Hue and Cry

I want to shed a little "lyte" on skin tones today. In case you haven't noticed, our president is black. And boy, does that little factoid piss and the scare the shit out of some white people. They are people out there that can't stand the fact that not only does the leader of the free world not look like them, he has a weird sounding name to boot.

I think we need to change our ways of referring to skin color. Let's start out with white people. Caucasians are not white, we are peach. We need to embrace our true color. If you don't like peach, try taupe or beige. White has too much emotional baggage. We as a people neither need nor deserve the moniker "white", when peach (or taupe, or beige) describes us much more accurately. Peach is humbler. Peach is sweeter. Peach is not an absolute.

Now let's take on black. Again, another absolute with negative connotations. And African Americans are not black. Ebony, chocolate, mocha, all are better descriptions. Since I am trying for an all food theme, let's pick chocolate.

Now we can describe our post racial society as peach versus chocolate. It sounds like a show on Food Network. There's is a lot of hate being spread around out there. We might as well try to make palatable.

All Dunne

Today I am shedding some "lyte" on death. No, I am not blogging about the demise of Ted Kennedy. I am mourning the passing of one of my favorite authors, Dominick Dunne.

A tireless advocate for the victims of violent crime, Dunne was able to migrate from the homes of the rich and famous to the prison cells of those who were brought to justice. He relished in giving us ordinary humans a glimpse into the world of the jet set. But if one of the gilded class happened to murder someone, he was on them like a bloodhound on the scent.

His combination of access and a thirst for justice was due to his time spent as a TV and movie producer in Hollywood and the untimely murder of his daughter, Dominque. When her boyfriend was sentenced to a mere 3 years for her death, Dunne turned his talents to exposing the foibles and crimes of the haves to the delight of the have nots. His time spent battling addictions to alcohol and drugs gave him a sensitivity that other crime writers lacked.

Many of his novels dealt with real life crime stories couched in a fictional setting. This allowed Dunne to use his prodigious imagination to fill in the blanks that reality often leaves blank. His columns in "Vanity Fair" were a must read for me. He would fly around the world, traveling from parties to arraignments and would let us all in on the fun.

He had an uncanny knack of meeting the right person, with the right juicy tidbit, at the right time. And he never failed to share them with his readers. I love his show, "Power, Privledge, and Justice". It brings to television the same inside scoop that his columns had.

Happily, Dunne finished his final novel before succumbing to bladder cancer. It will be out in December. I am going to read it...slowly. No one will ever be able to give us the insider's view of the downfall of the powerful like his signature round frames.

Clash Of Civilizations?

I am shedding some "lyte" on tolerance. I just finished reading "No god but God" by Reza Aslan. It is a great book that traces the history of Islam. I learned a lot. What struck me most is that the Quran, like the Torah and the New Testament, is a remarkably tolerant document. So it begs the question, why are we still fighting?

I thought fundamentalists were the purists of their faith. That they yearned for a faith that adhered to the their sacred texts. But apparently not. All three of the monotheists' screeds counsel peace and protection of the poor and underprivledged. Just as our world views have evolved; if you examine the three books chronologically, you will see an ever increasing call for tolerance.

The Quran is remarkable in that it not only recognizes the Jews and the Christians, it embraces them as "People of the Book". No where does it call for the wholesale slaughter of fellow monotheists, but does take a hard line against polytheism. Just like the Torah and the New Testament, the Quran has been subjected to interpretation, and that's where we find intolerance creeping in to pervert the original message.

I learned that the hijab was originally intended for Muhammed's wives, not all women of the Muslim faith. That in its early incarnations, Islam practiced the separation of church and state. I learned the differences between Sunni, Shiite, and Sufi Muslims.

I found out that our country helped promote the Wahhabism, the radical, fundamental Islam that helped give birth to al Queda. That we gave Osama Bin Ladin money, guns, and training. That we armed Saddam Hussein with biological and chemical weapons to fight Iran.

I read that most of the current conflict between the Middle East and the West has its roots in colonialism. That because of our efforts to control these countries and, more importantly, their resources, we sowed the seeds that have blossomed full flower into acts of terrorism.

To be clear, I am not justifying terrorism. But how can we hope to defeat it when we don't owe up to our role in creating the environments in which it can grow?

All in all, this book made me a more informed citizen. I now understand that it is not our religion that divides us, we all believe in the same God. It is our politics. And for that, there is no easy solution. After all, we can not even get our own political parties to work together. But it begs the question, why not? What purpose is being served by constant conflict?

The Money Pit

Today I am shedding some "lyte" on fiscal responsibility. The White House Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office confirmed today what we all suspected, unemployment is worse than we thought, and we are going into debt, as a nation, much faster than predicted.

Expect a lot of hue and cry from the Republicans and rabid right on this. They have recently, as of January 2009, rediscovered fiscal restraint after decades of out of control spending. When they start to paint Obama with the "selling out our children's' future" tar brush, just remember that this is the group that helped turn a budget surplus into a deficit overnight. That conducted two wars off the books to make their debt seem smaller. That pushed through an increase to Medicare that they conveniently had no way of paying for.

They also help to oversee one if the largest transfers of wealth from the middle class to the upper class in our history. And created a pitiful amount of jobs during Bush's tenure. They aided and abetted companies that shipped millions of jobs overseas. They created a culture of consumption that encouraged and rewarded short term gain over sustainability.

But now they care. Now they are demanding what was in such short supply for the past eight years: accountability and restraint. Excuse me for seeming a bit incredulous, they spent the last eight years with the fiscal policy of if there's checks in the checkbook, then there's money in the bank, and now they demand that we cut spending. I have a suggestion, let's start with their salaries, their staffs, and their budgets. If the stimulus is so horrible, let's take the money out of their districts and states and send it where it is welcome. If a public option to healthcare is so onerous, leave their constituents out.

Our government has to spend money right now because we can't. Our economy is predicated on consumer spending and consumers have nothing to spend. When you disseminate the middle class, there are consequences. When you gut manufacturing, there are consequences. When you fail your citizens, there are consequences. For all their Bible thumping, they forgot that you reap what you sow.

A Drug-Filled America?

Today I am shedding a little "lyte" on drugs. In the midst of all the healthcare brouhaha, a study has been released showing that abuse of drugs used to treat ADHD in teens has skyrocketed. This increase mirrors the increase in the amount of prescriptions that have been written.

Now, teenagers abusing drugs is not a new phenomena. But teenagers abusing totally legal, doctor approved drugs is a new twist. It is one thing when you have to find a pusher to get high, it's another when your pusher is your doctor. Teens that do not have ADHD get a high off the drugs used to treat it. Kids who are prescribed the drugs can make nice living off of selling their drugs.

Teens who abuse ADHD drugs run a risk of serious health consequences like high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, and other side effects. Four people have died from it. If it was a herb that was causing these side effects, there would be an outcry and a call to remove the substance from the market. In fact, properly prescribed and administered medication kills about 100,000 people every year. But no one seems to care.

Why the deafening silence? The pharmaceutical lobby outnumbers our representatives by about 3 to 1 in our nation's capital. They contribute heavily to the campaigns, and have enormous resources to put to use to keep the carnage off the radar. It doesn't help that pharmaceutical drugs are advertised on TV.

And what is conspicuously absent in the healthcare debate is our addiction to legally prescribed drugs. Over 50% of all Americans take some type of prescribed medicine. I am not saying we are a nation of junkies, but the fact is, we are. And we are turning our kids into addicts as well.

Right, Right, Cha-Cha-Cha

I am shedding some "lyte" on juxtaposition. The new line up for "Dancing with the Stars" has been announced. Normally, I wouldn't care. I have never seen the show. But this season might be worth watching as former House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay, is one of the contestants.

Only in America, or maybe Japan, or maybe even Italy, would a disgraced, former politician think that the road to redemption goes through "Dancing with the Stars". I have joked before that this show exists just to showcase washed up former talents. But DeLay has no talent. He was an effective political bully, but that's not talent, that's a personality disorder.

Can he dance? Who cares? Apparently he is a big fan of the show and has danced with his wife in the past. If that is enough to qualify you to be a contestant, they must be getting desperate. I know that the "celebrity" gets paired with a professional dancer, but in my dream pairing, he would get paired with either Macy Gray or Kelly Osbourne. I guess I'll just have to settle for seeing him in lycra and sequins. Talk about "must see" TV.

Now, his dance partner needs know two crucial facts about Tom: 1) he'll always lead and 2) he can only go in one direction: right.

Love Or Money?

Today I am shedding "lyte" on choices. A recent poll conducted by AOL's Shortcuts and AllYou.com asked women if they would rather save $50 per week or have more sex. And the answer is....show us the money.

Now, you could claim that women in better economic times would choose to have more sex. But I doubt it. Despite our portrayals in songs, books, and movies, women tend to be much more pragmatic than romantic. Women have to be, we are left with the consequences of passion: children.

And what does it say about mens' skills in the sack when a majority of women would prefer a mere $50 per week than hot man on woman action? I mean no one would turn down $50, but I wonder what the break even point is: $40, $30, $20, or even $10?

I love the fact that they didn't bother to ask men the same question. It is polls like these that lay bare (pun completely intended) the gap between the sexes. Vive la difference!