2008 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION; CATHARSIS OR CHAOS?

Hillary Clinton claims her supporters need a "catharsis", a healing, to get over their loss. To hear her tell it, it would seem that her supporters are the first in history to be disappointed and to have to deal with their candidate failing to meet their expectations. In an effort to placate her supporters, Barack Obama has agreed to allow Hillary's name to appear on the nomination at the convention and to be voted on. For Barack's people, or the DNC, to believe that Hillary's supporters will be pacified by losing yet again in a very public fashion seems insane to me.

At the DNC Rules and Bylaws meeting May 31st of this year, the dems gathered to decide what to do with Michigan's and Florida's suspended delegates, the mood could not have been any worse. Despite repeated attempts by the chairwomen to keep control, Hillary's supporters shouted out comments and disrupted the proceedings throughout. Any Democrats watching must have been embarrassed by the lack of class and decorum exhibited by some of their own. To expect that the DNC convention will be any less chaotic seems naive at best. My prediction is that at least on Wednesday, the day the V.P. nomination takes place, you can expect much of the same if not worse.

How the DNC thinks this will lead to a catharsis is beyond my thinking.

The problem the Democrats have, and will continue to have, is that they have to explain to a group of very pissed off Hillary Fem-bots how it is completely fair to have one group win out over the other. Democrats sub-groups have been taught by the DNC all their political lives that any loss is the direct result of some prejudice, not the result of one group doing a better job of representing their point of view. Is it any wonder then that a women that every single pundit (including me) thought would win the democratic nomination hands down, now tries to blame misogyny and sexism as the cause of her downfall. This despite the fact that her own chief campaign strategist, Mark Penn, said in a recently released memo that Obama, "Couldn't win against Attila the Hun." It couldn't possibly be that they simply underestimated their opponent.

To make matters even worse, Obama has to try to pacify Hillary's supporters while choosing someone else as V.P.. This has as much of a chance of flying as Lead Zeppelin. While I'm sure Howard Dean will do everything in his power to keep everything under control, this convention will be sure to have Republicans grinning from ear to ear. H.C.

EDDIE

Sad is the story of a life gone past

Muddled in secrets and memories cast

The tears of a child who fears his own home

Ended in a basement dark and alone

Edward Farrar was a "Paste Eater." He was the kind of kid who didn't seem to have a lick of sense. His hair was greasy black and combed in a Pompadour like Elvis used to wear. Strands of it would break loose from the rest and hang in front of his eyes. His clothes were dirty and out of date and he smelled of poverty. He had a maniacal laugh that reminded you of the Joker from the old Batman series and he could be counted on to disrupt every class with his outbursts and antics. He was hyperactive, out of control, and was put on Ritalin by our school. The only time Eddie seemed in the least bit restrained is when the Ritalin would take effect and he would nod off. I don't believe anyone knew why Eddie was like he was, and I don't think anyone really took the time to care. Sadly, this included me.

Eddie entered Merrill Elementary School on the north end of Flint in third grade and right away it was obvious that he was a troubled child. In those days, acting out was not tolerated, children who misbehaved were sent for spankings by the Principle. So common was this form of discipline that our Principle's office included outlined hands drawn on the wall. When you were to be punished, you put your hands on the outline and then your feet were moved back to put the pressure on your hands. This method was devised to keep kids from putting their hands in the path of the swinging paddle. After you were paddled, you were then told the reason for your discipline and what kind of behavior was expected of you. It seems cruel now, but back then it was totally excepted. I have to say one thing about that form of discipline; very few kids acted out and classes were far better behaved then now.

Eddie was clearly the exception to that rule. No amount of punishment seemed to effect him. He beat a path to the Principle's office and soon the Principle gave our teacher permission to paddle him herself. The first time our 60-something teacher tried to spank Eddie, it didn't turn out so well. She lead him out into the hallway to receive his discipline and seconds later, in burst Eddie paddle in hand, our teacher in pursuit. Around and around the desks Eddie ran, laughing and tormenting his pursuer in a game of "Keep away." The class, sensing a rare moment of chaos, roared it's approving laughter. After Eddie was finally caught with the help of two other teachers, his Ritalin was increased to a point where he rarely raised his drugged head from off his desk.

When we were both graduated to Emerson Junior High I knew Eddie's life was going to get far worse. Some of the black kids immediately recognized him as an easy victim and Eddie was tormented endlessly. His tattered clothes and dim intelligence gave the poor oppressed black kids a rare chance to feel better than someone else. Even better for them, someone white. Eddie soon found himself being ridiculed by the lowest rung on the social ladder. For him, it must have seemed life could get no worse. I always watched from a distance, glad that it wasn't me. Glad that their attention was directed on someone else. In hindsite, I could have been a better person, a better human. It's a guilt I still feel today. Normally the few white kids banded together, co-miserating at their mutual misfortune. Eddie suffered alone and walked home alone.

On the day we were told that Eddie had killed himself. I remember that there was no crying. No one walked around with a vacant stare, in fact, no one seemed to care at all. His obituary read like a life wasted. No baseball trophies, no school accolades, no achievements. It described his 9 brothers and sisters and grieving mother, nothing else. For some reason, I started asking questions about Eddie. I realized that despite knowing him for 4 years, I knew nothing about him. I rode my bike past the address I had read in the obituary. His house was a small 235 house (houses given to the poor that only had only about 600 square feet of living space.) I tried to envision how 9 kids and an adult could live in one. The house was in complete disarray; broken bikes, chewed-up lawn, dog feces everywhere and broken windows. I learned from one of his brothers that Eddie had been molested repeatedly by one of his many step-fathers and severally beaten by all of them. His mother was an obese women who tolerated any behavior by her men as long as they would stay. I tried to envision even one happy moment in such a scenario. I could not. Eddie, it turns out, had hung himself in the basement during a very rare moment alone.

The more I found out about the sad life of Eddie Farrar, the more shame I felt for having laughed at him, for being part of making his already pitiful life even worse. I still think about Eddie sometimes and wonder why God had seen fit to treat someone so badly, who had so little to begin with. Life is filled with regret and all you can do is ask for forgiveness. I have tried to make up for my transgressions by being a better person now. Part of that process is recognizing what you have done wrong. The purpose of this post is part of that process. I now recognize that I wasn't as good a person as I could have been to Eddie. That I could have tried to help him or at least listened to him. For that, I am truly sorry. Forgive me Eddie, I didn't know. H.C.

BARACK'S BIGGEST PROBLEM? BLACK PEOPLE

I know what your thinking. How could Senator Barack Obama have a problem with black people who are supporting him 90 to 95 %? Isn't that his strongest base? Absolutely. But Barack can not win this election with black people alone. He needs to have a decent chunk of the biggest group in the U.S., working class white people. And these are the people that are the most fickle constituents that Obama has in his stable. Ask your average white person if there is a disadvantage to being black and the majority of them will say "yes". Ask the same group what to do about it and they split into fractions. Race politics divides. Every since the Reverend Wright videos surfaced on youtube and all of our T.V.s and radios, Barack's support among white people, particularly white males, has fallen. I now believe that the biggest threat to Obama's campaign is the very people who have shown him the most steadfast support.

After the Reverend Wright videos, Barack's support among white people fell off considerably. In fact, Hillary Clinton actually got more of the Democrat's votes afterward. Is that the fault of white people? The mostly white media? No, and I'll tell you why. With the advent of the Internet, it's virtually impossible for the Main Stream Media to ignore a story that big. It's the introduction of the story that is the problem. Afterward, Reverend Wright went on to make even more outrageous statements, dragging poor Barack's misery out even further. Is it the media's fault that they responded to the Reverend's requests? If they didn't allow him his voice wouldn't the argument that Hill made of media bias be even more sound? Of course.

Later, when Jesse Jackson made his infamous, "I'd like to cut his nuts off." statement, was it the media's fault, or Jesse Jackson's? More recently, when Ludicrous, a black rapper, sang about painting the White House black, was it wrong for white people to be stunned? What if a white person became mayor of Washington D.C. and white people started saying it was time to "Whiten-up the place." wouldn't black people be equally stunned?

The truth of the matter is; Barack doesn't need to have race brought into the race at all.

Part of the problem is that black people are not used to black politicians avoiding the issue of race. Far from it. Black politicians usually thrive on it, it's their oxygen. Without it they can't survive or win in their mostly black districts. Obama avoiding the issue seems to black people the same as not caring. That's simply not true. Barack just understands white people far better than the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of old. The reason both Jesse and Al couldn't make their campaigns work as well as Barack's is because they cast themselves as a "black candidate", centering on black issues. With the possible exception of a very few guilt-ridden white Liberals, most of the white people ran to the white candidates as fast as they could. That is not how you win a Presidential election folks. You win by forming a constituency that is bigger than your opponents.

If these prominent black figures continue to inject race into the election, either through gloating or out of concern that it's being left out, Barack Obama will lose this race. Every time they bring up anything racial in nature, Barack's opponent's will seize the opportunity to make the election a racial issue and Obama loses the support among white middle class voters that he so desperately needs. The right will simply say, "We didn't bring it up." and they'll be right. Black advocates need to take a page out of the Republican hand book on this one. When the conservative right started showing up at functions and making statements, the Republican Party suffered. Now they are kept in the backfield. They still have as much influence, just not so publicly. Black people need to make a choice; do you want to have your problems heard during the race, or do you want influence and win. It's your choice, and I promise you can't have both. H.C.