Singing the "Song of the South"...

I was looking through my film collection today and ran across "Song of the South." What a great movie! Ever since I was a small child, I've loved this movie. And to me, one of the great tragedies, is that there's a whole generation out there that's never seen this movie. Why? Because there's some people out there that believe that this movie is racist and I believe that includes the fine people at Walt Disney. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the movie's original release. And I believe it's been about 25 years or so since its last release in the U.S. This is one of the best movies Disney ever made, and certainly with its combination of animation and live action, and great music it was ahead of its time when it was originally released (or at least state-of-the-art).

I've been told by some people, that I can't see the racism because I'm not black. That's pure BS; I know racism when I see it and it's not in this movie. Yes, it takes place on a plantation in post Confederate days, but the story is not about slavery or the effects of slavery or the emancipation or about the way black people were being treated at that time. There are no slaves in this movie; the blacks depicted are employees on a post Confederate War plantation. Maybe you don't like the way they spoke in the movie; get over it. They talked that way in real life. It's a story of a little boy and his friend Uncle Remus. The little boy is having problems with his parents, and Uncle Remus uses the stories about Brer Rabbit to help the boy understand. I think the movie shows blacks in a very positive light. And in that era it was way ahead of its time. Some have said that it should be released with some sort of explanation put in front of the movie to explain its historical position. To me, this is sort of like the Indian government wanting a fictional disclaimer at the beginning of the da Vinci code.

This is a very funny movie, and it has some really touching moments, not to mention some very toe tapping moments in its music. "Zippity Doo Dah" is probably one of the best-known songs of all time. Disney didn't seem to have a problem with insulting Arabs with their movie "Aladdin," nor American Indians with "Pocahontas," so what is there fear with "Song of the South?" which is benign in all its aspects.

Joel Chandler Harris learned the stories of Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox from some elderly slaves George Terrell and Old Harbert and wrote them down. Harris wove complicated stories filled with humor and pathos and the "Song of the South" has obscured the true Uncle Remus tales that are more complex than presented in the movie, but because of censorship in the U.S. there's a whole generation of people who don't even know who Joel Chandler Harris is or how great his tales of the Briar Patch are. Having seen the movie as a child, I was eager to seek out the actual works to read more.

People who really want the movie have gotten copies of it from outside the United States, where Disney doesn't seem to have any problems with its release. So, Disney should release a 60th anniversary version of "Song of the South," and let's all sing "Zippity Doo Dah" all the way to "The Laughing Place." And the Disney Company can make a lot of money on a great film and laugh all the way to the banking place.

In War, Bad Things Happen...

Bad things even happen to good people. And sometimes it's hard to tell who the good people are. As a matter of fact, ever since President Bush declared, "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, the good people have been harder to spot, because the enemy no longer wears a uniform.

So now we come to the problem of a squad of Marines, who supposedly slaughtered 25 people in Haditha, including women and children, in cold blood. The official report says the people were killed while the Marines were returning fire after one of their vehicles was blown up. An Iraqi Human Rights Group, claims that the Marines were unprovoked and did it in retaliation, because one of the members of the squad was killed when the vehicle blew up. Now the news media is saying that this is the greatest atrocity of the war. The military is investigating, commanders have been relieved and of course the squad is under investigation for the heinous crime they committed. It's a scandal! No one, of course, seems to be allowing any room for the idea that the original report that the Marines gave after the incident is true, and that the human rights group might be lying. I'm not saying that they are, but with many trying to tarnish the US image in Iraq and trying to make "the occupation" look bad, why can't we believe that this group might have their own agenda.

Unless you've actually been in a war, you can't even begin to imagine what it's like. Oh yeah, you've seen it on television, and there are lots of movies out there, but it's only for an hour or two, and you were not really there. Think about it for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for weeks and months without end. There is no safe place in Iraq. For as long as you are in the country, you can be attacked and killed at any time, regardless of whether you're on duty or not. I'm still not saying the Marines did anything wrong, but could you blame anyone under these conditions, if they went a little crazy? And I'm not saying they did.

In war, bad things happen. They always have. What's different, I believe, is that today we have a lot of people who don't know anything about war, or even know someone who does. The Gulf War was over quickly, Vietnam is a history lesson, and the Korean War and World War II are distant memories. Bad things have always happened in wartime that no one wants to talk about. Why we are so eager today to discredit our troops trying to do a job they didn't ask for, under deplorable conditions, I don't know. What I do know is that this type of story only makes people wonder, if this story is true, could it have happened elsewher? And if not elsewhere, why not everywhere? And what kind of people could have done this?

I don't think we'll ever know the truth about this incident. For some reason, people want to believe it's true. If the military says it's not, people will scream, "Cover up!" And if it is true, I feel sorry for the Marines involved, because no matter what anybody else does to them, they're already having to live with what they have done.

A Secret Known to Two...

is no secret at all, so the old saying goes, and the present administration has lots of secrets! The problem is, that every time one of their little secrets leaks out, they hide behind the Constitution or executive privilege or some law that they've somehow bent to their own will. With the latest news about the use by the government of telephone records of millions of Americans, the White House first denied that the story was true, then they said it was only international calls that they were interested in.

Many Americans, including some of my friends, have said "Let the government spin its wheels looking at my phone records, I have nothing to hide", but I think the point here is that at every turn, the government intrudes a little more into our private lives, and the more we allow them to intrude the more they will. It's all in the name of national security, to protect us from another 9/11. "And look what an excellent job we're doing", they say, "we haven't had another terrorist attack since that day." But we can't be sure, because to tell us what terrorist attacks they've foiled, they'd have to breach national security.

After attacking the twin towers in 1993, it took Bin Laden eight years before coming back to attack us again, so how can we be sure when the next attack will occur. The Bush administration has become very adapt at manipulating the tension level in the country by telling everyone that there might be an attack every time somebody starts looking at the administration too closely.

United States is saddled with an administration that thinks they can do anything they want and get away with it and seems to be very adept at justifying their actions, no matter how lame that justification might be and if we question their actions, we are being unpatriotic. The most patriotic thing we can do, is to question their actions, because I believe, that that is what our founding fathers intended; to have a government that is, above all, transparent and open, hiding nothing from the American people. As the Wizard said in the Wizard of Oz, "Pay no attention to the man behind the green curtain." I believe that eventually we will find out that the President is just as big a humbug as the wizard. At least once the wizard was exposed, he was man enough to stand up nd admit it.

The Great Boycott of 2006

Today's the day of the great Mexican walkout, or should I say immigrant walkout. This is supposed to show just how important the immigrants are to the economy of the United States. In Mexico, Mexicans are being asked to boycott American businesses today; which is pretty stupid, considering that American companies employ about 40% of the Mexican workforce. I heard one Mexican official say that they were urging all Mexican workers not to cross the border to go to work today in th U.S. He said that in San Diego alone, there are approximately 75,000 Mexican workers who cross the border every day legally, to work in the United States. These people are not the problem. And I can't believe that anyone would be stupid enough to believe that they are. The problem is the 11 million other people who are in this country illegally. I don't care if they are contributing to our economy and working every day of their lives. The point is, they shouldn't be here in the first place. Someone today said there should be a way that they can make themselves legal in this country. Well, surprise surprise, there is a way. It's called immigration! Millions have tried it over the years, and it works! But obviously there are millions who don't feel they can have the time to fill out those forms and do it that way.

Illegal immigration isn't just an American problem. Yes, we have to deal with the consequences, but the problem really lies south of the border, in a country that cares so little for its people, that the president actually encourages them to go north. It should come as no surprise to anyone, but one of the largest sources of revenue in the Mexican economy is money being sent back to relatives in Mexico from relatives living and working in the United States. President Fox of Mexico, wants an open border with the United States like the United States has with Canada. I say to President Fox, first create a country where people want to go across the border to the United States and then actually return home.

I can understand why Congress is having such a difficult time deciding what to do about the immigration problem. I certainly don't know what to do about 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. (I honestly believe that number is probably low.) I agree with those who say it would probably be nearly impossible to round them all up and deport them. I don't believe as Governor Schwarzenegger said it would cost is $500 million to do that (where do these politicians get their numbers from). On the other hand, I feel there should be some penalty for coming into this country illegally.

President Bush has tried to convince us that these people are doing jobs that the rest of us don't want to do. I agree in part. When I was a child living in the Mexico, we used to have these Mexican workers who came to work on the farms in the summertime. They picked chilies, and after the cotton gin went through the cotton fields at the end of the summer, they followed after and picked the rest of the cotton that the gin didnt get. Then President Johnson decided that these people were taking jobs away from American citizens, and ended the Bracero program. Well, President Johnson showed as much intelligence as our present president. You couldn't pay Americans enough to go out in the cotton fields and pick that cotton. So after that, when the cotton gins had finished their work, you'd see all the strings of cotton still hanging from the bolls.

When all the protests are over and all the marches are done, I believe we'll still have a big mess our hands. Congress really doesn't want to pass an immigration bill, at least not now. Build a fence, don't build a fence. Penalize employers, don't penalize employers. Deport the illegals, give them amnesty. No matter what they decide, they're going to alienate somebody. And with the impending elections, they don't know whose vote they'll lose. So the easiest thing for them to do is to debate it until it's too late to do anything about it this session. And when it's time for the elections, both sides can blame the other for not doing anything.