My long time viewers know I love old movies. One of my favorites is "In the Heat of the Night." That was one of the first movies that showed a minority standing up for himself.There were other "minority" type movies at the time that illustrated a yearning for equality. I loved "To Sir with Love", "West Side Story", "Flower Drum Song" and "Guess Who's coming to Dinner." But "In the Heat of the Night" was the first movie that showed us, on screen, that equality, true equality was actually possible.
My favorite line in the movie was "They Call Me Mr. Tibbs." My favorite scene was the scene where the rich good ole boy looked down on Tibbs for daring to ask him questions, slapping him and calling him "boy." Then Tibbs, immediately reacted - no hesitation, with a slap back. Equality! A beautiful thing. It was made only a few years after the Civil Rights Act passed and no minority believed we would see such actions in a national motion picture.
Minorities do not want to be superior nor inferior to anyone. All we have ever wanted was true equality. Work hard, do a good job, earn a good salary, raise a nice family, equal opportunity and equal treatment for all. That is what the Civil Rights Act was all about. "I have a dream....."
That is why it is so upsetting to see our President treated so disrespectfully by the right wing extremists. Every day we see the Birthers, Deathers, Teabaggers demonizing our President. We see Beck call him a racist. We see signs depicting him as Hitler, a Nazi, the Joker, with vile names underneath. Now we have a lunatic pastor praying for his death, this amidst countless death threats and assassination attempts.
Tomorrow, our President is going to speak before Congress and before the nation. My advice to our President is to stay strong! You are the President. We the People, the true Patriotic Americans are behind you! We support you! Don't take any guff from the looneys out there! We are with you Mr. President!
In the meantime, I think I will replay this movie clip in my mind, only in my replay, the good ole boy will be Glenn Beck and Mr. Tibbs will be Mr. President! (Viewers, I welcome you to view the clip and replace the players like I am doing! Ole Boy even cries at the end! (I LOVE IT!!)
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13 comments:
Good post, this is exactly what we're feeling.
Thank you LeeSee. Our President deserves Respect and the right wing unpatriotic zealots should show some respect!
How Bill Clinton failed and how Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded in Social Legislation ( Health Care, Medicare, Medicaid, etc ... ) - Huffington Post
The 3 Lost Lessons of Healthcare History: Will Obama Re-Learn Them in Time?
By John Neffinger
Political consultant
September 6, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-neffinger/the-3-lost-lessons-of-hea_b_278436.html
Some excerpts :
Lesson 2: For the Right, Compromise is Death
On December 2nd, 1993, as Bill Clinton was gearing up to pass his healthcare reform proposal, Bill Kristol sent his fellow Republican leaders a memo. It read, in relevant part:
"... The long-term political effects of a successful... health care bill will be even worse - much worse... It will revive the reputation of ... the Democrats as the generous protector of middle-class interests. And it will at the same time strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle class..."
In short, Kristol urged his follow Republicans to oppose any health care reform, not because they thought the policy would not work, but because they knew it would work, and Americans would like it, and they would reward Democrats with their political loyalty the way Depression-era voters voted Democratic forever out of gratitude for the New Deal and Social Security. Healthcare reform became an existential battle for the Republicans: lose it, and they would be banished to the political wilderness for generation or more. At the time, Republicans were already in the wilderness, having just lost the White House and controlling neither house of Congress. But by following Kristol's recommendation, successfully demonizing and defeating healthcare reform, they staged a great political comeback and seized control of Congress in the 1994 elections.
.................
Lesson 3: To Win the Middle, Go Left
In July 1964, Ronald Reagan stood before the Republican National Convention to discuss Democrats' "Medicare" proposal to provide guaranteed health insurance for the elderly. "Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community?" Reagan asked. "Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business." He didn't mention any death panels, but Reagan and his fellow Republicans were every bit as adamant in their opposition to Medicare as conservatives are in their opposition to health insurance reform today.
A year later, President Lyndon Baines Johnson guided the original Medicare bill through the Congress despite all those Republican objections. But a curious thing happened as the bill neared passage. Once Congressional Republicans saw that Democrats were going to make Medicare a reality despite their scare tactics, many of them quietly switched their votes and supported the bill. In fact, more than 40% of Republican Senators and more than half of the Republicans in the House voted for the bill in the end, despite all the earlier Republican opposition.
...........
Medicare recipients report much higher satisfaction with their health care than privately insured Americans do, and independent studies find that they receive better care. Faced with a reform that is going to pass with or without them, and which they know their constituents will like, any Republican who might ever have to fight to get re-elected is going to support it, because they don't want to have to explain to their constituents why they voted against their favorite policy. That's how Medicare was passed as a bi-partisan bill: Democrats came together and presented it to Republicans as a done deal, and Republicans got smart and came around.
Milenials.com
Vicente Duque
Respect is earned. It is not bought, sold or given.
Dee wrote, "We see signs depicting him as Hitler, a Nazi, the Joker, with vile names underneath."
This is old news. This ground has been plowed before. If you think the above is anything unusual in politics I recommend you google "Bush = Hitler". That will set the record straight about the kind of respect a president gets from his or her critics regardless of party affiliation.
You should have written this post and posted the Mr. Tibbs clip when Bush was in office. Credibility is unlikely when you overlook the obvious comparison of the Obama signs with the critical posters, remarks, cartoons, etc. made about other presidents. I mentioned previously the cartoon that portrayed Lincoln as a monkey. I'm sure you can find it if you are interested but given your propensity to ignore anything that differs from the Obamabot point of view, you will probably not bother.
Those close to the president and those who see him in person normally address him as Mr. President. In press comferences that's what the press does but when they write a column, more often than not, they refer to him as Obama just as they referred to his predecssor as Bush. Every one knows who they are writing about from the context and the abbreviation to simply the president's last name is not necessarily an insult.
The bottom line is, like everyone else, a president has to earn the respect of the voters especially the millions who voted for the other candidates. He may earn their respect through his personal behavior but it will be hard for him to do so when it comes to his philosophical and politcal outlook if there are fundamental differences in that regard.
There is a great book about the Civil War that earned the author a Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately, I don't recall either his name or the title of the book. When I read it, I was shocked by the vehemence and general nastiness of the criticism emanating from both sides. It is good reading for those who think harsh criticism of a president by patriotic Americans is anything unique to Obama.
El Duque describes a standard political trick. Everyone should recall John Kerry's famous remark, "I voted for it before I voted against it." Also there were numerous examples of Congressmen and women signing out as co-sponsors but finding all kinds of excuses for not signing a discharge petition so it could actually be brought to a vote. All of this is pure political demagoguery and it happens in both parties with great regularity, even without a laxative.
I think there is much in the reform bill that Republicans can support and they will vote for the final bill to the extent it is reasonable and takes due cognizance of costs long term. It is supremely ridiculous to promise cost reductions when what is really obvious that what is being proposed in large part is cost shifting from individual and business premium payers to taxpayers in general.
America is not a Football Game and Mr Obama is not in a "Hail Mary" pass which the quarterback throws in the final seconds of a game needing a score to win.
It's football season, but the Football Metaphors are very trivial and inadequate to apply to the President of the USA and the problem of Health Care.
Mr Obama is going to give a speech to Congress on Health Care this evening.
To compare the situation to a "Hail Mary" may be fun but it is irresponsible. Mr Obama is a cerebral and rational man, a professorial type of politician, he will find ways and paths out of many difficult situations. It is not just fun that Mr Obama has been compared to "Felix, the Cat" and his bag of tricks.
We haven't seen the full extent of his mental gifts and possibilities.
The problem of Health Care has deep impact in America's Economy and should not be a Football to kick with Hate, Partisanship, Racism, etc ...
Health Care needs reform and the worst policy is to make it a sport of irresponsibility.
I would love if Mr Obama acts decisively and takes a strong stance. He doesn't need the applause and love of everybody. He has a majority and he was elected to do things and not to please everybody and his aunt.
I work the blog RACIALITY.COM and I think that this issue of Health Care touches many problems of Minorities, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native American Indians, Multiracials, etc ...
If people are not Healthy then Society will have to pay a Heavy Price, and that is inescapable. There will always be a cost of inaction.
Raciality.com
Vicente Duque
Ultima,
I am glad you are joining me in chastising those who call our President a Nazi, or depict him as a Joker.
Let's stand together on this. From this day forward, anyone who calls our President a Nazi or depicts him as Hitler or the Joker or ridicules and demonizes the President in ANY way shall be challenged and labeled a COWARD and TRAITOR and UNPATRIOTIC!
Thank you Ultima for recognizing these zealous as Cowards and Unpatriotic.
WE BOTH are in AGREEMENT on this!!
Thank you!!
I second that!!!
Republican House Representative Joe Wilson, Champion of Vulgarity and Verbal Aggression - Joe Yells Out "lie" to President Obama
This Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina deserves the first prize in Vulgarity and Gross Verbal Aggression.
This "Gentleman" Joe produced the defining moment in Obama's Speech, to be remembered .... The Intelligence and Leadership of a Great President against sheer Imbecility.
September 09, 2009
Republican South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson Yells Out "Lie" During Obama Speech - 09/09/09
GOP Rep Joe Wilson Calls Obama Liar During Health Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUC2rGj2VqE
Milenials.com
Vicente Duque
"Medicare recipients report much higher satisfaction with their health care than privately insured Americans do"
Reference? URL?
This is the author and book I referred to regarding harsh criticism of the president and political opponents during the Civil War.
James M. McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, his most famous book. He was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003, and is a member of the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica.
Born in Valley City, North Dakota, he graduated from St. Peter High School, and he received his Bachelor of Arts at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota) in 1958 (from which he graduated magna cum laude), and his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 1963. Currently he resides in Princeton, New Jersey, and is married with one child.
Dee wrote, "I am glad you are joining me in chastising those who call our President a Nazi, or depict him as a Joker."
I don't think you can quote me to that effect. If you are going to make this kind of a statement, please quote me directly rather than your interpretation of what I posted. This is really quite underhanded to attribute a position to me that is not in evidence.
If you will allow my previous response, you will see that I merely acknowledged that this type of critisms of sitting presidents is not unusual and that you would have had more credibility had to you made this point when Bush was being characterized as Hitler, etc. It' too late to entertain a free pass for Obama since you participated in villifying Bush. We will have to wait until the next presidential election and then we can agree on civility from both parties and call each of them out without bias.
I usually if not always quote you directly rather than providing my own interpretation of your posts. Please give me the same courtesy.
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