The Obamaramadrama

Whee! Have you ever had so much fun in your whole life? Here I thought we were involved in trying to select someone to be President of the United States. As it turns out we are really involved in a discussion of Black churches and private interpersonal relationships. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, according to the MSM, seems to have embarked upon a campaign to destroy his most famous parishioner, Barack Obama. Part of Wright’s problem is that he says things that are true. I was shocked, shocked, to learn that Obama was a politician. Wright said that he himself says things as a Pastor whereas Obama says things because he’s a politician. Jeez, I didn’t know Obama was a politician. I thought he was visitor from outer space who just dropped by for kicks. The problem is that Wright’s identification of Obama as a politician isn’t interpreted to mean he’s a politician. It means he’s “just a politician.” That is, as bad as Hillary Clinton and her longtime sidekick, Bill. Obama has tried to be a somewhat different kind of politician, one who tries to stick to the truth and be honest with the public, but the Clinton’s are determined to drag him down into the gutter politics that are more familiar to them. It doesn’t matter what Wright says in his sermons or elsewhere, he doesn’t speak for Obama. And it doesn’t matter what Obama says, he doesn’t speak for Wright. Somehow, we are being led to believe that the relationship of Wright/Obama is the end/all, be/all of contemporary politics. It certainly does serve a purpose as it keeps us from having to hear anything serious about the “war,” the recession, war crimes, health care, decaying infrastructure, our failing education system, poverty in the midst of plenty, and etc., etc., etc. It also keeps us from hearing anything about Hillary Clinton’s questionable relationships, the dismal performance of her husband, her apparent chaotic campaign and its finances, and so on. It all boils down to race and whether or not the American voting public will elect an African-American to the highest office of the land. We might have actually elected a woman, if she hadn’t fouled her own nest so badly.

Life goes on here at Sandhill. It’s supposed to be spring. Yesterday and today it was almost warm. But it’s been unseasonably cold up until now. I did manage to burn last year’s cornstalks and trash, and I planted peas (by the time they come up it will probably be too hot for them). Mostly I just watch my wife work. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday she puts on her Sociology hat and teaches a course in Sociology at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene. On Wednesday evenings she puts on her Anthropology hat and teaches Anthropology. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday she puts on her Sous Chef’s hat and cooks at a local restaurant (actually, a new and quite good restaurant for Bonners Ferry). She may be asked to teach an English class this Fall (Yes, she is qualified to teach all these subjects – linguistics, too). In her spare time she bakes bread, cleans house, runs an online book business, cooks most of our meals, and chairs the local Democrats. Like I say, I watch. In awe.

I did finish the manuscript for my latest book, Savages and Savagery. As I haven’t heard yet from the publisher I’m not at all sure he is going to accept it (it is most unflattering of Western-Europeans). Speaking of books, let me tell you of a new scam (actually this is four or five years old now). There is a company called Publish America who somehow got a copy of my manuscript for a book called The Cham Stones. To this day I don’t know how they found it as I did not submit it to them. In any case, the offered to publish it, emphasizing they were not a Vanity Publisher and there would be no cost to me. Not having any publishers beating a path to my door I said sure. The book was duly published. It’s not a great book, but its not bad either, kind of a mystery/adventure story somewhat along the lines of The Maltese Falcon. They had told me that I would be responsible for most of the marketing and gave suggestions about doing so. I did not interpret this to mean they would not market it at all. And at my age I was not about to travel around trying to sell it myself. Therein is the beauty of this scam. What they have done is simply change Vanity Publishing into Vanity Marketing. Immediately after The Cham Stones was published I received offers to market it. All I had to do is pay them so many dollars for different marketing schemes. I was so irritated I refused all such offers. As a result The Cham Stones, according to the Publisher, has never sold a single copy (aside from a very few they sold to my friends). As this book has been available for three or four years now, and as it has apparently not sold a single copy, I am thinking of going for the Guinness book of records. As The Cham Stones is not at all like anything else I have ever written, and as I did it mainly to prove to myself I could write such a thing, and as my life doesn’t depend upon the revenue from it, this doesn’t really bother me very much. But I do find it strange that in a country of about 300 million people not one person has seen fit to buy this book, even though it is available online. If I had not already published a few books I think I would have been very upset. One of my former students who published several books told me once that the best advice I ever gave him was, “don’t trust publishers.” I still think that’s pretty good advice. Nowadays it is very easy to publish. But it is amazingly difficult to market your books. Proceed with caution.

LKBIQ:
“My mother used to say there are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met yet. She’s now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia.”
Dame Edna Everage