I got two words...

OBAMA BABY!!!!
(that's what imma look like for a long time...)

Does it look like I care about another presidential debate? Talk about out of touch with the mainstream. They never ask any real questions anyway. And when they do, the candidates don't answer them. And I mean NEITHER of them.

So instead of debating the same issues with the same responses I've heard so much I can quote them,  here's what I wish we would talk about...

Number one, why in the world are we (and by "we" I mean all media outlets and us, the public) pretending that Obama's being black is not a major reason why people are going to vote for (or against!) him? Come on, are we that naive, that stupid, or just that afraid to be honest? I've heard it said that race IS a major issue in this presidential race exactly one time. Now maybe I'm not listening to the right radio stations or watching the right news programs but white and black folks alike are acting like being black and running for president mean nothing. Do people actually believe that Obama will get as equal a chance at becoming the pres as a white man with the same credentials and personal history?

So let me just say it for everyone who's afraid to...Barack Obama is black! (If we were in the 1800's...he's the "n" word.  1900's...colored. 1950's...black. Then...afro-american. Then...african-american. Negroid persuasion, a brotha-man, of african descent. Whatever you want to call him, he's not a white dude.) And its going to be a real problem for people. Some, hell many, voters are going to vote for him simply because he's black. And some, hell many, are going to vote against him simply because he's black.

To be perfectly honest, when I first paid any real attention to Obama, it was because he was a black dude with some cool stuff to say.  I think my mother-in-law gave me his book and it was decent to see a black man on the cover talking politics with a seemingly and hopefully different approach than the average smooth-talking politician.  I've learned a lot more about him since then.  He is an honestly decent dude. Very cool, great things to say. So I'm figuring, "Alright, he can be president. He's qualified."  But some folks are yelling, "Obama!" with no more info than the fact that somebody told them somebody said somebody heard somebody say they thought he was a black man. And by the same principle, some folks are yelling, "McCain!" simply because, "A black boy will be president of the good ol' US of A over my dead body!"

Now that may be pathetic, even a bit humorous, but its true. I am sick to death of his race never entering a single debate, like it doesn't matter. It shouldn't, that's for certain, but you best believe it does. I want to see one debate where they ask Obama, "How do you feel being the first black man running for president? Scared as hell, ain't ya?" Or, "If you become president, are you gonna hook up black people for a change? Cut blacks all the major deals?  Are you finally gonna give every black person their 40 acres and a mule?" Or how about this one, "Are you afraid that as soon as you step in as president, you're gonna be assassinated because folks don't want a black president?" Now those are good questions!

For real, somebody please ask McCain if he's gonna be pissed if he loses to a black man. Or ask him if it eats him up that a black man just may whip his a$% in something besides running and eating fried chicken. Or ask him if he's at all afraid that the first black president is the beginning of the end of white people running everything? I mean don't the statistics say that in like 30 years or something hispanics will be the majority? That would be very cool.

Anyway, I'm sure questions like that will never happen. People will continue to ask stupid questions that never get real answers and the nominees will continue to pretend they actually answered them. (Big yawn) Just wake me when its time to vote. I got you, Obama.

Number two, to be quite honest, I'm pissed at Obama and McCain. Both of them want to promise change, but I know with absolute certainty that if your campaign is no different than all the other campaigns in the past, your presidency will be pretty much the same as well. And their campaigns ARE the same in one basic but fundamental way:  neither are 100% interested in always trying to do what's right. They are way more interested in winning then anything else. No one wants to say, "By any means necessary," but that's exactly what's going on.

For instance, why would you say something about your opponent that you know is either not true at all or only partially true?

TO WIN!!

Why would you introduce facts or information that you know to be misleading and prejudicial like, "So and so voted against this really important issue 29 times." But you never admit that so did you?

TO WIN!!

Why would you take advantage of the public's ignorance on certain issues by claiming that when you get in office, you're gonna start some critical program that you know was already started years ago?

TO WIN!!

People actually believe (or maybe just pretend to believe) that its ok to win by whatever tactic they can get away with because they're the better choice for the people in the long run. And when they do win, they're gonna be the instruments of change for the better. That's crap, that's crap, that's crap.

Being completely honest and maintaining your integrity and dignity should always come first. Not come first sometimes because you need to compromise this to win. Screw winning. Lose. Lose big even. F it. We tell our kids its better to try your best and flunk math then cheat and get an A. But as soon as we grow up all these rules somehow don't apply because the issues are "complicated" now. Bullshizel. People don't take advantage of others because the issue is complicated. They take advantage because its easier then doing what's right.

I, for one, am just sick and tired of being taken advantage of by selfishness clothed in righteousness. My husband built this dude a set for his play. Ray Quick was his name. (good name, huh?) Ray takes the set, puts on his play, makes some money. Then the very next day, the set somehow isn't what he wanted. He's not satisfied all of a sudden. Refuses to pay my husband the $3,800 he owes. That was over a year ago.  He's used the set again and still has not paid.

Then we can't pay rent. Everything is prettty much downhill from there. The work dries up and we are evicted from Walden Circle Apartments. But the property managers put us out with three kids, one of them a newborn, in January in the snow. Puts our sh@% in bags right out on the curb while it is snowing. And snowing hard. This is totally against the law. You're not supposed to evict people in the snow. But do they care? Not at all.

We make friends with this guy who lets us rent a room from him for awhile. Bright was his name. (where do people get these names from?) We leave town to go to my mom's for the summer and leave our busted SUV behind because he claims he can have it fixed and then we can let him drive it while we're gone as payment. Drives it without permission before we can get it insured. Crashes it into a store, totals it, promises to pay for all the damages, and then promptly disappears. Even the police can't find him. Oh well, we're just out of a $10,000 car. That we paid for in full with cash when we bought it.  Now we're homeless with no transpo.

Next guy, some pastor. Rev. Ervin Dantzler. Shows us this tiny apartment in the attic of a house. Wants $1,000 a month. We say its too much. He drops it down to $850. We say cool, we'll take it. Give him $110 for our background check. He gives us a receipt. But wouldn't you know it? 4 or 5 days later his wife doesn't want him to rent it for $850, says that's not enough. Says she wants $1,000. We say that's not what was committed to by us or the good Rev. They don't care. We don't want to pay $1,000? Fine. No place to live and by the way, no, we do not get our $110 back. We verbally agreed on $850 but they've changed their minds now that they got our mula.

Now we're staying at the worst hotel in the history of hotels. Microtel. Because its all we can afford.  Even did it on priceline to save money, so bad service means nothing. We're stuck. I absolutely hate this place. Lousy service. They act like they don't really want us here.  The housekeepers lie on us. Told management we trashed and destroyed a room when it was absolutely untrue. Maintenance treats us like an inconvenience. Management barely listens to or helps with our complaints. And to top it all off, they pretend to clean our entire room when all they really did was turn the sheets over to hide the stains and then remake our bed with linens that are dirty and have been on there for 4 days.

So forgive me if I am truly sick of people who just want to get over, get by, or plain get away with as much as they can. All in the name of winning. How can you be the best choice when I've never once heard you say, "Hell, I don't know. What do you think?" So forgive me if I think that maybe Obama and definitely McCain are pretty much more of that same distorted view of life. I don't see major differences in either of them when I compare them to how things have been done in politics up to now. It all sounds like part rhetoric/part bullshizzle to me.

Obama does seem to be more honest than McCain. He's more responsible and empathetic as well. If I'm going to take my chances with somebody, I'll take the one who's the least a-hole like. But what does that really mean? He'll only lie half as much as McCain? He'll only make bad decisions and cover them up 1/3 of the time instead of McCain's 2/3 of the time? He'll only bow to peer pressure 1 out of 10 times, while McCain will give in 1 out of 3 times? I'm still going with my man, but I'm not exactly 100% convinced of what he'll be able to accomplish in the White House...(Actually I think its ok to be uncertain. I heard this woman say she was going with McCain because she didn't like Obama's noncommittal answer to the abortion question.  I liked that he seemed unsure because I have conflicting feelings about abortion as well. It was like we genuinely have something in common. I'm not afraid to admit I'm unsure, he shouldn't be either.)

People painted his wife as an angry black woman and to win the election, the Obamas have to convince us she isn't. What's up with that? Why can't she be an angry black woman AND be first lady? Shoot, be honest about yours. F it. I'm angry as hell so I can relate to her. I would have respected her more if she'd have said, "Hell yeah I'm angry. Y'all trying to punk my husband and you want me to just stand around and watch? Not gon be able to do it! Just like I got his back in a fight, you can believe we'll have your back in any fight America's facing."

They're afraid people won't vote for him if they see her that way. And they're probably right. But if you really want to change things, that's how you do it. Compromising yourself and playing the game their way sometimes so that one day soon hopefully you can switch it up and play the game your way means nothing to me. And it doesn't work. You have to do you from the beginning or people are always gonna know what they can do to punk you. And punk you they shall. Every chance they get. They're already trying.

So, Obama? I hate to call you out but I kinda have to. I vote for change, too. This is your chance... Change the game. Or go home.

This blog is called I just don't care that much. So I am officially starting my "Don't Care That Much" List. Basically this is how it works.

I list the things that get on my nerves that I just don't care that much about. It could be anything. Trash, roaches, Totalitarianism...whatever bugs me. But the part that's more important and more fun is that I'd like to take quotes from bloggers about what they don't care that much about and add them to the list. I did it in my book and it was great fun!!

For example, one friend of mine had a great quote:

"I don't want to hear another woman complain to me about how she can't find a man. In case you haven't heard the Terry McMillan - All Men Are Dogs - Erykah Badu - Call Tyrone - Era is over. Women have moved on."

So if your interested, let's really put it out there. I'll start. The opening goes like this:

"Do I look like I care..." or "Does it look like I care..."

Aug. 27, 08

- Do I look like I care if McCain can't remember how many houses he has?" That dude is old and rich. What do people expect? My Dad is 72 and can barely remember his own name sometimes.

- Do I lool like I care how cool a Blackberry cellphone is? iPhones are $200!! How in the hell are you gonna beat that?!!?

So you get the jist, right? Leave me a comment with your favorite "Do I look like I care" and I'll add it to the list...

(and make'em good...i wanna have some fun! )

I've had nothing to say lately. That's why no blogging. I refuse to write just because I think I have to. As you may already know, ramblers bug the crap out of me. But I've got something to say now so lets dig in...

So my husband is in Kansas for two months working on a movie. I miss him a lot, y’all. It doesn't matter that we argue, fight and basically get on each others nerves like most married couples. The moment he's gone for any length of time I start to miss him. Why is that I wonder?

I was sitting here watching some TV the other day when some army wife came on. (She could have been a navy wife or a marine wife. I don't know, I didn't pay much attention until she started talking. You'll see why in a minute.) Apparently she's written a book about her experiences at home alone when her husband is deployed. Her contention is that we hear so much about supporting our troops, we forget that the wives and families left behind need support, too. Given my current situation, I can definitely relate. My man's only gone for a couple of months. Having your husband gone for months or years at a time must be very trying on a wife's spirit to say the least.

And then I thought about that. Its got to be pretty tough. That is, if you love each other. I mean, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we just assume that every military couple separated by deployments is desperately in love and miss each other terribly. That every soldier’s wife is waiting patiently and lovingly for her husband to return to her open arms. But that's not the case all the time, is it?

I know a navy couple who got married because she got pregnant. They've travelled all over the world together as a family. I was so jealous of that for like a second. But then I learned that when he's gone, she's stepping out on him and he's stepping out on her. And I mean big time. And have been pretty much since the minster said "I now pronounce you husband and wife." How do you have a husband and a boyfriend? And be cool with it like that's how its supposed to be? If they were really ok with this wackness, they wouldn't be hiding it from the world. But, no. To add insult to injury, they front in front of folks like they're madly in love and can't wait to be together again. Come on, girl. Why you tryin' to play a sista?!!?

Then, of course, she wants to call me and complain about his deployments and then talk about her decision to cheat like she wants validation for her and her husband being trifling. (Not gone be able to do it.)

So I'm listening to this army lady talk about her experiences and I hate to say it but she starts getting on my nerves. She's like syrupy sweet with this cheerleader smile while she talks. Everything is said with this way-over-the-top positiveness. I'm just sitting there waiting for her to do a cartwheel and spell out all the great things about her husband using the letters in his name. (Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. "M" is for mature. "I" is for interesting. "K" is for kind. "E" is for everlasting love.) After a few minutes all I want in the world is for her to stop talking. Ruben can stay in Kansas. Just shut this woman up.

She was so happy about everything that she reminded me of my ho-ish navy friend and her dog-like husband. Could this TV lady be frontin' to hide the real dirt behind the marriage scene? Do the couples that "act" the happiest have the most problems? I don't know about you but it makes me wonder.

Later that same day I watch this Law & Order in which these two wives get together to kill each others' husbands. But that's not the important part. Murder aside, it was interesting to me that when the cops question the first wife, she goes on and on about how happy her and her husband are, how much in love they are, how solid their marriage still is after seven years. And then the second wife does the exact same thing. Syrupy sweet...

Anyway, I wouldn't pay too much mind to any of this. I'm sure most military marriages and marriages in general are happy. I mean look at mine. I really do looooooooove my husband. (Cheerleader smile.) J

Tell me what you think. Til next time...

So check this out. I read a newspaper article not too long ago that talked about the food shortage we are supposed to be having. I didn’t read the entire article but was quite amused by the headline and a few of the opening comments. Apparently because of this food shortage, people are going to have to downgrade their food purchases. And this article was actually suggesting that people who eat steak downgrade to beans.

 

Now at first I didn’t see anything wrong with this idea. But then I started thinking about it. The writer is suggesting that those who eat steak stop eating steak and start eating beans. Because of the food shortage. Steak…Beans…Steak…Beans…Steak…Beans…I don’t think so.

 

As far as I can tell, steak is not a food you buy just because you’re hungry. If you purchase steak, you want steak. We’re not talking about trading your fresh deli turkey for a can of tuna. Or deciding between name bran cereal and generic cereal. I’ve never heard anyone go into a restaurant and say, “I’m not that hungry. I don’t care what I eat. Just bring me whatever steak is lying around.”

 

My dad loves steak. And there is no way in hell you’re gonna convince him that he should stop eating it and eat beans instead. Not chicken, or fish, or even meatloaf. Beans. (“Hey dad, you know there’s a food shortage. Instead of having a steak with that baked potato tonight, why not have black beans and baked potato.” My dad is over 70 but he’d definitely think I was the one losing my mind. J)

 

I don’t know. Maybe its just me. I mean I care about the possibility of there being a food shortage. Seriously, raise your hand if you want to run out of food. But if you’re going to try to help, at least give me some advice that’s actually useful. Tell me how to save on my grocery bill. Which store’s milk is the cheapest. Which store has a sale on bread this week. Which store is giving away a free dinosaur with every purchase. (I just went to a storytime with my son and they read this book titled, When Dinosaurs Came With Everything. It was sooo cute! Check it out if you can.) Otherwise, I don’t want to hear it.

 

I think I read or heard somewhere that newpapers have to compete now with the internet, bloggers like me, news websites, etc. Unlike 50 years ago when everyone got and read the daily newspaper, apparently, no one being born today will be getting basic information that way. The competition must be real stiff. But if this article were any indication as to how newspapers were doing, (and let’s hope its not) I’d say they were failing miserably. Then again, how do I know? I don’t read the newspaper either. J

 

Anyway, tell me what you think. ‘Til next time…