Racist or Not?

I received the above photo in an e-mail recently with a caption that read....

An investigation by the NTSB in conjunction with the FBI has determined the cause of what brought down the plane in the Hudson River .

I'm curious about people's reaction to this joke. It's amazing the connotations a simple article of clothing can carry. So, I ask you. Is it racist or not? Or is it making fun of people who think anyone who wears a turban is a terrorist?

Discuss.

Inauguration Day

I'm not really an enthusiastic follower of politics. My default mode is Democrat, and for the last eight years I've been voting Democratic in a Republican state. However, something about this past week's inauguration ceremonies got me really interested. There seems to be so much energy in the air that it's actually become a cliche to comment on it. I realize there are huge problems facing our country, but for some reason, I am most excited by the idea of having a president who can use the English language again. You can't solve a problem if you can't articulate it, and Obama has exhibited great capabilities in the speeches I have read so far.

On Tuesday evening, I attended a party at a friend's house and it was pretty fun. We watched the inaugural balls on her huge flat screen TV, and she made great Indonesian food in honor of the years Obama spent there. She had fireworks and we shot them off at the end of her cul-de-sac. She also had a life-size cut out of Obama, so we all got to have our pictures taken with him. It was a great deal of fun.

I'm encouraged so far by the moves he has made. I think there are a great many social issues he needs to move on, but the economy has to come first. He will have a period of goodwill, which I hope he exploits to the fullest. He's a smart man, and I think a basically good man, but he is also a politician who has to operate in the real world. Time will tell.

My Good Deed

Today, after I attended Bible study, I stopped at a gas station to buy some cigarettes. Inside the station was an elderly woman wielding a business card in her hand. She insisted she needed to get to the insurance agency, but she didn't seem to realize it was unlikely that the office was open at 8:38 PM. The clerk was trying to give her directions, and I began helping also. After awhile, it was clear the lady was confused, probably suffering from some bit of dementia or Alzheimers. I asked her what her name was and she tried to tell me by pulling a bunch of cards out of her wallet. Eventually, I discovered her name and realized the insurance agent whose card she was holding was her son. I called the cell number on the card, and he sounded relieved to know where she was. I chatted with her for awhile until he showed up with his teenage son to take her home. Although she was confused, her manners were never less than gracious, and it was clear to me that she was a lovely lady.

My point in telling this story is not to glorify my good deed, but to comment on the cruelty of slowly losing one's mind. She was retired military, as was her husband, who may or may not have been alive, and she was driving a big, white Lincoln Continental. Clearly, she had led a rich and varied life, and now she was lost in a town she had probably lived in for 60 years.

I hope her family is able to keep her safe and close to home from now on.