Yep, must be about race

Ahh, I've missed this series. It's good to have a reason to post another entry to it.

From this article:

Gov. Mitt Romney has apologized for referring to the troubled Big Dig construction project as a "tar baby" during a fundraiser with Iowa Republicans, saying he didn't know anyone would be offended by the term some consider a racial epithet.

Black leaders were outraged at his use of the term, which dates to the 19th century Uncle Remus stories, referring to a doll made of tar that traps Br'er Rabbit. It has come to be known as a way of describing a sticky mess, and has been used as a derogatory term for a black person.

In case you are like me and don't know anything about the Big Dig project, here is some information from this wikipedia article about it:

Big Dig is the unofficial name of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T), a massive undertaking to reroute the Central Artery (Interstate 93), the chief controlled-access highway through the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, into a 3.5 mile (5.6km) tunnel under the city, replacing a previous elevated roadway. The project also included the construction of the Ted Williams Tunnel (extending Interstate 90 to Logan International Airport) and the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over the Charles River.

The Big Dig is the most expensive highway project in America. Although the project was estimated at $2.5 billion in 1985, over $14.6 billion had been spent in federal and state tax dollars as of 2006. The project has been replete with delays, arrests, escalating costs, leaks, poor execution and use of substandard materials. The Massachusetts Attorney General is demanding contractors refund taxpayers $108 million for "shoddy work."

I read most of the wikipedia article and one thing was missing - ANY MENTION OF RACE!!! That's right, there was not any mention of black people being involved in the project.

If this had been a project in Memphis then the city government would have made sure that minority owned businesses were given the preferencial treatment on the projects. And if not, then they would have screamed racism. Even if other companies outbid them. So there would have been plenty of mention in wikipedia about race if it would have been in Memphis. But there wasn't so we can assume that the citizens of Boston were able to avoid that silliness.

So RACE WAS NOT A FACTOR in this project and the Gov. Romney is still racist for using a phrase that can have multiple uses. There is no context to accuse him of being a racist.

This is just plain stupid! Black leaders should really be held accountable when they go out and make stuff up like this. I know they do it all the time and get away with it, but this is really stupid.

What would JFK do?

No, not John F. Kennedy. John F. Kerry.

When asked about the Lebanon\Israel conflict, he said,

"If I was president, this wouldn't have happened"

And then he goes on to attack President Bush on his Mideast policy.

So what would you do, President Kerry? You would have become president in 2005. We would have been in Iraq. Even if you had a timeline to get our troops out, it probably would not have happened by now. Katrina would have still happened (I assume anyway - maybe global warming only happens with a Republican president). And most importantly, TERRORISTS WOULD STILL HATE US AND ISRAEL!!!!

What would you have possibly done to keep a terrorist group from angering Israel? What would you expect Israel to do in the situation they are in? When are they allowed to get fed up with terrorists attacking them? When do they get a chance to pressure the nations that are harboring terrorists to clean up their act?

Give us some answers, President Kerry. Of course, no would listen. We didn't believe you during your campaign, which is why you LOST and you ARE NOT THE PRESIDENT!!

An Accident? I don't think so

Funny news today is the conversation between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair that was caught while they were at a private luncheon. From the news article:

It wasn't meant to be overheard. Private luncheon conversations among world leaders, picked up by a microphone, provided a rare window into both banter and substance — including President Bush cursing Hezbollah's attacks against Israel.

"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this (expletive) and it's over," Bush told Blair as he chewed on a buttered roll.
He told Blair he felt like telling U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who visited the gathered leaders, to get on the phone with Syrian President Bashar Assad to "make something happen." He suggested Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might visit the region soon.

The transcript of their conversation can be read here.

There is no way this was accidentally picked up. This was an intentional warning by Bush and Blair that Kofi Annan had better get out in front of this issue soon or risk looking incompetent and irrlelevant...again. The way they did it was awesome. Instead of having to prepare long, meaningless speeches, they just came out and said exactly what was on their mind. Which of course is the truth about how this mess could be fixed.

Of course, Kofi won't listen and he'll do the same thing he has always done...nothing.

Rubbin ain't Racin

I know "Rubbin is Racin" is a popular saying, but things like what happened yesterday with Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth are really getting on my nerves. Bascially, Matt Kenseth was leading the race with four laps to go and Jeff Gordon bumped into Matt and caused him to spin around and lose the lead. Jeff Gordon went on to win the race.

It might be that I don't like Jeff Gordon and that I do like Matt Kenseth, but I really don't think my feelings toward each driver would change my opinion on this. I just think it is cheating when anyone does something like that. Those cars are going so fast and it doesn't take much to spin one out. Also, if Jeff Gordon wanted the lead, he should have been fast enough to take it without having to get into Matt Kenseths bumper.

Even Jeff Gordon can't seem to figure out whether it was wrong or not. I've heard three comments by him since yesterday's race and they were something like this:

"That's racing"

"Well, Matt spun me out in Bristol...."

"Matt, I'm sorry things turned out the way they did. I didn't mean to..."

Get your act together, Jeff! If it wasn't the wrong thing to do, don't apologize. And if it was payback, don't apologize.