Thursday, February 1, 2007

Lizz Winstead: Mary Cheney: The Blessed Mother?. Speaking at a panel sponsored by Glamour magazine this week, Mary Cheney is quoted in yesterdays New York Times as saying, "This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate, on either side of a political issue. It is my child." Since I am sure it was not an immaculate conception, her statement seemed incomplete. Maybe she was just too busy "not being political" to elaborate on this blessing from God. Whatever the case, this is what I would have liked to heard from her: ...She went on to say, "This baby is a blessing from God made possible by another blessing from God known as science. The stewards God has created to practice science are called "Scientists". God blessed us with scientists so they could help us live the fullest lives possible. God blessed all of us with the capacity to love, and because the person I was blessed to love is another woman, Gods blessing of science gave us the ability to have a baby and now we are blessed with the dream of raising a family. I am so blessed that God has blessed us with the scientists who could give me this blessing from God." Unless it was an immaculate conception, in which case, never mind. [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed] 9:48:52 AM    comment []

Bush Says, "There's Some Racial Insensitivity Going Around? Count Me In!". I love this. President Bush spoke about the Biden/Obama dust-up on Fox News and, well, I'll let the Chicago Tribune explain (via ThinkProgress): Well-spoken black people hate it when white people call them [base "]articulate.[per thou] It[base ']s the modern-day version of what white people used to say back in the day when they thought that by saying "He[base ']s a credit to his race" they were saying something that a black person would welcome hearing. Those dated words, like Biden[base ']s comments, were patronizing at the very least. And they also appeared to carry some pretty negative assumptions about the majority of the race. Many Americans know this because (1) they aren't stupid, and (2) they've seen the famous stand up routine by Chris Rock where Rock says that anytime white people see an intelligent black person they always say, "He's so well-spoken! He speaks so well!" which is the most patronizing compliment perhaps of all time. Rock used the example of Colin Powell, but this occurs with athletes all the time. Anytime a black athlete gives a post-game interview without saying "um" fifteen times, moms across America say, "Well, he seemed like a nice young man. Very well-spoken." Anyway, here's the point. Bush on Obama yesterday: "He[base ']s an attractive guy. He[base ']s articulate. I[base ']ve been impressed with him when I[base ']ve seen him in person." See the video on ThinkProgress. [MotherJones.com | MoJo Blog - Social Issues and Political Commentary] 9:47:18 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2007 Patricia Thurston.