Rick Grimes, Shane Walsh, and the Walking Dead

AMC”s The Walking Dead series is one of the better things to happen to television since Star Trek.  It’s the story of a small band of survivors who are trying to cope with and through a post apocalyptic zombie outbreak outside the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area.  It is based on the graphic novel of the same name developed by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard.  It stars Andrew Lincoln as former Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes.  It also stars Jon Berthal as Shane Walsh who also was a deputy and reports to his good buddy Rick.  Rick and Shane were childhood friends.  The two went to college together for police administration and became sheriff deputies at the King County Sheriff’s Department.

When the zombie outbreak occurred, Rick was in the hospital recovering from a near fatal gun wound.  Shane was in the hospital sitting at Rick’s bedside.  Zombies were everywhere and when the National Guard stormed the building and started to kill every person on site, Shane made the decision to abandon Rick for his own safety.  Later Rick recovered and woke to a world in chaos.  The hospital was a wreck and outside was no better.  In a severely weakened state he walked home in his hospital gown only to find his family gone.  But with luck he was found by another survivor.  He was nursed back to health and left to find his family, confident that they survived.  And he does.  Rick’s wife Lori, the school teacher played by Sarah Wayne Callies, and his son Carl, played by Chandler Riggs, are alive and well with Shane who was originally leading the group of survivors.  Rick finds them, but not before Lori developed a sexual relationship with Shane.

I wish I could go through more details, but time and space are limited.  Needless to say tensions develop between Rick and Shane.  When Rick shows up at the camp the relationship between Shane and Lori stopped.  The group of survivors is naturally inclined to follow Rick’s lead to Shane’s dismay.  And the biggest difference between the two men is the fact that Rick practices a philosophy that drives him to do whatever he has to keep anybody in his group safe, while Shane’s personal philosophy of cut your losses.

When Merle Dixon, the racist survivalist redneck played by Michael Rooker, was left behind when T-Dog, played by IronE Singleton and is the only African American in the show even though it’s supposed to be the black capital of the South better known as Atlanta, Georgia, dropped and lost the key to the handcuffs holding Merle to a pipe when the group was forced to run from a zombie invasion, Rick made the choice to go back for him with the help of some of the others in the group who volunteered to help.  They made that rescue attempt only to find out that Merle had escaped on his own by cutting off his hand.  The only result of the rescue was that Glen, the young Asian American who delivered pizzas in his other life and played by Steven Yeun, was kidnapped by another group of survivors.  It was Rick who made the decision to rescue him with the help of others in the group.  Rick went to get Glen back at all cost.  When Sophia, the youngest member of the group played by Madison Lintz, disappears into the woods that run beside the abandoned highway they were on, it was Rick who made the decision to stay until they found her.  Shane agreed for a while, but it didn’t take long for he started suggesting that the group should cut its losses and move along.

While searching for Sophia, Rick’s son Carl is shot by Otis, played by Pruitt Taylor Vince, a survivor of yet another group who was in the woods hunting a deer.  Carl is rushed to the farmhouse where Otis stayed to get medical attention from local veterinarian Herschel Greene played by Scott Wilson.  Carl is losing blood and Herschel has to operate, but he’s going to need medical supplies from the local high school.  Rick stays so he could donate blood to keep Carl alive so Shane volunteers to go to the school and Otis volunteers to go with him.

The school is swarming with zombies and Otis and Shane get cornered in the gym.  Otis runs one way and Shane goes the other way.  Shane jumps from a second story window and injures himself.  He started to hobble away.  But he was in pain and moving very slowly.  After hobbling a short distance he slumped down against a chain linked fence ready to give up when Otis suddenly showed up, told Shane they could make it, helped Shane to his feet, and the two scampered away together.  The zombies were relentless.  As they hobbled back to the car the zombies followed close behind.  Shane turned to Otis, told Otis he was sorry, and shot Otis in the knee cap.  Shane hobbled away using Otis as a sacrifice to keep the zombies busy.  Shane told everyone that Otis voluntarily sacrificed himself to save Carl.  But eventually the truth came out that Shane murdered Otis.

In this past weekend’s episode, things between Rick and Shane came to ahead.  In the parking lot of an abandoned facility about eighteen miles from the camp, Shane says that Rick doesn’t have what it takes to keep Lori and Carl safe.  Tired of Shane’s opposition and friction Rick takes a swing at his old friend and the two start to fight.  Shane throws a heavy meter long pipe wrench at Rick’s head.  Rick ducks and the wrench goes through a window of a nearby building shattering it.  What was mistaken to be corpses inside the building react to the glass shattering.  It reanimates them and a horde of zombies come pouring out the glass.  Weak from the fight Shane limps away while Rick hides.  The majority of the zombies follow Shane.

Shane ends up trapped in a school bus, fighting to keep the door closed against the horde of zombies outside.  Through one of the bus’ windows he sees Rick make his escape.  And the man who advocated leaving others behind was, through an ironic twist of fate, himself left behind.

But lucky for Shane, that was not the way Rick operated.  Rick went and got the little sport utility vehicle they drove up in.  While shooting a number of zombies, he indicates to Shane to run to the backdoor of the bus.  By the time Shane got there, the little truck was there and Shane jumped through an open window and the little truck sped off.  The man who advocated cutting losses, through an ironic twist of fate, is rescued by someone who refused to leave him behind.

It was easy for Shane to say cut your losses and leave people to their fate.  He rarely left the campsite that served as the group’s base so he never thought that he would ever be in a situation that would require someone going out of his or her way to save his ass.  And when he did leave, he always made sure he had a gun to blast a hole through anybody or anything that might impede his escape.  But it was only a matter of time before the shoe wound up on the other foot.  Luckily for Shane he wasn’t depending on Shane to rescue him.  It’s easy to say we don’t have to do anything to help anybody when we can’t imagine ourselves ever needing help.

For the brief moment Shane found himself trapped in that school bus it must’ve felt like an eternity.  After he saw Rick leave he probably prayed, begged whatever Supreme Being he believed in for a miracle.  But the miracle he needed for himself is the miracle he would deny others if given the chance.  The miracle Shane wanted in his moment of need, someone coming to help, was the same miracle so many other people wanted and needed from him.  It was really easy for him to say no and deny other people the miracle they needed in their moment of need.  And when Otis tried to be the miracle that helped to keep Shane alive, Shane repaid that miracle of kindness with fatal treachery.

After watching last night’s episode I went straight to bed.  As I lay there waiting for sleep to consume me I thought about the competing philosophies of Rick and Shane and how they were so polar opposites of each other.  As Rick and Shane struggled I was hoping that Rick would put one of those choke holds on Shane and put him in his place.  When the zombies broke loose, I was hoping Shane would get his.  Shane was a murderer and a pain in the ass and was totally misguided about a lot of things.  The way he wanted to leave people behind, the way he killed Otis, Shane was no one I wanted to be burdened with.

On the other hand I would like to think I would trust someone like Deputy Rick Grimes.  When I saw Rick making his escape while Shane was in the bus I knew Rick would come back for him as soon as he could.  And sure enough, when I saw that Rick made the decision that Shane was worth saving, I didn’t like it, but I thought that was Rick’s call and if I was there I would like to think that I would follow his lead.  That’s one of the things about true leadership.  You would get people to follow you whether they really wanted to or not.

But equally important I saw a philosophical difference between somebody who felt that people were worth saving no matter what compared to somebody with a personal philosophy who would be willing to cut their losses at somebody else’s expense at the drop of a hat.  As much as it would be nice to think that the majority of us are like Rick Grimes, too many of us think like Shane Walsh and are too wrapped up in total selfishness to extend a helping hand to the next guy.  All too often too many of us will see someone in need and will think we can’t save everybody.  We can only save the people that we might care about.  And even then we need to make sure we come out ahead even when it means somebody else has to pay the price with his or her life.

No Pass For President Obama

The conservative contenders for the White House are a sorry bunch.  Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is considered by most to be the front runner.  But this man has about as much personality and common man sensibility as a hay stuffed scarecrow in the middle of a rundown cornfield on an abandoned farm.  Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum might be considered the number two contender.  But since his rise in the polls this master of the sweater vest has gone off the deep end with his social issues rhetoric that would rival the most ardent Christian church lady.   Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is up to his old ways of burning bridges in an attempt to enhance his conservative credibility and will lash out at anyone he thinks he can use as a stepping stone to the next bridge burning.  And last but certainly not least, Texas Representative Ron Paul is doing his best to play Texas conservative Ron Paul.

If the polls are any indication, these four don’t really have much to run on to show how they would take the country into the next four years other than to say that they’re committed in their collective effort to assure that Mr. Obama is a one term President.  That might have played well if the country’s economy had continued to stay stagnated with unemployment numbers that refused to budge.  But despite the inertia associated with trying to muscle a fifteen trillion dollar economy into change direction, it looks like the economy is actually beginning to change course for the better.  So now that the main complaint with Mr. Obama’s performance has been nullified, at least for now, the people looking to replace him are essentially grasping at straws like the one that claims Mr. Obama is relentlessly attacking our religion freedoms.  That one ranks right up there the claims that his birth certificate is a forgery and he’s really a native of Kenya.  The most recent criticism against Mr. Obama is from Mr. Santorum who calls the President a snob for saying who wants to make sure all students have the opportunity to go to college.

Despite all the conservative campaign comedy, the last thing non conservatives need to do is to give Mr. Obama a pass back to the oval office because his competition is so lame.  A good portion of the support that helped Mr. Obama win the White House back in 2008 hasn’t really been all that thrilled with his performance since he’s taken office.  Time and time again Mr. Obama has allowed his policies to be gutted nearly to the point of ineffectiveness in an often futile attempt to obtain bipartisan support from people whose only official response to anything Mr. Obama does is rejection.  There may be some exceptions to this assertion.  But for the most part, based on his track record, a lot of people who supported Mr. Obama the first time around for whatever reason are a bit apprehensive to put their support behind Mr. Obama for a second four year round.  It’s reasonable to assume that the hope for change many of his supporters had looked forward to four years ago has led to a noticeable disappointment by the lack of any significant change in policy that impacts the majority of us more directly.

A lot of people who supported Mr. Obama four years ago were very much in favor of giving him a pass to the White House.  These people suggested that we give Mr. Obama a pass and avoid putting him under too much scrutiny out of some fear that any tough questions might inadvertently give his political opponents some unwanted advantage.  Many of us forgot that it is the responsibility of anyone running for President of the United States to have answers to our reasonable questions.  As our President no one is going to be willing to give him a pass.  The same should hold true for the people who are running for the job if they want our support.  Unfortunately, too many people were willing to go along with Mr. Obama’s history making run for the sake of history if nothing else.  And the result was too many of us gave Mr. Obama our support without having our questions pertaining to our interests answered or given any assurances of what we could expect from him as part of his base.

Now, Mr. Obama is up for reelection and some of us may be feeling somewhat cynical.  Of course it goes without saying that the alternative of having one of the conservative competitors as President of the United States is not an option.  For the most part, the conservative contenders have no real interest in cultivating any support from the gay and lesbian community, the black community, the Hispanic and Latino community, the poor community with all the safety nets that don’t need any attention, the community of people on the verge of losing their homes, the people who don’t happen to be a corporation, or the community of people who work for car companies or their suppliers.  But that doesn’t mean Mr. Obama should be given another pass to dodge questions from his supporters.

Pass him once, shame on you.  Pass him a second time without getting the answers we need and we only confirm the rather disgusting fact that we are political sheep and are culpable in ourselves being taken for granted.  If Mr. Obama wants our support he needs to do more to earn it this time around.  Otherwise, we might be giving him an even greater incentive to take his base for granted while he moves his policies further and further to the right to in order to make him appear more appealing to people who wouldn’t give Mr. Obama the time of day even if the country’s life depended on it.

It might look like we’re between another rock and a hard place if we give Mr. Obama too much of a hard time when the alternative is somebody like Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul.  Each one of these men is salivating at the thought of getting the White House and giving the people who would support somebody like Mr. Obama the political equivalent of the middle finger.  But if we claim we believe in change and our candidate says he understands what we want and will fight for that change, then maybe we need to ask the questions that will help him articulate what he thinks is the change his supporters want.  And if he misses the mark with his answers, his supporters can give him the feedback necessary to help him understand and make the potential for his second term as great as it can be.  Because sitting back and letting him go more and more to the right, trying to win the approval of people who really don’t care for him no matter what, is only a recipe for his, and to a certain extent ours as well, downfall.

Truth In Oscars by Rick McKee

Mitt Romney Reaps What He Sowed

The harder Mitt Romney tries for the presidency the more out of synch he seems to be with the art of being a relatively average human.  At first, when I saw the video clip of his appearance at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan I was amazed at how empty it was.  In a stadium with the capacity to seat upwards of sixty five thousand people his campaign scrapes up a mere twelve hundred people to actually care enough to go out of their way to show up and actually watch what he had to say in his presence.  That was sad enough.  His own base doesn’t have enough interest to support him.

He gives his old spiel about his bold new conservative plan for economic growth.  He talks about the unemployed, vanishing house values, too much debt, and how President Barack Obama is in over his head and doesn’t have the experience or the leadership skills to lead the country out of this economic malaise.  But that’s enough about the other guy and his performance.

Mr. Romney then starts trying to sell himself to his audience.  Mr. Romney says that he’s our only chance to restore America’s promise.  And with that, he goes off his prepared script to improvise a connection to the locals.  He says that he loves Michigan.  He grew up there.  It feels good to be back.  Again, he uses the phrase “the trees are the right height” as if to give a middle finger to everyone who criticized him as awkward the first time he used it.  He says the streets are just right and he likes to see all the cars made in Detroit.  And then he talks about his cars and how much he loves them.  He then tells the crowd that he drives a Mustang and a Chevy pickup while his wife Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs, actually.

In and of itself that phrase probably wouldn’t mean much coming from just about anyone else.  But coming from Mr. Romney, gaffe prone Romney, it’s like that burning ember from the camp fire you thought you put out that starts the forest fire that symbolizes our collective dislike and mistrust for this man.  It’s a reminder of how out of touch this fellow is and how he just doesn’t get it.  Even though him and his wife’s car collection is rather modest for someone of his largesse, he sounds out of touch with people who are probably struggling to maintain or even obtain just one or two cars in their household.

His handlers tried to mitigate the self inflicted damage by explaining why Mr. Romney and his wife drive two cars.  It’s because they have to have something to drive when the travel between their homes on the east coast and the one in California’s west coast.  The reason he has two sets of cars is because he has two sets of houses, mansions really.  Why, that explains everything!

Listening to Mr. Romney profess his love for cars and the automobile manufacturing and the entire industry built around the automobiles it sounds hollow after he endorsed letting these people fail and run the risk of going into oblivion.  He also says he loves his dog but that didn’t keep him from strapping that dog to the roof of his car and driving at high speeds until the dog started shitting on itself.  Mr. Romney likes to tout the fact that he saved the Olympics, but then he wants to let the automobile industry die without lifting a finger.  So when he starts talking about how much he loves automobiles and how much he wants to help bring America back, it sounds totally insincere.  Mitt Romney didn’t care about the automobile industry then, and if his speech is any indication, he couldn’t care any less about the industry now.  He doesn’t even care enough to make a sincere effort to sell himself, the hatchet man who advocated the destruction of the automobile industry.

Mr. Romney talks about his acumen as a business man and how he knows what it takes to create jobs.  However we have to remember that this is the man who wrote that if the government stepped in to save General Motors and Chrysler, and at one time Ford, the automobile industry would be weaker and the industry would be doomed anyway.  Their ultimate demise would only take longer because the car companies would learn to rely on handouts instead of learning to rely on its own bootstrap to do whatever it had to do in order to survive.

Two years later after the federal government took the steps necessary to keep those industries up and running, the American auto industry is stronger than it has been in a very long time.  Our domestic automobile industry is experiencing profits like never before and are now making products that are true award winners as well as market share winners.  The industry is back and will only get better.  And everything that’s happening with the automobile market now pretty much runs contrary to what Mitt Romney said would happen.  This does little to bolster the business credibility of one of the richest men to run for the presidency.

Now the man who wanted our automobile industry to fail is trying to convince us that he has the business experience to bring the economy back to healthy levels.  Mitt Romney said that unemployment is too high.  But his solution to the problem is to let industries fail and putting more people out of work.  He said that house values are vanishing.  But his solution is to let the housing market bottom out so that people can lose their homes and investors can move in, buy homes on the cheap, and rent them back to the people who couldn’t afford them in the first place.  He says that country is mired in debt.  But his solution is to cut taxes which will cut revenue and lead to more deficits.

Mr. Romney says that Mr. Obama is in over his head.  But the economy is actually showing signs that things are getting better.  Unemployment is going down.  Automobile sales are going up.  People who assembled cars were looking at the real possibility of joining an unemployment line not too long ago.  But now, they are enjoying the benefits of working for a resurgent auto industry.  And if we were to take an honest look at who is truly over their head, it would be Mitt Romney as he  says anything to convince us that he’s the right man for the job of leading the country when everything he does says otherwise.

Q Is For Quran

In the Star Trek universe the Borg is a collection of humanoids from thousands of different species that are enhanced with cybernetic implants to become mindless biomechanical drones of a single interconnected collective.  The Borg was introduced to Star Trek fans in The Next Generation episode “Q Who?” when Q, the seemingly godlike character played by John de Lancie, is snubbed by Captain Jean Luc Picard.  Q asked Captain Picard if he could join the crew in order to help lead the Enterprise in its exploration through space.  Q warned that there were dangers that nobody in the ship could imagine.  The Captain refused saying that humans were more than capable to deal with anything the universe had to offer.  And in response the Enterprise was transported into an unexplored sector of space where it would encounter a Borg vessel for the first time.

The Borg was like nothing ever encountered.  They were nothing short of cybernetic zombies intent on assimilating every form of technology that comes across their path.  There was no negotiating or reasoning with the Borg.  Resistance was futile.  In an exchange of weapon fire, the flagship of the Federation was no match for the Borg vessel.  The only thing the Enterprise could do was run as fast as it could to get away.  But the Borg vessel was faster and it easily caught up with the Enterprise and started firing weapons.  Captain Picard and his crew were doomed.

But it was at that darkest moment when Q returned to the bridge.  Q asks the Captain if he still believed that he was as prepared as he needed to be.  Captain Picard admitted that he and his crew were frightened and that they are indeed inadequate.  The Captain pleads with Q for his help and says that they need him.  Q obliges and with a snap of his fingers the Enterprise is returned home back into Federation space.  Q congratulates the Captain for admitting his need for help, claiming that another man would have been humiliated to say those words.

Yesterday it was reported that President Barack Obama sent a formal letter of apology to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.  The United States Ambassador to Afghanistan delivered the letter personally.  In it, Mr. Obama expressed his deep regret for the burning of Qurans at a United States military base in Afghanistan.

The burning of the Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of the Supreme Being.  Most Muslims treat copies of this book with reverence.  Defiling or dismembering copies of the Quran is considered desecration.  Discarding copies of the Quran is forbidden.  Worn out copies of the Qurans can be burned but only through ritual intended to preserve their sanctity.

Earlier this week it was revealed that NATO forces at the Bagram Airfield tried to burn a truckload of Islamic literature, including copies of the Quran.  Afghan workers said they rescued the books from the incinerator and then smuggled them off the base to show to local religious leaders.  This ignited an escalating series of violent protests that have targeted anything that represents a Western presence in Afghanistan.  The death toll includes two U.S. soldiers who were killed when an Afghanistan soldier turned his weapon on the Americans.  Military officials have tried to mollify the anger of the people by launching an investigation and repeatedly apologizing.  And in an attempt to help quell the violence, Mr. Obama expressed his regret to Mr. Karzai in a personal letter in which he vowed to hold to account those responsible for the incident.

But conservative presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Mr. Obama’s apology to Afghan authorities for burned Qurans on a military base was astonishing and undeserved.  In fact, Mr. Gingrich said that the Afghan President owed America an apology for the shootings.  Mr. Gingrich actually said that there seems to be nothing that radical Islamists can do to get Mr. Obama’s attention in a negative way and he is consistently apologizing to people who do not deserve the apology of the President of the United States.  Mr. Gingrich added that Mr. Obama has gone so far out of his way to appease radical Islamists that he is failing in his duty as our commander in chief.

It’s not hard to imagine a Captain Gingrich sitting on the Enterprise trying to escape the clutches of the Borg.  Instead of being able to put pride aside ego Mr. Gingrich would stick out his chest and allow his ship to be assimilated.  Instead of being able to lead with a sense of humility and keeping focus on what is good for his crew, As the Borg used their superior weaponry to wear down his ship’s defenses Captain Gingrich would probably demand an apology from Q before he would allow the godlike being to assist his ship and crew.

A good leader needs to manifest the behavior he or she would want from the people who are their responsibility.  If a leader runs an organization that makes a serious stumble then that leader should have the character to step in front of it and take charge.  Admitting a mistake helps a leader to develop a culture of trust.  It lets everyone know that you are modest and imperfect.  But more importantly, it lets people know that it’s not the avoidance of making a mistake that should be the focus but how we respond to it.  Leaders who are able to apologize and change direction when appropriate gain so much more than a leader who is stiff and unwilling to bend.

Mr. Obama saw the unrest and offered an apology in an attempt to assuage anger and a feeling of disrespect.  People are dying because of the protests over a careless act by a handful of people who are in Afghanistan and are operating under the direction of the President of the United States.  Should the President apologize for the behavior that resulted in mass demonstrations that have been violent?  No doubt that depends on who you ask.  I do know that if I was on a starship that was about to be boarded by a group of space zombies, I would much rather have Mr. Obama in the captain’s seat than others.

President’s Sale

Foster Friess is the seventy one year old mutual fund millionaire from Wyoming who is the key financial backer of conservative presidential contender former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s super PAC.  On Thursday, during an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Friess was asked about Santorum’s stance on social issues like contraception.  Mr. Friess replied that back in his days they used Bayer Aspirin as a contraceptive and then explained that the “gal” would take the aspirin and put it between their knees.  Surprised with the gross and blatant insensitivity of the moment, Ms. Mitchell took a second to recover and catch her breath.  It was one of the most breathless moments I’ve ever witnessed live on a television.

Within seconds the remark was propelled by the internet around the globe and infiltrated the conscience of everyone who took even a passing interest in what’s happening in our political sphere.  Mr. Friess tried to quell the trouble that was massing on the horizon.  But the damage was done.  Mr. Santorum Made a tepid effort to distance himself from his biggest donor by saying he wasn’t responsible for every comment that a supporter of his makes.  Mr. Santorum said it was a bad joke, nothing more, and it was not a reflection of Mr. Santorum or his record.

According to TIME Magazine, Mr. Friess sent the magazine an email where he claimed to have gained an appreciation for Mr. Santorum’s empathy and bearing.  He went on to say that Mr. Santorum had a deeply felt kindness and love for other people, like the blue-collar, non-elitist people that Mr. Santorum identifies with.  Mr. Friess says that people gravitate to Mr. Santorum because of his authenticity and the way he answers questions directly giving the people the impression that he’s honest and shares his core values about what makes America great.

We’re supposed to believe that such thoughtful, down home political spin came from somebody who would use his moment in front of the nation to tell a tasteless joke about aspirin as a contraceptive.  It should come as no surprise that a man who will practically single handedly fund a super PAC would spend a fraction of that kind of money to respond with the best rhetoric money can buy.

Mr. Friess made a pathetically lame attempt to make light of a serious issue that should speak to the core of our collective values.  Conservatives claim to be up in arms about dire threats to the Constitution of the United States and religious rights because some of us feel that institutions that operate businesses should offer their employees a healthcare insurance package that includes contraception coverage.  Suddenly we are witnessing congressional hearings about the impact to religious institutions because their right to deny certain health coverage as an employer is being denied.  And Mr. Friess thinks so much of this issue from a perspective of presidential proportions that he says, whether jokingly or not, something akin to let’s just bind women’s knees together.

Mr. Santorum knows the issue is a lot more serious.  He was one of the first to strike a blow for religion by condemning the Obama administration and by stating his belief that individual states should be able to ban contraception.  According to Mr. Santorum, contraceptives are not okay because they are a license to do things in the sexual realm that runs contrary to how things are supposed to be.  According to Mr. Santorum’s religious philosophy, the act of sex is supposed to be performed only within the confines of marriage and is supposed to be for the purpose of procreation.

The problem comes with the fact that this is Mr. Santorum’s religious beliefs.  While he is more entitled to believe whatever he wants to believe, people who do not share Mr. Santorum’s beliefs should have the freedom to practice their own beliefs free from the interference of other people’s beliefs.  If Mr. Santorum and Mr. Friess believe that the only contraceptive people need is aspirin, then they should have the freedom to believe that and practice a birth control regime built on that idea is for their families.  People who believe that there are other contraceptive options should be able to pursue their own beliefs.

But the real problem isn’t the fact that we have people who want to insert their religious beliefs into our political conversations that are supposed to be two separate and distinct issues.  That’s always been something we’ve had to contend with in our politics.  Whatever issue that can be used to drive a wedge between a political candidate and his potential supporters is fair game.  The much bigger problem is the fact that you can have one rich guy with all the sensitivity and warmth of avalanche using his largess to buy himself a President.

If Mr. Santorum is able to reach the White House with the financial banking of a single donor or even with a small group of donors, what kind of access and influence would this person or these people have on their bought and fully paid for nominee?  Back in the day, if a rich person wanted someone who shared their views to be President they had to vote like everyone else without the ability to exert an influence that is so out of proportion to the majority.  Now they get to donate as much money as they want. There’s probably a punch line in their somewhere.  But with the stakes so high for us all, this is definitely not a time for lame humor.

Things change.  We have to accept that fact.  Contraceptives have progressed to what we have today, our healthcare needs and insurance coverages have changed to what we have today, and our political donations and our system of funding political campaigns have morphed into this new system where we can have the rich and the wealthy using their personal income to buy as much free speech for their nominee as they want.  People might be upset over the fact that they don’t have the right to push their religious philosophies on their neighbors.  But that pales in comparison to the fact that the rich are now able to buy a presidential candidate that is willing to push their personal and religious philosophies onto their neighbors.

Jen Sorensen’s Contraception Protest Analogy

Whether Intentional Or Not Chrysler Endorses Obama

There is a bar scene in the film “Inglorious Bastards” where German soldiers play a celebrity guessing game of “Who Am I?” that references the overt racism of the King Kong film.  After discovering that the celebrity at stake traveled by boat from an exotic land to America one of the participants ventures ask, Am I the story of the Negro in America?  The response was no.  So the German soldier quickly follows up with the answer, Then, I am King Kong.

Producer, director, actor, and writer Quentin Tarantino said that this scene from the movie was a dissertation on the meaning underneath “King Kong.”  Mr. Tarantino said that it was very obvious that King Kong was a metaphor for the slave trade.  He went on to explain that he did not believe that the makers of the movie intended for it to be that way.  But the outcome is the same nevertheless, that’s the movie that they made whether they meant to make it or not.  King Kong is a metaphor for America’s fear of the black male.  Mr. Tarantino went on to say that when he saw Peter Jackson’s version of King Kong all the racial metaphors were in there and the racial subtext was there.  And Mr. Tarantino got a big kick of making it a German Gestapo Major to present that fact in the story.

Towards the end of the Super Bowl halftime break, actor, director, producer and writer Clint Eastwood starred in one of the biggest commercial hits of television, Chrysler’s two minute spot titled “It’s Halftime in America”.  The commercial, created by advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, is a big hit because it garnered Chrysler a lot of free press with people trying to determine the exact meaning of the message intended.  The commercial has raised questions from cultural, demographic, and political perspectives.  A lot of people were wondering if the advertisement was a pitch for an automobile manufacturer or a political endorsement smack dab in the middle of a presidential election year.

Chrysler is the third largest domestic automaker and was faced liquidation a scant three years ago before it was bailed out with a multibillion dollar cash infusion from the Obama administration.  The company underwent a restructuring bankruptcy that left it Italy’s Fiat the majority owner.  Today, Chrysler reported its first full year of profit in seven years.  And for 2012 it is forecasting an operating profit that will be fifty percent higher than last year.  In all performance business performance measures, Chrysler is doing tremendously well.  At a time when a lot of people were ready to write Chrysler off, some people had enough faith to help the company get back on its feet.  Chrysler’s resurrection serves as a perfect analogy for America’s resurrection.

The commercial was filled with images of factory workers, middle class families, and aged manufacturing plants flashed across the screen, Mr. Eastwood narrated saying that America can’t be knocked out with one punch.  When America is down we get right back up again.  And when we do, the world needs to watch out.  It’s halftime America and our second half is about to begin and we will be even better than before.  Chrysler is back.  America is on the way back as well.

It is no secret that President Barack Obama used federal money to help Chrysler get its financial footing while conservatives did a lot of complaining about government interfering where it didn’t belong.  If Chrysler was going to go under then as a matter of principle the government should stay out of the affairs of business.  Otherwise, government is playing favorites and picking and choosing who will be successful and who will fail.  The fact that potentially millions of American manufacturing jobs within the automobile industry and the ancillary industries were on the line means nothing.  A principle is a principle and if we interfere we all lose.

Contrary to the protest, Mr. Obama went through with the government assistance for Chrysler as well as General Motors.  Both companies are stronger now than they’ve been in years.  Just yesterday, General Motors announced is most profitable year ever, less than three years after it received its loan and restructuring.  It’s back as well thanks to the Obama administration.  Whether or not Chrysler or General Motors would exist today without the intervention we will never know, thankfully.  The two got the help they needed and they are here.  Enough said.

After everything that’s been said and done, after the assistance to the automobile manufacturers became such a political football, Chrysler’s talk about how it was able to comeback sounds and looks a lot like an endorsement of the Obama administration whether it was intended or not.

Whether its creators intended to or not, Chrysler’s Super Bowl commercial looks like an endorsement of the people who can, arguably, be called saviors of the company.  If the government hadn’t stepped in, there’s little doubt that some deep pocketed investor was ready to swoop in and buy up the pieces as soon as the company collapsed.  There’s little doubt that they had plans to buy up valuable assets for pennies on the dollar to turn quick profits at other people’s expense.  The government stepping in dashed those plans and a lot of people probably weren’t happy about that.

But a lot of people are happy about Chrysler’s and General Motors’ demise being put off to another day.  And if people think that they are trying to give Mr. Obama credit for that, it simply can’t be helped.  It’s an unfortunate circumstance but it cannot be helped.  Kind of like the way King Kong can’t help but be a metaphor for racism in America.

Jason Whitlock Is Racially Linsensitive

The New York Knicks staked a claim on Jeremy Lin just after Christmas Day last year to be a backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after an injury to guard Iman Shumpert.  He made his season debut on the road against the Warriors.  But then on January 17 he was reassigned to the Erie BayHawks of the D League.  Three days later he had a triple double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists in the BayHawks’ victory over the Maine Red Claws.  Three days later he was recalled by the Knicks.

On February 4, Jeremy Lin had 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists in the Knicks win over the New Jersey Nets.  In the following game against the Utah Jazz, Jeremy Lin made his first career start and wound up with 28 points and 8 assists.  In the game against the Washington Wizards, he had 23 points and 10 assists.  On February 10, he scored 38 points and had 7 assists to lead the Knicks against the Los Angeles Lakers.  On February 11, he scored 20 points and had 8 assists in the Knicks win over the Minnesota Timberwolves putting put the Knicks back into contention for the 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  All this comes as two key Knicks players out of the game.  Amare Stoudemire was with his family following the death of his brother and Carmelo Anthony was on the bench due to injury.

The Associated Press said Mr. Lin was the most surprising story in the NBA.  Bloomberg News wrote that he has already become the most famous Asian American NBA player.  The TIME Magazine website ran an article titled, It’s Official: Linsanity Is for Real.  Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson said that the he hadn’t seen the kind of excitement Jeremy Lin has caused in a long time.  After the Knicks victory over the Lakers on Friday, Jason Whitlock used his Twitter account to write, Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight.  It was a racist innuendo of the negative stereotype regarding the size of the typical Asian penis.

The sorry Mr. Whitlock made a sorry attempt of an explanation over the weekend.  He said that he caved to the side of his personality that was immature, sophomoric, and comedic in nature.  He went on to say that it has been with him since his birth and referred to it as a gift from my mother as well as his time as a child listening to his godmother’s Richard Pryor albums.  While Mr. Whitlock might think himself an amateur comedian, he’s hardly funny resorting to lame, lazy attempts at humor with thoughtless racial stereotypes.  He’d be better off doing some self deprecating comedy with a fart joke.  Regardless of its size, at least Mr. Lin can see his dick without the help of a mirror.  Lord knows with his stomach’s enhanced girth condition, Mr. Whitlock hasn’t been able to see the head of his own dick for a considerably long time, if he ever could.

Mr. Whitlock blames his love of comedy for his blatant racial prejudice.  He obviously loves doughnuts but you don’t see him calling Jeremy Lin or anybody else a Krispy Kreme.  The man’s a racist prick and this is just more confirmation of that fact.

The first time I heard of Jason Whitlock was when he became the go to guy for commentary regarding Don Imus’ firing for his racist and sexist remarks against the Rutgers University women’s basketball team which was predominantly black.  In Mr. Whitlock’s esteemed opinion, the black community had bigger problems than some comments from some old white racist.  The fact that the black community’s problems are directly related to our tolerance of racism against blacks in America was totally lost on this man.   Mr. Whitlock gave me the impression that he would not have paid any attention to issues of racism unless it came in a box that said something like Dunkin Donuts on the side.

But the real issue wasn’t that the black community had bigger problems or that Don Imus was just an old white racist who just so happened to have a daily morning radio show with a huge following.  I’ve learned that the real issue is that Jason Whitlock is just as racially intolerant as the next guy.  Like Don Imus incapable of letting the women of Rutgers University enjoy their celebration for their championship achievement without a racist dig, Jason Whitlock couldn’t leave well enough alone for Jeremy Lin as he enjoys his own success.  Hateful people just want to spread hate, no need for any provocation.

Asking Jason Whitlock for his two cents regarding racism or the impact of racism is like asking the grand dragon of the ku klux klan are white people overly critical about black people.  Neither would have the personal character or integrity to acknowledge the ugliness of racism.

Instead of using Mr. Lin’s accomplishments to trash Asians with a totally inappropriate racial slam, a person of character would acknowledge that something great and incredible is happening.  Whether he be black or white or something other, the achievements of Mr. Lin need to be given the attention it deserves.  The fact that he is Asian is notable not because of the size of his anatomy but because it isn’t often that Asians draw the attention of the world while playing in the NBA.  I join the rest of the people of the world to wish him well and that he will only get better.

Compromise And Contraception

To compromise means to make a deal between different parties where each one gives up part of their demand in order to find a mutually acceptable agreement of terms which often involve deviations from original goals and/or desires.  I had to remember this when President Barack Obama announced his compromise between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration’s requirement that healthcare coverage include contraceptives for women.  The Catholic Church objected saying that such a mandate runs contrary to deeply held religious doctrine against the use of contraception and violates freedom of religion.  The church was already excluded from providing contraceptive coverage for women who worked with the church as employees.  But the church wanted an additional exemption that would exclude any businesses affiliated with the church as well.

The compromise is a new policy that still guarantees all women coverage of contraception but says that it will be the insurance companies and not the church linked employers who must pay for it.  It was an attempt to extinguish a firestorm of controversy that was being stoked by Mr. Obama’s conservative political opponents who used this issue as a wedge to drum up support against the White House.  Mr. Obama promised that religious liberty would be protected and the law that provides free preventive care will not discriminate against women.  The President shared the compromise with Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral who represented the church in this controversy as well as the head of Planned Parenthood.  Mr. Dolan said that the compromise was a step in the right direction but would reserve judgment until he saw the details of the new regulation proposals.  Women’s groups and many supporters of the healthcare law had urged Mr. Obama not to tweak the policy.  But when it comes to compromise, everybody has to give a little.  We should remember that.

However, conservative politicians eager to oust Mr. Obama from the White House have said that the controversy surrounding the birth control mandate was far from over.  Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he will push to overturn the requirement because it was another example of Mr. Obama’s meddling.  The rhetoric from Republicans suggested that this issue will be kept alive throughout this election year in order to rally conservative voters’ frustration with what seems to be the big government overreach of liberals.

In the eyes of people like Mr. McConnell and other conservatives, compromise with Mr. Obama means defeat.  One of the things Mr. Obama said he wanted to take to Washington, DC is a new sense of political bipartisanship.  Take it from the perspective of a non-conservative, we watched the man who promised to use more socially oriented political and economic policies for the betterment of the majority of all his constituents, including those people who think such policies are unwise, make a number of concessions on a number of issues that run contrary to what many of us thought he believed. But now that he can plainly see that the only thing his opponents want is his defeat, even at the expense of the nation, it looks like a totally different ballgame.

It’s good to see Mr. Obama act as if he’s waking up to the realization that he has to start standing up for his principles the way the people who voted for him thought he would.  Hopefully, it’s not too late for him to undo the political damage done to his brand by letting his political opponents pull him off his political course.  Instead of simply caving to the conservative wants and denying more women access to contraceptives, Mr. Obama works out a solution that protects women’s health and keeps the church from having to go against their religious beliefs.

But Mr. McConnell says that the compromise is riddled with constitutional problems that stem from government’s take over health care and tries to interfere with religious beliefs.  People like Mr. McConnell will say anything to make Mr. Obama look scary and the worst thing that ever happened to America despite all the evidence that shows the contrary.

The White House says the plan won’t drive up costs because birth control, like other preventative care measures, is less expensive than pregnancy.  Unless drug makers stop charging for contraception, the cost is likely to get passed to the employers regardless.  But conservatives say that Mr. Obama’s compromise is nothing more than an accounting trick by the insurance companies and nothing less than complete contraceptive denial will satisfy the sensibilities of the founding fathers, may they rest in peace.  While some groups like the Catholic Health Association applaud the move, conservative organizations like the nation’s Catholic bishops say it is nothing more than a continued attack on religious freedoms.  Nothing less than complete capitulation by Mr. Obama will satisfy conservatives.  And even then that might not fill their bill, demanding an apology on top of everything else for good measure.

By working out a fair and reasonable compromise Mr. Obama shows himself flexible and ready to try and meet people with strong convictions somewhere in the middle.  Some people might try to dismiss it as nothing more than the typical, political incorrect, flip flopping that signals a politician uncommitted to his or her beliefs.  However, depending personal political philosophy Mr. Obama will look like he has no political convictions no matter what. Flip flopper or not, the effort to compromise on this issue will show Mr. Obama’s commitment to soothe divergent political goals and not simply pander to one group’s preferred ideology at the expense of others.

Nevertheless, conservatives will continue their efforts to paint Mr. Obama as a cruel task master bent on getting everything his way despite his attempt at a compromise.  Mr. Obama wants to lead us all down a path of intolerance and inflexibility and unless he gives in to the conservative way of thinking on each and every difference people will see him as nothing good.  For conservatives, compromising with Mr. Obama may not be a four letter word, it just feels like one.