Tuesday, November 21: I need to share a secret. I get a kind of perverse pleasure from receiving e-mails in which people tell me how or what I ought to think, write, or blog because of the color of my skin. The pleasure comes from knowing I’ll continue thinking, writing, and blogging as I damn well please. In fact, such e-mail fuels my determination even more.
Although the intent of such e-mail is to upset me, the unintended consequence (for the sender) is that stereotypes I hold for certain people prove true over and over. Some people don’t have or won’t use critical thinking skills, not even if doing so would save their lives. Reading comprehension skills and common sense would be helpful as well.
As for me, I intend to make the most of this new medium and whatever writing abilities and intellect God gave me. For reasons I’m not fully aware of, I don’t think the way many people of my race do. While we have a shared history in this country and a subculture to which I belong, I just don’t see the world the way they do, and that sets me apart. Some are intrigued by it; others are disgusted.
Either way, I’m here to stay.
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Republican senator Trent Lott (pictured, groveling on Black Entertainment Television) has returned to leadership, to the dismay of many conservatives.
Lott’s “racially insensitive” toast to the late Senator Strom Thurmond four years ago was the talk of the town, and it cost him his leadership post. White Democrats have said much worse, but black liberals don’t seem to notice or care.
Look, I couldn’t care less who leads what, but I wrote “Welcome Back, Trent Lott!” to point out the double standards in play. (The bold text must be a quirk in the publishing system.)
While you’re at Townhall, check out Star Parker’s “A voter ‘to do’ list” and Kevin McCullough’s “Why is Obama’s Evil in Rick Warren’s Pulpit?”
It’s all a game, anyway, and makes no difference in the long run, but I simply can’t let certain things go by without saying something. 
{ 24 comments }
#$@&%$! Trent Lott! Welcome back LaShawn Barber
McCulloch’s complete lack of charity in discussing Obama speaks volumes more about the state of his own soul than of Obama’s. I know good men who hold views similar to those of Obama. I disagree with them very strongly, but I know they disagree in good conscience. McCulloch’s paranoid ranting about the supposed homosexual agenda to destroy traditional marriage is laughably pathetic. I have yet to meet a run-of-the-mill gay man who cared at all what happened to heterosexual marriage. Painting homosexuals who want to marry as our enemy rather than as our misled brethren (recall that many in the church also support gay marriage) will lead to nothing but a stronger reaction against God. The price will not be paid in McCulloch’s income, but in souls turned off to the Gospel by his vile rhetoric.
Perhaps McCulloch should again read that he is to share the hope that he has “with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15), and remind himself that Jesus attacked hypocrites, not the honestly mistaken. Those who are merely misled are to be corrected lovingly, not viciously attacked as endorsing the views of “Satan.”
Although I dislike government involvement in marriage, I recognize that it is probably an important enough part of healthy human society to justify government endorsement. I am very aggressively pro-life. But I have yet to open a mind by screaming at someone and accusing them of working with the devil.
La Shawn:
Years ago my son used to humor my mother-in -law, who had Alzheimers (likely Strom Thurmond also had memory loss).
He humored her by carrying on a conversation as if he was her native Poland on the farm. Her eyes lit up and she chatted away – as if she was there.
I believe that Trent Lott was doing the same with Thurmond. Likely he was carrying on as if it was “the good old days”.
In summary, Lott’s sin was that he humored an old man.
I wondered then and continue to wonder if that was not the first shot in taking back both houses of Congress by the Dems! Trent Lott was definitely a more effective leader than was Dr. Frist, who, as far as I am concerned, was an unmitigated DISASTER.
The problem with Lott is that he is a defender of the status quo with regards to Pork.
Thank you, La Shawn, for pointing to Star Parker’s “Voter to-do list”. Very good insights, and her call for smaller government is music to my ears. Bloat don’t float my boat.
As for the GOP, they think it’s the same-ole, same-ole. For that they need to be brought to account by the base. Otherwise, we can kiss ‘08 goodbye.
Maybe instead of the DNC being ripped apart by the nutroots and a new & 3rd ‘independent’ party arising from the ashes thereof, it should be the GOP. If Trent, Boehner & Blunt continue on as before, then bring it on.
As for Rick Warren’s Saddlebrokeback On The Mount, he’s the epitome of all that is wrong, evil even, with this obsession on megachurches and ‘growth’. As if ‘feelgoodism’ is the currency and growth in terms of bank deposits, assets & headcount were some business stock formula instead of the only currency that God cares about being the blood of Jesus and growth measured in discipleship and spreading the Gospel.
I saw his TV special a while back regarding the AIDS/HIV campaign in Africa. And I wasn’t impressed. It looked more like a meglomanic tour than a mission of mercy. I didn’t hear anything of the “ABC” rather a bunch of mealy-mouthed platitudes laced with Western Civilization-/White-Guilt. McCullough nailed it on the head, vis-a-vis Obama:
Naturally, Liberal Christians will point to Jesus fellowshipping with tax-collectors, whores and other sinners. But they will have failed to grasp the difference between emphathizing with the lost and perchance allowing God to work thru them versus giving the ‘lost’ a platform for their poison with the appearance of tacit support.
Rick may think that it is only enough to stress that they only share a common goal in eradicating AIDS/HIV, but Satan will ensure that distiction is blurred upon the political altar. You can be sure that although Jesus has promised that whenever 2 or 3 are gathered together in His name, He would be in the midst, on this occasion, I believe Jesus will take a raincheck. In effect, Rick has whored the pulpit for access to a ‘rising star’ in the DNC.
Amen Andy!!
I have always thought that “The Purpose Driven Life” was bunk, simply by the sheer number of people who swore by it.
Faith in Christ is hard. Jesus always would preach a hard message when the crowds got too big.
I think John MacArthur’s “Hard to Believe” is a far more accurate telling of the the Christian life than Warren’s 1000 mile wide, 1 inch deep book.
Yup. I know about the results of the Rick Warren philosophy first hand. Four years ago, our EX pastor came from Argentina touting Rick Warren’s book,one of the resources for his sermons. You hardly ever heard the word “sin” come out of his mouth and forget about altar calls. During his term he did not see anything wrong with having grey areas in his life. He resigned a couple of weeks ago after much pressure from some members of our church, with help from the association. He took almost half of the congregation with him.
You filed this under comedy so I got it.
I was worried when you said, Welcome back, Trent.
Sticks and stones mean what ? Nonsense.
I was really disturbed by Michael Richards and his Overuse of the N-word. THAT may be racist.
In politics, the rhetoric may get extreme. I don’t give free passes to racists but I think we all have nostalgia for days long past.
I am rambling …
I read the article by Kevin McCullough and if what Mr. McCullough says is true about Obama’s position on abortion, I cannot understand how Rick Warren can invite Obama to the pulpit, despite their shared zeal for helping people in AIDS afflicted countries. But, beyond that, it greatly concerns me that Obama may have a real shot at the Presidency in ‘08. ‘
How can anyone who is so concerned about saving the lives of people afflicted with AIDS sanction taking the lives of innocent unborn babies? A humanitarian one minute and a death advocate the next. Chilling.
I note with sadness your use of profanity in the Trent Lott piece.
Your own policy states:
3) No profanity or quasi-profanity, such as the vulgar reference to urination, pi**. I hate that word.
LaShawn Barber: Christian and blogger. The blogger part, at least, remains credible.
I usually don’t indulge comments like this, but what the heck are you talking about? You know, making an assertion can be satisfying, but without context or examples for the benefit of others, it’s akin to masturbation. That is sad. – Admin
“1000 mile wide, 1 inch deep…” I like that Kevin.
I note with sadness your use of profanity in the Trent Lott piece.
So what? She said damn once. Big deal.
I have read many of LaShawn’s posts, and she is a passionaite defender of biblical Christianity and I greatly respect her for it.
I guess for the narrow-minded legalist, uttering one “curse” word excludes one from being Christian.
Do you realize that Martin Luther used the word $hit all the time to compare the state of the human soul with?
Hey Andy.
Thanks. But I can’t take credit for it. I heard it from a real throwback preacher by the name of Paul Washer. He says the state of the theology in America today is 1000 miles wide and one inch deep, and I wholeheartedly agree. Rick Warren’s fluff books of Purpose Driven crap typify that wide road and shallow philosophy.
La Shawn, back to your masterpiece on Trent Lott. Like you, I care not one whit about what he said regarding Strom. But I do care that he is a RINO masquerading as a conservative.
When one of our elected ‘princes’ has the gumption to say he is sick and tired of hearing from We The People about pork and other abuses of rank & privilege, then it is high time that he realizes that we are sick and tired of him!!!
And thanks to him, we can add another fundamental pillar, in addition to repealing the 17th Amendment and Term Limits, to our so-called New Contract With America — NO MORE SECRET VOTING; In every affair of government business, both elected and appointed officials shall make their decisions public!!! Kinda like making earmarks and other pork schemes transparent.
I hear Newt has put up a new Contract With America on his website. I haven’t looked at it yet, but I’m inclined to say, “Thank Newt, but no thanks. We The People can come up with better!”
Think about it. This country was NOT founded by political parties, it was founded by community leaders and activists who came together to hammer out a Declaration of Independence, a Constituition and a Bill of Rights, to include sundry supporting documents and pamphlets, such as the Federalist Papers.
Why on earth would we need power-hungry and tainted congress critters to help clean up and revitalize politics? I submit that the blogosphere can do better than any 500 odd buffoons up there in DC.
Last week, I had mentioned in one of your posts that there ought to be a netroots based effort to produce such a CWA as a standard by which all candidates would be judged by vis a vis conservative/constitutionalist principles. Well, it looks like Capt’n Ed was thinking along the same lines and is planning to transform his Not One Dime More domain into such an effort.
Based on his success as a blogger, I think he’ll do a bang-up job in helping to put something together that we can all get behind.
Anyhoo, thanks for letting me vent on that scumbag Lott.
Kevin, I also heard that Jesus used a lot of words (cursing the fig tree — tho I have no idea what or how what he said would be translated into English) and deeds (opening a can of Whup-a$$
on sellers and speculators in the temple) that so profaned and offended the religious elites of the day.
All to often, people conflate curses with profanity. As a consequence, profanity has become subjective to the ear of the audience. To wit, your adage about Martin. In German, the word doesn’t quite carry the same shock value as it does here, unless a German is being compared to it. To me, the profanity to be avoided at all cost is that which profanes God. But there are times when so-called ‘profanity’ can serve as an effective ‘rod of instruction’ rather than a mere vehicle for offending.
That said, a curse is a real thing and can be very powerful. A curse can be used or abused — just like its opposite, the blessing. Like the old saying, be careful what you wish for’ would also apply to ‘being careful for what/who you curse’. Just ask Issac, Balaam, Elisha, Peter or Paul.
Some day I hope to meet you La Shawn, and tell you about how I don’t fit into “whatever” stereotype that people think I should be. As I’ve been pursuing some stuff, people around me have assumed I’m a certain way (partly cuz I’m female), and it’s not easy to take, but it’s also made me work a lot harder and better than if they’d not had those perceptions or put barriers up. I’m definitely excelling because I’m out to prove to them that I am talented.
You’re one of my favorite long-time readers and commenters, MJ.
Wow–thanks–yeah, I guess I’ve been here for a while–through all types of offline challenges
Lott’s “racially insensitive†toast to the late Senator Strom Thurmond four years ago was the talk of the town, and it cost him his leadership post. White Democrats have said much worse, but black liberals don’t seem to notice or care.
I am one of those who is dismayed by Trent Lott’s “re-elevation” to a leadership position in the Republican party.
It would be one thing if this represented a new determination by Republicans to confront the MSM and their Democratic pets on racial issues. That would be welcome, even if it resulted in an all-out bench-clearing brawl among the Washington elites. It would be real debate over real issues – a debate I believe conservatives would win handily. And the sight of Republicans with a backbone would be edifying.
Alas, I believe it represents another example of the Republicans’ decades-old strategy of cringing under the slightest pressure. First they force ol’ Trent out for the most minor of verbal offenses, and then – when they are facing a long stint in the minority – they mysteriously bring him back.
There is only one reason for making Trent Lott a Republican leader now – he is skilled in pulling the levers of government largess, and Republicans want whatever crumbs fall their way. Forget regaining the majority in 2008 – Republicans will probably see their ranks depleted even more, no matter how bad Democrats screw up.
This is the hard reality in Washington now: Those who have no solutions (on racial issues, welfare, Social Security, illegal immigration, Iraq, etc.) are called Democrats. Those who have no solutions (on racial issues, welfare, Social Security, illegal immigration, Iraq, etc.) and no MSM to protect them are called Republicans.
It is bad enough that Republicans will not stand up to the race-baiters in the Democratic Party. But to bring back an old punching bag that Republicans hit just as hard as Democrats did and suddenly decide he is leadership material – well, the GOP is not called the Stupid Party for nothing.
Mwalimu, I think you pegged it as far as the majority of GOP Princes are concerned.
If you want happy Christianity with no sin tune into Joel Olsteen.
If you want fire and brimstone tune into John Hagee.
I love it.
I’m guardedly optimistic about Trent Lott’s return. In fact, I date the end of the Conservative agenda in Washington to his replacement as Majority Leader by Bill Frist. For his part, Frist coveted Lott’s leadership position as a springboard to an eventual Presidential campaign, and tirelessly sought to buy alliegance among Republican senators with campagin finance largesse. Meanwhile, Trent Lott was too preoccupied with the People’s business to notice Frist’s emerging challenge — until it was too late. When Lott was faced with a minor media storm over Strom Thurmond, Frist used his newly bought political influence in the Republican caucus to throw him under the bus in order to become Majority Leader. I’m hoping Lott’s re-emergence is a sign that Republicans intend to return to the conservative agenda that earned them 12 years of Congressional majority status.
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