I HEARD SCREAMIN' AND BULLWHIPS CRACKIN'

This may not be political enough for some readers, but it does demonstrate two of the many less-than-desirable traits of our society.

(1) Everyone is afraid to call a minority to the carpet when they pull the racist card
(2) Our media and our society get too wrapped up in things that, as entertainment, should only be a diversion

Let's set the mood with some song lyrics and images

"Southern man, better keep your head

Don't forget what your good book said"
-Neil Young

"I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don't need him around anyhow"
-Ronnie Van Zant

There's a point (sort of) to all this.

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson compared the "plight" of the NFL player to slavery. In case you do not follow football news, the millionaires that are the NFL players have a union, and they are involved in a dispute with the billionaires who own the teams.

The players, looking for public support, put the dispute in the context of fighting for rights for future generations of players.

Peterson vented his anger about the owners refusing to open their financial books.

“It’s like . . . well, show us. We want more information, and they want to (expletive), going around, saying this and that, just open it up and give us the information we want,” Peterson told Yahoo! Sports shortly before the NFLPA’s decertification last Friday. “. . . If they have nothing to hide, just give us the information. Why not? Obviously, there’s a lot to hide — these guys are professionals, and they’re maximizing what they do. But they know that if all this information comes out, the information the players want, it’ll be right out there for everyone to see. It’s a rip-off — not just for the players, but for the people who work at the concession stands and at the stadiums.”

But Peterson didn’t stop there. Many NFL players feel that they aren’t being treated as business partners, but Peterson chose a different term for the treatment.

“It’s modern-day slavery, you know?” Peterson said. “People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money . . . the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money.”

Now, I find the idea of a player's union somewhat laughable. The league pays a minimum salary of $285,000 (as of 2007, presumably adjusted for inflation the past few years). That would put every player in the top one percent of wage earners in the country. Seventy percent of the tax returns in the US report income of $50K or less, and ninety percent report $100K or less. Why are these people feeling sympathy for either side.

The one thing I do agree with owners on-they invest an awful lot of money in the teams, and should get a fair return on that investment. Before I left the great city of Philadelphia, I remember the Eagles owner getting heat in the local paper because he took in profit out of the team. I do not remember the dollars, but I seem to remember it may have been $10M in profit on a team he paid $165M for. If that $165M had been sitting in a bank account, he have gotten more than $8M for that year, so I do not see that as greed.

Can we just call the NFL dispute what it is: two sides are trying to equitably distribute a lot of money.

And can we remember that slaves in the nineteenth century were not paid salaries that place them among the country's elite? They did not have entourages, and Cadillac Escalades, and trophy wives, and groupies. If Adrian Peterson feels he's getting a raw deal, let him live on my salary. For a week.

And if I feel he's acting like an overpaid, steriod-abusing child who runs with a ball for a living-that's not racist. Because when I see Tom Brady and Drew Brees talk about this like a crusade, I feel the same way about them.

But what made me deprogram ESPN from my television was the following tirade on ESPN's First Take. They often have black guest analysts who look for the racist angle in everything, and today I just reached my boiling point.

This morning, Jalen Rose, former NBA player and current ESPN analysis and obvious caucasian-phobe, called fans who sided with management in the NFL labor dispute rascist. The white analyst was treading softly, because in the politically correct version of America, when a black man makes a comment playing the race card, you can't tell him he's full of shit.

Jalen, you're full of shit.

Yesterday, Jalen defended comments made in a documentary about his college basketball team, where he accused any black player who attends Duke of being an "Uncle Tom."

During the 2008 election season, I told a black friend I was voting for Ron Paul (don't blame me for the current state of things-I wrote in Ron), and he called me rascist.

What my friend failed to understand, is that a vote for Obama simply because he is black, is an act of racism. What people like Jalen fail to understand is that generalized comments made against whites are rascist comments. If one hopes to eliminate rascism, it cannot be just by eliminating prejudice against blacks-one must stop pre-judging all races.

Does Duke look for a certain "type" of candidate? If I am to beieve what I hear, yes. Is it based exclusively on race? Again, it sounds like no. Are blacks generally a minority in the profile Duke recruits. Probably. But let's remember that they are a minority anyway-blacks are 12.9 percent of the population.

I wonder what percentage they are of NFL players? I read two sites, one claiming 78 percent and one claiming 67. Let's assume 67 percent. Certainly we can agree that blacks are fairly represented among the players.

Maybe the NFL needs affirmative action in the player realm…for whites!

The point of my post?

Slavery was a (no pun intended) black mark on the history of this nation. I don't think you will find many whites not wearing sheets as formal wear who would disagree with that.

NFL players are not slaves, nor are they even close to being slaves. They enjoy the freedom that this country was founded on, as many of them come from the poorest neighborhoods and through their own efforts and talent, reap the rewards of our system. If the players want to do something else, they're free to get into their Escalade and drive away from practice. The slaves needed an undergound railroad.

Get over yourself, Adrian.

Sadly, most of America will be caught up in the  NFL issue, a labor dispute for atheletes, and the President will probably end up getting involved. Meanwhile, we ignore the bigger issues that are right out there for us to see:

(1) Unconstitutional social programs bleeding the wealth of the 29 percent of Americans who make between $50K and $250K

(2) Staggering foreign debt that is mortgaging the future of your children (I have none)

(3) An illegal alien with Communist ideals sitting in the oval office

(I couldn't resist that last crack-while I am not as fanatic about his birth certificate as the "birther" crowd, I find it interesting that he still has not produced one.)

So maybe I won't convince any readers to turn off ESPN and watch news, or (Heaven forbid) read (although I would recommend The New American magazine to anyone).

Can we at least all agree that this:

No longer has any meaning except to identify fans of southern rock or country bands? It does not mean they lynch people or burn crosses. We're scared of extremists wearing sheets, too. That's why we own guns.

Now excuse me-I need to find out about the NHL labor issues….