‘I don’t want you here, I don’t like your political views’

That’s what a man, a veteran, said to Quanell X this morning at a gym, and then pulled a 5″ knife out.

From the article:

Ratliff, 37, faces a charge of making a terrorist threat, a class B misdemeanor. If convicted, Ratliff could face up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ratliff is being held in the Brazoria County Jail on a $10,000 bond.

This made me think of something I read earlier today.  From Kathleen:

I love the fact that we can disagree in this country without violence.

Perhaps a qualifier is in order.  Its seems that some of us can, others, not so much.

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The answer to white poverty

Sorry, I just had to rip that off from my favorite wingnut, Kathleen.

She put up a post, leeching off another, as she does often, (and I am here) about poverty in the black community.  Numerically, it has always been the case that whites have a significantly larger number of their own in poverty, but wealthy whites see those poor whites as potential voters (affirmative action is taking money and jobs from you, so vote for me!) or too insignificant a number to be bothered with (white trash is to be expected).

Kathleen, and the writer she points to, have a benevolent view toward African-Americans.  It’s so patronizing as to be nauseating.  Just look at what she read, linked to, and got on memeorandum and weep.  Kathleen McKinley, a whiter than white white person (who mysteriously claims that her in-laws are Italian) will tell all black folks how to pull themselves out of poverty.

Some numbers:

Total number of people in poverty (by government standards):

1. White only= 237,619

2. Black only = 37,306

3. Asian only = 13,177

4. Hispanic (of any race)  = 44,784

Wow!  Not really.  The majority of poor people are white.  Elite whites like Kathleen don’t care about them.  She’d much rather tell Black Americans what to do.  Should white people do as she suggests, i.e. “Marry the mother of your children and stay married.”  Would that help reduce the number of poor white people?

Some more numbers (from the same source — the government):

The percentage of those in poverty who live at 600% of poverty:

White only: 186,935, 78.5%

Black only: 33,627, 90.1%

Asian only: 9,590, 72.8%

Hispanic (all races):  41,523, 92.7%

We, our country, are failing all of them.  Bill Bennett wants to know who the “they” is in sermons that are essentially accurate.  Bennett, it is you, and Kathleen, and people like you who ignore the greater whole of us, our country.

Tend to your white folk before you shake your finger at the black community.  It’s the way you point your finger that makes you racist.  Bennett claims that his wife works 80 hours a week trying to get blacks to practice abstinence.   Shouldn’t she spend all those hours (if possible) to talk to white kids?   She talks to all kids?  Ok.  Her husband has claimed on his show that it’s a black problem.  Ok.

Look at the numbers.  Why should anyone take a wealthy whites’ view of the solution to poverty seriously?  I think it’s in the Bible.  Something about throwing stones . . .

Something new.

It’s time.

Obama ’08

Update:  I forgot to note that those numbers are in thousands.  I found another source, American Factfinder.  Here’s the basic info from that site:

People below poverty level:

White only  17,890,083

Black only   8,968,940

Asian only  1,381,226

Hispanic (any race)  9,293,416

My point is still the same — almost twice as many whites live in poverty as blacks.

. 

It’s Personal

for some.  They want Hillary to be the nominee.  Just look at it, in all its raw glory:

your Mom blamed the “rightwing conspiracy” on stirring up the scandal, instead of the one who committed the wrong….your Dad, the President. She never apologized for it either.

Hurt feelings and all.

And now I am banned.

About War: McCain v. Bush

John McCain gave a foreign policy speech today in Los Angeles.  In it he stated:

Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war. 

Earlier this month, Bush spoke with troops serving in Afghanistan: 

“I must say, I’m a little envious,” Bush said. “If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.”

“It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks,” Bush said.

I think McCain nailed it pretty much.

Before This Easter Ends

This Easter with my family was better than most, and I must admit that some of the reason has to do with me.  With the new car, I’m not completely frazzled by the time I get there like I had been for the past few years.  I was confident that the Yaris wouldn’t burst into pieces on the way there.  (A confidence I hadn’t had with Tealita.)

One other thing happened.  It was interesting to say the least, and I will clarify it more with posts tomorrow and for some days to come, I think.

As my mom, sister and I were preparing all the eggs — mountains of eggs, some to dye, others to hide with little stickers, puzzle pieces and a very small quantity of  candy inside — I told them about how Dora, my crazy dog, had bitten the water heater guy last Thursday and how another guy passing through the neighborhood had tried to befriend her.   I wasn’t here on the day Dora bit the water heater guy, but it turns out he wasn’t hurt so much as embarrassed.  He thought dogs loved him!  But not Dora.  The guy passing through continued to try to poke his hand through the fence, while Dora was barking barking barking and I was telling him, dude, it’s not you, it’s her.  Don’t put your hand through this fence.

That prompted my mom to recall a story about my sister’s old dog, the one that died several years ago.  I’d heard the story before, but both my mom and my sister (who have always lived together) told it differently this time.  My mom started with the same old story.  She started it by saying that you tell people that it’s not you it’s the dog and they don’t listen (to connect it with Dora.)  The only people Dora has bitten are me and that white guy who owns the water heater company and was stupid enough to open the gate for a clearly aggressive barking dog to get after him just because ‘dogs love him.’

They had a neighbor (a black man my mom said very matter-a-factly) and that man’s cat had gotten cornered by their dog, and their dog didn’t like black men and he wouldn’t listen, despite the fact that they had told them the dog might bite him.  I didn’t say anything this time.  In my family, it’s a given that I will question these sorts of statements.  I decided purposefully NOT to say anything but rather to let them go on.

After a pause, my mom said that of course they couldn’t tell this black man that the dog hated black men.  My sister opined that the reason their dog hated black men was because a meter reader had sprayed him one day and then went on to relate how one of her white male friends had gone into the backyard alone and the dog had jumped up on him. 

We talked a bit about dogs being territorial and I pointed out that Dora had bitten me before she and I had hammered out an agreement.  (Dora is still crazy, but I love her.)  I also pointed out that some people do train their dogs to attack certain people, and they both agreed.

I think that was an important conversation to have.  In the past, I would have been all over them, and with this story, I had been, all those years ago.  (That dog suffered latter because of my mom and sister’s inability to understand dominance in dogs.  They never neutered him, and then brought in another younger un-neutered male.  That younger male shortened the older dog’s life.)  This time I gave them some space.  They took that space, and sure they rationalized, but they looked, I think at what they said and how they felt.  I didn’t force them to rationalize, as I had before.  We had a conversation, one that didn’t lead to my storming off or them getting defensive.

It’s a start.

Hello!

Yaris

The OK’s didn’t know it was me, so I saw Rowdy chasing Junebug.  Later they swirled in the driveway.

Soon to say bye to my old friend, Tealita.

Memories.  I love this truck, but she said no yesterday and today.  She won’t start.  We drove her under 90K and still she is tired.  I feel good about going back to Toyota.  My first two cars were, and they’ve gotten even better.  I have to learn all over again how to use the clutch.  After years of nursing Tealita, this Yaris wants to go.  I should let her.

I’m torn as to which charity to donate.  There is the Can Academy  and Donate to 8.  I’ll decide next  week.

I don’t know why Chevy didn’t keep making this little truck, but for 13 years, she has made me happy.  We’ve had our troubles, but she got me and mine where we needed to go.  She hauled Tito and Maggie’s crap from Amarillo to Houston even though I was falling asleep.  She hauled Toby and whatshername’s furniture across town, just like she did Clint’s.  There are lots of people who have benefited from Tealita’s work.

There are many other memories.  Gretchen and Buddy loved riding.   Gretchen had learned about it from my Tercel, but they came into their own with Tealita.  They loved Tealita, and we got the camper just for them.

The new pups, Dora and Tam, don’t like riding so much, but perhaps I can change that with the Yaris.  It’s an opportunity.

P.S.  Dora and I went around the block a couple of times just a bit ago.  She likes it!

About the Joe Horn Case

It hasn’t gone before the Harris County Grand Jury yet, and that is understandable.  Chuck Rosenthal unraveled before that could happen, and it’s probably a good thing, but I reserve judgment.  There’s a new, though temporary D.A. for Harris County.  He is Kenneth Magidson, who was up until his appointment by Rick Perry, an Assistant U.S. Attorney.  I don’t know how he will run his grand juries.  (That, running grand juries, was an issue in the recent D.A. debates.)   So far, there is no whiff of racism concerning him.

The Houston Chronicle has tried to get the autopsy reports on the two men Joe Horn shot.  They got one but not the other.  Harris County is withholding on because it is part of an ongoing investigation.  IIRC, one of the dead men was implicated in another case, so it’s understandable.  That fact may also complicate Joe Horn’s case.

In the end, I still think that the way the Pasadena Police handled this case was inexcusable.  They should have at least gone through the motions and arrested Joe Horn.  As it stands, Horn is free to move around and there is no monetary or legal reason for him not to leave the country.  It’s happened before.

It’s a delicate matter, to be sure.  For the sake of fairness, Joe Horn should have a bond on him.  If for no other reason than to show that he, an ‘old’ white man, got the same treatment as anyone else.   As it stands now, Joe Horn got preferential treatment.

I Remember

I used to teach at a very anal school (I teach at a slightly less anal school now) and one day, during placement testing, I read the essay of a Japanese woman.  When I read it, I laughed.  One anal woman with whom I worked chided me for laughing at what I had read, thinking I was laughing because it was bad.  I wasn’t.  And I told that anal woman so, right there, right then.  She wasn’t convinced.  I don’t know where she is now or what she is doing, but I can always hope that she is supporting a Democrat.

What was the joke — identified as such in the student’s paper and meant to make one laugh?  Bill and Hillary drive up to a gas station and it turns out that Hillary had dated the service man in high school.  Bill says, just think, if you had married him, you would have been the wife of a service station man.  Hillary replies, no, he would have been president.

My point?  It should have been Hillary back in 1992.  It’s 2008.  Now it’s time for Obama. 

Can We Talk About This?

I hadn’t heard about this case until a caller on Mike Gallagher’s show brought it up this morning.  Last December 19th, a woman in Arlington, Texas beat another woman with a 2×4.  A few days later, “KILL” and “DIE NI*****” were spray painted in bright red letter’s on the garage door of the woman who got beaten.  The aggressor, Grace Head, is 66 years old and has been charged with assault and it was upgraded to a hate crime.  Littlejohn’s fiance stated that Head said this during her attack:

‘You didn’t get the picture? You didn’t get the hint? You know, we’re not going to let you so-and-so’s move in here.’

On the other and, Michelle Malkin has a post up about another crime.  Five juveniles were found guilty of assault and other charges.  From a Baltimore Sun article:

Defense attorneys argued that Kreager’s left eye was already bruised when she boarded the bus and that when the students began snickering at her, Kreager’s boyfriend, Troy Ennis, ordered her “to spit on them [racial slur].”

But prosecutors said the youths attacked Kreager, who is white, after her boyfriend accused one of them of immaturity for refusing to relinquish an empty seat.

Malkin’s first commenter (comments on her blog are moderated):

Black racism at its finest.

Hey Obama – are these “typical black people”?

So, we have a 66 year old woman who should have known better vs. some teenagers who were possibly baited.  Is there racism here?  Can we talk about it?

ADDED:  I purposefully trackbacked to Malkin, but she won’t have it.  I think that shows her inability to talk about race in this country.  It’s a debate that she ignores.  I’ll try again.  Oh, and the last time I heard her on the radio, she had a crappy connection.  Should I judge her on that?

Added: Nothing. No discussion. nothing.  She has no trackbacks not even mine.  I guess I don’t count.

It was Me

If anyone was listening to Hugh Hewitt, I was the Michelle on at about 6:00  CST.  I had my plan and then was ready when he accused me of boycotting E.J. 

I wish I could hear it back.