my bullshit is going to miss your bullshit


for weeks, i've been keeping a "hit list" in my head. i'm not usually prone to violence, so the term doesn't properly apply, but the idea has been fairly straightforward. keep a fluid list in my head of the folks and "friends" on my social networks that make the least amount of sense or make the most idiotic comments regarding today's election. when i head to the polls today, i will think of that list, i will reflect on it one last time, and will take immense joy in casting my vote for barack obama and knowing that i've canceled out some very special vocal supporter of the other guy. i'll leave the voting booth happy and accomplished, and i'll head home to watch the returns come in and hopefully celebrate another four years with a president that seems genuinely interested in improving the lives of the poor, in making the environment and the future of the planet more livable, in creating a country where legal equality applies to all persons and all genders, no matter your sexual preference, and a president interested in making sure everyone in the country has access to health insurance.

you can come here or to my facebook timeline and debate me on my above four qualifiers (in fact, i wish you would), but that is why i am voting again for our current president, and that is why i've been keeping my hit list.

let's take a look at my four main (not only) reasons to vote obama, and i want to document here some of the bullshit i've digested so the girls will at some point know and understand how their daddy may have come to his decision.

warning: there will be no scripture ripping in the following four bullet points.

poor people - listen, man. i guess i kind of get it. we are only voting our experience. and some of us have never lived in trailer parks or gone without or had kids throw rocks at you when you got off the school bus because you were wearing shoes from wal-mart. i have. and all three of those things sucked. being a poor kid, living in a fucking small apartment and a fucking trailer sucked. but here's the thing, man. i didn't have shit to do with it. and that's the point that all of these assholes that are telling people to "get back to work, you lazy slut!" are missing. my mom worked fucking hard. so hard, in fact, it drove her into depression. she worked hard, kept terrible dudes around that contributed to the household income, made sure we had food to eat and clothes to wear and some cool shit to play with, but it didn't matter. she didn't do anything wrong. and i and my brother certainly didn't do anything to end up with divorced parents or to live in a trailer with a single to remarried to single to remarried (etc.) mom. it just fucking happens that way. to kids for sure, but to adults, alike. shit happens. life happens. jobs are lost. pay goes down. shit happens again. life happens. death happens. and people find themselves in the bottom of some barrel with no ladder to get out. and it happened to us. you know what, though? who the fuck gives a shit? it made me who i am today, which is a lot tougher than these spineless assholes that are "sick and tired of giving their money to people that don't deserve it" or think bullshitted ideas like "if you are poor enough to be on food stamps, you shouldn't have an iphone."

man, fuck you and fuck you.

cause here's the fucking rub. as "bad" as i had it growing it, i didn't even know what bad fucking was until i grew up and made the intentional decision to work in roebuck. man, people in roebuck and east lake and center point, some of these folks have it fucking bad. the economy and the businesses in the community have run off and left them. it's all they can do to find money for some fast food or some shitty ass dog food for that one thing on this planet, their pet, that they can fool themselves into believing gives a shit about them. and yeah, man, some of them live in government housing. and yeah, man, some of them have food stamps.

but you know who has it worse? the fucking children in those families that didn't have shit to do with their parents' situation. and they need those food stamps. they need that ps3 if they can get it so they aren't constantly reminded how shit-tastic their life is. and they need the rest of the country to wake the fuck up and figure out a solution more fucking detail-oriented than "we are going to put this country back to work."

the other guy, in so many words, said behind closed doors that 47% of the country are slackers. he didn't address that 47 percent's kids. and the fact of the matter is, even though i technically belong to the 53% of the country that he worries about, the 47% is where i come from, and it's who i'll always care about the most.

environment - "president obama promised to stop the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. (dramatic pause, hold eat shit look, wait for laughter and applause from the base)"

holy. god. damn.

a joke at the expense of the president and the planet.

listen, i am no climate scientist. i am not going to claim to be one here, but there are such people, and they seem to be worried the fuck out about the direction the planet is heading. that kind of freaks me out. i've read that around TEN PERCENT of the world's population live at elevations of less than 10 meters above sea level.

the impact of frankenstorm last week along the east coast put a quick halt to this type of rhetorical jokey-joke, but the issue was brought to light again. i am not going to go so far as to say that the other guy hates the planet. i don't think that's the case.

but the president and his policies have shown intentional support towards healing this planet. i hope some of my money is trickling into that effort, too, even if there are still assholes out there that don't believe it's a concern.

equality - pay equality for women. same sex marriage equality. excuse me once again while i allow my tongue to spit hot fire. WHY THE MISERABLE FUCK ARE WE STILL HAVING TO TALK ABOUT THIS SHIT???

"but the bible says this..."
"...and the bible says that..."
"don't forget that one other time when the bible said women suck more than men..."

oh. my. fucking. god.

i promised no scripture ripping, but i will add the following comment that has been made hundreds of times but keeps going in some people's ear and out the other. jesus doesn't mention homosexuality. he talks a whole lot about a whole lot of stuff. not this. stop backing up your bigotry with misinformation.

gay marriage is not going to ruin your marriage.

you are going to ruin your marriage. because you and me??? we are assholes. selfish assholes ruin marriages, not sexual preference. or god.

universal health care - raise your hand if you know an asshole that doesn't think this is what every human should be afforded, let alone every american.

(raises hand)

"i don't want the dadgum government telling me i have to have insurance. i'll smoke and kill myself if i goddam well please." 
"it'll kill small businesses" 
"i don't like black people."
"i like my insurance the way it is now."

mind you, these are examples of some of the more intelligent discourse i've observed over the last many weeks when people are trashing the affordable care act.

it's one of the many things about the election cycle that i am happy to say i will never understand. you may not agree with every single thing contained in the bill (but let's be fucking honest, all you know about it is that it happened because of obama and you hate black people him.), but if you stand in opposition of the idea, itself, and think you have health coverage because you've done something mighty and different than the folks that cannot currently afford it, well, in my opinion, you should be ashamed.

alabama is going to vote "yes" on amendment six today, because there are a lot of ignorant, self-righteous assholes in alabama. i'm an ignorant asshole, but i'll be voting no.

in about twelve hours, we'll know the results. we'll either continue forward or we'll begin bracing for a new direction...again.

we talked in limbo sunday and the opinion was shared and agreed on that many of us are "ready for this to be over", all the talk, the debate, the back and forth, the arguing, the name calling. and, honestly, i don't disagree. something is seriously off-putting about a twelve month (or longer) election cycle. i want our president to be able to work and not have to defend his turf for weeks and weeks and weeks, regardless of their political affiliation. and you want to talk about being fucked up? we talk about the poor and how much need there is in this country, and we just spent over 6 BILLION dollars in campaign funds working up to this day. that's a whole lot of food stamps. that's a whole lot of waste.

for me, though? i am going to miss the bullshit. i am going to miss picking facebook fights with people that don't share my opinions. i love asking hard questions and having to defend where it is i stand on certain issues and certain moral standards. i am going to miss thinking that even one person might be enlightened by one of my crude comments. and i am going to miss being unfriended because of something i feel passionate about.

no matter, i suppose. i'll find other reasons to be unfriended. but i guaran-goddamn-tee you this. when i do call you an asshole or an idiot or something else that i'll later regret, it's going to be for one simple reason.

you are standing up for an idea instead a person.

that is why we fail.

that is why we will continue to fail.

if you are mad because you think people should "go to work" and don't deserve your tax money, that's a you problem.

if you are mad because you don't think gay people should have the right to marry or that women shouldn't get equal pay for equal work, that's a you problem.

if you don't believe in climate change and that we should be worried about it, holy shit, read a science book. and that's a you problem.

if you don't think humans should care for other humans' health and americans shouldn't pay for all americans' health care, that's a you problem. following that line of logic tells me that if i were not in a fortunate enough situation to have health coverage in 2009 and could not have have my cancerous kidney removed or if i were not still in a fortunate enough situation to have health coverage this year and be able to afford yet another surgery and the 2,000 dollars a month to pay for chemo, well, that line of logic tells me that you would be okay if i died. is that true? would you be okay if i died because i didn't have insurance and could not afford treatment? if so, fuck you. and that's a you problem.

i am going to be fine, as will you, if the other guy wins today. i'll make the best of it, and i hope you will, too.

i am going to miss the bullshit, though. it's where i grew up. it's where i came from. i can spot it a mile away.

stop putting words in jesus' mouth, y'all. if you are a christian, follow the words of christ. contextualize and understand the rest of the bible, but emphasize JESUS' message. love. love the poor. love your enemy. love.

don't stand up for ideas. ideas are a waste of fucking time, man.

stand up for people.

love.

people.

#obama2012