Ray's Hell Burger

by Pa Rock
Cultural Commentator

Ray's Hell Burger, a small food establishment at a strip mall in Arlington, VA, hit the big time today. As the lunch crowd was lining up for one of Ray's signature burgers what should come driving up but a motorcade with the President and Vice President of the United States, a contingent of Secret Service agents, and most of the White House press corps. It was a big deal, a very big deal indeed, for a small burger joint trying to eek out a profit in a rotten economy. This morning a struggling business - tonight a landmark!

There was some conflict among the reporters over what the Prez ordered, with some reporters saying that he had a "basic cheeseburger, medium well" and others insisting that that his request was for a "Swiss mushroom burger." There was no confusion over the sauce, however, with all parties hearing "spicy mustard, if you have it." The Veep had a Swiss cheeseburger with jalapeno peppers. After paying for his meal, the President was seen placing a five dollar bill in the tip jar.

The President also treated the reporters to lunch. Most of the members of the fourth estate were quick to say that they would contribute an amount equal to the value of their meal to charity. They apparently did not want it to be said that they could be bought for the price of a burger and fries!

I like the Obamas. A couple of nights ago Barack took Michelle out to a restaurant in Washington for a date night. It's beginning to look like the White House has suddenly been inhabited by real people! I hope that they are able to maintain that free and easy attitude and lifestyle while living in the world's most closely watched fish bowl.

The O'Bama's

by Pa Rock
Proud Citizen

Have I prattled on lately about how happy and proud I am to have real people living in the White House? The Obama's are absolutely refreshing! Barack will be going on Sixty Minutes and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno next week. He is accessible. He takes questions, hard questions, and answers intelligently but in a way that is understandable to mere mortals.

And Michelle! What can I say about Michelle? Last week she went to Ft. Bragg - the biggest, baddest Army base in the United States. She was accessible, talking to groups on base and organizations out in the community. Ft. Bragg! She has also visited most of the major departments of the U.S. Government. She's a mom, a wife, a political partner, an ad hoc ambassador, and a hottie!

Today Michelle had the White House fountains dyed green, and tonight the O'Bama's are holding a St. Paddy's fete at the White House in honor of our Irish forebears.

It has been so long since I have been proud of the inhabitants of our Nation's House - and it is such a great feeling!

Jimmy and Me

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

This evening is the kickoff of the President's Day weekend, and what better way to spend it than hobnobbing with one of our five living U.S. Presidents. Jimmy Carter, my absolute favorite ex-President, was at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, signing copies of his latest book, We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land. I ordered two copies by phone early in the week, one for each of my grandsons, and showed up at the appointed time tonight to have them signed.

I had visions of waiting in line with a hundred or so other people and being able to chat with President Carter while he leisurely signed books for Boone Macy and Sebastian Files, both personalized, of course. I fully intended to tell him how much I appreciated all that he has done for the poor, at home and abroad, and to thank him for continually showing America's better face to the rest of the world.

The reality of the evening was two lines of people packed two-and-three abreast stretching for blocks in two directions. I had to work my way, very slowly, through the left line to pick up my vouchers (book tickets), and then get in the right line where I worked my way, very slowly, to the front door of the bookstore. Once inside the store I had to show the vouchers three times as the line snaked up to the place where President Carter was indeed signing copies of his book. We were herded past the President, who looked up and smiled between books as he automatically scribbled his name. Our line was about three feet in front of Jimmy Carter. We were warned not to take pictures as we walked past, but I, of course, did anyway. Then we were handed our books from a pile that he had already signed. Those with cameras were then shunted off to the side where they could try to get a picture by shooting through the line that was walking past.

It was a book-signing factory.

The highlight of the evening was getting to see President Carter. He is eighteen days older than my father, and looks almost as frail. Rosalyn was not in evidence, which surprised me because you never see one without the other. The President was as personable as he could be, given the circumstances - smiling and making eye contact between books.

But the evening had other highlights as well, and I managed to enjoy it all. First off, I got lost on the way over to Tempe and wound up pulling into a Circle K to buy a soda and get directions. A lady panhandler hit me up for spare change as I was going in, telling me that her three children had no food. I promised her that I would catch her on the way out - and I did - giving her three bananas that I purchased inside.

Security at the event was interesting. There was a squad of local police on the other side of McClintock Drive - a busy thoroughfare. At least one policeman was on top of the bookstore and occasionally peeked over, much to the entertainment of the crowd. Several police and Secret Service were inside of the bookstore, but President Carter appeared to be fairly vulnerable despite all of the "protection." Everyone was pulling cameras out of their pockets and purses and snapping pictures. Security was nowhere nearly as tight as it is at Skyharbor Airport.

I stood in line next to a young man from England (the town where Wedgewood Pottery is made). He had come to the University of Arizona twelve years ago on a scholarship, and stayed after graduating to work in the computer industry. He hadn't pre-purchased a copy of the book, and learned, after being in line for an hour, that the bookstore had sold out of the Carter books.

There was a troupe of entertainers working the lines: a man on stilts, face-painters, and a balloon artist. A wonderful Black lady and her second grade daughter were in line behind me. The balloon artist made a sceptre of balloons for the little girl, which got me to calling her "princess." It was a liberal group, and we quickly got around to discussing Obama. I asked the lady if she had seen Obama in Phoenix last February, and she responded that she had not, but she had been to the Inauguration. Then she pulled out her Blackberry and showed everyone nearby a photo of her and her daughter with a very relaxed Obama. She had been at a hotel where he was vacationing while he was in the Senate. She had asked Michelle Obama to take the picture - and described her as being very courteous.

Another diversion was a group of war protesters holding signs and singing out next to the boulevard. One lady brought her sign up to the line and began talking to us about the war. A police woman on a bicycle came up and told her that protestors with signs had to stand out by the road. Several people were working the lines handing out pamphlets for various causes.

It was a fun evening, with more than a passing feel of the sixties!

My history with Presidents: I saw Tricky Dick Nixon and Pat in Springfield, MO, while I was in college. That was before he became President. I also saw Reagan on two occasions before he became President, as well as Obama one time prior to his election. I saw George H.W. Bush at a Fourth of July parade in Marshfield, MO, while he was President.

And...Barack Obama will be in Phoenix next Wednesday selling the stimulus, but specifics for that visit have not been announced as of yet. Watch for me on the evening news!

To cap off a nice evening, I pulled through El Pollo Loco on the way home and bought a box of the world's best chicken! All in all, it was a very good evening.

The Name Game

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

I can remember a time when it was a popular concept to name babies after prominent Americans, particularly historical figures. Thomas Jefferson Jones, Benjamin Franklin Brown, and George Washington Smith were all common occurrences. I went to school with a Dwight, and even knew a Lyndon. But, for the most part, babies today are more apt to be named after athletes, movie stars, and soap opera characters.

It now looks as though there is a boomlet emerging for naming babies after our new President-elect, especially in Africa. The day after the election last week, six of ten baby boys born in Sierra Leone's main maternity hospital were named Barack Obama. From election day until this past Saturday, forty-three children born at the Nyanza Provincial Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya, were named after the Obamas: the twenty-three boys were named Barack Obama, and the twenty girls are now known as Michelle Obama. Another news report stated that in the past few days Barack, Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and Obama have become very popular first and middle names for babies across the United States.

Everyone seems to be anxious to hang an Obama tag on their babies. Sheikh Abdullah, the leader of 8,000 Bedouin tribesmen in the Galilee section of northern Israel, has disclosed that he believes his entire tribe is loosely related to our next President. He said that Africans came to work in Palestine during the early part of this century, and that one of those men was a relative of Obama's grandmother who left some of his genetics behind. The Shiekh says that several men in his tribe look remarkably like Obama. Two baby boys born to the tribe this week have been named Barack Obama.

So there are legions of babies around the world being named after the Obamas. That's a good thing. It's a tribute to our next President and to the good people of America. We have elected a leader who is seen as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, a man of peace who isn't afraid to take a world view of the future. May he be worthy of all of those children who will bear his name.

Renegade and Renaissance Visit the White House

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Barack Obama took his daughters to school in Chicago this morning, mugged briefly for the cameras, and then hopped on a plane with his beautiful wife and headed to Washington DC. The Obamas paid a call on the Bushs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in our nation's capital.

There were some great photos of the out-going and in-coming White House residents on the Internet and television news today. The Presidents, current and future, along with their wives, standing in front of one of the many entrances to the Executive Mansion, Bush and Obama sitting in the Oval Office having a private chat, and both men walking along the White House portico. The two men could hardly be more different (in their backgrounds, intelligence levels, abilities, and, of course, skin tones), but they appeared very relaxed and engaged in visiting with one another. President Bush, to his credit, has been very outspoken about wanting a smooth transition - while most of the country would be thrilled if it could just be a speedy transition!

Today the Secret Service released its code names for the Obama family. (I guess they aren't supposed to be secret, so I wonder why they even assign code names to Presidential families.) Barack Obama in Secret Service speak will be referred to as "Renegade." The three ladies in his life have also been assigned code names beginning with the letter "R." Michelle is "Renaissance," Malia is "Radiance," and little Sasha is "Rosebud."

The Secret Service seems to have developed a habit of naming White House families with the same first letter. Richard Nixon was "Searchlight," and his wife, Pat, was "Starlight." Bill Clinton was (probably still is) "Eagle," Hillary was "Evergreen," and Chelsea was "Energy." Jimmy Carter was "Deacon" and sometimes "Dasher," Rosalyn was "Dancer," and daughter Amy was known as "Dynamo."

And even the Vice-Presidential families have code names. Joe Biden is now referred to by the Secret Service as "Celtic," and Jill Biden is "Capri." Dick Cheney is "Angler," though many Americans have more colorful names for him!

Prior to today, the only Presidental code name of which I was ever aware was the one given to JFK: "Lancer." His press secretary, Pierre Salinger, was on a plane heading overseas on the awful day in November of 1963 when he got a message telling him to return home. The voice on the radio told Salinger simply, "Lancer is dead."

If you would like to know more about Secret Service code names (for people, places, agencies, and other things) check out this web site: http://www.2600.com/secret/more/codes.html

Who's Really the Elitist? (Part Deux)

by Pa Rock

Previously in this forum I have made fun of John McBush's assertions that Barack Obama is an elitist, pointing out that the word "elitist" when used by crackers is code for "uppity." I observed that while Barack and Michelle Obama manage to make do with one house, the McBush family requires seven, or eight, or nine...the exact number is apparently not even known by them! I also noted that while Barack was raised by a single mother who had to, on occasion, resort to food stamps and welfare in order to put food on the family table, and he went to college and graduate school with scholarships and loans, McBush, the son and grandson of Admirals, grew up in more rarefied circumstances. And while the Obamas live relatively comfortably today, especially considering their modest backgrounds, their income pales in comparison to the third-of-a-billion dollars that annually slides into the McBush family coffers.

Today another story about the disparity between the two families is making the rounds. Investigators apparently went to the Division of Motor Vehicles to see how many cars each candidate owns. The Obamas own one. The McBushes own thirteen, and that doesn't count the one that Cindy normally drives because it is registered to her beer distributorship.

Thirteen cars! Maybe that's why they own so many homes - they need the extra garage space! (Of course, several of the cars may belong to Meghan - different styles and colors for accessorizing!)

So, let's do the math: the Obama's have one house, one car, a six-figure income, and may get a puppy; the McBushes have seven or more homes, 13 cars plus one on loan from Cindy's business, and a nine-figure income. Once again I ask, "Who's really the elitist?"

Hey, the Crackers Didn't Get the Memo!

by Pa Rock

Republican politicians have soaked the airwaves this year with suggestions that Barack Obama is an elitist, a not-so-subtle code word for the more racially tinged "uppity." It's worked well for them. They have been able to constantly remind their base and other related pond scum that the boy is, after all, a nigra, without saying it out loud. Oh, yes, they are a clever lot!

But somebody must have forgotten to send the memo to their cracker cousins in Dixie. Last Thursday two prominent Republican politicians, both still basking in the post-coital glow of the GOP convention, went off-message and used the "u" word.

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia's 3rd District referred referred to Barack and Michelle Obama as "elitist class individuals who think they're uppity." Later he denied any knowledge that the word had racial connotations. Yeah, right! And on that same day, congressional candidate Rick Goddard, also from Georgia and also a Republican, showed his anger at NBC news correspondent Ron Allen for having the balls to ask Sarah Palin a serious question. The black newsman was defined by Mr. Goddard with one word - "uppity!"

And then there's the "b" word. Last April Republican Congressman of Kentucky, Geoff Davis (same pronunciation as the name of the former President of the Confederacy) said this of Barack Obama: "I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the (nuclear) button."

Hey, morons! He's not uppity and he's not a boy - he's an elitist! Get with the program! There's no point in having code words if you're too damned dumb to use them!(And don't forget to wear your Klan robes to the church social Saturday night. It's formal!)

The Power of Words

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

America has made some wonderful strides toward ending racism during my lifetime. Gone are the days when bigoted simians like Bull Connor, George Wallace, and Orville Faubus built careers on denying civil rights and human rights to people of color. The past fifty years have witnessed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act, freedom marches, bus strikes, school integrations, and the slow and steady eroding of the old segregationist mindset. Indeed, America stands poised to elect a black President, something that was not even conceivable just a few short years ago.

We are witnessing the birth of a new America, an America of which all citizens can be proud. Unfortunately, not everone seems to have gotten the memo.

A clash occurred in 2006 in Jena, Louisiana, over nooses that some white students hung in a tree on the campus of the local high school. They were given a slap on the wrist by school officials. Later six black students were accused of beating one of the whites invovled in the noose incident, and they were jailed and treated as dangerous adults. Many in the community felt that situation and the perceived unequal justice harkened back to the bad old days of segregation.

Last April radio personality Don Imus opened the old wound of racism by referring to the ladies of the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team as "nappy-headed hos." His thoughtless and hurtful remark went out nationally over radio and television. Mr. Imus was subsequently fired by his employers.

Earlier this month things seemed to take a turn for the better. President Bush gave a speech at the White House to mark African American History Month. In that speech the President addressed America's awful history of lynching. He said,

"The era of rampant lynching is a shameful chapter in American history. The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice. Displaying one is not a harmless prank, and lynching is not a word to be mentioned in jest."

While I am admittedly not much of a fan of President Bush, I respect what he had to say on that subject. My thought with regard to lynching is that if someone like George Bush can understand the significance of the subject, the power of that word, then anyone should be able to comprehend it. Hate is not rocket science, it's just plain-old-stupid hate.

Fast forward to this week. Michelle Obama, a woman who stands an excellent chance of becoming our next First Lady, made a statement Monday at a rally for her husband in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her exact words, their meaning, and the context in which they were said have been a subject of continuing controversey this week, and they stirred a small firestorm, particularly on conservative news outlets. I have searched the Internet and I believe this to be an accurate quote of her remarks:

"Hope is making a comeback and, let me tell you, for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country. Not just because Barack is doing well, but I think people are hungry for change. I have seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues and it has made me proud."

Admittedly, she opened herself for criticism from certain quarters, but I think she spoke from her heart. Wouldn't this be a far better place if all people in the realm of politics would do that, instead of pandering to the masses by trying to tell them what they want to hear?

The following day, Bill O'Reilly, a staple of the Fox News Network, made the following statement on his national radio show:

“I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels.”

There it was, the "L" word. And, he doesn't want to go on a lynching party against this prominent black woman unless...Unless? Does O'Reilly not get it? Does he not even listen to his own President? Is he at worst a hate-mongering racist, or at best just stupid?

Yesterday I sent the following email to Fox News:

From: Rocky Macy [mailto:pa.rock.macy@gmail.com]
Sent: Thu 2/21/2008 8:51 PM
To: Web -Fox News Online
Subject: Bill O'reilly

Whether Mr. O'Reilly is a racist or simply ignorant of socially appropriate behavior, his continued presence on the Fox Network diminishes its relevance as a news source. He needs to go the way of Don Imus for his crude and insensitive behavior.

Rocky Macy
Goodyear, AZ

Today, I received this reply:

Dear Rocky,

Thank you for your e-mail. We appreciate your comments on our site, and are sorry to hear that you are offended by some of its content. As a FOXNews.com reader your opinion is very important to us, we know that you are the reason we are here. Please feel free to stay in touch.

Regards,
FOXNews.com

(God, I hope that I'm not the reason Fox is there!) It was, of course, a form email. I wonder how many of these dismissive missives they had to send out?

The problem is not O'Reilly. He is a symptom, just as Fox News is a symptom. The disease is hate and stupidity and fear. The disease is racism. Fortunately for America, this disease is finally being eradicated. We are verge of a beautiful future, and I, also, am becoming very proud of my country!

There is good news at hand, America. Just don't expect to hear about it on Fox!