THE DAILY BLADE: Putting The Cart Before The Horse
Officials for the Long Island district say they think the school is the country's first to be named after the first black president-elect, although similar efforts to rename schools, parks and streets are under way elsewhere. …
Most of the 466 Hempstead pupils are black or Hispanic, and Obama's election was a big source of pride, principal Jean Bligen said Friday. …
Built in the 1920s, the Ludlum Elementary School was named after Dr. Charles Ludlum, a local physician who served on the school board for about 40 years.
Barack Hussein Obama* will not become president until Inauguration Day (when he takes the oath of office, a pesky Constitutional technicality). Ludlum - a Republican, BTW - brought children into the world and saved life and limb as a successful physician in general practice. In comparison, Obama has done little as a Senator – most of his term having been consumed with his presidential campaign – and has done nothing yet as president, because he’s sort of a “president in waiting” for another eight weeks. But with the help of political strategist David Axelrod and campaign manager David Plouffe Obama accomplished getting more votes than John McCain, and with the help of his parents he accomplished being biracial (he's not black, a pesky DNA technicality). Good enough for the Hempstead school board, which extended an honor that should be earned.
* It’s OK to use his middle name now; The New York Times says so.
Now If We Can Only Bar Carter From Re-Entering The U.S.
Perennial busybody and scold Jimmy Carter was barred from entering Zimbabwe on a humanitarian mission by president Robert Mugabe, reports The New York Times. Former president Carter, who was travelling with former U.N. secretary general Kofi Anan and Graca Machel (Nelson Mandela’s wife), had been told weeks ago by Zimbabwe's ambassador in Washington that he would not be issued a visa, but The Elders - a group founded by Mandela that focuses on global issues and sponsored the trip - was certain they would be given visas when they landed at the airport. Mugabe’s government considers all three to be “hostile to Zimbabwe.”
According to The Times, the purpose of the trip was “to talk to ordinary Zimbabweans about deteriorating conditions in their country that have spawned hunger, a widening cholera epidemic and the closing of schools and hospitals.” None of the three would have fed anyone, cured anyone or kept a school or hospital from closing. It was an utterly pointless trip. Since the trio would have helped nobody one iota by being allowed to enter Zimbabwe, nobody was further harmed by Mugabe sending them packing. Unless you count the ego-deflation suffered by Carter, Anan and Machel.
Uncle Sam Wants Celebs On Their Best Behavior In Afghanistan
The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Army is recruiting World Wrestling Entertainment Divas, National Football League cheerleaders and players, Major League Baseball players, NASCAR drivers and professional rodeo participants to form 10 touring groups that will crisscross Afghanistan for 10-day periods entertaining the troops:
[A] Nov. 14 solicitation by the U.S. Army Europe … seeks ‘professional and reputable tour promoters to provide the type of entertainment services required.’ …
Outside the bases where they will perform, the entertainers will face the same constraints the troops live with. For example, as a nod to cultural sensibilities in Afghanistan … the entertainers are being asked to observe dress codes that will not offend the local population.
So it is that the divas and cheerleaders whose work outfits are designed to expose maximum flesh … are told: "During all non-performance times, the body shall be fully clothed. Shoulders shall be covered. Hips, buttocks and upper legs shall be covered to the top of the knee." …
"An acknowledged deity will not be referred to in a manner that would offend a follower of any religious faith.
"Profanity, vulgarity, or connotations of sexual depravity and perversion will not be used. …
Of course, no alcohol can be consumed or even be present during a performance, nor can anyone smoke while onstage or at events afterward. Drugs are prohibited, and tour members are told that the U.S. government "shall not be responsible" if anyone is caught, fined or jailed by a host nation.
Given “fleeting” obscenities (video), wardrobe malfunctions and celebs sans culottes or in a drugged or drunken stupor (video; includes obscenity and purported drug use), parents would love such a “code of conduct” to be imposed on entertainers here in the U.S. But the liberal media-entertainment complex is willing to bend over backwards to accommodate Muslim sensibilities, while making equally strenuous efforts to flout Christian sensibilities. Offending Muslims will get your throat slit; offending Christians will get you an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar or Pulitzer.
Bronx Boy
Singer Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and husband, Pete Wentz, have named their newborn son Bronx Mowgli Wentz, reports The New York Times:
It could not be determined what, if any, connection Ms. Simpson-Wentz and Mr. Wentz had to the borough and why they decided on the name. Bronx’s middle name, Mowgli, is the name of the boy character in “The Jungle Book,” the collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling that became a Disney movie.
The borough is a late entrant in the celebrity offspring name game. David Beckham, the soccer star, and his wife, Victoria, have a 9-year-old boy named Brooklyn. Donna Summer’s daughter is Brooklyn Sudano. …
The borough of The Bronx is located in Bronx county, so baby Wentz is technically named for the county, Bronx borough historian Lloyd Ultan tells the paper, adding: “How many people have the first name Bronx? How many people have the first name The?”
Um, The Stiletto’s first name is The, so there’s at least one …
In Memoriam
Betty James, c. 1918-November 20, 2008
By the "one drop" rule, Obama is black. The rules on which water fountain you could drink out of were not as systemized as were South Africa's. As little as I respect Obama the man, and assuming the children's request to rename their school was really their own, I see this as the school telling the children their opinion counts. I have a very jaundiced view of public schools and how little I think they respect the kids. This act by their school board is a pleasant surprise to me. Me, I would go with the doctor, but- hey- they're young yet.
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The Stiletto's family history in this country is limited to her age plus one year, so she doesn't know from the "one drop rule" - and she herself would be considered "colored" in the US and UK at one time. All that is just discredited societal constructs (AKA racism). But DNA is doesn't lie and Obama is genetically 50 percent white and 50 percent black. Many people in the U.S. (including members of The Stiletto's family) are biracial - and every government form from public school applications to census questionnaires makes them identify themseves as being one race or the other. We need to figure out how to allow them to be more than one race, so in The Stiletto's opinion Obama's election as a biracial American is more of a breakthrough than if he had been 100 percent black.
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