it's how poorly he said it... is this how the man speaks when he is unscripted? four years ago with john kerry i was shaking my head and wondering, "is this the best we can do?" i have the same feeling about obama. don't insult a man then ask for his vote. i am working through my absentee ballot at present and am voting for clinton. i don't like her much, but i admire her guts.

.. but i'll pick just one: the man dragged his own grandmother out into public scorn for the sake of political expediency.

that is contemptible.

and obama clearly profited by his association with rezco. what bothers me most here, frankly, is the willingness--nay, eagerness-- of obama supporters to trivialize this association, or even go on the attack against those who bring it up. if obama could not see the pitfalls of accepting favors from a man like rezco, then he is either too childish-foolish for this world-- or he is a little dirty himself.

it is in these unrehearsed moments that we are able to take the measure of the candidate. by pretending not to see hillary clinton at the state of the union, then avoiding her hand, obama revealed a streak of pettiness, immaturity and poor judgment. of course, clinton's gesture was calculated-- but politically very savvy.

weren't poll taxes instituted in only southern states (and not all of them?) definitely they were applied across the races, black and white, and i daresay as many or more poor whites as blacks were disinfranchised as a result. how many blacks were lynched for voting, and where? women could not vote in most of the u.s. when my mother was born (1917)-- black men could.

yes, obama came down on the right side in opposing the iraqi war--good for him -- but he was only a state legislator at the time. his opinion held no weight, had no consequence if he were right or wrong. i have no issue with him, but cannot agree barack obama is a profile in courage.

he reminds me just a little bit, though, of a young fellow whom i cheered on for the nomination for vice president nearly forty years ago-- julian bond-- even though he was too young at the time to qualify, and i was too young to vote anyway.

even though

forty plus years ago, when the moyniham report was written, black americans were just gaining their civil rights. the percentage of illegitimate births among black mothers then was 23%; now it is nearly 70%. same race, did the culture change?

when bill cosby urges young black males to stop beating their women-- to get a job and support them-- is he criticizing a culture, or just being racist?

when the police chief of my small city (who is black, by the way) explained a rash of murders and violent crimes here-- which culminated in the previously unheard of total of four homicides in twenty-four hours-- he said it was all a too common combination of young african-american males, guns and drugs. was he speaking of culture? is my police chief a racist?

it is so easy to yell "racist." a child can call names. i wish we had a few more adults to deal with these problems.

i grew up working class with parents from a poor, rural background. they spanked, although i can remember only two such occasions myself. the first was when i had been unjustly accused of something by my brother. i don't remember the spanking itself, only the injustice of the thing. the second was my last spanking, when my father pushed me off his lap, saying "you're getting too big to spank." again, i don't remember the spanking, only the joy of it being the last one.

the beauty of a spanking is that once it was over, it was over. no recriminations. no "guilt trip." you had paid your debt to society-- but a lesson had been learned.

i never doubted that my parents loved me. i certainly loved my parents. they worked and sacrificed for me. it wasn't until i went off to one private east coast university, then another, that i met people my age from privileged backgrounds whose relationships with their mothers and fathers were ambivalent. many said their dads never had time for them. a friend there said that after he had once messed up as a child his mother told him that she regretted he had ever been born. i doubt any had ever been spanked. spanking doesn't leave scars, but words or unkindness or indifference does.

so ashley weston's resume gets considered before laquinda mae bullock's because he/she has an "anglo" name, and laquinda's name is black. well, could it also be that ol' "ashley" sounds upper tone, and that laquinda's middle name of "mae" especially renders her poor, rural and even charmingly naive? "bobby ray bumpass" is an anglo name, too. ashley weston versus bobby ray bumpass-- whom would human resources favor? laquinda bullock versus bobby ray bumpass? laquinda bullock versus myrtle pirtle? versus dorothy ann doolittle? versus elmo bushmat? i really don't think we're talking race here at all.

your dad had a previous will which left everything between you two 50-50, and sister named as executrix-- then you take control of his life in the final months and suddenly there is a new will where YOU are executrix and YOU GET EVERYTHING. no mention of sister at all, not even the customary $1. bequest to show someone is still remembered. if i were sister's lawyer i would question whether your dad was in his right mind when he made that last will. was he capable enough to remember he had a second daughter? was he under (your) undue influence? if you mean to hog everything, then you'd better stay cozy with the neighbor who could be your best/worst witness.

my suggestion? share equally with your sister.