Another night at SCUBA last night. I was certified back in the mid '70's, but the last time I did any diving was in 1987. I had the accident that broke my back in 1988. I decided to go back to diving again because there was gonna be an adaptive diving trip to Bonaire last year. I had signed up for that, but, due to carelessness on my part, I got some bad skin sores on my butt and had to back out. I got an e-mail notice from the dive shop a few weeks back about a trip to the Keys and, since I did want to get recertified, I called the dive shop about coming back. Last night was my second night back in class.
I aced the quiz for the second module and we went over to the pool to do the water portion. I brought my old weight belt in so we could use it to get my buoyancy straight. They've changed the buoyancy rules since I got certified last. I dove with more weight back then. The weight that we used to get my buoyancy right according to the rules was not enough. I'm still diving with three pounds less than I used to.
OK. I'm in the water. Breathe. Check. Take off mask. Check. Leave mask off for one minute while breathing under water. Check. Put mask back on under water. Check. Clear mask. Check. Swim to bottom of the pool. Check. Do slow ascent. Check. This reminds me of the Stephen Wright routine with the diary of an infant. Day 1: Still tired from the move. Day 2: Everyone's talking to me like I'm an idiot. This is all review for me. But, the instructor is just doing his job. My biggest problem is since I have nothing below the knee, limited leg movement below my waist, and limited hip movement, I have to swim with my hands and I have problems staying parallel to the bottom. Thus, weight placement is the key. I have no problems with all the other skills.
Driving home last night I was listening to Royal Marshall on WSB. Royal is Neal Boortz' (the morning talk show host on WSB) engineer. Boortz allows him to cut in anytime with an opinion or comment. WSB has given Royal his own show on nights and weekends. Besides laughing at the incident at a Bob Barr fundraiser where a gun went off while being handed to Barr by another guy, Royal was taking Cynthia McKinnney to task for not appearing on his show on Monday night, where he has an open invitation for local politicians. He had Denise Majette, Cynthia's opponent in the Democratic primary, on last Monday night. He once again issued an open invitation to Miss Big Mouth. He doubts if she will appear. So do I. Oh no! Not another rant about Cynthia McKinney. Can't ya give it a rest? No!
There is a website, goodbyecynthia.com devoted to defeating her in the Democratic primary. Everything you would ever want to know about Cynthia can be found on that site.
I was at Neal Boortz today and picked up these interesting tidbits.
There's more. During Cynthia's 1996 campaign, her Republican challenger was John Mitnick. He was Jewish. Cynthia's father, Billy McKinney made some anti-Semitic remarks about her opponent. Cynthia had to distance herself from those remarks. Neither she nor her father ever apologized.
Carl sent me the following link. So Aaron calls himself an uppity-negro. He could either have a sense of humor or an attitude. Hell, he could even have both. Scroll down a bit and he analyzes an article in the Chicago Tribune by Salim Muwakkil. I saw that article also and was gonna do some work on it. So let's see what we can see. The artice will be in italics. I will preface Aaron's comments with UN and mine with GOC.
The political spillover of Middle East issues into U.S. politics is threatening the political livelihoods of some members of the Congressional Black Caucus
GOC: Mainly the anti-Semites, who seem to be most of them.
and straining relations between black and Jewish Democrats.
GOC: Ya think?
This is a significant political development because blacks and Jews have been traditional political allies and both have been strong pillars of support for the Democratic Party. What's more, Jews were among the strongest supporters of the civil rights movement and remain prominent in the struggle for racial justice.
GOC: I've mentioned before that Jews went down to the South during the 60's and got their heads bashed in along with the blacks during the civil rights marches. So why do blacks hate the Jews so much?
UN: Warbloggers excepted, of course. Other than Condi Rice, they seem to hate the lot of us with an obsessive passion. They're not racist, of course. They just don't like black people.
GOC: Let's see. He left out Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Clarence Thomas, and many others. And I've read a lot of warbloggers. I'm a warblogger. I have detected no dislike of black people. I have detected no racism. I do dislike many black people, however. I dislike the so called black leaders who tell blacks that they cannot get ahead without government. I dislike the black leaders who want to hold blacks to lower standards. I dislike the black leaders who say the SAT is culturally biased. Here is where it is culturally biased. It is biased against the following cultural rules:
GOC: So Aaron, I do hate some black people. I hate those black leaders who have sold out their own race for their own power and enrichment.
The Congressional Black Caucus has been among the strongest supporters of Israel and the fiercest foes of anti-Semitism.
GOC: Not lately.
UN: Not sure those two should be in the same sentence, since the number of idiots equating any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism seems to be growing daily, but whatever.
GOC: Very good Aaron. I'm not an idiot, but I must point out that most of the most rabid critics of Israel (mainly Muslims and some of our 'intellectuals') just happen to be anti-Semites. I must point out here that anti-Semite has been equated with Jew hating much as African-American has been equated with any black person. Arabs, themselves, are Semites, so how could they be anti-Semites? Well, the Palestinians could, I guess, since they have followed their leaders blindly down the path that has led them to hopelessness and poverty. Over the past 53 years, there have been many opportunities for the Palestinians to live peacefully side by side with the Jews. Unfortunately, the hatred Yassir Arafat and many other Arab leaders feel for the Jews has prevented this. Back to the article.
But increasing cycles of Middle East violence and growing black support for some Palestinian issues have raised tensions between the two constituencies.
UN: There follows some stuff on Hilliard's defeat, none of it new to anyone who's been paying attention in the slightest, then turns to arch-villain Cynthia McKinney and her newly-strained relations with the white folk:
GOC: Arabs supported Hilliard. Jews supported his opponent. Hilliard lost. Another example of World Wide ZionismTM. Aaron, if you lived here in Beautiful Dunwoody, you would know that Cynthia's strained relations with white folks aren't new. They've been strained for quite some time. She just doesn't like white folks. If she were white and I were black, you'd call her a racist.
McKinney, who came to office in 1992 with considerable Jewish support,
GOC: Huh? I missed that. He must be talking about the Jews around Emory University, the Emoroid Jews. I don't think too many Dunwoody Jews voted for her. She hates Jews almost as much as she hates white folks.
since has alienated some members of the Jewish community with her increasing expressions of support for the Palestinians.
GOC: Some members? Howza 'bout most members?
In an April interview on a Berkeley, Calif., radio station, McKinney called for an investigation into whether President Bush might have had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and if some members in his administration had profited from them.
GOC: And in a previous blog, I suggested an investigation as to whether Cynthia had prior knowledge of 9/11 and kept quiet for campaign contributions. She received a big bunch of money from Arabs and Arab groups on 9/11. Also, she has received over 3/4 of her campaign contributions for the current election from Arab organizations and from people with Arab sounding names with most of these contributions coming from outside her district.
While McKinney's behavior has angered some right-wing supporters of Israel,
GOC: Hey Salim! It has angered most people who have any intelligence.
it has energized others with hopes that some legislators can defy the stifling conventional wisdom that has made U.S. foreign policy an embarrassment to the civilized world.
GOC: Listen butthead! We are the most civilized country in the world. We let you assholes practice your religion of peaceTM. We let you publish dumbshit articles like this. And we don't teach our people hatred of other peoples. The Arab culture is a disgrace to the civilized world. How dare a racist dickhead like you lecture us or Israel about civilized behavior. If the roles in the Middle East were reversed you would have killed all the Jews just like the muftis and Ayatollahs of your religion of peaceTM preach every Friday at prayers. You assholes make me want to puke.
A number of Arab progressive groups have signed on to McKinney's
campaign and are doing their best to offset the influence the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee.
GOC: Did I mention that she has received over 3/4 of her campaign contributions from Arab organizations and people with Arab names, most from outside her district? She has also received more from them than Denise Majette has received from AIPAC.
"Pro-Sharon [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon] forces have targeted this African-American Democrat for defeat for her strong stance in favor of both Israel and Palestine," wrote Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, in the publication's recent edition. He said he backed McKinney's candidacy and called her positions on Israel a "reasonable critique."
GOC: Whoa! What kind of shit has this guy been smokin'? Has he been hangin' out with Israel Shamir and Noam Chomsky. I'll admit I'm not familiar with Tikkun and don't have time to google it tonight, but I'll check on it. If any of you reading this already have some info on Tikkun, please enlighten me.
But in these days of suicide bombings,
GOC: By Arabs. Civilized people do not do that.
full-scale occupation
GOC: When Arabs speak of the 'occupation' they are speaking of Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. Remember, the only two Arab countries that recognize Israel are Egypt and Jordan and we pay 'em big bucks to do that. Also, remember, in 1948, Egypt owned Gaza and Jordan owned the West Bank. They lost 'em in a war. Israel won the war. Why should they have to give any of it back? But, Israel offered to give all but 5% of it back. Arafat walked away and started the current wave of terror.
and targeted assassinations,
GOC: Of known terrorists. We'd do the same. We did in Afghanistan. If the PA would arrest 'em and turn 'em over to Israel, they'd give 'em a fair trial and then kill 'em. And Arafat is lucky to be alive. If it weren't for our 'disgrace to civilized nations foreign policy' back when Israel had Arafat cornered in Beirut and we made Israel let him escape, he would be dead. Sharon regrets that. This warblogger does too.
even a reasonable critique can mark a candidate for political death.
GOC: But nothing reasonable ever comes out of Cynthia's mouth. But let's let Aaron back in.
UN: Suppose that comment I made up there could trigger a discussion of whether or not Jews are people of color.
GOC: Jews have never claimed to be people of color, but they have suffered every bit as much as black folks. Besides being universally hated for the last 2000 years, they had this little thing called the Holocaust a few years back. Maybe you heard sumpin' about it. That's why liberal American Jews fought alongside blacks in the 60's for civil rights. And that's why they believe in civil rights for everyone. Unfortunately, most racist progressive black leaders think civil rights laws only apply to blacks. Not to Latinos. Not to Asians. And certainly not to Jews. Don't believe me? Besides Cynthia McKinney we have Jesse 'Hymietown' Jackson, Al 'Crown Heights riots' Sharpton, and Louis 'gutter religion' Farrakhan.
UN: I recommend against it. My contribution to such things is usually laughing myself silly for five minutes straight, regaining my composure, clearing my throat, then laughing myself silly again. Over and over and over. I mean, I'll grant you the Beta Israel, but if we're talking the warblogger crowd, if the motherfuckers were any whiter, they'd be clear.
GOC: So Aaron, all of us motherfucking warbloggers are a bunch of white racists. The only racism I detected here was by you.
And black racism is no better than white racism.
It's still racism.
Posted by denny at August 9, 2002 11:35 AM