Why Obama Won the Nobel Prize

Like many of you I was surprised to see that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

And frankly like some of the conservatives I wondered why.

What I suspect is that aside from being a swipe at the Bush regime, the prize once again shows how much influence the United States has on the world. The election of President whose wife is four generations removed from the most dehumanizing slave systems known to humankind really speaks volumes for the breadth of opportunity in this country.

I can understand the GOP not necessarily being supportive of Obama's policies. But their responses are now growing to the point of being anti-American and I cannot see how that bodes well for them. The Nobel committee may have thought that Obama's selection signaled the beginning of a world order where all peoples would be welcome at the table and that peace might be achieved through true dialogue and not only by threats of terror or militaristic force.

But who am I? I congratulate the President, he has received a tremendous honor and his work has just begun.

But before I conclude, I believe that there will be a special place in the Hades of ignorance and stupidity for RNC Chair Michael "I will suck your dick, Rush" Steele. Sometimes when a thought passes through you Mike stifle it because your mouth has a chronic case of IBS and it's stinking up the joint.

Happy weekend all.

Whatever Happened to Customer Service

I was in New Orleans last week, and I went to a Subway shop. As I approached the shop a man stopped to ask for 50 cents. He wanted to tell me a long drawn out story about the bus and all that jazz but I said curtly I don't have any change and to my surprise he said thanks for listening.

Hmmm, what an interesting response, I thought as I went into the shop. I was shocked back to life as a woman who looked as if she had been the victim of the tattoo tsunami came to take my order

Sandwich Artist: What you gittin?

Gibbs: Pardon me?

Sandwich Artist: In a louder voice What you gittin?

Gibbs: Did you say What you gittin?

Sandwich Artist: Do you speak English

Gibbs: Do you know you look like a sideshow freak (thought) Actually quite well, your greeting was most unusual. (said)

Sandwich Artist: What u say

Gibbs: Let me git three chocolate chip cookies

Sandwich Artist You got it baby

Gibbs Thank you ma'am

Sandwich Artist I ain't your mama

Gibbs Pardon me why u say that

Sandwich Artist I ain't old enough to be a ma'am Here be yo cookies

Gibbs Thank you.

As I exit the store still flabbergasted by the encounter I see homes who asked for 50 cents He is staring at me very hard. I said are you the guy who asked me for 50 cents here's a dollar, keep the change.

Thank you now I can catch the bus.....got to buy my baby some pampers...need a better job. He said as I walked away.

It's Been a Long Time

Greetings all:

It has been a while since I have blogged about anything. I got so caught up in Obamamania that I did not take time to give you updates on the inner workings of my life.

I am now working in a new field. Yes I left the airport gig, it was great fun but being at work at 4 am gets real tired real fast. And the Lord knew my needs and He provided a new job which has kept me quite busy for the last few months.

To Ms. Stella I just want you to know everything about the airport and the csr and the gate agent is still true. But here is my new pet peeve.

Every airline now has some special boarding lane for first class, business class and super premium customers.

Now my fellow fliers. You know if you are in one of those groups. Therefore do not block the entrance when it is time to board be patient your boarding group will be called. And as long as you are in the gate area they will not leave without you.

I am not finished. About the boarding groups read your damn boarding passes if you are in group 4 then you don't get to go on with group 2 just because u got there early. And to all you brilliant yo-yo's who think it is cool to put your carryon in the front of the plane when your ass is in the back quit it. Put the bag closet to your seat.

I am flying a lot lately and I have a love hate relationship with Chicago OHare. The cut backs in flights have made it a much nicer place to transfer but those announcements get on my last nerve.

It is good to rant again. I may get this up and going again. Thanks Stella for getting on my case.

Life Changes

Now that I have moved to the heartland, I found out that my new nonprofit has had to cut back on benefits to keep paying us a salary. Well I have been working too many years to live without benefits so I have been blessed to find a job in another shaky industry that is currently paying benefits. That's right I am a part time employee of a major US airline.

Personally, working on the other side of the ticket counter makes me understand how boorish the traveling public generally behaves.

First, the folk behind the counter are NOT responsible for airline policies and fees regarding checked bags, overweight bags or over sized bags. We are simply doing our job. 50 lbs is 50 lbs and depending on your attitude we will charge you the requisite fee for the overweight bag. Yelling at us, snatching things from us and all other forms of insolent behavior does not threaten us or scare us. So quit. And threatening to call customer relations is so scary to us that we will gladly give you the number. Quit acting like you are an IOWA (Idiot out wandering around) when you come to the airport go the web site or at least watch the latest television news so that you will know what charges and you can expect when you arrive at the airport.

Second, if you arrive at the airport after our cutoff time (also available on the website for each particular airport), do not act crazy when we say you have missed the flight. Do not for example say I can get there in 10 minutes. We close the door 10 minutes prior to departure in order to try to leave on time. And don't forget you have to go through security and don't even think of trying to check a bag if you are late. While we are sympathetic about the reason you did not arrive on time, your story is only one of many we will hear that day. You knew you were catching a plane get to the airport at least 1 hour prior to departure. By the way most times we will happily rebook for a fee at least $100-150.00 only if there is space available in your class of service.

Third, to all of you who think it is so great to get booked on Hotwire or Priceline beware of the multiple carrier booking. If your trip begins on Continental and you have a connection in Denver on Frontier, and there is bad weather or a mechanical or a crew problem on your outbound flight Continental cannot rebook you on a later Frontier flight.

Fourth, telling us that you are a mega flier does not overly impress us. You are certainly a valued customer but all of our customers need to be serviced. This is especially true at non hub stations. We will certainly give you the best service possible but your unruly behavior usually gets this reply. Oh they will take care of your problem in Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Atlanta etc. If you act human we will be more than happy to go the extra mile for you. Remember for the most part we are union employees and unless we cuss you out, which we won't nothing you can say to us will change anything about our jobs. Compliments make us feel good only if we are self actualizing. Many of us are working to help you but remember most of us are part time and with the multi tiered system many of us are not making a lot of money.

Fifth, Thunderstorms, Tornadoes and other weather related delays are not under our control. I know it is sunny in Omaha, but your plane is coming from Atlanta and they have thunderstorms in the area. Check out the weather channel before you leave home and make sure that you have plenty of time between connections. Because yes they will leave you. Also flights cancelled because of weather are not the fault of the airline and you are on your own.

One last thing, when you approach the CSR we really have no idea of who you are and where u are going so please begin by presenting your identification and by saying i am traveling to ....

Happy travels see you at the airport...

Poor Geraldine

Geraldine Ferraro will now be known not as the first woman to run for vice president of a major political party but now a wrinkled ignorant woman who is just this side of being a racist. That is so sad. That is so tragic. And should Hillary Clinton prevail she can also be credited with leading to her defeat. And the reason she will do this is because she is showing symptoms of advance white privilege syndrome. More about that later.

Yesterday, I readily admitted that Barack Obama was indeed lucky or blessed depending upon your perspective. I continue to admit that in this country we are lucky or blessed in some, if we experience some form of success.

We are lucky because there is almost always somebody who is more qualified, more polished, and better prepared to hold the positions we hold. Somewhere along the way we all catch a break or we happen to be in the right place at the right time. And do you all know who is also lucky or blessed? Hillary Rodham Clinton.

How many people do you know who get elected to the Senate from a state they just moved to? New Yorkers decided that she had the right skill set for the job. But she also caught a break, Rudy got sick. She also benefited from favorable press, the New York media was transfixed by this woman who endured a lot of public shame to prove that she was indeed the epitome of Tammy Wynette Stand by Your Man woman.

How else do you explain how a woman who was never elected to anything wins becomes one of 100? Being elected to the United States Senate is usually a sign that you have served your state for a long period of time, but Hillary left the White House and moved into the Senate. And I'm not mad at her. She grasped opportunity.

If life was always fair, Al Gore would have been President of the United States but he had the "bad" luck or the curse of being William Jefferson Clinton's Vice President during that Lewinsky thing. Although the economy was booming, the country was safe, the country was reeling because a woman kept a "nasty" dress in her closet.

So in a fit of nonsense we elected a Texas governor who had a recognizable name. Talk about luck.

We are in an uproar over the sick old white woman's comments because she once again displays the arrogance of white privilege. White privilege is a disease that affects many white people who all believe that they are entitled to be where they are or what they desire and anyone that is not white is simply lucky or caught a break or is genetically inclined should they find themselves in a favorable space.

Geraldine is Right Obama is Lucky!

The sick old white lady who was the first woman to run as a vice presidential candidate of a major party is right. Senator Barack Obama is a lucky Black man. I feel really sad for her and for all the women like her who feel like they are missing out what should outrage them is the ineptitude of the Clinton campaign which is leading to a McClain victory in November.

And instead of debating his stead in life, he ought to go to Altoona, PA, and Wilkes Barre and Harrisburg and proclaim.

I am lucky to have been born in this country, where I was raised in an atmosphere that inspired me to be all that I could be. I was lucky to have been born in a country where brave men and women of all races and creeds stood against the racism and brought forth a great nation where there are opportunities for people who are willing to work hard to succeed.

I am lucky to have lived in a state where people were able to go beyond the color of my skin, and beyond my atypical name to hear my message and grasp my vision of what it means to serve our great country and to make it better.

He should shout, I am lucky to have been born in a multicultural and diverse society where I know that love knows no boundaries and that I understand the importance of building strong families where children are given a broad range of educational opportunities.

Actually I am more than lucky, I am as my name describes blessed. I am blessed to live in a country where I can embrace God through Jesus Christ and I was able to express my beliefs and celebrate my God without preventing others who choose to exercise their faith or beliefs differently.

And finally I am lucky and blessed to have this opportunity to expand the base of my party to include the young, the progressive and those who want to insure that every American is able to secure health care coverage without penalty, where every American family is able to pursue the dream of I higher education that I was lucky enough to experience. I am also lucky that we live in a country where people are able to go beyond scare tactics and realize that we need a policy that protects from the 9AM attacks, the middle of the morning attacks, a policy that allows this country to reclaim the respect we squandered in an ill advised war in Iraq which has not only drained our financial resources, to the point where the Iraqis have a massive surplus while we are laboring under a massive deficit. Our financial resources have weakened our currency which is leading to higher gas prices which in 2008 is hurting the family that has to drive to work. Our weak economy is costing many Americans their jobs and their homes and while Hillary and McClain want to fight over who was more wrong about Iraq I want to bring you back to work, bring your home out of foreclosure, and allow the opportunity to keep your health up so you and I can work to bring America back.

I am so lucky and so blessed to be who I am so that I can work together with all of you who are lucky and blessed to be a part of this great nation and we can continue to keep it a great nation.

God bless America.

Mitt Romney and The Perfect Deception

Mitt Romney is a Mormon. Now after all the discussion about his religion and his sect of the Christian realm, I still don't know what it means to be Mormon. I mean some aspects of the Mormon thing I like, you know having multiple wives--oh, officially they have dropped that. But I think there is some dl polygamy going on. And there are some things I don't like, you know, like black folks not being able to get into heaven--oh officially they dropped that too. Hey but I still gots much hate from that Mormon M/F who gave me a 3 out of 5 on my peer review.

But I digress, this whole controversy brings up the issue about religion and politics. Should faith play a role in the political process. As a member in good and regular standing at my local black church, I am ashamed at how politicos show up on Sunday morning during election season sharing about how much they love the Lord when the only reason they are there is to hawk their latest campaign.

Old change my mind Mitt, says you can't have religion without freedom and you can't have freedom without religion well, I am not so sure. The only way that freedom and religion can coexist is when we do not connect them to one another. Obivously having religion does not imply freedom because many religious people tend to veer away from the free will given by God to impose restraints on will by determining what is correct behavior. For example the mainline black church is stridently opposed to gay marriage in any form claiming it's not biblical. Thus a black candidate who would champion such a cause would be literally cursed from the pulpit and if he professed a religious faith it would be subject to ridicule.

Religion as we practice it on earth and freedom are mutually exclusive, constraints must be placed on the state if the citizens are going to be allowed to freely exercise their religious beliefs and all beliefs must be tolerated and the biggest opponents to this will be Christians.

Now did Mitt do the right thing? Absolutely, especially for the religious sect of his party his statement about his belief in Jesus as Son of God and Savior of Mankind was straight out of Huckabee's mouth and perhaps evidence that Romney is willing to deceive the American people to get his way. In using this language Romney is not telling Americans that he as many Mormons believe that Jesus is a secondary figure and far different from the "Heavenly Father." Many Christians are believers in the Trinity and this is what makes Romney's statement about Jesus as son and savior so disingenuous. He knows that we hear and translate what we want to hear and translate and in doing this in this manner he is showing us that he is not above the fray.