Grapes Over Easy

I always had mixed feelings about those statues of midget black men holding lanterns. I still do, but at least I can see a glimmer of hope in them now.

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Jocko or the Lawn Jockey is seen in the South and in the Appalachian's of the United States.

Many have been destroyed because of the thinking that they are a racial slur to African-Americans. But is this true?

The River Road African American Museum in Louisiana tells us that lawn jockeys represent nothing of the sort, rather they show us a proud moment in U.S. history.

The story begins the icy night in December 1776 when General George Washington decided to cross the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack on the British forces at Trenton.

Jocko Graves, a twelve-year-old African-American, sought to fight the Redcoats, but Washington deemed him too young and ordered him to look after the horses, asking Jocko to keep a lantern blazing along the Delaware so the company would know where to return after battle. Many hours later, Washington and his men returned to their horses who were tied up to Graves, he had frozen to death with the lantern still clenched in his fist. Washington was so moved by the young boy's devotion to the revolutionary cause he commissioned a statue of the "Faithful Groomsman" to stand in Graves's honor at the general's estate in Mount Vernon.

By the time of the Civil War, these "Jocko" statues could be found on plantations throughout the South: like the North Star that pointed fleeing slaves to their freedom, the Jocko statues pointed to the safe houses of the Underground Railroad. Along the Mississippi River, a green ribbon tied to a statue's arm — whether clandestinely or with the owner's knowledge — indicated safety; a red ribbon meant danger. Thus these original lawn jockey statues today fetch thousands of dollars as true artifacts of the Underground Railroad that conducted so many African-American slaves to freedom.

Similar cast-iron statues began appearing in the decades after Washington's crossing of the Delaware in jockey silks, whether for aesthetic reasons or confusion born of Graves's first name. The clothing worn by the lawn jockeys resembled the clothing worn by black riding jockeys, who have a glorious history. In 1875, the first 13 winners of the Kentucky Derby were black, the first being Jockey Oliver Lewis.
Lewis was the first to win three Derbies.

So contrary to some folk's thinking that these statues are a racial slur they are a memorial to Jocko, a beacon for Freedom and a tribute to some of the greatest Jockey's racing has ever known!

Uh-oh.

Wikipedia adds a little controversy:

Neither the Revolutionary War nor the Civil War legends are documented. Mount Vernon's librarian Ellen McCallister Clark wrote in a letter to Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library: "No record of anybody by the name of Jocko Graves, nor any account of somebody freezing to death holding Washington's horses, exists in the extensive historical record of the time." Nor do any of the many historical inventories and descriptions of Washington's estate mention any such statue. Moreover, stories about the Underground Railroad using lawn jockeys as signals are rendered suspect by the fact that red and green as signal colors meaning "stop" and "go" (or "danger" and "safe") were standardized by railroad signals during the World War I era.

Here's today's article

Parts of note:

1st paragraph:

The Bush administration proposed on Thursday a much controversial regulation that would protect health professionals who object to abortion from being constrained to provide such services, which could violate their religious and moral beliefs.

Comment:

A "much controversial regulation"? WTF? No wonder our kids ain't learned good.

3rd paragraph:

"People should not be forced to say or do things they believe are morally wrong," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt explained. "Health-care workers should not be forced to provide services that violate their own conscience,” he added.

Comment:

And if health care workers are protected, so should all citizens. None of us should have to do things we believe are morally wrong. Like go to war. Like fund a war with my tax dollars. Like give tax breaks and off shore drilling contracts to big corporations who are making so much f-ing money their nuts are sore. Let's go, Mikey. I have a huge list of shit we should go over. How about every citizen gets to earmark the portions of the budget we would like our tax dollars to support? We'll see how many bake sales the Army will be putting on next year.

6th paragraph

The regulation, which would be implemented after a 30-day comment period, is considered by conservative groups, anti-abortion advocate groups and others essential so as to protect health workers from being fired or penalized in any way. On the other hand, opponent activists said the regulation could generate far-reaching difficulties regarding numerous health services.

Comment:

No penalties? OK, let's see. You get a job as a doctor, but if you decide not to do your job, we can't fire you, transfer you, or make fun of you. Sorry, Dr. McDopey. If you picked a career as a doctor and CHOSE a course that would put you in the position of performing an abortion, and now decide that you won't do it, you're fired. Get the F out. Today. It's not like, "Oh, I had heart surgery scheduled and suddenly I am asked to sit in with Ravi Shankar on an abortion procedure." Nor is it "Gosh, when I took the job as a nurse at Planned Parenthood, I didn't know what they do there on occasion." Pick up your shit and get out. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Get a job at the Faith Healers Consortium where you can ride your high horse to happy rapture-day and let real health professionals do what they knew they were being trained to do. If I don't do my job on moral grounds, I get a swift kick in the ass and a hearty good-bye. So should you. Oh, and if you don't want to talk to your PATIENT about their options, you can just ignore THEIR needs and only tell them what YOU want? If we can't trust that our doctor is acting in the very least as an impartial advisor, why even go? What if a vegan doctor is morally opposed to a certain life saving medication because it is made from animals? What if a tree hugger doctor spends all her free time volunteering to save the rainforest and won't even suggest a medication that originates from a plant that grows there?

You took the job, you make the money, you take what comes with it. If you don't like it, get a NEW JOB. People do it all the time. Don't pretend to be a health care professional. We have enough problems with health care already. We shouldn't have to worry if the doctor we are talking to has reservations about when to do his job.

Addition:

So this writer puts it much more politely.

Click Here

Perhaps protecting certain beliefs is not something that should be addressed at work at all. When we go to work, we effectively “sell” our skills—for money--to our employer. Part of this transaction is that we obey the policies and procedures of that workplace regardless of how we feel about them. If we don’t like it, we can seek employment elsewhere.

Laura Bristow - Baltimore Workplace Examiner

This is cool. Lots of NASA twitters.

HERE

Why is it that when someone asks a dumb ass question and I give a flipant answer, I am called the smart ass? Can I respond with 'dumb ass moron don't ask stupid questions'?

Is it a dog? Cat? Hoax?

What do YOU think?

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