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Obama at Morehouse

Posted on: May 24th, 2013 by ecthompsonmd No Comments

 

I know that some conservatives were licking their lips and drooling at the prospect of Barack Obama speaking at Morehouse College. I know that there were several commentators who spent a ridiculous amount of time going on about how Barack Obama would not have delivered the same speech at Harvard as he did at Morehouse. I find it relatively ridiculous that one would expect the President of the United States to deliver the exact same speech at Harvard that he would at a historically black college like Morehouse. This was another great speech by Barack Obama. He was funny, he was serious, he was inspiring and he delivered a message to a group of black men that he couldn't and shouldn't deliver at Harvard, Yale or almost any other college in the United States. He tailored his speech to his audience. This is exactly what you're supposed to do if you are a good public speaker.

Excerpts from President Barack Obama's Morehouse commencement address:

It was that mission — not just to educate men, but to cultivate good men, strong men, upright men — that brought community leaders together just two years after the end of the Civil War. They assembled a list of 37 men, free blacks and freed slaves, who would make up the first prospective class of what later became Morehouse College. Most of those first students had a desire to become teachers and preachers — to better themselves so they could help others do the same.... Read More →

Sergio versus Tiger

Posted on: May 23rd, 2013 by ecthompsonmd No Comments

 

Sergio Garcia

As many of you who follow my blog know, I picked up golf about three years ago. Prior to picking up a club, I called golf a stupid game which I really didn't understand. Now that I've taken lessons and have played, it is still a stupid game which I really don't understand, but I find enjoyable. :-) In golf, just like in many other sports, we look for something more. We look for something exciting. We look for something titillating. We couldn't get enough of the Tiger Woods scandal. This brings me to two weeks ago at the Players Championship. Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia had words. Tiger Woods, who was some 50 yards away from Sergio, pulled a club out of his bag and that caused the gallery to gasp. This noise occurred right in the middle of Sergio's backswing. The golf ball sliced to the left off into the woods (to be honest, that golf shot looked very similar to many of mine, except I don't quite get that kind of distance). This simple incident caused the kind of petty back-and-forth that we regularly see in stupidly contrived reality shows like Survivor.

This brings us to the latest in the Tiger Woods/Sergio Garcia saga. Sergio Garcia was at a European tour awards dinner in London when he was asked by a reporter whether he would ever invite Tiger Woods over for dinner (I'm paraphrasing). Sergio Garcia said, "We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken." Fried chicken? Really? You do not have to be a linguistic expert to understand that this is a problem. Tiger Woods, who really has no love for Sergio Garcia and who has had more than his own share of media fiascoes, was happy to take the high road and watch Sergio cause his own implosion. Tiger Woods stated through his Twitter account, "The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate. I’m confident that there is real regret that the remark was made. The Players ended nearly two weeks ago and it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf."... Read More →

The Nerve of the IRS

Posted on: May 23rd, 2013 by ecthompsonmd No Comments

 

The craziness of the IRS "scandal" cannot be underlined or emphasized enough. The fact that the IRS decided to scrutinize a group of Americans who basically state that they hate paying taxes and would go to any means to avoid paying taxes should not be a surprise to anyone. In my mind, scrutinizing tea party groups is a little like asking Willie Sutton why he robs banks. (His famous answer, "because that's where the money is," may be an urban myth but I like it nonetheless.) Since the disastrous, thoughtless Citizens United decision, the number of 501(c) 4 organizations has skyrocketed from a little over 1700 to well over 3300. The majority of these 501(c) 4 groups were, wait for it… conservative, tea party groups.

More from Vanity Fair:

Unfortunately, given the way this I.R.S. scandal slid so easily into ideological definitions, I fear that few non-politicos are recognizing the real disgrace here: that the federal government—Congress, the White House, the tax agency, and the Supreme Court—has created a situation where blatantly political organizations are able to legally break the law by pretending they’re something that they’re not.

The key to this obscene state of affairs is an entity known as a 501(c)(4), named for the section of the tax code that created it. Supposedly, these are civic associations or organizations devoted to social welfare, which can operate tax-free, but whose donors aren’t allowed to deduct their contributions. Fair enough.... Read More →

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