Levi’s Soapbox

Do Better Thursday: Levi’s Soapbox “Enough Is Too Much”

by dre of onustees.com on 22 April 2010


Enough Is Too Much by Levi F. Daniels
So once again it would seem the mercurial American public has once again expressed its discontent with Washington, DC (i.e. the Government) as a concept.  And as always it has done so with fervent protest, inane only partially informed arguments, and a variety of surveys that the gainfully employed among us rarely get an opportunity to participate in (not that we’d answer an unfamiliar phone number anyway).  Which brings me to a recent article in the Express (so with a grain of salt we take this) that says that approximately 80 percent (80% = vast majority) of Americans distrust the government.  Now the article posits this phenomenon as ominous and/or problematic, especially for democratic incumbents seeking re-election this fall.  The article also asserts that this particular distrustful condition has given rise to the Tea Party and other like-minded groups who feel there is just too much government “in my business”.   

Now all of this ill-feeling arouses a curious look from me.  It isn’t that I don’t understand distrust of the government in general but I just don’t understand why “we” see this as new somehow.  The forefathers and/or architects of our beloved Constitution asserted the notion that the government should be monitored to ensure that it is acting in the interest of its citizens.  A bit of paranoia resulting from having just eschewed a government you felt was doing quite the opposite.  Hence all this nonsense about the right to have guns, free speech, and public assembly.  All of which, we see as the nifty trappings of a democratic society.

Next there are the arguments for distrust, chief among them being corruptions (bad Government bad).  Once again I think history offers us a little perspective on this.  What was common among those who were both able to vote and those who eventually put their “John Hancocks” as it were on our governing document?  Take a moment…I’ll wait.  Well for a hint just look at the first three letters in your browser after the “/”.  They were Wealthy, White, “With” land, ok so the like “W” is a bit of a stretch but you get the point.  Now think for a second, how many folks do you think fit that description at that time.  Answer, not too many, which leads me to believe that this country has always been “guided” by the few much to the chagrin of the many.

Finally what makes me more suspicious of this “distrust” is its timing.  Now of course I don’t have empirical evidence, partially because my job won’t let me call you randomly at 2 o’clock in the daytime when you aren’t home to ask you questions, but I don’t remember this same level of distrust in the last presidency or even the one preceding it for that matter.  Those presidencies brought us both a perceived bumbler with a gun fetish and a philanderer with a penchant for oval office copulation.  And yet, no raucous chants of distrust en masse.  Now of course throughout both of these presidencies we were high on the hog so to speak, both our coffers and our pantries full.  Now in the wake of a financial nuclear winter “we” find “ourselves” a little vexed and who shall bare the brunt of our discontent but our beloved whooping boy, the Government.  

Levi F. Daniels
Common Sense Advocate
 

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Clarion Call for Common Sense: Tea Party or a Bunch of Wet Bags?

by dre of onustees.com on 1 April 2010

Clarion Call for Common Sense: Tea Party or a Bunch of Wet Bags?
Now I would hope someone reading this would correct me were I wrong but wasn’t the tea party a demonstration of a group of colonists railing against a monarchy that taxed them without offering them any real voice in said government?  So I am a bit perplexed at this “fringe” group of Americans that have named their group after the aforementioned demonstration.  If in fact they really were concerned about whether or not the government is truly beholden to its constituents why not attack special interest contributions or better yet that infernal electoral college?  There’s a practice that has elicited a curious glare from discerning citizens since its creation.  But of course such things are out of the question.  Instead the tea party is much more content to rail against the vile democrats and their evil mission to ensure that more Americans receive at least basic health care than don’t.  Shame on them.  Now, to be sure, this plan, made law on March 23, 2010 will be expensive but how much so, we don’t actually know and we won’t know all of the implications for many years.  Oddly enough we could say the same for another hotly contested piece of legislation, the vaunted Patriot Act.  On the surface, the law was simply a reaction to our precious security being breeched at the onset of the horrendous events of 9/11 but left to its own devices and a little shrewd interpretation, our Wilsonian paranoia might give way to Orwellian surveillance of the entire population.  Think Cointellpro on a much grander scale with much better technology.  Anything from the tea party on that one?  Yep, just as you might’ve guessed, still waiting.  So what’s the point of all this tea party crashing?  Mainly, just venting my general irritation with a stilted binary argument resulting from an inane two party system that doesn’t completely represent the full scope of American life.  
Also hoping someone reading this has an opinion as well…
Levi F. Daniels
Common Sense Advocate

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Clarion Call for Common Sense: Chomp and Choke

by dre of onustees.com on 1 April 2010

DAMN YOU SPAGHETTIOS!!!
Clarion Call for Common Sense: Chomp and Choke

Tis once again time for me to issue my Clarion Call for Common Sense.  This time the source of my ire is the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Now, I am not ashamed to say that I had no idea this organization even existed but boy are they on the map now.  For those of you also unaware allow me to give you the long and short of things.  The AAP has requested that labels be placed on foods they believe are a choking hazard for young children.  Such items include but are not limited to hot dogs, carrots, and grapes.  I must say I really don’t understand any of this.  Am I alone in thinking that this overture is not only a bit dim but a colossal waste of this organization’s time?  Perhaps they are looking for publicity, but I can’t conceive of an instance where such a warning is necessary or useful.  When is the last time a kid choked on a hot dog? And for that matter how?  Was he/she trying to do so?  If so then that’s another discussion entirely and the poor National Hot Dog & Sausage Council (another organization I didn’t know existed) should not be held responsible?  Once again, I think that a simpler solution is available and might even be more viable.  Just imagine with me for a second, parents watching their children such that potential choking hazards are mitigated by attentiveness.  Even more profound is the watchful parent that cuts the hot dog into manageable pieces a child might easily digest.  Dear God! This sheer profundity of common sense frightens even this avid advocate and practitioner.  In all seriousness though, labels? Is that really the solution?  Perhaps the AAP’s time might better spend drafting a pamphlet to educate new parents then leveraging that to secure a grant and then use the money to distribute the pamphlets to doctor’s offices and hospitals.  If they wanted to be particularly avant garde they could even partner with a grocery store chain and in order to educate the public of such hazards.  Anything is better than more stupid labels that will confuse and scare parents.


Levi F. Daniels
Common Sense Advocate

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Do Better Thursday: Doing It ??? – Levi’s Soapbox “Mis-Reid”

by dre of onustees.com on 14 January 2010

Doing It??? 
Editor’s Note: This weeks “Doing It???” moment will be address by Levi Daniels “Levi’s Soapbox”… Enjoy…
 
Mis-Reid By Levi F. Daniels

So by now I’m sure you’ve heard the reporting of and commentary about the statements made by Sen. Harry Reid to one of the authors of “Game Change”.  Strangely enough, given the confidence under which these remarks were made, I am reminded of the old adage, “discretion is the better part of valor.” But in a society seemingly overrun with people submitting their every incoherent brain fart in 140 character increments, either the old adage is wrong or valor ain’t so important anymore.

But I digress; let’s take a brief moment to examine what Mr. Reid said.  When asked what he thought of Obama’s chances as a presidential candidate, Reid stated Obama was a “light-skinned black man with no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one”.  The statement is of course very telling.  From the first portion we can easily discern that Harry Reid is sighted.  Otherwise how else would he know that Obama was in fact a light-skinned black man?  That man has a kung-fu grip of the obvious.  The second part of the statement tells us that Mr. Reid actually hears quite well.  Not only was he able to note that Mr. Obama not only speaks in a manner becoming a Senator but that he also has a keen ability to code switch.  This very observation teeters more on profundity than racism.  Now I know what you’re thinking, “But that’s not that POINT! What the *expletive* is a Negro Dialect?!?”  To which I respond, “C’mon Son!”  From Paul Lawrence Dunbar to Ed Lover we are all well aware of what a Negro dialect is even if we wouldn’t call it that.

Are we just arguing semantics?  Honestly, what did Reid say, that at its core, was incorrect or improper?  Actually before you answer, let’s get a few things out of the way.  We do not live in a post racial United States.  For every T-Shirt, website and poster using Obama’s image to invoke Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” there are hundreds of news articles, images, and video segments to the contrary.  Not to mention the desperate conditions prevalent in minority and poor (that’s right these are mutually exclusive conditions) communities across the US. So, again I ask, what did Reid say that was so wrong or any different that what we’ve said amongst ourselves?  Every honest self respecting Black person has admitted at some point or another that a darker skinned Black man would be a tough sell to all of America irrespective or his credentials.  Moreover, these same self-respecting Black people would not dream of their child or anyone with whom they were affiliated walking into a professional setting speaking in vernacular, slang, or any variation therein.  They would find the suggestion a bit embarrassing, damning and maybe even regressive.  As a matter of fact, I remember a wave a fear coming over me when I saw Obama walk in a fashion I recognized as uniquely “urban” when he met Biden on stage after he accepted the VP nomination. Ultimately, others noticed but little was said nationally.  In truth, the real issue speaks to a statement made by Eric Holder early in his tenure as Attorney General, America is scared to talk about race.  But not just White America, all of America is to some degree terrified of the subject. That is because a true discussion requires the airing of not only other’s dirty laundry but yours as well.  So, I suppose, all I ever really ask whenever America gets on her high horse “Condemnation” (by the way could you imagine that name over the loud speakers at the Preakness) is that she takes a moment to take stock of her own behavior.  Real honest self-reflection shows us that we are all of capable of potentially regrettable behavior and in turn reveals to us either the innate qualities or external forces preventing said behavior.  Thus, in closing we call upon the wisdom of the fallen king of pop to bring sense to an otherwise maddening world.

 
 
– Levi F. Daniels

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Do Better Thursday – Commentary: Taming of the Shrew

17 December 2009

(the following commentary is in response to The Washington Post  profile of Helena Andrews written by DeNeen L. Brown)  Taming of the Shrew by Levi F. Daniels “Bitch Is the New Black”, the literary and cinematic brainchild of Ms. Helena Andrews, claims to provide insight into the mind of the upwardly mobile, more than sufficiently […]

Clarion Call for Common Sense: Window Shade Recall

17 December 2009

  “Hi, yes… can you please tell my mom to move my crib from the damn window?” Clarion Call for Common Sense: Window Shade Recall Recently, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall for all Roman-style shades and roll-up blinds on the grounds that the cords were a strangulation hazard for small children.  […]

Do Better Thursday – Commentary: Levi’s Soapbox “Tiger’s Lament”

4 December 2009

Tiger’s Lament By Levi Daniels So it would appear that the sports media and perhaps even the general media outlets got what they wanted, a full but no less carefully worded admission of guilt from one Tiger Woods. This new statement, among other things, gives the National Enquirer yet another “told ya so” feather in […]