Slouching Towards Oblivion

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Keith Speaks


Keith makes a great point by stitching the actions of "sports figures" to the politics of their contemporary circumstance.  He says you don't get to separate sports-world events from the political environment in which those sports-world events occur.

Here's my fer-instance:  If racial segregation wasn't political; if figuring out ways to force the realization of the need for change wasn't political, then how is it that Bear Bryant waited for exactly the right time to invite USC and Sam Cunningham to come to Tuscaloosa and kick Bama's all-white SEC ass on national TV?

Ya gotta be a little careful about drawing parallels between (eg) racism and LGBT discrimination, but when we're talking about equal rights, we're supposed to be talking about everybody being afforded the same rights as everybody else.  

Equal. Fucking. Rights.

Go Keith go.  Pretty smart guy.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Money Well Spent

If I had any real money - and if there was still something a lot less rare than a Community Orchestra to give it to - I'd give a lot of dough to get something like this going.

Teenage Dirtbag (cover) --The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain


No matter what the source, there's just nothing like good tunes played by good players.

One More Time, Indiana

Apparently, Mike Pence has been quite surprised and even a little shocked that the reaction to his little Fuck-Them-Uppity-Queers-Anyway law has caused such a stir.  I'd really like to see the law as just another political calculation to appease the Right Radicals who got out the vote and put his ass in the governor's chair etc etc etc, but I think he's being fairly genuine here - I think he was actually convinced that what he did was gonna be OK with everybody.  

And I think he believed it because he's so totally insulated from everything that might in any way run contrary to his preconceptions.  Nobody ever says 'no' to this guy, and that's the way he wants it.

Pence is like your knuckleheaded brother-in-law or Uncle DumFux who never seeks out any information that might require him to modify his positions, or to rethink any of his opinions on  policy.  Call it Government By Confirmation Bias, or whatever, but here's the thing, Mikey:  when you've got your head up your ass, even if you open your eyes, all you're gonna see is your own shit.

hat tip = phantom power at Democratic Underground

And I'm still wondering (as well as still waiting for a Press Poodle to step up and ask) - precisely what "religious freedom" has been lost that makes government intervention necessary to restore it?

From The Other Side


Guys like Mike Pence just always seem not to understand that laws regarding anybody's rights have to ensure everybody's rights - and it doesn't matter that you didn't think of all the extreme shittiness that follows the logical progression of the effects of the law - you don't get to elevate the rights of your favorite group over the rights of any other group based solely on who they are, Mr Pence.  And the fact that you were completely in the dark about that shittiness shows how insular and beholden and captive you are to a radical cadre of Theo-Fascists.

And we're off to the races now.

I hereby do establish my religion - the Church of Our Lady of None Of Your Fuckin' Business, and I do further establish and ordain myself Lord High Inquisitor and Defender Of The Fairytale.  I will therefore go forth to impose upon the great unwashed the Holy Admonition according to The Gospel of The Coital Conifer Flower, for it is truly the foundation of faith for all who are stoopid enough to believe as I do - and judging by the current crop of idiot rubes who're more than willing to subscribe to just about any nonsense anybody can imagine as long as it allows them to feel special by slagging people they need to believe are worthy of being beaten down, my coffers will be filled beyond the dreams of Croesus in no time at all.

So here's the thing - my religion requires me to tell Gov Pence to go fuck himself with a pinecone, so the laws against public verbal assault and threatening behavior towards public officials mean nothing.  As of this summer, Indiana law requires the cops and the prosecutors to leave me alone and let me scream my silly little profanities at the governor every time I'm in earshot of him, or any of his staffers, or any of the suckers who think this stoopid law was a good idea.

But also, I wanna say it loud and clear to every eligible voter who stayed home on election day; everybody who was eager to sit on their asses while somebody else was out there doing the work of self-government.  Ya'll sat there and let this happen, so you can all go fuck yourselves with a pinecone too.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

A Giant Killer

Elizabeth Warren continues to be a great example of what political courage looks like; and what happens when somebody who knows a little something about leadership in a representative democracy stands up and speaks the kind of truth that makes oligarchs very uncomfortable.
(Reuters) - Big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Representatives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party's tone toward Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said this week.
Bank officials said the idea of withholding donations was not discussed at a meeting of the four banks in Washington but it has been raised in one-on-one conversations between representatives of some of them. However, there was no agreement on coordinating any action, and each bank is making its own decision, they said.
The amount of money at stake, a maximum of $15,000 per bank, means the gesture is symbolic rather than material.
Moreover, banks' hostility toward Warren, who is not a presidential candidate, will not have a direct impact on the presumed Democratic front runner in the White House race, Hillary Clinton. That's because their fund-raising groups focus on congressional races rather than the presidential election
Still, political strategists say Clinton could struggle to raise money among Wall Street financiers who worry that Democrats are becoming less business friendly.
The bit that I hi-lited in yellow wins this week's Corporate Bullshitter award.  A "cap" of $15,000 is window dressing.  It's "symbolic rather than material"?  Well dip me in shit and call me lonesome - whooda thunk it?  When you threaten to take that away from a candidate, it's a signal - it means you'll (prob'ly) be spending hundreds of times that amount on attack ads and mailings and blowjobs for the pimps at AEI so they'll pop up on DumFux News & Meet The Press Poodles to spout warnings about all the horribleness that's just gotta happen if Bad Ol' Perfesser Egghead won't let the Giant Vampire Squid continue sucking the life out of everything we thought we were all supposed to be working for.

But the red part's the real kicker.  More and more, it's not about who lives in the White House.  It's about who owns the US Senate and the Governors' mansions, and the state legislatures and on down the line.

So we're busy arguing over the Federal-level shit - where we get to have a president and a coupla dozen high-profile Senators and Representatives in order to maintain the illusion of "self-government" (and that's not bound to last much past the next few cycles if things don't change in a big fuckin' hurry) - while the American Aristocracy is even busier puppeteering the rubes into slashing and burning at the state- local- and municipal levels.

And one last item: I know it sounds like I'm railing against all the doom-and-gloom coming from "the right" by railing about doom-and-gloom from what you might see as "the left".  If that's how you hear it, then you've internalized all the Middle-Ground bullshit we hear every day from practically every media outlet everywhere, and you must get the fuck over it.  

The difference is that I'm arguing in favor of the firewalls that have to be in place as a way of preventing the toxic and corrosive effects of having too much power concentrated in too few hands, while the other side is pimping the wholesome goodness of outright authoritarian rule.

Get up on your hind legs and make some noise.

God Love Larry Wilmore

Sunday Music

My Oh My, Boll Weevil, Magnet, Julep --Punch Brothers





Peace Train (cover) --10,000 Maniacs

Friday, March 27, 2015

The State Of The Fourth Estate (updated 0952EDT)

...is pretty fucking bad.



"...I've seen scaffolding that covers congress better than you guys."

hat tip = Blue Virginia

And now this:


Listening to Bill O'Reilly out-gassing about how journalism is supposed to work is like being lectured on fire safety by Mrs O'Leary's cow.

Questions On Sunshine


Why do we need "outsiders" to make us see these things?  

And just how fucked up is the "American Press" when they miss this to the point of it being totally unknown to practically everybody?

How have we managed to forget that allowing government to operate in secret is always the best way to encourage Official Skullduggery?  Weren't we supposed to be the exception to all that?

Friday Tunage

Rock On --David Essex



Can't You See --Marshall Tucker Band



I Hear You Knockin' --Dave Edmunds Band



Ticket To Ride --Beatles



50 Ways To Leave Your Lover --Paul Simon






Wednesday, March 25, 2015

It Bears Repeating


“Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home – but not for housing. They are strong for labor – but they are stronger for restricting labor’s rights. They favor minimum wage – the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all – but they won’t spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine – for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing – but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think the American standard of living is a fine thing – so long as it doesn’t spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.”  --Harry S Truman
I posted this one a while back - and I think I may have tagged it with something like:

Gee, the more things change, the more they (the Grifters-On-Parade) stay the same.  

If I didn't, I should've.

That Duck Schmuck

Phil Robertson's a piece of work, ain't he?


Morality is a rational thing that grows from an understanding of what it takes to live in a world with other people who have exactly the same rights and responsibilities that you have.

Those ISIS fuck wads have a god-given morality.  Jim Jones had a god-given morality.  David Koresh had a god-given morality. Jephthah had a god-given morality that led him to burn his daughter alive as a way of sucking up to that god.

I don't have a nice easy 10-word bumper sticker solution for the problems of ethics and morality, and it should be pretty obvious by now that we're not getting anywhere just listening to the voices in our heads and consulting with imaginary friends that turn out to be nuthin' but brainwave activity in our right temporal lobes.

So let's start fresh with something like this:
It takes a buncha work and a lotta thought, but ya gotta figure out how to live your life without needing your mommy or a cop or Jesus looking over your shoulder all the fucking time.
hat tip = Right Wing Watch

Monday, March 23, 2015

A Woman's Right


I'm not a big Diane Feinstein fan, but when she earns cookies, I gotta give her cookies.

The meek-n-mild Appeal To Emotion by begging to be allowed to win just one after losing so many for so long ain't gonna cut much, but even tho' it's not a great argument, she kinda makes it stick by stealing the "deeply-held principle" angle.  Not a bad turnaround.

So OK - but here's what I'd really love to see (shit, I'd be glued to C-SPAN all day if I tho't this'd pop up once in a while):

CORNYN: Why shouldn't the law take exception to paying for abortions with tax dollars?

FEINSTEIN:  This isn't about your objections to using tax dollars in a way you find inappropriate - that's just a quickie handjob for a buncha rubes who think your "opposition to abortion" is actually a solid campaign promise instead of the Contribution Gravy Train we've all been riding for as long as anybody can even remember.  Look, I know you're not such a bad guy, but on this one thing, within this narrow focus, here it is: Fuck you - keep your fairy-tale religions out of this government, and keep your government out of my granddaughter's uterus.  Now, how 'bout we stop fuckin' around like this and let's get somethin' done for a fuckin' change?

I'll be emailing this post to my congress critters.  Feel free to do the same.


Shut Down The Fuck Barrel




When I see "police", I think "Sheriff".
And when I see [insert city name here],
I think "Nottingham".

Sunday, March 22, 2015

I Am Troll Man

In this week's installment, Troll Man posts a comment at Right Wing News, on a post regarding student loans:
We all love watching people on TV talk about how rough their lives are, right?  Click here to watch MSNBC’s Blake Zeff complain about his student debt…
MSNBC host, and “lucky idiot” by his own admission, Blake Zeff gave the ending rant on today’s “the Cycle” show, and he used the occasion to whine that it wasn’t fair for him and his wife to have to pay back the $170,000 in student loan debt they racked up.
So the bank is just supposed to forget that they made the decision to spend money on an education that wouldn’t pay for itself? Or perhaps he wants the American taxpayer to foot the bill. Does anyone actually think banks will continue to loan out money for student loans if they can never get it paid back?
If we want to have a serious discussion on student loans, that’s great! Sen. Marco Rubio has some ideas, including making sure students have an idea how much the can expect to make before they take out a loan. Though if we wanted a serious discussion, we wouldn’t be watching MSNBC.
Here're the highlites of just how magnificent I am (on annoyingly rare occasions):


And then - crickets.

--snip - onto a slightly different thread.  What's interesting to me here is that they kinda start to engage, but it's like they suddenly realize I'm "the enemy", and they run away.

I'll try to post updates as (if) some of these folks come back at me.  It's weird tho'.  I ask questions and I try not to be too bellicose (yeah, yeah I know - but sometimes it's just not possible to let the shit slide), but I seem to be goin' nowhere in a big fucking hurry.

Today's Turnaround


That Pesky 1st Amendment




CONTACT US
Freedom From Religion Foundation
PO Box 750
Madison WI 53701
608/256-8900
FAX 608/204-0422
For all other queries, please select a contact option in the email form below.
FFRF does not sell, share, trade or otherwise divulge names, addresses, e-mails or phone numbers. All submitted information is held in confidentiality and is for in-house use only.
hat tip = FB Friend VWE

Today's Pix











Friday, March 20, 2015

Happy Equinox


Let's Play

Burning Up --Calum Graham




Gimme One Reason (cover) --Kelly Clarkson



Goin' To California --Led Zeppelin



Sadder Days, (Won't Be) Comin' Home, I'm Done Cryin' --Robert Cray

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Gotta Go

Too much cookin' for me right now.

I gotta walk away for a while and try to decompress; get some shit done for myself and - uhm - whatever it is I think I'm trying to do in general.

Sorry.  I'll try to do some pix and some music once in a while, but really, I just gotta get outa here.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Look At Yerself

Here's a bit from Scabrous Joe and Mika The Attack Bunny - along with other MSNBC Meat Puppets - saying how can we expect these fine innocent teenagers not to behave like racist assholes when it's so obvious that all those rotten hip-hopsters are putting out all those horrible rap songs that use the n-word and kill this muthuhfuckuh and bang that bitch and blah blah blah.


Aside from the standard bullshit trying to make this all about Respectability Politics (tell it, Brother Jay - from way back when)...


...and aside from more of the standard bullshit trying to make some stoopid point about 'reverse racism', maybe we could look at why all the white folk gettin' all bent outa shape.

I think I hear something along the lines of "well, if black people can call each other nigger, then why can't we call 'em niggers?"

That's a question that comes from way down deep in the bottomless well of White Privilege.

Look, guys - I'm not likely to be brutalized and/or murdered by the cops just because I was driving at night in a nice neighborhood.  I'm not gonna get Red-Lined by the mortgage companies; I'm not gonna be the suspect in a string of crimes because my facial features and my skin tone fit some artificial profile manufactured by a "justice system" that's become cynical and corrupt.  And there's a shitload more examples of built-in prejudice once you start thinking about it.

Secondly, the use of any of the words available to us has to be subject to scrutiny from a standpoint of what relationship we have with the people we're trying to communicate with.  If you sidle up beside your wife, and you give her a little squeeze on the buns and a peck on the cheek, and you say, "Hey babe - wanna get laid tonite?", you're just trying to be playful or romantic or provocative or whatever.  If you do that with somebody's teenaged daughter, you don't get to be all huffy and indignant when they take exception to it and start pounding you down into a greasy spot with a piano leg.

So after all that; knowing what Privilege allows for The Privileged, and what it does not allow for those Un-Privileged, can't we let up on the idiot notion of being so fucking privileged that we insist on "What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine too"?

Can't we give black folk one lousy word that they get to own and the rest of us just get to stay the fuck away from it?

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Say What Now?

Megyn Kelly:
“There are very few companies in America, whether they’re public or private, in which if you sic 40 FBI agents on the company and review every email and every document and every communication between employees, you won’t find any racist emails."

So practically every company in America 1) employs a buncha racist assholes, and 2) has no particular policy against sending racist asshole emails &/or chooses to do nothing about the racist assholes who work for them.

And that proves the cops and the courts in Ferguson MO can't possibly be racist?  Can you say "Tu Quoque"?  How 'bout "Bandwagon"?

One other little thingie, Ms Kelly - the DoJ report did not "completely clear Darren Willson".  The conclusion was that they didn't find enough to go after a Federal Indictment against him. There's quite a difference there - and you know it.

Just Stop Being Poor

Americans are a woefully ignorant people. A third of us can't name even one of three branches of the U.S. government. Two-fifths don't even know which party controls the House or Senate. Millions even think that after the Supreme Court rules on a case, it's sent to Congress for lawmakers' consideration. And so it goes.
If we don't even know these very basics, just imagine how confusing King v. Burwell — a legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) — must be. But why let ignorance get in the way of opinion? Supporters and haters of the law simply see it — as they do just about everything — through their prisms of pre-conceived beliefs. This has led to misunderstandings and myths about what the case is all about and ObamaCare in general.

Obamacare doesn't fix a lot of what's wrong about Healthcare in USAmerica Inc.  What it does fix (partly) is the accessibility problem.  At least now, we all have a shot at getting covered by an insurance plan that we can actually afford, which was kinda the whole fucking point of The Affordable Care Act.

ahem


Claim: 8.2 million Americans can’t find full-time work partly due to Obamacare.
FactCheck.org says: False.

Claim: The law is a job-killer.
FactCheck.org says: Overblown.

Claim: Premiums are going up because of the law. Premiums are going down because of the law.
FactCheck.org says: It depends.

Claim: All of the uninsured will pay less on the exchanges than they could now on the individual market, even without federal subsidies.
FactCheck.org says: False.

Claim: 8.5 million Americans will receive rebates this year averaging about $100 each because of the health care law.
FactCheck.org says: Misleading.

Claim: You won’t be able to choose your own doctor.
Claim: The government will be between you and your doctor.
FactCheck.org says: False.

Claim: If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
FactCheck.org: Misleading.

Claim: Those applying for federal subsidies can lie about their income without facing verification.
FactCheck.org says: False.

Claim: Congress is exempt from the law.
FactCheck.org says: False.


And we don't really need to talk about Death Panels do we?

The Big Bamboozle

Everybody loves to hate Wal-Mart.


I think ya gotta be careful with the whole 2-Minute Daily Hate thing, but there's something pretty satisfying about it once in a while. Especially when you can point it in the right direction.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

I Miss This Guy

Richard Jeni 04/14/1957 - 03/10-2007

They Ain't My Guys

Just in case anybody was wondering what it takes to make a buncha theocratic Iranian shit-sniffers look like the 'good guys' - ladies & germs, I give you a buncha theocratic American shit-sniffers 47 Republican Senators who're working really hard to raise the level of partisan fuck-uppery to new heights.

How is it that Iran's Foreign Minister knows more about how the US Gov't is supposed to work than the propeller-heads we hired to run the US Senate?
"The authors may not fully understand that in international law, governments represent the entirety of their respective states, are responsible for the conduct of foreign affairs, are required to fulfil the obligations they undertake with other states and may not invoke their internal law as justification for failure to perform their international obligations."
But wait - "conservatives" need Iran to be the enemy.  They need some bullshit reason to keep the rubes riled up.  And does anyone need convincing that some of these "public servants" need their stock portfolios to get another nice fat injection of War Bucks?  What could be worse for them politically than having to make nice with an Islamic government after they've spent so much time and energy and Koch Family Money© demonizing it?

And what're they supposed to do with all that silly rhetoric about Obama being a secret Muslim and all the Libtards loving all things Islam?  They can't let all that go to waste, so it naturally fits for them to say they're just being tough on Iran - cuz "Obama can't be", or whatever - in order to keep the bad ol' Mullahs from getting the bomb; with the main point being they can't let anything Obama tries to do go unchallenged.  

That's what all this Party Purity crapola is really good for BTW.  No matter how stoopid your idea is on its own merits, anything you wanna do is OK as long as it hurts Obama and/or makes the Libruls mad.

But guess what, kids - Iran is going to get the bomb no matter what anybody says or does.  It's gonna happen sooner or later.  So why do you send a threatening letter to Mr Fariz?  Maybe it's because you wanna speed things along a little.  Maybe you want Iran to get the bomb ASAP so you have justification for war - which you can blame on Obama's "policy of appeasement"(?), and get back to the good old days of Us vs Them; of enemies within and enemies without.

History doesn't actually repeat itself, but it sure as fuck rhymes.

And The Question Remains

Why is it that we're not getting any decent reporting from anywhere but HBO and Comedy Central?



Sunday, March 08, 2015

The Vaxxer Thing

There's no "other side" of the vaccination thing.  

It's kinda like: "eating pancakes doesn't make you gay".  Nobody is on the other side of that one either.  Cuz there's no other side to be on.


Today's Tune

I Blow It Off --Punch Brothers



The sun hits the back of my neck
Through a crack in the window shade
I blow it off
I blow it off


‘cause I keep outside
In the eyes and ears
Of friends I’ve never met
I blow it off
I blow it off

There’s nothin’ to say
That couldn’t just as well be sent
I’ve got an American share
Of 21st century stress

Your trouble vibrates the table
Interrupts my reverie
I blow it off
I blow it off


‘cause if it’s that bad
It ain’t gettin’ better
Face to face with me
So I blow it off
I blow it off

There’s nothin’ to say
That couldn’t just as well be sent
I’ve got an American share
Of 21st century stress

Go ahead and bloody up your knuckles
Knockin’ at my door
I’ll blow ‘em off
I’ll blow em off

‘Cause there’s nothin’ to say
That couldn’t just as well be sent
We’ve all got an American share
Of 21st century stress

See the oceans rise and leave the nations
Cryin’ at heaven’s door
I blew it off
I blew it off

Handsome Joe

The Veep hits one out - and for a nice change, nobody in the White House is threatening to staple his tongue to his forehead (so far).



Then there's Dan Savage.  This guy is a fucking hero as far as I'm concerned.  I'm not gay - as far as I know - but if I were, I'd be seriously tempted to move to Seattle and see about becoming his number one groupie.
Gay rights activist Dan Savage called Ben Carson out in his syndicated column this week, challenging the prospective GOP presidential candidate to put his money where his mouth was — so to speak — regarding his views on homosexuality.
“If being gay is a choice, prove it,” Savage wrote. “Choose it. Choose to be gay yourself. Show America how that’s done, Ben, show us how a man can choose to be gay. Suck my dick. Name the time and the place and I’ll bring my dick and a camera crew and you can suck me off and win the argument.”
And it's not because of the sexuality thing anyway - he's a hero because he's fierce and competitive and he insists on public people having the balls to be intellectually honest.

I hear it's nice in Seattle tho' - sometimes anyway(?)

A Bridge Not Far Enough

First - "conservatives" have been trying hard to pretend GW Bush never even existed.  Wonder what they're gonna say about this:


The rhetorical gymnastics I think we can anticipate coming from Jeb's Bunch oughta be a pretty thing to watch too.

But, y'know - maybe we could stop fuckin' with each other just long enough to remember some of the really good things that happen once in a while, even if they have to grow out of something really shitty.

Tell ya what tho', love him or hate him or somewhere in between, that Obama guy knows how to make a fuckin' speech.
For we were born of change. We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. We secure our rights and responsibilities through a system of self-government, of and by and for the people. That’s why we argue and fight with so much passion and conviction — because we know our efforts matter. We know America is what we make of it.
Look at our history. We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, and entrepreneurs and hucksters. That’s our spirit. That’s who we are.
We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some. And we’re Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth. That is our character.
We’re the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free –- Holocaust survivors, Soviet defectors, the Lost Boys of Sudan. We’re the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because we want our kids to know a better life. That’s how we came to be. (Applause.)
We’re the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South. (Applause.) We’re the ranch hands and cowboys who opened up the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers’ rights.
We’re the fresh-faced GIs who fought to liberate a continent. And we’re the Tuskeegee Airmen, and the Navajo code-talkers, and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied.

We’re the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11, the volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. We’re the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge. (Applause.)

We are storytellers, writers, poets, artists who abhor unfairness, and despise hypocrisy, and give voice to the voiceless, and tell truths that need to be told.
We’re the inventors of gospel and jazz and blues, bluegrass and country, and hip-hop and rock and roll, and our very own sound with all the sweet sorrow and reckless joy of freedom.
We are Jackie Robinson, enduring scorn and spiked cleats and pitches coming straight to his head, and stealing home in the World Series anyway. (Applause.)

We are the people Langston Hughes wrote of who “build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how.” We are the people Emerson wrote of, “who for truth and honor’s sake stand fast and suffer long;” who are “never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”
That’s what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history, or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others. We respect the past, but we don’t pine for the past. We don’t fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing. We are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. That’s why someone like John Lewis at the ripe old age of 25 could lead a mighty march.

And that’s what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day. You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, because you’re ready to seize what ought to be.

For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there’s new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow.