For the second time today, I’m posting a no-report. No, I didn’t have technology failure. Yes, I attended the rally. So why no report?
Well, my mama always said if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all 
UPDATE: The Daily Press story ain’t bad
Good one!
Posted by Ingrid | Wednesday, August 16, 2006, 11:54 pmLame, Viv. You’re not going to write about those long conversations you had? Hmm.
Posted by Jim Hoeft | Thursday, August 17, 2006, 12:44 amNah. Those conversations weren’t for public consumption.
Posted by vjp | Thursday, August 17, 2006, 1:47 pmThat’s o.k. I know you’re coming around!
Posted by Jim Hoeft | Thursday, August 17, 2006, 11:31 pmI think one of the best things we can do to keep this in the public eye all the way to November is to confront Allen at every turn with his own reality. Show up at his rallies with shirts that show who the REAL “Macaca” is. Or just yellow shirts with Macaca on them to show two things: solidarity with the young man who was targeted (we are all macacas in his racist eyes), and that we won’t forget about it. You can get those shirts here:
http://cafepress.com/macaca
Posted by Angry enough to wear a yellow shirt | Thursday, August 17, 2006, 11:46 pmYou don’t show solidarity with the equivalent of the N-word printed on a T-shirt. You show solidarity by voting Allen out of office!
Posted by Ingrid | Friday, August 18, 2006, 8:35 amIt’s NOT the same as the N-word. That’s just ridiculous. It’s not even about the word itself, but the way he said it. He could have used any three syllable combination (ababa, babalu, etc.) and it still would have been an ugly comment.
The reason the N-word is so toxic in this country is because of its cultural context. I’ll never forget the time I was on an international airline and heard the song “My Neck, My Back” by Khia on the in-flight entertainment system. (This song is full of every vulgar word you can think of.) To us here, that would never be on an airplane where children could hear it, and if it was it would be a big news story. But for this country, those words did not mean anything because English was not their language.
“Macaca” has no cultural context in this country, so while I do think that Allen’s intent was clearly ugly (and THAT’S the problem), I don’t think he had a specific word in his mind when he said “Macaca.”
Posted by Hello | Friday, August 18, 2006, 9:28 am