Smear journalism

SMEAR JOURNALISM -- The Far Right keeps ranting about President Obama's "foreign roots," as if this somehow makes him less American, or even evil. This time, it's found in a Forbes Magazine cover story by Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza, defending his work in an interview with Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz, insisted that "The idea that Obama has roots that are foreign is not an allegation, it's a statement of fact." Indeed so. Obama does have "roots that are foreign." But so do we all, except for full-blooded members of the Iroquois Federation, the Navajo Nation, or any of the hundreds of other tribes and peoples who were here before the European invasion of 1492. And there is some evidence that even these peoples migrated to the Americas over a land or ice bridge from Siberia. It is also true that Obama senior abandoned the family when his son was two years old, and that young Barack only met his father once, in his pre-teen years. Moreover, to jump from this "fact" of "foreign roots" to the notion that this dominates your thinking remains at best a "psychological theory," which D'Souza himself admits. At worst, it is the "bad seed" notion, which in turn leads to the idea that we are not responsible for our own actions.
We all have "foreign roots." But to say that those who honor and maintain these cultural traditions are any less American because they do so is itself un-American. Diversity, and the acceptance and celebration of diversity, is what makes America great.
　
GLEANINGS of an Itinerant Speller --"Thanks for the apprisal." Some folks "can't conceive a number that high, let a loan pay it." This reminded Mad Dog O'Shaughnessy of the old joke about two men adrift after their boat went down, and one had to help his non-swimmer friend.
One: "Do you think now can you float alone?"
Two: "At a time like this, you want to talk business?"

BEWARE THE SOUNDALIKES -- "Free reign" has nothing to do with monarchs. When controlling a horse, you "rein him in" and when you let him roam, you give him "free rein."