Chatting about… Facebook Friend Familiarity.

This was the year I joined Facebook at the prompting of high school acquaintances who were conducting a reunion. I’m an intensely private person in many ways (shock) so the site was a bit scary at first.  It still is…. But… I like privacy.  I’m not trying to be anybody famous, I’m just randomly sharing my thoughts….

Social Networking sites are hardly about being private.

Thus the problem I’m having with Facebook. Here’s the deal: I don’t care to have any more friends in real life. So I really don’t want to label virtual strangers as such. Because the moment one of them does something funky, everyone who “friended” them is up for scrutiny.

Example: Not too long after I joined I asked a couple of college buddies if they minded if I put up old pictures. ( a lesson I learned the hard way when a relative freaked out over old pics of myself that included several other people). Once they gave me the okay and the pics were up, I get a nutty email from a dude who went to my college. In his best fake thug jargon, he basically instructed me to email  him some of my college picture collection.  (Of course the insinuation is that I would have to friend him to do it.)

Here’s the deal: I hadn’t spoken to or seen this dude since 1993, and it’s not like we were friends or anything. He didn’t email with a “hello” or “how are you”. This idiot literally just starts off with demands like I’m Morgan Freeman and he’s Ms. Daisy. I couldn’t erase it soon enough.  The funny thing is that he is actually in some of my college pictures of the dorms, but he’ll never see them.

Even worse? Well, he doesn’t know that I know this because it happened after my graduation; but supposedly he was responsible for a hazing incident that caused major permanent damage to a young man, and caused my old University no end of drama. I’m of the mind that “birds of a feather flock together”. I don’t want to be anywhere near that dude’s flock. Think I’ll friend him? *eye roll*

Social Networking sites give the great gift of contact across the world. They are wonderful in that respect. But I feel they’ve also brought out a laziness in many people’s  social interactions in the real world. When everyone is instantly your “friend” at the push of a button, what are we learning about really networking with peers? Would that dude walk up to someone on the street he hasn’t seen in almost 20 years with an order? Maybe. Maybe not.

So I guess I’m the geeky faceboooker that refuses to send friend requests for anyone other than folks I know and family I care about. And refuses to accept them from folks whose background I’m not really sure about. Yet it’s still a fun place to be, to reconnect and discuss issues of the day.

I only hope that the millions on there who use to do just that it are doing the same in the real world.

Chatting about… when nannies attack…the Tiger Woods drama…

http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/28/tiger-woods-elin-nordegren-fight-accident-suv-lacerations/

Domestic violence really isn’t a laughing matter. Even when it’s a dude getting beaten down with both a golf club and irony. But let’s say I was shocked to read this story. Not because  former nanny Tiger’s wife attacked him. But because I have a good friend who actually called the entire scenario as soon as the story hit the papers. She’s good.

Mr. Woods may have been trying to escape a woman scorned, got shook when she came out to beat him and crashed his SUV trying to flee. My question: don’t these two have little kids? All of this is going on in the wee hours of the morning, where are the kiddies while he’s playing Dukes of Hazard and she’s playing golf on his face?

Okay, here comes my sexism again. But really ladies. If you marry any professional athlete, he’s able to cheat and likely to do it. They are tempted with a variety of sexual encounters every single day, let alone the crazy celebrity fan worship that makes them think they are invincible. (this goes for actors too…) My Grandmother used to say, “the way you got him is the way you lose him.”

Consider this: Mrs. Woods was the nanny of another professional golfer, seemingly with her eye on the finer things of life. Because it wasn’t too long before she made the leap to Mrs. Woods (would he have made that leap with an American Nanny…. but I digress).  Jackpot! Oh yeah, sorry. I’m sure it was just love. *eye roll*. 

Anyhoo…. if you go after a man because he’s attractive and wealthy and can change your lifestyle, what makes you think others aren’t in that same mindset? So now this dude’s had a taste of the milk and he’s off to another pasture trying to get fresh cream. After all, he’s invincible, right? And this person of lower station that he married ought to just be grateful to be Mrs. Tiger Woods, right?

Guess he found out the hard that every woman has a threshold that can’t be crossed, no matter who you think you are as a man. I don’t understand dudes who go through all of this and are famous and rich. OF COURSE YOU ARE GOING TO GET FOUND OUT!!!!!!!! The woman you’re cheating with isn’t in it for your penis! She’s trying to break up your marriage so she can get to your money! Therefore, when you are done with her, she’s going right to the wife in the hopes that she kicks you out and you come running to the mistress! DUH!

The problem here is that not only is this chick violent, but she looks like she may have denied him access to the police who returned later to talk to him. Gee, who gets to commit a crime and then turn the cops away at the crime scene. Doesn’t seem wrapped too tight.

I’ll wait and see how this plays out. ….

UPDATE: Now the news is reporting that Tiger and his wife still refuse to meet with the police. Is he even okay? And how did the cops come, allegedly find him unconscious and her standing over him with a golf club and NOT investigate her immediately?

Chatting about… “It’s a Trap!” Presidential Security?

Okay, I am not only a nerd sometimes (thus the Admiral Akbar quote in the title) but also a conspiracy theorist of sorts. And my conspiracy senses are tingling all too hard after this horrific breach of security at the White House the other night. Where in the world is the Secret Service? Come on people, the first African-American President and security gets relaxed? People were just able to crash a State Dinner with the leader of the Free World? Are there people in the Secret Service who just don’t care about this President being protected?

I’m just going to say it. In the words of my one friend, “Nothing just happens.” All over America there are people who are angry at having an African-American in charge of them. The climate of hate that was stirred up by Pandora Sarah Palin on  the 2008 campaign never really got put back into the box.

And I’m getting suspicious. These fools are bringing guns outside of Presidential speeches and appearances. They’re going on and on about “watering the tree of liberty”; a Timothy McVeigh favorite quote. And we all know how he opened up that water can . He helped blow apart a government building in Oklahoma City as a domestic terrorist. They aren’t just exercising free speech. They’re talking Civil War, violent actions and other such dangerous things. And they point most of their anger at our President.

My suspicion didn’t start when Mr. Obama got into office. No, I became suspicious after the notorious shoe throwing incident with President George W. Bush.  While comedians were cracking up at President Bush ducking and dodging shoes, I just kept coming back to the same question in my mind. How does anyone make a sudden move like this man did, throw one shoe and then bend down to retrieve another… and not be tackled by the Secret Service until both are deployed? At the moment anyone makes a sudden move in a room with the Leader of the Free World, Secret Service should be all over them. George Bush used to have people arrested for wearing t-shirts that protested him. Now suddenly the Secret Service is slow to respond to projectiles thrown his way?

Unless, of course, they need the international community and the American public in particular to have the idea that they are lax on the job. Then if God Forbid something happens, it  wouldn’t be speficic to President Obama’s protection detail. It would be a “pattern of errors”.

Look at the date of the article. It’s after the election of Mr. Obama. And suddenly there’s an international video that demonstrates the failure of the Secret Service to stop our President from being attacked in a public forum.  We’re all just supposed to go “aw shucks that was a mistake” and giggle it off.

Enter the new President and where we are now.  Between people bringing guns to his speaking engagements and putting together signs saying violent things about him, he really needs the Secret Service to step up their game. Yet two uninvited people were able to walk right in to the White House for a social event and the Secret Service didn’t bat an eye.

Understand the inherent danger, not in the couple that came in. But again in the international message that is being beamed out to the world; that the Secret Service cannot or will not protect the current President. How many despots/terrorists/evil crazies are paying attention to that message with horrible intentions? What kind of message is the Secret Service sending out to the world? And are they doing so willingly or by mistake?

Maybe I’ve watched that movie JFK too many times, but I’m getting more and more suspicious of the current folks who are supposed to be protecting our President. One of my favorite movies of all time is The Untouchables. In it, Sean Connery’s Malone puts out a novel idea to Eliot Ness, “If you’re afraid of getting a rotten apple, don’t go to the barrel. Get it off the tree.”

Perhaps some of the Secret Service Staff is rotten at this point. Someone needs to get military servicemen (and women) fresh in a Military Academy and bring them in as Secret Service right now. Independent. Because the people who are supposed to be protecting our President seem to be sending a signal that they’re doing no such thing. He remains in my prayers.

Chatting about… airlines shmarelines… I like to drive.

It’s Thanksgiving week here in America, and that means planes, trains and automobiles. And of the three, the planes are the craziest travel option. It won’t be too long before the news is full of stories of stranded or late travelers trying to get here there and everywhere but stuck in airports. And in 2009, I’m wondering, for what?

When I was a little girl I flew alone between Philly and Miami often. And it was a great experience. (Thanks Eastern Airlines). You got the little wings, a little meal, and lots of attention. Maybe you brought your own snack. It was pleasant, not overcrowded. And the staff were more than helpful. I loved flying.

The last pleasant flight I had was March 2001, when my grade school daughter and I went to Paris as part of her Aftercare’s travel club. Although I can’t ever sleep on planes, I still felt great comfort in the U.S. Airways airbus. Gigantic bathroom, wonderful color Tv’s for free, substantial breakfast and dinner and drinks. Plus, travelling with a young child, I’d already packed cereal boxes, peanut butter, etc.

Then all heck broke loose in September of that year. And rather than comfort passengers who were already shaky about spending so much of their hard-earned money on air travel the airlines decided to scare us to pieces while robbing us. Services declined and terrorists were blamed. Rather than bolster the economy and the community perception of air travel, the airlines worked to beat us over the head with the idea that every time our flights land safely we ought to be thankful, no matter what happened on board. So you get stories now where mothers are accosted for bringing sippy cups on the planes.

Yesterday we drove down to my Mother’s in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving day. In the Spring we like to drive to Florida. In fact, our last six vacations in the last three years were all road trips in the Toyota Matrix. Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of flying to some all-inclusive resort somewhere remote. But I can’t as long as I have a toddler with prescription lotions, asthma inhalers and nebulizers and a milk allergy that requires me to carry soy milk around by the case on vacation. Can I take all of that on the plane?

So, while  I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving weekend, I hope that families took alternate routes to get around . The airlines need to stop treating us badly and start seeing us as the valuable customers we are.

In the meantime, I’m content with driving. Seeing the night sky, the stars, and listening to Jason Mraz loudly on the turnpike did wonders for my mood. And I didn’t have to remove my shoes or get patted down by strangers to do it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chatting about…another solution for Healthcare Reform.

Well,  the morning talk shows are full of discussion regarding the historic vote to simply allow debate on the healthcare crisis in America. I’ve already given my opinion on those legislators that are voting their lobbyist demands conscience against a public option. Well, since its pretty clear that these jokers have little regard for the pressure of the American people, I propose a new construct. If internal pressure is worthless, I wonder what external pressure will do? Here’s an idea I got after reading the message boards on various blogs where it was pointed out that some of the main opponents of a public option support wholeheartedly foreign states who have public healthcare receiving our tax dollars.

Someone should amend the healthcare debate itself as follows: should a public option be voted down as a result of “cost saving measures”, then any and all aid to nation states with a government health insurance system should be denied as well effective January 1, 2010. That’s right. If it isn’t feasible to pay for health insurance for our very own citizens, why are we funding those in other countries? If it’s horrific “socialism” here, it’s horrific “socialism” there. And perhaps our tax dollars shouldn’t pay for that.

This  is a wikipedia (I know it’s often made up, but this might be okay) list of countries with socialized medicine.

This is a list of foreign aid recipients for 2008.

I’m pretty willing to bet that if U.S. foreign aid to some of these countries even looked like it was getting reduced, a flood of phone calls would hit D. C. in protest and aggravation. And some of them might actually mean something.

So I kind of wish we had a press who would ask any Senator opposed to the Public Option whether they will be looking to put foreign aid restrictions on any country which already has it and receives U.S. tax dollars. After all, isn’t that the “country first” crowd? If it’s bad for our country, how can we as taxpayers pay for it in another? The beauty of this plan is that there are certain countries that no Senator will oppose no matter what. To ask these politicians to choose between the lobbyists for foreign countries and the lobbyists for healthcare is delicious. Either choice screams “bought and paid for”.

So I put this up as a small token of my appreciation to the Senate of the U.S.A. Perhaps some strong Senator will propose such an amendment. Or perhaps this concept will grow wings and the holdouts will be asked to condemn state health care worldwide, thus instigating a major fallout. People who want a public option in the states should simply ask the question: “If it’s bad for America to support state healthcare at home, why are we paying for it overseas?”

 

 

Chatting about… Alaska Palin and the Next Crusade

Let me say no way in heck was I going to vote for John McCain. Ever. I don’t care what anyone said, he went from looking wild-eyed and flashback-y to overly medicated and not quite there. Too scary to have his hands anywhere near the nuclear button. I wasn’t too thrilled about the “leave the wife so I can be rich” thing either, but to each his own.

No, what did it for me the most was his desperation to be President. So much so that he flipped on a lot of his old values, which I used to respect him for back in the day. Suddenly he’s pro-torture. He’s pro-war mongering. What the heck? Don’t get me started on Lady Macbeth Cindy….

But by far the worst thing he did on his campaign trail was pick Sarah Palin. What an insult to actual Republican leaders like Kay Bailey Hutchinson, who really should have been the VP pick if you were looking for an accomplished woman. It was so shallow on the McCain campaign’s part. They didn’t research the kind of person she was. This was to their sexist peril. See, they assumed they picked Ms. Pert, Perky and Submissive. SIKE!

Look, this is  a post for another time but let’s just put it out there. I am so sick of the idolatry of motherhood that some “conservatives” are into. I’m talking to YOU ”Quiverfull” folks. (P.S. I think there are like 5 arrows in a quiver, so what’s with the 75 kids?) There is a fear of some in our country that they are being overtaken by the “other”.  Thus we’ve moved to a time where pregnancy and motherhood are cherished above and beyond any biblical virtue that one can possess.  Children may be “an heritage from the Lord”, but being able to bear them shouldn’t lead to idolatry and worship. What are you saying ultra-right wingers? That the Christian sister who cannot bear children is less than the woman who can? Um, is salvation based upon your uterus? Can someone give me that verse?

Enter Mrs. Palin. Her selling points? She’s got kids. She kills moose. She lives where it’s cold. And she hates the people who aren’t “real Americans”. You know, real like her husband’s buddies, the Alaskan separatists.

It was Sarah Palin who stoked up crowds to yell the most vile and disgusting things about Mr. Obama, from racial epithets to shouts of “kill him”. And unlike Mr. McCain, who tried to diffuse these shouts once the media and the American public got disgusted; Mrs. Palin grinned her beauty contestant grin in feigned innocence at each rally. And kept on going. She is the Pandora from whence sprang these angry “tea party” folks, who got so used to showing out at Palin rallies that they couldn’t get enough of it. I half expect Emperor Palpatine to pop onstage at some of these things… “YESSSSSS… release your anger…………”

Forget Levi. Forget Bristol, Todd, whoever. Forget the fact that she offered no policy suggestions and plenty of platitudes. Forget that she was basically a pin-up for repressed dudes.  I’d like a simply question answered as a Christian woman? Where was Jesus?

She claimed all of this Jesus, but I never saw any of the fruits of the Spirit in her. I still don’t. The Bible says you “know them by their fruits.” And describes the fruits of someone who is endwelled with Christ thusly:

Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version)

 

 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

Joy: Maybe. But this chick is always angry at someone or blaming someone else.

Peace: Seriously? Those Palin rallies weren’t the modicum of peace.

Faithfulness: Well, I suppose she’s faithful to her ideals, but I’m not sure what they are.  And according to what I’ve seen in her resume she has yet to actually complete a job. Like, ever. Not to mention the fact that she’s giving Gramps McCain her behind to kiss with her “IT’S ALL HIS FAULT 2009″ tour.

Gentleness: Nuff said.

Self-Control: Mrs. Palin loves the spotlight, which can be addictive. Part of her problem with the McCain campaign was her increased need to be in front of the crowds as the principal candidate on the ticket. To be fair to her, Mr. McCain wasn’t exactly the draw at those rallies. But control means letting the boss be the boss sometimes. I could see if he was committing a crime, but McCain was just trying to be the Presidential candidate.

I hope she finds her niche in life. I’m sure the book deal helps. But let’s not pretend that she was anything other than window dressing, or at least that’s what she was picked to be. And that’s kind of sad. Women, including Mrs. Palin, have much more potential than they are given a chance to exert. Maybe we should stop pushing fertility and perkiness and start pushing merits and quality. Mrs. Palin is a brilliant marketer. But I don’t think she was a substantive candidate.

Chatting about…wishing and hoping our President would stick to his guns.

I’m wondering if all politicians should be limited to one term only.  Just one solitary term. When one is done, one can run for something entirely different.

I say this because the fear of not getting  re-elected permeates Washington politics. Not the fear of the will of the people. Study after study seems to indicate people want to be able to purchase a public option, or at least want the choice. Yet politicians are still going on and on about how unpopular the whole thing is. How implausible.

What they’re really talking about is how they won’t be able to finance their campaigns.

I understand where this fear comes from. There are a lot of hangers-on in any politician’s life who bet the farm on having a job for at least two terms. They and their families depend on the politician’s re-election. And so like anyone attempting to keep their jobs, they act in the interest of their employment. This means keeping the person in charge on an even keel. Not too controversial. Not too many policies. And if it looks like there are any disagreements, torpedo the policy you were fighting for. After all, you can always put it forth in your next term in office, right?

I believe our current President to be a brilliant man with a caring heart who unfortunately is heading for a one term experience. He is so determined to demonstrate that his ideas work that he’s not sticking to the ideals that put him in office in the first place. In doing so, he is losing the support of those people who canvassed, walked, raised funds, etc. I’m saddened by this, because he’s doing so trying to win over people who have openly stated they want him to fail.

Contrast this with George W. Bush. Like Maurice Sendak’s Pierre in REALLY ROSIE, he “didn’t care“. The White House  was an entirely different place. Funny thing though. A leader who doesn’t care about people’s responses often gets more done than a compassionate one. Democrats bent over for Bush like trees in a hurricane. It wasn’t like he even won the first electoral vote . No mandate save his own personal one. He didn’t care if you didn’t like it.

Sometimes, Mr. President, in the face of people who also don’t care about the American population, you have to stop worrying about whether this will cost you an election and just lead. Period. You have said you are a Christian man. I believe you. Do you think the God who put you into this office would not have a plan for you if you continued in godly service to the people; shying away from insurance lobbyists and hangers-on who just want you to keep them employed? Because I know you were placed into office to do good things. Not expedient ones.

This is why I wish all offices were one term. If politicians weren’t worried about that next election; weren’t scanning the horizon for what the competition is doing….. Well, maybe we could have  policies by the people, for the people. I pray that someone gives him this Bible Verse:

1 John 4:18 (New Living Translation)

 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 

Chatting about… African American films like Precious…

Lately there’s been a lot of focus on the independent movie PRECIOUS which has been asking a central question; why so much focus on negativity in the black experience? And why is everyone so accepting of these films?

Now, once upon a time I worked in child services in a very large city. In fact, the nature of my job was such that if a child abuse case hit the news, they were in front of me or my co-workers for conference in a matter of weeks. So it’s not like I haven’t seen abuse in African-American culture, I surely have. But I also saw it in other cultures as well.

Movies nowadays don’t seem to reflect that at all, and that’s horrible. Films with one or two African-Americans rarely focus on dysfunction. In fact, that guy is usually an integral part of the story and caper. (Unless you’re talking Transformers. Really, Michael Bay? Thank God for Aint it cool News or I’d have been angry in theaters last summer).  And yes, it’s usually a guy. But at least the storyline isn’t sad and dank 100% of the time.

But in this century, if the film features an all African-American cast, someone’s getting beaten or yelled at. And someone’s in drag and a fat suit. Hello Martin Lawrence.  Hello Eddie Murphy. And of course, no one does it better than the king. Tyler Perry.

Mr. Perry’s entrepreneurial spirit is to be commended. He made an empire out of nothing, and did so legally. And I respect that. Somewhat.

However, having attempted to sit through more than one of his movies, I can’t dig it. For the uninitiated, let me tell you how a Tyler Perry movie works. So consider this a spoiler alert for every movie he ever makes.

Some chick is being mentally or physically abused or abusing herself due to low self-esteem. She’s hiding it. Someone finds out. Cue inner strength/beat him back talk. Cue overweight drag scene. Cue church scene. Cue her having to turn around at the suggestion of a new man in her life. AHA! If only he’d been here at the beginning of the movie! Because obviously all she needed was a dude to pull her out of misery. *insert eye roll*

Mr. Perry’s movies are wildly popular. His audience is African-American women. But his message of “empowerment” seems rooted in one central villain. Not the abusive male. But the black woman herself. A couple of years ago I sat through his film “Why did I get married?” It was wonderfully acted, although a  bit of a Big Chill  rip-off.  I noticed something horrible at the end of that movie. At the end for each relationship to work, the women had to change something about themselves. And the men changed nothing. NOTHING. Um, it’s two people in a relationship. Aren’t we all supposed to be growing?

Well, not if your expectation is that African-American men can’t grow and African-American women must support that. To me, this belittles both.

So, back to Precious. I’ve no doubt this movie is fabulously acted. But where’s the balance in Hollywood? Where are the films which feature black people being… people?  Look, I know black folks get abused. Like everyone else. But films nowadays are part of the lowered expectations of people in particular about black women. So when a black pop star gets beaten, people say it must be her fault, because that brother is a “good man”. When a black woman is single, she must have an “attitude”. When a black women is raped, she must have been “fast” anyway. These are all things I’ve heard out of the mouths of black women. Because without positive images and expectations, people sometimes cling to media to get a sense of the broader world.

So now there seems to be a trend towards more and more abuse in film concerning black people. Should these movies NOT be made? I believe in free speech. If people are willing to pay for it, they should be made. But am I to believe there are no scripts floating around Hollywood in development hell with POSITIVE black images? That no one has written anything where the blackness or abuse of a family isn’t the central plot point?

What does it say about Hollywood that the most functional fictional black family on film this year will be in a cartoon? (Don’t get me started on how Princess Tiana is a frog for most of that movie either.) Thank God we have a real family in the White House that’s just functional and American.  Too bad Hollywood hasn’t noticed.

What if every movie that featured Latinos focused on illegal immigration? Not a strictly Latino issue. But people would come to think of it that way.

What if every movie about a Jewish lead featured someone like Bernie Madoff? Not as Jewish issue. But people would think of it that way.

I could go on and on. To have that negativity be the sole representation on film would be ridiculous. Lawbreakers and abusers are part of the American experience, but they aren’t the whole of it. In the end, people are just people.

So Mr. Perry has produced Precious ( as has Oprah Winfrey); and I’m sure it’ll do well at awards time. I’m also positive that this kind of abuse is happening to some child right now in America as I type. With 100% certainty I can tell you that child doesn’t have to be black.

The black experience is a human one. We have President Obama. We have Lena Horne. Bill Cosby. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X. Cornell West. Chuck D. Maya Angelou. Judith Jamison. Nancy Wilson. Mae Jamison. Nichelle Nichols.

Would that more of their stories were embraced. Sometimes I look at movies like Hollywood Shuffle  and I think: Robert Townsend wasn’t just a genius. He was a truthteller way ahead of his time. The shuffle continues 22 years later. I wonder when we’ll pick up our feet and just walk.

Chatting about… a quick chat about REALLY honoring our veterans.

Today is Veteran’s Day here in America, where we are supposed to remember and honor our fallen veterans as well as those who are still alive and serving. And yet for all of the lip service politicians give them, very little light is shed on the Veterans and their trials.

This is why I love the work of Paul Reikoff, of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.  People always think the military is behind every policy the government sets forth in wars and in their treatment.  But I think those that have actually seen the horror of war are more likely to tread very lightly on sending our men and women into danger. And if they aren’t, I can’t understand them.

So while the chickenhawks abound in media, take some time today to listen to the perspective of a real veteran or two.

And for some major veteran chickenhawk shutdown check this out.

Chatting about… Brand New Governor in New Jersey.

Well, it all ended last Tuesday night for New Jersey’s Governor John Corzine.  In spite of heavily relying on the same old districts to vote in his favor, the bulk of the New Jersey electorate voted for Christopher Christie, former U.S. Attorney appointed by George Bush, one of several who wasn’t fired in the U.S. Attorney scandal. You know, where allegedly Bush et. al politicized the posting by asking U.S. Attorneys to target Democrats in their state for mass criminal charges.

Unfortunately for the corrupt in New Jersey, the charges were easy to prove. And so by the time Mr. Christie left the office to Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, his number 2 guy, the cake was just about ready to come out of the oven. Hence, some 44 people, mostly Democratic politicians, were arrested this past July.

Now.. the mood at my employer on Wednesday after the election. Let’s recap. Over a year ago I and another person discovered that “new work” we were assigned was actually a second job that could have gone to an unemployed taxpayer. But instead was being mandated as our job in addition to the job we were performing. The contract to provide said work specifically indicated my job was forbidden from giving it to anyone who was performing my current job.

What followed was a year of harassment and “SHUT THE H*** UP” treatment. But we did hear from others, namely, in attempts to threaten and silence us. Of course, after every attempt we documented the conversations or actions via fax or email. Mama didn’t raise a fool, after all.

By the way, I can’t confirm it yet, but a little birdie told me that the Union President who screamed at us “I’ll never help you! Don’t call me for anything!” last year when we asked for help is being moved to another position here in New Jersey, right in our job. People are saying he’s been offered the title of Personnel Director as our current one is retiring.

That’s right. The dude who refused to help us with Personnel fraud for over a year may be rewarded by being promoted to “Personnel Director”. Coincidence? Maybe.  *insert eye roll*

Please understand that the Union which was supposed to represent me actually hired a major law firm to fight my right to simply have a grievance processed. And put in writing that they were depending upon a supposedly neutral government agency to prove why they didn’t have to support people who were simply “the loudest.”

Because, you know, all black women are loud and unruly and dramatic and such. I’m not saying it’s racist.

Yeah, I am.  I’m a poised professional with a graduate degree who has maintained dignity and calm in the midst of being screamed at, largely by men in this process. So…  what’s the “Loud” thing about? Perhaps I should start posting their letters one by one so we can determine the loud and dramatic parties in this matter.

So.. back to my office. The mood was one of TERROR on Wednesday.  I think I actually saw tears. And then it hits me, all of the stealing, the double-dealing, they kept at it right up until the election. How could they be so confident about it? 

Did their actions depend on the man they thought would be the Governor? I’m just saying. Because the day after Christie won, every supervisor in my job was called into a closed-door meeting with the Big Bosses which took up most of the morning.  People who were abusive towards me with confidence slunk away in corners as I walked through the work areas, putting heads down, straining their necks so no eye contact was made.

I don’t know what Mr. Christie is going to be about in the long run. I have no desire to be anyone’s poster child, but I do want what’s best for my family and what’s right for taxpayers. So when I see people I know were abusive almost at the verge of tears on the day after an election, I put my faith in God that there’s another wave of change coming through New Jersey. I pray it’s positive. And I hope to be surfing towards justice upon it. If Mr. Christie is about what he says he stands for, then stopping the abuse of people who tell the truth should be tantamount to his Administration. We shouldn’t be living in terror of our own honesty.

We shall see…..