Good Friday? Great Friday!

I want you all to have a great Good Friday so I'm putting together some interesting links for you to peruse at your leisure. Yes, you're spoiled rotten, but since you don't whine and wake me up in the middle of the night, I like you.

First, it's March Madness. Brendan, brace yourself and don't be hatin' (for those who don't remember, Brendan is my blog husband, yes, he's married, yes his wife just had baby, yes, he's a lawyer in Tennessee, yes, he's my junior by a decade, but in an alternate universe we discuss college basketball, Tolkien, politics, and sci-fi and I ignore his weather babbling), anyway, Brendan, I'm going to the NCAA tournament game tonight--Vanderbilt verses Sienna. I care little about either team, but it will be an experience. And it's okay to love Pat Summit. It's okay. If your wife can share, I can share.

Do the Democrats want expensive gas or don't they? My thought? They want to bitch about high gas prices and also tax gases for supposed environmental reasons (aka increase tax revenues to dole out pork). Yes, it's contradictory, but who says that they make sense? That's right, no one.

The Anchoress brings to mind this memory: When I was a toddler, I lived in Detroit on a street where we were the one white family. My best friend was a little black boy my age. We moved out a bit when I got a little older, but went to a church that was half black and half white. My parents were very open about race. My parents liked cards--specifically pinochle, bid whiz, and bridge. We'd go to friends houses all over Detroit, sometimes needing an escort out of the neighborhood after dark. We'd have friends over to our house too. It caused problems once or twice with white neighbors, but my parents didn't buckle. Well, we had a church fundraiser and the ladies made Raggedy Ann dolls and I remember my mom sewing black Raggedy Ann dolls. It seemed normal to me that a black girl would want a black doll. But the store shelves had white dolls only. My sense of justice found this situation angering. It wasn't fair for a girl to not have a doll that looks like her. That has changed, as The Anchoress notes, but some racial attitudes still pervade society. She says this (please, please, read her whole post):

Dolls and action figures have changed, of course, but both this incident and the other, at work, made me think of the psychic duality that must be part and parcel of being black in America. You’re not simply a man or a woman, you’re a black man, a black woman, and when people see you it is what they notice first, and then their brains begin to process stereotypes and horror stories or stories of ridicule. And the psychic duality is that your fundamental personhood is being challenged daily, by a thousand little unintended insults - like the lack of a black doll to play with - that you’re supposed to over-look, and by other, more overt and intentional insults (or buffooneries) that you are supposed to transcend, all while maintaining your dignity.

Some might say all of that is not limited to the black experience, that a fat person faces those same snap-judgments and stereotypes, and that is true, but only to a point. A fat person may shed the extra poundage; a black person cannot shed the skin.

There is absolutely nothing simple in the matter of race in America, and I don’t envy any black man or black woman their daily grind

We do have a long way to go with race in America. A long way. It seems to me that the pass given to Obama is because of his skin color. People are afraid to criticize for fear of being perceived as racist, which is, in itself, racist. We have a long ways to go.

Staying with the race theme, Ann Althouse has a video that was made by some marketing firm, but forwarded by a guy in McCain's camp. She feels it's incendiary and offensive. What do you think? I think this proves The Anchoress's point, is what I think.

As an aside, I believe Obama has the Democratic nomination sealed. There is no way the Democrats will go for Hillary now. It will seem racist to deny Obama. And Obama will lose to McCain. It's done. MaxedOutMama has a complete and thoughtful analysis of the whole thing and believes the same problem afflicts both Hillary's and Obama's campaign:

The questions about Obama's psychological maturity are what he really has to face. He's relatively young, very inexperienced, and it is reasonable for the voters to care a great deal about his fundamental character. It's fine to be hopeful and optimistic. We could use a heaping load of that in our leaders. We also need that optimism to be deeply infused and engaged with reality - otherwise it's just wishful thinking. And yes, some of Obama's comments about sitting down to talk to certain world leaders do strike me as wishful thinking.

A president infected with victimology would be a disaster, and I think that is precisely what is causing Hillary problems.

Now, to something less weighty but revealing nonetheless. Just keep Shelley's quote in your mind: The eyes bring to seeing what they wish to see. Also, consider this when you contemplating "eye witness" testimony. It's not all that reliable.

Want to be a blog star? I know I do. Will it happen? Not sure. But here's some good points. My least favorite point: Don't expect to make money. Hmph! I want to make money doing this!

Money can buy happiness, but there's a catch. It's an important catch.

Hope you all have a great Friday!