Chris Brown Waved at Me

Last night I took my son to his first live concert at Madison Square Garden. Below is my day late version of live blogging the event. I wanted though to preface that with some remarks about the serious impact of what I saw. And what I saw where city kids, kids from the city, disproportionately black and latino—and never are they over represented that way. But they were, they owned MSG and the overwhelming number of white girls from the other islands and NJ did not matter: this was not a Justin Timberlake concert. The children aged 3 to whatever were full of joy and movement and dance and themselves. And this was their party, the highlight of their year or month or maybe 7 year old life. And they were in a cultural festival, they partook in an exchange, you know with each other and their heritage. There I said it. The codes were out—the clothes, the dances, the songs. Yes other people know it because it is a worldwide phenomenon but you would be remiss if you were there last night and did not understand that these city kids were letting you know THIS IS THEIR FUCKING SHIT you loving and dancing to; comes from them and is in the world, for them. They were beautiful.

Chris Brown Waved At Me

On the 1 train uptown almost midnight. Our feet and legs hurt. In my
case my shoulders hurt because for two songs he was sitting on them. I
look over, he is still elated and mesmerized. I say,
"So I'm guessing this is up there in your top five best days of your
life, huh?
He replies immediately,
"It's number one."

And so my son wrapped up his first ever live concert. Probably one of the
funnest concentration of urban youth ages 5 through 35 I have ever seen.
Man, these children want to/can/love to/live to DANCE. I mean they were
dancing from 6:30 to 11:30 PM. We got there at 7:30 found them dancing
already. Babies to teenagers, seriously: moves for days, all in unison
with whatever the dj was playing--to each song, a dance. And singing
every word. My son got right into it.

First we saw
Lil Mama: and her " lip gloss is poppin, lip gloss is cool"

Then Souljaboy cranked it and of course my son killed the dance.

Then Bow Wow came, as expected, "You ain't fresh azim Is!", etc. He
"addressed" rumors of a riff between he and Chris Brown. Said the haters
were hatin'. Little girl next to us said "he lying, they fought, he got
slammed das why he lyin''. Makes sense to me.

Then Omarion joined as a surprise.

(We interrupt this report to express distress at Omarion and Bow Wow's
height. Bow Wow is oh, roughly My son's size. As far as Omarion, well he
has REALLY hit the gym, BUT 1. he is still Bow Wow's height and 2. his
lower body does not respond to the 1,000 push ups a day he's been doing.
So, with an upper body that belongs to a 185 lb athletic 6 footer
mounted on essentially My son's legs, while wearing (very Kanyesque)
skinny jeans , our boy Omarion looked like a hot air balloon that's got
an Icebox Where His Heart Used To Be.)

The too long intermissions between acts were made better by the fact
that FUNK MASTER FLEX himself was spinning said intermissions. This
was the part where I realized: we parents were essentially "at the
club" with our children and this to us was the better part of the
evening because most of us probably don't go to the club much anymore...
Some of us were even drinking. Our kids were amused and mortified. Then
they would relax because other people's parents were clearly more
embarrassing than their own. I *may* have done the Souljaboy but the mom
behind me was singing Lil Wayne's verse on Pop Bottles:
Poor it on the models, shut up bitch swallow
If you cant swallow, shut up bitch gargle

Then the stage went black and a clock appeared counting down from 4
minutes. Yeah, you heard me, 4 minutes, hormones-galore. Usually one
counts down 10 seconds but in Chris Brownland you count down 60 seconds
as loud as you can, dammit. My son was screaming so loud that by the
time we got to 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 --I thought his ears would pop OR
he would pee on himself, or both.

And then, pyroboomexplosion, hanging on wires suspended landing on
stage: Chris Brown!!!!

My son looked at him (we were extremely close) then at me and in disbelief asked, "Is that REALLY him ?" Yes it is, I said. Then I thought, "my, how he's grown" (ahem).
He opened with Wall to Wall and off he was on his super pop idol
extravaganza.

After a few songs on the main stage, he appeared in a second stage
which was (JACKPOT!) no more than 12 feet or less from us, set literally
in the middle of our seating area. My son freaked out, got on my
shoulders promptly (ouch), so he could wave at CB. He said CB waved
back at him. I am not sure that's true but I am sure that telling him it
wasn't really "at him" CB was waving is like saying Elmo is not real and
I'm not making that mistake again... All I remember is that CB was
close enough that I could see light sparkling on individual sweat drops
on that dulce de leche candy manchild torso of his while he faked sexual
intercourse on a moving round stage. "woah...ok", said I, more loudly
than I intended. "I know girl, I KNOW" said one of the other moms.

For most of the show, my son was singing along and bouncing and bopping
his head and throwin his hands up, keeping his baby-gangsta-stuntin cool
demeanor. But at Kiss Kiss he totally LOST HIS SHIT and started doing
"his" Chris Brown dances--much to the delight of all around him.
Nobody who knows my son but has not seen this before can picture it;
nothing my son does usually prepares you for what THAT SHIT looks like.
Hi.la.ri.ous.

And then, the real P. DITTY came out to rock the crowd and say hello
and tell us how "proud" of CB he is. He also did All About the Benjamins
and Last Night. He walked past us on the exit shaking hands--he is a
very shinny good looking good smelling man in real life. My son could
care less.

Things were wrapping up I thought, when my son asked me (I was distracted
by the fact that Lil Mamma and her dancers were a few rows up wearing
the best clothes ever), Why is everyone screaming at the guy in the
green hoodie on stage ?, so I look up and... THAT IS MOTHERFUCKING 50
CENT. And it was, so my son re-assumed his baby gangsta face and with
proper gravitas, bounced and chanted "I run New York!"

Generational gap: when the slow sing along of WITH YOU came on, Chris
Brown said "lemme see all those cell phones light up the room" And ALL
the children had phones and nobody had lighters.

Racebit: Heart Broken & On Sleeve

I don’t know that anybody that is white in America knows this feeling—and I say this with pause because I am not comfortable making such statements generally because intellectually I know, they’re as plausible as guarantees about the after-life. Truth is, there’s no telling what the invidual human being will experience. Suffice to say that it is often the case, in America, that white people don’t have this feeling. History made that the case. Just as it made it the case that it’s likely that we will have this feeling.

You know, I am not a native born citizen. My citizenship is a few months old in fact. My immigrantship is more robust, going on 15 yrs. Much is written and said about the specificity of race in America. I would go further and say that for much of my intent and purposes in life, race was invented in America. Was and is every day. And so in my stay here, a huge component of who I came to be as an adult was “made in America”—this country taught me race, taught me I was black.

And it did so incompletely—as it often does for those like me, who despite appearing to be as black as the next black person and often more geographically black if you want to evoke African origin---have a pre-existing understanding of themselves that belies the way this country teaches you about race. I wouldn’t dare enumerate the ways in which my experience of myself often appears to be to be very distinct from that of black Americans (and mine is not the sole black ethnic specificity that would recognize its distinctions from a inherently very diverse black American experience either). Simply stated, "I'm black too" but it’s not the same in many ways. But it is the same in one crucial respect and to me, that is this feeling. The feeling of becoming simultaneously invisible and calcified into an identity that has nothing to do with the human being that you are. It is surreal in the sense that you are not made to be able to process its incongruence and in the sense that it is literally above the reality--if you want to hold on to the notion that you, yourself, are real.

The very first time you experience that feeling—that very American feeling—it comes without fanfare, perhaps to highest cruelty. It comes at work or at school or in an intimate moment you thought was a confessional with a friend—you are there and you are yourself and you realize, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that all that you are doesn’t rise up and drown a pre-existing idea that has been had of you, all along. A question like "do you think these statements were purposely intended to marginalize you as 'the black candidate?" is asked and there you are, a foregone conclusion pretending to be a real interlocutor. There is no explaining the little tragedy that unfolds in that moment. And not only do you recognize when it happens to you, but you have the added violence of watching it happen to others routinely, in that way that only those who have seen something, can see something. That feeling to me, is racism, if ever it was worth trying to quantify it that way.

I think this week of race-baiting identity politics in the campaign brought me squarely into that feeling. It was in part the dirty politics of race that seemed to get the best of the discussion on blogs, best of Obama’s people, best of me, even. I mean I could barely believe when I realized, reading shit at work, like comments by the head of BET or Charlie Rangel, that my feelings were hurt. "Feelings?", I thought? "When did I get so sensitive? What are my feelings doing anywhere near the NY Times online anyways?". But mostly it was the fact that at the end of the day, or rather, in this case, at the very beginning of the debate, Obama could not escape being encapsulated, entrapped, eventually declawed. He had not done so himself, not in the campaign and not in the recent days. He had not gone there and on the record that is not his rhetoric. And yet, there he was, being put to insistent formulations of The Race Question.

The real sad irony is that in that context, the person who slung race around, and self-congratulatedly mentioned the “black-browns” ad nauseum was Hillary, of course. Because a good, solid, self-satisfied white liberal who (to hear some tell it) has a “track record” of “service” on behalf of said “black-browns” is completely comfortable tossing race around. She even showed off her street cred by being comfortable saying bullshit like “I’m actually sad we didn’t get to more black-brown issues.” She could say that in this debate over and over again. If he had done that, he would be considered polarizing or militant or narrow minded, or God forbid, “like Al Sharpton”. If he had spoken in that voice—not that he would want to—he’d lose all his appeal as the crossover man of change. If he didn't, as he didn't, he would sit there and take it and lose God only knows how much. And to watch a grown man, an accomplished man, in the heat of such a historical moment that’s also such a heady personal moment, have to be diminished in this way was, frankly, infuriating and painful at the same time. It made me miss the early nineties, when I had just moved here and didn’t really give a shit about this place except for thinking it was a fascinatingly dysfunctional social experiment on crack.

Watching him tonight broke my heart; brought me to that feeling. Not only is the feeling difficult to fully express or explain, as is made clear by this rambling, it also makes the very idea of coherence tenuous. Racism—in a nutshell, is this: you become an incoherence to yourself and there is nothing you can do about it. The feeling of having your hand forced, but in a deeply personal, subjective, spiritual way, despite what you say, what you mean and what you intend, is truly uniquely devastating. And I'll concede, if there's a stench of "righteous indignation" here, well, the air is contaminated, so it is only right it should stink.

Bullshit Meter Level Higher

GLORIA STEINEM MAKES ME CRAZY. She wrote what I am sure many thought was a great column in the NY Times. Myself, I had to shoot off a "comment" right away but still disatisfied, I decided to insert my own comments into her text in CAPS. This is something therapeutic that I do when the reality of life does not allow me to say, call Gloria Steinem and tell her this shit myself. Nothing like a CLASSIC white feminist throwback moment to get me going like it's college, I'm 20, and I'm fucking pissed off. So again, below it's her, except when it's CAPS and actually making sense.


Women Are Never Front-Runners
The woman in question became a lawyer after some years as a community organizer, married a corporate lawyer and is the mother of two little girls, ages 9 and 6. Herself the daughter of a white American mother and a black African father - in this race-conscious country, she is considered black - she served as a state legislator for eight years, and became an inspirational voice for national unity.

Be honest: Do you think this is the biography of someone who could be elected to the United States Senate? After less than one term there, do you believe she could be a viable candidate to head the most powerful nation on earth?

If you answered no to either question, you're not alone. Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House. This country is way down the list of countries electing women and, according to one study, it polarizes gender roles more than the average democracy.

FIRST OF ALL GLORIA STEINEM, DO YOU REALIZE IT'S A BIT OFFENSIVE FOR US REAL BLACK WOMEN OF COMPETENCE THAT YOU HAVE TO "INVENT" US FOR RHETORICAL PURPOSES? MAYBE TALKING TO REAL VERSIONS WOULD ELUCIDATE MUCH FOR YOU. FOR INSTANCE ABOUT HOW ALL THE ANALYSIS THAT YOU PRODUCE FALLS FLAT ON THE FACE OF MOST PEOPLE ON THE PLANET WHO ARE WOMEN AND HAPPEN TO NOT BE WHITE...

BUT ANYWAY, UNLIKELY THAT YOUR FEMALE OBAMA WOULD GET AHEAD? MAYBE. IT WAS CERTAINLY UNLIKELY THAT OBAMA HIMSELF WOULD BE WHERE HE IS, BUT YOU DON'T LIKE ADMITTING THAT, FINE.

TO ENGAGE YOUR DUMBASS HYPOTHETICAL, OK: THE HANDICAP A BLACK WOMAN HAS IS NOT THAT SHE IS A WOMAN. THE WOMAN YOU DESCRIBE WOULD BE HINDERED BY THE FACT THAT SHE IS A "BLACK WOMAN" IN AMERICA--YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, A TWO WORD IDENTITY THAT YOU CAN'T PULL APART. CAN YA DIG IT? WE CERTAINLY CAN AND (DAMMIT) WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO EXPLAIN THIS SHIT TO YOU FOR OVER 30 YEARS...

That's why the Iowa primary was following our historical pattern of making change. Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot, and generally have ascended to positions of power, from the military to the boardroom, before any women (with the possible exception of obedient family members in the latter).

"AND GENERALLY HAVE ASCENDED TO POSITIONS OF POWER"--WOW SUCH COMPELLING STATISTICS, WON'T EVEN DIGNIFY THEM. ABOUT THE HISTORY LESSON: YOUR FOREMOTHERS FELT REALLY UPSET, NOT THAT BLACK MEN WERE GIVEN THE VOTE BEFORE "WOMEN OF ANY RACE" BUT BEFORE *THEMSELVES*--THAT'S WHAT THE STAKES WERE. WHITE WOMEN OF POWER AND PRIVILEGE IN A RACIST SLAVE CULTURE THAT THEY WERE, THEY WERE NONE TOO PLEASED. DON'T YOU SIT HERE AND MAKE SHIT UP. AGAIN, WE'VE HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH YOU ALL BEFORE. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

If the lawyer described above had been just as charismatic but named, say, Achola Obama instead of Barack Obama, her goose would have been cooked long ago. Indeed, neither she nor Hillary Clinton could have used Mr. Obama's public style - or Bill Clinton's either - without being considered too emotional by Washington pundits.

OH, ACHOLA--WELL SHE HAS A NAME THEN!

TOO EMOTIONAL--WACHU TALKIN BOUT WILLIS? THE SAME RULES DON'T APPLY! IF YOU WANT TO GET INTO THE AESTHETICS OF WHAT OBAMA IS DOING, OR WHAT BILL CLINTON DOES ANY CHANCE HE GETS, THAT'S A BLACK THING. (WELL THINK ABOUT IT, DIDN'T WE ALL JOKE THAT HE WAS THE FIRST "BLACK" PRESIDENT?) YOUR ACHOLA WOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT AT HOME CALLING UPON THE RHETORICAL ORAL TRADITIONS THAT OBAMA EMPLOYS AND BILL CLINTON AND MANY OTHER AMERICAN LEADERS EMPLOY FROM BLACK LIFE AND THE BLACK CHURCH.

So why is the sex barrier not taken as seriously as the racial one?
SAYS WHO, STEINEM? DON IMUS'S NAPPY HEADED HOES?

The reasons are as pervasive as the air we breathe: because sexism is still confused with nature as racism once was; AS RACISM *ONCE* WAS?!!???!!! IS THIS REALLY BEING SPOKEN IN A COUNTRY WHERE WE'D RATHER INCARCERATE HALF A MILLION BLACK BOYS THAN PUT THEM IN SCHOOL? WHERE IN SCHOOLS WHERE CHILDREN OF COLOR ARE THE MAJORITY AN AVERAGE 60 PERCENT OR MORE ARE BELOW GRADE LEVEL? YOU'RE TELLING ME WE DON'T STILL THINK RACE IS NATURE, RACE IS DESTINY, RACE MAKES PEOPLE FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT IN THE PSYCHE OF THE AVERAGE AMERICAN?

because anything that affects males is seen as more serious than anything that affects "only" the female half of the human race;
UNLESS OF COURSE SAID MALES ARE SAY,"BLACK MEN AGES 18 TO 24"
AND SAID FEMALES ARE SAY, "WHITE FEMALE TOURIST MISSING IN ARUBA", I GUESS.

because children are still raised mostly by women (to put it mildly) so men especially tend to feel they are regressing to childhood when dealing with a powerful woman; because racism stereotyped black men as more "masculine" for so long that some white men find their presence to be masculinity-affirming (as long as there aren't too many of them); WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT AND WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? NOW YOU JUST SOUND DOWNRIGHT DELUSIONAL

and because there is still no "right" way to be a woman in public power without being considered a you-know-what. WELL I DON'T KNOW THAT THAT'S TRUE SISTER, BUT I KNOW THAT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ *ARE* BITCHES, YES.

I'm not advocating a competition for who has it toughest. YES YOU ARE. IN FACT YOU HAVE FOR AS LONG AS YOU AND OTHERS LIKE YOU HAVE SOUGHT TO REPRESENT AND CO-OPT A MOVEMENT TO LIBERATE "WOMEN" WHILE PERSISTENTLY PRETENDING TO NOT HAVE OPPRESSED SCORES OF WOMEN IN TANDEM WITH THOSE MEN WHO OPPRESSED YOU AND PRETENDING THAT IN YOUR SPECIFICITY YOU WERE IN FACT CAPABLE OF SOME UNIVERSALITY OF EXPERIENCE. YOU'VE NOT ONLY ADVOCATED THIS COMPETITION, YOU HAVE HAD IT WITH NONWHITE MEN IN FACT, MUCH TO THE DETRIMENT OF NONWHITE WOMEN WHO HAVE DEALT WITH BOTH YALL'S BULLSHIT FOR QUITE.SOME.TIME. HENCE: CONDOLEEZA RICE'S MAJOR AND OBVIOUS CHIP ON HER SHOULDER...

The caste systems of sex and race are interdependent and can only be uprooted together. That's why Senators Clinton and Obama have to be careful not to let a healthy debate turn into the kind of hostility that the news media love. Both will need a coalition of outsiders to win a general election. AND YET, IN THIS MOMENT HERE AS IN ALL THE HISTORY BEFORE IT, YOUR SENTIMENT SURE DOES NOT CALL ME TO COALESCE.

The abolition and suffrage movements progressed when united and were damaged by division; we should remember that. OH WE DO, AND WE ALWAYS HAVE.

I'm supporting Senator Clinton because like Senator Obama she has community organizing experience, SO?

but she also has more years in the Senate, I'M SURE IF HE COULD HAVE GOTTEN THERE SOONER, HE WOULD HAVE--SORRY!


unprecedented eight years of on-the-job training in the White House,
"ON THE JOB" TRAINING? AND YET SAID IS AN EXPERIENCE WHICH IF ANYONE FINDS FAULT WITH THEY ARE A SEXIST PIG--THEN YOU SAY WANT A HEALTHY DEBATE?

no masculinity to prove, UH, ACTUALLY, THAT WHOLE IRAQ THING WAS ABOUT PROVING HER MASCULINITY, IF YOU WILL--THAT'S HOW PROBLEMATIC SHE IN FACT IS.

the potential to tap a huge reservoir of this country's talent by her example, RIGHT, A WOMAN WHO JUST CLAWED HER WAY TO THE WHITE HOUSE ALL ON HER OWN MARITAL MERIT: AFTER MY OWN HEART!

and now even the courage to break the no-tears rule.
FIRST OF ALL, SHE DID NOT BREAK THE RULE, SHE DIDN'T ACTUALLY CRY--NOR WOULD SHE EVER BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE TOO MUCH OFF THE CALCULATED EFFORT THAT IT WAS.

I'm not opposing Mr. Obama; if he's the nominee, I'll volunteer.
WOW, WHAT AN IMPASSIONATE ENDORSEMENT--THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Indeed, if you look at votes during their two-year overlap in the Senate, they were the same more than 90 percent of the time. POINT THEREFORE BEING HE'S JUST AS "CAPABLE" AS YOUR GIRL, NO?

Besides, to clean up the mess left by President Bush, we may need two terms of President Clinton and two of President Obama. OH SUCH QUAINT FEMINIST PRAGMATICS! OH I SEE, SO WE SHOULD LIKE, TAKE TURNS? YEAH? AND THE WHITE PERSON GOES FIRST? HOW RADICAL.

But what worries me is that he is seen as unifying by his race while she is seen as divisive by her sex. GASP! IT'S NOT THE LONG HISTORY BEHIND HER LAST NAME, IT'S NOT 20 YEARS OF PUBLIC LIFE AND SOME OF THE MOST CONTENTIOUS, NASTY POLITICAL TIMES IN RECENT HISTORY, IT'S NOT HER "VAST RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY" POSITION, NOT HER OBVIOUS SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT THAT MAKES HER DIVISIVE?

What worries me is that she is accused of "playing the gender card" when citing the old boys' club, while he is seen as unifying by citing civil rights confrontations. ARE YOU SAYING EVOKING THESE STRUGGLES IS BOGUS FOR BOTH OF THEM?
(I THINK TO BE QUITE CYNICAL, YOU ARE MAD THAT HE'S A BLACK MAN IN CONTROL OF HIS PERSONA IN A RACIST COUNTRY, WHILE SHE IS A WOMAN WHO IS UNABLE TO DO THE SAME VIS A VIS HER GENDER IN A SEXIST COUNTRY. BUT THAT'S CYNICAL AND I TAKE IT BACK).

What worries me is that male Iowa voters were seen as gender-free when supporting their own, while female voters were seen as biased if they did and disloyal if they didn't. EVERY IOWA POLL HAD A DETAILED DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN, MEMBER? HE WON THE WOMEN VOTE BY 5 POINTS.

What worries me is that reporters ignore Mr. Obama's dependence on the old - for instance, the frequent campaign comparisons to John F. Kennedy
- while not challenging the slander that her progressive policies are part of the Washington status quo. OH MY GOD, THE LENGTH OF THE BULLSHIT PEOPLE WILL ENGAGE ON THIS...

What worries me is that some women, perhaps especially younger ones, hope to deny or escape the sexual caste system; thus Iowa women over 50 and 60, who disproportionately supported Senator Clinton, proved once again that women are the one group that grows more radical with age.
TO SAY THAT BEING FOR HILLARY CLINTON'S POLITICS TODAY IS BEING "MORE RADICAL" IS BOGUS.

This country can no longer afford to choose our leaders from a talent pool limited by sex, race, money, powerful fathers and paper degrees.
FUCK WHAT IT CAN AFFORD GLORIA, IT'S WHAT IT DOES. EVERY DAY MY SON WAKES UP IN A COUNTRY THAT CHOOSES ALL POSITIONS OF POWER AND/OR SIMPLE RELEVANCE IN THE MOST MUNDANE AND ROUTINE WAYS (NOT JUST PRESIDENTS) BASED ON A PREDICTABLE CALCULUS OF SEX, RACE, CLASS, ETC. GIVEN HOW *SHE* CAME TO BE WHO SHE IS, I FIND *HIM* THE BETTER SLAP IN THE FACE OF THAT SYSTEM.


It's time to take equal pride in breaking all the barriers.
FUCKING TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE.

We have to be able to say: "I'm supporting her because she'll be a great president and because she's a woman."
NO, WE HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SAY AND IN FACT WE DO SAY: I AM SUPPORTING HIM BECAUSE HE IS GETTING YOUNG PEOPLE TO ENGAGE IN THEIR POLITICAL PROCESS, IS INTELLIGENT, THOUGHTFUL, COMMITTED, WORLDY, SINCERE, INFORMED, SELF-MADE AND HIS ARRIVING AT THIS MOMENT BOTH IMPRESSES AND INSPIRES AN ENTIRE COUNTRY. (AND LOOK MA!, I CAN SAY ALL THAT AND NOT MENTION RACE!)

Gloria Steinem is a co-founder of the Women's Media Center.
AND SHE IS FUCKING LAZY WITH HER THINKING.

Bullshit Meter Level High

Though conceding that he is "articulate" (that word is back!) Karl Rove said of Obama that
"He is often lazy, given to misstatements and exaggerations and, when he doesn't know the answer, too ready to try to bluff his way through."

I say bring it on folks! Let's us have a race to see which on of you calls him "shiftless" first!

But seriously, when one thinks that Rove is the one who conspired and plotted to give us the President who:
--doesn't read
--doesn't watch the news
--doesn't stay up past 9 pm
--told the WMD in Iraq lies AND the torture is okay if we do it lies,
one does find Rove's comments *particularly* funny.

Incidentally: My son

There are loves that are acts. Actions. Sweepings beginnings and endings. Most loves are that. The way that I love my son is all the other things, the fleeting and the soaring, the evoking and the leaving unfinishedly satisfied things. Questions that grow the mind, answers that scorch the eye for the truth in them. Instanteneous and eternal, about the smallest and the most infinite things; it's not something I could ever explain in terms of what it is. I only try to say here what it does. Loving my son is a spectular, recurring event that changes everything each single time.