Conservative Mind Invasion

The blogosphere is heated up with much rhetoric about the political climate that exists currently in the country. Having a debate over a mosque, community center or whatever it truly is has taken over the discourse when we should be focusing our energy on getting citizens back to work, finding ways to ensure that all can afford homes and get a good education. Those things among many others I hope and am sure we can agree on, whether Democratic, Republican, Moderate or Conservative. Did you know that the United States is now ranked 13^th in the world in the number of it’s citizens who earn college degrees? The cost of what we get is high and higher still if we are not educated. All of these daily conversations and new so-called controversies named by the media don’t help anyone achieve their version of the American Dream. If I had to start my own version of a “Tea Party”, I would want the Government to work on real solutions to real problems such as joblessness, lacking resources for education and improving the public health infrastructure. These are the REAL issues facing REAL Americans Gov. Palin, not where a religious building should go, thus terrorizing a group due to the horrendous actions of a small segment. Remember, this is a War on Terror, not Islam!

I don’t envy President Obama not one bit, he has a hard job and despite all of the ups and downs I think he has done an average job. I say that not because of what he has done but because of what he should have not done or stayed out of an example, the Beer Summit. The question that was posed to him about it I think was a bit of a setup but it was asked during a nationally televised press conference. In retrospect, he is probably thinking he should have gracefully answered but not answered and left it at that. Racially charged issues have been a bit of an Achilles heel for this White House and for good reason. If you answer, the Right says your being too sensitive. If you don’t the “black leaders” accuse you of being too laid back on issues of race. Sometimes, the best answer especially for someone in his position is not to answer at all and let the chips fall where they may.

I know that come November, the landscape in Washington will change but will it be a small change or a drastic one? That depends on who you ask. Ultraconservatives and Tea partiers (maybe they are one in the same) are screaming from the rooftops and to anyone who will listen will tell you that the day of reckoning is coming for the President and the Democrats. On the flip, Liberals will tell you that all is well, there is nothing to see here and we will keep on a steady course. I am not sure I can agree with either side but if I had to pick a side that had a modicum of sense, I would go with the liberals. Common sense and inclusion seems to be a weakness of Conservatives, it feels like on a weekly basis there is some new story about how someone on the Right has made some ridiculous statement to offend Muslims, Blacks, Native Americans and Hispanics. As of right now, it appears that a favorite target of the Right, the Gay Community isn’t getting too much flak but with the Prop 8 activity ongoing in California, the Hatefest will continue to have more momentum.

With all of that said, I want to get into the head of a Conservative. I really want to know, seriously, What the FUCK??!! I said that with some jest but one among them has to know that some of this stuff that comes out of the mouth of Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Louie Gohmert and the cast of other stellar GOPers is some of the most ridiculous shit ever said. How can anyone take Newt Gingrich seriously? On one had he talks about conservative values and has cheated on all his wives to date? That’s like taking ethics classes from Charles Keating, the shit don’t match. Michelle Bachmann is absolutely BAT SHIT and I have talked so badly about Sarah Palin on this blog, there is nothing else that can be said! All of that to ask this question: Conservatives, what do you TRULY believe in and how can that be achieved without belittling an ethnic or religious group?

Let me get the steak, medium well and hold the gun shots!

Well, well, well, my beloved home state has "fired"off the first volleys toward a new safe haven for the NRA! Today the Virginia Senate approved a bill that would allow guns to be carried into establishments that serve alcohol (bar or restaurant) provided that the person with the gun does not drink. Do you think this will work? I will wager no since the Virginia ABC has a hard time curbing underage admissions into clubs and illegal alcohol possession by minors. Now they get yet another tough task to police, making sure that gun toters are sober WHILE CARRYING A GUN IN THE BAR!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you scared, idiots who, after Obama got elected went out and bought guns like World War 7 was about to start! (This gun shit is so stupid, it skipped WW's 3-6!) As I may have asked before, did you skip high school the day they taught government? I know Obama is a constitutional lawyer but he would have to do some REAL ILLEGAL shit to actually take all of your guns!!! And far be it from me to question your intelligence, I mean I know a lot of plumbers, construction workers and white collar workers who know sooo much more than the President, a HARVARD trained lawyer! Excuse me for doubting YOUR knowledge of the law and yes US Government. Let me break this down to you: Obama can't do SHIT with out Congress rubber stamping it! I think I remember my history teacher (and Schoolhouse Rock) defining that as "Balance of Powers." (Remember writing that on your hand for the government exam since you skipped that day?) Which means that no one branch of the government (Bonus point: Name the branches of the government? I hoped you didn't skip that day, that was day 1) can have absolute power! So while you want to believe that Obama is a socialist, wanna be dictator...it won't happen! Hell, he can barely get anything passed in Congress now, I think your guns and your daughters are safe!

That rant was important to my overall point, the GOP backlash in my opinion is significant. However, a lot of the arguments are faulty. I can agree that the president could be doing a better job in some areas and his focus on some areas (economy, terror and health care) could be readjusted but all of this fear is greatly misplaced. Obama can do no more that what the other branches will allow him to do. But of course, keeping it real the first black president isn't getting much of a chance to do anything! If the GOP gets it in during the next election, they will revel in stonewalling him out of office. Well Virginia, now we have to live with 4 years of more guns while you eat and drink, arguments about choice vs. pro-life and how the GOP has more "values" than everyone else. Thanks to my VA peeps, will we be better off in four years? God only knows.

Why are we so sensitive?

During the election, candidate Barack Obama was constantly confronted with the simple question: "What do you intend to do for the black community?" I am sure that had to be a tough balancing act considering the pressure he was under from all sides. Appealing to voters of all races, creeds and beliefs, his own party, undecided voters and many interest groups who threw their weight behind him while running a historical race had to make him look unsympathetic to black voters. This question came up so much that in a conversation with a friend she pointed out that he is "running to be president of the United States, not of black America!" I agreed with this point and we all know the outcome of that candidacy.

Now it appears that President Obama is losing steam in his popularity while his politics have been a major point of division only an year into his presidency. Where are the dividing points? Well they appear to be kind of obvious, you have the Tea Baggers, birthers, right-wing nut jobs oh and Fox News at the most extreme, other Republicans who disagree with him "strictly" on political matters and then those who are on his side and may or may not disagree with him. After the loss of the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy, the backlash on Twitter was highly palpable. AverageBro, who I follow made some comments concerning the affect of this loss which I could agree with although I supported Obama and voted for him. Some of these comments actually LOST him followers on Twitter. REALLY? Now I don't know (and if you read this AB let me know) if these particular folks were black but I thought they may have been based in AB's reaction to their unfollow.

If that is the case, then why are we so sensitive as a people to criticizing one of our own? While the right conducts a witch hunt against him everyday based on conjecture, fear and hearsay we fail to stand up to unwarranted criticism. On the other hand, when there is legitimate room for debate on the issues of the day and how the president may or may not be coming up to par, we get offended and think that we are rising up against him. This is scarily reminiscent of how happy we were one year ago today during the inauguration, wearing our Obama clothes, dancing happily in the streets and packing DC to celebrate. Did Obama have a positive influence on us as a people? Well some of us I am afraid to say. How can we be so proud of one of our own becoming president but then return home and still do the negative things that shed such an ugly light on our community. Why can't we come together? Every other minority group, no matter what rallies around each other in good and bad, however we rallied, prayed and did all we could to get Obama in office and we STILL look like BET on some levels. Maybe I just figured out why Obama stayed neutral on What do you intend to do for the black community?" He can only do so much for us as a people, we have to come together and do the rest. Class dismissed...

Marion Barry: The B*tch Set Me Up II

Marion Barry needs to make some serious decisions about his political career. That is a very funny sentence simply because any other politician who had done the things he has done would have been a distant memory. I think he either needs to: 1. Give up politics all together or 2. Just say no to the booty. Judging once again the simple fact he is beloved in Washington DC, and all of the controversy he has survived as well as all of the controversy he is embroiled in, I think option 1 is out of the picture. It is amazing, albeit hilarious how much booty can and has gotten him and a host of other politicians in a whole heap of trouble! Between Barry, Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and Mark Sanford these guys have enough experience to open a strip club.

WTOP-FM in Washington reported today that the voicemail tapes had been handed over to the Washington City Paper along with written transcripts of the messages that Barry left on the voicemail of his 40-year old girlfriend Donna Watts. Hell, just for good measure there is a "bonus" track of a fight that occured between the two. They say bonus track like Diddy produced this hot mess! Listen if you have some time, just hit the bathroom beforehand. I dont want you mad at me if you wet yourself laughing at this shit!

Why do we put up with such buffoonery? Better yet, how do you say stuff like "I'm addicted to you" on a voicemail and then have to face up to it when it hits the media? When I visit DC these days, I am kind of astonished at the partial gentrification that is ongoing in the city. Some areas are building town centers, expensive condos in the shadows of urban decay and now the man who once led the city, who was once seen as an icon (and to some still is) is back to his old tricks. DC is in trouble, more so than one could EVER imagine.

The Real Men Council

You may or may not have noticed that I am co-writing a new blog with my good friend Uniqpoet. Unfortunately, blogger has temporarily shut us down because their system thought our blog was a spam blog. I have requested twice for a review and I hope we will be back at you shortly. And we were about to get into another interesting conversation! The Real Men Council came about from our conversations that we would have amongst the guys on "Real Men Mondays". Well since it is moving about, "Real Men Mondays" are just now Real Men "fill in the blank with the day". It is a cool outing, just the fellas getting together for laughs and real talk about being single, involved or married brothas in Central Virginia. I hope as does Uniqpoet that our blog hopes to ask funny and stimulating questions about life and all of it's ups and downs. I just wanted to get that out in case you have tried to look at the blog or saw it and didnt want to touch it. When it gets back going, please touch it...we would greatly appreciate it. Meanwhile I am trying to get some stuff together in my head for a new blog...hopefully the debate tonight wont piss me off and you get yet another political blog but stay tuned. Hope your Tuesday is going smooth...I like to call it Tepid Tuesday. On to Wildin' out Wednesday! I'll holla!!!

Rebuttal to Election Nonsense entry

Last night's blog was a decent summation of how I felt about Obama's statements in response to conservative attacks on him. If it hasnt been expressely said (and I know someone like Rush Limbaugh will say it), many folks are uncomfortable with someone who "doesn't look like the guys on the money" running for president. I didn't know how to address further the conservative attacks on his character although the main push by the extreme right is to make people scared of the intelligent, young and charismatic black Senator. We can only fight backby supporting Sen. Obama and not throw up road blocks. Below is a blog I wrote at the beginning of the election cycle last year. I think I said pretty well what needs to be done by us. If we can do these things, the conservatives will have to bite their tongues and suck it up for a change instead of being uninformed hate mongers that they live up to be oh so often.

Barack Obama: What's Black Got To Do With It? (April 7, 2007)

I was recalling in my mind a conversation that a classmate and I were having a few weeks back about Barack Obama. What she said wasn't terribly shocking but it really made me mad because it just shows me how much we as a people need to get over and get on with the business of improving ourselves for the better. She told me that there were some black folks who were saying that Barack was not "black enough" to run for president as a black man. I asked her to repeat herself because I really didnt think that was true what she was saying but she said that she heard it on TV watching C-SPAN. To me, saying something like that seems to be a double standard among my people and my classmate who is from Sudan was a bit baffled by the comment because she, like I was wondering how black is black? Let me try to illustrate what I meant by the double standard: Remember a little over 10 years ago when Tiger Woods burst on the scene and we were in awe of his golf game and all the potential that he had and has since delivered on, we wondered more about his complete ethnicity. So when he was interviewed, he more or less said that he didnt see himself as a black man but as Cablinasian which accounted for his whole ethnicity. Did he or did he not draw the ire of the black community as well as provided fodder for black comedians for his comments? Flip that to Barack who is American (born in Hawaii) to a Kenyan father and White american mother. Barack has said countless times that he is proud of his heritage, takes nothing away from being biracial but recognizes that he is a black man. And for that...he is seen as not being "black enough?" What a double standard, hell I mean we should be really be standing behind him for running for president because damn, I sure as hell couldnt do it! Leave it to us, hell if give the chance we could fuck up INSTANT Jello! Recognize this to all the nay sayers who feel that Brother Barack is not up to the task and you need to see his "brother card." If you think about it, he is more African and definetly American (without question) and we need to continually remind ourselves that as a people, we come in all shades, sizes and shapes, some of us grew up in the hood, in suburbia and all points in between. These things should be what makes us unique and more apt to learn from one another and progress. Instead, we choose to pick at the diversity of our people like a sore and pass judgement on who is truly black and who isn't. Like my ex-girlfriend used to say "you own your blackness" and it is weird to see someone who may not understand your experience but that is what should unite and not divide us. The 2008 presidential election is looking like it could be historic, dont let some petty foolishness drive you towards another candidate or worse, not going to the poll at all. If we have learned nothing from the last 2 elections is that we have got to make our voice heard or it will continued to be silenced because politicians are not interested in the group that makes no effort to be heard. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, black people lets start squeaking alot louder so we can get that oil!