This is dated September 13, but I just received this, via e-mail, this afternoon. Your uncle thinks it’s highly relevant and worthwhile! Also, this Tim Wise guy (not “wise guy”) may be the only the only guy who’s both whiter and angrier than your uncle! Enjoy! YUR
“September 13, 2008, 2:01 pm
This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll “kick their fuckin’ ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office–since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s–while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do–like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor–and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college–you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…
White privilege is, in short, the problem.”
Unclerave's Wordy Weblog 
Portrait of a Patriot – John McCain
Published August 26, 2018 Commentary , Current Events , News 7 CommentsTags: John McCain
The stabilizing voice of American politics – in the age of extreme partisanship – has suddenly fallen silent. We all knew that it was coming . . . but not sooner than later. He informed the world that he was stopping medical treatment for his brain cancer on Friday. And, shockingly, he died on Saturday.
As the flaming lifelong Liberal that I am, I disagreed with Senator McCain on a great many issues. Most notably on Defense spending, and the War in Iraq, and the broader “War on Terror”. But, I truly admired how he reached across the aisle, to get things done. Clearly, he was an old school conservative, but he wasn’t all about the money, as are far too many in politics these days. The McCain-Feingold Act was a game changer in campaign finance reform, at least until the Citizens United decision came down in 2010. He had the nerve and resolve to speak out against torture and “enhanced interrogation”. He called waterboarding what it is . . . torture. He thought we should close Guantanamo Bay, and transfer the prisoners to Fort Leavenworth to expedite their legal proceedings. He stood up to the religious right and called them “agents of intolerance”, and denounced their tactics as “division and slander”. He stood up to President Trump on more than one occasion, most notably against a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act . . . without a replacement.
He did things, and voted, based on his conscience, and the belief that America should always set an example for the world. He didn’t care if that meant rankling those in his own party. He cared about his fellow Americans, and how the world perceives the United States of America. He believed in that “shining city on the hill”, and that the US should always be a beacon unto the world. As corny as it might sound, he had the old school values of the words to the intro of the old television show “Superman”: “Truth, Justice, and the American way!”
He often demonstrated that he had a fiery temper, but that just showed that he was a man of great passion. He also had a great sense of humor, and he often used it to make fun of himself. He refused to take the low road while campaigning, and was deferential and gracious in defeat. Those traits made him more human than most politicians. He was honest, and honorable, and noble. He loved his country, and devoted his life in service of it.
Proud: son, Navy pilot, husband, father, and dedicated public servant. He was all those things and more. He was a true lion of the Senate, and he will be remembered as a legend of the legislature. Our country is richer for having had his dedication to public service, but we’re now a little poorer for his passing. He may have graduated near the bottom of his class at Annapolis, but he reached the pinnacle of respect among his peers and countrymen.
God speed, John McCain.
— YUR