Friday, September 24, 2010

Re-Branding HOPE, Yes We Can?

And so, here we are 20 months into Obama’s Administration…and as the now infamous Velma Hart stated “we are exhausted and tired”. Does that mean hope is over? Shall we send hope on his way? Thank him for coming, but say “don’t let the door hit you…”? Yes, we are tired; of course we are…this recession has beaten the shit out us…like a two bit piƱata! Millions of jobs have been lost, homes have been foreclosed, and the once stable middle class has now become the “shrinking class” much like the housewives of New Jersey! I’m tired, you’re tired, but does that mean we give up? Does that mean that we throw up our hands, lie on our backs, and let the Tea-Party have their way with us?

With their witchcraft, Hitler signs, and utter B.S. they have shown that they are about as capable of leading as Lindsey Lohan is of staying out of jail. It’s time to get serious and stop thinking that some white horse is going to gallop down Main Street and make everything OK. This is not a fairy tale and change, REAL change, takes hard work from everyone who wants it! Obama did not pretend to be the Messiah when he ran for President. Am I defending the Administration and their inability to communicate their message to the American people the way they did during the election…and have a cohesive plan, and have some f’ing cohones when it comes to Republican bullshit? No, I’m not. But what I am going to do is remind everyone that it did not take 20 months to get into the mess we are in…it took a freakin’ decade!

This is not the Cosby show where everything gets fixed at the end of 30 minutes so we can all to bed feeling warm and fuzzy. This is the real world and this is some real shit that we have gotten ourselves into. Politics and leadership is made for folks who take their drinks straight up without an umbrella…it’s not for the faint of heart or spineless. So, if you’re as angry and frustrated as T.C. is then don’t whine about it…do something about it; because if we don’t then the Tea-Party and the Rethugs will.

Boehner just released the Republican’s “manifesto” entitled their Pledge to America. Um, excuse me, Mr. Boehner, 1994 called and they want their book back! You see, they never have to change their ideas because when Americans like Ms. Hart become exhausted, the Rethugs get voted back in…and then the country gets screwed! The rich get richer, the sick get sicker, and when a few years pass and everyone is standing in a bread line...the Dems get to put the country back together again! It’s a cycle…a nasty one! We need to demand better, we need to express our anger and hold our elected officials accountable for their actions…but don’t think that electing some abstinence-loving witch who is going to cast a spell on all of us, and make us all straight, white, and Christian is the answer. The opposite of what we have is not always the answer to our problems.

Our government is as accountable as we make them! They listen to whoever the loudest people are…and right now the tea-party are the only ones doing all the shouting! So, take a swig of a stiff drink, wipe of your brow, and get off the ropes!!! In mass we can do great things. GET ANGRY, GET LOUD, AND DEMAND THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR…we don’t have the time to be tired….

And That’s my Two Cents!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Thinking of a Master Plan…

And so, T.C. pleasantly surprised herself this weekend by realizing that she is not too cynical to get inspired… Let me begin by saying that like most of you, I read the news every day, and it seems to me that we are experiencing not just a financial meltdown of epic proportions, but a cultural and moral one as well!

Now don’t get it twisted, I don’t mean “moral” as in “the cross” and “clutched pearls”, I mean moral as in we as a society seem to have lost our way. We seem to have come to place where the only people being rewarded and celebrated are the people with the most hate to spew and the worst public behavior! “I’m ready for my f%cking close-up Mr. De Mille”. *I am looking at you cast of ALL the Real Housewives, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Pat Buchanan, Sarah Palin…and the list goes on*

The worst you are, the more fame, money, and followers you obtain. That my friends, is the New America, and it makes my stomach turn.

Last week however, instead chasing the headlines with a pack of Advil and a bottle of Pepto Bismol, I engulfed myself in something different. I decided to attend the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference. For those who are not inside the beltway, and don’t work in this dysfunctional circus we call “politics”, the conference is an event that happens annually when all the major Black thought leaders, politicians, policy wonks, and the like descend on Washington for a week of issue forums, “braintrusts”, films, and ah yes, the parties! Now generally this conference is an excuse to put on painful shoes and fabulous outfits and party hop—and yes, I still did all of that…I’m not dead! *wink* But, I also sat in on some of the most thoughtful policy forums I’ve been to in awhile. Where people were talking about issues and laying out plans…remember those, you know actual solutions instead of complaints!

The FLOTUS spoke, and the statistics that she articulated about America’s youth are still haunting me—days later. “The greatest threat to the sustainability of our society is the health and well-being of our children” she exclaimed, because 40% of our children are obese or overweight. Yet we continue to pump them full of high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and mystery meat, and call that “breakfast”. All the while locking them in their rooms with their computers and telling them it’s not safe to go outside. Then we scratch our heads and wonder why we have a childhood obesity epidemic on our hands??? Okay, I digress.

My point is that, this year’s forums highlighted headline issues in a thoughtful and eye-opening way. How refreshing!

The week’s events concluded with a gala on Saturday where President Obama spoke. He was and is absolutely captivating. As I watched him on stage (btw my seat was so close it was bananas), I had the Chris Matthews’ “tingling sensation” running up my leg, and held on to each and every word he uttered. His speech can be summed up with his final quote about moving America forward, “If you want a car to move forward, you put it in D; if you want it to move backward, you put it in R.” Classic! The President was finally fired up! And with his words I felt my spirits begin to rise.

The tea party has lulled this country into a trance—campaigning on hate and capitalizing on fear, hoping that we wouldn’t awake from our Bush-induced “my-life-is-in-the-shitter-and-I-need-someone-to-blame” stupor until they were in power—and adding anyone who disagrees with them to some neo-McCarthyist list! Yes, we are in the worst recession in decades, yes foreclosures are at an all time high, and yes millions are out of work... BUT, if you expected that the policies that this country had been operating under for almost a decade were going to miraculously disappear in 2 years, then you are as out of your mind as those lunatics with Lipton tea bags glued to their LL Bean shirts! We have become so accustomed to having everything we want, when we want it, that we forget that progress and change don’t happen just because you enter it into Google and hit search.

If you think we’re in deep “Barney” now, then wait and see what happens if you just continue to sit on your couch and wait… Wait until the headlines read “Tea-Party backed Palin wins the Presidency”. Oh you think it can’t happen??? Eight of the Republican backed candidates lost their primaries to Palin-backed Tea-Party candidates. Eight! Wake up and smell the Earl Grey my friends, they are coming… and if we don’t put down the remote and collectively put together a master plan…quickly and shake America out it’s “tea-haze”, this country could end up once again stuck in R with a bunch of crazed elephants at the wheel.

And that’s my Two Cents!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Dirty Thirties Syndrome

And so, TC has been away for a while…but I’m back in effect with a bit of a quandary; what do you do when you find yourself at an in-between stage in life? Too young for the mid-life Porsche, but too old for a guidance counselor? Evidenced by a series of conversations with friends and frienemies alike…this is the stage that we are all currently in…it’s that spot right after the quarter life crisis and before your mid-life breakdown. For so long this time has been nameless, but today it hit me like Elin with a golf club! I’m going to call this lovely little sweet and sour patch, DTS. What is DTS you ask? It is the rightfully named “Dirty Thirties Syndrome”.


DTS is that point in your life when it’s no longer publicly acceptable to get hammered to the point of vomiting and passing out on your front lawn, when your “in-your-face” Mohawk becomes a more sleek and professionally acceptable faux hawk, when the college furniture gets upgraded…a little less IKEA and a little more Crate and Barrel! In this moment you start to think about the future and all its potential…all of YOUR potential! You move from the “what are we doing tonight” to “what are we doing over the next 5 years” conversations…everything and I mean everything carries more weight, much like Kirsty Alley after Cheers! It’s not like your 20’s when you had all the time in the world to lay on the “grassy nole” and contemplate…you know “stuff”. But at the same time the world is your champagne oyster shooter (love those)!


Everything is possible...hate your job, change it…have been dating for years with no “real” commitment, end it, want to travel, live in a new city???? All of these questions and desires can be answered, why?? Because the beauty of DTS is that we are not strapped with all the baggage that begets your 40’s and 50’s but we have a hell of a lot more sense and bank than we did in our 20’s (or at least you hope)!!!! Really, we are at the perfect midpoint...and much like with your second glass of champagne, you should feel relaxed and fabulous! So, cheers to you…you are officially, almost, kinda, a grown-up! And that’s my Two Cents!

Ciao,
T.C.