The crash, those party crashers and the Pope's cd drops today...

A bitch hopes all y’all had a fantabulous holiday weekend!

I sure as hell did. Mmmhmm, I ate myself sick and got some much needed sleep too.

Happy, happy, happy and joy times three!

Let’s jump right on in, shall we?

The crash…
A bitch took a vacation from the internets during the holiday break, but C-Money was online and filled me in on all what-what surrounding a certain Tiger Woods and his recent vehicular malfunction.

My first response to the crash heard ‘round the internets was shock.

Tiger Woods crashed an Escalade?

What the hell happened to his Buick?

I was sure Mr. Woods was fixin' to be in a world of shit over driving and then crashing a non-Buick car but then I remembered that Buick kicked Woods to the curb a while back.

Still, nine years spent pitching Buicks and Tiger can’t even manage to involve that brand in his vehicular malfunction scandal based 2ish in the morning public display of as yet to be determined origin?

That’s cold, el Tigre.

That’s real cold.

The party crashers…
When I heard that two fools crashed the recent state dinner at the White House I had several reactions.

#1 – My soul sistah reaction in solidarity with the event people at the White House
Oh, no they didn’t! Fuck these fucked up people for fucking up the Obama Administration’s first state dinner.

And damn them to hell while you’re at it.

The White House event staff worked their asses off of this dinner which, by all accounts was fantabulous and now all anyone can talk about is some Ann Coulter look-a-like (and who in their right mind steals that look…wince) and her unable to be ‘shamed husband.

Shit.

Anyone who has ever worked on a largish event should understand…these party crashers are a special kind of evil and should be reviled as such.

#2 – Ooooh, someone is gonna get fired for this shit.
This kind of security fuck up requires more than one resignation and a high profile firing. But since the fuck up points out weaknesses in White House security…and those holes had best be plugged fast as a motherfucker…and no one got hurt in the revealing of those holes…well, a bitch is strangely grateful this tacky assed couple took their ig’nant show out on the town.

#3 – Did I just pay for that?
Um, wait a minute.

Since a bitch is a tax payer…and these party crashing fools crashed a state dinner…did I just pay for this ig’nant couple to get their eat on and then sell the tale for six figures?

Oh, hell no!

Fuck that shit…if these fools get paid a bitch wants my cut.

Mmmhmm, they need to divide those six figures up amongst the masses…and a bitch is adding a fee for taxing my Afro with the never-ending television loop of this home training fail.

Lawd.

And finally, #4 – ‘Tis a sign of the times…
The economy is in such dire straits that rich winery owning sorta-socialites have to make spectacles of themselves by crashing a state dinner in hopes of getting a television show documenting them…umm, making spectacles of themselves...so they can pay off debt and continue to be rich winery owners.

Pause…consider…continue.

The Great Depression had bank robberies, gangsters and kidnappings with ransom demands…

…we’ve got Balloon Boy and an Ann Coulter look-a-like crashing state dinners with her husband, both of whom are trying to get theirs through reality television shows.

Something tells me this current shit isn't going to inspire great black & white movies.

Wince.

Bonus bitchitude…
The Pontiff’s c.d. drops today.

Yes, I’m serious.

Way!

The Pope is dropping a c.d. of pontifical mutterings and utterings…just in time for Christmas.

Taylor Swift better watch her back….

…’cause the Pontiff is fixin' to kick her ass.

A bitch gets this mental image of the Pope's release party, with him dripping bling and sipping Moet…

What?

He signed with Geffen, for the love of all that’s strange as hell and freaky too!

Gawd, who needs fiction when this is our reality...

Happy Thank-based Day of Massive Eating!

Lawd, a bitch has been beyond busy getting all manner of shit ready so I can sit my ass down today and eat.

Pause…consider…continue.

Either I’m getting slower or my to-do lists are getting more complicated.

Wince.

Anyhoo, so sorry for my absence!

I hope that y’all know how thankful I am for your readership and comments.

Yes, even the rancidly ig’nant comments…’cause they remind a bitch that rancidity and extreme ig’nance exist in the world, so bitchitude must exist to expose and defeat that shit (wink)!

But I am most thankful for the words of encouragement, the spirited debates and discussions and the passionate concern y’all have for this world and your community.

You inspire me…

…and this bitch is thankful as a motherfucker for that.

Eat, drink and then do it again!

Happy Thank-based Day of Massive Eating from the House of Bitchitude!

Pondering creativity and the enjoyment of tres leches cake…

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." Sir Ken Robinson on Creativity

Shall we?

Last Friday a bitch had the rare pleasure of seeing my sister give a presentation at St. Louis University. I’m ridiculously proud of my sis for a lot of reasons…one being her ability to share knowledge and inspire others. After seeing her presentation on strategic planning, my respect for her skills has only grown.

C-Money’s talk included her showing the students Sir Ken Robinson’s talk at the TED Conference on the topic of creativity.

If you haven’t seen it give it a look here…’tis worth it, trust a bitch.

Robinson’s talk is about creativity and how traditional public schools stifle the hell out of it if not outright kill it.

Much has been made over the need to reform public school education in America. I’m a product of a public school education and I agree that a lot of shit needs to be fixed, the sooner the better. But I’m not for tossing the notion of public school out the window entirely…in a world where many do not get any schooling because education is seen as a privilege rather than a right, I know that one of America’s great achievements is that we have a public education system. And in this nation, where many would like to see education become yet another exclusive playground of the rich, the masses need to defend the structure and advocate for remodeling the hell out of it...this bitch is pretty damned sure that many of those pushing to tear the things down are also preparing to lobby against building a damn thing up to replace it.

***pause, sip a rather exception cup of coffee (two teaspoons REAL sugar with a splash of 2% yummified milk = joy), continue***

Having said all that, the current beast is anti-creativity…and, in many ways, that’s a reflection of American society. I’ve lived a lot of places (Boston, Great Barrington Mass., Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas) and I’ve visited even more…most communities are against creative expression…thought…people…structures…shit, anything different.

And Robinson’s talk reminded a bitch that one of the major reasons communities, organizations and people resist getting their creative on is for fear of fucking shit up.

We are conditioned to stand in front of ourselves when the thing we need to do is get out of our own fucking way.

Now that may seem like the most obvious thing you have ever read…but most of us don’t confront that reality enough.

We just don’t.

We look at beautiful, passionate and wild pieces of art…creations that stir our blood and damn near move us to tears…and appreciate them, yet we scoff at the idea that we (me, myself…I) have something like that struggling for freedom within ourselves.

So, while the blessed few among us who are able to defeat our fear and experience creativity go about the bitness of making and eating sumptuous cakes, the rest of us eat crackers…all because we afraid to risk fucking a few cakes up before we get that shit right.

Because society punishes the creative among us when they do fuck up…because deep down in the core of too many of us is a resentment toward those pretty ass cake making motherfuckers.

It took me years to see that shit for what it really is…the conditioning to conform that is drilled into all of us for so long that we’ve incorporated it into our flesh.

That fear is us (me, myself…I) standing in the way of our own ass getting our creativity on.

Because we don’t want anyone to laugh at us…to mock our fashion sense…to spit out a cake we’ve worked so hard on…to hate on us…to piss in our Corn Flakes…to kill our joy.

For fear of all that…we don’t dance, we buy clothes that everyone else is buying and eat crackers when we’re dying for some tres leches yummified cake.

We cast a safe vote on health care reform instead of the right vote...we don’t even eat Corn Flakes anymore and haven’t experienced joy in so long that we wouldn’t even miss it but for those damn creative folks out there flaunting their happiness all the motherfucking time.

Can a bitch get an amen?

Shit.

I don’t know about y’all but this bitch needed to be reminded of that…big time.

Many thanks to my sister C-Money for that reminder and so much more…and congrats to her for a kick ass talk that I know touched more than one person in attendance.

Get your creativity on, y’all…get wild with it, go ahead and fuck shit up and learn from that...get out of the way of your own damn self.

Shit.

Now I'm craving tres leches cake...

A reading from Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism

What?

A reading...from a book (wink)!

Mmmmhmm, from Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism.

When?

4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22

Where?

Left Bank Books, 299 N Euclid Ave., St. Louis

What the hell is Girldrive?

I’m so glad you asked!

Here’s a brief what-what about Girldrive...
What do young women care about? Have they heard of feminism, and do they relate to it? These are just two of the questions journalist Nona Willis Aronowitz and photographer Emma Bee Bernstein set out to answer in Girldrive. In October 2007, Aronowitz and Bernstein took a cross-country road trip to meet with the 127 women profiled in this book. Girldrive is a regional chronicle of the struggles, concerns, successes and insights of young women who are grappling--just as hard as their mothers and grandmothers did--to find, define, and fight for gender equity.

Head on over, buy a copy of the book and get your listen on this Sunday!

Pondering a holy war up in Congress...

Hi y’all!

Guess what?

The Senate released its version of the Health Care Reform bill yesterday!

For real.

I’m serious!

Way (wink).

Mmmhmm, and Senator Hatch (R-UT) responded by saying there was gonna be a “holy war” in Congress.

For real.

I'm serious!

Way.

A holy way in Congress.

Pause…consider…continue.

No, that doesn’t make any sense to a bitch either...a holy way in Congress…isn’t that an oxymoron?

Shouldn’t it be?

Sigh.

A bitch suspects the reason for Hatch’s confusion on whether our nation’s legislative branch of government should indulge in a holy war (or shouldn’t that be a holy civil war?..ouch, there goes that pain in my Afro again!) may have something to do with his decision to introduce the Stupakian abortion ban language for consideration in the Senate’s bill.

I mean, that shit is so bursting with holy sanctified panderific bullshit that a bitch wouldn’t be surprised to learn it was written on church stationary!

Wince.

Pause...speculate…continue.

Ooooh, a bitch can just see it now!

First there will have to be a Mormon bishop versus Catholic bishop battle to determine which will lead the charge ('natch)…and then the winner of that cage fight will get their Crusade on up on the Senate floor…swords swinging, mud caked horse hooves flaying in the air as wild eyed holy warriors sporting full battle armor hack the Senate Health Care Reform bill to pieces in the name of the father, son and holy ghost.

Goodness!

Sounds like great theater...but a bitch has to wonder...while all that holy war drama is going down…

…will the rest of the Senate be getting their legislation on in the name of the people?

Blink.

A fluff of the Afro to the Riverfront Times!

Update – Mr. Greenbaum hath responded to the criticisms!

***crickets get their drum roll on***

Survey says?

EPIC FAIL!

Congrats to Kurt and stltoday.com for setting a new low in the Don’t Get It, Not Trying to Get It and Not Ashamed to Post That I Don’t Get It category of online word-based expression.

Y’all must be proud as a motherfucker!

Blink.

Original post...

A bitch is sure I've mentioned the epidemic of ig’nant racist comments that are allowed to take of residence beneath the articles on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website.

The site is so well known around town for allowing racist comments that people will send links to articles and either add an apology for the comments or warn folks against even bothering to read them.

Out-of-state folks should know that other Missouri papers have somehow figured out how to balance angry as hell comments with the need to avoid a virtual Klan rally up in the comment section…but Stltoday.com has indulged in a massive online comment moderation fail for forever and a day.

For so long, as a matter of fact, that a bitch was wondering if they had to let their online comment editor person go.

Enter the Riverfront Times and this article…which not only outs the fact that Stltoday.com still has an online editor (a certain Kurt Greenbaum)…but that his ass is capable of being offended by a comment.

Pause…allow sound of shocked gasps and exclamations to calm down..continue.

Mmmhmm, just not those racist comments that populate article after article upon commentary upon article-esque speculation dressed up as journalism (What? Shit we are talking about the Post!).

The RFT’s Chad Garrison uncovered the fact that Greenbaum was so offended by a comment containing a crude reference to a woman’s…well, my people call it a vagina…that he researched the comment, found out that it led to the comment maker’s employer and contacted that employer who then confronted the employee-based comment maker...who resigned on the spot!

Lawd, have mercy!

Look at that...would you look at that?!?

Shit.

That kind of dedicated payback for a comment-based offense made this bitch wonder why Mr. Greenbaum can’t seem to rustle up even half of that dudgeon when folks leave comments like those referenced here in another RFT article.

***cue crickets***

This latest online fail, coupled with the recent commentary fail by the Washington Times newspaper, has taken me closer to proving that overt racists are a highly desired audience for print media for reasons that escape me 'cause I don't speak stupid.

And 'tis shit like this that makes it kind of hard to feel sorry for the slow revenue-based starvation death many a newspaper is currently experiencing.

Blink.

Anyhoo, a fluff of the Afro to the RFT!

Poo...

Ahem.

If it didn’t bother you when President Bush the II loved on an unapologetic and perhaps even murderous enemy of free speech…

…and you didn't fret over how America's image abroad was being tarnished when our President publicly displayed that he had nothing but LOVE for a known violator of the human rights' of his people…

…but this picture of President Obama bowing to the Emperor of Japan (as is the custom, you hayseed) has y'all speaking in tongues and fixin’ to blow a blood vessel...

…you’re probably a conservative...but you are, without question, a hypocritical little shit.

And not the cute animated holiday kind, neither!

Lawd, have mercy.

Think for a minute!

If acting like an ig'nant fool and showing little to no respect for the traditions of others was the way to get international respect, George Bush would have been crowned Emperor his damned self ...or at least Head Dumbass in Charge... years ago!

Aw, fuck it.

Rep. Alan Grayson said it best…"If the President has a BLT tomorrow, the Republicans will try to ban bacon."

Blink.

Sarah Palin gets her book tour on…

Sarah Palin’s got a book coming out and she’s already hitting the road…starting, I believe with a stop at Oprah’s studio.

Blink.

Let’s jump right on in, shall we?

Unlike the folks at Good Morning America, this bitch is not at all interested in the tawdry details of Palin’s political life or her American story.

I’ll give credit where credit is due, though. Team Rogue managed to toss so much drama and so many attacks in a book pulled together faster than a good shift change at a hockey game that they may actually get through the high profile Oprah and Barbara Walter’s interviews without having to talk about...wait for it...politics!

Oh, that’s good.

That’s real good.

Full disclosure - a bitch hasn’t seen the entire Oprah interview…just the clips that have been released to stir shit and ramp up interest for the apparent McCain-Palin dish in the novel...err, memoir...um, book-like publication.

I hope I’m wrong.

I sincerely hope that Oprah asked Palin about some of the shit she said while campaigning against Oprah’s candidate of choice, President Obama.

And I’ve got my fingers crossed that she asked her some policy questions too…and no, I'm not talking about asking her if she reads newspapers.

Oprah must have…I mean, c’mon…if she didn’t ask some policy questions to clarify where Palin stands on covering the cost of medical visits when a person is dying and the family needs to discuss hospice care etc...well, then Palin would be insulted as hell right?

If Sarah Palin finished all these high profile and BIG name interviews without being asked about her policy position on the wars, energy conservation, the environment, the separation of church and state, reproductive justice, immigration reform, health care reform, tax reform, feminism, LGBT equality, Medicare or international diplomacy…cough…she’s gonna feel robbed, right?

Team Rogue would be firing off press releases complaining about the lack of respect being shown to the former GOP Vice Presidential candidate...right?

‘Cause Ms. Palin’s in the bitness of empowering America through rougue-powered political change!

***cue crickets***

Pause…consider…continue.

Yeah.

Right.

A bitch suspects that Team Rogue is banking on a nice war of words with former McCain aides coupled with the power of personality to keep those pesky issues at bay...but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

Fuck, how many books can a body sell fueled by speculation over what she was wearing, who said what about her daughter and oooh, her new hair?!?

Blink.

Home Training Fail of the week…

A bitch is starting a new feature – Home Training Fail of the week!

It may need to be expanded to Home Training Fail of the day…and, given the current fubarity surrounding health care reform, it could even go hourly…but we’ll kick it off with the home training fail of the week and see how things go from there.

I’ll get shit started with the Lou Dobbs.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Yep, Dobbs is a living a home training fail...shit, a bitch suspects he’s got HTF altered DNA.

It seems that Mr. Dobbs has decided to "be a leader" in a "national conversation" about immigration, jobs, health care, climate change and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- as well as "our now-weakened capitalist economy."

Blink.

Yes!

Oh, the gods are feeling generous… ‘tis like Festivus just broke out all over the place!

Lou Dobbs getting his Mr. Independent on in 2010 is more than just mana from political blog heaven (can you say guaranteed content, chil’ren?)…but it’ll also provide the masses with a constant loud ass hell and visual as a motherfucker reminder of what The Man really means when they use code language like “traditional Americans” and “traditional family values.”

Fantabulous!

And if Dobbs lands at FOX…even better.

This bitch would buy tickets to a Beck v. Dobbs cage fight…

…and I know my ass isn’t alone there (wink).

Anyone else have a home training fail you’d like to add to the list?

On The Issues Magazine - Race, Feminism, Our Future...

A tip of the Afro to the people at On The Issues Magazine The Progressive Women’s Magazine for their current issue Race, Feminism, Our Future.

A bitch has been working my way through it and…well, it’s a must read. Not because you’ll agree with everything, but because even the shit you’ll disagree with will inspire the kind of conversations we need to be having right now.

They had me hooked with this From The Editors…

“What do postfeminism and postracialism have to do with liberation and freedom? The answer is clear: nothing -- not a single thing. Postfeminism or postracialism contribute nothing to dismantling the patriarchal systems that spread across cultures and races. Or to inhibit gender violence, deliver healthcare, provide economic relief or increase abortion accessibility. The “posts” are nonmovements and they move precisely nothing forward.”

Mmmhmm.

Check it out and let me know what you think of it.

I’d like to recommend Taking on Postracialism by Rinku Sen…and Birthers and Birchers: Hiding Behind Stars and Stripes by Loretta J. Ross…oh, and..

...shit, just go read the issue from start to finish and discuss!

More often than not...

Happy belated birthday to the United States Marine Corps!

Cough.

I’m gonna go off a wee bit…okay?

Cool!

I have had enough of conservative pundits and politicians sporting American Flag jewelry and spewing ig’nant as hell rhetoric about [insert "other" determined to rile up the base].

Enough!

I am the grand daughter, daughter, niece and cousin of veterans. My grandfather, bless his soul, served during World War II...standing up to protect this nation even though this nation wouldn’t stand up to protect him when he had the audacity to travel while black and in uniform through the segregated south.

From the very beginning…the damned Revolutionary War, for Christ’s sake...people of color, immigrants and non-citizens, women and gays and lesbians and so forth have fought on behalf of the United States of America. Shit, there wouldn’t be a United States of America is it weren’t for the assistance of France…and French soldiers and military know how.

And to this day there are non-citizen soldiers who serve honorably…soldiers who are immigrants who deserve our respect not our skepticism and hatred.

Latinos, both citizens and non-citizens, serve and have served.

Black people serve and have served.

Native Americans serve and have served.

Women serve and have served (a tip of the Afro to my cousin…go on, girl!)

Gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgender people serve and have served.

Muslims…Pagans…Jews…Atheists…serve and have served.

So let me tell it plain so fools can’t say they weren’t evah told.

Lou Dobbs - you cannot honor the American Veteran and preach hatred and fear of immigrants.

They are often one and the same.

Rush Limbaugh – you cannot honor the American Veteran and preach hatred and fear of people of color in general and black men in particular.

They sure as shit are often one and the same.

Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, the Cheney Women, the staff of FOX television/radio and the rest of you assholes who know who you are – you cannot and you DO NOT honor the American Veteran or soldiers when you campaign against LGBT people, mock the contributions of women, question the equality of and work to erode the rights of women, question the equality of work to erode the rights of LGBT citizens and generally, but with freakish dedication, contribute to a climate of hate and fear toward Muslims.

They are, more often than you allow your tiny little brains to think, one and the same.

Because this is America, the “other” you hate has, is and will continue to fight for the right of all Americans to say and do what those who spew hate sadly say and do.

But if you want to get your hate on you really ought to take those fucking flag pins off and pull the bullshit video segment celebrating America’s heroes off the air.

Because when you hate on the “other”…

…you are, more often than you think, hating on America’s heroes.

No if, ands or buts about it.

Happy Veterans Day and special cyber hugs to all members of the flock of bitchitude stationed at Ft. Hood …blessed be.

Hold please, extreme bitchitude in progress...

A bitch just checked my planner and it looks like I'm scheduled to speak truth to power today.

Blink.

I've got to get my phone bank on...then send some emails...and then call some more politicians to explain things like why being a woman isn't the same thing as being a smoker (if you looked up "asshole" in the dictionary, the definition would say see Pete Sessions (R-TX)...mercy) yeah, so bitchitude shall be delayed until tonight.

Toodles until then!

We haven’t yet begun to fight…

Full disclosure – a bitch “reworked” President Obama’s Making history email…just a wee bit…

Shall we?

Y’all,

Over the weekend, at 11:15 p.m. Saturday night, the House of Representatives voted to fuck women when they passed a health insurance reform bill with an anti-choice amendment that includes a ban on private abortion coverage and would prohibit it in the public option. Despite countless attempts to lobby the House, enough members caved to anti-choice freaks ‘cause some Dems managed to convince themselves that passing a health care reform bill that leaves women flattened by a bus is a legislative victory.

Legislating away reproductive health care is not how we define a victory.

Fucking women over and then acting shocked when we tell their ass there’s gonna be a reckoning ain’t special…it ain’t new…and it ain’t slick.

But change is in the air.

Members didn't just witness a massive legislative fail -- they helped make it happen.

Each "yes" vote was a fubar stand, backed up by countless hours of bullshit and misinformation…temper tantrums dressed up as town halls and hundreds of thousands of calls made by a handful of people and paid phoners urging members to throw women under the bus through that anti-choice amendment from hell.

Women stood up. Women spoke up. And once again we were ignored.

This is not a time to celebrate but they can bet their ass we aren’t fixin’ to rest.

Those who voted for reform that will not include coverage for women’s reproductive health care deserve our wrath, and the next phase of this fight has already begun.

The final Senate bill hasn't even been released yet, but those who are organized against reproductive justice are already pressing hard to make sure real reform, reform that includes women’s health care needs and addresses our concerns, fails even worse than it did in the House.

So, my fellow reproductive justice activists, it is time for us to build a massive neighborhood-by-neighborhood operation to bring women’s voices to Congress.

It’s safe to say we’ve seen the result of our lack of representation this weekend.

The coming days will put our movement to the ultimate test.

Winning will require each of us to give everything we can…again...starting right now.

Please donate $5…or whatever you can afford…to a pro-choice organization so we can finish this fight.

Pick up the phone and call the White House, your Senator and then call your friends and family and tell them to get their happy asses on the phone to do the same – real reform includes women’s health care and victory is not achieved by throwing women under the bus!

The health care reform bill vote brought those in power closer to denying those in need the secure, affordable care that is our right. It was also a demonstration of how real progressive change is never made on the backs of the oppressed.

Even after last year's election, many politicians still think that the old formula of saying one thing to women’s faces then doing a different thing when it comes time to vote…after we work our asses off to get them elected so that they could TAKE A MOTHERFUCKING STAND when it counted…would be enough to keep everyone happy.

Now, they're about to learn a lesson…because women intend to make it crystal clear: the old rules have changed -- and we will not be ignored.

In the final phases of last year's election, President Obama often reminded folks, "Don't think for a minute that power concedes without a fight," and damn it all if that isn’t especially true today.

But that's okay -- we're not afraid of a fight. And we’re willing and able to prove, when all of us work together, we have what it takes to win a real victory that includes women’s health care.

Please lend your voice to pro-choice legislative action to win this fight and ensure that real health care reform…ya’know, the kind that includes reproductive health care for all Americans including women… reaches President Obama’s desk by the end of this year:

Let's remind these fools exactly who helped make history last year…

…and let us re-commit to sending pro-choice progressive candidates capable of demonstrating bitchitude when it counts to Congress in 2010.

That reads sooooo much better than the original, don’t you think?

Blink.

Y’all with me?

Let’s do this!

Mercy…

I’m still trying to process what happened yesterday at Ft. Hood.

Several of my readers are stationed at Ft. Hood and I am grateful to know that y’all are okay. I hope y’all will let me know if there is anything…ANYTHING…I can do to help out.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say later, but for now...may the Divine One have mercy.

Kick Ass Awards 2009!

Longtime readers know that this blog began when Brother Rob Thurman gave it to me as a birthday gift damn near five years ago.

I remain grateful to Brother Rob for pushing this bitch into the wonderful world of online bitchitude!

Last year, when I was honored with a Kick Ass Award, I gave praise where praise was due to Brother Rob…but he was a no show (so many parties, so little time…wink), which only served to fueled a long-standing rumor that Brother Rob and this bitch are actually one person.

Shit.

Well, Rob Thurman is getting his ass kicked…umm, err a Kick Ass Award this year and a bitch is gonna be there to cheer him on (he’s the very definition of a kick ass person!)…

…and to kill off that motherfucking rumor for good!

Joe's Cafe
Sunday, November 8
7:00 p.m. start, 6:30 p.m. doors
6014 Kingsbury, in the Skinker/Debalievere neighborhood

Winners announced so far are…

Riley's Pub
Bob Putnam & Sherri Lucas
Rob Thurman
Stlhandmade.com
Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio
Molly Rockamann
Home Eco
Rebecca Rivas
Marty Abdullah
Gregory Smith
Kate Ewing
Carmelia Nunez-Shown and Daniel Shown
Plus our special Mystery Winner, selected the night of the event.

...but a pre-existing condition is not one of them.

Hi.

My name is Pamela.

Everyone calls me Shark-Fu or Sharkie or The Shark.

I am one of the millions of Americans covered by health insurance through my employer.

I am one of the millions of women who might not be covered by health insurance through my employer.

I have high blood pressure.

It runs in my family.

My doctor and I came up with a program to monitor and treat it.

My high blood pressure would still be undiagnosed and untreated.

I’m happy to say that my high blood pressure is controlled through medication and diet.

As a result I’d be at risk for a stroke or heart attack that would be economically catastrophic without coverage, so I’d also be at increased risk for bankruptcy…

…if I lived long enough to see those medical bills.

In 2000, I was diagnosed with fibroids and endometriosis.

But at least I’d have a fighting chance at having my fibroids and endometriosis diagnosed. Community providers like Planned Parenthood provide low cost health screenings and I’d find out that I have a condition that is treatable…at a cost.

40 percent of African American women will be diagnosed with fibroids.

After months of treatment from a specialist, my general practitioner recommended, I had surgery in 2001 to remove the fibroids.

But I wouldn’t be able to afford a specialist…or the expense of long term treatment.

Odds are I’d end up having a hysterectomy in my early 30s.

Fibroids are the leading reason women undergo a hysterectomy…

My doctor and I have developed a plan to monitor and treat my fibroids and endometriosis that’s been working well for several years now.

…and hysterectomy is one of the most common surgeries in America.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

There, but for the grace of coverage, go far too many of us.

Sigh.

Hi again.

My name is Pamela.

You can call me Shark-Fu.

And I am not a pre-existing condition.

I am a woman.

Not a number in an equation, part of a cost/benefit analysis, or a “risk” that needs to be considered.

I’m living proof of the benefits of coverage, affordable treatment and access to medical care.

I am a woman of color.

I am a sister…a girlfriend….a guardian….a warrior…

…an activist.

I stand as an indictment of the status quo that claims the wages of poverty or just getting by or just getting started are disease, illness, pain and/or death.

I am a lot of things...

...but pre-existing condition is not one of them.

My name is Pamela, but you can call me Shark-Fu.

And I took action to urge my Congressman and Senators to pass health care reform legislation that meets the needs to all women and their families THIS YEAR.

Did you?

Will you?

Thank you.

Post-election exploration…

Whew!

I mean, daaaaaaaamn.

Shall we?

Virginia did what Virginia was expected to do and elected a Republican as their new Governor.

He’s photogenic in a Buchanan-esque traditional American kind of way …and he speaks so well!

Wink.

But I don’t want to hear any bitching from those who voted for him when he starts embracing his inner Buchanan on y’all…you get what you vote for.

New Jersey handed Gov. Corzine his walking papers.

Ouch.

That one’s gotta sting...particularly with a third party candidate factoring into it all.

And the same shit applies…the people get what we vote for.

Pause...consider…continue.

Well, actually…the people get what the majority of the people vote for.

Pause again…consider some more…continue.

Umm, okay…so, the people get what the majority of the people who turn up to vote on Election Day cast their vote for.

Sigh.

Fuck it.

As much as this bitch loathes to see those darn elephants get their celebration on, I must confess that last night’s election results were worth suffering through just to see the pundits try to make the upstate New York Democratic House victory (and wasn’t that one a slight shocker!)...and the favorable toward Obama exit poll results...reconcile with their predictions of the referendum to end all referendums.

Gawd, it should be a MasterCard commercial!

Winning the New Jersey Governor’s race?

Too much money to mention without flinching.

Winning the Virginia Governor’s race?

Also a shit load of money ad not even close to being the political victory equivalent of the Miracle on Ice.

Losing a seat that’s been held by a Republican since the 1800’s (is that right? Mercy!) because your Head Rogue in Charge didn’t think the Republican candidate was Republican enough so she decided to use that race to publicly declare to the GOP 'You ain't the boss of me!!!'?

Now that’s just priceless.

Blink.

On Maine...

Regarding the rejection of marriage equality in Maine…

Damn.

I yield the floor to Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend.

p.s. to everyone who worked so hard and gave so much to the cause of social justice through the campaign – keep your eyes on the prize!

You have inspired and empowered more people than you know…

Get your vote on, people!

Today is Election Day across the country and this bitch urges all y’all to get your happy asses to the polls!

Mmmhmm, and don’t give me some bullshit line about how there’s nothing important on the ballot or voting doesn’t matter…that’s The Man talkin’ and working hard to keep the masses from participating in the political process.

Let me be clear here – your vote matters and there are all kinds of important issues and races on the ballot in your community!

Maine?

Hey, y’all!

You may remember this bitch from way back in the day when I visited on college trips and bitched about how fucking cold it was?

Yeah…umm, that was me.

Well, shit…it was cold as hell!

Shiver.

A bitch needs to chat with you, Maine!

Y’all are strong minded and independent. Don’t forget that when you go get your vote on today. Don’t forget that when you cast your vote on Question 1…please oh please don’t allow ig’nant fear tactics and dogma to influence you to cast your vote in favor of taking rights away from your neighbors.

Protect equality, Maine!

New Jersey?

Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you!

Vote, damn it…or forever hold your tongue.

And please don’t go out there and vote against the President when voting for Governor.

That goes for you too, Virginia!

That shit almost always backfires against the masses...a bitch suspects it was a key factor in many a vote cast for President Bush Part 2 and y’all remember how that shit ended up (see FUBAR)!

Vote for the candidate and concentrate on the race, because you’ll be the one stuck with the winner after the referendum adoring pundits go home.
Shit.

Anyhoo, I’m off to get my vote on here in St. Louis city.

See you at the polls!

Pondering the shit to ponder…

A bitch ate way too much candy over the weekend and there's still several bags left over. I’ve been trying to convince myself that the Saturday morning canvass I participated in for the fantabulous Stacey Newman burned off so many calories that the massive amounts of yumminess I consumed later that same day didn’t stick.

Blink.

Fuck it, Halloween only comes once a year!

Shall we?

This bitch doesn’t watch FOX. Longtime readers know that I have high blood pressure and have had to give up a lot of shit…like Sudafed, salt and watching unhinged televised rancidity dressed up to look like the news.

And Gawd, I do miss my Sudafed.

Sigh.

So, no…this bitch didn’t see Rush Limbaugh call the President of the United States a man-child on FOX.

I honestly think I should be given a pass on having to ever “witness” that shit.

Seriously!

A bitch lives in Missouri where freakishly successful and disturbingly affluent ig’nant as hell college drop outs who are thrice divorced and had an affair with illegal drugs that they were able to coast on ‘cause they were lucky enough to qualify for the rarified joy of the justice system as experienced by rich straight white men…cough…are a regular, if small, crop.

Must have something to do with the bullshit rich soil.

I personally think Limbaugh’s tendency to attack President Obama’s “manliness” is amusing as hell and speaks more to Limbaugh’s feelings of…umm, let’s call it inadequacy…than anything else.

But hey, hats off to David Axelrod for his “We'll let Mr. Limbaugh foment," response!

I just love it when Axelrod uses vocab words guaranteed to send Limbaugh’s minions on a Google search.

Foment?

Fantabulous!

So, Limbaugh is a distraction from the real shit to watch…and damn if the press doesn’t take his bait every fucking time he drops a line in the water. He says something Gawd awful and everyone gets all excited and then liberals get all offended and the masses end up looking at the manufactured frenzy in the middle of the room while some real shit is going on in the corner.

“Well, what should we be looking at instead of Limbaugh’s conservative grin and shuffle routine?”

I’m so glad you asked (wink).

Tomorrow is Election Day and a bitch feels that all eyes should turn to Virginia, upstate New York and New Jersey.

Virginia is for lovers and politics…
It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, but the Governor’s race in Virginia is looking like a tough one for Democrats. There’s a lot of shit that went into arriving at this tough spot, but the press will focus on Obama, repeat the word referendum like it’s going out of style and generally lose sight of the fact that there are limits to the power of those Presidential coattails.

Shark-Fu’s advice – take a long hard look at the horse before you get mad ‘cause someone couldn’t sell it.

Imagine all the people, living for today…
Upstate New York has developed into an absolute joy of a GOP clusterfuck with Sarah Palin, a dash of Sanctified-Santorum and Governor Pawlenty…oh my!

Palin and the GOP have engaged in a proxy war, complete with bullshit treaties and crumbling alliances and backstabbing double crosses. A bitch has no fucking idea who will win the historically Republican and now vacant 23rd district House seat. What I do know is that moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out and endorsed the Democrat after Palin’s proxy started gaining from the power of all that Palinification and now the GOP is scrambling to spin the race as a freak accident rather than the first battle of the war over the heart and soul of the party.

Shark-Fu’s take - this bitch hopes someone makes a series out of that shit, because it is the very definition of drama!

Finally, we have New Jersey and a probable win for Governor Corzine…after having spent enough money to feed the world's hungry for a decade (wince).

A bitch’s prediction – victory has many fathers, but political defeat is the result of human cloning.

Blink.

Hassani Campbell is still missing…

A reader contacted me over the weekend looking for more information on the Hassani Campbell case. Hassani Campbell is a five-year old male child who has been missing in the Oakland California area since August. Sadly, there is not any new information on the case. Police are investigating it as a probable homicide and volunteers are still searching for Hassani.

A couple of months ago, Oakland Police arrested his foster parents on suspicion of murder. Jennifer Campbell, Hassani Campbell's aunt and foster mother, and her fiancé Louis Ross were accused of suspicion of aiding and abetting in the homicide of Hassani Campbell. They were later released due to lack of evidence

Hassani Campbell was reported missing August 10, 2009.

If you have any information about this case or individuals who may be involved in this child’s disappearance, please contact Oakland police youth services or your local police department.