Hot Under the Collar

Today has been something else. I'm tired, cranky, and just plain pissed off. Stupidity was all around. But enough about work. :-)

I didn't sleep very well last night. Lots of things on my mind: work and program budgets, the kid and her musical theater schedule for the next couple of months, the lover/friend and his well-being, my local diva friends and all they are dealing with, and writing, writing, writing. The word passion kept popping in my head, so I got up, grabbed my notebook and started jotting some things down. After much tossing and turning, I finally went to sleep.

The day started off as usual- rolling down the interstate on my way to the j-o-b. Tom Joyner announces that Tavis Smiley is coming up with his commentary, so I text Yas to let her know. (Side note- I normally don't text and drive, but I wanted Yas to get near a radio.) And then I listened patiently as Mr. Smiley discussed the avalanche of email and phone calls that he received in regards to his commentary on Tuesday. Sounds like Mr. Smiley got cussed out. Sounds like folks ripped him a new one. Sounds like his skin got a little thin.

Now, ya'll know I'm sitting here gloating. I was not one of those folks calling and emailing Smiley. (Damn it- the thought never crossed my mind. I so wish it had.) I simply blogged about it and went on my merry way. But you know how we can be when we get pissed off. We get a little irate and hot under the collar. We don't pull any punches. I should have more sympathy for Mr. Smiley 'cause I can only imagine the content of those messages. I mean, come on, he was just doing his job. Calling things like he sees them. I bet he didn't expect the backlash that he got.

Tavis did a wonderful job of standing fast. Oh, he told us about his track record over the years of calling people out, the Clintons included, and was impassioned about the fact that he was not going to defend himself. But what he failed to admit was that he DID NOT call out any politician on Tuesday other than Barack Obama. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that is probably what most people were pissed off about. What has Barack done (or not done) that he needed to be put on blast in such a way? Did he lie to the American public about weapons of mass destruction and then invade another country? Did he deny having sexual relations with a young intern that was not his wife? Did he accidentally shoot a hunting partner in the face? Did he get all his rich buddies government contracts overseas? I'm just wondering. When I get in some one's shit, it's usually for something they did or didn't do.

So what has Obama done to deserve Smiley's tirade? Let's see, he's encouraging Americans to be inclusive instead of exclusive (which would be business as usual). He has said that America needs to communicate with folks who don't think like us, or believe the way we do because they are not going to go away just because we ignore them (that's how things get blown up and innocent lives are lost, aside from being an extremely arrogant thing to do). He has refused to deny any part of his heritage to make everybody feel better about him. Yeah, still not finding anything to warrant the disdain of Smiley. But that's ok, 'cause from now on I'm going to start posting on issues. That way I can keep my own score card and not depend on the generosity of Mr. Smiley to keep me well informed.

I'm done with the Smiley/Obama issue for the day, but I need to address one more thing that is not sitting well with me-Tiger Woods.

Now, I know this is going to make some people cringe, but it is evident that this young man did not have an African American mother. Because if he did, he would have gotten his natural Caublanasian ass whupped for letting that freakin' reporter off the hook. This dayum fool doesn't have enough sense to be outraged and pissed off. Are you kidding me? Ms. Tilghman should be fired! The words I have for this female are not fit to print. To Tiger, I say: Man up and stop acting like a little biyatch. You are not turning the other cheek, you are telling folks that it is ok to kill you ('cause that was lynching is, in case you didn't know) because you don't respect yourself enough to stand up for yourself. If you don't do it for yourself, do it for your seed.

I'm going to watch the last episode of Grey's in a few minutes. I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday.