Go Home, Whitey

Today, January 20, 2009, after Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States (he's actually not the 44th, and Justice Roberts botched the Oath, but whatever), Civil Rights Leader Rev. Joseph Lowery, 87 years old, delivered these stirring remarks to conclude his inaugural ceremony benediction speech:

"We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."

I understand what he meant by the final stanza of his rhyme, but I wish he would not have said it in that manner - not because I am in any way offended, but because I worry that some white citizens will take his words too literally and miss the greater point he was trying to make...and that would be a shame. Rev. Lowery marched with Dr. King and decried racial intolerance when his message was significantly less popular than it is today. Although he is pleased with the progress our country has made in the last few decades, he is not blinded by it. Rev. Lowery is not so naive to believe that racism and hatred in our country have been defeated. Nor is Rev. Lowery too senile to remember how powerful and sinister such hate can be. Rev. Lowery is a realist, and he knows that although this day marks a significant milestone in the civil rights struggle, we (America) have not yet reached the "top of the mountain." Racism still exists and there is still much work to be done. Racism is like a weed that will continue to grow just beneath the surface even when you stomp it out. And so, with that understanding, he implored Americans to keep striving for ANOTHER DAY, when racism will truly be defeated.

Do not rest on your laurels, America. This is NOT the end of the fight. Just look at the composition of our country's poorest citizens compared to the composition of our overall population, and you will realize that while Obama's presidency may represent some attainment of equality of opportunity for wealthy and well-educated minorities in America, it does not represent a true "change" for those with significantly lesser means. "White" still has the power...the power to DO what is right. "White" must embrace the responsibility that goes along with that power and help end inequality for EVERYONE of all economic means. "White" - at least to Rev. Lowery - probably means the wealthy and powerful of all colors and nationalities. Rev. Lowery has even criticized Obama for promoting the notion of "giving back" on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but not also emphasizing the NEED to keep giving back on the other 364 days of the year. Rev. Lowery is willing to point the finger not just at "White", but at "Black" and "Brown" and "Yellow" and "Red" - like Bill Cosby - and this sometimes puts him at odds with people in his own community who think that they are owed something and won't do enough to help themselves. However, he delivered the OPPOSITE message today, probably in the spirit of compromise, so as not to stir up resentment among the black community on such a triumphant day. That is a shame.

In his heart, I know (and hope) that Rev. Lowery meant to say:

"We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not [NEED TO] be asked to give back, when brown can [AND WILL WANT TO] stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when . . . [EVERYONE OF PRIVILEGE] will embrace what is right [AND HELP THOSE LESS FORTUNATE THAN THEMSELVES]."

For the great work that Rev. Lowery has done in his lifetime, I will give him a pass. Fortunately for all Americans, his actions will always speak louder than his words.

It's the economy, stupid!

It's 6:30 pm on Wednesday, September 17, 2008. We are in the home stretch of one of the most important presidential races with significant historical ramifications I have ever seen or can imagine (part of that is not due to the candidates themselves - even though they are history making people - but is due to what George W. Bush has done to our country in the last 8 years - we are teetering on total disaster). We are in the midst of one of the most devastating periods of economic turmoil that most people can remember. Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG, three of the world's largest and most prominent financial/insurance institutions, have all collapsed THIS WEEK (and the government just bailed out AIG for $85 billion and took an 80% equity stake; unheard of)! The DJIA has fallen over 650 points (-6%) in the last seven days! Our top general in Iraq just stepped down - and this has been one of the deadliest periods in Iraq in years.

Anyway, here are "Today's Top [Internet] Searches" according to Yahoo.com:

1. Megan Fox
2. Olivia Wilde
3. Ellen DeGeneres
4. Nelly
5. Chevy Volt
6. The Biggest Loser TV...
7. Hells Angels
8. MTV TRL
9. Deep Vein Thrombosis
10. Federal Reserve

At least Federal Reserve made the list! Sheesh! I know Ellen just became the face of "Covergirl" and Nelly is certainly a popular rapper, but...what the hell is wrong with people in this country. My personal favorite though is #9. I'm sure glad to know that in this topsy-turvy time we're living in, websites exist that can provide people with vital information about "Deep Vein Thrombosis" and Nelly. Yikes...

Funny Words

Two words I recently learned (#1 is by far one of the funniest sounding words in the english language, imo):

1. Meatus
2. Stopcock

They don't mean what they seem to mean...obviously.

Here's a nifty link along the same lines that may be: NSFW.

E-Mail of the Week

Time: 8:38 A.M.

Subject: "Carrot Cake"

Body: "There is carrot cake in the kitchen for those who would like some. Enjoy!"

It was from a real bakery and it was fantastic - not dry at all, and the icing was perfect!

Mets

They suck...Oliver Perez is especially terrible...an 11-0 home loss to the worst team in the majors (Seattle - that's right, they have the worst overall record of the 30 major league teams)...nothing else needs to be said.

Book Review

For possibly the first time since undergrad, I have actually finished reading a book that I was reading for pleasure (i.e., had nothing to do with law) and that was unrelated to self-help, poker, or investing in stocks. A-MAZING. Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis' (the Moneyball guy) humorous first person account of Wall Street in the 1980s (focusing on his time at Salomon Brothers), is as engaging as it is witty. Most people have either read this book (published in 1990), or heard of it: here's a wikipedia article about it that I did not read, but that I'm sure contains an adequate synopses.

Although the subject matter of the book is at times tedious, especially when Mr. Lewis is describing such esoteric matters as how mortgages are securitized and how junk bonds function, the matter-of-fact "newspaperish" storytelling style, and memorable, if not slightly exaggerated, characters (such as "the human Piranha" and "big swinging dicks"), pushes the story along in spite of the minutiae. To be fair, Mr. Lewis spends 90% of his time describing his characters and their actions and the other 10% putting them (both characters and actions) into proper historical context, which necessitates a little economic and financial background.

I liked nearly everything about the book, including the way the story diverged from Ranieri and the New York Salomon offices, to Milken and the London offices where Mr. Lewis worked. The divergence (occurring near the end of the book) provided a nice break from the more intense New York action, while allowing the later London events to be colored by the former New York events: sort of like the split in Full Metal Jacket between the earlier Parris Island training scenes where "Joker" is merely observing others, such as Gomer Pyle, and the later Vietnam combat scenes where "Joker" plays a prominent role (fitting that both observers - Joker and Lewis - are journalists).

The only gripe I had with the book was the Epilogue, where Mr. Lewis takes all of the lessons he has learned (and taught) about the corrupting power of greed and the fleetingness of power/money, and in 2-3 pages basically tells us to forget everything he has just said. Lewis questions his decision to leave Salomon before turning into a full-fledged, money-hungry A-Hole like most of the people he has described up to that point. He says that he largely regretted leaving as staying would have provided him possibly the only sure path to becoming a multi-millionaire in his life. True, but would it not have also made Lewis, already having become a Wall Street power player (Big Swinging Dick) mostly by happenstance, an even bigger Dick, the type of person who relished screwing over customers and associates in order to leverage a higher end-of-year bonus? This is like Richard Simmons telling everyone in America to eat healthy and exercise and then publicly regretting that he missed out on the Big Mac.

In the end, Lewis is not a complete hypocrite. He does not tell us that unbridled greed is evil and then allow himself to fully succumb to that greed. He does manage to get out before it's too late to save his soul (although he has stepped on many "innocent" customers along the way and pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars). But in regretting his ultimate decision, he reinforces the tempting nature of greed and power, and the addicting power of money. Perhaps this is his ultimate lesson: if even he, the faithful narrator foil throughout, the embodiment of rational thought in a world devoid of any thought other than that of the bottom line, cannot escape damnation without lingering regrets, then what chance do the rest of us have?

To quote someone I've never heard of:
"Money is in some respects life's fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master."

Rhyme of the day?

According to Wikipedia, and contrary to popular myth, the word "purple" does rhyme with two other words in the English language: "hurple" and "curple". "Hurple" means to walk lamely or to hobble. In my opinion, "Curple" shouldn't even count because it is Scottish - but maybe it should count because it means the buttocks of a horse (i.e., a horse's ass). SO what have we learned? If your friend is wearning a purple shirt and does something stupid that pisses you off, you can call your friend a "purple curple," and then, if you have the type of relationship with your friend where this kind of behavior is accepted, you can give your "purple curple" friend a purple nurple...although that would really just make you a curple too (imo). Obviously, if your friend also walks with a limp...forget it.