The United White States of America

The Associated Press is currently running this article. The New York Times picked it up today; I am sure others are to follow. Apparently, gun sales are up, as well are threats against those who support Barack Obama.

Seems as if Whitey, and by Whitey I am lumping myself into that group, is nervous about a black man being president. Or president-elect.

The last decade or so, lots of commentary has revolved around whether or not racism, true racism exists in the good ol' USA. No, we are too far removed from the days of slavery, some would argue. People of color are completely at ease in the US. 

The problem with this is that the "people of color," Blacks and Hispanics were saying that no, this is not the case. But we, meaning whitey, and maybe some well intentioned minorities were saying that these comments were coming from disgruntled people who were at fault themselves for becoming disenfranchised from the US.

Someone ran down our street, pulling up the Obama/Biden signs, wadding them up, then throwing them in the drainage ditch in my yard. I straightened them back out and set them back where they came. When my neighbors McCain/Palin sign fell over, I went over and set it up.

Folks, this is not the United White States of America. 

This is not the United Christian States of America. Nor is it the United Christian White States of America. This is not an autocracy (well, it is obviously) of old, white, rich men. The country was not supposed to be an autocracy of old, white, rich, men. Religion was not supposed to the basis of our government. Nor was gender. Nor was race. The only true stipulations were that a president has to be born in the USA, and has to be 40 years old.

The people voted, and Barack won. Therefore, let his victory stand and stand behind the President. 

After all, God wanted him to win. Right?

Iran and the Debates

I hope everyone has been watching the debates. They are informative in their content, and, conversely, informative in what they do not contain. Listen for comments about China and India. Are there any ???

Let me be clear, I am not going to use this venue to support either party. I do want to point something out in this venue, though.

The President of Iran is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Not to diminish his power or his authority, but the reality of Iran is that M. Ahmadinejad is not the real power in Iran. The real power in Iran sits with the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

The Supreme Leader of Iran is in control of the military, not the President. When we hear President, we think, generally, that the person in the role of President has the same powers as the US President. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not a dictator - he is up for re-election next summer. He cannot launch an attack against Israel, as command of the military is outside his powers.

Many countries have a President and a Prime Minister. The President takes care of domestic affairs. The Prime Minister handles international affairs. Sometimes, the role of President may be termed, "Chancellor," such as the case of Great Britain. In the USA, we combine both the domestic duties and international duties into one position, the President.

Becoming more informed about the world is what this blog is about. When we learn, we are then able to see that things may not always be what they seem. Perhaps, we become more curious and ask more questions. That is part of becoming educated - being able to ask better questions, or question the answers.

I encourage everyone to explore debate comments.

Can you really see Russia from Alaska?

Can you really see Russia from Alaska? - By Nina Shen Rastogi - Slate Magazine

Thanks, Nina, for a great geography article!

At the beginning of each semester, I have students do an exercise, to help them refresh their knowledge of the world. Name the continents, name five most populous countries, name the five largest countries - that sort of thing.

One question that I like to ask is the distance between the United States and Russia. As one might expect, answers tend to be in the thousands of miles-range. The majority of students are surprised to discover that the distance is about the same as the distance between the east-west limits of the municiple boundaries of the town in which my university is located. And then I tell them that on a clear day you can stand on US soil and see Russian soil. And then we talk about Seward's Folly, which is why we have Alaska to begin with. At some point during the Cold War, a woman swam the distance between the islands of Big Diomede and Little Diomede. She had to get Khruschev's permission to set foot on the shores of Big Diomede.

What would life be like if we returned our purchase and got our money back ...