Targets…

Shall we?

Last night I caught the news that several Democrats in the Missouri Senate have been targeted…literally…in a cowardly attempt at intimidation.

Stickers with crosshairs on them were left on the Capitol office doors of the state senators.

It is worth noting that crosshairs were the intimidation tactic du jour during the lead up to the 2010 elections…with some who were fond of saying “don’t get mad, reload” even creating online maps with targets placed over targeted districted.

Now, this public display of violent intentions has broken out under the dome.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Of course, this pissed me off.

First of all, threats of violence in a place where the people’s representatives assemble are unacceptable.

Missouri State Senators are talking bodyguards, for the love of all that indicates something is rotten under the dome.

The asshole that did this didn’t even indicate what the fuck they are targeting the senators for. Oh, I get it – Missouri is debating some sort of something about the Obama administration’s health care law, but Jesus to God that’s not the only thing they are working on. For all we know, this fool is one of those folks who has gotten all worked up over Missouri protecting our state border with Kansas from illegal immigration.

 

Is it too much to ask for a little clarity from these domestic terrorists?

***cue crickets***

Lawd.

Finally, the Missouri State Capitol is the people’s house…my house…and some wretched ass just indulged in a public display of no home training while treading all over we the people.

Seems that the same fringe mob ranting about communist health care laws has no problem at all channeling their inner Stalin under the dome.

Blink.

Blog for Choice – woman + vote = power…

Let’s jump right on in, shall we?

In case you missed it, this is an election year in America (wink).

So, what am I going to do to elect pro-choice candidates in 2012?

Well…

I’m going to work as if my rights are on the line.

That means I knock on one more door, I make that extra phone call, I nag my friends and family members to make sure their asses are registered and know where their polling place is…I volunteer, even though I’m tired…I stuff envelopes, even though I’d rather be [insert any of the many things I set aside during an election year].

I’m going to teach…

…and educate my community about reproductive justice and that there are people who appropriate the language and tactics of the Civil Rights movement so that they can erect anti-choice versions of the White Citizens Council and bar black women from the full range of reproductive health care.

I’ll be educating my sisters and brothers on the vote, why they should vote, and how many people who claim to care about the souls of black folk are in reality allied with forces that would deny the black vote by any means necessary…people who gleefully disparage black women even as they claim ownership, like the plantation masters of old, over our wombs, our bodies…and, should we fail to be vigilant, eventually our selves.

I’ll be resisting…

…any and all attempts to define, examine, objectify, indict, blame, shame, mock, exploit, and control me.

And I will be voting.

Because elections matter.

Because the most dangerous place for my rights is in the hands of my oppressor.

And because woman + vote = power.

Klan escalation in Missouri…

Sigh.

Shall we?

It seems that the Klan in Missouri had a New Years resolution – to indulge in more public displays of hate.

When news broke that the Klan had papered Sedalia, Missouri I was more interested in the response of residents than the fact that the infamous hate organization was out and about putting leaflets on cars. 

Thankfully many residents were appalled. 

Far too many people think the Klan went away after the ‘60s…as if LBJ invented a vaccination for absolute racist bullshit along with his Civil Rights legislation. And way too many people think Klan activities were and are isolated to the South – trust me, most of Missouri still struggles with Civil War themes as if trapped in April 1865.

But now comes news that some asshole has vandalized the sign for the Rosa Parks Highway with…wait for it…the letters “KKK” spray-painted in black.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

I don’t believe in coincidences...nor am I one to dismiss these public acts as child-based pranks the way some folks do.

No, I see this as textbook Klan behavior.

First the distribution of fliers…which is perfectly legal and protected and if I want the right to do the same shit I need to defend their right too.

Followed by the destruction of [insert something people of color care about or use or recently built or purchased] in an attempt to intimidate, insult, and bully – which makes me wonder if they’re stocking up on wood in preparation for a month of cross burning in February.

***cuts eyes***

Post-racial, my black ass.

Cutting bone – my thoughts on the State of the State…

Shall we?

Last night Missouri Governor Jay Nixon gave his State of the State address. Nixon bragged on the fact that the state workforce is the smallest it has been in 15 years, pledged to not raise taxes (pander much?), and then called for budget cuts across the board.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

If ever there was a case study for why states need to think twice, take a nap, and then think again before passing a balanced budget amendment…Lawd, give me strength…Missouri is that case.

Oh, catch that knee before you hurt someone.

I adore balanced budgets.

But I also understand that states aren’t households and there was far better ways to ensure fiscal discipline than passing a piece of legislation that gives government an easy out and mandates that the people suffer while true waste lingers unaddressed.

Pause…let that thought marinate…continue.

That’s right, I said that a balanced budget amendment is a government easy button.

Nixon and the gaggle of freaks that make up the majority in the Assembly get to cut…and cut…and then cut again.

Every year I watch this wretched circus and it never fails to remind me of a surgeon using Civil War battlefield medical techniques in a modern surgical theatre.

Oh, government will balance the budget…but they will do so without being challenged in to actual govern in a way that would make Missouri thrive rather than amputate and/or starve programs to death year after year.

Mmmhmm, we have a state government that is skilled in wielding the axe but lacks the intellectual capacity to diagnose what ails us.

And allow me to keep it real – the most vulnerable suffer from these cuts, our young people seeking education suffer…

…and ultimately Missouri suffers. Because while budget balancing legislators prepare to cut bone now that they’ve hacked away all the meat, we the people are looking at another year where our largest export is Missourians.

Blink.

Pondering service this King Holiday…

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Longtime readers know that I adore volunteering and I fully support the call for a national day of service in honor of King’s legacy.

But...and you just knew there was a “but” coming…I wish the call for a day of service was accompanied by the recommendation for a life of service.

Hold up...catch that knee!

You know and I know that you know that I know that average everyday folk tend to believe that they don’t have enough time to check the time much less add another to-do to their list of things that need doing.

A national day of service is a fantabulous opportunity to explore the diverse options for service available to people of all ages, skills, and backgrounds…

…and through that exploration people can realize that service and volunteering does not have to happen in multi-hour, overwhelming, and thus unsustainable blocks of time.

Pause...consider...continue.

Today I'm reflecting on King’s legacy and on the sacrifice and courage of thousands of nameless activist warriors who made up a movement that was the very definition of serving the cause of social justice.

And I imagine what the world could be...would be...will become if we all endeavored to do the same.

Have a wonderful King holiday.

Firewall…

Let’s jump right on in.

The New Hampshire primary is over.

Romney won big.

Ron Paul came in second.

John Huntsman came in third.

And y’all can be your ass this race is about to get old school nasty…I mean nasty like when George Bush #1 was running against Reagan in 1980…mmhmm, NASTY!

Pundits have latched onto the word “firewall” and the theory that South Carolina is the last chance for anyone to derail Team Romney.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

When I hear talk of a political firewall I get an image of a gaggle of conservative candidates hunkered behind a barricade at the South Carolina state border as a massive flip-flopping and moderate only when compared to the hardliners he’s running against Romney grassfire whips all ‘round them.

Blink.

Pre New Hampshire Expectitude!

Happy Monday before the New Hampshire primary, y’all!

I’m on my second cup of coffee (2 cubes sugar and a dash of milk...yum!) and fixin’ to get this week started.

Shall we?

New Hampshire will get their primary on tomorrow and political pundits are gleefully…and I mean gleeful like I haven’t seen them gleeful since a certain social conservative darling took a hike on the Appalachian trail gleeful…cough…yeah, um…gleefully anticipating which of the GOP wanna-bes will come in second.

Santorum, leader Spanish Inquisition Faction of the GOP, enjoyed a nice surge from his performance in Iowa…but that performance also rustled up some vicious opposition ads highlighting Santorum’s adoration of pork and fringe value system. Ricky is feeling the heat and this bitch will be watching to see if he can hold onto the #2 spot in New Hampshire and then take his unelectable in a General ass on to South Carolina where he hopes Evangelicals await him like the second coming of…um, well you get the picture.

Blink.

Onward!

John Huntsman.

Pause…allow time for the flock of bitchitude to Google John Huntsman…continue.

Huntsman has emerged as a contender for the #2 spot in New Hampshire…which is not half as surprising as pundits would have us believe when we consider the fact that he’s been shaking hands there for months while his opponents were deep in Iowa country. Anyhoo, Huntsman’s rise is an interesting development but I’ve yet to determine whom he takes votes from in New Hampshire.

Next!

Mitt Romney is in the lead and pundits have determined that he must win BIG or he’s done for when he heads for South Carolina where his flip-floppery, Mormonism, and New England ways are expected to hurt him with likely GOP voters.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Yeah, that about sums things up.

Oh wait…Newt!

Newt, Newt, Newt, Newt, NEWT!

***claps hands in joy***

Angry red-faced pompous mean-as-hell 1980’s Newt is back, y’all!

He’s been feasting on Mitt Romney like a hungry dawg on a bone…tossing accusations with an intense hyper focused hate I haven’t seen out of him in decades.

Sigh.

May the gods of blog post content continue to shine upon us…