Sounds

I found this music widget to add here.  It's far from perfect.  Some are just 30 second clips.  Some are full songs but with funky tech or recordings not from the album.  I'm sure it'll improve the more people use it.  And I apparently have to re-do it if I want to add or delete songs, which I hate.  I'm sure there are other kinks to it I'm not aware of.  What do they mean by X number of 25 plays left?  Is that aggregate for all or per site visitor(s)?  And it's kind of disheartening to have to be part of the huge marketing machine.  We shall see what unfolds.

Anyway, enjoy my eclectic taste.

Hmmm.  I wonder if I can find Spencer's band The Surge.

You Think You Know Me Well, But You Don't Know Me

Drat!  TNC beat me to posting this so I have hat tip both him and Dana Goldstein at TAPPED.  Dana longs for Michelle to express herself as she did here early in the campaign in Iowa.

This is why Juan Williams labels Michelle Obama "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress."

It is my opinion that some white folks perceive "passion" as "angry" in black folks.  Strong emotion, about anything, in black people makes some white people nervous.   Good to know I'm not the only black woman who gets caught up in speaking truth to power and labeled an angry black woman.

Just for shits and giggles, if you're black, go to a local work Starbucks, think about how Michelle was mischaracterized using examples like this video.  Let it hurt your feelings  -- inflame your passions as it were -- and more importantly, let it show on your face.  Oh, the injustice! Now glare.  Glare real hard.  If you've got expressive eyebrows, let them knit a sweater.  I know.  I know.  You've become accustomed to being more apparently affable than that, but this is for fun.  What happens?

Now, I happen to agree with the commenter at Dana's post who says this is wondrous to watch, but if Michelle had stayed this "passionate," Barack Obama wouldn't be president.  But then I didn't think Pres. Obama could be elected until I was shamed by Iowa.  I do know you can't call what you see what you see without an updo, glasses, five babies and pumps.

(Yeah, I have a serious irk on about Sarah Palin and the inequity and false equivalency she inspired.  Virtually every pushback from Republican friends when discussing Palin during the campaign somehow involved "She's hot."  But hopefully she's gone for a while.  I'm working on it.)

I Get Mine, You Get Yours

Megan Carpentier over at Jezebel (girl knows politics and has a head for finance and is another blog crush who I actually KNOW insofar as one can know someone solely through the internet) has her morning rundown on all things political.  She has been saying for a bit that Pres. Obama should not compromise so much with Republicans, i.e. taking family planning out of the stimulation package per their vocal and public posturing (link forthcoming), because Republicans are not going to vote for whatever package he puts up anyway.  It looks like she was right.  Zero Republicans voted for the stimulus package, compromise notwithstanding.

Adam Serwer is a little miffed about Pres. Obama's compromise too.

I have to think about this some more.  Pres. Obama has a great deal of political capital.  Shouldn't now be the time to use it to basically crush what little Republican capital there is and push his programs through?  On the other hand, he campaigned to be bipartisan - a change to the old way of doing things -- which is what he attempted to do compromising on the stimulus package.  Is Pres. Obama's point to try to cooperate, regardless of how many Republicans voted for the package.  Will he use the Republican non-cooperation against them?

Oh, To Have Been In That Line

I saw this early Tuesday night but decided instead to write about Silly Williams.  Gah!  Now it's everywhere and I could have been first.  No matter.  It's amazing nonetheless.

Amazing Video on Stage of the Obama Inaugural Celebration
by JayZ15

Celebrities!  They're just like US!  This is exactly how I would have been.  Except I'm not sure I'd be able to be so casual.  I'd be amazed if I could squeak out a sound.

Commenter Bruce at TNC (where I lurk in the a.m.) has said:

The prez has a swagger about him in this setting...He's usually more low-key in political settings but the way he greeted the "hip-hop bourgeoisie" is kind of telling.

I think I know what he means, but I've asked first since it does no good to assume.

Waiting.

Well, I'm glad I asked.  Bruce hasn't exactly said what it tells, but I think he chose the wrong adjective.  It seems Pres. Obama's behavior around the "hip-hop bourgeoisie" is comfortable, at ease, and something to admire...I think that's what he means.

Quickly...

I think there is a difference between Republican ideology and conservative ideology.  More on that later.

iPhone blogging isn't so hard.

I've GOT To Get Ready For Work

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Update On Speaking Of Shelby Steele

This fangirl shit has got to stop.  I can't help myself, though.  Smart men make me squeee.

From TNC re Williams:

There's more. Williams has, of late, been obsessed with gangsta rap and the cultural failings of young black men. Chief among his complaints is how we talk about women. It simply boggles the mind that Williams would then invoke the most ancient of stereotypes about black women. Moreover, it boggles the mind that Williams would actually buy into this idea that Obama is actually some sort of closet radical. As a reporter and as writer--which neither Limbaugh, nor Hannity, nor O'Reilly, nor Scarborough are--I just expect a little more.

Go read the whole thing.

See. This Is How It's Done

My God it's good to have a knowledgeable coherent man representing my interests.  (Note that this is in two parts -- click on one of the screens at the bottom that come up at the end for the second part.) My long time writing crush Adam Serwer (link to his stuff in previous post) points out the exchange about who the frak are terrorists going to now blame for their lot.

ADAM:  ...I just wanted to point out that this is what an effective taunt looks like:

Q How concerned are you and -- because people sense that you have a different political discourse. And I think, judging by (inaudible) and Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden and all these, you know -- a chorus --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I noticed this. They seem nervous.

Q They seem very nervous, exactly. Now, tell me why they should be more nervous?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that when you look at the rhetoric that they've been using against me before I even took office --

Q I know, I know.

THE PRESIDENT: -- what that tells me is that their ideas are bankrupt. There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them.

In my inauguration speech, I spoke about: You will be judged on what you've built, not what you've destroyed. And what they've been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognized that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction.

ADAM:  It's so much more effective than "bring it on..."

What always bothered me about GeeDub was how he was like the arrogant numbskulls I have worked for in the past.  (None now.  My current bosses belch rainbows.)  "They" weren't lying when they said that he was the kind of guy you could have a beer in a bar with...and you'd have to crack on him when he smirked something stupid and grabbed your ass.  I don't want a president I'd have to keep my back to the wall around.

Speaking Of Shelby Steele

As Rikyrah said at TNC's post on the matter, somebody needs to call Ray Ray and Junebug and beat Juan Williams' ass.  This little gnome sat his "lone liberal on Fox News" ass up on Bill O'Reilly's show and, without any provocation from Bill O, disrespected Michelle Obama by out and out lying.

I have the same problem with this as I have with most of what Shelby Steele writes.  Untrue Republican talking points are broadcast by the Negroes Republicans can stomach.  Michelle Obama has never blamed America.  She has never victimized herself or her race.  But the Negroes dance and dance.

I could fling terms about like House Negro, Slave Catcher, Tom, but are these invectives fair application to Mr. Williams?  Williams has held it down in many arenas before they decided to allow his "feets don't fail me now" ass in the Fox manse.  He is the author of the non-fiction bestseller Eyes on The Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 and Thurgood Marshall — American Revolutionary.  What changed?  Money?  Is Fox money that big?

Maybe it's not about Williams jigging in front of the white folks.  Maybe it's more about his disrespectful history towards women.  Perhaps, as ridiculously brilliant Adam Serwer wonders, he is one of those black men who pen essays like Why I Don't Date Black Women.  Perhaps a black from a distance 6 foot tall accomplished serious black woman shrivels Williams like a dip in a cold pool.  And since he doesn't have to say these untruths in front of Michelle, or the President for that matter, he can spout off whatever drivel he wishes.  It's just too bad it's in front of Bill O'Reilly and a chick named Mary Catherine.  I wonder what their reaction would be if he spouted off such untruths about...say...Republican Political Sex Pixie Sarah Palin.  Would they still let him in the house then?

As I suggested at TNC, yeah.  He needs his ass beat.  By President Barack Obama on the basketball court.

PROGRAMMING NOTE:  Nothing about this post is particularly original.  During my work day, I scan the internet on my breaks and lunch hour, so I'm usually 8-12 hours behind in the break of the story and by then, everything astute that can be said about a subject has been said, as evidenced by Rikyrah's assertion that somebody needs to get Ray Ray and Junebug and beat his ass.  This late in the game, I would only add "don't make me go get Big Mike."

Speaking Of The Corner

Where the hell is Shelby Steele?  Yeah, I know.  Conservativism isn't monolithic, but the dominoes do fall.   The mind-boggling self-interest disguised as thoughtful, personally responsible patriotism at The Corner brings to mind Shelby Steele.  So sue me.

Oh there.  He is.

Good lord.  The writing assignment from the Wall Street Journal is "Hopes for the Obama Presidency."  But Steele has a knack for shitty headlines ("...Why He Can't Win"), so we get "Black America Could Have Done Better."

Patterning himself after Rush, here are his hopes:

I hope this administration does not succeed in dumping vast amounts of printing-press money into the economy, so that taxes must later be raised to withering levels. I hope it fails to universalize health care or to sustain race-based affirmative action. I hope school choice happens in inner cities despite Mr. Obama's animus toward it.

Sigh.

To be fair, Steele is hoping for the failure of policies abject to conservative philosophy, not failure of an Obama presidency, but is one separate from the other?  I don't expect everyone to get on the Obama train I'm riding.  I'm perfectly happy to have each have their own.  But wasn't this negative attitude decried as treason when those who didn't fall in line after 9/11 voiced their low opinions of Bush's policies?

I'm becoming convinced that sites such as The Corner and thinkers in Steele's vein are struggling.  They are so used to defending their self-actualized personal responsibility bailiwick that when confronted with success from other quarters, they are stymied.  Their imagination is lacking, so they revert to what, remarkably once upon a Reagan, worked.

I'm not quite there yet, but I may follow the example of a blogger whose site I cannot remember and just dismiss their selfish rubbish out of hand.  But in doing that, is there the danger of echo chamber political conscience?  Thought unchallenged is thought stunted, which is a large part of conservative philosophy's problem right now.

A good corollary question is "Are Republicans and Conservatives The Same Thing?"

Jesus.  My head hurts.

I Write E-Mails

The headline, text, included link and picture in Kathryn Jean Lopez' post at The Corner is:

The Obama Girls

are dolls.  Literally.

My e-mail sent to Ms. Lopez is as follows:

What's your point?

Picture of EVERYBODY There

The hits on this site are huge, so it takes a long time right now to load, but here is a link to a picture of Pres. Obama's Inauguration speech. The creator, David Bergman created it out of 220 separate photos. It's searchable and zoomable. The hook is that you can zoom into any part and see anyone who was there as if it were a picture in your hand.

Say Amen, Somebody

At the very bottom of this post is  by far my favorite part of the Inauguration.  Rev. Joseph Lowery is a man of good will and good cheer.  His faith in a God whose existence I at times doubt has borne him well for 87 years.  It's so wondrous to behold I am sometimes taken with envy.  He has withstood offenses I cannot imagine, yet came to that day as days beforehand, with an open heart and mind.  A staunch supporter of LGBT issues as well as one of the first to endorse then Sen. Obama, he has made it clear that he stands for what was always taught to me as being right and fair, with a chuckle and a grin.

A brouhaha broke out over at TNC's blog over one of the last lines of his prayer, taken from a saying older than I am but one I'm certainly familiar with.  It is particular to the black community.  It went something to the effect of "If you're white, you're right; if your brown, stick around; if you're black, get way back."  KevDog, whom I have cited here, posted on his blog:

Reverend Lowery ended things on a bit of a downer for me. On this, of all days, to lament the fact that White has yet to embrace right was uncalled for. A little petty too, I think. Up until that last line, he had me in the palm of his hand.

Look, everyone knows that we fucked things up in the past. We also know that we can do better. But for crying out loud, all we want is credit for trying. Would that have been too much to ask? This was our day too. This was the country’s day.

I saw this and posted something on his blog letting him know about the adage (which is actually based on a song) and that it wasn't something Rev. Lowery was bitching him out wholeheartedly about.  Yet even in my explanation to KevDog, I was torn.

KevDog, by his comments and his blog, seems to be thoughtful and aware of the privilege born him by dint of his color.  That is to say, he thinks of things deeper than what is presented, and that's a good thing.  Also, I wouldn't want him to stifle his feelings.  Talking about race in any form is hard frakking work and I applaud him his foray into the realm.

Here's the part that got me, though.  This feeling of his, this what I think is a misunderstanding of the purpose of Rev. Lowery's words, are because KevDog and indeed a whole slew of white folks, have no idea what goes on in black culture.  In my mind, that's 9/10ths of what the whole mess was with Rev. Wright.  They don't know that black folks sit in church and listen to our preacher say a bunch of ridiculous stuff...FOR YEARS...and spend that time figuring out what we're going to fix for dinner and then attention comes back on point when the preacher says something meaningful to us.  No idea about so much of what is rich there.  What our sayings are.  What our feelings are.  How we express ourselves.  It is, however, taken from us piecemeal to emulate or sell without regard to the whole.

I know so much about white culture because it's been the status quo.  Rikyrah, a commenter on TNC's blog and contributor at Jack and Jill Politics, (and one I can count on to tell it like it t.i.s.), said:

So, Black folk and others are talking like they've always been, but it's like, suddenly, for the first time, White folks are listening. They're listening in mid-conversation and have no idea what came before in said conversation.

I also agree with the above poster who said Black folk don't have a choice but to have a Bachelors in White folk. It's requisite for you to be able to to function in America. And the higher you move in 'American (i.e. WHITE) society, you best be getting a PhD in White folk to survive'. The successful Black Professional has a skillset that is unparalleled, IMO.

White folk, on the other hand, can be grown, married, with children, and still be asking stupid questions like, ' Why is Malia's hair braided like that', or ' Why didn't Michelle comb Malia's hair on the first day of school'.

Ding ding ding.  This is on the money, and probably what bugged me about KevDog's reaction, not that he didn't have a right to feel this way.  But he didn't know because he didn't have to know in order to live and prosper.  And then the racial paranoia in me pipes up with "That's what hurts your feelings?  You're going to have to go harder than that to hang, son."  But that's counter-productive and I really want discussions of race to be productive.

I also think that KevDog, who has professed great admiration of Rev. Lowery, was shocked and caught off guard that perhaps the Rev. may look at KevDog as one of the blue-eyed devils who subjugated him, which is a bracing thought to contemplate.

KevDog has since written something more substantive on his feelings.  TNC put up another post admonishing that one doesn't deserve credit for doing what you're supposed to do.  Comments went wacko again.

And Rev. Lowery's benediction still makes me say "Amen!!"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

UPDATE:  I have watched this at least 5 times this morning.  I have to figure a way to post this permanently on my blog.

President Obama Spares My Wrath

Heidi Fleiss sat next to me in the middle seat on the plane home from Chicago; or rather, the puddle jump second leg from Chicago.  She boarded minutes before takeoff in Vegas.  She was accompanied by a diminutive man.  She herself wore 3 inch flip flops and a leather coat that reeked of cigarette smoke.  She stuffed the little guy's bag under the seat across the aisle that she wasn't sitting in.  She cracked a new Popular Mechanics magazine and tore out all the subscription cards and threw them on the floor.  She spoke of her father a lot.  She kept her iPhone on the whole flight.  She checked the internet.  She slammed down the shade to the window.  She kept flinging her hair.  She and the young man across the aisle, who clearly recognized her, made eyes at each other; he kept waving his size 14s at her.  She told the flight attendant she didn't want anything to drink by waving her away.  She sat comfortably in her seat like neither I nor her diminutive friend were there.

She's a predatory sort with bad manners and lovely eyes.

I worried briefly that something catastrophic would happen to this flight, because in the scheme of divine providence and chaos theory, I suspect Heidi Fleiss is going to die bloody. I imagined the 11:00 news of the plane's destruction notable because Heidi Fleiss was on it...and then a brief retrospective of her exploits of keeping and building whorehouses, including a sound bite from Charlie Sheen.  Nothing, of course, about the woman who sat next to her watching her spin her environment to suit only her.

When she nearly stepped on my laptop to deplane, my instinct to snarl "Hold up, you selfish ill-mannered pimp, let me get MY stuff," just wasn't there.  Instead I said, "Just a minute, young lady, I need to get my laptop."  She said "Oh, sorry," and waited.

This inauguration made me so happy, even flying home three days after next to a thoroughly unpleasant young woman couldn't ruin it for me.

We Can Always Do Better

Way back, I wrote a screed about this young brother.  I think he's one of the wickedest things on the internet.  More to come about my trip home to watch the Inauguration with my mom.  It was a way interesting trip.

I Swear I'll Be Back

Uhhh, yeah.  I had to take a break.  I'll be back, though.  I'm going home to watch the inauguration with my mother and will be back next weekend, weather permitting.

Consider the below my gift to you.  Enjoy.