A [Weak?] Week’s Worth of Work
At the rate these criticisms are mounting, Obama will be lucky if he escapes impeachment in March. It’s been literally seven days since he took office, and his foreign policy and domestic policy initiatives have been roundly questioned. Remember folks: Bush fucked things up in 8 years; Obama’s barely had 8 days. We might have to be a little patient.
The statements seem to grow more ludicrous by the hour. Take the article under the foreign policy link by Rabbani and Toensing, for example. Obama has started on a strong footing with trying to mend the Grand Canyon-sized ideological rift between the Muslim world, the Middle East, and the United States from Clinton-era and Bush-era policies. He’s made calls to national leaders in the Middle East about working together to resolve conflicts, he’s selected George Mitchell as an envoy to help broker a longstanding peace between Israel and Palestine (that’ll hopefully be balanced for both sides — politically-entrenched pro-Israel rhetoric notwithstanding), and he participated a wonderful interview on Al-Arabiya TV that signals a new trend in taking the Muslim and Arab world seriously. (Video here.) You know, as opposed to calling them those folks sitting on our oil/eating American babies.
These three determined steps, done in the course of a week, would make most people optimistic, yes? NO. Read more
Carved Up: Black Women and Bodily Integrity
Hi, I’m Sylvia. I’m new to the CFLF crowd, and my regular blogging spot is at Problem Chylde. I’m a black twentysomething going through the sweet hell that is law school. I’m rounding out the first semester of my third year after putting down the Publish button for a few months. I tend to blog when I am amused, pissed, or some unholy combination of both. I’m also a cute bubbly ray of sunshine and light. Like it? No? Too bad. Shut up and listen.
I have to spell this out for my fellow commentators in the United States. I hate speaking to people as if they are children; but I guess after the Don Imus situation the lesson did not take.
Do not, do not, do NOT reduce a black woman to her body parts. We are no longer on the auction block. We are no longer museum exhibits. If you deign to respect a black woman as a full human being, do not celebrate her accomplishments by pointing out the nappiness of her hair or the fullness of her booty.
I should have known better to expect something intelligent and proactive from Salon.com. Salon has disappointed me in the past with its commentaries on women’s bodies and its subtle alliances with misogyny. But Erin Aubry Kaplan’s ode to Michelle Obama’s backside has hit the rock bottom of the barrel.
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Okay, What’s the Real Story Here?
Does it seem to you that Michael Ware is a little… distracted?
When Dreams Collide
I am in full agreement with Armando for once, and I mean that neither ironically nor sarcastically.
Treat Children Like People, But Remember, They’re Only Human
Kathryn Jean Lopez on abstinence programs:
I’m a big fan of programs that treat children like people, not animals. Programs that operate under the assumption that if you love them enough to challenge them, they often won’t disappoint you. That even if they do, you’ve planted seeds and given them a compass that will flourish, or at least help, when they need it most. Yes, some teenagers will have sex. They’re human like everyone else — only with overactive hormones. ….
Care to run that one by us again, Kathryn?
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