Free Exercise Clause

Hello,

I became a fan of your Blue Dog series of paintings when I happened to view them at Rodrigue's Louisiana: Cajuns, Blue Dogs, and Beyond Katrina at the New Orleans Museum of Art. After viewing the exhibition, I viewed the 1992 "Rodrigue Studio" videos on Youtube.com featuring an interview of yourself, George Rodrigue, describing the inspiration for the Blue Dog, your late Cocker Spaniel Tiffany. I wanted to know why the Blue Dog is narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. I am a black woman and I am intrigued to understand what the Blue Dog means in connection with Harold Ford Jr. fame. This is in respect to Harold Ford Jr. being a Blue Dog Democrat and losing to Tennessee Senator Bob Corker in 2006 during the Tennessee senate race. Senator Bob Corker ran a television ad and a campaign attack jabbing at Harold Ford Jr. for being an overindulgent ladies man running on his sexual appeal and a Caucasian female exclaiming that she met him at a Playboy party. Ford Jr. lost the race to Corker after a heated public debate on the racism behind the television spot. News commentators confirmed the ad to be offensive. Harold Ford Jr. later married a Caucasian woman the next year. For the Blue Dog to come to life through the voice of Whoopi Goldberg, it seems quite offensive to Black women and any woman of African, African-American, Creole, or Spanish Caliphate descent. How does this 1992 depiction of your art fit in with today's politics?

Thanks,
[Blue Mojito]

Deja Vu

If you were wondering what happened to Harold Ford Jr. after he jumped the broom into the holy land of matrimony with his new wife Emily Threlkeld, you don't have to look any futher. Harold Ford Jr. wrote on a piece in the October 11th Washington Post entitled "Will McCain Do Anything to Win?" about the ad that U.S. Senator Bob Corker ran against him during his losing 2006 Senate race. Forgetting to mention that the television spot was about the pornographers that have contributed to Harold Ford Jr.'s campaigns, the article threw an unecessary barb such as the one he complains about. Ford Jr. is also featured in the October 7th Nashville daily The Tennesean op-ed opposite economist Thomas Sowell on new ideas for expanding national community service. Speaking of barbs and community service, coincidently Beyonce' has an upcomming album and a new video out called "If I Were a Boy." Beyonce' plays a female police officer who shares the locker room with the rest of the boys in the squad. No more House of Dereon and Creole cookbooks with mom? As for me personally, I just started on my own family tree. Around and around the Mayberry bush we go!