Pondering opposition....

Several months ago I watched a documentary on television, Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech.  The documentary profiled several cases that challenged the hell out of me…incidents where people said things that go against everything I believe in and yet their very act of saying them demonstrates something I believe so very much in - freedom of speech.

At the end of the documentary I was drained and inspired…disturbed and empowered.

Gawd, I love a good documentary film!

Anyhoo, I was reminded of those feelings and that documentary when I read the news that some residents of Murfreesboro Tennessee oppose the building of a new Islamic Center near town.  The congregation of the current center has outgrown it’s home and seeks to expand in a new center and some residents are fiercely opposed to that plan.

If people opposed the new Islamic Center because plans violate local building codes or threaten a protected wetland it would be one thing…but folks have voiced opposition based on the fact that the center will be an Islamic center.

Some have called it a training center for terrorists…there have been incidents of vandalism at the planned site of the new center…and there was even a call for a boycott of any business that works on construction of the new center.

A local Tea Party candidate running for Congress even went so far as to call Islam a political system designed to enforce Sharia Law and not a religion.

Americans have the right to engage in public displays of absolute ignorance.  I’ll defend that any day…because I want to protect my right to engage in public displays of brilliance (wink).

But people do not have the right to use government as a weapon to deny others the right to religious freedom ‘cause of an intellectually lazy and bigoted fear of all things associated with the religion of Islam.

There’s this thing called the 1st Amendment to the Constitution...the one that prohibits government from impeding the free exercise of religion and protects our right to peaceably assemble.

That same amendment prohibits government from infringing on free speech…and I can’t get over how sad it is that those folks in Mufreesboro who oppose the building of a new Islamic center are exercising one part of the 1st Amendment to demand county officials violate another part of that same amendment.

Sad, but not surprising...when we pull back the scab of tolerance we often find the festering infection of bigotry.

And that is as American as people working to deny freedom ‘cause they claim that they want to protect freedom.

Blink.

Pondering the Russian spy media frenzification…

Apparently there are masses of Russian spies in American suburbs.

Mmmhmm, the Feds have charged 11 people with being spies for Russia…and news outlets are in love with the angle that these folks blended in and lived among the people in suburban settings while acting normal.

Mercy.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.


Shall we?

Okay, these people have been charged with spying for Russia.  I know I’m asking a lot…and that the press really struggles with this part of reporting…but could someone please try to report charges as charges and confessions as confessions and convictions as convictions?

***cue crickets***

Shit, this bitch can’t tell whether we’ve got spies or folks charged as spies or folks who have confessed to being spies or some guy named Yuri who is in a shit storm because of some unfortunate internet searches.

Then there’s the fact that Russian President Medvedev was just in the country chowing down on burgers with President Obama and that kicked off the did Obama know, did Medvedev know, can we read anything into the way they ate the burgers or was Medvedev sending signals by eating his fries one at a time…or did his selection of a cheeseburger versus a hamburger trigger a long dormant Manchurian sleeper spy who is now roaming the nation on some mission to exploit burger-based diplomacy!!!!

Gasp.

***cue the interviews with shocked neighbors***

Did they have accents?

Were they good tenants?

Did they root for Team Russia during the Olympics?

Mercy.

I don’t know when it happened, but at some point tossing out questions kicked journalism's ass and then hid the body in a closet and took the fuck over.

Sigh.

But I must confess that this Russian spy media frenzy has got a bitch nostalgic for the predictable propaganda of the Cold War…

…and wondering how long it’ll take for Glenn Beck to connect this shit to Acorn.

Blink.

Senator Byrd, D-West Virginia, has died…

Senator Robert Byrd has died.

Senator Byrd was this nation’s longest serving Senator.

Many will remember Senator Byrd for his passionate opposition of President Bush’s doctrine of preemptive war.

Others will remember Senator Byrd for his decades in the United States Senate.

History will certainly remember Byrd’s conservative social views…his membership in a domestic terrorist group (the KKK), that historic 14-hour filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…his vote for the King holiday and his endorsement of Obama for President in 2008.

Odds are that the great historian of the Senate understood that his words and votes would long outlive him.

As news came through of Byrd’s death, I was reminded that the history of a politician is also the history of those who elected that politician.

And so, the history of Senator Byrd is the history of decades of West Virginia voters too...the good, the bad and the ugly.

Senator Byrd was 92 years old.

Happy Pride!

A bitch’s wicked head cold wrapped up just in time for Pride weekend in St. Louis!

Thanks the gods.

I’m fixin' to head over to the park and celebrate with the masses…and eat funnel cake…and get my socialization on with friends and fellow activists…oh, and then eat more funnel cake.

Sigh.

For some folks Pridefest is a fun outdoor party or the source of one of the city’s more popular parades, but for many who attend it is a rare opportunity to be out in an accepting atmosphere…to be who they are and to see that they are not alone.

‘Tis important to remember that Pride is a party and so much more...and that funnel cake is a sometimes food (wink).

Happy Pride, y’all…

…and don’t forget the sunscreen!

Caught the summer plague…

A bitch has caught that summer plague that’s been going around!

Shit.

Since blogging while bleary eyed on meds is not wise, bitchitude will be delayed until tomorrow.

Toodles till…

Pondering vehicular sermons…

A bitch was out driving Ms Sistah Girl Cabrio yesterday.  It’s hot as hell in St. Louis and lots of folks are driving like they are mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore.  So, I wasn’t all that surprised when a silver mini van sped up and cut me off, failing to yield to oncoming traffic and damn near causing a multi-car accident on Lindell.

Sigh.

I cautiously pulled up behind said mini van…and took note of the multiple preachified anti-choice bumper stickers populating its ass.

There’s nothing like having a Choose Life mini van, complete with a driver chatting feverishly on her cell phone, bob and weave at high speeds through city traffic…it really sends a message (wince).

I couldn’t stop staring at the Woman, Behold Thy Son sticker as the van cut back and forth and then swerved into the Walgreen’s parking lot…finally coming to a screeching halt.

It got me thinking about the recent news that Massachusetts is considering Choose Life license plates.

The way I see it, some cars just drive about, other cars drive about sending messages (end the war, tolerate each other, adopt a pet and so forth)…but certain cars drive about giving vehicular sermons.

This bitch thinks that folks should consider that shit before getting a Choose Life license plate to go with a series of biblical quote bumper stickers on their silver mini vans.

‘Cause either the driver of that mini van was borrowing someone else’s ride…

… or she feels strongly that the masses should “Choose Life” by staying off the fucking road while she’s on it.

Mayhap the sticker should say that shit…Choose Life – Stay Out of My fucking Way?

Blink.

Either way, when a driver anoints their car with sanctified ideology they should have drive accordingly or face getting a ticket for hypocrisy while driving.

Shit.

Hockey news in the month of Pride…

When the Chicago Gay Hockey Association invited the Blackhawks to participate in this year’s Pride Parade, a lot of folks wondered how the Hawks would respond.

Well, now we know.

Chicago defenseman Brent Sopel and his family will escort Lord Stanley’s Cup and represent the Chicago Blackhawks in Chicago’s Pride Parade!

They’ll join the Cubs, who were already set to have a float.

Hockey is for everyone - Happy Pride!

A fluff of the Afro to the great sport of ice hockey!

A bitch was thrilled to see that the Hockey Hall of Fame has finally acknowledged the achievements of women in the sport!

Canadian great Angela James and the fantabulous Cammi Granato, a super star of American hockey, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November.

Holy jumpin’!

Congratulations to them both…

…and this hockey fan thanks them too, for loving the game and playing it like warrior goddesses!

A census pondering...

A bitch filled out my home’s census form when it came in the mail because it matters…big time.  Missouri faces the very real possibility of losing a Congressional seat if the census shows that our state population no longer warrants that representation.

Lose a Congressional seat and you lose political power.

The entire situation has a bitch pondering population in Missouri.

When I first moved back home to Missouri I met up with some classmates from high school who had started an organization that sought to address the fact that many women of color leave Missouri in search of better opportunities.  Lots of us chose to move to cities with less racial segregation and better job opportunities…cities and communities that are more inclusive and less rigidly conservative. That situation is not limited to women of color...lots of folks grow up in Missouri and then leave.  And there are a lot of reasons why a person leaves their home state…employment opportunities, societal pressures fueled by Missouri’s conservative shift, education opportunities for children or just a wish to see if the grass is greener.

The problem comes when the reasons folks leave Missouri are also the reasons why folks and/or businesses don’t move here.

Beyond the real threat of losing a seat in Congress, Missouri faces a budget crunch that is somewhat related to our population…fewer people means fewer people to tax and Lawd knows no one wants to raise taxes on the folks who stay, so we’re stuck in a vicious cycle of slash and cut that results in fewer services which impact communities and make them less attractive for folks who may have considered moving here.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Now I know and you know that I know and you know that some of our census problems come from people not filling out the forms.

Based on this article it seems that southern Missouri is posting some of the lowest returns…and that failure to stand up and be counted may rest in the regions anti-government sentiment.

If that shit holds, those anti-government Missourians will get their fondest wish…

…smaller government by way of one less seat in Congress.

Mayhap this is part of their Missouri sovereignty master plan?

Blink.

Remembrances of my father…

The strength of his hand…calloused and well used…when it held mine as we crossed the street.

The way he used to put mayonnaise and spicy mustard on hot dogs and then act as if that shit was the ultimate hook up.

His laugh…and the outrageous sense of humor that fueled the laughter of all who knew him.

How he mowed the lawn…meticulously moving up the length of it and then down with a level of geometric perfection that probably wasn’t all that healthy.  Fuck it – it gave him joy!

That he was almost genetically incapable of following recipes…and how he never gave up on his belief that adding coffee to box cake mixes made all the difference in the world.

How he worried…the way he worried…as if he had all the faith in the world that we’d make it through whatever it was but hated that we had to do it.

The scent of Scotch and cigarettes…of outside, sun, water and nature…of smoke from the grill or oil from the car.

Scene upon scene…moment tumbling into moment, so dear that words fail to capture the precious joy within every one of them.

But oh, if I hear a certain song…then we’re hanging out at the doughnut shop again – he with coffee and me with hot chocolate.

I’ve only to smell fresh cut lumber…and we’re hitting the hardware store again so that he could tackle this or that or just shoot the shit.

And I’ve only to look at my siblings…my beloved sister and brother…to see my father in them.

He is well missed and fondly remembered today as always.

Happy Father’s Day!

Oh, freedom …oh, freedom…oh, freedom over me!

Today is June 19^th…Juneteenth…a day that commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the state of Texas.  Juneteenth is a day that is now celebrated as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day in many communities across the nation and the world.

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me!
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave…

…and go home to my lord and be free!

Some people think that black folks focus on slavery too much, but I think we don’t focus on it enough.

On the fact that the economy of the United States was built through the use of slave labor…

No more mourning, no more mourning, no more mourning over me!
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave...
...and go home to my lord and be free!

On the fact that Southern pride should source from the history of social justice that sought to free a people rather than the armed rebellion against the federal government…

No more crying, no more crying, no more crying over me!
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave...
...and go home to my lord and be free!

On strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees…and tears upon tears cried for those who lost their lives to the hatred of others…

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me!
And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave...
...and go home to my lord and be free!

On a people who are survivors and should find pride in that, not shame...oh no, never shame.

There'll be singin', there'll be singin', there'll be singin' over me!

I don't think we focus enough..that it is even possible to focus too much...on the fact that slavery still exists today…

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave...
...and go home to my lord and be free.

…or on my belief that those of us who are the descendents of slaves should be all up in the movement to abolish modern slavery.

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me!

This Juneteenth I celebrate freedom even as I acknowledge the present day reality of slavery.

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in a my grave…

…and go home to my lord and be free.

Oh freedom.

Oh freedom.

Oh freedom over me.

Misconstrued, my black ass…

Misconstrue - To interpret erroneously, to understand incorrectly; to misunderstand.

Shall we?

Yesterday, Republican Congressman Joe Barton of Texas apologized to BP chief executive Tony Hayward.  Hayward was called to the Hill to testify before the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

In his opening statement Barton said…

“I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday.” … “I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown — in this case a $20 billion shakedown.”

He went on…and on…and on.

As the web exploded, the Republican Congressman issued a non-apology clarification - saying that his remarks had been "misconstrued”, Barton offered up…"I want to apologize for that misconstruction."

That was bullshit and the outraged masses swiftly declared it so.

Aint nothing to misconstrue…Barton is one Republican politician who knows how to speak plainly when he wants to.

And he clearly wanted to…big time!

By the end of the day, Barton had transitioned to a full apology minus the misconstruction bullshit.

The conspiracy theory lover in me suspects that Barton did exactly what he was sent forth to do…distract from the specifics of the hearing and the lack of buck-stops-here from Hayward.

If so, Congressman Barton deserves a bump in his next campaign donation from the oil industry ’cause everyone and their dawg has been talking about his public defense of BP in service to the Church of a Free Market Economy…

…and only a few folks are pointing out that BP’s Hayward fell flat as a motherfucker, failed to answer questions about how much time and money BP saved by skipping multiple safety measures and was even caught on screen checking his fucking watch.

Hayward speaks well and he’s even got the facial expressions of regret, sorrow and misery down…

…but odds are he regrets not having his life back, he’s sorrowful that this oil spill didn’t happen off the shore of Africa where he and his minions could take their damn time not cleaning it up and he feels strongly that having to listen to America politicians lash out at him while missing World Cup Soccer is the very definition of misery.

Pause…consider…continue.

I bet if we checked Tony Hayward’s iPhone we’d find a tweet from Rep. Joe Barton apologizing for the goal that got past England’s goalie in the USA v England match.

Lawd, have mercy.

When strict constructionism becomes selective as a motherfucker…

Shall we?

A bitch read about a certain Arizona lawmaker who wants to deny citizenship to children born in America to undocumented parents and I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry.

On one hand, it is laughable.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees citizenship to any body born in the United States.

That’s the United States Constitution, not the Arizona State Constitution…so, um…yeah, no way in hell a law passed in the Arizona state legislature is gonna undo that shit.

On the other hand, I found the very thought beyond sad even as it is extremely illuminating. State Senator Russell Pearce isn’t trying to be slick or subtle…and the fact that he isn’t and doesn’t think he has to says a lot about his confidence that his constituents won’t get ill as he launches a full out attack on families and children. 

Beyond the meanness of this latest public display of legislative bigotry, there is the curious issue of a conservative Republican calling for a change in a constitutionally guaranteed right because circumstances have change in his home state.

Gawd, I remember when Republicans were all having the words “strict constructionist” tattooed to their right ass cheek!

But I guess that their adoration of strict constructionism only applies to certain sections of the Constitution…

…kind of like how the Arizona immigration law only targets certain people.

Blink.

Consider voting for The Hiram Farm in the Pepsi Co Refresh Everything contest…

Hi y’all!

Please consider voting for The Hiram Farm in the Pepsi Co Refresh Everything contest!

Pepsi Co is giving away funds to groups based on the number of votes the groups get.

This is the link to the contest http://www.refresheverything.com/hiramfarm

Hiram Farm is an agricultural community project born out of the desire to provide inspiration and meaningful work for the individual growth of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. More can be found out about the farm at http://www.hiramfarm.org/

Thanks!

Post Oval Office Speechification pondering…

Update – After meeting with President Obama, BP to set aside $20 Billion fund for people and small businesses in the Gulf.

Shall we?

President Obama addressed the nation from the Oval Office last night.  He spoke of the oil spill in the Gulf and holding BP accountable and making them pay for the financial impact of this eco-tragedy.

A bitch found the speech short on specifics…and yes, that is beyond frustrating given the fact that this address to the nation is about a month and a half overdue.

Short of putting on scuba gear then diving into the Gulf and plugging that motherfucking leak his damn self, President Obama is not gonna please anyone on this shit.

Pause…consider…continue.

A bitch suspects that if Obama did get his dive on and plug that leak his political opponents would find fault in his dive technique, accuse him of engaging in political theater or declare scuba diving proof that he’s an elitist who is out of touch with regular Americans who can’t afford to dive.

Cough.

That’s neither here nor there…that’s just politics.

And politics will not stop the oil from gushing in the Gulf.

Hopefully those relief wells will and they aren’t due to be complete until August or September.

Here’s some realness - we are all invested in making sure the federal government gets their act together.

Not just progressives who would like to see reforms put in place to prevent disasters like this in the future.

Not just conservatives who seek political benefits from the Obama administration’s mishandling of this shit even as they navigate the tricky waters of advocating for off-shore drilling in a time when the masses are being confronted with the all too real dangers of drilling off-shore.

We the people need the Obama administration to get a handle on this shit…to take the lead and govern the nation through what will be a long and painful multi-stage disaster relief for the Gulf.

So, now that the Oval Office speech is over and meetings with BP executives are gonna happen, this bitch is looking for action and for some oversight that will address the fact that my ass isn’t confident that the same company that got us in this mess is now being charged with getting us out of it.

Which takes me back to the lack of specifics in last night’s speech…

…and my growing fear that any day now we’re gonna see BP approach the leak with a roll of duct tape and prayer.

Blink.

A quick dream-based confession…

Note to the uninitiated – a bitch’s dream based explorations are not based on reality in any way and should not be taken as reality, unless this wakeful state is really a dream and my dreams are reality.

Last night this bitch dreamed that I was a secret agent charged with saving the world from James O’Keefe.

I found out that he was in the midst of a video sting about how poor children are getting milk and a piece of fruit (gasp) through their government subsidized school lunch program.

I gained access to the lunchroom and when O’Keefe brought out his flip-cam to document a child drinking milk, I blew a lepatata horn in his ear.

O’Keefe shrieked, peed himself and then fled the scene while the children laughed, cheered and then got their nutrition on.

Then a bitch woke up.

And folks say those stadium horns aren’t useful (wink).

A not so good sign for the cable news channel that Ted built…

Happy Tuesday, y’all.

Do y’all remember when CNN used to be a cable news channel?

A bitch thinks that may be a question on one of those You May Be a Child of the 80’s quizzicals.

Mercy.

Decades ago, Ted Turner rattled the world of mainstream we’ll give you the news in primetime and you’ll like it news when he launched CNN.  Cable was new…Ted Turner was a billionaire bad boy…and many thought the idea of 24/7 news was ridiculous.  But this bitch was hooked…and I wasn’t the only one.

I’ll never forget watching CNN for hours as correspondents related news of the first Gulf War...and fretting as they whispered that they were hiding in their hotel room while government soldiers searched for them in an attempt to stop their coverage.  Even when there wasn’t a war to cover, CNN was a source that sorta-answered the question of what the fuck was going on.

Those were the days.

Oh, I’m not saying CNN was perfect…far from it.  But they used to be not perfect about the news.

Fast-forward to the now, and a bitch can honestly say I can’t quite describe what the fuck CNN is about…but sorta-news that a certain Eliot Spitzer is fixing to join CNN isn’t a sign that they are getting back to basics.

Pause…consider…continue.

As a matter of fact, Spitzer joining CNN is the cable news network equivalent of a smart mouthed bowl haircut sporting long lost cousin/orphan child joining the cast of a sitcom.

And we all know what used to happen to a sitcom the season after a smart mouth bowl haircut sporting long lost cousin/orphan child joined the cast of a sitcom – that shit was canceled.

It's not too late...this Spitzer shit does not have to happen!

Bail out, CNN!

For the love of all that used to be a cable news channel - bail the fuck out!

A fluff of the Afro to Karnythia of AngryBlackWomen!

A bitch kicked this day off by reading On Being A Black Woman and Happy With It by Karnythia and…well, that post got a bitch fired up and ready to go!

A fluff of the Afro and a thank you, sister!

Enough to make this bitch’s ‘fro ache…

A woman was a teacher at a Christian school in Florida.

She was engaged to marry.

She got married.

She found out she was pregnant.

She went to administration to let them know she’d need maternity leave.

The school administration asked when she got pregnant.

She told them the truth...that she conceived three weeks prior to her wedding but didn’t know she was pregnant until afterward.

The school fired the woman for fornication.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

The school then told students and parents the woman’s personal bitness...specifically when she conceived and why she was fired.

The woman sued.

ABCNews.com posted an article.

A bitch read the article…and it made my ‘fro ache.

Cough.

Rewind to them asking the teacher when she conceived…

What the fuck? 

I wouldn’t have answered that shit…’tis none of their damn business and, short of hacking her doctor’s computer, they wouldn’t be able to find it out any other way.

But okay…clearly we’re dealing with one of those super honest people and she probably didn’t anticipate the school doing the math and then condemning her as a fornicator in the town square.

Ugh.

Let’s move on to the school telling everyone and their dawg this woman’s business...

Oh, hell no! 

I don’t give a hot damn what religious blah, blah, blah a school is associated with – they are still subject to basic privacy laws and there ain’t no way in hell to spin that kind of disclosure as legal.

Mercy.

And now to the pesky issue of faith in the classroom.

If a woman who becomes pregnant and marries loses everything for fornication…

…does that promote abstinence, lying about when a pregnancy was conceived or termination of pregnancy should marriage not be an option?


If you're damned either way, what way do you go?


Pause...sip more coffee...continue.

But hey, the church in question managed to attack a lovely family in their efforts to defend so-called family values – way to sell us heathens on the joyous benefits of faith in the classroom!

Blink.

By request – a bitch’s thoughts on a hot mic verbal malfunction...

A certain Robin from Ohio sent a bitch an email requesting my thoughts on Carly Fiorina’s recent hot mic verbal malfunction.

Um, okay.

I disagree with Carly Fiorina on most things, but she did bring Demon Sheep into the world and…well, a bitch loves those red-eyed sheep!

Anyhoo, Fiorina is running for Senate in California.  She was waiting for an interview to begin and chatting up someone off camera…but her mic was hot and caught everything she said.

A bitch’s take?

I’m surprised anyone on the right thinks Sean Hannity is a tough interview, but apparently Carly Fiorina does.  She expressed astonishment that the GOP candidate for Governor, Meg Whitman, was going on Hannity’s show because Fiorina feels he’s a tough interview.

Interesting.

On one hand, I get that Fiorina was concerned for her friend Whitman.

On the other hand, I’m wondering what Fiorina knows about Whitman’s political spine that we don’t know…’cause she seems to hint that Whitman needs soft interviews to avoid having to answer tough questions.

Pause…consider…continue.

Come to think of it, if Whitman can’t handle Hannity a bitch has to wonder if she even has a political spine!

As for Fiorina’s diss of Senator Boxer’s hair…well, it’s nice to know that her team is tackling all of the tough issues facing California.


Lawd, have mercy.

Fuck it, a bitch can't wait for the Demon Sheep Extreme Makeover!

Blink.

The Hawks win the Cup...

NHL hockey has come to an end.

The Chicago Blackhawks won the cup with an overtime goal by Patrick Kane...of all the no cab fare paying Vanilla Ice hair having Hawks to score the cup winner (wink).

Sigh.

The Flyers played their hearts out...and won a fan in St. Louis (as long as they aren't playing my Blues).

A bitch sincerely hopes my beloved Blues were watching...and I hope they are bitter as hell watching that celebratory shit.

Get hungry, boys...get real fucking hungry and then lace it up and skate for it all next season!

Pause...consider...continue.

Fuck it.

I.

Love.

This.

Game.

Love it!

And a bitch can't wait until next season...

***logs off to drink vodka and talk trash about Kane's hair with C-Money***

More BP oil spill ponderfication…

Shall we?

A bitch just read this news bit about Congress investigating BP and…well, it got my ass thinking about how folks are talking about government as relates to BP.

Hearing the left discuss how the federal government needs to get all up in BPs bitness (some are even demanding a government take-over) isn’t surprising.

But hearing the right demand more government involvement in all things BP is fascinating.

Americans are nothing if not reactive.  Time after time, we the people have to be confronted with some sort of drama to address the source of that drama…and time after time, we the people conveniently forget from whence the drama came once news of the mess is no longer blasting from our various communication devices.

What I find interesting is that the political party that tied patriotism to drilling just a couple of years ago…the same party that said government needed to get out of the way of bitness so that companies can tap into off shore oil…yeah, that political party is kind of getting a pass on this BP fubar.

Catch the knee!


I’m not saying that the Obama administration isn’t responsible for the festival of fubar in the Gulf – they are.

But they aren’t alone in that shit.

More importantly, the Obama administration can’t be alone in that shit…’cause if they are, we the people will face the ramifications of a revolving door of off shore oil drilling reforms followed by deregulation followed by disaster followed by regulation followed by you get the idea.  

Sigh.

We had a policy that didn’t encourage, support or allow for more off shore drilling.

The GOP went after that policy like a dawg on a bone during the 2008 presidential election…and continued to lobby hard for more off shore drilling after the election.

Lobbying for more off shore drilling resulted in President Obama changing policy to allow for some drilling…methinks he used it as a carrot to get something else done, but that’s neither here nor there.

President Obama announced a compromise that would allow for some off shore drilling in late March of this year.

11 people lost their lives after a blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig April 20, 2010…and the oil’s been gushing since.

Then that tendency to react to drama rather than proactively anticipate drama kicked in…and the same people who were bitching about government regulations standing in the way of off shore drilling are now indicting the government for not fixing the fubar that results from lax regulation of off shore drilling.


The most frustrating part is that many have been predicting this kind of drama for years, so proactive policy was possible.


It just wasn't popular.

Pause…consider…continue.


I guess regulate baby regulate doesn't turn the masses on the way drill baby drill does did.

The optimist in me hopes that members of Congress will take notes and propose some policy changes after they get their BP hearings on.

But the realist in me knows that the blame game rarely produces sound policy.

This has all happened before…

…and, without serious changes, this will all happen again.

Hold please!

Bitchitude shall be delayed today 'cause a bitch just wasted the morning trying to write a post about Lt. Gov. Kinder accusing the left of trending anti-Semitic.

Fuck it - just read this over at Show-Me-Progress.

I'm off to write about the discovery of alien life on Titan...

The Hawks got their groove back…big time!

Hi all!

I missed Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals – had to go see my dear friend Dr. Tim McCarthy speak at The Harvard Club of St. Louis…

…but it seems that the Hawks got their groove back with a 7-4 win over the Flyers!

Holy jumpin’!

Game 6 will be in Philly Wednesday and a bitch shall watch that shit live.

One game…60 minutes on the ice…and everything on the line.

I…love…this…game!

Tied up 2 games to 2 and heading to back to Chicago, baby…

A bitch and C-Money watched Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night!

Daaaaaaamn, that was some serious shit!

Confession - I watched it again this morning.

The Flyers came on strong and play was rough as hell.  Some are pointing to bad calls or a lack of calls by the refs…and Lawd knows this was a bad week for sports officiating in general (wince)…but I didn’t think the refs fucked this one up any more than they usually fuck a game up.

Catch that knee!

I know things look different when you’re a fan of one team or the other…no need to hurt a bitch (wink).

Anyhoo, the third period was a gem…the Hawks came back roaring and the last few minutes ticked by with one goal separating the Hawks from overtime!

Alas, overtime was not in the cards last night.

The Flyers empty net goal closed the deal and they won Game 4 with a score of 5 to 3.

And yes, VPOTUS Joey B. and Jill Biden were at the game.

Methinks Jill is a Flyers fan.

Who knew?

Anyhoo, this series now heads back to Chicago for a Sunday Game 5 – and this bitch suspects the officials will be in for an earful of “suggestions” from Hawks fans.

Can't wait, can't wait...CAN'T WAIT!

Some play chess while others play checkers, but The Man plays poker...

Shall we?

The other day a colleague handed me the Pride issue of the Vital Voice magazine.  I love the cover and the fact that so many diverse businesses and organizations are advertising in our community’s LGBT publication.  I flipped through pages…took note of the Pridefest Guide and the schedule of events for the two day festival scheduled for the last weekend in June…then came upon an article titled The State of Gay: Chess or Checkers.

The State of Gay: Chess of Checkers?

That looked interesting so I settled down to get my read on…

…and had several reactions, one on top of the other.

Reaction #1 – If one is going to assemble “a panel comprised of individuals within the LGBT community who represent the gamete of opinions and political identities” why would one assemble a panel without one of the many transgender activists in the region…or a woman…or a person of color…or someone from Black Pride…or someone older or a representative from SAGE?

Reaction #2 – well tis another question really.

If a panel discussing the state of gay lacks representation beyond white gay men is that supposed to send a message?

Mayhap the author was being clever?

I mean, really…that has to be the answer.  In this day and age, with so many LGBT organizations addressing and/or being challenged for their lack of diversity and inclusion, who the fuck would assemble the panel that was assembled unless they were trying to send some sort of message.

Pause…consider…continue.

But, but wait…what if the message was that this is how the author sees “individuals within the LGBT community who represent the gamete of opinions and political identities”!

Mercy.

The reality is that many folks will read the article and not notice the lack of diversity in the panel...others will think that one can explore the state of gay merely by chatting up a Republican, a Tea Party member, an activist and a representative from HRC.

In a freakish way, the framing of the article is a statement on the state of gay.

My take away is not that we’ve got a lot of work to do…that would dismiss the incredible social justice and political work being done in our community by the very folks who were not on the panel – transgender activists, LGBT people of color, LGBT elders and advocates for LGBT elders and the fantabulous youth activists and grassroots political organizations like PROMO and I could go on and on.

No, my take away from the article is that the state of gay represented on the panel has a lot of work to do and that folks should feel uncomfortable even engaging in that kind of segregated discussion of the state of gay.

The article’s author states that people and groups seem to be more divided and disbanded…and seems to make the case that LGBT activism may be “playing checkers in a world where chess is the game.”

And so I learned that a game of checkers was played in a world where too many people think chess is the game.

I suppose it makes sense to point out that you can’t play either game worth shit with so many of the pieces missing.

Meanwhile, The Man prefers poker.

Blink. 

National Doughnut Day…

I watched the news today (brutal) and then read my email (some good stuff followed by multiple comment attempts by some rancid racist knaves with more time than common sense) and…well, I was left feeling that the world has gone to shit.

Absolute steaming shit on ice…yep, stankified shit.

But then I saw news about National Doughnut Day scroll past on the telly.

That’s right, chil’ren…today is National Doughnut Day!

No, that won’t fix the fubar in the Gulf…it won’t cure knavish trolls of their racism or cut off their internet access…and it won’t bring about peace in the Middle East.

But National Doughnut Day will give this bitch an excuse to eat a sometimes food…and that’s a good thing.

I’m going to get my eat on, damn it and savor the simple joy of deciding between a cake doughnut or a jelly filled one…

…and put thoughts of that giant sinkhole in Guatemala sucking all the assholes of the world into the bowels of Earth (sigh) aside for as long as it takes to inhale deep fried sugar coated dough.

Happy Friday!

Hockey anticipation and a quicker than quick look back at Game 3…

Gawd, what a week!!

Post-holiday weeks always wear this bitch out.

Anyhoo, I neglected to post about Game 3 in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals…my bad…but I did watch!

The Flyers beat the Hawks in overtime and it was a nail biter of a game – it had goals that were goals, a goal that was a goal but wasn’t called a goal until after play was allowed to continue for multiple minutes and an overtime goal that wasn’t a goal followed by one that was a goooooooal.

Lawd, have mercy.

The Hawks are still up 2 games to 1 in the series with Game 3 tonight in Philly.

I leave you to your hockey anticipatude with this link to a clip of Don Cherry acting a fool as he channels the Phantom of the Opera.

No, I’m not kidding.

Toodles!

By request – my thoughts on driving while black in Missouri…

Let’s jump in!

A bitch has received several emails requesting my thoughts on the recent report by Missouri’s Attorney General Chris Koster on what we like to call driving while black.

Now, I know that more than a few folks respond to people of color taking exception to being pulled over for being black and behind the wheel of a moving vehicle the same way they respond to people of color taking exception to being asked to produce proof of citizenship simply for being brown in a border state – they shoot back some bullshit about how we shouldn’t be upset if we didn’t do anything wrong and gleefully ignore the fact that we didn’t do anything fucking wrong in the first place…unless someone reactivated Jim Crow and my ass missed it.

Christ.

Yeah, I know that’s how some people feel…that it isn’t a big deal and if people of color didn’t commit crimes we wouldn’t be pulled over and blah followed by blah followed by another fucking blah.  This bitch knows that if all straight white men between the ages of 24 and 45 in a community, regardless of whether they have a criminal record or not, were pulled over and/or hauled in for questioning every time a child went missing or a serial killer was wanted those same folks would sing a different tune on profiling.

This shit is easy to dismiss when you’re not the one with a cop at your car window for no damn reason.

Anyhoo, Koster released the 10th annual report on vehicle stops…the report says that “if you are African-American you are 70 percent more likely to be pulled over than if you are Caucasian" and that "In the city of Ladue, you are 1,700 percent more likely to be pulled over than if you were Caucasian."

For non-locals, Ladue is an affluent St. Louis suburb and is known as a place where black folks get pulled over and asked if we are lost…trust a bitch, it’s happened to me more than once.

The Attorney General’s office examined 1.7 million stops by 642 law enforcement agencies in 2009.

Over the past 10 years the rate of black folk getting pulled over has increased in Missouri from 30 percent to 70 percent.

A bitch thought that shit was disturbing all on it’s own…but much of the media attention has focused on the Ladue stats ‘cause Ladue is Ladue.  Seems to me that Ladue is just doing what Missouri does with more dedication and consistency and we’d do well to not give the state a pass simply because one suburb is particularly rancid when it comes to harassing black drivers.

Even if you are comfortable with the idea of black residents in the state of Missouri having to add an extra 30 minutes to our drive time to allow for a potential incident of driving while black…your ass should be pissed.

Every time a Missourian is pulled over for driving while black and there wasn’t a crime or cause or reason…every time a police officer takes the time to run plates, write that shit up, call it in, walk to the car and ask if we are lost and then issue a verbal warning for some shit that never happened…every time that shit happens it wastes time, money and an opportunity to protect and serve.k.

I’m not even going to get into the civil rights violations or the precious privilege demonstrated by the Ladue police department when they defend these stats by saying drivers can always come into the police department offices and file a complaint…but I will point out that the former Ladue Police Chief is suing Ladue for allegedly firing him due to his refusal to racially profile black drivers.

The true tragedy is that there are people out there who have been conditioned by a media that only mentions race when the race isn’t white to think that black people…all of us…are guilty until proven innocent.

Just like there are misguided liberals who think that claiming that we are all a part of the human race is progressive and who feel that thinking of humans in terms of race is the problem.

But a bitch has personally been pulled over and I can tell you black trumps adhering to the laws a lot in Missouri and a hell of a lot in Ladue.

For the record, humans are a species not a lets-all-hold-hands-and-ignore-our-differences-so-I-can-tolerate-you race.

And post-racial is a delusion just like that “I don’t see color” claim someone is typing up right now to post in the comments.

Sigh.

This isn't complicated.

'Tis rather simple.

A bitch is a full-figured chocolate brown woman with an Afro and I sure as shit expect people to see that shit…

…what I don’t want or deserve, even though I've come to expect it, is to be pulled over and harassed for that shit.

Blink.

If he can come up with a way to stop the oil spewage before August…

…James Cameron may actually be the King of the World.

A bitch can only hope that the Feds have learned from BPs failure to plan and have a relief well ready for the overflow of red hot liquid smugness that will spew from Cameron’s mouth should he come up with the cure for fubar.

Fuck it.

It’ll be worth the risk that Cameron’s already monumental ego may explode like a volcano or expand to become earth’s second moon.

Pause...consider...continue.

And then he can battle it out for the title of King of the Known Universe with Kevin Kostner of the dances with machines that clean oil from water Kostners, who will likely reappear to save the day once the spewing stops.

Hooray for Hollywood!

Blink.

Oh, the agony of fubar and the limits of liability…

Okay, so now is appears that the massive oil spill that just keeps spilling will most likely not be shut off until August.  The best bet to actually stop the spewing is a relief well…they need to construct that motherfucker and that won’t be done until August.

Lawd, have mercy.

I can’t even look at the live video feed.

Anyhoo, now lawmakers in Congress are looking to lift the liability cap on companies like BP…that begs the question of why the fuck there is a liability cap to protect companies capable of producing disasters that redefine liability?

***cue crickets***

Rumor has it that the Justice Department is taking a look at environmental laws to see if BP can be held criminally liable…which begs the question – if we aren’t talking about tossing these assholes in jail why the fuck aren’t we talking about tossing at least one of these assholes in jail?

***bring those crickets back for an encore***

Sigh.

The sad reality is that financial liability, though beyond important given the scope of this disaster, won’t "punish" BP.

Not really.

BP is making mad cash even as I type and they will continue to make mad cash throughout the made-for-television-yet-not-really-expected-to-work public displays of trying something designed to distract the masses until that relief well is finished.

And even if we could toss some folks in jail for this shit, that wouldn’t do a damn thing to punish BP…hell, they probably already have some poor mid-level asshole marinated and prepped that they can toss under the bus if indictments are ever issued.

Sigh.

Mayhap Momma Nature could open up a massive sinkhole, like the one in Guatemala City that sucked in a building and is big enough to hide Lady Liberty, and just suck BP into the earth’s molten core?

What?

Shit, there’s a better chance of that shit happening than BP finding their corporate ass with both hands and a GPS navigation system.

Blink.

Reflecting on four days off…

A bitch had a refreshing four days off for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Gawd, I needed that!

I slept…and then slept some more…and then took a bunch of naps - clearly I needed to recharge my battery.

I got some paperwork done, which went a long way to relieving my stress.

A bitch also organized some seriously disorganized shit…again addressing a source of stress.

And then there was the quality dawg time…pet-based guilt has plagued a bitch but extra snuggle time with both beagles made up for that.

The lawn was mowed…laundry was done…and then more napping.

Sigh.

Yeah, I needed this extended rest-based staycation…big time!

Hell, it took me most of day one to figure out what to do with myself for the remaining three days off.

Blink.

Now, back to work!