Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Lil ol' me

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an aversion to phones. I have the most wonderful mother in the world, but she gets two calls a year from me: her birthday and Mother's day. My kids get calls on their birthday. The only person I talk to regularly on the phone is my Beautiful Girl.

And calling strangers? If I was given a choice between calling a stranger or walking on hot coals...well, honestly, I'd call the stranger but I'd be bitching the whole time, "I should have walked on the fucking hot coals!"

So, naturally, when I get exhortations from Move.On or True Majority to call my Senators or Congressman (Mike Rogers-Liar and Idiot), I quickly hit delete and move on (so to speak).

But not today.

Nope, today, for the first time in my wondrous fifty years on this planet, I called my Senator, Carl Levin, and asked him to sign on to Sen. Bennet's letter to pass the public option via reconciliation. Was I disappointed that, after hours of fighting busy signals (started at 10:00 this morning, didn't get through until 5:00 this afternoon), Sen. Levin's associate told me he had already signed on earlier today?

No fucking way.

I was one of over one million people who called Senate offices today, and damn proud of myself for having done so. I did my part.

Special shout out to our illustrious Senators, Levin and Stabenow, for both having signed on. Michigan Dems can strut proudly tonight. I know I am--even have my peacock costume on....

Peace,
emaycee

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

I've had all I can stands...

It finally happened--after months of threatening to start a blog (out of sheer frustration with Repugs, Conservidiots, and, of course, the new movement named for the act of putting a man's scrotum in your mouth--and the mainstream media that enables them and fucks over the rest of us), the final finger poked in my chest came from, of all people, the CEO of the company I work for. In his letter to shareholders, our esteemed leader chose to use it not for the big fat raises we'll be getting (guess again!), our obscene bonuses (not!), or, hell, even for the possible hiring of some co-workers to ease our burden. Nope, this pinhead used it for a conservative screed about an unfettered free market, anti-government rhetoric, and praised Thomas fucking Sowell as a brilliant thinker (for those not familiar, when you look up the words "fucking idiot" in the dictionary, Sowell's picture is next to it).

In the immortal words of that great philosopher, Popeye, "I've had all I can stands, I can't stands no more!"

It's not enough that my wages don't keep up with inflation, my health benefits are more expensive every year, that I do the work that was once done by two people, and that with all their "plans" my job is more robotic than ever, I have to read this bullshit, too? From a poor, put-upon billionaire, no less.

In a word: No.

So I signed a piece of paper that said I wouldn't say negative things about the company I work for. Fair enough. But I signed nothing that said I wouldn't fight for what I believe is right--they can have my brain, they can have my body, but my soul isn't for sale.

Don't know if anybody will ever read this. Don't know if it matters. But I do know that those of us who live paycheck to paycheck have been eating corporate shit for far too long--and it's time to fight for what we deserve: a chance to get ahead, without the encumberment of corporate rules.

There's a line toward the end of the movie Platoon where Keith David tells Charlie Sheen: "The poor's always been getting fucked over by the rich. Always has, always will. All you got to do is make it." He might have the first half of it right, but I have no intention of settling for the second half. I'm not Rocky--just to be still standing at the end isn't enough of a victory. I want to knock the mother fucker out.

Peace,
emaycee