We know, we know ...

... the melanin-challenged don't understand the "black church." They never have, don't expect them to start now. Rev. Jeremiah Wright threw Sen. Barack Obama under the bus yesterday. As much as he says he speaks only for himself and as much as Obama says Wright doesn't speak for him, it is quite clear that he does. Here's a newsflash for you, black folks have always been categorized and judged by the people who look like us. It's true, why do you think so many of us cringe when we hear our people use the word "nigga" and split verbs and butcher the English language? It's not because we're uppity, it's because no matter where we go, what we wear or who we associate ourselves with, we will always be looked at the same as the drug dealer, the high school drop out and just outright ignent! Am I saying that because we're educated we're better? Absolutely not. We're no better, we're no worse. What we are is fed up. We catch Hell from our lighter hued bretheren and our own people because "we think we're better." It's not that way at all. Since all of these snippets of Wright's sermons have surfaced and been taken out of context, all of Obama's naysayers, Clinton supporters and folks who just hate on him, he's been judged by what Wright says. My grandma told me a long time ago that people judge you by the company you keep and she was right. Eight years after her death, she's still right. Since these sermons have surfaced, black folks are being viewed as bitter, angry, belligerent and unpatriotic. While we certainly have a reason to be all that, the majority of us are not. If we're so damn unpatriotic why is it that the majority of the soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are of color? I'll tell you why. All of these patriotic, red blooded Americans are quick to spill blood and have it spilled for their country as long as those bleeding don't look like them. This whole thing is really starting to piss me off because I was thinking earlier this morning about how white people are not judged by those who are less than intelligent who belong to their race. If we judged white folks the way they judged us, we would assume that all of them are prejudiced like Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms. We would assume that all of them are stupid like George W. Bush. But we don't do that, because they're all different and so are we. Don't judge Obama by Wright, they are two different people. Don't assume that Obama has had the same experiences Wright has, because he has not. I don't see anyone mowing down those leaders who are Catholic because their spiritual leaders molested children. So stop saying Obama and Wright are one in the same. But, it would help is Wright would go somewhere and sit down.

Been a minute ...

... since then, Sen. Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania. Congrats to her, but I have to ask whether or not the Democratic electorate in the Keystone State have televisions. I'm guessing that the folks who voted for Clinton don't have them, I mean, why else would they vote for her? Let's be honest, she's spent the last four or five months trying to discredit Sen. Barack Obama by name calling, mud slinging and just outright "hateration." I must say, green is definitely NOT her color. Now that she's won a couple of primaries, after losing 12 straight, she wants the Democratic National Convention to go back and count Florida and Michigan. That's convenient. Long before those two state had their primaries, Howard Dean, Mr. Excitement himself, told them that if they have early primaries, their votes would not be counted. To me that seems cut and dry, defiance yields consequences. Any parent or child can tell you that. Shoot, my 9-year-old niece can tell you that. But she wants special treatment. She wants the votes to be counted because now it's a close race and now she says that she's got more votes. She's right, she does have more votes, but that could be because her name was the only one on the Democratic ballots in Michigan and Florida and the candidates agreed prior to the primaries not to campaign in those states because they don't count! Sad thing about this is because she won't go away and just sit down somewhere, the party is going to suffer in November. I re-registered Democrat just so I could vote for Obama in next week's primary. Before I was registered as Independent because quite frankly, if you vote for someone based on their political party and not the facts and you don't research them and their policies, you're an idiot. Anyway, this thing is getting ugly and somebody needs to quit, for the sake of the party. I would hope that it will be her since she has absolutely NO reason to stay. She needs to go on somewhere and write a book or something. Oh and now she's calling for another debate. What for? What can they possibly debate that they haven't already? Not a damn thing, that's what. She needs to have the last word and she knows she can't do that if Obama is allowed to speak uninterrupted. She has to be able to interrupt and throw in her own lil' condiments to sauce up what Obama is saying. It's not necessary. We don't need Clinton ketchup. She is not the right person for the job, she is still out slinging mud and saying crap that doesn't matter because she can't win on the issues alone. I have said before and I'll say again, they don't differ that much in policy. They differ in their ability to inspire folks. When I hear Obama speak, I want to move to change the world around me. When I hear Clinton speak, I want to move to change the channel. Bottom line, someone needs to quit before too much damage is done to secure the election in November. If these two allow McCain to win the White House, I am going to look into becoming an expatriate. For real, I'll call to see if Oprah needs an English teacher in South Africa, this is ridiculous!

So, Barack now has street cred ...

Well, maybe not for real, but it certainly looks like it. Of course it's no secret that he has some haters, one could even conclude that the entire Clinton Camp could be considered "haters." In the true spirit of "shaking off the haters," Brother Obama gave a speech recently in Raleigh where his only response to Clinton's attacks and ABC's sham of a debate was to brush it off. I LOVE IT!!!

21 and counting ...

... not years, debates. Tonight was the 21st debate for the Democrats in the attempt to get a candidate to take on "Old Man" McCain. OK, I shouldn't call him an old man, how about Methuselah? Anyway, Clinton and Obama are still going at it and are showing no signs of slowing down. Under normal circumstances, I'd say a debate is a healthy thing - that's under normal circumstances. Obviously, these circumstances weren't normal, or they didn't seem so to me. It seems to me that the moderators, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, were drilling Obama harder than Clinton. Of course a lot more of his "dirty laundry" has been aired in mainstream media as of late, but that should have had no bearing whatsoever on the debate. Usually, debates for public office are designed to talk about the issues and how the candidates differ on those issues. Strangely, these two candidates don't differ that much. Their differences are purely logistical and I think if they were running mates (Hell would sooner freeze twice) they could find a medium. At this point, having debates is pointless. It is almost numerically impossible for Clinton to win the nomination. If the super delegates vote the way their constituents are voting, then Obama has it hands down. Having debates now is simply an opportunity for them to listen to each other speak and clean it up to what the audience wants to hear. In the Philadelphia debate, the audience was stifled by the moderators and the actually had to think about what they were saying. As far as I know, there is one more debate and that will be in my beloved North Carolina. I don't want to see the moderators bringing up Rev. Jeremiah Wright, calling Obama elitist or talking about Clinton's "misrembrance" of being under sniper fire. It's over! You hear me?! Over. The issue is graveyard dead and I don't want to hear about it anymore. I want to know what you are going to do to get North Carolinians working again. I want to know how you are going to replace the manufacturing jobs in Robeson, Guilford, Scotland and Bladen counties that have been shipped overseas. I want to know how you are going to improve education in the state's school districts. How you gonna do it?! ***By the way, anybody know where that dang debate's going to be?***

Kids say ...

... the darndest things. So, my 9-year-old niece, who is exceptionally precocious and extremely intelligent, has shown an interest in politics. She watches the news and finds ways to engage adults three and four times her age in deep conversation - well, as deep as her 9-year-old intellect can take us. Apparently, she and my mother, her grandmother, were talking and the conversation shifted to politics. Here's the way my mom explained it to me: "They should let Oklahoma be the president 'cause they know we need somebody young. He's in his 20s or 30s and Billary is in her 70s and McClain is in his hundreds." My first reaction was hysterical laughter because, well, she gave them all new names. Then I wanted to know how she had any idea what she was talking about. And then of course I was proud, because my niece has been watching the news and she's got somewhat of an understanding of what's going on and that's a helluva lot more I can say about some adults. I have talked to some grown people who tell me they know nothing about the candidates and they are not planning to learn before the primary on May 6 or before the November elections. Damn shame, I say. She can't vote for another nine years but she knows something about the candidates. What does the Bible say? "and a little child shall lead them," so true, so true.