I have had to take a break from watching television lately. Oh, I watch some stuff — grade B Westerns, horror movies, sports, and the like — but I think I overdosed on television news during the presidential campaign.  It has gotten even worse since Barack Obama’s election as president. I have even made Gizmo, our Shih Tzu, stop watching. Otherwise, he might grow up with a low opinion of all human beings.

Really. I am tired of the media picnicking on Sarah Palin. For Chrissake, leave the woman alone! Palin did not ask to be nominated for the vice presidency. Palin did not ask to be interviewed by Katie Couric, Wolf Blitzer and those other anchor heads.

Now they are trying to egg her into talking about a possible run for the presidency in 2012. Although she obviously has not asked my advice, I freely offer it: Go back to Alaska! Keep quiet! If you hear reporters coming your way, run!

Speaking of eggs, it is ridiculous. My mother called me last Friday to tell me to be sure to watch ABC-TV’s “news” story about the guy who got pregnant. I regret to say I promised I would. And I did. Well, first, the “guy” was not a real guy. It turns out he was born a girl. The girl grew up to become a beautiful woman. Then the beautiful woman decided she wanted to be an ordinary man. It was in her genes, so to speak.

Anyway, I kept watching. The guy (who wasn’t a real guy) fell in love with a female bodybuilder who loved him for himself or herself or whatever. Love conquers all, you know. The couple decided they wanted to have children. Since the guy (who was really a woman) still had his reproductive organs intact, they decided he (she?) should be the mother. By this time, Gizmo had both paws over his ears.

Next, they ordered somebody’s sperm from an Internet source, and the bodybuilder-woman went out and bought a syringe. After the guy (who was not a guy, after all) stopped taking his testosterone treatments for a while, the time was right.

The bodybuilder injected “hubby” with the Internet sperm and, voila! Her husband (or wife or whatever) gets pregnant. To make a long, long story short, the couple had a beautiful baby girl, and now the guy (you know what I mean) is pregnant again.

Guess what? I don’t care! What people do in their private lives is their own business. May they live happily ever after. In the meantime, I want to know what the heck is doing with the $750 billion you and I gave the government to get us out of the economic ditch we are in. 

I want to know what happened to all the talk about oversight, transparency and accountability that was supposed to be part of this so-called bailout. As far as I can tell, American taxpayers just wrote a huge check, and we have yet to get a hug for it. What’s going on?

Oh yes, while I was rifling through television channels looking for “The Magnificent Seven,” “Jaws,” “King Kong” or some such highly intellectual fare, I came across a news program. I stopped for a moment to check it out. The issue under discussion was whether, because of Barack Obama’s election, there was no further need for affirmative action programs. By now, Gizmo was motioning toward the door with his leash in his mouth.

I am as excited about Barack Obama’s historic election as the next guy, I guess. It is a great leap forward for our society. Indeed, it is a reality most of us older folk — whether for or against him — never thought we would see. But, (duh!) Obama was elected as the President of the United States of America, not Harlem.

As president, he will be subject to the same kinds of interest group pressures that go with the office. Having said that, one of those interest groups happens to be black folk, and we still have a long way to go in the fight for social and economic justice. The fact that the President-elect happens to be an African-American does not change that one iota.  

Well, since there doesn’t seem to be much on television, I think I’ll let  Gizmo take me for a walk. Smart dog.

Have a nice day!

Primus Mootry is an Anderson resident and a high school teacher.