Cutting Through the Crap

Okay, this post has nothing to do with personal finance - Debt Daddy is going radically off topic (so what else is new).

Let me say this - I never wanted to make this a political blog. That was never my intent and I try to make a decent attempt to keep my own political leanings out of the discussion (all references to Captain Veto aside and hey - you gotta admit - he's kinda earned that title).

But today I stumbled across an entry by David Knowles over at Political Machine with this wonderful video attached, and I had to share it.

Now, this is not an attempt to get you to vote one way or another. You vote for your guy, I'll vote for mine, and let's hope that whichever guy ends up in the Big Chair doesn't mess things up more than they already are.

But I want the race to be worth something; to be about something. If you came to fight, then fight fair. Sucker punches and swiftboating are for snivelling sissies, and I'd like to believe that both candidates are above that. We actually have two very intelligent adults running for office at the moment, and if they can manage to block out the voices of asinine advisers and pusillanimous pundits and speak their own truth with their own voice, we could have one helluva horse race here. So let's cut out the bullshit right now and get to it.

Check it:

Obama: 'Whitey' Video Rumor is Crap

You may have seen the link floating around in our comment section. It leads you to one of many a breathless story, or perhaps a Fox News video clip, where the urgent topic is when we'll be seeing the YouTube file showing Michelle Obama on-stage with Louis Farrakhan lambasting Caucasian America with the term "whitey."

The story goes that tape has been kept under wraps, out of view, for use as the ultimate October surprise, sure to kill Barack's chances faster than Hillary Clinton can say "I told you so." The problem? As with so many slurs against Obama, there's no there there. There is no tape. From Politico:


Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday batted down rumors circulating on the Internet and mentioned on some cable news shows of the existence of a video of his wife using a derogatory term for white people, and criticized a reporter for asking him about the rumor, which has not a shred of evidence to support it.

"We have seen this before. There is dirt and lies that are circulated in e-mails and they pump them out long enough until finally you, a mainstream reporter, asks me about it," Obama said to the McClatchy reporter during a press conference aboard his campaign plane. "That gives legs to the story. If somebody has evidence that myself or Michelle or anybody has said something inappropriate, let them do it."


For the full history of this latest smear, started by a blogger named Larry Johnson, you can go to David Weigel's piece here. Unfortunately, this is part of Obama's task in this election. Calmly shoot down each scurrilous rumor one at a time. Here's a handy comeback that you might e-mail to help address a few of the other misconceptions and slander still floating around:

Sweat the Small Stuff

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost,

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

The first time I saw this, it was on a poster where I worked one of my first jobs. I was much younger then; not yet the tattered, grizzled Debt Daddy you see before you now (oh, that's right - you can't see me - well, be thankful for that. There are days where I look like the love child of Jerry Seinfeld and Tommy Lee Jones - and this is definitely one of those days - heavy on the Tommy).

Turns out the verse started it's existence as a nursery rhyme, and was later used by Ben Franklin in his "Poor Richard's Almanac" series. I always liked it. Kinda makes me feel like every bit of a thing is important, like little things mean a lot, like God is in the details, like a person's a person no matter how small - oh crap - I've fallen into a platitude loop and I can't get out. Gotta clear my mind - quick - what would Captain Veto say?

"Uhhhhhh........"

Okay, I'm better now. Whew, that was close. Ya just gotta love that Captain Veto - someone once told him to clear his mind and he never bothered to fill it back up again. He's a fine example of the power of vacuous thinking.

But I digress. Silliness aside, all of the above mentioned sayings are basically true. That's why, when I hear phrases like "acceptable losses" said with about as much emotion as one might use to pass gas, it just gets my panties in a bunge. Acceptable to whom? Eminent Domain laws can take a person's property and build a freeway where it once stood. Entire forests can be mowed down in order to erect yet another unnecessary McMansion development. Thousands of people can be laid off without a moments notice to strengthen a corporate bottom line. And of course, countless lives, both military and civilian are destroyed when countries go to war.

To some, these are "Acceptable Losses". These losses serve the "Greater Good". That's what we always hear - and back in the day when "greater good" meant the good of the country or the world as a whole, I could begrudgingly accept that losses would occur and that maybe the ends justify the means. But I think the powers that be have decided that "The Greater Good" now means quite a different thing. I imagine that the top politicians and corporate heads of business see themselves as the Greater Good, simply because, in their estimation, they are greater than everyone else (and gooder too, Captain Veto might say). And, if that's the mindset, then everyone and everything else becomes expendable.

In my opinion, that's the reason for this whole financial, environmental and geopolitical shit storm we're in right now. Just a bunch of greedy dudes getting greedier. They just don't care. People starving, people dying for oil, people losing their homes - hey that's cool - just make sure my seven figure bonus check is in my mailbox, k? Un Frigging believable.

Yeah, in case you hadn't already figured it out, Debt Daddy is a liberal. I hope that doesn't bother anyone. If it does, well, I really don't care. Those powers that be have tried to turn liberal into a nasty word - something to be embarrassed about. Should I feel that way? Let's ask Webster.

Liberal - defined by Webster as generous and broad minded. Liberals, as one would imagine, practice liberalism which is defined as believing in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties.

So, should I be embarrassed by that? Nah...by that definition, Jesus was a liberal. So was Gandhi. Hell, by that definition, Superman was a liberal. I'm in some pretty cool company.

In the coming months, you're gonna hear a lot of folks trying to use the word "liberal" as a derogatory term. When they do, I hope you'll think back on this post and take what they're saying with a grain of salt.

Whether they like it or not, we're all in this together. The shoe, the horse, the rider, the battle, even the kingdom ain't worth a hill of beans without that nail.

And the term "Acceptable Losses"? Well, that's just Unacceptable.

Peace.

My Drag Name? Ann O. Nymity

I think Drag Queens are great.

I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about, but for those who don't, drag queens are female impersonators - male performers that present the illusion of being female onstage, usually in a larger than life way (think RuPaul's friends - RuPaul herself is no longer a drag queen in my opinion - she has now attained "Icon" status).

Why do I think they're great? I couldn't really tell you - it's just a fascination. As a former actor myself, I know how much work goes into preparing for a role, but most roles that an actor might play are at least based on his current or "active" gender. FI's (female impersonators) don't have that as a foundation on which to build. They must construct their characters, their physical forms, their presentation from the ground up - and that takes work. And then of course, they need a name.

Here's how non-performers (people not of the stage) pick a drag name - you take the name of your first pet growing up as your first name, and the name of the street where you first lived as your last name which, in my case would make me "Dutchess Harrison". That ain't half bad as a drag name. My friend "Scruffy 23rd Street" didn't fare so well. As I said, this is the non-performer, fun little cocktail party way of coming up with a drag name.

Real performers, people who actually do perform as drag queens - well, they go about it a completely different way. Their names by and large are a turn of a phrase, usually telling and almost always funny. Dusty Britches, Charity Case, Candy Cayne, Summer Luvvin, Anita Mann, Amanda Love - this is just a small sampling of drag monikers that you might hear being announced at many bars and clubs across the country.

Using this method, I would name myself Ann O. Nymity. Or perhaps her dear next door neighbor Ann Onymous. Either way, you get the point. You don't know me; I could be anyone. I could be your neighbor, your gas man, your son's fifth grade music teacher - you just don't know.

At first, that was cool. I really enjoyed creating the Debt Daddy alter ego - that mythic man of mystery who's shower is only a passing acquaintance - but then I got to thinking; why do I need a "secret identity"? Most of my friends don't even know that this blog exists, and I find myself biting my tongue sometimes not to tell them. Why? The obvious reason, of course, is that I'm more than a little embarrassed by my fiscal mis-management, as I'm sure some other debt bloggers are. We messed up somewhere along the line, didn't get a handle on it, and let things spin out of control. Now we hang our heads in shame, not just because we're not the millionaires that our younger selves knew we would be by this age, but also because we're so far behind that it seems like we my never be. We knew when we were young that the term "working poor" would never come close to describing us and yet, here we sit, blogging in secrecy about it.

The thing is, I really don't think we're the minority here. I think there are a lot more people in the same boat that are also too embarrassed to talk openly about it, and so don't. We are the silent majority.

I think it's about time we got loud. I think it's time for us to come out of the closet. Not because we're proud of our debt, but because there is strength in numbers. We need to talk openly with our friends and neighbors about debt and see if they have thoughts or ideas on dealing with it that hadn't occurred to us, and share our ideas with them. We need to write Congress and Captain Veto often and insist that they pass legislation that might actually benefit us during this time of financial difficulty. We need to call our credit card companies on a regular basis and consistently request lower interest rates, perhaps by threatening default. And we have to urge as many people as we can to do the same. We need to be out and proud, not about the debt we incurred, but about the positive steps we are taking to make things better.

Having said that, I guess it's only fair that I tell you who I really am. It's time to unveil the identity of the man with the enormous debt that struggles each and every day to keep his financial boat afloat. So, who am I?

I am your neighbor.

I am your gas man.

I am your son's fifth grade music teacher.

I am a drag queen.

I am the majority. And so are you.

Tell a friend.