Forget Obama. Throw MO from the Train.

My childhood was idyllic in most ways. Although we went without iPods, remotes, and cell phones, we had freedom children nowadays don't have.

We lived in a middle class neighborhood -- a 1950s subdivision built for war veterans. Woods to explore. Creeks to fish. Open roads to ride our bikes. Open space to play baseball. Plenty of places to curl up and read a book. No concerns about child molesters or kidnappers.

One thing that wasn't idyllic was Motor Mouth Mo. She had two sons a year older and a year younger than I, a kind of creepy husband who was a civil engineer, no job, and a wicked tongue. Mo lived for gossip. She relished tidbits of information she could turn into full blown interesting but largely false stories that hurt people within the confines of our little neighborhood. It's a gossip's mastery to tell a story with just enough truth in it to catch fire. My family was burned by Motor Mouth Mo fires more than once.

Today, there's another Mo on the scene. This one, while not really gossipping, is more dangerous because she has a national audience and the potential to hurt millions of people. She is Michelle Obama (MO), who, not long ago, slapped American military men and women along with veterans and other every-day heroes when she said for the first time in her life she was proud to be an American.

Apparently, MO's mouth has given up some pretty hard ammo that will be used against her very own BO come fall. According to Hillary supporter Larry Johnson, some claim to have a tape of MO railing against "whitey" while speaking at Jeremiah Wright's church.

Whoa! That's right up there with Jesse Jackson's use of the "H" reference to Jews, and Marion Barry's use of the "B" word referring to a woman. If MO's use of the term "whitey" isn't racist, then neither is anyone's use of the "N" word. Blacks don't have carte blanche to use racist terms. No one does. It's just wrong. And it's not an endearing quality in a woman who finds pride in a country only upon her husband ascending the nomination platform to that country's presidency.


MO should know better, having had a good education and great career. A Princeton grad, MO went on to Harvard Law school, worked in corporate law and as Her Princeton thesis (written in 1985 and currently withheld from public viewing by Princeton's library until Nov. 5, 2008) declares that she apparently discovered her blackness at college: "My experiences at Princeton have made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before." Interesting that having been so in tune with her blackness for the last 28 years, she now emulates the late great Jackie KO, rather than a great black woman, such as Shirley Chisholm, Maya Angelou or Alice Walker.

I attend a Christian church, and I read the Bible. In Galatians it says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (This can easily be understood to mean neither white, nor black, nor brown, nor yellow.) So, I'm not sure what kind of church Jeremiah Wright's is or what holy book they follow. But it sure doesn't correlate with what we read in the Bible. I just don't see this woman being the First Lady of this great nation. Personally, I want a First Lady (or First Mister) who can help a president envision a land in which all children, regardless of their skin, are free to explore, fish, bike or read in safety. Anyone else should be thrown from the train, as BO did with his grandmother.

What do you think?

Friday AND a Full Moon!

A few ramblings at the end of a long week... it must be the full moon.

The Florida House has flushed its version of the Toilet Paper bill. Not sure what that does to the Senate version. But enough on "business news." Suffice it to say Emo Cat is happy to be out of the litter box and back reading the comics! ...


Purr....
One of Emo Cat's favorite people passed along two good commentaries on the situation with presidential hopeful Barack Obama and his spiritual mentor. (Thanks, Peebs!) I share the links here, not because I agree with everything in these two opinion pieces (although I do agree with most of them), but because they're well written by people whose prose is excellent and who add dimension to the discussion. It does seem BHO is trying to have it both ways.

1. Ann Coulter: Throw Grandma Under the Bus


2. Jeff Jacoby: It's Still a Question of Wright and Wrong ....



Scratch...
It looks as if there's going to be a cat fight about Florida and Michigan delegates to the Democratic convention. Hmmm... Nobody's coughing up the millions for re-votes. Obama didn't even bother to put his name on the ballot in Michigan. Hillary, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking ahead and made sure she was on the ballot. Will the DNC punish voters in these two (very BIG) states? It's going to be interesting. Seems to me if someone wanted to vote for a person who was not on the ballot, that someone would write in the person's name. I've done it several times when no candidate seemed palatable....


Purr...
My grandson is a Cub Scout. It's so good to see him learn how to do things a guy needs to do. He can handle a whittling knife safely, pitch camp (two tents, sleeping bags, gas stove, lanterns, coolers, etc.) by himself in an hour, fish, shoot a B-B gun as well as a bow and arrow, build a super fast derby car, and construct a pretty impressive marble chute out of paper tubes. Makes me wonder if he's reading The Dangerous Book for Boys. Scouting continues to provide quality, relevant programs, all these hundred years later...


Meow for now...
We opted for cats over dogs a few years back because we work long hours. Dogs need attention, and our schedules didn't accommodate that kind of time. The cats have filled the gap -- we have two Devon Rex cats and never knew cats could have so much personality. Hence, this blog's name...


So we won't be howling at the moon tonight. Actually we're waiting for gas prices to reflect the $5 a barrel drop in price a few days ago, and for credit card rates to fall in the wake of the Fed's action this week. We won't hold our breaths either. Rising prices are kind of like rubber bands -- once stretched they never get quite back down to their original dimension...


Have a blessed Easter -- hope your basket is full of catnip!