Louise, do you mean besides the world being prejudiced? I can tell you that an area of contention in my anthropology class, way back in the early 70s, was the whole racial classification. Our instructor told us (no, he did not like it either) that the three major "races" were Mongoloid, Negroid and Caucasoid ... those were the terms used in our textbook. If a person who was predominantly Caucasoid had any lineage from either of the other two "races", no matter how minute, they were to be considered of that "race". Our instructor was distressed that science still used terms and classifications that were dubbed in the Victorian Era (or before). He wisely told us that there was really only one race and that we are all a part of it, the human race. However, it seems that old ideas still hold on.

Maybe those ideas of "race" still hold for those who choose to, but it's certainly not being taught in Anthro and Bio classes anymore at the college level. Except for forensic identification purposes, the idea of "race" has gone by the wayside. For forensic ID purposes, there are specific measurements and formulas to aid in the "racial" determination, but there are a LOT of factors that are considered... and with so many of the "races mixing," even that's getting more difficult.

OK, so my terminology leaves much to be desired... I've been dealing with 8th graders all day and my brain is fried.

Lar you are such a (witty) smart ass (no, wait, Arnie is the ass)
(but I love ya anyway, don't we all??)

By the way, I hope you saved a Koala for the Backhalf !

now back to serious matters......or a moderator might scold me!

well, where I grew up we classified people by the part of town they lived in
we had Mezican Town (them mezicans I assume wouuld be good euro blood tainted by a Mongoloid predominance I suppose), Colored Town (they lived over there in the North East part of town somewhere and you only saw them on trash day or maybe when you had to go to the doctor downtown) and then there was the rest of the town. Of course the rest of the town had descriptors a little less race oriented and more socio-economic in nature. There was places like Nichols Hill and Bethany. We would drive through there on occasion and maybe even shop in their Mall (they had the first one of course). I lived in a post war out crop of Capital Hill (the pre-war center of it all) which included an odd assortment of Mezcans (a few Indians) to the west, an area called Cowtown (down by the river of course), the Airport town (where I actually lived) and an area called Knob Hill (to the east a bit). Continuing east across the tracks was hick town and eventually land in Military town (that was over east by the Air Force Base (where Buddy Holly recorded most of his popular songs like Fade Away and Peggy Sue)). That is how we figured out what we were in the grand scheme by what part of town we lived in!

THat was back in the good old days when there was established order in the universe and the enemy was red!

I am going to have to say yes for Obama getting elected. I seriously do believe that he is going to get elected and I believe this simply because I believe that folks in this country are no longer complacent and have been hurt in the wallet enough to wake up and see the light.
For me personally my final decision in throwing my support his way has come from the way he has handled himself in the past four weeks. He has convinced me that he has at least the intelligence to organize the experts to make decisions and the willingness to think before he acts. McCain has done nothing but disappoint me. I was leaning his way until he started talking about a trickle down type government. Personally I think he is worried about now having to pay his share of the taxes for a change if Obama gets elected. I look at it this way. If we are going to keep the tax system the way it is. Fine do it taht way but get rid of all of the loop holes available to the wealthy and stop makeing us regular people carry the burdon. Enough said.....All I know is that I will be glad when the election is over.
-Eric

prejudice runs deep

it sure looks like McCain will self destruct though but DON"T GET COCKY!

[i]Either way, no matter who wins, we are going to have to tell them what we want. What is it we want? Cash backed by silver seems the right direction.

What is this 'cash' thing that you speak of? Can it be eaten???

One step closer: Colin Powell, the most respected military figure of our time, who worked in both Bush administrations, declared for Obama this morning on Meet the Press. Some will say it's because of race, but he acknowledged that they will say that and countered if it were the case, he'd have done this a year ago. He had a lot of good things to say about McCain, and said that he regrets disappointing a long-time friend (McCain), but then he laid out his well-reasoned argument and said that he is for Obama.

Speaking to myself: Try not to get cocky. It's a razor-thin difference and will stay that way until (or after) the last vote is cast.

Oh I stand corrected for I thought comcast had a headline saying he Powell was for McCain. I'm glad to hear it. We can't handle McCain's 100 to 10,000 years of war. Looks like we got a soldier who feels the same.

You've got THAT right!

And now I have a little more 'persuasion' when I talk with friends and neighbors in military-town Colorado Springs!

(From a retired Methodist minister) Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things are switched around?.....think about it.
Would the country's collective point of view be different? Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his beauty standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

powerful, Kevin...