Woody's To Face Boycott

One month after Woody's owner David Scott apologized for racist and sexist remarks hurled at U of L professor Dr. Kaila Story and a group of GLBT students at his bar, he once again hurled racist statements at a different group of bar patrons.



This time, the Fairness Campaign, our local GLBT organization will be calling for a boycott at 4 PM Tuesday. It will also be discussed at the Dismantling Racism forum to be held at the Fairness Campaign office at 6 PM Wednesday.

Here's the press release from the Fairness Campaign.

***

On the night of Monday, September 21, just one month after Woody’s Tavern owner David Norton’s public apology for racist and sexist remarks made one year earlier, Mr. Norton launched another tirade of prejudice and hate against customers in his bar. According to witnesses, a bar patron lifted the corner of a pool table to dislodge balls stuck inside, which prompted a yelling spree from Mr. Norton, who ultimately chased every patron out of his establishment. As he ejected them, he yelled after patrons, calling them “trashy faggots,” and then, referring to a group of African American patrons, stated, “Look at their skin color. You know what’s on the tip of my tongue.” Following these incidents, the Fairness Campaign Coordinating Committee has approved a public boycott of Woody’s Bar and Tavern, supported by the organizations listed below.

blkout
commonGround
Fairness Campaign
Jobs With Justice
Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
University of Louisville Office of LGBT Services, Brian Buford, Director
W.E.N.C.H.
WIT (Women In Transition)

“Mr. Norton has now proven that not only was his public apology of a month ago empty, but that he refuses to change,” shared Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman. “We, at the Fairness Campaign, believe a stand must be made against this series of injustices, which will undoubtedly persist if Mr. Norton continues to operate his business. We demand Mr. Norton cease ownership and operation of Woody’s Tavern, or, if he will not, that its doors close.”

The Fairness Campaign and its supporters will regularly flyer potential bar patrons and the surrounding community to educate them about the boycott and encourage their participation. A public forum discussing these incidents and the public boycott is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28 at the University of Louisville. The boycott will also be discussed at the Fairness Campaign's monthly "Dismantling Racism" dialogue, Wednesday, October 7, 6PM at the Fairness office.

The Magnolia Bar and Grille, currently owned by Mr. Norton, will not be included in the boycott, as Fairness leaders have received report of its ownership changing this month. If, by the end of October, the Magnolia Bar and Grille ownership has not changed, it will be included in the boycott effort.

2009 St. James Court Art Show

While rolling up 4th Street en route to the University of Louisville and the final on campus Pride 2009 event, I noted that some food carts were setting up on one of the streets near St. James Court and tents were being assembled.

That can only mean one thing. The surest sign that fall has arrived in Louisville is the annual St. James Court Art Show is taking place.

The 53rd edition of the St. James Court Art Show is held in the Old Louisville neighborhood during the first weekend in October. It is considered one of the best juried regional art shows around.

There's a contest to design the poster for the event which Scott Gilbertson won this year.

It's also a great day and event to do some people watching, and I've been attending it off and on since I moved here.

During election years you'll see every politician running for office in the Louisville metro area and their campaign workers scurrying about either passing out stickers or shaking the hands of their constituents.

There's also great art on display and crafts for sale, with some of it being affordably priced in addition to the more expensive collector pieces. There's also a wide variety of food for sale by local and out of town vendors.

It's also my chance to see and chat with my former neighbor and favorite cookie lady Elizabeth Kizito and scarf up a few snickerdoodles for later snack consumption.

The 53rd annual edition of the St. James Court Art Show will take place starting today and run until October 4.

I'm definitely going to take some time this weekend to get away from the computer, get some fresh air, people watch, and enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of another art fest weekend.

Fun With Andrea and Calpernia

One of the cool things about the transgender community is when you finally get to talk to people in real time that you have much admiration and respect for.

I'm blessed to have had numerous opportunities to experience that over the years, and another one came tonight thanks to U of L Pride week.

Calpernia and I met and talked during the 2004 SCC. This was the first time that Andrea and I had an opportunity to have a substantive face to face chat.

Andrea and Calpernia were here to deliver the keynote address of the ongoing U of L Pride celebration.

The 2009 edition of U of L Pride Week has had a transgender theme for most of it, and their speech focused on media issues and what their Deep Stealth Productions has done to push the positivity envelope when it comes to the images of transpeople in the media.

In addition to discussing their work and giving tips for how we transpeeps in our locales can become more media savvy when dealing with the press, we were also treated to their short film entitled Transproofed.



These women are doing work in Hollywood which is just as important as the work other trans activists are doing in their various locales educating legislators, academia, and the medical profession about our issues.

Andre Agassi when he was playing tennis had a commercial with the tag line of 'image is everything.' These ladies definitely understand that when it comes to images, Hollywood can make or break a marginalized group in that regard.

I had a blast talking to them last night and I'm looking forward to the next time our paths cross again.

A Wonderful Discussion At U of L's Ali Institute

It's Pride Week on the U of L campus and I spent a wonderful few hours this afternoon leading a brown bag panel discussion of the subject of gender neutral bathrooms.

It was sponsored by the Muhammad Ali Institute For Peace and Justice, which is located on the second floor of U of L's Ekstrom Library.

As I like to do with any speaking engagement, even though it was a noon start, I like getting there early. I enjoy walking around on college campuses, talking to staff and students and observing what's going on.

I had a chance to chat with Ali Institute staff members Stacy Bailey-Ndiaye, Erika R. Stith, and Mikal Forbush and two Ali Scholar students who dropped in before we got started with the panel discussion.

I also discovered that two of the students attending read TransGriot on a regular basis.

We ended up covering issues beyond just gender neutral bathroom ones. We discussed a wide variety of topics such as intersex issues, Caster Semenya, trans ID issues and race and gender in the hour and ten minutes I was there.

I was also surprised and pleased to get the neat U of L Ali Institute note pad I received as a token of the staff's appreciation when it ended. It's definitely going to be put to good use.

Before I left the U of L campus I paid a courtesy call to Brian Buford and the gang at the Office of LGBT Services. We had a brief discussion about how the event was going as he gave me a quick tour of the place.

Just an FYI, the 2009 edition of U of L Pride Week will continue until September 29.

On my way to the Red Barn where it's located, passed by a fundie preacher spouting the usual anti GLBT hate screed. After I grabbed something to eat I was going to go mess with his head a bit but he'd ended his christodiatribe by the time I exited the Student Center.

So as you can tell, I had a wonderful time on campus. I deeply appreciate the gracious invitation the Muhammad Ali Institute staff extended to me and the warm welcome I received from them and the students attending today.

I'm looking forward to helping them with another event in the near future.

Pride Week 2009 At The University Of Louisville

It's TBLG Pride Week at the University of Louisville!

Yes, I know Pride Week is usually celebrated in June or whenever a Black Pride event is scheduled for a particular locale, but on college campuses you either do it during the fall or spring semesters.

This Pride 2009 celebration on U of L's campus will start tomorrow and run through September 29. It's sponsored by the Commission on Diversity and Racial Equality, Information Technology, the Women's and Gender Studies Department, School of Medicine and the Vice Provost for Diversity.

I'm also participating in it this year. On Tuesday I'll be moderating a discussion on the topic of 'Why Gender Neutral Bathrooms Matter'.

For those of you who wish to see the TransGriot and our esteemed panel in action, it starts at noon at the Ekstrom Library. That event is sponsored by the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice.

I sincerely thank them as well for allowing me to be a part of this event

While I'm busy at the Ekstrom Library, Number One', AKA Dawn Wilson will be participating in a September 29 event at U of L's Brandeis School of Law. It's a noon discussion entitled 'Keys to the Door: ENDA, Transgender Identity, and Community'.

It will take place in Room 275, Brandeis School of Law and is hosted by the Law School Diversity Committee and the Lambda Law Caucus.

We'll both be back on campus at 5 PM Thursday night. There's an LGBT Alumni Reception at the University Club that will be hosted by Kentucky Fairness Alliance and Mark England

The Pride Keynote Address will be given by Calpernia Addams and Andrea James in Humanities 100 at 7 PM.

I met Calpernia at the 2004 SCC, got into a long conversation with her about several subjects and have much love for her. I'm not sure if mine and Andrea's paths have crossed either at some SCC, Creating Change, IFGE Conference or another trans community event, but I'm looking forward to seeing both of them.

So if you're in the Louisville metro area, on or near the U of L campus this week, come out and support our GLBT brothers and sisters.

Kentucky Sports Hatefest-U of L vs UK

Today the University of Louisville Cardinals hit I-64 east and travel to Lexington to take on the University of Kentucky Wildcats. They are not only fighting for the Governor's Cup, but state bragging rights, football division.

One of the questions I consistently get asked since I moved here is whether I support U of L or UK.

Many Kentucky natives won't accept my answer that I'm neutral and like both teams. They'll spend whatever time I have in their presence extolling the virtues of the Cats or Cards while dissing the other team with the zeal of missionaries.

When U of L and UK get together to play any sport, people are passionate about it. Friends, families, co-workers and sometimes even spouses divide along Cardinal red or Wildcat blue lines.

No matter what the sport, it's a highly competitive rivalry played by two teams separated by 73 miles of interstate highway and no love lost on either side.

It's so competitive that Kentuckians have already circled Jan 2, 2010 on the calendar.

What's happening that day you ask? It's the date of the annual U of L-UK basketball clash at Rupp Arena.

The trash talking this year for this season's football clash has come mostly from the UK fans. U of L has slipped from its 2006 Big East championship and BCS bowl winning heights and Cardinal Nation is anxious about it.

Cards fans are even more anxiety ridden going into this noon showdown at Commonwealth Stadium. U of L is not only coming off a 5-7 season after going 6-6 the previous year, they have a lot of question marks on both sides of the ball.

They also watched the Cats spank Miami of Ohio 42-0 in their season opener in Cincinnati.

Cardinal Nation also knows the Cats had a bye week to rest and retool for this game.

The Cards briefly trailed 7-3 in their season opening game at 'The Pizzeria' with Indiana State. They had to fight tooth and nail with the Sycamores before eventually pulling away for the 30-10 win.

UK is a football team on the rise and coming off a third straight bowl appearance. They not only want to keep their two year winning streak alive against U of L, they see themselves as a Top 25 program that can compete and win in the tough SEC East Division and as BCS bowl material.

No matter who wins, both teams when this game is over will have tough challenges to overcome the next week. UK will take on Number 1 ranked Florida in Lexington while the Cards will travel to Salt Lake City to take on Utah.

But for those of us who are neutral, it sure is a lot of fun to watch, no matter what the sport.

Diane Sawyer To Become ABC World News Anchor In 2010

And then there were two.

In some news that will make many peeps in Da Ville happy, Diane Sawyer will be leaving Good Morning America and taking over as the anchor for 'ABC World News' in January 2010.

Current anchor Charles Gibson will be retiring at the end of the year after 35 years with ABC. He took over the ABC World News anchor duties after the 2005 death of longtime anchor Peter Jennings and Bob Woodward was injured while reporting in Iraq.

White Sawyer's ascension to the ABC desk and Katie Couric already ensconsed in the legendary CBS News anchor chair that Walter Cronkite once occupied, that means in 2010 two of the three original television networks as of 2010 will have women sitting at their anchor desks.

NBC still has Brian Williams helming their rating leading NBC Nightly News, with ABC a solid second in the ratings.

No word yet as to what's going to happen with Diane's soon to be former gig at Good Morning America, where Robin Roberts is one of the co-hosts.

Maybe ABC will do the logical thing and slide Robin into the lead chair at GMA.

At any rate, congratulations to Diane Sawyer. She's from Louisville, and the peeps here are ecstatic that she's going to get the ABC News anchor chair.

Dr. Story Gets Public Apology

It's a better late than never story, but yesterday U of L professor Dr. Kaila Story finally received her apology for racist and sexist remarks hurled at her and several U of L students by the owner of a local bar called Woody's.

I have much love for Dr. Story. She's the Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, with a joint appointment in the Department of Pan-African Studies. She also holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

But to bring y'all up to speed on what transpired here in Da Ville, last year Dr. Story along with a group of four Black GLBT friends was visiting the bar which is near the U of L campus.

She and the group were playing pool when two unleashed dogs charged into the room barking. Dr. Story was startled by the unexpected entrance of the dogs and jumped on the pool table.

The owner of the dogs was Woody's owner David Norton. He began berating her, remarking that he didn’t like “big girls” on his pool table.

That triggered an argument that spilled out into the street. Norton followed the group outside while hurling epithets, calling them “cunts,” “bitches,” “niggers” and other racist and sexist slurs.

The incident happened about the same time that a local McDonald's on Market Street hurled anti gay slurs at two white gay patrons.

Predictably the reaction of the local GLBT community was a night and day one. A protest was quickly initiated and the ACLU was called in. It resulted in a $2000 settlement paid to both of the offended persons and sensitivity training for 30 local McDonald's restaurants.

Dr. Story's situation struggled just to get the same level of action and attention since it uncomfortably highlighted the internal racism many Black GLBT people face from other GLBT people.

Norton tried to deny the incident happened, but with the May resolution of the McDonald's incident, new Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman along with the University of Louisville's Director of LGBT Services Brian Burford revisited what happened at Woody's.

Burford wrote a letter that was posted to the Fairness Campaign website calling for Norton to apologize. He also noted the lack of GLBT community response vis-a-vis the McDonald's case

“I would’ve liked to have seen some greater response to what happened at Woody’s,” “I wished people would have boycotted. Individuals did, but in terms of an organized effort, there wasn’t one.”

Chris Hartman lamented the lost opportunity as well in the Woody's situation.

“Discrimination is discrimination. Any sort against any people is absolutely unacceptable and we will not allow it to go silently by,” says Hartman, who is now urging Norton to apologize. “It’s deplorable to continue to not offer an apology.”

Hartman also stated in the Fairness press release, “We hope this apology will begin a process of healing and reconciliation,” shared Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman. “This incident, however, must continue to shed light on the fact that racism pervades every community in America, including our own LGBTQ community, that any form of discrimination hurts everyone, and that no act of discrimination may go unchallenged.”

Hopefully the apology that finally occurred with the news cameras rolling yesterday will begin to jump start that process of reconciliation.

First Day Of School

Thursday marked the first day of the 2009-2010 school year for JCPS students.

I was aware of it because I have a middle school two miles up the road from the house. There's constant bus traffic up and down the street in the morning starting around 6 AM and later in the afternoon when school lets out.

I also realized that with the start of the new school year, for the next two weeks the Louisville Po-Po's will be patrolling that school zone. They will be passing out expensive reminders to peeps who fail to remember that the school zone speed limits are back in full effect.

It also means that one of the things that induces homesickess for me will be cranking up as well: high school football season.

Texas high school football is the bomb and a major part of Texas culture. It's so awesome that a book and a movie was written about one of the legendary programs in the Lone Star State, the Odessa Permian Panthers.

Attending a predominately Black high school means you not only get the quality football, but you get a slamming halftime show as the bands try to outdo one another in a high energy, high stepping, soulful musical performance guaranteed to get you dancing in the stadium bleachers. Oh yeah, can't forget about the majorettes shaking what their mamas gave them as the drum majors high step all over the field.

It's also cool going to one of the various stadium complexes around the state and knowing that just a few short years from now, some of the kids you're watching today may be playing on an NFL team tomorrow or being inducted in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Here in Kentucky high school football is about as predictable as something stupid coming out of Sarah Palin's mouth. It's either Catholic private schools Louisville Trinity, Louisville St. Xavier or occasionally Lexington Catholic that win the Class 5A title with nauseating regularity. Sometimes Louisville Male, a Lexington area public school or one from another part of the state will crash the party to face off against either Trinity or St. X.

The first day of school makes me wax nostalgic sometimes for my own long gone school days. I remember when it was me walking to school with my brother and our friends carrying my shiny new lunch kit in elementary school, ready and eager to tackle the challenges of a new school year.

I remember my days in junior high meeting the challenge of heightened academic expectations and counting the days until I started high school.

In addition to reminiscing about my disco-era sojourn through those angst and anxiety filled high school years in which I was wrestling with my gender issues, sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to matriculate throughout my school days on the other side of the gender fence.

To my transpeeps matriculating through the various levels of school right now, keep your head and grades up and get that paper. It'll make your life much easier later.

The first day of school also served as a reminder that my 30 year high school reunion is rapidly approaching and it's one I'm looking forward to. I've already won the 'Most Changed' Award at the 20 year one back in 2000. The only one I'm looking forward to competing for next year is the farthest distance traveled to attend the reunion.

To those kids matriculating through school now, may you have a wonderful, challenging and exciting school year. For those of you who are in your senior year of high school, may it be a memorable one as well.

Louisville Smacked By Record Rain

Know some of you have heard the reports on the Weather Channel about the record rain that's caused some serious flooding in town. We got whacked by a record six inches of rain in one hour earlier this morning as a nasty thunderstorm passed through the area.

While we have a respite from it now, we have another severe thunderstorm headed this way.

The creek that parallels I-64 left its banks up the road from me at Grinstead and Lexington Rd. There was some minor flooding in the basement of our house, but it's been taken care of and contained.

Downtown got the worst of it, but no part of town escaped the rain. The Downtown library branch got hit hard and has two feet of water in it. Some of the hospitals in the downtown area experienced flooding and had to evacuate patients.

Parts of the University of Louisville campus and Churchill Downs are flooded. I-65 at Arthur St, where the freeway dips slightly near the Fairgrounds curve before it climbs to the elevated section that runs through the Old Louisville neighborhood south of downtown to the Kennedy Bridge over the Ohio River was closed for several hours.

Keeping my fingers crossed and tuned in to the local news stations as we get ready for Round Two. Will keep y'all posted as long as my connection to The Net stays up.

Angie Fenton

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

I first encountered Angie not long after I moved here to Da Ville. I was in love with her feature writing for C-J's Velocity minipaper and began reading it religiously. I was happy for her when the Courier-Journal wisely moved her up to edit their celebrity news column called The Buzz. She also ended up getting some TV time at WAVE 3 in that role as well.

As part of her Velocity duties she was covering the 2003 Derby Bash I attended. Her petite figure was hard to miss in a sexy pink skirted suit and pumps while sporting a stylish pink Derby hat.

Three years later I finally got to meet her in person. Dawn and I were featured in a Louisville Courier-Journal article on trans people she authored. In putting that article together we got to know Angie the person and liked what we saw.

She is a classy, funny, determined and intelligent lady that is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Dawn and I both were enthusiastically happy to call our friend after the C-J article was done and later published.

Like the TransGriot, she moved to Da Ville. She's had her challenges in life but to paraphrase Maya Angelou, and still she rises to overcome them and thrive.

You can't help but admire someone like her. Every time Angie's terminally cute self tells me she wishes she had my height, I reply I'd like to be her for a minute.

This busy lady is a competitive bodybuilder in addition to teaching at a local college and writing The Dish column for a local paper called the Voice-Tribune.

Angie Fenton is definitely one of the women I'd love to be when I grow up.

A Ladylike Guide To Dressing For The Derby

TransGriot Note: It's Derby Week here in Da Ville. That means parties, galas, parades and the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby horse races on Friday and Saturday.

My fashion diva roommate and longtime Kentuckian Dawn Wilson explains this bit of Kentucky tradition for those of us not from these parts.

Guest post by Dawn Wilson

Is image everything? To many African American transgender women it means everything. Image defines you and your character. Going out is never just about going out and having a good time, it’s about going out and impressing people.

As the celebrities who come here will tell you, the Kentucky Derby and the activities that surround it is the place that one can do that, and it seems as though the list of those who come gets longer every year.

I've had the pleasure of attending more than 15 different parties and assorted Derby gatherings over the last few years, and have been graciously extended invitations for a few this year.

Recently my girlfriends at the LFC fencing club invited me to go Derby dress shopping with them last weekend in preparation for the Derby Week activities. No we didn't have any mint juleps, but a good time was had by all.

If you're one of the lucky people going to the Kentucky Derby this year or even if you just want to dress properly for the occasion when you watch this year's 135th running of the race at home, tradition states that certain rules must be followed.

What are those rules? Fear not, I'm about to tell you. Just follow them and you'll put your best fashion foot forward for Derby Day and fit in like a native.

Choose your hat (ladies only, of course). Hats go with the Derby like the frosting on a birthday cake. It should be large-brimmed, feminine and frilly (think 18th-century France), and worn low on the brow tilted slightly to one side.

The rest of your outfit is designed to complement your hat.

Now the dress. This will support the crowning glory of the outfit – the hat.

Now there is an art to picking and wearing a dress. Maybe that is why many WBT women often prefer wrapping themselves in shapeless jeans and blouses. It’s easy, it’s simple and comfortable, and doesn't require much effort.

But how about being womanly, attractive, and appealing? Why is everybody forgetting about being romantic, gentle, bright and inspiring, or outstanding and memorable?

Beauty and attractiveness are always in fashion. That is the fashion law, especially doing Derby. If you follow those rules to the letter, you won't be ticketed by the Derby fashion police.

Why The Media Silence On HR 676, The Universal Single Payer Health Care Bill?

'The time has arrived to help millions of Americans living without a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health...and [to have] protection...against the economic effects of sickness.' President Harry S. Truman September 19, 1945

The United States is the only industrialized nation without a universal single payer health care system. It's not for lack of trying. President Harry Truman tried to get one passed for us starting in 1945 but the W-M-D Bill to establish the system was thwarted by the dynamic duo of Republican Party resistance and the AMA screaming 'socialized medicine'.

In 1993 President Bill Clinton tried to pass universal single payer health care with then First Lady Hillary Clinton being the point person on the plan. 'Hillarycare' was drowned in $100 million of special interest money, lies, lobbyists, the usual refrains of 'socialized medicine' and the 'Harry and Louise' negative attack ad among others.

The takeover of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections by the GOP, the perennial Party of NO when it comes to universal single payer health plans also killed any further attempts by the Clinton administration at implementing it.



The soon to be nasty and heated debate concerning what direction the Obama Administration reforms of our broken health care system will take will make the 1993 one look like a church picnic. Out of all the plans under discussion, there's one option our corporate media won't talk about.

Universal comprehensive single payer health care.

So if the media won't kick knowledge about it, it's up to us bloggers to do so. I also found it interesting that 'Harry and Louise are back and singing a different tune in these 2008 ads, just like the millions of Americans who were hoodwinked and bamboozled into opposing 'Hillarycare'.



Since I believe that health care is a right, not a pay for out of pocket privilege, what I'm seeking to do is 'ejumacate' you about the once in a lifetime chance we have to get a health care system passed that benefits us, not large corporations.

Class is now in session. Time to talk about HR 676.

HR 676 is the United States National Health Insurance Act. It would expand and improve Medicare to cover all individuals residing in the United States.

If HR 676 is passed and signed by President Obama everybody would receive high quality and affordable health care services. People would receive all medically necessary services by the physicians of their choice, with no restrictions on what providers they could visit. If HR 676 is implemented, the United States National Health Insurance Act would cover primary care, dental, mental health, prescription drugs, and long term care.

In other words, the same high quality, low cost health care that other nations such as Canada, Great Britain, France and others around the world enjoy that's a major reason why their life expectancy rates are rising as opposed to ours would finally come to US shores.

'Our current national health care system is simple. Don't get sick.' Anonymous.

If you've seen the Michael Moore movie 'Sicko', you've already gotten a glimpse of what it's really like for the countries that use single payer health care plans.

Citizens in countries with universal health care pay small fees for medications we pay hundreds of dollars for. It's the reason US peeps who live near the Canadian or Mexican borders get their medications over there.

They get to see their regular doctors and never pay doctor bills. Doctors still get paid six figure salaries for practicing medicine despite working for the government, and you have luxuries such as house calls for doctors, therapists, et cetera.

Of course, the large HMO's and drug companies are against it and are already gearing up to spend truckloads of cash on PR firms and lobbyists to demonize and stop this bill from passing. They favor one that keeps the same tired Nixonian era HMO based system in place with its high costs, obscene drug prices, deductibles and high profits for them.


We also have a coalition of doctors, nurses and health care workers who are pushing for a comprehensive single payer universal health system to be created here in the United States as well. Physicians For a National Health Program is doing the myth busting work in order to get this passed so we'll no longer have 18,000 people a year die because of our jacked up system.

Contrary to the fiction that universal health care opponents and the GOP like to pimp, we don't have the best health care system in the world. We're 37th in the World Health Organization rankings when it comes to health care (France was number one).

The United States also fared poorly in a 2007 study by the Commonwealth Fund that compared our health care system to eight industrialized nations.

There are increasing numbers of cities such as Austin, TX and Louisville along with various organizations who have passed resolutions supporting and endorsing HR 676 along with various citizens groups. It's time once again to make our voices heard to our congressmen like we did on November 4 last year so it can happen.

It's time for the United States to stop the medical madness and join the rest of the world in providing quality health care to all its citizens.

2009 NCAA Women's Championship Game

I'll have to DVR it, but tonight's NCAA women's title game in St; Louis is an all Big East affair between the surprising (to the rest of y'all) 34-4 Louisville Lady Cardinals and the unbeaten 38-0 UConn Huskies.

This is the third meeting between the two teams. They met in the regular season and the Big East women's tournament title game and the Lady Cards have been on the short end of both of them.

But as I know painfully well from my college days, just because you have a dominant team doesn't mean that you can't be beaten or you can't have a bad night. It's also hard to beat a team three consecutive times in the same season.

Talk about what a historic upset that would be. Here's a UConn team that beat them badly twice by 28 and 39 points, is playing for perfection for the third time, their seventh NCAA title and is chock full of high school All-Americans versus a Louisville team with none.

If you check my 2009 women's NCAA bracket, I have UConn picked to win the title and actually had the Cards losing to Oklahoma Sunday.

The Lady Cards have a chance to elevate this program to an elite level and shocking the world like a loquacious boxer from the West End once did over 40 years ago.

And here's hoping they do. Go Lady Cards!

Congrats Lady Cards!

Y'all knew I was gonna show some love for the lady hoopsters from U of L.

The 33-4 Lady Cards next game will be 200 miles west of Da Ville in St. Louis. As I predicted, Angel and the gang beat down number one seed Maryland 77-60 for the Raleigh Region Championship and helped earn the Lady Cards first trip to the NCAA Women's Final Four.

Angel McCoughtry is the woman. She scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Lady Cards never trailed in the game. There was also the added drama of Louisville women's coach Jeff Walz facing his old boss, Maryland coach Brenda Frese.

Warm up the bus. We'll be rolling on I-64 west to play either Oklahoma or Purdue on Sunday.

Going Out Tonight

In a few hours I'm getting all dressed and glammed up so that I can attend the local ACLU dinner being held at the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville.

I enjoy these events not only because I'll once again get to rub elbows with the rich, not so rich and famous, the power peeps in town and represent the community at the same time, but I get an opportunity to actually wear some of these nice clothes I have in my closet

Most of my working life I've been in jobs in which I've had to wear uniforms. While I don't mind it and that saves me on one hand from clothing wear and tear and the 'what do I wear to work?' quandaries, on the other hand I inherited the fashion diva gene from my mom that she passed on to my sister as well.

There are times I do envy the sisters that get to wear their own clothes to work. I get to check out their individual senses of style, good and bad and get ideas that I may want to try for myself.

I also have a constant stream of catalogs coming to the house from various stores for me to peruse that I check out as well to add to my mini Imelda Marcos sized shoe collection.

Yes, as I've said here on many occasions, femininity is about more than the clothes, it's a lifetime journey of discovery.

But I'll ponder some of those questions later. Time to get my glam on.

Ice Ice Baby

As if it weren't bad enough we had the snow here, we're now dealing with a nasty ice storm as well.

We've had rain falling with temps at the freezing mark for almost 24 hours and it's already starting to cause problems with our local power grid. According to the roomies, we briefly lost power in the crib, so I have to reset the clocks in my room.

It could be worse. We have sections of town, and southern Kentucky dealing with no power at all as I type this.

The city crews have been on the job. They've gone through almost 500 tons of salt so far and have done a bang up job keeping the roads clear.

I also live in a section of town that has lots of trees. Pretty to look at, but not when they're coated with ice and we just had the remnants of Ike blow through here a few months ago. Whatever branches on those trees that were weakened by Ike's 70 mph winds back in September but didn't fall will probably snap under the weight of a few inches of ice.

Oops, right on cue just heard a large branch snap on my next door neighbor's tree.

Hmm, may need ice skates to get to work tomorrow.

Hate The Snow, Hate Winter Period

When I was growing up in Houston, falling snow was a cause for civic celebration. Living here in Louisville, I've leaned to despise snow if it falls in amounts of more than three inches.

As many of you know who watch the Weather Channel, we got whacked by a nasty winter storm last night and Round Two is hitting us later this evening. The kids are enjoying another day off from school, most businesses are closed and there aren't many cars on the roads either. I've got to trudge off to work later and hopefully I'll be back in the house before the next wave hits.

The worst snow we've gotten since I moved here was the 10 inches we got whacked with last March that I fortunately missed because I was rolling up I-65 with Dawn to Chicago for a fencing tournament. We also received 9 inches of snow from that 2004 Christmas eve storm that dropped snow along the Gulf Coast from the Texas-Mexico border to New Orleans and points north.

It's times like these I really miss home and walking around in 70-90 degree weather in January with shorts on. But cold weather has its purposes in the great scheme of things, and as long as it means I won't be swatting at hordes of mosquitoes this spring and summer, then I'll deal with it.

I'm Going Downtown

Downtown Louisville to be precise. About to jet out of the house and make a short run to downtown Louisville and the Kentucky International Convention Center to watch Dawn compete in a major fencing tournament here.

The NAC D is one of eight major fencing tournaments for competitive fencing in the United States. For US based fencers wishing to represent our country in the 2012 London Games, this is a first step to making the national team from which our Olympians will be chosen.

The competition will be fast, furious and high level.

I'll tell you how she fared when I get back.

Louisville Central Repeats

One of the things that I immediately noticed when I moved here was the difference in the level of interest in high school football versus that of my birth state.

In Texas, it's the state religion. State religion status is reserved for basketball here at the high school and collegiate levels.

But when it comes to fan loyalty, the fans of the various schools take a back seat to no one. They are just as loyal and school spirit filled as the ones back home, even if they don't always fill up major football stadiums to the rafters for title games.

Last year historic Central High, the alma mater of 'The Greatest' and the oldest African-American high school in Louisville, made history as its coach Ty Scoggins became the first African-American to win a KHSAA football title in front of excited alumni, students and fans at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium when they defeated Belfry to win the Class 3A title.

This year's edition of the Central Yellowjackets came into the season as the hunted, not the hunters. They also found themselves on a chilly December 12 day at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in front of 3,917 people playing for another Class 3A title as well.

The 11-3 Yellowjackets rolled up 323 rushing yards, paced by Chance Hughes 169 yards and two TD's as Central successfully repeated as 3A state football champs by beating Breathitt County 40-19 in front of their enthusiastic fans, students and alumni.

Congrats once again to Central as they proved they are the best 3A football team in Kentucky. Can they threepeat? We'll find out when the 2009 season kicks off.