Major disgrace

I'm still kind of floored by the recent decision to acquit the Oregon protesters who seized federal property for 41 days and videoed themselves doing it. The contrast between how they were treated and how unarmed African Americans--especially young men--are treated couldn't be more striking.

As more than one person has pointed out, holy white privilege, Batman!

I imagine that if a similar armed uprising was staged by African Americans, there wouldn't have been a trial because they would all have been killed. Period.

This is the kind of legal decision that damages the credibility and legitimacy of the whole system. To the extent it had any to start with.

Making it plain

The topic of white privilege is one that quite a few people seem to have trouble understanding. Maybe this cartoon will help a little.

Not to worry

NPR had a feature on the website today about the importance of not stressing out about things.

According to some of our good friends on the far right, here are a few more things not to worry about:

*Unemployment. John Boehner says unemployed people are just lazy.

*Racism. Bill O'Reilly said last month that white privilege doesn't exist. A rich white guy would know, right? and...

*Climate change. The American Spectator says it's "A false alert."

And here's a bonus item: a WV radio personality says poverty isn't really a problem because lots of people have cars, video games and air conditioning.

Now all that is a relief. I feel better already.

Trouble in the heartland

One of my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs, which I nominated here as an alternative state song for West Virginia, opens with the lines "Lights out tonight/trouble in the heartland." Here's another look at the trouble in the coalfield part of the heartland by way of WV Public Broadcasting and the Washington Post. Sad to say, I think they got it right.

BILL O'REILLY SAYS THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS WHITE PRIVILEGE. Charles Blow schools him here.

RANDOM LINK OF THE DAY. Here's a look at Freemasonry today by way of NPR.

Sad but true

A friend of mine just send me this link from the NY Times about declining membership in volunteer fire departments (VFDs)  around the country. If you live in a big city you may not realize this, but in a huge chunk of the country if things catch on fire or a disaster of any kind happens, volunteer fire fighters will be the ones to deal with it.

The Spousal Unit and I had a short but happy career in our volunteer fire department and the Times piece rings all too true. Running a VFD takes a lot of money and there is constant pressure to raise money. In our case, that meant weekly bingo games, regular boot drives, and grant writing. All that can pile up on an already strained pool of volunteers.

The decline of VFDs shows two sad features of contemporary American life: the decline of social capital and the nation's unwillingness to invest sufficiently in public goods.

WHAT'S NEXT, WV?  If coal jobs keep declining, what is going to take their place?

A WORD ABOUT WHITE PRIVILEGE here.

THERE ARE TONS OF STEREOTYPES ABOUT WEST VIRGINIANS. Some of them, however, may not be too far amiss.