A Tempest in a Teapot: Faux controversey over Stanley Statue

In the history of colonial exploration and adventure, the most quoted man is likely Henry Morgan Stanley. Any educated person who isn't familiar with Stanley's famous "Dr. Livingston, I presume" should take-up skydiving without a parachute or drag racing in the fog without a seat-belt.  The Daily Telegraph has an excellent piece highlighting how the corrupt agents of skewed political correctness have hamstrung a Welsh town's ability to celebrate its' favorite son. The self-righteous, no-fun, limited, and myopic people who are hell-bent on obstructing the commissioning of this statue are a laughable testament to how bankrupt and shameless slaves to political correctness have become. Get a freakin' life, folks. Do you propose we tear down every statue to Woodrow Wilson, since he re-segregated the U.S. Civil Service, or most of the founding fathers, since they were active slave-owners? Let us not forget that Nelson Mandela was once a violent terrorist. We can devote our time to tearing apart most of history's heroes and noted characters, but sometimes saving our collective doubts and scorn for those villains who merit it, like Fidel Castro, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hilter. Few things are as loathsome as selective outrage.

Stanley may have been a racist, opportunist, and shameless self-promoter. Not my place to judge (I save that for when it counts, like terrorism or genocide), and these are certainly not the traits that give cause to honor him. Undoubtedly, he was also incredibly bold, intrepid, and dynamic in terms of the risk and endeavors he pursued. Those are qualities that merit recognition and give cause for just remembrance and why he is likely one of the most quoted men in history. Here is to hoping the statue gets completed, and the vow that if the werewolf should ever find himself in the Welsh town of Denbigh, you can wager he'll be sporting a big smile next to the statue of Henry Morgan Stanley.

John Carpenter's Vampires Soundtrack - Cruel Highway - Looking Back

A song's ability to transport one back to a specific time and place can be be remarkable. Pictures can occasionally do the trick, but they can trigger different reactions as well. "Look at how thin she was back in the day," "wow, who knew you has such a thick head of hair," "those are the goofiest glasses," or "that's not you in the flannel shirt, is it?" Sometimes the right song unleashes a torrent of recall that transcends the imagery we occasionally get hung up on and recreates the atmosphere and emotions of a time. Bypassing nostalgic bullshit helps paint a more honest picture of from whence we came.

This most random song selection from John Carpenter's Vampires (a B-movie enjoyed by the werewolf) yanks the werewolf back to the winter of 2000 in New Hampshire. The maverick McCain had just captured the primary in that small state from GOP heir apparent George W. Bush. An inch or two of dirty snow on the ground defined the daily walk to class. The blistery winter wind had edge to it that the werewolf's inner-Californian never truly accepted. Uncertainty loomed. What college would he be bound for in a few months, was he really in love for the first time, what the hell was waiting ahead?

Specifically, this song brings him back to Christine Robinson's senior English seminar in a musty basement classroom in Phillips Hall. Exeter was famous for old buildings with worn down and scuffed stair cases and that constantly served as a reminder of the legions of students who had proceeded us. Exposed pipes, old bricks, no windows, and an ancient chalk board were all defined accents of that room. The crusty old lesbian ran a thoughtful classroom. Even if she didn't shave her armpits, she knew how to get you to think about what you read and tried her damnedest to make better writers of us all. No easy task when it came to the obstinate werewolf.

Specifically, he recalls an involved discussion about Quentin Compton's suicide in Faulkner's haunting novel The Sound and the Fury. It was one of the grimmest, darkest, and oddly thought-provoking classroom discussions the werewolf ever participated in. Later, a veteran and friend from the werewolf's time in Richard Morante's infamous Latin class, who was also an active participant in the aforementioned discussion, took his own life. The werewolf has been unable to pick up The Sound and The Fury since that dark day.

Being an open, liberated lesbian, Robinson would occasionally get a tad preachy and talk about famous gays to make her feel like some sort of important social change agent or whatever. Being a Los Angeleno, the werewolf recalls an odd conversation where she brought up gays in Hollywood. She asked the class to name famous gays and lesbians. Being a fan of older films and film history; Rock Hudson, Roddy McDowell, and Raymond Burr all came to the werewolf's mind and he blurted them out. She then added "did you know Errol Flynn was gay?" The werewolf said something to effect that he didn't care to know who was gay as long as John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Sean Connery, Cary Grant, and Charleton Heston continued to be Hollywood bad-asses and weren't going to be subjected to some-sort of revisionist rewrite of history that would diminish their respective legacies. Talk about a conversation killer.

Lastly, the werewolf recalls reading Othello in that classroom and actually snapping at a female classmate who kept referring to Othello as an African-American. It wasn't the first time he saw the pernicious impact of political correctness corrupt a talented mind's ability to judge history, but it was one of the more memorable instances.

Funny Friday: As Good as it Gets - You're a wonderful man!!

The werewolf remains convinced that all "real men" have a little Melvin Udall within them. Udall speaks truths that we all think.

The werewolf imagines that taking his inner monologue public, a la Udall, would be an incredibly liberating experience. However, given the oppressive political correctness and tyrannical sensitivity that govern elements of modern society, expressing true honesty openly would come at an extreme social cost. Something, even a lone wolf, like the werewolf, with his blackened heart, isn't ready to fully absorb onto his balance sheet.

That being said, this role may well reflect the pinnacle of Jack Nicholson's storied acting career. Here is to living vicariously through Melvin Udall. Enjoy.

Retard police? How retarded!

A loyal reader recently informed the werewolf that according to the Special Olympics' online retard police, this blog was safe because it had not used the word retard in print form. (Why does fucktard get a pass?) That just changed, thank goodness. The werewolf wouldn't be able to sleep in good conscience knowing that some sort of self-appointed steward of political correctness approved of him. Since when did the Special Olympics appoint themselves guardians of the word retard? Who the hell do they think they are jumping into the world authorizing what can and can't be used in the vernacular? How retarded!

The werewolf is a big fan of the Special Olympics and hopes that every human life will be given a chance to shine in some capacity. He values the service the Special Olympics provide to segments of the world population. He will continue to support them while they host forums that allow people to shine and excel while displaying acute physical prowess. However, he will not abide them expanding their charter into the realm of linguistic thugs.

According to dictionary.com:

re⋅tard

 /rɪˈtɑrd, for 1–3, 5; ˈritɑrd for 4/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ri-tahrd, for 1–3, 5; ree-tahrd for 4] Show IPA

–verb (used with object)

1.	to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.

–verb (used without object)

2.	to be delayed.

–noun

3.	a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.

4.	Slang: Disparaging. a. a mentally retarded person. b. a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way: a hopeless social retard.

5.	Automotive, Machinery. an adjustment made in the setting of the distributor of an internal-combustion engine so that the spark for ignition in each cylinder is generated later in the cycle.

---

Origin:
1480–90; < L retardāre to delay, protract, equiv. to re- re- + tardāre to loiter, be slow, deriv. of tardus slow; see tardy

Related forms:

re⋅tard⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. obstruct, check.

Antonyms:
1. accelerate.
There are many legit uses for retard in the daily vernacular.

The werewolf's hunt for employment has been retarded by weak macro-economic conditions.

President Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, acted like a retard when he called uncooperative democrats Democrats "retarded."

Liberals prefer aborting babies who may be retarded.

Like all things, language is delicate, important, and should be carefully deployed at times. Using language well is an art form that escapes larger segments of the population as each generation passes. Each word has implications to being used and that should be noted. However, policing and trying to erase some words, especially flexible words like retard is a shame. It's almost as outrageous as the retarded people who think the word NIGGARDLY is racist.

Harry Reid stuck in the Weeds. The "no negro dialect" debacle.

Thank goodness Harry Reid isn't a Republican, or this would be the first racist super-scandal of the new decade. Here's the money quote from the Associated Press article link:

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Barack Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Obama is the nation's first African-American president."

Could you imagine the Democratic-liberal lynch mob that would be forming and fermenting if some Republican said this? Racial extortion artists like Jesse Jackon and Al Sharpton would take to the street and rile up the mob, the NAACP would be filing formal protests and organizing a boycott, the cable news networks would be broadcasting this modern day linguistic racial atrocity ad nauseum, and the outrage and sense of collective black pain would be jammed down our throats like those awful medicines from our childhood. However, by virtue of labeling himself a Democrat, Reid's party affiliation has completely insulated him from such baseless claims, hollow grievances, and empty rhetoric. Sure there is some limited reported going at the moment, but let's face it, jobless claims are on the rise, it's too cold to report on global warming, and Obama is still blaming President Bush for everything bad that has ever occurred. It's a slow news week with liberals in control of everything, hence, this story is getting some air time. The werewolf can't help but be amused, by the rather repugnant double standards at play, both by the media, and the liberal establishment. We live in strange times.

First of all, Harry Reid is the epitome of a loser. The guy just sucks. He's inarticulate, boring, lacks any sense of style, is frequently confused, and weirdly a slave to the hard-left of the Democratic party. Despite being Senate majority leader, he's getting clobbered in every poll in his home state of Nevada, and will likely be a political relic this time next year. We can only hope.

That being said, the werewolf really doesn't get where the controversy is stemmed. Harry Reid doesn't like ghetto black people. Neither does President Obama's second-in-command, Vice President Joe "the Mouth" Biden. I mean, in Biden's eyes, and from his mouth, Obama is "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Biden may have been on to something, since Obama was elected, however that's well above the werewolf's current pay-grade. The werewolf sees a trend that senior senators from the liberal wing of the Democratic party don't like black people who radiate urban ghettoness. Fair enough. It's all about good public relations and image, before content and substance.

The second part of this story pertains to the use of the word "negro." The United States, like every other western nation, has a spotted history when it comes to race relations. This is well-documented. As political correctness has invaded the vernacular in an attempt to stymie free-thought, creativity, and simple facts, a bizarre stream of evolving labels have been created to help people understand their racial lineage. During the dark days of real racism, segregation, and political oppression of black in America, the term "negro" was considered the enlightened term to describe black Americans. The term populates the writings of Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr, and other civil rights heroes. Just think of the famous philanthropic organization The United Negro College Fund. Over the last three decades, the term for American blacks has evolved from colored, negro, black, Afro-American(hairstyles were big in the 70's), to African-American, to who knows what. It's an oppressive linguistic paradigm. The term negro is certainly anachronistic, outdated, and even tired, but using it in the modern vernacular is a far cry from racism. If you want to hear a litany of racist words, listen to some gansta rap! As much as Reid is a loser, he is also a 71 year-old man who was brought up in a time when a self-described forward thinker such as himself would be considered enlightened for describing his black countrymen as Negros. While the werewolf loves watching liberals trip over themselves with the bizarre and oppressive linguistic codes they want to impose on all of us, and he delights in seeing Harry Reid look like an anachronistic fool, it's a cosmic joke and intellectually dishonest to think Harry Reid racist for using the term negro.

The light skinned portion of the comment has it's own asinine insinuations, but that relates to the shallow pursuit of image construction and preference. Reid was caught red handed stating what most elite white liberals would like black America to become. Enjoy the amusement of how he handles it all.

There is racism embedded in liberalism. It is sourced in the notion that people who aren't white are somehow not responsible for their own actions and are incapable of helping themselves. The werewolf can think of few things as truly degrading and hateful as denying a group of people ownership and agency of their own fates. To salt that wound, liberalism hinges on "enlightened white liberals" acting as shepherds for these blighted groups. However, that's another debate for another time.

Addition: The werewolf missed a few key points in the above musings. The comparison of what occurred to Trent Lott in 2002 and the issue of whether these remarks qualify for demanding Reid's resignation.

The werewolf never really liked Trent Lott. He considered him a marginal senate majority leader, and a pork barrel professional (most legislators are), but then again, the werewolf had no reason to strongly dislike Lott. He was just another unremarkable Republican senator from the South. While Lott's remarks clearly exposed him to a barrage of criticism, could be considered ill-advised, and the pressure they generated caused him to vacate his leadership position. Tough knock of politics.

The werewolf thinks that Reid's leadership has contributed to the internal weakening of the Democrat party. From a strategic point-of-view, he would love to continue to watch Reid flounder, because it damages an agenda he opposes. Also, Reid's re-election is unlikely based on these polls, therefor his time is already limited and Reid has been rendered semi-impotent as it currently stands. However, a resignation of the Democrat senate majority has a karmic-like justice to it. As they say, what goes around, comes around.

Update: Ann Coulter calls Al Sharpton out.

Castrating tradition: The pending doom of the bullfight.

The werewolf has never attended a bullfight. It's actually never really appealed to him and he's sure his attendance would be a one-time experience. Based on this parliamentary vote from Catalonia, Spain, he's beginning to think he best get to one. Pronto, Tonto! Before it, too, is banished to the dustbin of history and the no-fun crowd can claim another scalp of western tradition.

Based purely on what I've read over the years, I think Hemingway stated it best when he wrote "Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honor." I would imagine a bull fight to be a devastatingly brutal and nerve-wrecking exercise. That's the perverse fascination of the whole arrangement. A bullfighting pit is one of the few arenas where man, for all his mastery of technology and progress, elects to face a larger, meaner, faster, and determined opponent that can very easily kill him. I can't think of another sport where the cost of losing is death or severe physical maiming. In essence, everything is on the line. Additionally, beyond the notion of trying to live through the ordeal, the matador must be graceful and elegant in dispatching the ferocious bull. Should the matador dispatch the bull in a manner deemed dishonorable, his reputation is tainted, and perhaps death was the better option in the pit. That is the inherent appeal of bullfighting. It connects honor, tradition, courage, to the risk of death. These are all things that the mandarins in the no-fun crowd are rapidly trying to eliminate.

Tradition isn't always pretty or fully understandable. But it reminds us of the past and from where we came. It keeps us grounded and provides a perspective. Progress comes as a price, and certain traditions, like slavery, are ugly and need to be purged. But the sign of enlightened progress is how tolerant it can be of certain traditions that connect more directly to notions and concepts of yore. I'd like to think that a tolerant and enlightened progress would recognize that bullfighting may have a shrinking audience, and understand that saving a few bulls and matadors annually, doesn't outweigh disconnecting your population and denying them the right to explore their heritage on their terms. If bullfighting is meant to die, let old age and irrelevance claim it.

I may be typing beyond my weight-class here, but I can't help thinking that something deeply important is lost when traditions are snuffed out to indulge the whims of those who lack the tolerance or perspective to appreciate them.

Obama and Our Post-Modern Race Problem. Shelby Steele spells it out.

I was reading this thoughtful opinion piece by Shelby Steele when I had the misfortune of getting fragged. Steele, one the keenest minds and observers on race relations, puts forth a compelling series of thoughts on what propelled Obama to the presidency. He contrasts him with Reagan and certain celebrities, examines the elements of symbolism involved, and he beautifully deconstructs the manipulation of perception that was essential to achieve the intergalactic fluke that was the 2008 presidential election. The closing paragraph eloquently states "And yes, white America conditioned Barack Obama to emptiness—valued him all along for his "articulate and clean" blackness, so flattering to American innocence. He is a president come to us out of our national insecurities."

Now that the blind euphoria around Obama is subsiding, the messiah's failings are becoming more apparent, and Obama's is star is clearly waning, I think America will devote some serious time and consideration to understanding just what the "hell happened" because in many ways 2008 was a fluke.

I chalked 2008 result up to the confluence of several factors:

On the election side, the Obama camp ran a highly disciplined and professional campaign. It was impressive. The McCain camp lacked discipline, never defined their territory, and allowed their internal divisions to boil the surface, disrupting the entire operation. I also think McCain lost the will to win, as he refused to exploit Obama's obvious weaknesses to his own advantage.

Bush fatigue, incompetent Republicans, and an exhaustion from the perception that we were losing in Iraq. This hurt Republican voter turnout and alienated independents.

The tabula rosa syndrome. Obama was able to be everything to everyone. Voters were able to project their aspirations onto him and see him as a vehicle for these dreams. While this proved inherently false ex post facto, and only works once, he had a mystifying sway over considerable segments of the voting population that I think drove voters to the polls on his behalf.

White guilt. Steele is a billion times more eloquent at flushing this out and in much greater detail than I could ever hope to. However, I noticed among some of my peers at business school, former colleagues, and contemporaries, that their whiteness or "pinkness" (as some of the more slavishly politically correct ones would say), was a liability to which the bore a burden. I think that they imagined casting a vote for Obama would somehow absolve them of the imagined sins that they were somehow accountable for in their own minds. It was the worst form of self-loathing, but, it clearly manifested itself heavily.

Energized democratic voter turnout. Blacks turned out in record numbers, as did younger voters, and other traditional democratic constituencies. There was an irrefutable energy shrouding Obama, and the historic nature of his campaign, that inflated this numbers. I also think Bush fatigue played a part, although not as much in energizing the liberal base, as deflating the GOP base. The irony of the high black voter turnout, is that while it increased Obama's margins, it also ensured that the gay marriage ban in California would pass, as black voters are overwhelmingly against gay marriage. The irony is priceless.

The no-fun crowd strikes again!

Yale Wimps Out

The werewolf knew he wasn't smart enough to get accepted to Yale(He didn't bother to apply). With one exception from his boarding school class(his roommate), he thought most of the people he knew who went to Yale were massive defects. No news there. Plus, not that he really cares, but Yale is doing no favor for itself or its image with vapid and hollow moves like this. Regardless of the source, the werewolf is always a fan of a classic and legendary sports rivalry. Although not a stakeholder in either side, he appreciates the story, nature, and deep roots of the historic Harvard-Yale football rivalry. The application of the term "sissy" can be traced to the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the rivalry itself is distinctly American. Our society is training its youth to look for anything that could make them a victim of something, destroying their perspective on linguistic freedom of expression, and eroding their will to enjoy an honest sports rivalry that has its roots deeply seeded. The poisoning of the mind always starts off small, like this, but can eventually start impacting society writ large if it isn't properly checked. How weak have we become? The no-fun crowd really needs to get over themselves.

Victor Davis Hanson: Some Modest Obama Predictions.

Classicist, observer, and blogger extraordinaire, Victor Davis Hanson, issues some keen predictions in his latest post. Here are some worthy highlights:

Some Modest Obama Predictions

1) We will begin to hear ever so insidiously mention again of the “war on terror”; some quiet memo will go out to cool all the talk of ‘man-made disasters’ and ‘overseas contingency operations’.

2) Either shortly or soon next year, Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano will resign. I don’t see how the nation’s point woman on domestic terrorism can claim that the system worked like “clockwork,” when the Nigerian terrorist’s own father contacted American authorities long ago to warn us about the proclivities of his own son, who came within seconds of blowing apart a transcontinental jet. The system worked only at the 11th hour thanks to a courageous Dutch tourist who took matters into his hands.

3) I think the overseas bowing, apologizing, and kowtowing will stop in 2010—it brought no tangible results. Indeed, Obama is one bow away from global caricature and humiliation. And when one examines the recent behavior of Iran, Russia, Venezuela, or Syria, one concludes that they all think they can make favorable readjustments in regional landscapes and power relationships in 2010. Obama’s advisors will try to stop his natural inclinations to apologize, and I think will be successful—given the gathering storm clouds of 2010.

4) We may hear something finally in support of the Iranian dissidents. The ‘reach out to Ahmadinejad’ line has failed. And Iran will probably get the bomb in 2010. Since we will not ratchet up sanctions or impose an embargo, the only hope to stop an theocratic bomb will be regime change—and that may prompt some Obamians to speak out on behalf of the courageous rather than worry whether the murderous will meet with us.

5) We will hear lots of talk about fiscal sobriety next year. Obama realizes that the $2 trillion annual borrowing is unsustainable and warping his foreign policy as well as his own sense of stature. He also knows that “they” who will pay increased income, payroll, health, and state taxes are simply not numerous enough to end the deficits, and may slow down or find ways to reduce income exposure—as the combine tax bite goes over 60%. As a result, we can expect some sort of federal excise tax or stealthy fees, or at least some euphemism for finding more revenue.

It doesn't take a razor sharp observer to notice the stark incongruities and blunder of the Obama administration's first year. Hanson is on to something with his first point. Political correctness is a severe disease of the mind that infects many in power these days. Sadly, one of the more acute symptoms of the vicious, paralyzing, self-imposed affliction is a complete inability to see something for what it actually is. Political correctness is an intellectual paralysis that is sourced by blending fear, resentment, and dishonesty of facts and masquerading the abominable outcome as "sensitivity." Following the massacre at Fort Hood and the failed Christmas day "undie-bomber," maintaining the politically correct delusions about the "War on Terror" as nothing more than a "man made disaster" has become increasingly untenable for the administration. A simple, and honest shift in rhetorical positioning could be a good sign that the newly installed PC apparatchiks at Homeland security are doing their job of taking threats more seriously.

Pursuant to his second point, I was and still am mildly agnostic towards Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security. Let's put aside the fact that she revels in looking androgynous and reminds me of Janet Reno on several levels. Also, other than being a former Democratic governor of a red border state, who backed Obama during the primaries, I am not sure what her homeland security qualifications are, even though she has held the portfolio for nearly a year. However, that observation is way above this exile's pay grade. It has become increasingly evident over the past few days that she has no idea what exactly is going on or how to articulate the priorities of homeland security on the Sunday talk show circuit. Given the administration is already at capacity with rhetorical and incompetent buffoonery, via Joe "The Mouth" Biden," and "tiny" Tim Geithner, I'd agree that Napolitano's day's are numbered.

I take exception to point three. Obama's constant apologizing abroad is inherently part of his international shtick. Does anyone recall that gaudy speech he delivered in Berlin back in the summer of 2008? That says it all. I find his lack of distinctly American resolve to be an appalling and feckless trait, but it was clearly part of the deal when we elected him. As much as I'd love to see a savvier and effective Obama overseas, I don't see how a switch in approach will occur because such a switch would be an admission of having been wrong. Obama strikes me as too proud and egotistical to ever imply he somehow erred. We are talking about the guy who had the gall to accept the Nobel Peace Prize after authorizing an escalation of violence in Afghanistan, and having done absolutely nothing prior to that. It takes a self-centered delusion of grandeur to pull that off with a straight face.

As for Iran, Obama's silence last summer was deafening. Especially while pro-democracy activists were being gunned down in the streets of Tehran. He has positioned himself as being fundamentally unserious about addressing the Iranian threat directly. I think he is concerned that a strong rhetorical stance, may undo some of the positive buzz associated with his Cairo speech. As much as I'd like him to, I don't see him seriously tightening the rhetorical vice on Iran in the near future. There is a lingering neurosis throughout most of the left and the Obama administration that an aggressive stance with America's known enemies and a dedicated pro-human rights posture would too closely resemble President Bush. We couldn't have that now, could we?

Finally, short of the U.S. defaulting on its debt, things can't get much worse from a governmental macro-economic policy perspective. However, fiscal and monetary sobriety will be nowhere in sight during 2010. Between the looming health care bill that bails out big insurance, and talk of a second economic stimulus package, the best we can hope for is containment of the pending damage. Maybe the dems can nationalize the legacy airlines, all government contractors, old print media, and a few construction companies next year. Yes, more middle class tax hikes can be expected. Remember, if you voted for "hope," change is all you are going to have left in your back account.