Thursday, February 23, 2012

Betty and Whitney's Feet: You Never Saw Them In the Same Room

I heard today that the National Enquirer put a picture of Whitney Houston in her casket on the cover of their "newspaper"  Well, I think this is completely distasteful, disrespectful, and in very bad taste.  Which is exactly the reason why I HAD to go look at it. 

First of all, I have to say that she looked "real natural".  Quite pretty, at that. She had a lovely updo and her make up was perfection. (shimmery eyeshadow on a corpse is always risky, but she pulled it off). She had a nice pleasant smile on her face. (rare for a corpse, because their mouths usually droop)  The headlines on the cover stated that she wore her favorite purple dress and thousands of dollars of jewelry. And it said that she wore gold slippers on her feet.

Which brings me to Betty. Before she passed away she had planned out every detail for her viewing. She had picked  out her own casket (a nice, but modest Church of Christ gray). She picked out her dress and had hung it in her closet with a towel around the shoulders so it wouldn't have clothes hanger marks on it. She had not picked out jewelry, so like Whitney, we put tens of dollars of jewelry on her. But, because great minds think alike, like Whitney, Betty insisted that she wore her gold metallic slippers from the Walmarts. She said, "when I walk the streets of gold up in heaven, I want to be wearing my gold slippers." So, gold slippers it was.

Now I am not saying that Betty and Whitney had much in common. (Except perhaps the fact that towards the end they both took a lot of pills) Betty could NOT sing. Betty was NOT Black. Betty did NOT marry a man that got her hooked on drugs. And Betty did NOT have a cousin who had physic friends.  But, Betty had some gold slippers, just like Whitney. And if the rumors about Whitney's financial situation are true, I bet hers were from the Walmarts, too.

Betty's comments from Heaven: "She 's a pretty black girl, but I don't know why they had to put so much make up on her". And she would add: "She didn't have any jewelry on when she got here. I bet someone stole it".

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

You Are Woman, Hear You Roar

The birth control pill was introduced in the early 1960's. Unfortunately for some, it didn't become readily available until the mid 60's.  So, in approximately May of 1960 when Charles apparently got a little "frisky", much to the surprise and dismay of Betty, she got pregnant.  Even though Charles was a talented musician, evidently he had bad rhythm and subsequently, I was born.  So, when in the mid 60's when the "pill" was available to her, she, and just about every woman in America, ran as fast as she could to the doctor and got on it.

In 1973, Roe v. Wade became the LAW of the land, thus preventing thousands of women from having to go to extraordinarily painful, dangerous and life threatening measures to end an unwanted pregnancy. It's a LAW (made during a Republican administration) that has made white men from all over the country literally go crazy. This decision has made white men picket, protest, become violent and kill.  To be fair, some white women have also picketed, protested, became violent and killed.  I am a man, a white man, to boot, however, I feel that the rights of women are just that, RIGHTS OF WOMEN. Not men. Not white men. Not black men, not brown men, not green men....not any MAN.  It has always baffled me as to why men get a say in this issue.

Here we are in 2012,  Two thousand twelve!, and the rights of women are in more danger than ever before.
Unfortunately, for a Republican to be a "true" Republican today, you must honor the sanctity of life (although they really don't care to honor the sanctity of your life after you are born) and now, you must think that birth control is an abomination. WHAT?  REALLY?  Yes, it's true.  Presidential Candidate and Hater of All People That Are Not Like Him, Rick Santorum (google Santorum, please) who is now considered the "true" conservative in the nomination process, believes that birth control and pre-natal care are "not okay".  And so poor Former Governor and Ex- JC Penney model, Willard "Mitt" Romney, now has to say he agrees with that inane notion so that Republicans will believe him to be a "severe" conservative.  To me, a white man, this appears to be a war on women's rights. 

I have no horse in this race.  I can promise you that I have not gotten a woman pregnant, nor will I ever get a woman pregnant, but I love women.  I LOVE women. And I care about their health and most importantly, I honor their right to choose to do anything with their bodies that they choose. 99% percent of sexually active women use or have used some form of birth control. Abortion rates are down because of it. (And by the way, I hate it when they call someone "Pro Abortion".  No one is pro abortion. I can almost guarantee that no woman has awakened and said, "oh goody, I get to go get an abortion today! Yippee")  I am hoping that every woman that has taken a birth control pill, every woman who has a daughter, a niece,or a young female friend will stand up and fight for your RIGHTS.  It's serious and your lives are at stake.

And to ALL women who love your gays (oh yeah, they want no rights for gays either) and your uterus, you must vote for the black man.  Yes, I said it.

What would Betty say?  "Well, that's just nuts".