My two-cents worth and then some. An online journal by LP Brown.

Posts Written By L Parker Brown

Ernie and Bert Platonic Friends

by on ·Lifestyle and Culture

For years it has been widely rumored that the Sesame Street puppets, Ernie and Bert, are gay. Apparently, that controversy has been put to rest by the producers of Sesame Street. Kudos to them for standing their ground and announcing their intent to continue the friendship of Ernie and Bert as it is—just friends. 

The producers of the popular children’s program were compelled to issue a statement in response to an on-line petition by gay rights activists who want Ernie and Bert to marry in order to teach acceptance of people whose sexual orientation or preference may be different. Certainly, there are other ways to get children to realize that people have alternative lifestyles without altering a traditional children’s program.

Sesame Street producers maintain that although the puppets portray friends, and they happen to have male characteristics they are obviously puppets; PUPPETS with no sexual orientation. Furthermore, even if the program’s producers acknowledged that the puppets were actually males, for all intent and purposes they still would not necessarily be gay. Numerous men and women — we are talking real people now — have a best friend of the same gender and that does not mean that both or either of them is gay.

It is a sad state of affairs when even inanimate objects – in this case puppets on a children’s TV program—cannot simulate close friendship without some people trying to make the objects symbolic to promote a cause or lifestyle.

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Breast Feeding Doll Babies and Tiaras

by on ·Lifestyle and Culture

Berjuan Toys, based in Spain is bringing a breast feeding doll to the U.S. Proponents say that the doll is designed to teach nurturing skills. Those in opposition believe that it is just one more unsuitable toy that could force young girls to grow up too fast.

Here’s how the breast feeding doll works. A little girl puts on a halter that comes with the doll. Flower petals on the halter fit over the girl’s breasts. When the child brings the doll’s mouth to the flowers the doll makes a sucking sound. And there you have it, a pretend mother breast feeding her baby.

Things have certainly progressed from the days when toy makers created soft and cuddly dolls that cried, drank from a tiny bottle, and peed. In the same decade talking baby dolls arrived on the market. In 1959, Barbie moved like a new kid on the block into the doll neighborhood, and her curvaceous body had some parents saying “Enough already!” But it wasn’t. Barbie soon got a boyfriend doll named Ken, and OMG did the controversy heat up. Now fast forward to the present where the debate revolving around the breast feeding doll is hotter than a ticket to a Lady Gaga concert.

The main concern of many adults is whether the formally named Breast Milk Baby is an appropriate toy or one designed to encourage little girls to emulate adult behavior when they should be enjoying the innocence of childhood. And, in light of the fact that the NCMEC reports that 800, 000 children under the age of 18 turn up missing each year, I can only wonder if a young girl sitting alone on a park bench “breastfeeding” her doll would be just one more attractive target for a pedophile lurking nearby.

Speaking of adult behavior, when I see young children made up, dressed up and then put on stage to perform like gyrating vamps in a child beauty pageant, I can’t help but think of Jon Benet Ramsey and the potential for more child abuse. Three weeks ago, one of the children from the cable TV show Toddlers and Tiaras shook her booty while performing “Cutie Patootie” on The View.  And not to miss a beat, the French magazine Cadeaux  recently drew much criticism for publishing steamy and sexualized images of a ten year old model wearing stiletto heels. According to one TV talk program some of the photos in the spread were too risqué to show the audience.

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Stop Dissing the President – Part II

by on ·Politics

Inappropriate behavior and obvious disrespect directed at the Commander-in-Chief is more evident under the current Administration than it has ever been in the past. Many people believe that the acts of incivility against the president, by members of the opposing party as well as grass-roots and extremist groups, are not so much motivated by anti-government hostility as it is by transparent racism. You are what you are. Opponents of the president do not have to like him but he deserves respect, particularly for the office that he holds.

Millions of Black people as well as non-racists members of other ethnic groups take offense to the ongoing racists’ attacks on the president and many see the feeble excuses offered after the fact as a mere attempt to whitewash the obvious.

The commonly, overused excuses offered by the offenders are (1) they were unaware of the racial stereotypes (2) it was intended as a joke and (3) it was taken out of context. By the way, has any other U.S. President been harassed about producing his birth certificate?

Since Obama’s election, disgruntled adversaries have used racist imagery unrelentingly, including depicting the president as an African witch doctor and imposing his face on a food stamp bill. Additionally, they employ other long-held, commonly known and recently contrived racial stereotypes to disrespect the man who has too much class to address their narrow-minded antics.

Some of the blameworthy have bowed to the pressure of their more open-minded peers and apologized or resigned from their positions. Others simply deny that they are racists and offer what they believe is the infallible ace-in-the-hole defense, “I have black friends.”

Most of the offenders “outed” in this post are Baby Boomers or they were born prior to the Boomer years; that makes them all old enough to know that their pretense of not knowing that their actions or statements were racists nonsense. Black people are sick of the race-based diatribes and weak excuses given for demeaning and disrespecting the African-American president. And by the way, a lot of us have white friends.

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Content of Character?

by on ·General

The statement by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) that being linked to President Obama would be like “touching a tar baby” doesn’t surprise  many people. Like a number of other public officials — many of them on the right — who have unashamedly disrespected the president by their offensive actions and contrived Freudian slips, Lamborn, is a Baby Boomer. Older Boomers grew up during the height of the civil rights era and unless they were totally spaced out during those tumultuous years they are well aware of what constitutes bigotry. Therefore, it is hard to believe the claims of some in question, that they did not know their comments or actions would be perceived as biased.  Read what they did and said at www.potpourri101.com.

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Stop Dissing the President – Part I

by on ·Politics

The disrespect began months before Barack Obama was elected 44th President of the United States. Following his inauguration on January 20, 2009, the mudslinging contempt intensified and it persists to this day.

Criticism is not the issue here. All presidents are criticized, especially by members of the opposing party and disgruntled voters overall. But relevant to the current president, it is difficult to know whether the haters in question oppose him on ideological grounds or if they are just plain racist. Name one U.S. President who was not criticized while in office and I will tell you where the infamous Casey Anthony is hiding out. Okay now, name a U.S. President other than Barack Obama who has been as blatantly disrespected – I would like to say as racially vilified, but that would be impractical, wouldn’t it?  

Before you read any further, I warn you that I am going to call this issue just as I see it, and I have no doubt that some readers will accuse me of playing the race card. If that is the case, let me assure you that these cards will not be deviously pulled from the bottom of the deck; they will be dealt straight from the top. So, if you don’t think you can handle the truth, then you should fold your hand right now.    

There is not enough space to name all of the Limbaughs, Becks, and Trumps who deserve honorable mention here, but I will identify below other public individuals who theoretically waved the confederate flag. 

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