clear.
Talk about a sexual identity which is "merely" socially constructed.
With Elmer's glue.

I am a man, genetically, physically, psychically, etc.
And I am attracted to other men.
Ergo, homo.

Transgenders are genetically and physically men or women
who decide that they are psychically the other gender
and arrange to have their physiques altered chemically and surgically
to achieve an approximation of maleness or femaleness.

What do we have in common?
Most transgenders are straight,
interested in the sex opposite to the sex they identify with
and go through such trouble to approximate,
becoming not men or women, but
transmen and transwomen.

Some things you can't make true by wishing.
If I decide that, despite my extremely Caucasian genes,
(and I have the visible blush and the years of sunburn to prove it),
I am really an African, I can have surgery and dye myself
but no one, no one, will take me seriously.
If you can change your gender, why not your race?

Some of these folks demand to be seen as men or women
and assert, amazingly, that what your genitalia look like
has nothing to do with it. Yeah, well, I demand to be seen
as African-American and what my genes and skin look like
should have nothing to do with it.

What's next? What new victim class can we kowtow to
in order to keep our self-righteous outrage hot and our
legislative lobbyists in business?

Why do we not also include straight male transvestites,
who are not interested in sex with men,
even though they get a thrill dressing like women?

Why not include effeminate heterosexual males
or mannish heterosexual females?
Why be so exclusive?

What crap.

PS. The first transgendered guy I ever met was by far
the most sane and balanced. Since then, I have met,
lived near, hired and worked with FTMs and MTFs.
Some quite ok, some deeply deeply damaged.

Delicious irony. One place I worked had a Wymyn's
Caucus full of Lesbians, who were like hawks about all
forms of discrimination, exclusivity, hierarchy and other
patriarchal evils. I hired an MTF, who wanted to take part.
The genetic females didn't want "her" and asked me,
the White Male Boss, to exclude "her" because "she"
did not share "the full female experience". I went to my
office, closed the door, and laughed my ass off. And
declined to help them. Talk about Schadenfreude.

Irony Two. Most transgender ideology rages against
the regime of sexual dimorphism, the ludicrous (!) notion
that there are only two genders. But who are transgenders
but people who are so gripped and possessed by sexual
dimorphism that they subject themselves to vastly costly,
painful medical treatment and social oddity in order to
possess precisely what their ideology tells them is a phantom?
Again, what crap.

Speechless, again

(Your local chapter of the Friendly Fatah)

A group called The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to prevent the government from sending back to Gaza a group of Fatah members who fled from Hamas right into the safety of the illegal and immoral Zionist Entity which Allah loathes with all His soul and to whose destruction all of them are dedicated.

These high-minded Hebrews hold that sending their enemies back to their other enemies would be "one of the most severe human rights violations and is a breach of Israeli law and human morality". Mahmoud Abbas, by the way, refused to give these guys asylum in Palestine!!!

If Israel had existed prior to WWII, I can imagine these folks demanding that Israel give asylum to Ernst Roehm and the Brownshirt SA when they were fleeing from Hitler on the Night of the Long Knives.

I have an idea. I suggest that Israel keep the Fatah guys in safe custody and send an equal number of the Jews from the Association for Civil Rights In Israel back into Gaza. Sorta like the Trinitarian and the Mercedarian friars used to do in the old days when the North African Muslims captured gazillions of Christians and sold them into slavery; the friars would exchange places with a Christian slave.

You can't make this stuff up.

PS. Hat tip to my friend jpnill aka emailior fabbro for this bit of info.

Joie de vivre

Which is "joy of being alive" in the French language. A repeat post from October 2007. Tommy Blacharz and Max Pitruzella. Deserves a re-viewing.

"Sometimes you see something that just makes you smile and wonder and say, "Damn, that is so effing amazing!" What humans are capable of...breathtaking and funny and playful and sweet and sexy and athletic and rhythmic and magical and really impressive."

And you can have the experience without even...dancing. :)




If you want the fullscreen version (which I recommend):
Click here.

Capital idea

Gratitude is a virtue which greatly enriches life. I am not abundantly endowed with this virtue by nature, continue to display significant and grimace-producing gaps in it, but try my best to make it second nature.

One of its components is not taking good things for granted. Another is paying attention to your situation in comparison to others. And for a conservative, that comparison includes a wide historical sweep. That's why I say that, in comparison to the Kingdom of God, America is a scandal and a catastrophe, but compared to pretty well any other place and time in history on this earth, it is a continuing daily miracle.

Jonah "Politics is Not Redemptive" Goldberg, who often makes a great deal of sense to me, continues to do so in his piece on the whiny ungrateful children of capitalism.