TimKesten.com

I didn’t vote this year. I didn’t particularly care for either candidate, and I am tired of voting against the candidate that I dislike less. I definitely didn’t want Obama to win the election, and if I had voted, I would have voted for McCain. I don’t feel that the government knows what’s best to do with our money and I believe, “that governments best which governs least.” I think that large scale redistribution of wealth is dangerous and doesn’t reward people for hard work.

All of that notwithstanding, we now have a black president. We, a nation of slavery 150 years ago, have a black president. We, a nation of Jim Crow laws and segregated schools only 50 years ago, have a black president. A nation in which, until 50 years ago, minorities were not guaranteed the right to vote now has a black president.

I am not a historian, but I have a hard time believing that any society in the history of mankind has progressed so far, so quickly. That a demographic of a society that was officially oppressed by its government has, in 50 years, produced the leader of that nation without a civil war, coup or military uprising in that time period has to be unprecedented. It is a testament to those who worked so hard and sacrificed so much years before I was born to set the ground work for something like this to happen, but it is also a testament to our nation, for making right what was so wrong.

In the scope of someone’s lifetime, 50 years certainly is not a short span of time, let alone 150 years. In the scope of history, it is less than the blink of an eye. I am not naive enough to think that we don’t need to continue to progress. I am not naive enough to think that there are people in our country that resent the idea of a black president. But those people have been proven to now be the true minority.

To those of you who voted for Barack Obama, congratulations. I hope you were right to do so.

More importantly, congratulations to the United States of America, for coming this far.

Golf Channel Anchor Kelly Tilghman is being suspended for two weeks for something she said about Tiger Woods. What she said is being compared by Adora Obi Nweze, the president of the Florida State conference, a unit of the NAACP, to Don Imus calling the Rutgers Women’s basketball team “nappy headed hoes.” Al Sharpton is calling for Tilghman’s immediate termination by the Golf Channel.

So what did Tilghman say? What utterance could merit the destruction of a career? While discussing the chance that up-and-coming golfers had to challenge Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo said that, “maybe they should gang up on him for a while.” In response, Tilghman said, “Lynch him in a back alley.” Do you seriously think that anyone who thought of the connotations connected to the word “lynch” would use it so carelessly? Do you think that Tilghman, who reportedly is a friend of Woods, had any racial or hateful intent when she said those words? If she knew how people would read into that statement and uttered it anyway, she is one of the least intelligent successful people in this country.

None of that matters to the always opportunistic Sharpton. “Whether she’s a racist… is immaterial,” Sharpton said. No, Mr. Sharpton, it is material. It is everything. Kelly Tilghman said something, off the cuff, that some may have deemed racially insensitive based on connotation. Regardless of what you may want the public to believe, the term “lynching” is not, as you said “a specific racial term.” It may have specific racial connotations, but that is something very different. The definition of the term “lynch” is “to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.” Notice that there is no mention of racism in the definition. That those actions unfortunately happened to many African-Americans in a dark part of our country’s history does not exclusively link the definition of the word to African-Americans.

Kelly Tilghman is not Fuzzy Zoellor. I can understand why the public was upset after he suggested that Woods not serve fried chicken or “whatever they serve” at the Master’s Champion’s dinner. That anger was justified. There was simply no venom behind Tilghman’s comment. She was simply intimating that the up and coming golfers had little chance of challenging Tiger. The hyperbole was that their only chance would be to physically harm Woods. Tiger knew what she meant, and so does Al Sharpton. The difference is that Woods has nothing to gain by vilifying Tilghman, while Sharpton has made a career out of vilifying people every chance he gets. Tiger’s agent said that it was a non issue and that “Tiger has a great deal of respect for Kelly … we know unequivocally that there was no ill-intent in her comments.” Meanwhile, Sharpton said “What she said is racist … She’s a broadcaster. The channel has to be accountable to the public.” Mr. Sharpton, she and the Golf Channel may need to be accountable to the public and to Mr. Woods, but despite what your ego may tell you, they do not, and should not, have to be accountable to a hate monger like yourself.

I don’t know much about reindeer, but from what I do know, they seem like elitist jerks. Just because Rudolph had a physical difference, the other reindeer called him names and wouldn’t let him play in their games. I would assume soccer would be one of those games, since deer, rein or otherwise, lack opposable thumbs. Even then, throw-ins would become a problem. Maybe they played hide and seek. Either way, I can’t imagine they played football or basketball or baseball or any other sport worth while. Anyway, if I was Rudolph and Santa and the other jerks came to me for help after I had endured their abuse, I would have told them to get lost. Or, if I did help them, I would have held it over their heads forever.

Donner: What did you do this weekend?

Blitzen: Another game of hide and seek. You?

Donner: Prancer and I played bocce ball.

Rudolph: Wow that sounds great, guys! Hey, you know what that reminds me of? That time you were all screwed until I showed up and saved all your sorry asses! All right, good talk. I’m out.

Blitzen: I’m so sick of that guy.

Donner: We should have just stolen the fog lights from Dancer’s Honda.

I can’t imagine Key deer behaving this way, they seem much more tolerant and inclusive. This is yet another reason why Florida is better than the North Pole.