A bitch is back!

Shall we?

First, let me acknowledge that my sister C-Money is the very definition of fantabulous and worthy of a temple full of worshipers baring gifts while singing her praises. 

Thanks to her - for being a great nurse…for cooking a Thanksgiving meal so yummified that my back got up ‘bout it (oh no she didn't break out a fancy ass bourgie brine!  Oh yes she did!)…for reassurance and perfectly timed threats…and for picking out my Afro and then asking me if I made any boo yet.

Wink.

Now enough of all that…onward!

The death of Enid…

Last week I had a hysterectomy…my surgeon removed my uterus, which had been overtaken by a mass of uterine fibroids I named Enid, and one ovary that had been taken over by endometriosis.

The war had been going on for damn near a decade, but victory was achieved Monday November 22^nd by a surgical team made up entirely of fierce women. 

Yep, I scored the Feminist All-Star Team for my hysterectomy…hooray!

Things went well.  I lost a lot of blood and required a total of five transfusions (much love to the A positive folks out there who donated blood!!).  I’d hoped to keep both ovaries but apparently I’ve been living with one functional ovary for a while anyway, so whatever.  Most importantly, I woke up the same bitch minus that heifer Enid...and that's my definition of surgical success.

Nothing left to do now but heal!

Something tells me that my life post-Enid is gonna kick ass…and that’s not just the pills talking (wink).

Thank you for being my friend…

Pause…sip water while readers sing Golden Girls theme song…continue.

A bitch appreciates all the advice and the flood of well wishes…y’all are fantabulous!

Thank you!

Pondering the experience…

Peeing on your own, passing gas and taking a shit – behold, the road to surgical success!   

A bitch has never had so many people rooting for me to pass gas and then take a shit in my life…that I know of.   

It’s like some secret cult of boo in the post-surgical world!  Just when a bitch was about to freak the fuck out, I passed gas and had the funny as hell experience of having grown ass people grin hard and damn near clap their hands upon hearing about it.

I kid you NOT!

Color me twisted, but that shit cracks me up...

...but that may be the meds working their magic.

Toodles!

And away we go!

A bitch is fixin to head on over to the hospital for my hysterectomy!

I’m going to be away from this land of bitchitude for at least a week…’cause friends don’t let friends blog while under the influence of post-surgery meds (wink).

C-Money will post updates on Twitter - http://twitter.com/CrystalMerritt

A special thank you to Brother Rob Thurman, who threw down an amazing pre-Turkey Day Thanksgiving meal yesterday...fantabulous and just what a bitch needed!

Thanks for all the well wishes, y'all!

Lawd, have mercy…

 
This has been quite a week!

First, let me send well wishes to my soon-to-be hystersister Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend, who will also be having her surgery Monday!

And no, we are not the same person.

Wink.

A bitch has been frantically trying to wrap shit up because today is my last day at work before Monday’s surgery and the 4 to 6 weeks of recovery that will follow.

I’m tired as hell because I haven’t been sleeping well…stressed out because I’m a control freak and there ain’t no controlling this situation…and freakishly relieved that surgery day is finally almost here.

This process has been a learning experience…big time!

I’ve learned that my body is tired as hell of my neglect and letting a bitch know in all kinds of ways.

I’ve learned that iron supplements piss off a bitch’s innards…and spinach sautéed in olive oil with garlic is yummy as hell.

And I’ve learned that I’ve got the most amazing people in my life…folks who have blown me away with their support and tolerance (‘cause a bitch has been a bitch this week!).

Love y’all!

Sigh.

So, I’m going to go get dressed and drag my ass into work…gonna try to do what I can do and try not to fret over what I can’t do.

Toodles for now and have a fantabulous Friday!

As many of you prepare to get your travel on…

Thank the gods for Friday!

And ‘tis the Friday before a holiday week for Americans…too cool!

Shall we?

A bitch has been following the growing discontent among folks who travel by plane over the TSA’s new intimate pat down body rubs and those body-scan machines.  I’ve read about concerns over what the scanners display and I’ve watched news segments featuring irate frequent flyers expressing their outrage over the pat downs.

I agree that the pat downs are intrusive and this new system may be more theatre than prevention…but I’m also fascinated by the texture of the outrage.

Several travelers expressed their frustration over how the system makes them feel like they are guilty until proven otherwise…that it is administered by the TSA in an insulting aggressive authoritative manner…that it makes them anxious when they’ve done nothing wrong…and that it is doing all that shit and is likely more theatre than prevention.

And yet…

Well, that’s kind of what it feels like to be pulled over for driving while black…or stalked through a store for shopping while brown.

That’s what it feels like to be asked to produce papers to prove you’re “legal”.

That’s what so many people scoff at as they dismiss the outrage of others and respond with “well, if you haven’t done anything wrong then you shouldn’t be upset…get over it!”

Now some will say that I’m comparing apples to pineapples…maybe I am, but something about this mass outrage that has freakishly united the traveling nation make my Afro throb.

‘Tis one of the reasons I thought it would be a good idea for Arizona’s paper law to be universally applied so that everyone stopped by a police officer would be required to produce papers.

What others experience is all too easy to tolerate.

What your own ass has to go through is a whole different matter altogether.

And that may also be why I’m able to ponder this from a distance - my ass won’t be flying for the holidays and thus won’t have to fret over whether someone is about to touch my lady parts.

Blink.

Pondering the message sent by the reaction to the results from first Gitmo trial…

Shall we?

A bitch woke to news that the first Gitmo trial resulted in one guilty verdict out of around 300 charges.

The defendant faces being sentenced to life in prison.

Current spin is that the results of this trial will hurt the Obama administration’s campaign to have civilian trials instead of military tribunals.  See, the rules of evidence are more relaxed in military tribunals...so some folks are pushing for them, because…um, well because this shit is all about getting lots of convictions on lots of counts.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

This bitch can’t help but marvel at the overt message being sent here – that detainees will remain at Gitmo until everyone agrees on a system that will all but guarantee lots of convictions on lots of counts.

And I also can’t help but see the opportunity about to be lost – that we could use trials to send a positive message to the world about justice in America, creating something good out of the shame that is Gitmo.

Instead, all signs point to us sending a message to the world about justice in America…and that message will likely double down on all things Gitmo.

Blink.

Thank the gods for hockey…

UPDATE!

The Blues shat the bed in Detroit last night.

Sob.

They played really well for most of the game and then they fell apart...collapsed...seemed to regress back to junior hockey players right before my eyes!

Fuck a duck...this must stop!

A bitch is superstitious as hell, so I looked at my pre-game ritual to see if maybe something was off or new or easy to blame.

Cue Jaro the hockey gnome!

Mmmhmmm, C-Money gave Jaro the hockey gnome to me and he comes out of his box now to watch Blue's hockey...only when Jaro the hockey gnome is watching the Blues don't seem to be winning.

Damn it...it must be the gnome.

I hereby banish Jaro the hockey gnome to the dawg crate until the Blues cease shitting the bed!


Original post...
A bitch is in the final days of my pre-surgery work week and stressed out beyond all previous stressed out levels.

Fuck it…let’s talk hockey!

My beloved Blues, struggling after a fantabulous Halakian start to the season, take to the ice tonight against those damned Detroit Red Wings.

The Wings are…well, they’re the Wings – they sit at #2 in the West and they play to win.

The Blues are…well, they’re the Blues – they sit at #5 in the West and they’ve been unstable as hell.

But fuck it…let’s go Blues!

This bitch is going to cheer for the home team to pull out of our slump and wrap up this road trip with a big win.

Thank the gods for the stress distractitude of hockey!

The Refudiation of Joe Miller…

Shall we?

Way back when the 2010 political season began…and those who adore tea were being organized to take over the known world…a certain Joe Miller made his move to become the next Senator from Alaska.  Joe Miller was The Chosen One…endorsed by Sarah Palin and selected by Alaskan voters in the Republican Primary.  Incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski was defeated in the primary and all signs pointed toward an Alaskan Tea Party victory in the general election.

What a difference a write-in campaign makes.

Votes are still being counted, but at present Senator Murkowski is leading in the campaign to represent Alaska in the Senate.

Holy jumpin’!

I was in Alaska volunteering during the primary and I have to admit that I thought Joe Miller was unrefudiatable (wince) after he won the GOP nomination.

He was Palin endorsed running in Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

He was running in a year when incumbency was a curse.

He’s pro-tea…loves tea…probably only drinks tea…hell, odds are he bathes in that shit.

And yet…Joe Miller ran up against Senator Lisa You Betta Check Yourself before You Wreck Yourself Murkowski, who swiftly refudiated Miller’s primary victory and launched a write-in campaign that is now poised on the brink of victory.

There are lessons to be learned here.

Lessons in how to not back down when the press writes your political obituary and how to claim back momentum, redefine defiance and get the electorate to listen over the chants from the mob.

Senator Murkowski is likely to emerge from this historic write-in campaign the only true maverick of the 2010 election.

In a year when so many politicians followed the heard and accepted the flawed premise of the Tea Party's argument…in a week when GOP leadership caved so swiftly and with barely a whimper on earmarks and are prepared to cave on so much more to pander to Tea Party supporters more interested in symbols than policy…in a climate that remains enthralled by a Tea Party phenomena that has yet to articulate anything beyond the word "no"…in the midst of all that shit, Senator Murkowski waded through the muck and led Alaskan voters along with her.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Hell yes, there are lessons to be learned from The Great Murkowski Write-in Rebellion of 2010.

Meanwhile, the counting continues...the lawyers are getting paid...and someone needs to tell Microsoft Word that Oxford has embraced Palinism and the word “refudiate”.

Blink.

Blink...

Confession - a bitch woke up in a frenzy this morning because I thought I'd overslept my surgery.

Lawd have mercy!

I jumped up...grabbed the clock...cursed and freaked and then checked the date on my television set only to remember that my surgery is next Monday.


Betsey the sorta-beagle just gazed back at me like I'd lost my damn mind and then went back to sleep!


Shit.

Happy fucking Monday!

Blink.

Still chewing on that symbolic earmark ban…

Update - Senator McConnell has flip flopped and will now support the earmark ban...thus clearing the way for the GOP to move on to ban some other "symbol" of out-of-control spending rather than address any actual out-of-control spending.

Blink.

Shall we?

A certain Senator-elect Rand Paul has clarified his clear as hell swift as a motherfucker flip-flop on his pledge to ban earmarks – "I'm opposed to ear marking and I won't use ear marking personally. I have taken a pledge. There is a Citizens Against Government pledge that I took during the campaign. It was confusion over a reporter not understanding what I was saying."

Rather than turn down the heat created by his clear as hell swift as a motherfucker flip-flop on his pledge to ban earmarks…you know, the one that is shaping up to be a big ole do-nothing symbolic pile of bullshit…Paul’s clarification puts him in a serious pinch.

If Paul merely avoids participating in earmarks Kentucky will be left out of targeted funds for programs and such.

Some Kentuckians may think they want that…but, um…well, the reality of being left out of that shit while everyone else is getting theirs will likely circle back and kick Paul in his clear as hell yet always having to clarifying arse.

If Paul participates in earmarks his Tea Party supporters may be forced by such blatant pledge breaking to dust off those Don’t Tread on Me flags and flood Paul’s office with Lipton tea bags…after a rally or two…and maybe even a march. 

Unless those who adore tea are full of shit when it comes to holding their candidates turned politicians accountable, which they probably are….but even if they are full of shit they probably won’t like being called out for being full of shit and may protest Paul just to avoid the awkwardness of accountability even when that accountability would be applied on a do nothing no money saving symbolic earmark ban.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Mmmmhmm, Senator-to-be Paul is in a bit of a pickle with this and his supporters are right there with him.

Paul needs earmarks not to happen…big time…or he’ll be put in the position of refusing to get Kentucky a plate at the legislative barbeque while his fellow Senators bring out the Tupperware.

Thankfully for Paul there’s a solution – the filibuster!

Gawd, I can fucking see it now – Rand Paul on the floor of the Senate babbling incoherently for days as he filibusters the first piece of legislation set before him that contains earmarks.

That’ll be symbolic, for sure.

And a bitch pondered… “I wonder what the odds are of that happening?”

And Vegas replied… “Girl, please…you so crazy!”

Blink.

Veteran's Day...

To all who served...

...and to their families too...

Happy Veteran's Day!

Was it a bird…was it a plane...?

 
A bitch is finishing up a training in lovely Austin…love this city like a frozen margarita on a hot day!

Hopefully this slow as hell high speed internet connection will maintain long enough for me to get this post up.

Gulp.

Anyhoo, I was going to write about that memoir-based disclosure from President George W. Bush that his mother showed him her miscarried fetus in a jar…but um, well…yeah, that proved to be TMI even for a crazy ass bitch like me.

Mercy.

So, I’m going to ponder The Great Missile or not a Missile Mystery in the Sky of 2010!

Apparently something streaked across the California sky the other day.

Lots of folks captured video and pictures of whatever-the-fuck-it-was…government agencies claim they can’t confirm what the hell it was…and NORAD has confirmed that there wasn’t a foreign missile launch.

Sooooo…what the fuck was it?

Shark-Fu’s speculation about what the fuck it was…

#1 Meg Whitman is tired of you trifling motherfuckers!

Whitman spent more money than some countries spend yearly on basic operational shit in her failed bid to become the Ruler of California…and this bitch suspects that she woke up this week, pondered the prospect of having to explain/defend that shit through the next couple of months and said “fuck this shit!”, jumped in her personalized space shuttle and took off for Mars.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Or.

#2 The Demon Sheep have left the planet!

After working their asses off in a series of commercials…first for Carly Fiorina’s failed run for Senate in California, then for the Dems’ spoof of Carly Fiorina’s ad, and so forth and so on…the Demon Sheep were kicked to the post-election curb without so much as an extra patch of grass.

Wrongness!

A bitch is thinking that they organized, commandeered Whitman’s space shuttle and then took to the sky to search for a planet more tolerant of unemployed red-eyed demon possessed sheep. 

I bet people on the ground heard something along the lines of “Bhaaaaaaaaaa motherfuckers!”

Wink.

Or.

#3 Rand Quaid and his wife Evi partnered with the Demon Sheep and Meg Whitman to get the hell off planet.

What?

Well, shit - that’s as plausible as some random motherfucker launching a fucking rocket in California without it landing anywhere in California...yet.

Blink.

Pondering Very Young Girls...

I’m a huge fan of documentaries…love them , love them, LOVE THEM!

On more than one occasion, I’ve watched a documentary that truly changed my perception of a thing and opened up my eyes to a situation happening in my community.

Such was the case with the documentary Very Young Girls.

Very Young Girls profiles young women in the GEMS (Girls Educational & Mentoring Services) program, which is the only organization in New York State specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking.

To say that this documentary is powerful is to under-represent how life changing it was for me.  I volunteer with young women just like those featured in Very Young Girls…teens and sometimes tweens who have experienced exploitation, rape and abuse and then experienced a court system that has pre-determined their guilt even as it gives their abuser a slap on the hand.

Very Young Girls is not easy to watch.

There are points in the film that made me want to turn away, but then I thought that if these young women could endure it then I can watch and honor their testimony.

I thought of Very Young Girls when I read the news today that law enforcement busted up a sex trafficking ring that was victimizing at least 69 children by selling them for sex on the internet and street.

It is important to note that this didn’t happen in a foreign country - this happened and happens “here”…down the street, around the corner and sometimes next door.

And for every high profile law enforcement sweep there are thousands of very young girls and boys who are still being sexually exploited or punished by the justice system for having been sexually exploited.

But there is hope…that’s the thing that blew me away about Very Young Girls.

There’s hope and healing and empowerment and strength…laughter and tears, mistakes and triumphs…

Life…just waiting...

For more information on GEMS.

For more information on Very Young Girls.

Take the Pledge – join the GEMS Council of Daughters and commit to take concrete steps in your daily life to end the commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking of girls and young women in the US.

Hooray…hooray…HALAK!

Longtime readers know that a bitch adores St. Louis Blues hockey…through good times and bad times, this bitch is a fan!

But this year my fan-joy has been ramped up because hockey has become my escape from pre-surgery stress.

So I’m beyond thrilled that the Blues are providing a bitch with fantabulous hockey viewage through which I can set aside my stress and concern – the Blues are kicking major hockey ass and I’m loving it!

Our new #1 goalie Jaroslav Halak is on fire…a wall in net…the iceman under pressure…fantabulous!!

Our #2 goalie, Ty Conklin, proved that he’s no slouch in a shutout win last night.

Despite recent injuries and rookies on the ice, the Blues have stuck to the system Davis Payne built and passed tests in two road wins this weekend…resulting in the best start in Blues hockey history.

Lawd, have mercy!

Hockey may be for everyone…

…but right now it’s showering this Blues fan with extra-special hockey-based joy.

Hooray!

Hooray!

HALAK!

About those earmarks…

Shall we?

A fascinating debate over earmarks is shaking out among the would-be leadership within the soon-to-be Congress.

Earmarks are those nifty little items in legislation that direct funds to specific projects or organizations.  Bridges or research projects or catfish farms…you name it and there’s probably been an earmark directing funds to it in recent legislation.

Tea Party electeds want to ban earmarks.  It’s debatable whether they feel that earmarks drive up the cost of legislation, but those elected through the power of tea are anti-earmark and have been uncharacteristically clear about wanting to do away with the political payback pork steaks that clog legislative arteries.

The GOP has a history of adoring earmarks.  When last in power, they feasted on pork steaks 24/7 and they’ve indicated that they’d like to get back to that on January 4th.  Senator McConnell has said that banning earmarks will not impact spending…and that the earmark situation is complicated. Translation – he’s not down with banning earmarks and is brushing up on his two-step in anticipation of dancing around the call to do so.

The battle lines have been drawn.

The GOP, with Tea Party electeds among them, take control of the House on January 4th.

And the House will begin crafting legislation that will demonstrate exactly how committed members are to kicking the Congressional earmark habit.

This bitch anticipates that this will be the first of many tests of Tea Party influence within the GOP…to earmark or not to earmark, that is the question.

Blink.

Post-election sorta specificitude…

One of my favorite post-election rituals is exploring how the political press conducts the interviews they should have done before Election Day after the results are in from Election Day.

‘Tis a joy!

Example – a certain Christiane Amanpour of ABC News’ This Week scored a post-election interview with Kentucky’s new Tea Party Senator-elect Rand Paul.

Ms. Amanpour asked Paul what he’s going to do.

Senator-elect Paul said he plans to cut spending “all across the board.”

Amanpour pressed Paul for specifics, but he doubled-down with "I'm going to look at every program, every program."

Senator-elect Paul, who has a seat on the Senate Budget Committee on his holiday wish list, then said he would freeze federal hiring and reduce the number of federal employees by 10% along with the remaining government employees' wages by 10%.

Where he came up with 10% remains unclear…just as how he intends to reduce the national debt by cutting spending without raising taxes remains hazy as a motherfucker.

Paul then turned to those entitlement programs…you know, those pesky spending programs like Social Security and Medicaid that no one thought to ask his happy to be nappy ass about until after the election.

He was clear about not wanting to impact those folks who are currently using those entitlement programs…which makes me think that someone may need some Libertarian re-education, lest the lure of future electability trump the will to mercilessly hack government to death.

Anyhoo…Senator-elect Paul is pondering raising the retirement age and changing the entire structure of social security, but just for folks 55 years of age and under.

Paul then made the case that our debt isn’t a revenue problem but rather a spending problem…which reminds me of when I first faced the challenge of living life odd of my paycheck and created a budget that kicked major ass except it neglected to factor in my being human and needing food. 

Wince.

But my favorite portion of the interview was this from Paul…

"You need to ask of every program – and we take no program off the table."

"Can it be downsized? Can it be privatized? Can it be made smaller? ... We need to get our fiscal house in order.”

And I can’t help but remember all those folks at the town hall who shouted that they don’t want government healthcare or government involved in their lives.

“Can it be downsized?”

They ought to sleep well knowing that Senator-elect Paul is already working hard…

“Can it be privatized?”

…to radically alter social security by privatizing the hell out of it…

“Can it be made smaller?”

…and Lawd knows Tea Party supporters should find comfort knowing that Paul then plans to starve that horrible unpopular government healthcare atrocity called Medicaid to death.

And this is Paul being vague.

Blink.

And so it begins…

I am so fucking glad it’s finally Friday!

Shall we?

I woke up this morning to news that the Obama Administration will spend $1 hundred fabillion trillion dollars on a trip to Mars, where officials will stay at a luxury resort and dine 24/7 on lobster drenched in butter followed by sessions of being hand fed peeled grapes by specially trained Cylons from Venus.

Blink.

Horrors!

Who in their right mind would think that kind of spending is a good thing?

Seriously, people…do we really need a presidential space shuttle at a time like this?

Space Shuttle #1 is estimated to cost $400 billion dollars…’cause of the specially built mosque on board and those gold toilets.

Mars is hostile territory…so security is costing us taxpayers $700 trillion dollars a day.

Jesus...talk about being out of touch.

And of course all that lobster has to be flown in…hello, $450 million!

Mercy.

But the kicker for me was the price tag for those Cylons. 

Are you sitting down?

Training, grooming and then transporting Cylons to Mars just so they can peel grapes and feed them one-by-one to Obama officials is gonna cost all us Patriots a whopping $900 fabillion dollars.

Way!!

And they’re passing a law demanding that we turn in our guns and give up public prayer to help pay for it!!!

Stop the insanity, people!

Thank the gods we have new leadership heading to Washington DC that has the courage and oozes the kind of patriotism needed to flush out atrocities like this and defend our traditional way of life.

Lawd knows they’d rather be putting together a legislative agenda to help address our troubled economy…but trying to put a stop to this Mars trip is taking up all their time.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

And all this so Obama can bury his real birth certificate in an $850 million dollar vault in some Martian cave.

Have they no shame?

Blink.

The New Reality…

Okay, all y’all!

Let’s move on and examine the new reality of American politics.

The key issue that voters cast their ballots on was the economy…specifically jobs and spending.

Come January, a Republican House and a Democratic Senate will swear in with the clear directive from the masses to address the economy and thus create a job-making climate across the land.

Senate Minority Leader McConnell is set to make a speech today that is expected to set the tone for what the GOP plans to focus on first.  McConnell will speak to a conservative group and sources say he’ll call for a total repeal of health care reform legislation and double down on his statements that the GOP’s top goal is to win back the presidency in 2012.

Pause…allow that to marinate…continue.

Mr. McConnell knows that the 2011 House will send forth legislation to repeal health care reform legislation…and he knows that shit will be dead on arrival in the Senate.  Even if he’s able to gather up enough votes in the Senate to support that legislation, McConnell will not have enough votes to override the President’s veto.

That’s why McConnell added that shit about the key goal of the GOP being taking back the presidency in 2012.

For all the talk of common ground, McConnell is giving us look at the gridlockian tension that will likely define the next 2 years.

Some may say that the GOP will work with the Democratic controlled Senate to get shit done so they can campaign on what they accomplished in 2011.

But the harsh reality is that the GOP is signaling that they’d like to campaign on what they won’t accomplish…

…and that doesn’t bode well for those voters who cast their ballots for a job-creating economy.

Added to the mix are all those Tea Party electeds.  With Boehner as Speaker, Kantor as Majority Leader and McCarthy as Whip, the Tea Party that gifted their momentum to resurrect the GOP in the 2010 election is now looking at a leadership that looks like the GOP of old.

Enter Michele Bachmann of the “I was down for the Tea Party when the GOP was still drinking coffee” Bachmanns.  Bachman has already announced that she’s going to run for a key leadership position against GOP homeboy Rep. Jeb Hensarling.

This is more than just the first leadership test for Speaker-to-be Boehner.

Bachmann’s bid is a huge deal that calls down all kinds of questions about what, if any, roll Tea Party Representatives will play in the House now that they aren’t just a mechanism for organizing voters.

Will Bachmann and her caucus end up watching the kickball game they made possible play out from the sidelines…

…or will they have a voice and thus a platform to create all kinds of Libertarian drama for the “we want our Executive Branch back!” GOP?

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

And I’ll return to my earlier pondering of that gridlockian tension Mr. McConnell has hinted at through his post election statements.

I’ve heard about repealing health care reform, read a lot about who wants which leadership position and why, and it’s clear as a baby’s eye that the GOP wants to take back the presidency in 2012…

…but it doesn’t look like the GOP has even written a job creating economy on their Christmas list yet.

Will the GOP put a plan together in time to get it to Santa?

Or are they signaling a different reason for the season?

Blink

Break it down, dust off and refocus...

Ah, chil’ren…hush now…HUSH!

 

Settle down now.

Shhhhhhh.

There's no crying in baseball, y'all.

Have some coffee and let’s jump right on in!

Yesterday the Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives…big time!

The GOP brilliantly used the Tea Party to turn out voters and take the House in the largest margin since 1938. 

As a result, on January 3^rd the new Congress will be sworn in.

And on January 4^th “Government isn’t listening to us!” will become “Holy shit, we are the Government…so you people better listen to us!”

This GOP victory on the shoulders of Tea Party momentum puts The Party of Tea in a position to flex in the House.  Expect to see them make their voice heard…and pose a challenge to Speaker-to-be Boehner, who will need to swiftly deliver on those pledges of spending cuts and job creation.

Tea Party victors will face the ultimate political challenge – standing up for what they campaigned on in a world of deals and compromise.

They are the government now…and the whole world will be watching.

Let’s not fall back on the tired nonsense that only blah, blah, blah percent of eligible voters showed up. 

When people don’t vote…they voted.

And let’s not eat our own…yet.

Democrats need to own this ass whooping and Progressives need to own it with them.  The base was uninspired, exhausted and disappointed...what we do about that shit will define who we are. 

Democrats in the Senate need to gather and strategize…stat.

The House will send a whole lot of shit to the Senate…and the Senate will be where the policies of the Second Chance GOP will be defined.

Debate in the Senate will frame those GOP policy proposals…so Democrats in the Senate need to prepare to pull their shit together, dust off their debate hats and defend what needs to be defended.  They need to rethink leadership, messaging and what they are willing to toss under the bus.

In many ways it is easier to deal with political happenings like the Tea Party when their candidates are actually elected to office.

Catch that knee…catch it!

Talking about how government is broken is easy and clearly it resonates with a lot of voters. 

Making change in Washington is a whole different matter…a balance between obstructing and advocating that requires a lot of skill and the ability to rub the back of your base while playing political poker with your other hand.

 

In conclusion - I’m exhausted and need to refuel…but I sure as hell am not cowed.

Retreat, hell! 

I’m planning to attack in another direction.

Behold the birth of the Don't Tread on my Afro era!

Election Day...hooray!

Happy Election Day, y'all!

A bitch is awake at pre-dawn o'clock in the morning...wince...so I can get my happy ass to the polls by 6am and say "hey!" to voters.

I love Election Day.

I love voting and no projection, no pundit...no result is ever going to kill the joy I get from participating in the political process or assisting others who seek to do the same.

Don't forget to vote...don't decide not to vote...don't fuck up and forget that there is a lot of shit on the ballot that you need to weigh in on.

If you need information...if you just aren't sure about where to go or what your rights are...visit the Missouri SOS election site.

Happy voting!

24 hours to go...

Tomorrow is Election Day…thank the gods.

The political talking heads are in frenzy…my poor television set it about to explode from the political ad negativitude flooding the airwaves…and activists across the political spectrum are making the final push to get the vote out.

Yes, the Midterms are upon us!

A bitch spent yesterday getting my canvass on…I’ll spend today calling voters to remind them to vote…and I’ll be at the polls tomorrow.

My predictions?

Buckle up, chil’ren…it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Once the dust settles, the people…well, at least the people who show up and vote…will decide who will represent them in government.

The masses…or rather those who vote…will decide on ballot initiatives and propositions and so forth and so on.

And at 7pm (or some time after, 'cause we all know St. Louis has issues...wince) we’ll all grab a cocktail and watch to see what’s what.

Some will gloat…some will cry…and far too many won't give a shit because they didn't participate.

Sigh.

24 hours to go, y’all…

…and there’s no rest for the politically active!