Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place...Between Hell and Qatar in the Summer

Last night I was infuriated to hear of the tax deal that President Obama struck with the Republicans in Congress. Most of that can be due to the outrage shown by Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. But I agree with them wholeheartedly. This may seem weird, but it kept me awake last night. The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I became. And I wanted to DO something. I implored my friends on Facebook to call Maj. Leader/MD Representative Steny Hoyer and our Senators. I even considered writing an email to everyone in my address book, asking them to do the same and even drafted an email they could submit through their member’s Congressional website, demanding that they vote NO on this tax policy.

I didn’t send that email, though. Not because it would be doing the most (and it definitely would be). I read another article HERE about what exactly was in the tax policy. And then I became stuck between a rock and a hard place. Here’s why:


The GOOD

Obeezy got a lot of stuff in this deal. Not only did unemployment benefits get extended for 13 months (the longest extension so far) but the middle class got to keep their tax cuts. Which is good because I don’t want a Republican-controlled congress spending my tax money anyways. The cuts mean that I will take home about $3,000 more of my salary in 2011. That’s like my entire shoe budget for 2011 so I’m grateful for that. And since Obeezy said he’s freezing federal employees’ salaries for the next few years, this tax cut is replacing the raise they would get.

Additionally, the payroll tax and extension of child tax credits and a bunch of other NEW tax credits for the middle class will benefit the economy. The middle class are the real job-creators. Not through starting businesses, but through their support of businesses already in operation. People on unemployment tend to spend their entire checks, putting that money BACK into the economy, so that stores don’t have to lay off workers and can expand operations to hire new ones. And of course, had this deal not been reached, millions of families would have had one somber, austere holiday season when their only source of income disappeared.


Finally, the quicker we stop arguing about these tax cuts, the quicker Congress can get to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell !

The BAD

It looks like Obama caved, AGAIN. He has failed to rally his base over the last 2 years, the same base that put him in office, and the same base that may look to another, more feisty Democrat come primary season 2012. This plan increases our ballooning deficit by nearly a trillion dollars. About $120 billion covers the high-end tax cuts and the estate tax cut, $450 billion covers Obeezy’s demands and $360 billion covers the middle class tax cut extensions both parties favored. Also, he got 13 months of unemployment benefits, while Reupbs got 2 years of tax cuts, basically the short end of a 2 fer 1 deal. Wackness. You got served, Obeezy.

I feel Obama should’ve gotten Republicans to cave a little bit on their demands, not just give them everything they want, so we can get SOMETHING. Sen. Max Baucus submitted a plan to raise taxes only on families making $1 million and above, not just $250,000 and above. Sen. McConnell mustve said “f*ck off* to that plan. Which makes me realize that he has the interests of the rich at heart, not most Americans. When Obama says to him, “Really Mitch, you’re hosling the threat of ruining the lifves and holidays of 2million families over my head so you can get millionaires and billionaires more money? How do you sleep at night?” I can only imagine McConnell’s response…oh wait, I already know his response. He said “You’re exactly right.”

The UGLY

“Republicans have held the middle class hostage for provisions that benefit only the wealthiest 3 percent, do not create jobs, and add tens of billions of dollars to the deficit. To add insult to injury, the Republican estate tax proposal would help only 39,000 of America's richest families, while adding about $25 billion more to the deficit." – Nancy Pelosi sums it up pretty well.

I’ve recently read Third World America, Arianna Huffington’s newest book. Combine the knowledge of that book with what happened on the Hill yesterday, and this is what kept me from sleeping last night. The last 10 years, 8 of which Bush was President, we have had ZERO NET GROWTH IN JOBS IN AMERICA.

I’ll write that again. IN THE YEARS THAT THE BUSH TAX CUTS WERE IN EFFECT, THOSE TAX CUTS CREATED ZERO NET GROWTH IN JOBS IN AMERICA.

One more time for good measure:

THE TAX CUTS THAT ORGINATED FROM THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION DID NOT CREATE JOBS.

So, can someone please tell me why the Republicans are allowed to repeat this utter falsehood that giving tax cuts to the wealthy create jobs?

The incomes of the wealthiest 5% in this country have increased over the last decade, while the income of the middle class has fallen. Why is it that WE, the middle class are asked to “tighten our belts” and sacrifice to lower the national debt, whole the wealthy get yet ANOTHER present, just for being wealthy?






It also disgusts me that the main reason Republicans held unemployment benefits hostage is their claim that it’s fiscally irresponsible to add more debt to the nation’s bill without off-setting the cost via some other spending cut. Unless of course you want to give billions to the rich without offsetting THAT cost. Doesn’t that piss you off? It made me so mad, I got a headache last night.
Sadly, we will be right back at this juncture 13 months from now with a Republican-controlled Congress. I can only pray no one I know is amongst the ranks of the unemployed then. Cuz they are shit outta luck in the worst way.

And oh yeh, decreasing tax levels on the Estate Tax…wowzers. Obeezy just gave a BIGGER tax break to RICH PEOPLE WHO INHERIT MONEY FROM THEIR DEAD RICH RELATIVES. AND THAT’S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT. WHAT THE HELL.

Has anyone ever heard of the 99ers? Apparently there are 5 million people who get no unemployment benefits at all because they have been collecting for 99 weeks. No one has mentioned them at all in the tax policy discussion. I guess there needs to be more room on that boat going up Shit’s Creek without a paddle…

The assault on the middle class continues. And I think Obeezy is still on our side but either lacks the balls to really fight, or his naiveté about the political process Is getting the best of him. Either way, I’m considering a career change. I’m trying to figure out 1. Where the richest people in America live. And 2. What is a service that I could provide and start a business with that would allow me to cater exclusively to the rich? Because having a “normal” job is no longer what’s hot in the streets. Rich people are about to be the only people with substantial discretionary incomes. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em…or at least sell ‘em something.




What’s your opinion on the tax cuts?

The Ground Zero Boogey-Mosque

Could anything be scarier? Muslims worshipping a mere 2 blocks from the hallowed ground of Ground Zero? GASP ! A “Victory Mosque”? DOUBLE GASP ! On that dark day in American history when over 3,000 people lost their lives at the hands of Muslim extremists, our world changed forever; and not for the better.

“Terrorist“ became a curseword. You must hold your pee on the airplane because getting up may cause you to be bumrushed and tackled by undercover U.S. Marshalls.
At first glance, I’ll admit, the idea of a mosque so close to Ground Zero was appalling. Why would they choose that spot? Everywhere in NYC is expensive real estate, why not somewhere cheaper? Somewhere less controversial?

Honestly, in 2010, I can’t believe that we are really having a debate on whether or not a place of worship can be built because of the religion being practiced there. Wasn’t stuff like this decided way back in the 1700s when our Constitution was written?

I will admit, legally, the Cordoba initiative has a right to build a mosque anywhere they choose. I came to this realization after Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) raised an excellent point on MSNBC last week. Lawmakers should not be commenting on the wisdom of building a mosque at that location. Lawmakers make and enforce LAWS. LAW is (for the most part) impartial and without emotion. When our lawmakers start putting their personal judgments and opinions into enforcement of law, that’s teetering on a dangerous edge. I respect him as a Congressman because despite the prodding of his interviewer, he refused to say whether or not he thought it was “right” to build a mosque there. That was not Rep. Weiner being a politician and avoiding the issue. Although we are nosy Americans and may want to know where he stands emotionally on this issue, we have no right to know and his emotions have no place in the legality of the issue at hand.

I, however, am, not a member of Congress. I am not a lawmaker. I am a private citizen, therefore I can speak freely about my emotions on the situation. And I do not think the mosque should be built 2 blocks from Ground Zero. Is there really a reason to cause the families of 9/11 victims any more pain and anguish? I think for the Cordoba Initiative to consider building a mosque so close to hallowed ground is in very poor taste and is insensitive to the 9/11 victims and families. This also raises the question of how close is “too close” to Ground Zero? Two blocks? Five blocks? 911 miles?

This is all semantics though, legally, anyone could build a mosque on the same block as Ground Zero. Legally, someone could also build a KKK Historical Center next to Rosa Park’s grave. But the determination of is it the “right” thing to do is up for individual interpretation.

Yes, I know the 9/11 criminals were extremists, and their actions do not represent Islam as a whole. However, I don’t kid myself that we are engaged in a religious conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Interestingly enough, we are not engaged in a conflict with those countries specifically. Anyone who is reading this blog post should be smart enough to know that we are fighting the extremist sects of Islam who want to rule those two countries. America is a Christian nation, and those with whom we are engaged in conflict believe that theirs is the righteous cause in the eyes of Allah. And although only the Republican right wing crazies will say “God” out loud in public, and we refuse to admit it as a country, we believe that God and “good” are on OUR side. So, yes, we ARE in a religious war.

Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama have both expressed their support for the legality of building a mosque at that location. Both of them have also refused to comment on the wisdom of building a mosque there, a wise choice since commenting on that puts them in the league of douchebag Sen. John Kyl; who has given in to the semantics of the issue at hand and has come out publicly to say that building the Boogey-Mosque is “not right” Read his article here.


Since polls show nearly 70% of Americans and 60% of New Yorkers oppose the Boogey-Mosque, I don’t doubt that personally, the President and Mayor Bloomberg also oppose the mosque. But their personal views do not matter in the context of the Constitution. While I agree with Sen. Kyl that “New York is a big city and there are other places to build”, as a private citizen, I can let my emotions influence what I do. What I do doesn’t affect millions of people. The same is not true for Sen . Kyl. He (unfortunately) matters more than I do and therefore should keep his emotions out of what is truly a legal debate.

New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers alike–your thoughts?

And oh yeh, speaking of 9/11, we still haven’t found Osama Bin Laden yet, have we? Okay, just checking.

Is it Freedom O'Clock ?!?

What’s hot in the news this week is the new anti-illegal immigrant bill signed into law in Arizona, that requires police to ask for a person’s citizenship status documents if they have a “reasonable suspicion” to believe that they are an illegal immigrant. People are likening this to the Gestapo of Nazi Germany, who could demand “papers” at any time, and saying that this will lead to racial profiling and the transformation of Arizona into a police-state.

People need to stop making this a semantics issue and let’s be real. If you are not here legally, no matter what your country of origin is, you DO NOT DESERVE TO BE HERE. The bill obviously focuses on Mexicans and those of Latino origin crossing the only foreign border in Arizona; Mexico. People like John McCain and Pat Buchanan’s feelings about this issue are more related to the white fears of the “browning of America” and the increase in minority population overall. My feelings are, if you are a legal immigrant from Mexico, El Salvador, Ireland, Somalia, or you chose to become an American Citizen after leaving your home country, you are just as American as I am. It doesn’t matter that your relatives and ancestors have no history in this country, but you do, because you made a choice to become a law-abiding citizen, and not an illegal alien aka a CRIMINAL. Yes, criminal. It is against the law to be here illegally. I’m not saying their illegal status makes it more likely that they will commit crimes. I am saying it’s illegal for them to be here because IT IS. THAT’S THE LAW, no racial element to it. If you’re illegal and Mexican or illegal and a hot blond Russian prostitute, you’re illegal! The racist psyche of the nation will view both people differently, but they are both illegal and need to be deported or fined or SOMETHING… ASAP.

The way to American growth was through jobs that benefitted and uplifted the American middle class, not the under-class of another country. That was the way to the bubble of the 1990s and the burst of the 2000s. Wonder why the US economy has not created ONE net job increase in 10 years? Illegal immigration is part of the problem [See my post from 2008 on this for my detailed opinion http://theoogieboogieman.blogspot.com/2008/12/let-backlash-begin.html ]. Another part of the problem is outsourcing and the creation of pseudo-wealth known as derivates and stock market gambling.

People are beginning to think that this will be the civil rights debate of our time (I wholeheartedly disagree) and since Al Sharpton has made his way down to AZ, the issue of black Americans’ stake in the law has been brought up. **SiDENOTE** why do white people still think that Al Sharpton is the spokesperson for black America? HE’S A GROWN ASS MAN WITH A PERM. Why do people still take him seriously….Le Sigh.

This isn’t going to sound pretty, but I keep it pretty in real life, and keep it real in my writing, no matter how ugly this sounds, I’m putting it out there:

We have no sentimental or logical reason as black people to stand with illegal immigrants in this situation.

It’s not like banning the law will stop racial profiling of blacks. We still get abused by the police regardless of every civil rights bill ever passed (see Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, & the Hurricane Katrina Danzinger Bridge massacre.) Nor should we champion this law and support targeting of Latinos or racial profiling in any form. But should we stand with them in the fight against the bill? I say nay. Mainly because something like 70% of Arizona’s citizens support the bill. They are the ones who deal with the implications of having illegal immigrants in close proximity as Phoenix has become the kidnapping capital of the USA, due to the increased violence of Mexican drug criminals sneaking into the country.

I have read people saying “the civil rights movement didn’t get off the ground just by blacks alone. It took sympathizers who didn’t look like us (read: white people with influence) to help us in the struggle”. Let’s face it. In cities across the USA, especially in lower-income areas, the tensions between blacks and Hispanics run higher than those between all minorities and whites. There is no need to perpetuate hostility among the races, but let’s not imagine some utopian camaraderie that does not exist. See Exhibit A: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/14/fox.jackson/

The big picture really all comes down to the scarcity of resources. In this case, resources being jobs and public services. Jobs are non-existent in many areas of this country and tax revenue has plummeted because of the loss in jobs. Therefore, municipalities are unable to provide the services required to their citizens. It makes no sense to say that an illegal deserves a job and public services as equally as a tax-paying, law abiding citizen. There are legal ways for immigrants to live and work in this country, and they make a CHOICE to come here and ignore those legal inroads.

Now I personally don’t believe that ordinary state police should be the ones in charge of enforcing immigration law. The police force is not usually made up of the most mentally stable, coherent individuals. But the bill is in response to federal inaction on the topic. Which also is not the fault of the Democrats, (although it will undoubtedly be misconstrued to seem that way) good old Dubya tried and failed twice to pass meaningful immigrant legislation and was denied not just by Dems, but by many of his Republican compatriots.

I also find it incredibly unfair that no one ever focuses on the business owners who HIRE illegal workers. They are committing crimes as well. And let’s face it, the majority of those hiring illegals are white **shudder & gasp**, but of course, you see no increase in crackdown on the white folk (have we EVER seen that? Hmmmm…). Illegals wouldn’t come here if there were no opportunities for them to work. This morning, I saw about 6 Mexicans get out of a van with some cleaning service logo on the side, about to wash some windows on a building on GWU’s campus. I wondered, if we were in Arizona, would the police question the Mexicans first, or go to the white man in khakis and the polo shirt with the logo on it?

Hey Tea Party! Here’s one of those "common sense, conservative solutions" that your Princess Sarah Palin loves to rave incoherently about: wanna help with the job creation woes being caused in part by illegal immigration? Why don’t you tell some of your small business owner members to stop hiring illegal immigrants and pony up the cash to pay American citizens decent wages? What’s that? Oh if you hire Americans you’d have to offer your employees actual benefits and have less of a profit for your greedy selves? Darn. I guess it’s hard out here for a pimp….. and a bunch of hypocrites.

To the firing squad of those ready to blast me because I wrote what you are afraid to admit…
**READY, AIM, FIRE**

6 Steps to Dismantling Opposition to Gay Marriage

I had an interesting conversation with my dad last night. He illustrated that most American ideology that is considered moderate is the result of liberal people’s own conservative PREJUDICES bringing them toward center-right.

We were talking about Obama and healthcare and how he wants Obama to do more, he’s not feisty enough, etc. So then we got into liberals, conservatives, and moderates, and the conversation turned toward gay marriage. We had a rather spirited debate on this on Christmas Day, concluding with him repeating “Meg, the shit ain’t right!!” before I just gave up. This time, his reasoning for opposition to gay marriage was “It goes against God’s will.”

**SIDE EYE OF THE CENTURY**
(¬_¬)


Now for those of you who don’t know my dad, he was raised Catholic in the Bronx, and attended Catholic school his entire childhood. In 24 years of life I have only seen this negro go inside a church for funerals and weddings. But now going against “God’s will” is his (and Sarah Palin’s) most convenient reason to deny someone a Constitutional right.

I knew this was complete BS and that his own extensive personal prejudices as a black Baby Boomer from New York were the real motives behind his political stance. It also was not hard to prove this via 10 minutes or less of conversation. I now present to you the deconstruction of his argument, which can also be used to deconstruct any other bigoted argument against gay marriage:

1. It’s in the Bible.

• First off, what book and verse? **SILENCE IS GOLDEN** You’re referring to Leviticuts 18:22 – “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Don’t hide behind God as the reasoning for things you just don’t like or just don’t agree with. Leviticus 11:11 and 11:12 says: “Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination to you… and they shall be abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest.” So I guess if you’ve ever eaten shrimp or crab, you’re going against the Bible, too. That’s called being a hypocrite. Feel free to follow the Bible , it’s a good book, although since the laws of Leviticus only apply to male Hebrew priests, you’re only violating the Bible if you’re a gay, male, Hebrew priest. If you’re not a gay, male, Hebrew priest, you should probably take a hint from Dave Chappelle and “Shut.The.F*ck.Up.”

2. If you were to be gay, the family name and lineage would disappear.
• Gay or straight, if I’m not married, I’m not going to have kids anyway. Also, I’m a female, so I would take my husband’s name, and so would our children. If either of my brothers were gay, they could do artificial insemination with their sperm and a surrogate and the family name AND lineage would continue.

3. Marriage is a sacred tradition of love between a man and woman, and has always been that way.
• Marriage is an ancient pagan tradition of OWNERSHIP of a virgin woman. That is why brides are chaste, wear white, and why their father gives them away to the husband at the altar, transferring ownership of the woman from one male to another. Gay marriage in America grants important legal rights to spouses and to deny same-sex marriage is to deny someone a right guaranteed to them in the US Constitution.

4. Gay parents produce gay kids and if everyone were gay, the human race would die out.
• Actually, upwards of 95% of gay people were produced by 2 straight people having sex. Maybe there’s something wrong with the heteros. Anyone with common sense can see that everyone isn’t gay. Not even the majority of people are gay. The biggest threat to the human race is actually our own ignorance and violent nature, resulting in the imminent threats of nuclear holocaust and global warming. A dinosaur-extinction level event in the form of an asteroid is a more likely cause of our species’ demise than gay marriage.

5. Pedophiles and sexual deviants are mostly gays.
• Actually, no, those are mostly straight people. Scientific sociological studies have proven time and again that homosexuality is not a learned or “contagious” behavior.

6. It’s a choice.

It’s not. The only choice that homosexual people make is to not live their lives as a humongous lie and to be true to the feelings in their hearts and minds, just as heterosexual people do. Why would anyone choose the hardest path in life? That’s like a white person in rural Alabama choosing to become a Muslim, tanning every day, and opening a mosque. In the words of Paul Mooney, “what a waste of white skin!”

After all this, the truth finally came out as “Look, it’s disgusting and not right”. There we go, finally some honesty! I’d much prefer people were honest about their prejudices than hide behind false reasoning. Prejudices are not cool, but everyone has them. It’s a result of growing up in a country were 90% of the images you process on a daily basis are manufactured for you, and therefore it is unavoidable to escape their influence on your ways of thinking. A widely-held theory of marketing and psychology says people want their opinions to be perceived as socially desirable by everyone else. Everyone may not want the rest of the world to AGREE with them, but most people are not okay with being known as bigots, racists, or prejudiced, although those all would be accurate titles. Hopefully you can use the aforementioned tactics as a way to evoke honesty in people, and possibly even change their views.

Peace Outside.

THE BLiND LEADiNG THE BLiND

Anyone that knows me knows that I can’t see. Forrealz. If I take off my glasses, I couldn’t read a computer screen in front of me. Putting me behind the wheel would result in a fender-bender within 45 seconds or less. I might not be able to even read the letters on the gearshift to even know I had the car in drive. Thankfully, I wear glasses or contacts during my waking hours to ensure the safety of myself and those around me. However, today I went outside on this beautiful, sunny, March day, and I took my glasses off. I sat in front of the State Department and just watched the world on 23rd street NW.

I use the term “watch” loosely because I couldn’t really see anything. I could tell the difference between a car and a tree, a man and a woman, but I couldn’t see anyone’s faces. Everyone looked like Bob the Builder dolls. I met some model-UN people outside and talked to them for a little bit, but it was very weird, not being able to clearly see their faces. Weird, yet refreshing as I didn’t notice every detail of their outfit or a strand out of place in their hair, the people walking around in the background, the cars passing by, etc. It was a very simplistic view of the world that I hadn’t had in a long time. It’s a hard notion to describe, especially if you have perfect vision. It’s actually NOT like taking one sense away and the other 5 are heightened. It’s closer to eliminating the clutter in a room, except the room is your consciousness.

In the brief 30 minutes I was outside, I had a mini-ephiphany. I notice EVERYTHING. Sometimes I have a Rainman-like attention to detail and memory. I view the world like a Van Gogh painting close up. I notice the brush strokes of everything around me. Some may say it’s a talent or gift, you know, people make careers out of analyzing things. Journalism and higher education teaches us to think in this manner. Our innate human inquisitive-ness is magnified by this aspect of our lifestyle. I wonder what it would be like to just not analyze for a day or two. Don’t get me wrong, I relax like nobody’s business. I could be a professional “Chill-er” if there was such a job. But I wonder could we live life like a moment of meditation? To accept a stimulus and not process it? To allow what is…

Just a thought.



**SiDE NOTE**People have asked me why I’m no longer on Twitter. Well, honestly I never agreed with the whole Twitter concept in the first place; and job boredom, peer pressure, and curiosity came together like an unholy trifecta leading me to the over-indulgence of non-stop microblogging. I don’t judge my Tweeps, I just prefer the “luxury” of having more than 140 characters in which to express my thoughts. That’s all.

THE R-WORD. NO, NOT RECTUM.

What if someone (a scientist, the President, the Pope, whomever) declared they had spoken to God, in person, and He told them that “we are here” simply for God’s entertainment. He laughs at us when we have wars in His name, nudges Jesus and Moses and chuckles when we deny that global warming exists, etc….
First of all, would anyone believe this person? Those who “talk to God” these days are more likely to end up in the looney bin than at a nationally-televised press conference, or have anyone except those declared to be “in a cult” actually listen to them. Then if anyone believed that this person had a convo with God, then would they believe God’s message? He LAUGHS at us?? *GASP* Our, benevolent, all powerful being LAUGHS AT US!?!

At this point, some of you guys are probably thinking, "wow, maybe Meg really is the Spawn of Satan."

No, I’m not in any way related to Satan as far as I know. If I was, I’d probably be related to Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin as well. As far as I know, they are of no kin to me, plus relatives usually don’t induce vomiting when I think of them. In fact, I may not be a very religious person, but I do believe in God. I pray every day and I don’t denounce religion. What I don’t agree with is people’s manipulation of religion in order to increase their personal wealth, status, and power. I also don’t agree with how the manipulation of religion has become the face of religion worldwide, but most dangerously in America.

I have a problem with Congressmen holding up health care claiming it’s over abortion when the language in the bill clearly prohibits federal funding for abortion (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/bart-stupak-abortion-lang_n_485341.html ). Roe v Wade was decided 3 decades ago. Every time a Supreme Court Justice nomination or Presidential election comes around, people question whether or not Roe v Wade is going to be overturned and its 100% a religious debate.

I most recently have a problem with evangelicals pretty much being allowed to construe the Texas public school curriculum into some far-right interpretation of the truth, eliminating even teaching about Thomas Jefferson (I wonder if his Jungle Fever for Sally Hemmings had anything to do with that……hmm) along with Enlightenment, and neglecting to include the principle of the separation of church and State, and most ridiculous, requiring teaching about the 1980s and 1990s resurgence of conservative politics, but omitting hip hop as a cultural movement. WOW. Get the full story and related info here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/13/texas-textbook-massacre-u_n_498003.html#s73766 - craziness! Even more retarded is that Democrats walked out of this meeting, further ensuring these crazies would prevail without the Dems voting. SMDH.

I have a problem with Catholic schools not allowing a student with two lesbian parents enroll because they are not in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church, but not checking to see if any other students’ parents have ever been divorced, or ever used birth control, cuz you know, those things aren’t in line with the Church’s teachings either.

The Religious Right always wants to say the Left is inflicting its morals (or lack thereof) on the rest of the country, and it is unraveling the fabric of our society and a mockery to the Christian principles that this GREAT NATION was founded on. SHAME on the LEFT!!! I guess we need to get back to the same religious principles that allowed a bunch of white men to invade already inhabited land, proclaim it to be a “discovery”, exterminate the inhabitants, bring over some new people, enslave them, declare that they should be slaves because the Bible teaches a slave to obey its master, not allow women to vote or own land because they have vaginas, etc. the list of “Christian principles” in place when this country was founded goes on and on.

Conversely, I honestly believe religion worldwide has helped way more people than it has harmed. Yes, it’s been the cause of countless wars, countless deaths, persecutions, and denial of human rights in the name of the Lord, Jehovah, Allah, etc. However, one cannot ignore the fact that religion has also spawned countless childrens’ centers, refugee camps, churches have fed and clothed innumerable amounts of people, helped to make them literate, provided help to the homeless, to college students, to every shade of human, to former drug addicts, etc. No one can deny the good that has spawned from religion over the centuries.

No one with even a Sarah Palin-sized brain would believe that war would cease to exist if there was no religion in the world. Would there be less war if religion wasn’t involved? I don’t know, we cannot change history and I’m not a fortune teller. However if you’ve seen “The Book of Eli” you may answer “yes” to my previous statement. Would there be more war and everyone would be a god-less heathen if there were no religion? Probably not. People are already heathens by nature, religion doesn’t really seem to be majorly affecting this.

If you continued reading to this point, thanks a bunch. If you still want to be my friend after reading this, double thanks. If you are nice enough to post your thoughts on the topic, triple thanks =) I always appreciate thoughtful dialogue on the topic, mainly because people are almost afraid to discuss religion, as if they are going to hell for putting into words what is already in their hearts and minds.

Peace Outside.

Life and Death

****UPDATE 4/30/10 Semi-related article in The Epoch Times ****

*****



So I almost didnt post this since it had been a while since the subject matter was relevant...but lo and behold, 7 am yesterday morning, I was blown yet again. Channel 4 news was reporting on a hit and run accident during rush hour. The reporter said we're trying to show you the accident without showing the victim since police have not removed the body. The camera pans to the truck that struck someone then pans down to avoid the body being shown. Then it pans back to the police, without titling down...and LINGERS ON THE GRISLY IMAGE OF THE VICTIM COVERED BY A WHITE SHEET LAYING DEAD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET.

SMDH (-_-) ...

In our ever-changing, increasingly technological world, we are invited via many outlets to share every aspect of our life. Our every internal thought can be displayed for not only our friends, family, and acquaintances, but even to the entire WORLD if we wish; via outlets like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace. Technology can even save lives, look at the millions of dollars donated via text messaging to the people of Haiti. This interconnectivity has undoubtedly advanced our world and connected us in many useful ways, but has it gone too far?


So I pose the question, is it now appropriate for us to share all aspects of our life…and death??


Our relatively new, celebrity-obsessed media culture has somehow made it a norm for every private aspects of a celebrity’s life to be broadcasted to the world. Too often in the past few years, these aspects have included the tragic deaths of these people as well. The incident that inspired me to write this blog happened last week, when Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died during a training run for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. I was on Huffington Post at work when I saw that there had been an accident at the Olympics. Like any curious person, I clicked on it and read the story and watched the horrifying video of the crash. Then I scrolled down the page to view photos of the incident and was absolutely mortified by what I saw. There were photos of Kumaritashvili as he lay bleeding and receiving medical attention which showed his ear hanging off of his head. Gross, I know, but it gets worse. The next day, I asked my sister if she heard about the luge incident and proceeded to show her the page. To my surprise, even more pictures had been added, one of a close-up view of Kumaritashvili’s face, bloodied and pale, with his eyes and mouth completely open, devoid of any signs of life. I was amazed that such a photo would be posted on a respectable site like Huffington Post.


Nodar Kumaritashvili was someone’s son, possibly someone’s brother, father, or husband. How dare the media post such morbid photos of him, likely without family permission, since the incident just happened. How disgusting that HP would post ADDITIONAL pictures of the tragedy! Even worse is that NBC repeatedly aired the violent crash several times.

Yes, NBC eventually prompted all its subsidiaries to cease showing the accident, but shouldn’t that judgment call have been made PRIOR to releasing the footage to every newsmedia outlet worldwide? Not one upper or even mid-level executive thought “maybe this is too much?” Or was the almighty dollar in the form of ratings dancing like sugarplums in their greedy little minds…

This of course is not a new thing; I recall in February 2007, when Anna Nicole Smith died of a drug overdose, CNN.com posted pictures of her being taken out to the ambulance from her hotel. She was on a stretcher and I distinctly remember the photos being zoomed in to show her face as paramedics attempted in vain to resuscitate her. I believe she was dead in this picture since the reports were that she was found unconscious, covered in vomit, and not breathing in bed. Then her bodyguard tried to do CPR, then the paramedics came and tried CPR in the room, then she was taken out to the stretcher, where they continued CPR and she was pronounced Dead on Arrival. Often when several attempts to revive someone fail, they were already dead when they were found. These stretcher pictures are not hard to find and the integrity of serious news channels should be questioned for showing her dead body.


Entertainment Tonight and OK! Magazine were the first to show the photos of Michael Jackson the day he died, as he was taken from his rented home in LA to Mount Sinai hospital. They called them the “last photos” of Michael while he lay dying, but let’s be real. Michael was dead and had been dead for several hours when that picture was taken. They tried to resuscitate him for over an hour before he got to the hospital and an hour when he got to the hospital. I was repulsed when I was in Safeway checkout line and saw the ENITRE cover of OK! Magazine was the photo of his face on a stretcher with breathing tubes up his nose. Again, money must’ve been on the minds of the editors, although I can’t imagine who would want to buy that magazine with that cover. Like many others, I bought memorial issues of magazines, but not for that sensationalist and disgusting picture, but as a way to grieve and celebrate the life of one of my childhood idols. I wanted something to remember Michael, no matter which of his faces was on the cover, just not that one devoid of any life, riding in the back of an ambulance.


On TV shows and the news, you rarely see the face of a dead person. On the A&E show The First 48 they occasionally show blood and a dead body, but they always blur the person’s face out. This courtesy does not seem to be extended to celebrities though, as the world seems to have a ravenous hunger for that last image that proves their mortality. I have the feeling that the only reason why we do not see actual shootings on the 6 o’clock news is because there was not a videocamera there to capture it. Although if there’s a cell phone video (ie when a California man was shot in the back by police while handcuffed and laying on the ground or when a 15 year old in Chicago is brutally beaten to death by several students acting like a pack of savage animals), I guess that’s cool to broadcast as long as you put a “viewer discretion is advised” disclaimer on it.


Because of our technological connectivity to other human beings, have we lost grasp on our true sense of humanity?


Speak on it.

Preview for upcoming article on DMVUnplugged…..

****UPDATE 4/30/10: I'm not the only one who feels this way...check out a pictorial over @ Italian Vogue ****

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I love Lady Gaga as much as Perez Hilton does. Really, I do! Many people view her as a gimmick but she is one of the most uber – talented people of our generation. I relate to her in so many ways, one, because she’s exactly one day younger than me, I empathize with thee “Aries-experience” , and I also understand what she’s trying to do with fashion, her image, and her music. She created “Lady GaGa” as an entity for her fans, and while GaGa is an expression of her own creative self, Stefani Germanotta is the real person, completely separate from the entity that is GaGa. I also love the fact that no celebrity gossip site has ever run a diva-esque story about her. No tantrums, outlandish tour rider requests, and she is sooo gracious and loving to her fans.

But here’s my mini-beef with GaGa…
It’s not so much with her but with the society that endlessly praises her as “new” and “fresh”. I’m sorry hunny but hardly anything about what she’s doing is new and fresh. It’s something we’ve all seen before with a woman named Grace Jones. Jones was the Lady GaGa of the 1980s, with a cult gay following and a music career that gained most of its steam in the gay discotheques. You may remember Grace in Boomerang as Helen Strange





and as May Day in James Bond movie A View to Kill. She also famously dated Dolph Lundgren of Rocky VI, Ivan Drago fame (big square head, looked like a cartoon Neanderthal character on steroids, “I must break you.” Yeah, him)

***FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE CHECK DMVUnplugged.com/fashion soon !!! ***

Stop Thinking and START MAKiNG MOVES !!!

We are too complacent these days. Technology has advanced our world in innumerable ways, but it has come at a great cost: we are now content to sit and watch our lives happen to us, rather than making things happen ourselves. We are too content to let our fingers do the walking across a keyboard, when our feet should be walking and marching across the pavement!

These are desperate times. Every day I see the country dangerously inching back toward the hostile, polarized social climate of the 1960s. Racial, political, and socio-economical issues are derailing our way of life in such a way that demands action by the American People. History has shown us that two things get results in this country: Money and Emotions. Look at the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). The Montgomery bus boycotts integrated the public transportation system how? By hurting the pockets of the transit companies. Many people were able to organize without the use of more than a telephone, but imagine if there was only an online petition against the segregation policy. Nothing would have ever changed because anger and internet “outrage” affects nothing in cyberspace. Had protesters simply started an online blog collective to protest segregation instead of being at sit-ins, getting hosed by the police, etc., and allowing the subsequent melee to be broadcast on TV, they never would have gained the support of Northern sympathizers. Who knows what the outcome of the CRM may have been???

Because of technology, idiots like Sarah Palin are allowed to interact with the media via Facebook and Twitter. How self-deprecating for a news organization (even Faux [Fox]-News) to engage in her little game. Even the despicable piece of flotsam that is Rush Limbaugh gives interviews to the media and allows them to ask him questions that aren’t pre-screened beforehand. But noooo, the entire news world plays into Palin’s game, reporting on her tweets and Facebook status updates as If that is considered news. She refuses to give interviews to anyone but Faux News and does so because she is incapable of putting together coherent answers unless asked about “commonsense, conservative solutions”.

The aforementioned practices, not technology in and of itself, are what’s damaging the fabric of our society. It may seem hypocritical of me to write this on a blog on the Internet, but I’m not saying stay offline, just use it wisely! Harness the Internet’s interconnectivity to organize, but in order to mobilize, sorry my dears, you’ve got to GET OFF THE COMPUTER.

A funny thing happened on the way to the fair...a NIGGA MOMENT.

Well not to the fair, just to work. I was so upset by this because not only did it intensely annoy me, but I felt a slight tinge of racism and age-ism…let me know your thoughts.

Okay so I normally get a bacon, egg, and cheese starbucks sandwich every day before I get on the train for the retardely long ride into work. Occasionally, I take a bite or two of my sandwich because I don’t eat or drink before I get to the train, but by the time I get there, it’s about 90 minutes after I wake up and of course hours after my dinner, so I get a tad bit dizzy sometimes and might sneak a nibble from my sandwich. Yes, I know it’s illegal to eat on the metro. That law is in place to keep the subway cars and stations clean and to minimize litter. But I definitely am not littering by taking a bite out of my sandwich and putting the remainder back in the bag and back in my purse.

So I sit down on the blue line and take a bite out of my sandwich. An old white woman taps me and says “you’re not supposed to eat on the metro” I take off my headphones, and ask “’What?” halfway hearing her. She repeats herself and the random white dude sitting next to her chimes in to point at the sign.

*BITCHASSNESS PASS #1*
I am highly annoyed that she feels the need to police me, but I look at both of them, decide that neither one works for metro and say, “I know. But I just eat this before work because if I don’t, then I don’t feel good. I do this like every day and put it back in my purse. It’s fine”. Both whiteys say something else but I ignore them and put on my headphones again.

Now for those of you that don’t live with me, I am a DEMON in the morning. I have the permanent “I WISH A NIGGA WOULD” mentality in the AM. I hate waking up before 11am no matter what day it is. Every day starts out bad because I have to get up at 645 am and I do not smile, talk, or even change my facial expression before I walk into my office at 845. And especially on the train, when all I want to do is listen to some techno or house, think about my good ass weekend, catch a few extra zzzs, and people watch, the LAST thing I want to do is hold a conversation. The ABSOLUTE LAST thing I want to do is listen to someone I DON’T EVEN KNOW lecture me at 8:10 AM.
Anyways.

So 2 minutes later, I take another bite and old whitey taps me on my leg. I look at her and she says “do you want something else to eat? I have some in my bag”. WHAT IN THE FUCK.

*BITCHASSNESS PASS #2*
At this point I’m too tired to even realize she’s being sarcastic. I just think she’s a crazy old lady who just offered me some food. I politely smile like I’m looking at a special person and say, “oh, no thank you” and go back to my music.

Then all hell breaks loose.

White man breaks in with, “the sign is right there, it’s illegal! The fucking sign is RIGHT THERE”. WOAH. It’s now 812 AM, why are you cussin at me son? The 2 men behind them chime in “the sign is there, you’re not supposed to eat.” I try my best to stay calm because right now I am at my boiling point. Yes, it takes 2 minutes for me to get there and in the morning, it can be set off by the tiniest thing. I respond “ I see the sign, I’m really not even bothering anyone, can you please leave me alone.. It’s not a good morning for me” At this point, I’m quite impressed with myself. I realized the potential for a Nigga Moment as soon as the old whitey first spoke to me. I was now at the point where a Nigga Moment was virtually inevitable. I was like Sonic 2 when you stand on the edge of a cliff and Sonic goes up on his tippy toes. And if you push one button other than back, he’ll fall off the edge…that was me at 812AM.

*THE FINAL BITCHASSNESS PASS*
Now it’s sudden death. The reactions of these 4 people may decide if this train is heading in the direction of Franconia/Springfield or straight to Hell. Can you guess which destination they unknowingly chose?...
I put on my headphones AGAIN and miss most of what they’re saying, at this point, they are still yelling at me. I notice people looking, but not really with the *tisk tisk, look at that rambunctious negro girl* - look. More like the “this is so random” look, and they’re really not looking at me, they’re looking at the people yelling. These fuckers are STILL talking so it looks like they want to switch the track in the Hell direction. NIGGA MOMENT IMMINENT !!!!!

I mentally prepare myself for this, I try my best to be as articulate as possible and try not to raise my voice louder than it needs to be to reach 2 rows behind me. Partial success. I rip off my headphones and say to all of them “you know what, I find it amazing that you have the audacity to say something as if this Is really messing up your day. This isn’t even worth arguing about!” then they start yelling sommore basically not letting me finish another sentence and I focus on the main hecklers, old whitey and random whitey. I look at random whitey and say, am I really offending you right now??? Is me taking a bite out of my sandwich really messing up your day THAT bad? “ Now I know they’re just fucking with me cuz he smiles and says “Yes, I can smell it.” I’m just like “woooooooooow. You’re ridiculous.” I try to go back to putting my headphones on, but THEY KEEP YELLING. At this point my lone semi-defender steps in. A skinny tall black dude who says to old whitey “let it go, she’s gonna do what she wants to do” Then I’m just hoping against hope that she gets in an argument with him just so they’ll leave me alone and I go to put on my headphones. But whiteys CONTINUE TO YELL. Oh and they ran out of Bitchassness passes...oh well.

“ LISTEN, ITS NOT THAT FUCKING SERIOUS. WHY DON’T ALL OF YOU MIND YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS AND SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME RIDE THE TRAIN IN PEACE. I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU ARE TRYING TO MAKE ME MAD AND FUCK MY DAY UP, BUT IM REALLY TRYING TO BE NICE TO YALL … LEAVE ME THE FUC K ALONE !!!”

So the 2 guys who are behind the whiteys don’t say anything else after that. But whiteys continue. Random whitey says “well, it must not be hard to make you mad” smiling all smugly n shyte. Old whitey says “ cant you read the sign?” I’m like " yes I can read the sign”,

“oh, no I don’t think you can.”

STINKMEANER KICK IN THE CHEST MOMENT IMMINENT!!!!!!

I reply in my calmest, I-will-cut-your-fucking-eyeballs-out-and-use-them-as-jelly-on-this-fucking-sandwich-if-you-say-something-racist-aka-exactly-what-you’re-thinking-right-now tone,

“Oh, really. And why is that, exactly?”

The look on my face must have scared the shit out of her because she just sat back in her seat.

30 seconds later, more yelling ensued, something about me being uncivilized and so I turn the tables and say to random whitey “oh, so I’m uncivilized but you all can sit here and insult me for eating a sandwich, and curse at me”

Random whitey - - “ I didn’t curse at you. I didn’t call you anything”
Old whitey - -“no one insulted you”

So at this point I begin to pray. Seriously. I’m getting madder than I’ve ever been because, 1) No one except my parents have tried to get in a dumbass argument with me that early in the morning. And I can’t hit family members, but I don’t know these fucktards, and I’m about to lose it... And 2) they are sitting next to me like 1 inch away cuz im in the handicap seats and they’re in the forward facing seats. And the train is extra crowded. I have no escape route and 2 immediate threats nearby. I still haven’t really wyled out verbally yet and am still holding things in and I can feel my face and chest getting hot. I’m clenching my hands so tightly into fists that my nails broke the skin on my palms...



So what did I do when faced with the dilemma of kirking out on these 2 whiteys trying to ruin my day?

I cried like a bitch.

Well maybe not a bitch but 2 tears fell down my cheeks. I was beyond pissed. My hands were shaking any time I unclenched my fists. Praying wasn’t working cuz I wanted to choke the shit out of these assclowns. I’m dead-ass serious. Every time I opened my eyes I just wanted to reach to the right an go for their fucking jugulars…. Plus, I hate when people just try to do shit to me when I kno they are taking things too far, therefore when I’m right, I don’t back down. Ever. (Exhibit A: the night when a bouncer thought I snuck into the bar, when I had actually been there for 2 hours. And it took him 10 minutes to try and grab me and pick me up to throw me out. And then it took 2 additional bouncers to get ME off of his bitch ass when he shoved me, unprovoked. Refer to the scars on him as well)

Anyways…I have never been so mad and felt so helpless: If I said anything else or had any further interaction with these people, I was going to get physical. I realized I could not beat up an old lady because she’s old and then I just look like the asshole; nor could I hit the random whitey guy because if I’m in any fight and charges are filed, I lose my job automatically. And my bomb-ass salary and office with a window is not worth a starbucks sandwich. I also could not hit efficiently from my position in the seat, a slap maybe , but it was so crowded, I couldn’t even stand up to deliver the jab to the jaw these fuckos deserved.

I was really upset though. More annoyed at the fact that someone that was not metro personnel was saying something to me about eating on the train. But FURIOUS at the fact that two things happened: 1) Racism and 2)Age-ism…but mostly racism.

RACISM

Why was this racist? Well, some white people have this crazy idea that because they have historically have tyrannically ruled most of the world, then whatever they say as a singular white person, must be adhered to. I forgot to mention that at one point during the yelling when asking the whiteys if I was really offending them by eating, I said “are you mad that I’m eating or are you mad because I’m not doing what you say. I don’t have to do what you tell me.” And she says “yes you do”.

STUCK FACE. -_-

WHAAA? White people sometimes think that black people (and minorities in general) have no agency over themselves and whitey feels the need to so graciously exert their guidance upon us poor misguided negroes. Call it a generalization, but you KNOW it’s true! They’re always unnecessarily investigating things, and just sticking their noses in complete strangers’ business…and even worse, feeling that they are completely entitled to doing so. Well they can investigate DEEZ NUTZ as far as I’m concerned. I think the situation escalated because I just totally disregarded what she said, and that offended her. She was old enough to have probably called someone “colored” and it still have been politically correct in her lifetime, and probably wasn’t used to someone so readily brushing her off. Now as far as random whitey male, I dunno what his deal was. He probably has a small penis and is mad at everyone, every day. Or makes like $28,000 a year at some whack ass job. Or it could’ve been jealousy. I was skinny and pretty and nicely dressed in a suit with a Calvin Klein purse, matching suede and croc skin heels, and fierce velvet leopard-print gloves. While old whitey’s face looked like a bleached version of the grandmother oak tree in Pocahontas and she carried some canvas, desperately free bag from some old people’s convention, and random whitey is sitting there with his busted ass Rockport shoes, ashy khakis, and dusty ass Columbia jacket. Especially since she was actually “nice” I guess when she first mentioned the sign to me, but after I dismissed her, she waited and I assumed probably sized me up and decided to tap me again to make her snide “you want something else to eat” comment and then continue the remainder of her dialogue in such a nasty, condescending tone; I bet she was thinking “who does this girl think she is? Dressed all nice, thinking she’s somebody…thinkin she can just dismiss me?” In a sane person’s mind, the real question is “hey old whitey, who the hell do you think YOU are, that you need to lecture people you don’t know on the rules of the metro when it DOESN’T EVEN AFFECT YOU? Are you the fucking safety patrol of subway car 12345? Where’s your orange belt bitch?”

*Let me just say that I have a certain respect for old people. However, they think they know everything and think just because they are old, they can say whatever they want to whomever they want. I do respect their years, but respect doesn’t mean obedience. The old lady was the original antagonizer so I focused mostly on her. But had this been a woman younger than 60 AND the random whitey (who was prolly like 30-ish) I probably would have been in a holding cell at 11 AM yesterday for aggravated assault and battery with a weapon (the iPod headphones cord I would have strangled them with).*

AGEISM

I am 5 feet, ½ inch tall and weigh about 105 pounds. I’ve had people mistake me for 17 years old (I'm almost 24). It is a complete possibility that everyone who said something thought I was a child and felt the need to chastise me. I really doubt the same situation would’ve happened to any big black male with dreads and a North Face on. Humans (at least while sober) choose their battles, and usually don’t challenge someone if they think they will fail. I don’t know what they thought I was going to do. Obviously they didn’t think I was going to get as crunk as I did. I probably shouldn’t have been so polite in my first interaction. They mistook my unwillingness to have a NIGGA MOMENT as weakness.

That’s another reason why I was so mad though. I shouldn’t care what people think (on the train of all places)but unfortunately, I am socially aware enough to know that succumbing to my strong desire to coon it up in this situation would have resulted in an automatic LOSS for my self-respect. Do I call an old lady a bitch? No, I was raised better than that, but OOOOOHHH did I wanna cal her old fortune-teller lookin ass a STUPID FUCKING BITCH so bad…And every insult that I’ve written in this blog about them (wait, is it an insult if it’s true? I really haven’t exaggerated ANY part of this story…hmm); had I said it during the train ride, I probably could not have delivered them in any type of normal tone of voice, or normal volume.; nor could I have said one more sentence to them while seated. It would have been an in-your-face, you-touch-me-and-I-will-break-yo-MUTHFUCKIN-hand-off, people scattering with the “oh shit, sumthin’s bout to pop-off” look, just overall bad situation.

In the end, I think I emerged the victor. On the train today, I got off at Foggy Bottom as usual and a girl (who looked like Precious, I swear) tapped me and said, “oh, you didn’t have any problems today?” with a smile. At first I was like huh? And then realized she must’ve been on the same train yesterday. I said, “Oh you saw that craziness over a sandwich?” and she says, “yeah, those people were ridiculous. I’ve never seen anyone act like that before. It was not that serious.” Then another dude in front of me was like “yeah I saw that too yesterday. Crazy”.

Oh and in case you were wondering, I did eat the rest of my sandwich on the train. If I couldn’t say anything else to them, a non-verbal “fuck you” still sufficed.

=)