Blues Fan Fest featuring this bitch and C-Money!

Yesterday a bitch and C-Money went to the St. Louis Blues Fan Festitude, followed by a pre-season game against the Dallas Stars. Fan Festitude was fantabulous…unfortunately the Blues lost to those darn Stars.

Shit.

Anyhoo…Fan Fest!

We put on our new Blues jerseys (C-Money sporting her T.J. Oshie jersey and this bitch giving props to my favorite Swede in skates, Patrik Berglund) and set forth to get our fan on.

Scott Trade Center was packed with fans…lots of folks running about trying to score autographs and such. C-Money was on a quest to get a picture and some one-on-one time with T. J. Oshie, so we quickly identified the best opportunity for that (the picture area, not to be confused with the autograph areas because there were no pictures allowed at the autograph sections and no autographs allowed at the picture station and…Lawd, have mercy!).

Blink.

We scored Bernie Federko’s autograph at an autograph station…even though I really just wanted to say hey to Bernie (a bitch is old enough to remember when the Hall of Famer announcer laced up and took the ice as a beloved Blue).

And then we got in line for pictures.

C-Money was thrilled to learn that T.J. Oshie was one of the players enduring the photo hour along with a certain Erik Johnson of the bad taste in hats Johnsons. So we waited and chatted with other fans and waited some more and then the line began to move and we got closer and closer and oh, my gods we were next up…

…only to find Erik Johnson, not Mr. Oshie, the next Blue up in the que.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, ‘cause he’s cool as hell.

But that didn’t prevent us from a moment of audible disappointment (wince) that I feel kind of bad for (my bad, Erik...love ya like cold fried chicken at 3 o'clock in the morning!). I wasn’t even disappointed for myself so much as for C-Money who is kind of fated to never get a picture with Oshie because she wants one so damn bad.

Anyhoo, we recovered and we took our picture with the charming and tall as hell Erik Johnson then went on our way.

For C-Money, the quest for Oshie shall continue.

In the meantime, C-Money and this bitch’s picture with Erik J. is on the Blues website under Fan Fest!

Fantabulous.

Go Blues!

A bitch’s coffee maker has died…

Ugh.

The only thing worse than getting up for a 6am flight…

…is having the coffee maker chose that occasion to die.

Sob.

Oh, the humanity!

A bitch stumbled into the kitchen…filled up the coffee thing with coffee…filled up the other thing with water…and it the button.

***cue crickets***

No delightful sound of coffee being made.

No sense of anticipation as the scent fills the air.

Nothing.

Khan!

Pause…collect thyself…continue.

Suffice it to say this bitch is going to be slightly incoherent until my ass can score some java at the airport.

Toodles until tomorrow…

But we can do worse with Tyler Perry…

Let’s jump right on in!

Tyler Perry of the Madea creating and performing Tyler Perrys has a new movie out…featuring Madea. I Can Do Bad All By Myself is his latest offering (wince).

Full disclosure – a bitch can’t stand Madea.

The only thing I dislike more than Madea’s shuffle and jive antics is the fact that lots and lots and lots of people keep paying to see that predictable as hell and ig’nant with it bullshit.

I secretly hope that Perry’s box office is actually the result of the same 500 people going to watch his movies over and over again…but something tells me that there is an audience for Madea and it is loyal as hell (wince again).

But hey, there was an audience for Amos and Andy too…

…that don’t make it right.

Cough.

Tyler Perry has a franchise with Madea…he has a formula...a recipe, if you will.

Some ingredients for a Tyler Perry Madea film include...

1 cup one dimensional cheating and evil with it devilishly bad black man
2 cups black woman gone wrong
3 gallons Live and Let God
1 cup unappreciated hard working blue collar black man looking for a “good woman”
2 cups chil’ren acting out because they aren’t being raised in the church
2 or 3 famous black people/singers

Mix any three ingredients or all that shit up first and then toss Madea’s ass up in the bowl, stir and bake and serve up to the masses.

Ta da – you’ve got yourself a guaranteed to get shit reviews but make lots and lots of money film!

Ugh.

Now, a bitch isn’t trying to piss in Tyler Perry’s flavorless Corn Flakes.

He has a hustle and that ain’t my damn problem.

What is my problem is that Mr. Perry has been tapped to adapt and direct the film version of Ntozake Shange’s 1975 play “For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf".

Pause…wait for the screaming to quiet down to intermittent sobs…continue.

Although he's no masterful director, my specific issue is with Perry adapting For Colored Girls.

I’ve done nothing in this life to deserve having the man behind Madea fucking up For Colored Girls and I have little doubt that he will fuck it up.

Hell, I’m hoping for a miracle here, because For Colored Girls deserves the very best or nothing at all.

That’s right, I said it – there is no need to bring just any version or a man’s version or the version y’all could get bankrolled of For Colored Girls to the screen!

Have we learned nothing from Beloved?!?

Merciful heavens.

There are so many people who have no idea what For Colored Girls is…who have never seen it performed, never witnessed it’s power or experienced it’s beauty.

Those folks deserve better or nothing.

And a bitch can’t help but wonder who the hell decided that Mr. Perry was the right person to do the job.

I’m pretty sure that money is behind the reason why a woman wasn’t given the nod to direct it (and behind Perry’s selection of black celebrities with more name recognition that talent to star in it)…but that don’t make that shit right.

And I’m betting that Mr. Perry’s ego is behind his getting to adapt For Colored Girls.

Shudder.

Well, this bitch can do without Tyler Perry’s take on a womanist classic.

I can do bad all by my damn self.

Blink.

Announcing Bitchitude 101 classes & Home Training installation with maintenance…

Shall we?

A bitch has noticed a…well, a certain increase in inappropriate public displays of anger amongst the masses.

Blink.

Some folks have indulged in verbal malfunctions during joint sessions of Congress involving the crass braying-esque screaming of accusations towards the President of the United States...willfully demonstrating a lack of home training usually found at certain movie theatres this bitch tries to avoid going to because everyone and their mother knows the regulars like to talk back to the screen too damn much. Note - this behavior can also be found at pre-schools 'cause toddlers are just beginning to get their home training on.

Other folks have all but cried out for a correction-based intervention by taking to the stage during an award show and babbling on about how one pop stars video was better than the award winner's video.

Lawd, have mercy.

Now that shit is more intense than a classic home training fail. ‘Tis more along the lines of a public declaration that the individual involved has lost his damn mind and needs professional help (wince)...stat.

This outbreak of home training deficiency got this bitch thinking.

These people could all use a semester of Bitchitude 101.

Blink.

Yep, these people are crying out...loud as a motherfucker...for lessons in the proper ways to manifest anger.

And damn it I’m not the right angry black bitch to show them the path to glory.

Wink.

So, a bitch is now offering one-on-one bitchitude training sessions.

For an unreasonable fee, this bitch will counsel those suffering from Home Training Deficiency Syndrome on how to appropriately share their anger.

Pause…consider…continue.

If the individual completely lacks home training…we're talking about home training levels below 100 here...umm, well a bitch will have to charge an installation fee and then there’s a monthly maintenance fee for that shit too.

But it’s totally worth it…big time!

The whole world will thank them for getting help...trust a bitch on that.

Pause...fluff Afro...continue.

Plus, it’ll help finance a bitch’s dream trip to Sweden to see the St. Louis Blues play ice hockey and then pitch my Absolut Bitchitude idea to the vodka gods.

Blink.

Hold please…

A bitch is finishing up a post…

...and the fine art of bitchitude cannot be rushed!

By request, remembrance…

For Charles, who is remembering a brother killed at the World Trade Center.

And for Margaret, who remembers a son fallen in the war that followed.

Hold your memories close…clutch them fiercely to you…for they are a most precious gift.

Let tears fall if they threaten.

Let laughter ring out, should it tremble in your throat.

Let it all be as it is today…real, raw and true…your personal remembrance of one who was and is still loved.

And may those memories be a comfort to you today and the days that follow.

“In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despite, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.” Aeschylus

Pondering pacing for a marathon not a sprint...

Well, that was quite a speech!

A bitch watched the whole thing…twice. And I’ve settled on the analysis that President Obama hit a solid forehand and the ball is now in our court…well, our court with Congress as our doubles partner…and Congress has a tendency to fuck up at net, so we may need to poach.

Cough.

Yes, I also witnessed a certain Representative from South Carolina’s public display of no home training.

Pause…consider…continue.

Actually, I’m rethinking whether it was the result of his having had no home training or if he’s just been hanging out with so many town hall ruffians that he thinks shouting out inaccurate statements is how people communicate.

I feel uncomfortable blaming his parents for that shit…for all we know, the Congressman in question was impossible to train.

Blink.

But odds are his verbal malfunction was the result of a combination of inadequate home training and hanging out with knaves. Either way, he single-handedly took what little life there was in the Republican response and killed that shit dead…so dead that the press can’t be bothered to reference the bland as hell and totally lacking in ideas response from Rep. Boustany (a surgeon and now the most boring Republican in America, replacing the not quite as boring but equally lacking in ideas other than the word “No!” Gov. Jindal from Louisiana too…a state that used to produce politicians with some spice).

Mercy.

Anyhoo, now it’s time to get to work.

I don’t think the President changed any Republican minds…but when folks show up with props and choreography (not nearly as well rehearsed as that ink stained thumb bitness from back in the day, but c’mon now) ‘tis doubtful that they are in attendance to listen to a damn thing other than for the pre-determined cue words that are supposed to trigger them to raise their prop-based legislation over their heads and wave it ‘cause they just don’t care.

But I do think President Obama reset the issue and challenged those Democrats who were holding out for fear of moving in any direction.

As I said, now it is time to get to work…time for we the people to let Congress know what we want (health care reform!) and when we want it (NOW!) …because Lawd knows the anti-reformists have had their say.

They call it a struggle for a reason.

And this race is a marathon, y’all…

…so we need to stop pacing ourselves for a sprint.

***logs off to fluff Afro and then get back to work***

Pre-Presidential address preparedness…

President Obama is going to speak to a joint session of Congress tonight at 7pm CST about health care reform.

This bitch, having been raised right (wink), shall watch this address as I have watched Presidential addresses since I was a wee bitch when my parents told me that wise people get their information directly from the source…and that listening to the President and agreeing with the President are two different things.

Cough.

This speech is the very definition of a big fucking deal.

The nation is divided…some on key policy issues and others about crazy ass bullshit.

Pause…consider…continue.

Yep, a list of needed things is in order!

The munchables…
Chips…because crunching is good for my nerves.
A tangy queso-esque dip…because flavor is a joy!
Chocolate…because it works in celebration and to sooth the ravaged soul.

The beverages…
Water…to hydrate.
Vodka…’cause.
Grape cran…’cause once again.
Ginger ale…to add to vodka cran and make Sharktastic Sparkling Yummification if celebration of the public option is warranted (please, oh please…MERCY!)

The tools of bitchitude…
A bitch’s TiVo has died.

I know…I got emotional over it too…but a new one has not arrived yet and this bitch is going to have to watch the telly knowing that I can’t pause or rewind (sob!).

Anyhoo, I’ll need the TiVo lacking telly and Ms. Sister Girl Macbook…and my personal pack of sorta-beagles…oh, and my couch-based area.

The lay of the land…
The partisans have been weighing in from jump, but a bitch overheard something this weekend that I think speaks to an under-covered factor impacting health care reform. I read an article about parents who intended to keep their chil’ren out of school rather than expose them to President Obama’s back-to-school message of staying in school and working hard. The thoughts of one father caught my attention – he said that America is the greatest nation in the world and he didn’t want his son to hear that there was something flawed about this nation.

Blink.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that shit and the more I thought of it the more it bothered me.

Could it be that some folks are resisting reform because they feel that embracing reform somehow tarnishes our national image?

Are there really folks out there who think that not acknowledging the fact that our health care system is failing is patriotic...that admitting that we have to fix something is admitting a weakness and that admitting a weakness is wrong?

Because, if that’s the case, then that shit is beyond fucked up!

But a bitch is beginning to think that may be the case for a lot of people…folks who have somehow become so married to their definition of American greatness that they can’t admit that we have a problem and work towards making America better.

This has happened before…in almost every social struggle this nation has faced. When segregation laws were struck down, the crowds gathered to angrily support the status quo…to resist change and frame it as socialist/communist/proposed by heathens and un-American…to intimidate policy makers and politicians…and ultimately to violently resist that change in their communities.

They too felt that reform was un-patriotic…

…and they were wrong.

One cannot fix a problem one does not acknowledge.

And walking around ignoring a fucked up thing is the opposite of great.

Sigh.

Anyhoo, a bitch will be thinking of that father and his fear that his son will know that America is not in a permanent state of perfection tonight…

…as I listen to the President make the case for health care reform once again.

The problem with back pedaling …

A bitch hopes that everyone had a safe and fun Labor Day holiday!

Let’s jump right on in, shall we?

This bitch woke up pondering the problem with back pedaling (many thanks to Jen...a living example of the power of a good education...for editorial assistance). Specifically, my ass is pondering the challenge currently facing those folks who publicly stated that President Obama’s speech to school chil’ren was unprecedented (it isn’t), that his homework asking students to write down how they can help the President was also without precedent (tisn’t) and that the content of the speech would be laced with subliminal socialist messages that would invade fragile young minds and convert them in 18 minutes with such intense zombified loyalty that parents would never be able to reach them again.

Blink.

Ahem.

For public figures like Jim Greer, Florida’s GOP Chair, the back pedaling is both professional and personal. Greer has now said that the speech isn’t what he assumed it would be…and Lawd knows why he assumed it would be anything other than what it turned out to be (a bitch can only wonder if Mr. Greer’s fragile juvenile mind hadn’t already been high-jacked by those overt as hell fear mongering insults to the historical events surrounding the Revolution and the beverage of tea…blink).

Greer had said that the President of the United States was trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

Greer now says that he regrets nothing about that statement…but, having actually read the speech in question, will now let his own chil’ren watch the speech.

Pause…consider…continue.

A bitch has got to wonder how that shit went down in the Greer house…

…because it sounded like absolute bullshit up in my couch-based area.

I mean how do you go from telling your chil’ren that the President of the United States is so dangerous that Daddy won’t let you listen to him for 18 minutes to saying “Oh, umm…well that’s not what I thought it was going to be…so, umm…cool, listen to this dude ‘cause he’s right about this one thing, but once he stops talking about staying in school you go back to hating his Muslim-communist-socialist-Cylon-Nazi-WrongOnEverythingButStayingInSchool ass, you hear.”

Blink.

After this past week of "Keep that thing away from our children!!!!"-based madness, Mr. Greer has emerged as the poster pol for why we need chil’ren to stay in school and learn how to fucking think!

Regular parents who don’t have the history of not making a lick of sense that Mr. Greer does face their own back pedaling problem.

They told their kids that they weren’t going to let them listen to the President’s speech because he’s a socialist and his speech is going to be chock full of socialist propaganda.

But now that the speech has been revealed, parents must decide whether to hold firm and let their wee one’s think that staying in school and working hard is socialist propaganda and good loyal Americans must do the opposite (wince) or to greet this latest inconvenient truth with a shrug, say something along the lines of “My bad, no day off for you...get your ass on the bus!” and endure the withering glares from their chil’ren who will once again think mom or dad is out of their fucking mind.

This freakish incident of conservative over-reaction followed by absolute statements based on misplaced and tragically flawed assumptions presents a lesson plan all it’s own.

Shark-Fu's homework for the wee chil'ren...
Go home and write down why one mustn’t let thy knee fly without evidence lest one brand your own ass as an ig’nant fear-inspired fool.

Oh, and add to that the definitions for "socialist" and "communist" so that y’all can explain to Mommy and Daddy what those two things mean during the family dinner hour!

Wince.

Happy Labor Day!

A tip of the Afro to our Canadian neighbors for originating the Labor Day holiday...

...and to all the women and men who organized and remain organized despite the forces aligned against them.

Labor Day is more than the unofficial end of summer. It is an opportunity to reflect on what used to be, honor those workers who fought for change and commit to the issues currently on the table.

Like a tree that's standing by the water, we shall not be moved!

Friday! Better yet, Friday before a three day holiday weekend!

A bitch is exhausted, but a three-day holiday weekend should go a long way toward addressing that shit.

Yay for Labor Day!

Shall we?

This bitch is pondering parenting.

Blink.

I’m not a parent. I don’t play one on t.v. and I’ve never step-parented. But I do have a lot of friends and family who are parents. One of the things that become clear when observing parents is that they have a lot of influence over their chil’ren. As a matter of fact, parents are key influencers…even though it may appear that their chil’ren don’t listen to a damn thing they say.

When a parent takes a stand, their kids take note and attach a lot of weight to whatever it is that parent took a stand on.

So, when parents decided to protest the President of the United States addressing their children as the school year begins they weren’t just sending a message of extreme dislike and illogical distrust to the Obama administration…they weren’t ticking off another to-do on their Ways to Roadblock Health Care Reform list…and they weren’t simply manifesting the particular fear they feel toward anything associated with this President.

When they indulged in this latest public display of fear-based distrust they were teaching their children a lesson.

Now, I’m not one of those folks who are going to poo poo the lesson these parents are teaching. Fantastical fear of the persuasive powers of a liberal President (note - some of us are shocked that he’s still getting branded a liberal after all that moderate behavior) is just one in a long line of fucked up shit some adults pass on to their kids.

I mention this sad happening…that public school districts would decline to air an address to students by the President of the United States of America because folks over-analyzed his prepared remarks and think he’s trying to get his cult on and steal the fragile little minds of their youngins…only because it is a public display of something that mostly happens behind closed doors.

‘Tis a public display of how one generation passes on to a younger generation fear, hatred and ig’nance dressed up as parental concern.

Go ahead and let the knee fly…a bitch hopes some of y’all kick yourselves in the head and knock some sense loose.

Since the election of this nation’s first President of color, Anonymouses have peppered a bitch’s blog with proclamations that racism is over…that bigotry died last November…that this election was a huge culture changing ig’nance curing happening that has rendered my explorations of social injustice un-necessary and dated.

And since the election of this nation’s first President of color, a bitch has witnessed a sharp rise in racist Anonymouses who cling to the language of hate even as they demonstrate its foundation of fear in every comment they make. I have watched the outrageous and ideologically impossible charges made against President Obama…listened to the fantastical conspiracy theories that have been floated…and winced as the mob sank their teeth into the tried and false accusations of communism and socialism that scar my country’s history every time the status quo is challenged.

Then we have this latest “Oh my Gawd, I can’t have this black liberal President talking to my children!!” bullshit.

Sigh.

Here we are facing real challenges and pondering real questions while more than one group of parents is teaching their chil’ren that the President of the United States is a member of The Borg and they mustn’t eat any candy from him lest it be Soylent Green…plus he was born on Mars and is probably a Cylon…oh, and he’s got a death list with Grandma and Paw Paw and the family dog on it too!

These people are the greatest influencers in their children’s lives.

They have the strongest impact on what those kids think.

So, don’t try to tell this bitch that change is easy or that one election changed everything so now everything is fine.

Change is hard and hard won.

My country’s history…and that’s right, this is my motherfucking country too…is riddled with case after case after case of violent resistance to change.

And you can bet your ass those folks from back in the day learned to think that way from…wait for it…their parents.

Ugh.

Behold, yet another example that we are not post-racial...we are not post-bullshit...and we've got miles and miles to go before we get close to being post-ig'nant!

***logs off to prepare list of Labor Day preparedness that will include an exploration of the violent resistance to change in and involving America's labor force***

A tip of the Afro to Robert from Rolla…

A bitch has been dealing with an amazing amount of comments bent on generating a state of defensive distractitude and forcing the masses to take our eyes off the ball.

Most of them also contain some manner of rancidity and thus are not posted. Thou shalt not turn this bitch’s blog into a platform for hate!

And still others are so very off topic that a bitch doesn’t post them because hey, if I take the time to post about a thing the least a comment maker can do is generate an intellectually lazy and constitutionally inaccurate response to that specific shit.

The rest I let publish and rely upon you, the readers, to address or not address.

Anyhoo, I just finished going through my comments…and published the few out of many (I suspect 25 were from the same knavish troll…who dislikes spell check as much as she/he dislikes a bitch) that managed to disagree but not offend (okay, I published one that offended me…but that was only to explain that a bitch is tired of that bullshit…fuck it – my blog, my rules, my right to bend them!).

Cough.

I clicked on the next message in my in-box and found what has got to be one of the nicest compliment-based emails I have ever read.

A certain Robert from Rolla here in Missouri wanted me to know that he appreciated my post about Senator Bond’s curious version of a town hall meeting minus the town.

Robert is a conservative…he has serious concerns about the lack of details surrounding health care reform...but he is even more concerned that his Republican Senator held an invitation only “pep rally for his friends and family.”

Robert has been reading a bitch’s blog for several years…not because he agrees with me, but because he wants to make sure he understands what some of us really believe before he disagrees or agrees with anything.

Nice!

Robert from Rolla is on Medicare…and he likes it (gasp).

Robert from Rolla is uncertain about the cost and thus the benefits of health care reform…and he doesn’t like that.

Robert from Rolla represents millions of Americans who have good questions and valid concerns…who deserve to be listened to by their Congresspeople and by those of us who are activists…and who are ‘bout to give up on getting answers ‘cause they know damned well no one heard their questions in the first place.

As Robert pointed out to me, it’s kind of hard to hear from the people when you set up an event and don’t invite the people…or when you set up other events and don’t show up...or when people create chaos so that no one can hear a damned thing from anyone.

I thank Robert from Rolla for allowing me to share his frustrations and for sending a bitch an email that reminded me that there are people out there who can think for themselves, disagree without looking at talking points and quoting pundits and who are as tired of this theatrical bullshit as I am.

A tip of the Afro to you, Robert…even though we’re of a different mind on lots of things.

And let a bitch know how your campaign to be heard goes…

Pondering the difference in Missouri town halls…

Shall we?

A lot has been made of the theatre and drama surrounding health care forums in Missouri. A bitch experienced that shit first hand during the Hillsboro town hall forum…interesting costumes, not everyone knew their lines (folks really need to decide whether their gonna accuse the president of being a Nazi tyrant or a scary black socialist, ‘cause that black Nazi Muslim socialist tyrant mess I witnessed makes a body’s Afro hurt)…and a several attendees asked Senator McCaskill if she planed to vote on a House bill (for the love of basic civics!).

Anyhoo, I came across this piece over at Stltoday.com and it got a bitch thinking…

Where the fuck has Senator Bond been?

***cue singing crickets***

Hello darkness, my old friend,
Ive come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

As a Missourian I’ve asked that question a lot over the years. The best way to tell that it’s an election year is the sudden appearance of Senator Bond…kind of like cicada but on a different schedule…because otherwise a bitch could forget what the hell he looks like, he’s so not visible. ‘Tis a brilliant technique…out of sight truly equals out of mind here.

But damn it to hell if I wasn’t curious about his location now that my state has gotten into the town hall scene.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of
A neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

Hell, I understand that Bond has announced that he’s stepping down and, according to former Governor Palin, lame duck politicians are worthless lumps of dough-ish flesh incapable of wiping their own ass.

But this issue is soooooo huge…and those folks keeping Lipton in bitness have been stalking Republicans along with Democrats in most states…so mayhap a bitch should follow the chants of ideologically impossible charges to see if they take me to Senator Bond’s office.

And the chorus said… "Think again, Shark Fu!”

And a bitch replied… “You’ve got that right, chil’ren!”

‘Cause Senator Bond isn’t a target of those who adore tea or of those who should be protesting outside of his door demanding to have a word with his still-able-to-vote-and-thus-still-required-to-listen-to-constituents ass.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one deared
Disturb the sound of silence.

According to the Stltoday.com story…
“Bond appeared before an invitation-only crowd of 100 people in Kansas City for a subdued health care discussion with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Their message: There's no need for a wholesale overhaul of the U.S. health care system.”

Mmmhmm, just yesterday...the same day Senator McCaskill appeared in front of whoever showed up and took a seat.

Blink.

Well, okay then.

Senator Mccaskill braved the masses…has done so across the state…has tried to listen to those in the crowd with real question and concerns, for and against reform, over the loud as hell We Don’t Want No Coverage Let the Healthcare System Burn! attendees.

How exactly is an invitation only forum with only 100 attendants and a couple of Republican homeboys democracy in action?

Did those invited ask Senator Bond about tort reform and then refuse to let him answer?

Did any of Senator Bond's courtiers demand to know why he has not called for an investigation into the birth of the president?

Did they eat pâté and chuckle over the antics of their loyal mob?

Ummm, crickets?

Fools said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence

Mayhap Senator Bond is being assumed to be all good simply because he’s a Republican…

…or mayhap those tea baggers are full of shit and don’t really want every member of the Missouri delegation to declare themselves, just certain members…

…or perhaps this is another case of the aristocracy within the Republican Party enjoying the chaos produced by the labor of their loyalists even as they resist having to mingle with the filthy minions.

***cicada and crickets together in harmony***

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whisperd in the sounds of silence.

Blink.

By request, a confession – Yes I do get tired…

A certain Gertie from Boulder, who has been lurking here for years, asked this bitch if I ever get tired of practicing the fine art of bitchitude and sent me a bitchfirmation just in case I do.

Do I ever get tired?

Blink.

Yes.

Oh yes, I do!

I get tired of following stories detailing the wrong people do to others…I get tired of writing about why we need to defend reproductive freedom and resist accepting a society where want and hunger define the lives of far too many people.

I get tired of watching folks resist doing something…anything…for fear of failure because they lack the courage required to achieve success.

And I sure as shit get tired of bullshit.

But every time I think that I can’t go on…that my input doesn’t really matter and my activism won’t really change a damn thing…someone sends a bitch an email telling me to keep on keeping on.

Just like Gertie did.

Thanks for the bitchfirmation, Gertie!

But yes, I do get tired.

They call it a struggle for a reason.

I just don’t let all that tired hold me down.

Eyes on the prize, y'all!

Eyes on the prize...

Post Person Centered Plan Meeting Recap…

This past Friday I attended my autistic brother’s Person Centered Plan meeting.

Well, actually this was more of a review of his 2009 goals-based meeting in preparation for his Person Centered Plan meeting. I kind of like this new approach, since it allows for us to give more input prior to completion of the plan. Anyhoo, after three years of asking...wince...they finally produced a spreadsheet detailing my brother’s monthly performance on his goals. We sat in a conference room and digested this information…even though staff was clearly annoyed to have us question the data that was produced so we could question it, which explains why they took three years to produce it.

Sigh.

Most of the key players in my brother’s life attended the meeting – staff from his residential treatment center and a representative from the state office that monitors all things related to his care.

As previously predicted, one of them got overly defensive in response to a valid critique (something along the lines of why the heck can't they explain sharp deviations in Bill's performance when they are the ones who recorded the sharp deviations in his performance) and, rather than explain what should be explainable, proposed that we toss a year’s worth of data and start over.

Blink.

Another attendee played the role of Corn Flakes pisser and happily predicted several denials of authorization for some shit we really want for Bill.

Still another tried to explain to us that our brother is autistic (really?!?) and that our expectation that staff recording data should be able to explain how they record the data so that we can better understand the data that has been recorded is unreasonable.

As usual, the meeting ended up making me wonder what my brother’s life would be like if he didn’t have demanding sisters who serve as co-guardians and are able to make time to push back against the machine.

That’s not a comforting feeling…not really. It’s the kind of realization that adds a weight to a bitch’s shoulders because I know the answer and it is unacceptable to me.

Sigh.

But I didn’t make a drinking game out of it.

If I had I would have hurt myself!

There were several annoying uses of my brother’s formal name William instead of Bill…and that would have equaled 1 sip vodka cran.

We heard at least two rambling explanations of budget cuts to programs already cut to the bone along with a freakishly overcomplicated explanation of how funds are distributed that so disturbed a bitch that I’m going to have to set up a meeting with the state finance office…and that was supposed to be 2 sips vodka cran.

And naturally, there were a few condescending explanations of autism…surprisingly from a veteran staffer who may or may not have been trying to distract us from her inability to explain how her staff collected the data we were questioning. Umm, that was going to equal 1 big gulp of vodka cran.

Pause…consider…continue.

A bitch would have been on the floor!

Anyhoo, this week I get to make a series of follow-up phone calls and set up that meeting with finance.

Yay.

But as a comment to my original post pointed out, the system needs to be worked and challenged by out-of-the-box ideas…

…and I’m just the bitch to do it!

After reflection, some thoughts on Senator Edward Kennedy…

Shall we?

At Senator Robert Kennedy’s funeral, Senator Ted Kennedy asked that his brother not be idealized. The same should be true for Senator Ted Kennedy. His accomplishments are all the greater for his human failings because they stand as examples of what human beings, not saints, can do. I have long been inspired by the fact that Edward Kennedy kept going…despite his stumbles, his fuck ups and his imperfections.

Would that we all could say the same.

I can’t help but note the current condition of America as I consider Senator Kennedy’s legacy…that many among us see suffering and turn away from it and see wrongs and do nothing to right them. ‘Tis not that we are engaged in a debate over healthcare…but that we aren’t debating “care” at all. Instead we are debating whether or not to care…to do what can be done and then push ourselves to do more because its right and will benefit society.

And after noting that current condition…so lacking in compassion and social responsibility that it chills me to the bone…I find comfort in Senator Kennedy’s legacy.

I find comfort in the indictment his legacy issues to those who feel the wages of poverty are hunger, want, suffering and death.

I find comfort in the fact that when we pass healthcare reform it will be but one of many outstanding legislative achievements left behind by a human being…not a saint, but a real person…by Senator Edward Kennedy.

And I find comfort in knowing that, though the cameras may swing about to document the opinions of those who would have us do nothing in the face of need and give nothing in the face of want, I am not alone in my dedication to turn away from such wretched indifference and toward social justice.

I remember Senator Kennedy as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

And may his legacy be that others live lives that will one day be remembered the same way.

That the living dream things that never were…ask why not…and then get about the business of making those dreams a reality…

Pre Person Centered Plan Meeting Preparedness 2009…

‘Tis that time of year again, y’all!

C-Money and this bitch are scheduled to attend our brother’s Person Centered Plan meeting tomorrow. As our older brother’s co-guardians, we get the opportunity to provide input and guidance in his plan…in the document that details his needs and wants, how he will be cared for and what services he will receive.

Trust me, these meetings are crucial and often a royal pain in the ass.

The good part?

The meeting will have all the key players in my brother’s life in attendance – staff from his residential treatment center, the state offices that monitor all things related to his care and representatives from the various departments that provide all manner of services...plus The Sisters of Bitchitude in our role as sisters and as co-guardians. By meeting’s end, we’ll have revised all things Bill related and have a plan to present to the Missouri Department of Mental Health with hopes that they will authorize all needed things and green light most wanted things.

The shitified part?

The meeting will have all the key players in my brother’s life in attendance – staff from his residential treatment center, the state offices that monitor all things related to his care and representatives from the various departments that provide all manner of services. At least one of them will get overly defensive in response to a valid critique, another will play the role of Corn Flakes pisser and happily predict several denials of authorization for some shit we really want for Bill. Still another will try to explain to us that our brother is autistic (no shit, really?!?) and that our expectations are unreasonable (only if failure is an option) and end up making me wonder if we’re not getting services because we can’t or if we’re not getting them because those positioned to demand them are requesting them with the expectation that they will not be authorized.

Sigh.

Person Centered Plan meetings are yearly reminders that public policy and government budgets play huge roles in the lives of millions of Americans...that we are too often a society that proclaims our goodness rather than manifests that shit through action. And they serve to remind this bitch that when the leadership of my state government chooses to pander to conservative interests rather than do the people’s bitness during legislative sessions the most vulnerable among us are left paying the tab.

So today I seek to settle my soul and fuel up my emotional battery so I can go into that meeting tomorrow and get the things my brother needs...even as I acknowledge the precious lack of resources we are left to play with when those in control of government claim to value Missouri families and life while in reality they value political bullshit and panderific greed more.

Mayhap I’ll make a drinking game out of it.

Annoying use of my brother’s formal name William instead of Bill = 1 sip vodka cran

Mention of budget cuts to programs already cut to the bone = 2 sips vodka cran

Condescending explanations of autism from new staffer(s) with less than 2 months employment under her or his belt = 1 big gulp of vodka cran

Pause…consider…continue.

Something tells me that wouldn’t be wise or good for a bitch’s liver (wince).

***logs off to get preparedness on***

Keeping it real isn’t easy, but keep it real is what a bitch does…

Shall we?

Yesterday my State Senator Jeff Smith resigned from office and pled guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

I voted for Jeff Smith because he ran as a progressive and my State Senate district is progressive as hell and needs to be represented as such in the Missouri Senate.

I’ve met Smith, but we aren’t friends.

He was my State Senator.

I was his constituent.

As such, I am pretty damned pissed off.

And as a practitioner of the fine art of bitchitude, a bitch simply cannot pull a punch because the felon under discussion has a D next to his name.

The Missouri House and Senate are dominated by Republicans, so I need the Democrats I work to get elected to work double time in defense of progressive policy while there.

I do not vote for people because I like them…or because we’re tight…or because they kind of remind me of a short RFK.

I vote for people because state policy impacts my life and the lives of people I love.

I voted for Jeff Smith to be a progressive voice defending and representing his constituents against the constant attacks against reproductive choice, LGBT equality rights, protections against discrimination and knowledge-based education.

Smith, by conspiring to lie to federal investigators over some shit associated with his 2004 campaign, brought the wrath of those investigators down upon more than just his lauded political career.

He brought that shit down on all of his constituents…we who will now face a special election in November and a new State Senator come next session…we who needed that progressive voice and now must hope that a progressive emerges from committee.

Oh hell yes, a bitch is angry.

I’m mad as hell.

I deserve better, damnit.

My fellow residents of the 4th Senate district deserve better too.

Not talking about that or trying to dress it up as youthful stupidity serves no one and damn sure doesn’t serve the next progressive youngin’ pondering public office.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

This happening brings me no joy.

I do not relish this moment or the political uncertainty my senate district now faces.

But this shit happened...to me and mine, not just Jeff Smith or Rep. Brown or the other player and/or players in this pathetic mess.

Yesterday my State Senator Jeff Smith resigned from office and pleaded guilty to two felony counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

We must acknowledge that for what it is…lay it out, painful as it is, and learn from it.

Lest we open ourselves up to the same kind of criticism we so often toss out to the right.

Lest we become what we despise…

By request, my thoughts on Glenn Beck’s show’s emaciated advertising…

A certain someone asked for my thoughts on Color of Change’s successful campaign to challenge advertisers to drop their support of Glenn Beck’s show on FOX.

Beck said all manner of ig’nant race baiting shit on his show when President Obama spoke out about the arrest of Professor Gates. He even went so far as to call Obama a racist and go on and on about how the President, who is himself half white and was raised by white people, has serious issues with white people.

Blink.

Beck offers up an opportunity to observe that saying you’re something (a thinker) and being that thing (thinking) are often two different things.

The Color of Change campaign offers up a reminder that freedom of speech does not include freedom from a response. Hell, the town hall meeting-based drama demonstrates that folks can and often do respond and we won’t always like what come out of their mouth or how they spit when shouting (wince).

Beck freely spoke.

Color of Change and others have issued a response.

And now Mr. Beck is experiencing what this bitch likes to call the Howard Stern (when he was on traditional radio) Syndrome – big ratings, controversial programming and freshly printed listing on advertisers’ Do Not Buy list.

As my father often said, money talks and bullshit walks…

Meanwhile, back on planet earth…

A bitch just read this commentary on CNN.com and I’ve got to tell y’all that this is the kind of shit we should be discussing but are not discussing because…well, because outfits like CNN have spent the last month pushing coverage of the mob up front while they bury important debate-inspiring opinions in the Health section of their website.

Blink.

Anyhoo…this bitch thought I’d share this commentary.

Whether you agree with it or not, ‘tis a reminder that there is more to health care reform than to be or not to be...

Monday, Monday…

Happy Monday, chil’ren!

A bitch got a lot of shit done this weekend.

I mowed the lawn.

Pause...consider...continue.

Okay, so I moved the backyard and said fuck it to the front yard, but...well, shit. All that damned rain ended up feeding the weed-based sorta-grass in the back and it took twice as long to cut that shit down!

And, since I never go out the front door, I rarely have front lawn guilt (wink).

Full disclosure - a bitch doesn't have enough lawn to warrant a riding mower. I get my mowing on with a nifty electric number I've named Madge.

Anyhoo, both sorta-beagles were groomed (their current not so houndish scent should last around five days).

And I did laundry!

Blink.

Three cheers for weekend based productivitude!

As a result of all that real world activity, I’m more than a little behind on internet-based happenings.

So, bitchitude shall be delayed until this evening.

Toodles ‘til tonight!

Pondering the first day of school…

‘Tis Friday, y’all!

Yay!

This bitch is exhausted. Between my normal insomnia and the added lack of sleep brought on by a certain sorta-beagle’s storm based all night freak out, I feel as if I haven’t slept all week!

Shit.

Anyhoo, I predict Saturday will involve a lot of couch-based lazitude.

Shall we?

The school year has begun again in St. Louis city. A bitch noticed young children gathered on street corners with backpacks and sleepy faces…and buses stopping to pick them up.

Shark-Fu’s Back-2-School message to the masses – pay attention and focus! Wee little ones are out and about on the sidewalk and crossing the streets early in the morning. Stop at the stop signs, let the chil’ren cross at the crosswalks and respect the do not pass stop signs when buses are loading and unloading. “I was late for work” ain’t an excuse for risking a child’s life!

Cough.

Soooooo, school is back in session…

…and this bitch is jealous.

I loved going back to school when I was a wee bitch. Loved it! It wasn’t because I missed my friends – in grade school I didn’t have a lot of friends and I sure as shit didn’t miss the bullies. But I missed the routine of learning, the opportunity to do shit and get praise for doing it right. As I got older, I missed getting my nerd on…big time! While my fellow students dreaded the month of August, this bitch was getting my countdown on and struggling for patience.

Sigh.

Those were the days!

I can’t help but feel jealous that grown people don’t get recess…rarely take time for lunch and fantabulous lunch time gossip…and don’t get the opportunity to learn something new Monday through Friday.

Hell, we don’t even take snow days!

Shit.

I remember my father telling me that I’d appreciate being a school aged child when I was grown and dealing with grown people bitness.

Ain't that the truth.

***logs off feeling nostalgic for the anticipation of filling up a three-subject notebook with newly learned shit***

Pondering the compassionate release story…

Let’s jump right on it.

On December 21, 1988 Pan Am flight 103 blew up over the town of Lockerbie Scotland. 259 people on the flight were killed. 11 people were killed on the ground. I remember this incident well…watching the news break, finding out that American students returning home for the holidays were killed and then watching the painstaking investigation in subsequent coverage. I remember the final conclusion that the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 was the result of state sponsored terrorism and that Libya was the culprit.

The Pan Am 103 bombing was a huge news story and one of the first in my memory that highlighted the threat of state sponsored terrorism…that nations would attack other nations by targeting citizens through terrorism.

The United States under the Reagan administration had engaged in military strikes against Libya. Back in the mid-80’s, Muammar al-Gaddafi was the enemy…the evil foe of the United States bent on the destruction of our nation and way of life. And so we engaged in a game of chess using live weapons and the American people were told that Libya was behind multiple terrorist incidents, most notably the bombing of Pan Am 103.

Libya was the enemy…regime change was needed…those who loved freedom must hate Libya.

So, I was startled when the Bush administration normalized relations with Libya in 2006…in the midst of the global war on terror…even as President Bush ratcheted up the rhetoric against the latest evildoer nations.

Startled but not surprised.

This has all happened before.

This will all happen again.

Now the only individual convicted in the bombing of Pan Am 103 is set to be released from prison on the grounds that he is dying…a compassionate release that is being denounced heatedly by some and defended vehemently by others.

It is important to note that 11 people died on the ground…that this is not a case of Scotland leveling compassion for a crime it was not been touched by.

In many ways the debate over what this release says about Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi’s innocence or guilt is moot…his release is not exoneration.

What the press has thus far failed to explore is that the compassionate release of the only individual convicted in the Pan Am 103 bombing offends many because of that normalization of relations back in 2006…because it feels as if all responsible parties involved have been let off the hook.

That is something worth pondering as we continue to wage war…that one day our enemy will no longer be our enemy. We would be wise to contemplate what that means. One day we will normalize relations with Afghanistan and Iraq…just as the Bush administration normalized relations with Libya…just as we no longer make movies about Soviets invading America while fresh faced rural youth taking up arms to protect our way of life from godless communists bent on conquering the world.

The propaganda lingers long after one diplomatic game is over and a new game of chess begins…and the masses are left to struggle with the meaning of it all even as we reassemble on the board.

Untitiled…

“There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Shall we?

I took a day off from bitchitude yesterday because everything I tried to write was bitterized by my foul ass mood. Contrary to popular belief, bitchitude is not about bitterness and dismissive negativity…and when I find myself spewing the wrong shit ‘tis best to log off and reflect.

Why was I too bitter to post?

I’m glad you asked!

I found myself depressed by those members of the masses who have mobbed up around the notion of what we the people cannot do…cannot accomplish…and cannot achieve.

Pause…allow to marinate…continue.

The great unsaid within this health care debate is that there are many who see government as separate from the people…and, because they often fail to participate in government, their belief often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Our work…the people’s work…begins in earnest after we vote. And there are many across the entire political spectrum that like to ignore that and instead focus on what a government minus the active and vigilant participation of the people fucks up.

So they are proven correct…over and over again.

Government fucks shit up…when the masses step back.

Trust a bitch, I’ve only to look at the misdeeds of the previous administration to see proof of that shit…. example upon example of what government can do when enough of the masses embrace to "love it or leave it" flawed definition of patriotism.

The same can be said of health care reform.

Catch the knee ‘cause this bitch isn’t in the mood!

Set aside the fantastical freak out crazy assed rumors about health care reform and what is left is a list of somewhat valid concerns that should be a part of the policy discussion and would be a part of the policy discussion if folks actually participated in a discussion of the policies under consideration instead of bullshit rants over fantastical freak out crazy assed rumors.

After weeks of witnessing that shit I woke up yesterday and I was the very definition of disgusted and depressed.

But that didn’t last…mostly because I realized that my emotional state was exactly what the forces fueling the anti-reform sort-movement want but also because that’s just not how this bitch rolls.

I recently attended a town hall meeting here in Missouri and, despite the fact that there were many in the crowd cheering the status quo (mercy), I saw many other folks who are waiting for specifics.

Those folks…the people who are looking at the ingredients and struggling to imagine what the final dish will look like…are the real majority.

And ‘tis time to turn from the mob, who will never give a shit, and engage the real majority, who need some attention.

So, I thank all y’all for your kind words of encouragement even as I re-focus my eyes on the prize.

We have a rendezvous with destiny regarding health care reform, y'all…

…and this bitch has only just begun to fight.

Taking a moment to power back up…

A bitch’s emotional battery is low and I’m running on reserve power.

Bitchitude is on hold until tomorrow…

Hassani Campbell is still missing…

Update
Hassani Campbell's foster parents have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Several people have contacted me asking for my thoughts on Michael Vick’s return to the NFL. Since I take Saturday’s off from the Internets, I read through this requests this morning and pondered them while drinking my Sunday morning coffee. And then I looked at the most recent post to this blog about a missing child names Hassani Campbell and…well, I’ve decided to take the road less traveled today.

Hassani Campbell is still missing.

Hassani’s story has not caught the imagination of the media.

In not covering this story, the press...who postured a while back about why they don’t cover missing children of color worth a shit...has once again demonstrated that they don't cover missing children of color worth a shit.

It’s not that I don’t value the Michael Vick story. I have three rescue dawgs in my home that are living examples of society's cruel disregard of animals…I live in a state that is shamefully successful in maintaining a thriving puppy mill industry…and I know that the return of Vick to the NFL runs the risk of diminishing the horror of his actions even as it has the potential of jump starting a discussion of animal cruelty in communities where dog fighting still happens.

But Hassani Campbell is still missing.

The Vick story is just going to have to wait.

Hassani Campbell was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray pants.

He is 5 years old.

Hassani, who has cerebral palsy, has braces on his legs but they may not be noticeable.

Hassani Campbell is still missing.

Hassani Campbell is still missing.

Hassani Campbell is still missing...

…and, Lawd have mercy, the whole world isn’t watching.

If you have any information about this case…any information at all…please call the Oakland Police: 510-238-3641.

Oakland police are looking for a 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy

Oakland police are looking for a 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who went missing in the city's Rockridge district.

Hassani Campbell was last seen Monday afternoon sitting in the car parked outside a shoe store.

Hassani is black, stands 3-feet-tall and weighs 30 pounds. He was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt and gray pants.

If you have any information about this missing child please call the Oakland Police Youth Services Division.

Pondering the Senator McCaskill Hillsboro town hall…

Yesterday this bitch joined fellow pro-choice activists at Senator McCaskill’s town hall in Hillsboro.

It was…well, one word just can’t sum it up.

Yes, a sorta-scuffle broke out when a man grabbed and ripped up a poster of Rosa Parks a woman mistakenly brought into the meeting hall (signs were banned by the college hosting the event).

No, that wasn’t me.

Mercy.

That woman didn’t even have an Afro!

I did have an unfortunate incident with a woman when I was trying to make a phone call outside of the hall while being black. She got up in my face…said something about being tired of all us [insert N-word]…and then called me a baby killer (I was wearing a pink Planned Parenthood t-shirt). She was quickly escorted away by an extremely nice and police officer.

But, other than those incidents and a general climate of vocal hostility, nothing happened that wasn’t expected.

Anyhoo, here are my observations.

A lot of people in attendance weren’t Obama or McCaskill supporters before healthcare reform. This wasn’t about McCaskill losing support…it was about people who did not support her, do not support her and will not support her telling her why they did not support her, do not support her and will not support her.

A lot of the folks in attendance were confused. President Obama was portrayed on signs and pamphlets as some sort of Nazi, socialist, foreign born, communist, Muslim, euthanasia enthusiast, fascist who wants to tyrannically impose new environmental standards to perpetuate the dangerous myth of global warming all the while teaching the wee little babies about birth control in pre-school and plotting to knock off Grandma.

These people seem to be scared shitless by the Obama presidency.

Many of them are on Medicare…like Medicare…don’t want to see Medicare go away, but are opposed to government healthcare coverage options.

Blink.

Still others are for tort reform instead of healthcare reform…seemed surprised that Missouri and other states have already done some serious tort reform…were even more surprised that the tort reform they called for did not result in a lowering of healthcare costs…and then settled back on their allegation that healthcare reform is fascist and supporters want to knock off Grandma.

Don’t even get me started on how the crowd cheered when Senator McCaskill announced the huge profits posted by healthcare insurance companies. I was so sure they were about to start a Blue Cross Blue Shield They’re Our Man If They Can’t Profit from it NO ONE Can! cheer…but they somehow restrained themselves.

Anyhoo, after two hours it was all over.

And a bitch was left more enlightened than disturbed.

See, I live here and I’ve got a pretty good handle on my region…and I’ve got to tell you that crowd didn’t warrant the press coverage they got.

Nope…sorry, but no cigar.

If a bitch had been blogging the event I’d have covered the fact that, given the accusations made by those people who did attend, it is far more news worthy that the place didn’t reach capacity.

Because the fact that throngs weren’t gathered outside even though this town hall was closer to conservative areas than the more liberal St. Louis city (the St. Louis event was cancelled)…the fact that every seat in the place was not filled nor were people overflowing outside the building…the fact that there were lots of healthcare reform supporters there too (and Gawd forbid the media capture that)…and the fact that a bunch of other folks were there from organizations trying to get petitions signed for this or that (hey, a crowd is an opportunity!)…

…all of that shit adds up to not as many fired up anti-reform confused about the difference between a socialist and a fascist Missourians as they and their backers would have the press believe.

Which leaves this bitch suspecting that most eastern Missourians are still in Show-Me mode in regards to healthcare reform while yesterday’s town hall represented the folks who refuse to be shown.

Remembering Eunice Kennedy Shriver…

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, has died.

She is survived by her husband, Sargent Shriver, five children and 19 grandchildren.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s speech at the 1987 Special Olympics World Games in South Bend Indiana sums up her legacy beautifully.

“The right to play on any playing field? You have earned it. The right to study in any school? You have earned it. The right to hold a job? You have earned it. The right to be anyone’s neighbor? You have earned it.”

Because of her work…because she channeled her personal experience into positive action…because she chose to be an advocate rather than talk about being an advocate…because she lived her values…because of all of that, millions of people across the world now know that individuals with developmental disabilities have rights and have something to give back to society.

She didn’t do it alone…she isn’t the only activist…but hers was a strong and constant voice within the chorus advocating on behalf of the developmentally disabled.

The Special Olympics was more than just an opportunity for people with developmental disabilities to participate in sport…it was and is a movement to bring the developmentally disabled into the mainstream.

Even though my brother has never participated in the Special Olympics he has benefited from the movement greatly.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s work stands as an amazing example of what an activist can do and the positive change one person can make in the lives of millions.

May the Divine One comfort her family and friends as they mourn her loss and celebrate her life.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver was 88 years old.

A bitch’s correction of a certain fool’s statement on the current health care debate…

Sarah Palin wrote an article and, among other things, said…

"And who will suffer the most when they ration care?" Palin asks. "The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Blink.

Jaelithe of MOMocrats has a fantabulous response up.

And this bitch has something to say too.

Shall we?

Sarah Palin is right – the sick, the elderly and the disabled suffer the most when the health care system is fucked up.

But she’s also the very definition of wrong – the current system is not working and, as a result, older Americans and people with developmental disabilities…and I’ll add the poor, who seem to be invisible to Palin and her minions…are suffering right now.

Contrary to the voices in Sarah’s head, she’s not the spokesperson for families with a loved one with special needs...mostly because she has failed to embrace reform of a health care insurance system that is currently failing children and people with special needs. While many of us have been trying to get insurance reform for children and people with autism spectrum disorder passed there has been a curious lack of input from the former Governor of Alaska, who speaks so well of being an advocate yet seems unwilling to actually advocate.

My older brother is autistic and I grew up watching my parents damn near bankrupt themselves providing basic therapies for him because insurance companies refused to cover a damn thing…and I don’t recall Sarah Palin proposing a damn thing to address that when she was the Republican Vice Presidential nominee (a speech is not a policy proposal) or since quitting her job as Governor of Alaska.

There has been a loud as hell silence from Palin on the need to include services for children and people with Down Syndrome or other developmental disabilities in health care reform…and then she drops this freakish bullshit on her Facebook page, sits back and waits for her followers to praise her maverickishness.

If she had a lick of sense she’d be ashamed of herself.

Well, I’ll be damned if Sarah Palin is gonna become some sort of demented voice of a community I’m part of so she can further her political career.

Fuck that.

My Gawd, are there no rational conservatives left?

Pause…listen to crickets…continue.

Because this debate could use them.

Catch your knee!

The health care debate could use the addition of a robust and sane opposition raising mentally stable questions about implementation, access and sustainability.

But I’m not hearing from those folks.

I hope to Gawd they are out there and are just being drowned out by fear mongering inaccurate “death panel” ads trying to freak seniors out, by former politicians trying to be relevant despite having relinquished the very political platform that could have allowed them to propose legislation to help protect the rights of children and adults with developmental disabilities…and by the mob, so riled up it has become deaf to reason and blind to the reality that the insurance industry regularly decides who is worthy of certain care and who isn’t without the threat of electoral correction every four or six years…without ever having to face the judgment of the people, because the people have been too fucking busy defending the status quo to take this precious opportunity to add people-focused reform to a health care insurance industry that is currently “downright evil.”

Lawd, give me strength.

Let me be clear…my older brother is profoundly autistic and he is incapable of advocating on his own behalf to make sure he gets the health care he needs as a 39 year-old man.

And I, who would protect his life with my own, support health care reform.

Because the America that I love…the America that my grandfather and father served to protect…the America that my people have lived in for over 200 years…would not let this opportunity to provide adequate health care to the people pass by without action.

Jesus, where's the digital divide when you need it...

Happy birthday C-Money!

Today is my sister C-Money’s birthday, y’all!

Longtime readers know that C-Money is my best friend and has been my rock through many a challenging time.

She’s also brilliant and sassy and the best person I know.

So, today I celebrate my sister...she is the very definition of fantabulous.

Happy birthday, Neopthe!

By request - pondering the mob…

A certain Frances from Vancouver would like to know my thoughts on the recent conservative mob activity at Congressional town hall meetings here in America.

Shall we?

A bitch is fascinated by these mobs…not that Americans may be angry about things that our government is doing but by what these conservative Americans have gotten worked up about. I’m going to assume that they are actually really riled up and not paid protestors because that would be some sorry assed shit if the conservative right can’t even organize real constituents to show up pissed…I mean, that would be the very definition of pathetic.

Shit.

So, assuming that these folks are for real…is healthcare reform worthy of their mobification?

Pause…consider…continue.

I ask because most of these mobs have gathered in districts that could really use some healthcare reform…where families are struggling to access minimum services…the working poor are uncovered and at risk…where seniors weigh their need to eat against their ability to afford medicine.

And a bitch can’t help but wonder why these mob-based shouters aren’t demanding that their representatives suspend their own coverage.

Catch that knee!

I’m just saying…if you’re gonna shout at a Congressperson about healthcare reform why the fuck would you give them a pass yet angrily demand that they cease trying to provide coverage to the masses?

That’s kind of like taking a starving mob to a food bank and shouting at volunteers that they need to cease feeding people…or getting a mob of homeless people to get their mob on at a shelter.

Hell, mayhap that’s next.

Maybe they have a strategy to protests all government services and once they’re finished defending the healthcare insurance lobby from the evil sin of people focused reform they’ll move on to mobbing public schools, police and fire departments and sanitation departments.

Lawd, I can see them linking hands around water treatment facilities while screaming that they want their country back and then demanding that everyone recite the pledge of allegiance!

Mercy.

Anyhoo, a bitch can think of a lot of things to get a mob on about – America has the second worst infant mortality rate among modern nations, 38 million Americans are considered food insecure, poverty is rising at an alarming rate among senior citizens and America is falling behind the rest of the world in education.

Oh, and I’d think that the fact that an estimated 87 million Americans are uninsured…and, even if a mob participant is only worried about their own life and money that should cause some serious concern…would kick off a protest or two in support of healthcare reform not against it.

But Lawd knows conservatives are loath to put logic ahead of stopping anything associated with a liberal administration.

The story is not that there are mobs set to shout down members of Congress when they attempt to hold town hall meetings during recess.

The real story is that these mobs are passionately demanding that Congress not do it’s job and threatening to replace any representative who does try to do her or his job with someone who will promise to do nothing if elected.

Blink.

That ain’t Thomas Paine-ish behavior, people.

That’s some throwback pre-revolution loyalist bullshit and no amount of Lipton tea makes it good for America.

Remembering Naomi Sims…

Naomi Sims, beauty pioneer and the first black model to appear on the cover of Ladies' Home Journal, has died.

Naomi Sims was beautiful and a successful businesswoman.

Getting the fashion world to acknowledge that did more than fling open the door of opportunity for future Naomis and it did more than present a beautiful black woman to America.

There was a time before Sims, where the beauty ideal was actually a societal declaration that what we are was not what beauty is...and there was the time after Sims, still dominated by a beauty standard sans diversity but no longer absent a challenge to that shit.

Many will dismiss the importance of Naomi Sims as long lost history. Others will dismiss the role of fashion.

But I will always remember seeing her picture, so lovely and brown, and thinking she was beautiful…not beautiful despite her color but beautiful having embraced it. And I know that had a positive impact on how I viewed my chocolate brown self.

Naomi Sims was 61 years old.

Back from beautiful Arizona and pondering Corn Flakes…

A bitch is back from C-Money’s birthday trip to the beautiful state of Arizona!

Happy pre-birthday to C-Money and many thanks to her for including me in a trip of a lifetime…fantabulous!

I’m almost recovered from witnessing her and a certain Menekse fly off over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter.

Almost.

Lawd, have mercy!

Anyhoo, the upside of going on vacation…other than the cool shit one does while on vacation…is not checking email. The downside is that email waits…like a stinky fart in a humid room. This morning a bitch caught up on my emails and…well, reading several days of them all at once has revealed a pattern.

Pause…sip coffee…continue.

Mmmhmmm, some folks get joy from pissing in the Corn Flakes of others.

Blink.

Okay, so you should know that a bowl of Corn Flakes is yummified…particularly if you haven’t had them in a while. Imagine sitting down for some Corn Flakes…having hooked them up with a ‘naner (translation – banana)…and maybe you even had a few spoonfuls, so you know that shit is yummy. Then, out of nowhere, some asshole appears and takes a piss in the bowl!

Wrongness!

I honestly had stopped noticing but a wee break from email illuminated that shit and daaaaamn!

Shark-Fu’s review of Corn Flake pissing emails up in my inbox…
The “you just need to get laid” email…
I don’t know who told people that getting laid made a person blind to injustice and bullshit, but whoever it was lied to their ass. I’m all for a healthy sex life…FULLY support it (wink)…but I promise y’all that regular sex will not cure the need for bitchitude.

And, as these emails demonstrate, getting laid sure as shit isn’t the cure for ig’nance.

Next!

The “people are racist/homophobic/bigoted/rancid about all manner of things…so what? Talking about it only contributes to the problem” email…
The easy answer is that not talking about injustice hasn’t accomplished a damn thing, but that’s responding to the surface and ignoring the real proposal within such emails. What these emails really say is that the author doesn’t want to hear about that shit and would prefer to live their life in a state of willful dismissive ig’nance unless an injustice jumps up and bites them in the ass in which case they then want the world to stop so everyone and their dawg can address the wrong done them.

Well, that’s just precious…and a mound of steaming intellectually lazy fubarity too.

Not talking about a hungry polar bear breathing down your neck aint’ gonna prevent that bear from…well, um…doing what hungry polar bears do.

Wince.

And damn it all to hell if that’s not a lesson fools seem to need to learn over and over again…even though we know that the odds of them escaping that bear are low and even though there are tons of examples of folks not escaping that bear and even though we can do some things to make sure hungry metaphor-based polar bears aren’t lurking about amongst the masses denying them civil rights, equality and/or life.

Go ahead and get your denial on, though.

But you may want to remember that you aren’t on parole and reading this bitch’s blog is not a condition of your work release program.

Blink.

And finally, the “didn’t you know that [insert identity they don’t respect and secretly fear] are lesser than and thus worthy of abuse? That’s why I support abusing them!” email.

If I had a dollar for every asshole who sends me an email trying to educate me about my own damn self and how unworthy of equality and respect I am in the hope that I’ll slap my forehead in shock…shout “eureka!”…and give up activism, this bitch would be able to fund the International Intervention Against Fubarity, Ig’nance and Bullshit program I’ve long dreamed of starting.

Since no one has started a Cash for Ig’nance program, a bitch is left to wonder at that shit.

I’m more than aware that the price of logging on is feedback from the masses…and, since one huge benefit of logging on is also feedback from the masses, I’m willing to wade through the rancidity in my inbox.

I just wish that shit was a little less predictable.

Is it too much to ask for the knavish among us with internet access to take the time to get creative?

***cue crickets then log off while craving pee-less Corn Flakes***

Traveling once again...

A bitch will be traveling Monday.

Toodles 'til Tuesday!

A bitch in The Guardian!

This bitch just had an article published in The Guardian!

Blink.

Yay!

Click here to get your read on.

So now I have some new readers here at my blog-based home.

Welcome to the land of bitchitude, Guardian readers!

Fantabulousness...

The Grand Canyon is so amazing it is almost too much.

Longtime readers know that this bitch is not known to post pictures...and these fail to capture the fantabulousness...but Lawd, have mercy this was too wonderful not to attempt to capture!


Shit, the drive to and from Sedona was amazing too!


I don't know how people get anything done, though.

I'd be forever looking out the window...and sighing happily.

Mr. Squirrel gives tours at the Grand Canyon...

A bitch made a friend at the Grand Canyon...Mr. Squirrel (he liked to pose)!

He sat beside me for a spell and then tried to get me closer to the edge for a better view. But we'd only just met - for all I know he could be beyond tired of humans and trying to get a bitch to tumble over. So, I took a pass on a closer look.

But he was a nice ledge-based companion for a wee moment...