dkan71's Comments (26)

“They're in France, so they're likely not going to hire an African-American model, but they could certainly hire any number of black European, Brazilian or African models on the scene right now, including: Jourdan Dunn, Sessilee Lopez, Liya Kebede, Noemie Lenoir or R'el Dade. My point is yes, they *absolutely* could have used a black model, but that black doesn't equal African-American.”

“12 million people out of 300 million, that's 4% of the total population and you're going to lay the blame at their feet. Really?”

“I'm a Democrat living in Phoenix, AZ and I totally got where she was coming from. I think it's a fair assessment of the nightmare that's been going on in the Capitol. I don't fault her for her language one bit.”

“The movie was really quite good. I enjoyed myself immensely. Actually the only thing that was a little off for me, so much as to be distracting was the overly loud and dramatic score in some places. But that's a minor quibble for a really fun movie that promises much more fun to come.”

“That is a very simplistic statement, along the lines of "I don't see color. I just see people." The only people you ever hear saying that are white. Black people are clear we see color and that other people do too. There's nothing inherently wrong with that.

It's the snap judgment that follows that can be problematic. But let's face it, the Afro, dreadlocks, the double strand twists that Malia Obama sometimes wears, "bantu knots" and braids are all very much "black" hairstyles that really only work because of the texture of most black people's natural hair. That's just a fact.

Besides, almost every black woman on this board can probably remember a time when their mother combed her hair into a bunch of different twists or plaits adorned with colorful clips and baubles. Little white girls probably don't share a common cultural memory of getting their heads jerked around during "enhanced detangling" sessions that occasionally involved getting popped in the head with a brush for complaining. lol!

Those memories alone probably account for why so many black women either press or relax their hair as soon as humanly possible.”

“First off, I think the author was out of her depth with this topic. The whole analysis is unoriginal. The repeated use of the term "ethnic hair", awkward. The undercurrent notion that Michelle Obama is somehow afraid to express herself fully, much less her blackness absurd, if not outright insulting.

I suggest the author and several of the commenters on this board take a listen to India Arie's song, "I Am Not My Hair." After having locks for 10 years, I cut my hair off and eventually relaxed it. Now I'm sick of the upkeep and am growing out my hair so I can have one of those funky curly fros now that there are so many cool new products to get the texture and look I want with my natural hair.

I'm sure 5 years after that, I'll want something else. Give people credit - black, white, brown and in between. It's called free will. As India says:

"At the turn of the century
Its time for us to redefine who we be
You can shave it off
Like a South African beauty
Or get in on lock
Like Bob Marley
You can rock it straight
Like Oprah Winfrey
If its not what's on your head
Its what's underneath and say HEY....

I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am not your expectations no no
I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am a soul that lives within"”

“She is a human being, not an appliance. She made the most amazing miracle in the world possible. The way he referred to her was condescending and dehumanizing.

I fully understand that he has no intentions for her to be a part of their lives and that she was "simply" a vessel for their babies and wanted to make that crystal clear. However, he speaks of fatherhood, his children, their family and even this simple trip in a very sacred manner, even though its mostly humorous. He reserved no such dignity of context for this woman in the way he referred to her as an oven.

I'm sure he meant no harm, but it occurred to me as defensive and an unecessarily ungenerous way to characterize her.”

“I think this is a great inspiring story. I do think it's unfortunate that a man who was obviously both polite and curious has been reduced to being a "Giant" and stripped of a degree of his humanity, and that the surrogate has been reduced to being an appliance, " the oven". Think I'm being overly sensitive? Read the majority of the comments and the woman is scarcely mentioned meanwhile people are making condescending comments about the Giant as if he were something on sale at Target. My point is that we don't need to reduce other people's humanity to celebrate our own. A little something gets lost for all of us when we do.”

“LOL re: the song in White Chicks. Everytime I hear that song I think of that silly movie and Terry Crews rocking out to it at the end.”

“Seriously? You're comparing those two movies with Tropic Thunder. In that case, I think Heineken is no where near as good as Patron or Stoli.”

“This is just PC run amok. Let me just say that as a black person, I thought RDJr *killed* in this movie. I was in no way offended and in fact impressed as I laughed my behind off. I literally have not heard one black person who saw this movie say they were offended.

It's sweet that good-hearted white people feel the need to run to our defense and be offended for us (see how condescending and awful that sentence was).

The movie was just plain funny and listening to RDJ do the DVD commentary in his Osiris voice is hysterical. I highly recommend it and I think his nomination is well deserved.”

“Really!? A bit dramatic don't you think. Please explain to me why the fact that Joseph Lowery, who, unlike Obama is pro-gay marriage is irrelevant? I honestly don't get it. On the same day, one minister pro-gay marriage, one president not pro-gay marriage, but down with Civil Unions and one minister against gay marriage and the last guy trumps the first two. I honestly don't get how that math plays out.”

“No. I don't think that he hates you and I don't think he's being vengeful. He has a very different idea on what's right and wrong than you do, but unlike many other anti-gay pastors I don't find his tone hateful or mean. The substance of what he says might make you angry and hurt your feelings, but I don't think that what's in his heart is hate at all. Do you think all the men who were against women getting the right to vote and believed that a woman's place was in the house hated women? No. They just had a strong, they might even say moral basis for an opinion that many people found offensive. I think it it's false cause so they that meant they hated women.”

“I'll trade FU's with you. John McCain received a higher percentage of votes from gay voters than ANY REPUBLICAN in HISTORY. He increased George W. Bush's margin from 19% to 27%.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/obama-outperforms-kerry-among-virtually.html

Except for people over 65, Obama increased his margin among every Kerry group except (White) gays. I haven't heard a single person talking about and reflecting on that. All I hear is righteous indignation, as if the LGBT community got him into office and the guy now owes you something.

The plain facts state that he won despite the White LGBT community. Chew on that before you throw a hissy fit whining about who got thrown under which bus.”

“Barack Obama doesn't need Rick Warren for s.h.it. particularly not anything to do with global warming.

John McCain got a higher percentage of the gay vote than ANY REPUBLICAN in history!!!!

http://www.gaypatriot.net/2008/11/07/mccain-increased-gay-vote-margin-for-gop/

Your hands are not as clean as you'd like to think.”

“Reality check. The only "minority" group that voted for the Republican ticket in 2008 in higher number than it did in 2004 is gays. BHO increased his margin among every other group except the GLBT community and at the first moment of controversy, a surprising number of gays are throwing him straight under the bus.

John McCain got a higher percentage of the gay vote than ANY REPUBLICAN in history!!!!

http://www.gaypatriot.net/2008/11/07/mccain-increased-gay-vote-margin-for-gop/

Your hands are not as clean as you'd like to think.”

“Grow up people. Barack Obama is making picks very consistent with what he campaigned on. He's never been a strict ideologue. He's a pragmatist and he's hiring people who he thinks can get the job done inside the system.

If I had my druthers I would not have chosen Rick Warren and I think it's a poor pick, but clearly Jeremiah Wright wasn't available so he had to go to the bench. However, of all the things to lose one's mind over this is hardly it. I didn't hear people being outraged when BHO did the 1hour sitdown with the same guy during the campaign, why is it such a deal-breaker now? If his entertaining an audience with Warren is a deal-breaker then you shouldn't have voted for him, because he's been there and done that.

Pastor Rick put his behind on the line too by having a confessed gay rights supporter and pro-choice person come sit in HIS Church in front of HIS congregation. This outrage just smacks a little bit of the Bill Ayers guilt by association in reverse.”

“Newsflash: there are Black gay people too. So this "They" that you're talking about is a little narrow-minded. You're well within your rights to be p-o'ed and to stop giving money to Barack Obama and the DNC. It's easy to scapegoat "the (ungrateful) blacks"

while you conveniently ignore the hundreds of thousands of white people, especially old white people who voted yes on 8 - which was a far greater number than Blacks, by the way.

And hey, if your support is based primarily on one issue, I get it, but I think its politically immature to write someone off because they engage with someone who disagrees with them.

That means that no one who's pro-life would get to be in Barack's government or participate and I don't think that's particularly productive or progressive. I used to be a major homophobe until I went to college and started hanging out with gays and lesbians. If they'd been as exclusionary as you're advocating BHO be, my views on GLBT folks may never have changed and I would have missed out on some really great friends and business partners.

I get that you feel betrayed, but consider that inviting Rick Warren to his inauguration doesn't mean that he agrees with him or condones his beliefs, just that he respects the man and can appreciate his basic decency, humanity and contribution beyond the places where they disagree.”

“Amen. It baffles me when people claim he's this horrible sexist, when he's married to this incredible women who he loves and obviously respects as his life partner and best adviser.”

“Wow. you make Omaha sound downright appealing. I was all ready to pack my bags and move until the previous poster let the cat out of the bag about the horrible weather. good writing though, cuz you almost had me.”

“To the contrary. I think Obama has run a remarkably steady, coherent campaign which would likely be how his presidency would go. He practically drove HRC (and many of her supporters) insane. Sybill comes to mind when I think of her campaign style. Ditto John "Maverick, Country First" McCain, who ditched the safe, experienced, steady hand in uncertain times theme in wild reaction to Cool Hand Barack and lost his brand and likely the election in the process.

I understand that you don't want to be accused of drowning in the ever so crowded tank for Obama, but honestly, your argument collapses on itself when a skinny 47 yr old black guy 3 years in the Senate with a funny foreign sounding name "need to do literally nothing to get into the White House."

My friend (if I may paraphrase Johnny Mc), the implications of that simple statement are astonishing. Subtle, yet astonishing, much like Barack Obama's campaign.

Given that "past is prologue", I think one could expect to see that once elected, he would pivot to a new, but not jarring tone and set forth a set of goals and then go after accomplishing them methodically. I think it's also fairly predictable that he'd compromise on something important, for political expediency in a way that lets down some of the true believers. I think we'll see someone not easily swayed by the drama and someone who is thoughtful and rises to the occasion, whatever may come.”

“Mr. Hari, please provide some source or evidence to back up your matter of fact claim that "60% of subprime mortgages went to black voters". That is quite a statement and potentially inflammatory, yet sounds wildly out of proportion given the percentage of black homeowners vs. white and other ethinic groups. It's not a far step from that statement to concluding that poor black people are to blame for the economic mess. I am unwilling for that type of insinuation to go unchecked. I look forward to your response.”

“Mad? Upset? Write your senators/congressperson:

https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov.

Here's a portion of what I wrote, feel free to use it.

I'm writing regarding Secretary Paulson's $700B bailout proposal before it gets rammed down Congress' (really the taxpayers) throat. As far as I can tell it doesn't have any provisions for any real oversight or accountability of his Dept. It appears that once Paulson and company begin taking action it makes the dept. immune from retroactive inquiry. I am concerned that we're heading into this with too much haste by putting a giant bandaid on the wound without identifying and treating the source of the problem.

We may not have long to come up with the right plan, but another rush to judgment with hasty solutions from the people that brought us the Iraq War leaves me ill at ease. The American taxpayer deserves to get a fair return on their sizable investment into these huge companies we're rescuing.

Continuing the credit dependent, consumer debt driven service economy does not seem like a plan for long term economic health. We need real resolve and leadership and we'll need adults at the helm with the vision to stand for and steward a brand new (green?) American economic revolution. The transition will no doubt be difficult, but please know you have the support of your constituents, so stand strong and do the right thing. We've got your back.”

“Yes. To answer your question, this is the italics blog.”

“ewwww!”