Battling Lord Voldemort

I have never been a big Harry Potter fan. I was in my mid 40's when the series started so I was a little too old to really get into this phenomenon of fantasy. By the age of 45 the only fantasy that could hold my attention was a sex fantasy. So it's no wonder that I only have the barest knowledge of what goes on in the Potter Universe. But I do know the Deathly Hollows is about the final confrontation between the chosen one, who is the symbol of hope and the evilest of them all, the Dark Lord.
Good versus Evil, Love versus Hate! All Potter plots are the same just as they are in Dickens, Tolkien, Star Wars and OZ. Fantasy's like these are the only place where the mundane, the marvelous, the ordinary and the surreal co exist. These make believe worlds are recognizable as places where death and the catastrophes of daily life are inevitable and where people's lives are defined by love, loss and hope.
In the end Good should always triumph over evil but sometimes in the Mortal world the end is a long time coming. It took almost 10 years for Harry to learn of his finial faith, hopefully it will be another 30 years before I learn of mine.

You look marvelous

I am one of the three hundred million Americans who will not be buying into the pop culture craze of David Beckham and his wife Posh Spice. Their coming to America is not about the game of soccer, it's a money grab pure and simple. The only pond jumpers I cared about were the Beatles. Their culture craze has lasted 45 years unlike the Beckham's craze which will be gone by September or at least by the time Paris Hilton goes to rehab.
Companies who sell their products during Major League Soccer games are not investing in the game of soccer, they only care about looks, image and style. The only thing the companies want America to hear is "David and Posh you look marvelous". All this stuff should be on Access Hollywood not ESPN. If the Beckham's want to sell themselves as pop culture, they should be contestants on American Idol. In America we don't admire athletes simply because of their good looks we admire grand performances. David Beckham is no Michal Jordon or Tiger Woods and even if he was I would rather watch a Rock, Paper, Scissor tournament that a Major League Soccer game. Besides we already have a game in America where they kick the ball around and unlike the bloody bloks from the rest of the world who miss spell their game of futbol, we spell our game correctly.

George's little scooter

If you are a rich right-wing-Republican you would have given Scooter Libby a Get Out of Jail Free card just as the President did. The only thing the card proves is that President Bush and his partner in crime Dick Cheney believe they are above the law. When it comes to the law there should not be two sets of rules, one for President Bush and Vice President Cheney and another for the rest of America. Congress should conduct an investigation of whether or not the President himself was a participant in the obstruction of justice. Accountability has been in short supply in the Bush administration and passing a Get Out of Jail Free card to his little scooter sure fits that pattern. It seems the little scooter runs best when it's tank is full of cronyism and jury nullification.
The whole thought of a pardon for Scooter Libby betrays the ideal that all Americans are expected to be held accountable for their actions. There is no way the American people's faith in government can be restored using these kinds of politics. America is not just a nation of laws, it is a nation of trust. You can't govern unless you have the trust of the people. If before he gave Libby a Get Out of Jail Free card he had any trust left George Bush no longer does. If it weren't so tragic it would be laughable.

The Schoolhouse Door

Is diversity good for America? America's racial and ethnic mix is based on the great melting pot but in reality it causes people of different ethnicity or race to withdraw and retreat into their own culture. The greater the diversity in an area the less trust neighbors have and the more isolated they become. Diversity at least in the short run seems to bring out the worst in a lot of us. That's because we look at diversity as a threat not a challenge. Over time we get used to diversity but it is a time consuming process. We too often confuse racial imbalance with racial segregation. Racial imbalance is a fact of life that is usually based on housing patterns. Racial segregation is racial separation which has been imposed by the State.
I am old enough to remember when the Supreme Court was a major force for racial integration. Up until my second year in high school my town had two schools, one for whites and one for blacks. The overturning of Brown vs the Board of Education by the US Supreme Court will transport America back to an era of racial schools. The Court has now made it possible for the former Governor of Alabama, George Wallace to reappear and once again block the schoolhouse door as he did in 1963 at the University of Alabama while stating to all blacks "You can't come in, segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"




If we as a society are going to work towards fairness, inclusion, equality and integration we are going to do it by working around those men in black robs on Capital Hill because they have decided to stand in the schoolhouse door just as George Wallace did in 1963. Racial integration in schools is a good thing because minorities of today will become the majority of tomorrow, that is surly a no brainier in the case of America's population.
The debate on race and ethnicity will continue and the courts will be ask if diversity is a compelling State interest and for a way to achieve it. All the while Americas will continue to define themselves using the superficial physical features of race and ethnicity.