Ball of Confusion.

It’s been a long day and there’s a lot on my mind.

The oil spill. That mural in Prescott. That retrograde racist GOP flack in South Carolina.

In Arizona, my father’s minister received a letter from the bishop asking her to lead her flock in a prayer for people negatively impacted by the “papers, please” law. As the law’s popular, she declined to open that particular can of worms. So my father, a lay speaker, asked the congregation to pray for those affected by SB 1070 and for greater understanding. I’m really proud of you, Dad.

As my father and I talked, I shared my concerns about the race-baiting that’s surfaced since Obama’s election. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard politicians speak like this,” I said.

“You haven’t,” he said. “To me, it sounds like 1961 or 1958. I haven’t heard politicians talk like this in your lifetime.”

As I said, it’s been a long day; but I had to express some anger and frustration somehow before pushing away for the rest of the evening. The clip below captures as much of the zeitgeist as I can take in from this vantage.

The Temptations, “The Smokey Robinson Show,” 12/18/70