Sassy Black Friend

Enough already with this Burris mess

It’s always a mistake to watch cable news in the middle of the day. There’s going to be something that ruins a perfectly nice day. But I did it anyway, and that’s exactly what happened. MSNBC was running the continuing Illinois Senate seat saga, this time focusing on Blagojevich’s appointee to fill Barack Obama’s seat, Roland Burris.

Today is the first day for the new class of senators, and Burris is not included. Why? Well, the man who appointed him is under investigation for selling the seat he’s just been put into. And will probably be removed from office. Seems like a good enough reason to wait, right? Apparently not. Burris, who is not suspected of paying for the seat decided he was going to come to Washington and start senatoring (I know that isn’t a word). Whatever, that’s his right, even though it’s dumb.

There’s just one little detail. Burris is black. You know, like Obama, and no one else in the US Senate. So the media’s pushing the story that keeping him out is racially motivated, or at least racially stupid. Like, if Blagojevich had picked a white guy, forget him. He could have rotted on the steps of the Capitol. But he’s black? Gotta let him in. Bullshit.

No one with a brain in their head thinks there is anything racist about keeping Burris from the floor of the Senate. No one. That is some stupid shit it needs to stop immediately. Yes it sucks that there are no black senators right now. The solution isn’t to let this guy in. It’s wrong. And I don’t feel bad for Burris. He agreed to take the gig from Blagojevich, which was a bad move. He’s old enough and smart enough to know better.

Gah!

Colorblind, rage blind… whatever

First, a little boring background information. I have something like 100 playlists in iTunes. I make new ones all the time because I’m trying to get the perfect group of songs for whatever. Dinner parties, showering, laundry, cleaning, reading, gotta have the right music.

So, yesterday afternoon I was hanging out with one of the 12 books I have been meaning to read for months, with music, of course. I can’t concentrate, or even function in silence. This song comes on that I forgot all about, called Colorblind, by Counting Crows. Neat song, good piano. I remembered it was in some dumb movie, but couldn’t remember which one, so I looked online. Cruel Intentions. Fantastic.

Anyway, I accidentally clicked on a YouTube link showing a life performance of the song. And within 30 seconds I went from rather serene to practically psycho. Why? See for yourself. Here’s the video.

Sheesh, I forgot how much I hate that guy’s face. Adam, I think his name is. I honestly wanted to reach into the computer, grab him by his stupid dreads and punch him in his cherubic round face. And the overwrought singing just pushed me over the edge from hostile to hysterical. I laughed for a good 5 minutes at myself. Because I love getting angry about stupid things. It’s nice to let it out when no one gets hurt, you know? The pain, suffering and injustice in the world is too big to get really mad at. Mostly I get tired. but a singer I think is a pompous douchebag? That’s excellent for a few minutes of pointless rage.

Happy New Year!

Hey lookit, it’s 2009. Neat, huh? I don’t do resolutions, but I do get sucked into the arbitrary restart that a new year implies. A chance to take a deep breath and see where things are, and where they could be.

Oh, in other exciting news, it looks like my bid to volunteer for the inauguration got approved. More on that later.