As IF Times

link Taliban Dream Team: Who are the 5 prisoners traded for Bergdahls freedom? | Fox News.

The release of 5 Taliban guys in exchange for Sgt. Bergdahl  is an event  that has to anger or annoy at least one person.  That would be the number 6 terrorist on the release list.  The link describes the various nefarious exploits of the top 5 Taliban guys and we must suppose that the number 6 guy didn’t quite cause as much mayhem and destruction as the top 5 did.  As we’ve determined before, that consternation must come with mixed feelings.  On the one hand, all the guys below 5 get to still live in relative comfort without the corporate pressure of plotting the next successful hit.  On the other hand, they miss out on the adulation of their peeps back at home.

History is replete with the exploits of those that went above and beyond and were able to distinguish themselves from the vast majority of people who toil anonymously in their chosen fields.  Even in the mass murder and mayhem business, it seems that excellence in the field is rewarded.  You would think by now that some of the foot-soldiers in the Jihad movement would be a little less eager to don the ball bearing vest when they see that their superiors get fed and coddled by the enemy and then feted by their own people upon their release.  All that the plebes get are promises of untouched women in the great beyond.

What’s the lesson here?  It’s the universal one: whatever you do, strive to be the best at it if you want to be treated well by society.  We can foresee the Taliban guys giving inspirational speeches at high school graduations. The incumbent president seems to be taking that philosophy as his operating beacon as well.  Not content to be just a number in the string of Presidents through history, he appears intent on cementing his position as the worst thereby ensuring his immortality.  At this point, Jimmy Carter is rightfully miffed and Woodrow Wilson is convulsing in his grave.

The only certainty about attaining recognition for being the best at what you do is that someone will always come along trying to top that position.  In the case of the 5 Taliban guys just recently released, you can bet that some in the ranks will want to surpass their positions like golfers trying to oust Tiger Woods as number 1.  We can expect more killings, more destruction and larger scale mayhem.   In the case of someone one day trying to usurp Obama’s role in history, well that’s a race to the bottom nobody should want to celebrate.

link [VIDEO] Oprah Winfrey tells BBC many Americans hate Obama because he’s BLACK » The Right Scoop –.

Let’s investigate Oprah’s claim.  If there was that much hatred towards Obama because he’s black, how did he get elected not once, but twice?  Casting aside conspiracy theories of vote rigging on the last election,  the United States is still statistically a white nation though that is changing rapidly.  Even though as a bloc, Blacks voted overwhelmingly in the neighborhood of 90% for Obama, the president could not have won without the support of the larger community.  Of course the possibility exists that the general population voted for the white half of Obama.  In that case, I suppose it could be racism.

It’s a pretty tired and suspect argument to use racism as the rationale for someone’s unpopularity.  In fact, to do so is in itself racist.  It’s like an automatic get out of jail free card for any shortcomings in personal character.  If the United States were a racist nation, how is it possible that some of the most culturally influential and successful people in entertainment and music (even those of truly dubious talent) and sports as well as the top rungs of the political system including the President and Attorney General are of  black heritage?

The most recent ‘shocking’ headlines involving race centered around the locker room activities of the Miami Dolphins.  Apparently, Jonathan Martin, a  player whom is half black, was ‘harassed’ by the white player, Richie Incognito.  When it was revealed that the harassment included racial slurs, it became national news as the plain folk were apparently aghast at the rawness of the exchanges between the two players.  Mr. Martin could withstand the physical punishment of gangs of 300 pound men beating him up on the football field, but name calling was too much to bear, especially racially tinged name calling.  Well I guess that dispels the old ‘sticks and stones’ theory.

There seems to be a common theme here.  If you are black, your character is unassailable.  As the old M.C. Hammer lyrics state, “you can’t touch that”.  If you are not completely black, like Obama, like Jonathan Martin, you are fair game for ridicule and scorn, because you are essentially half white.  It wasn’t too long ago that the previous White House incumbent, George W. Bush was the target of merciless and vile attacks on his character, his appearance, his intelligence and even his laugh.

Oprah “Whine-frey” has it wrong.  People likely disparage the President because he’s half white, not because he’s black.  The lying, incompetence and lack of any real talent outside of reading must be from his white side.  No real black person would have to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as the old verse goes.  They would never dare to disparage a black person.