Grumpy Old Dude at 12 O'Clock! or "What if it was your kid?"

Let me put forth a scenario for you all to ponder.

Your Daughter is sitting at the mall food court, talking about stuff and just generally being teenagers. They are being loud and maybe a little disruptive. (Teenagers remember?) The family at the next table over suffer through this for awhile and finally get tired of it all so the father gets up and comes over the kids table. He asks the teenagers to keep in down and stop being so disruptive. Your daughter, being annoyed that some old dude is telling her what to do, mouths off and refuses to quiet down. With me so far?

Okay so now you've got grumpy older dude and confrontational teenager. Both are annoyed and both aren't really feeling the spirit of cooperation. Grumpy older dude decides to literally take matters into his own hands, so he grabs your daughter and proceeds to drag her around the food court until she calms down.

Now if anyone saw a video of some random guy physically assaulting some teenager just because that teen had a smart mouth, they would be outraged. (Well most of you would, judging from some commentary I have seen, some of you are perfectly okay with people assaulting children when they mouth off.) Most people would be screaming for the man to be arrested for child abuse. If the old dude in question happened to be the kid's dad, he'd probably be arrested and his kids taken away from him.

So, why pray tell is everyone somehow okay when a man does that to a kid in a school just because he is wearing a police officer's uniform? The man has a badge and suddenly it is okay that he grabs a non violent kid and drags them all around the room? Why is what would normally be a horrific act okay because he is a Cop?

Being a cop does not make you into some mythical being that can do whatever they want or never do the wrong thing. Cops are people, people are fallible and cops make mistakes. Just like when everyone else is caught making a mistake, they should be held accountable for their actions. Instead people try to enshrine them and take any attacks against bad individuals as an attack against the whole. Why is that?

I think one of the main reasons we don't want to admit that bad cops do bad things is the same reason people try to dismiss horrific, racially motivated acts of terrorism such as the Church Shooting as something else other than racism. People like to pretend that the world is a magical little place where things like violent cops and racism no longer exist. They want to believe that we have moved past all of that even when the evidence proves them wrong.

If bad cops exist then people actually have to think whenever someone claims police brutality. If they don't exist, then all of those claims are lies meant to make cops look bad. Whenever an innocent person is assaulted or murdered by bad cops, it threatens the imaginary world view that so many people seem to have built up about how far we have grown and evolved.

Things will never improve or get better till people stop hiding from the truth and start working to fix things. I fully believe that 95% of all cops are good cops. I also believe that of the “bad” cops, well over half of them aren't bad. The stress of the job and perhaps stress in their own lives make them make mistakes. However, they still make mistakes and the mistakes they make can hurt a lot of people. If they cannot do their job without hurting innocent people, they need to find another kind of work.

End of Rant

And now a word from our Sponsor or...Gonna make him famous.

This looks kind of like my brother but more belly and less hair.

     Now occasionally y'all know I get lazy and instead of doing a blog of my own, I steal one from my brother who is a much better writer and pundit than I will ever be.  I use the excuse that he has  come up with some brilliant observation that I feel should reach more of the world than his blog usually does (rimshot!) but in reality, I just don't feel like writing anything and doing that is a sneaky way of legally plagiarizing someone else's wprk.

     Ever since the death of Trayvon Martin several years ago, there has been a dramatic and overwhelming amount of attention being paid to police deaths and deaths committed by police.  Videos shot by people with camera phones and even videos coming straight from police dash cams and body cams have shown far too many deaths caused by police officers that seemed questionable and even some that could only be described as outright murder.  Hue and Cry has arisen from both sides of the aisles over the issues and the fight is still ongoing today.

     Let me state right here that I believe that the majority of cops are good, hard working honest men and women who uphold our laws and risk their lives every day.  They deserve far more praise than they get for the dirty job they do.  However, I also feel that, as with any large group, there is also a significant number of dirty cops out there who let their own personal rage and bigotry drive them to do horrible things.  The first should be defended to the death and the second should be prosecuted at all costs.

     People on both sides love to toss out "numbers" without context to prove their points forgetting that statistics are just numbers, not facts.  They can tell you how much of X happened, but not the underlying reasons for it.  So generally I tend to avoid articles that have (SHUDDER) math in them, but my brother's work has some math in it, but is still mostly harmless to read.

   Well enough of my ranting (even though it is my blog), enjoy my Brother's piece.

Let my brother Mathify y'all a little.

End of Rant

Y'all might be a Cantservative if or Really? That makes no sense at all.

YOU MIGHT BE A CANTSERVATIVE IF...

1.  If you think Obama is a Gay Muslim Illegal Alien, you might be a Cantservative.

2.  If you believe the best way to bring peace in the Middle East is to go to war, you might be a Cantservative.  

3.  If you believe that Hillary Clinton should be arrested and prosecuted for deleting emails from a private server, but that it was okay for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to do the very same thing, you might be a Cantservative.

4.  If you believe that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are all Obama's fault, you might be a Cantservative.

5.  If you think arresting, holding and torturing dozens of people for over a decade without trial or conviction is okay because.. MURRICA!  You might be a Cantservative.

6.  If you really and truly believe that a party who cuts funding for the poor and passes laws that make it illegal to feed the homeless cares about anyone but the Rich, you might be a Cantservative.

7.  If you believe that a party that wants to cut funding for women's healthcare and limit their access to life saving care really cares about women's health and rights, you might be a Cantservative.

8.  If you go on and on about the threat of Sharia Law taking over the US but are perfectly okay with laws based strictly off of Christian faith being the law of the land, you might be a Cantservative.

9.  If you really believe that people who have had multiple divorces can run on a program of "family values" for President, you might be a Cantservative.

Finally...

10.  If you read this list and found more than one thing that you objected to, YOU ARE A CANTSERVATIVE

End of Rant.

(Thank you thank you!  I'me here all week.  And before people start griping, I have one for Liarberals coming up next.)

Tha tha that's all folks!

WHO NEEDS IT!!!! or Edumaction is for dummies

FAUX NEWS STRIKES AGAIN!

"Could you imagine the outcry from liberal activists if the students had been forced to write “Jesus is Lord’?"

Idiot who wrote the "article."

Pick a God any God.  Take two they're small

      Okay, as usual I feel the obligation to point out to all of you that I am indeed a Christian and have been off and on most of my life.  Having fairly recently rediscovered my faith, I praise God everyday for all of the blessings and gifts he has given me.  So please just forget the hate mail and such I normally get when I post things like this.  I am not saying "Allah be praised" or smearing pasta sauce on my belly and praying to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  (Well the praying part I'm not doing any way.)  I am merely pointing out the rampant bigotry and double standards that so many so called Christians and Americans seem to have to day.  Okay aside done.  Onward and downward!

     If you have read the article, then you know what  this rant is about.  If you haven't read it, please do so and come back.  We'll wait for you.  (Hums to self while doing the  hokie pokie)  Back?  Excellent!  We can now move on.  So apparently there is much uproar and hooplah in good old Tennessee (Well at least it ain't Texas or Arizona this time.  That's a change, right?" because kids are being taught about the Culture of Islam.  People are screaming "Religions Indoctrination and proselytization." The fact that is so called Christians doing this amuses me to no end since those two things are pretty much their reason to live.

     Now let's get one thing perfectly clear and if you have read the article you know this....  (Again if you haven't by this point, SHAME ON YOU!  GO BACK AND READ IT SLACKERS!)  Ahem, anyways, lets keep going.  Where was I?  Oh yeah!  The course being taught is basically a course designed to teach kids about another culture and its beliefs.  It is an attempt to show  them an aspect of the world that they might (Certainly not with those parents, SHEESH) not ever encounter on their own.  In other words it is an attempt to educate them and open their eyes to the rest of the world.

If you don't know it, you can't understand it.  If you  can't understand it, you aren't allowed to hate it.  My Blog, my rules!

     Okay so now that we have the basics out of the  way, lets quickly cover  the insanely hypocritical and truly stupid quote from the article.  (I posted it at the very beginning of the blog so even the folks who were too lazy to read the article.  I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!  I SAW YOU!  Ahem, sorry too many energy drinks, I think.)  I'll post it  again just in case you missed it  and don't feel like scrolling up.

"Could you imagine the outcry from liberal activists if the students had been forced to write “Jesus is Lord’?"

     

     Now, like most BS, this  one has a grain (Corn?) of true  in it.  A large number of Liarberals would indeed raise unholy havoc if public schools started teaching a class on Christianity.  I can hear them now.  (No wait, that's my stomach.  I think I might be hungry.)  However the hypocrisy arises when you realize that Cantservatives all over the nation are trying to get Christian Creation taught in Public Schools not as a study in religions, but as absolute fact.  (The fact that these dummies want Creationism taught as fact, but don't want Evolution taught always amuses me."  

     See so called Christians, especially ones in positions of power would LOVE if students, even non Christian ones, were being taught  the Bible and being forced to write "Jesus is our Lord and Savior." If people did this, there would be tons of GOP support for increased spending on schools.  don't believe me?  Keep in mind that these are the same people who want School Led Mandatory Prayer and make a fuss if any holidays except for Christian ones appear on school calendars.

Is evil!  Unless it is Christian Religion, then its okay.

     In closing, I want to say one thing.  Well maybe three or four, my thoughts are kind of small.  Merrica prides itself on being the smartest, best educated country in the world.  (It ain't, not even close)  We imagine ourselves as being better than the rest of the world.  We think of ourselves and being more cultured and more urbane than any other land.  But things like just prove that we are closer to the Country Hick who gets off a plane in Australia and sees a Kangaroo for the first time and says, "There ain't no such animal."  If it isn't AMERICAN!  OORAH! then it isn't important.  If it isn't Christian, then it ain't real.  While other nations (even some Third World ones) are teaching their kids other languages, other cultures and beliefs to prepare them for what  I like to call the "Real World"  we are deliberately dumbing down our kids by teaching them only what we like.

     Folks, even if you really believe that Islam is the religion of the Devil and all Muslims are rampaging terrorists (It isn't, they aren't just in case you are wondering."  you should really want your kids to learn as much about them as possible.  I mean, when Enraged Muslim Terrorists sneak over our Mexican Borders (Really?  sigh) to steal our bacon and force us to eat Halal foods, we should know as much as we can to battle them, right?  When Obama, the Gay Muslim Illegal Immigrant raises his Holy Jihad and steals all of our guns, we should know what to do, right?  So let our schoolsl do their job and educate our kids on how to save our country!  Sheesh!

     In closing, let me leave you with this simple thought.  Not that long ago, schools proudly taught classes on other cultures, other religions and yes, other languages.  People learned about Islam, Judaism and even Multi-Theistic religions such as those in ancient times.  It was considered normal and even required in some cases.  Today with rampant bigotry and hatred every where, all of this is fading away.  Students are being taught Politically Correct versions  of our own history and as little other other history as possible.  (Funny how it is always Conservatives calling Liberals out on being too PC, but they are the ones trying to sanitize all of the horrors and atrocities that Americans /Christians have committed over the years.)  Let kids learn all they can.  Let them understand other religions and other cultures.   It might just save their lives.  Course it will definitely kill their ignorance.

End of Rant.

Without sin...etc etc or Nobody knows the memes I've seen.

     So everyone and their cousins are posting  meme after meme after unending meme about how the county clerk, Kim Davis has been arrested for not obeying the law.  Some crow in joy over her incarceration and  others scream "RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION!" at the top of their lungs.  Pretty much everyone has an opinion and cannot wait to get their two cents out for others to see.  I have some words for both sides.
     For the Right Wing So-Called Christian Conservatives, I say this.  YOU'RE WRONG!  She is not being persecuted for her beliefs.  She is being arrested and hopefully punished because she broke the laws that she is sworn to uphold.  And your comparisons to the tired, old "Gay Cake/Floral Arrangements" argument are just as wrong.  This isn't a case of  a private business claiming (Incorrectly) the right to refuse service to people they don't like or approve of.  This is a case of an official of the US Government taking it upon herself to refuse to obey the laws that she swore to uphold.
     See there are a lot laws that I don't like.  I don't like speed limits.  I don't like not being able to wear nothing but my underwear in public.  However, I don't get to chose which laws I obey.  Well I do but when I get caught, I get punished.  It isn't persecution.  I broke the law and the law bites back.  Whether she approves of the law allowing Same Sex couples to marry has nothing to do with it.  If her job is to issue marriage licenses to all people who are eligible, then she has to issue them to everyone, not just the ones she likes.
     So Religious Righters, get over it and quit crying foul.  I mean the moment Mike Huckabee jumped on the band wagon, you should have known you were wrong.  Davis broke the law because of her religious beliefs which is cool.  That is her right.  People have objected over religious beliefs since the dawn of time.  However, her religious beliefs don't protect her from the repercussions of her actions.  Like the old saying goes, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime" and make no mistake.  What she did was a crime.
     Now that I am done with the Right Wingers, please allow me to shift my diatribe to the Left Wingers, just in case you had thought I had forgotten you.  I have lost count of how many memes I have seen in the past few hours which basically amount to "ALL RIGHT, THE BITCH IS IN JAIL!  EVERYBODY DANCE!"  Now whereas I understand the sentiment and try to understand the frustration behind it.  (Can't truly understand it being White Middle Aged Straight Male or WMASM for short, but I do try.), celebrating the fact that a woman who's only crime was refusing to follow a law because of deeply set religious beliefs is a bit petty.
     Davis was not going out and shouting to the rooftops "DEATH TO GAYS!  FAGS SUCK! (Snigger)"  As far as I know, she wasn't even bad mouthing the couples coming in for marriage licenses.  She was simply refusing to  help them.  This is wrong and she does deserve to be punished, but the posts I see where people are wishing that she gets beaten/killed/raped in jail is messed up.  Stop wishing horrible things and just  be happy that Justice might be served.
     In the end, things will be worked  out.  She will either cave into pressure and do her  damned job or she will be removed from her  job and someone who  will do it will be put in her place.  Justice will be served whether the Religious Right  approves of it or not.  Be happy with that and move on with your lives.

End of Rant

Meme what you say and Say what you Meme or Does this post make my head look stupid?

     (Okie Dokie, lets take a swing at stupid.  Careful though, cause Stupid tends to swing back and for people with very few brain cells to rub together, they are surprisingly good shots.)
     Not really sure what year it is in the Chinese Calendar (Rat, Pig, Dragon etc) but sometimes I think the past few years should be lumped together to form the Year of the Meme.  For those who are unaware of what a meme is (Which rocks do you live under),  a meme (At least from my limited understanding) is some cute, buzz worthy picture or phrase that tends to float around the Interwebz that tries to boil down extremely complex issues into a couple of phrases and maybe a picture or three.  Because of the parsing of information nessecary to create a Meme, they are more often than not...WRONG!
     I tend to avoid Memes as much as possible except to confuse people and liven up my pages.  I often post ones that amuse me and that I think might have a grain of truth in them.  However, as a general rule, I don't make the meme the end all and be all of my argument.  If someone comes back and says, "Your Meme is a big stupid, doody head lie" I am usually prepared to back up what I posted with some semblance of an argument.  Or I come back with a witty rejoinder like, "OH YEAH!  WELL SEZ YOU!" and move on with my life.

(For those who are curious, its a song from Sesame Street.  Look it up they cute.)

     So an Interwebz/Vaguebook Friend that I really like and enjoy somewhat stimulating and mock intellectual arguifying with (Waves at John McDuffie) posted both of these memes today and believe it or not I am not using them to mock him or question his sanity/intellect.  I am using them because they are  perfect examples of how  a Meme may have a grain of truth in them, but that truth is  more often than not drowned out by the silo of pure BS.  (Get it grain...silo?  Come on folks this is prime stuff here!)  So let us briefly study each one with an eye on the truth vs BS.

Oh sing it with me!  "One of these things is not like the other.  Which one is different do you know?"

     The first one is one of hundreds of Interwebz Memes trying to draw comparisons between White on Black Violence and Black on White Violence.  Usually these memes are used to somehow justify the Police Shootings and outright murder of Unarmed Black People,so this one scores points for at least being different.  However, the wording is always  the same.  Usually Memers (New word, I get a nickle every time you use it!) try and make White on Black violence seem somehow not so bad because, "HEY LOOK BLACK FOLKS DO IT TO US TOO!"  Now this argument is kind of stupid for two reasons.

     Reasons the first.  Just because Black Person X does some horribly violent thing against White Person Y or even if a hundred Xs do it to a 100 Ys, that doesn't justify shooting a small child carrying a toy gun seconds after your arrival.  (Side note here, White Conservatives try to justify the Rice Shooting because the Cop had to make a split second decision and was unsure if the gun was real, but expect same cops to make all nice nice with a bunch of White Men running around carrying Automatic weapons and not assuming the White Men are dangerous until they actually shoot someone.  Gotta love that.  Anyhoo, side note done.)  Cops aren't supposed to assume that all White folks with guns are dangerous even though every single mass school shooting was done by White Christian kids so why is the assumption that they can judge any Black person they encounter by the actions of other Blacks?

     Reasons B.  This particular meme is moronic because it says "Liberals blame Racism."  Got news for you!  Liberals didn't blame Racism.  The Terrorist who shot and killed all of those Black Folks blamed racism.  He screamed Racist statements as he shot them.  He wrote (plagiarized) ream after ream about how Blacks were ruining the country and how they all needed to die in his Manifesto.  Liberals didn't make this about Race, he did.  Conservatives are desperately trying to make it not against race because this Racist White (Presumably Christian) Terrorist makes them look bad.  Its called Damage Control.  Look it up. 

     Now like any good but badly inaccurate Meme, this one also has a grain of truth in it.  Well I am presuming it does,  I am really too lazy to look up exactly how many glaciers the Earth has and how many are still left so we will give the creator of this one the benefit of the doubt.  Here the stupidity isn't on how many glaciers there were or how many are left, but the size of said glaciers.  Despite what  your wife may tell you, Size does indeed matter so pay attention.
     The question isn't how many glaciers are left on the planet, but how  big  they are.  Thanks to climate change  (used to be Global Warming but Conservatives decided that the phrase was too scary and changed it to CC.  Yes it was the Conservatives not Liberals, no matter what you want to think.) glaciers are shrinking at a rate that is actually perceivable to the naked eye.  An Observer can go to glacier X and study a section, then come back a week later and the section is  complete changed.  If the rate of thaw continues, areas that have been covered in ice for 10s of thousands of years will be ice free in just a few years.  So even if you assume the meme's numbers are correct, by the time your Dachshund is ready for senior food, it won't be anymore.
     Memes are cute and good for a quick media buzz.  However, anytime you try to use a meme to prove your point, you run the risk of making yourself look less that smart like and can drive all but the most simple minded/like minded people away from your argument.  Instead of simply posting memes willy nilly, try to find something that actually helps your cause.  Might take a bit longer, but you won't look quite as silly.

End of Rant

Flipping out or Both sides of the same coin.

   

On a one way, unpaved street.

     So earlier this week, while I was working I listened to live streaming radio on my Smartphone.  The channel I use switches between music and different types of talk radio just because I like a lot of variety in my listening.  It stopped on one talk between a Liberal type politician and a very Conservative host.  They were speaking about the various forms of social programs the US and State Government put out to help the poor and needy.  Needless to say (Ever notice that people always say, "Needless to say" then go right on and say it?  Kind of like "And now a man who needs no introduction."  Dude you just introduced him so obviously that's not true.) the Host took the usual "Well it is not the Government's job to take care of the poor, that is the job of charities and chuches" path and the Liberal took the "The Government needs to spend more money to fund programs that help the poor and needy no matter what!" path.  Usual dance going on, just on a different day.
     Now this got me thinking.  (Yeah I know, it is a bad habit and I am really trying to stop but its like eating bacon flavored, chocolate coated potato chips.  You can't stop with just one,)  I consider myself to be a fairly Moderate type person who can generally see the advantages of both sides of the political spectrum, so while I was scrubbing dishes and folding boxes, I really pondered the whole WELFARE (dramatic music inserted here complete with echos.) situation.  Sadly, as it often does, my thoughts went off on a tangent from where the thoughts began.  I began to ponder the people making the claims instead of the actual claims.
     Conservatives believe that there should be little or no Government sponsored support programs for the very poor and needy.  They believe that it is the job of the Churches, Charities and People to provide all of the things that might help people live a little better and maybe get out from under the burden of poverty.  Keep in mind that  most still believe (at least in spirit) that the Poor should be helped, just that the help should not come from tax dollars and the government.  To these people I say, "Great idea!  Noble sentiment!  So how much have YOU done to help the Poor and Needy today?  This week?  This month?"
     Now you'd think that the question would provoke overwhelming waves of how much good these Cantservatives have done.  Hours spent working in food kitchens.  Hundreds of dollars donated to to charities.  Dozens more hours spent helping out in Shelters and other places that help the poor and homeless.  I mean, if your entire political philosophy is based off the idea that it is the job of the common man to help make sure people have food to eat and shelter over their heads, then there must be an almost unending supply of people within your folds working to help, right?

Brother can you spare a dime?

     Well, not too surprisingly, the Cantservatives I have spoken too and the more vocal ones I see ranting on the news or in Interwebz articles listen to those questions and draw a completely blank look.  Most point out that they don't have time to help out and even  more point out that they don't have the extra cash to donate to charities.  Hells, most of them would be hard pressed to admit they tithe in church.  So they believe that it is the job of people and charities to help the poor, just not themselves.  There is the disconnect for Cantservatives.

Everybody dance!

     Now hold on there, partners.  Afore you Liberals get to dancing too much because of the nasty things I just said, let me tell you that y'all are next on this here hit parade.
     Liarberals believe that the Government should do everything it can to support and protect the Poor and Needy.  They think that billions of dollars should be spent willy nilly every single year to feed, clothe and house those that need help.  They feel that more and more programs should be designed to do this job all over the country.
     So, here is the disconnect when it comes to Liarberals at least as far as I can see.  Same sampling as the Cantservatives (personal experiences and listening to news and reading articles) shows me that when you ask them the same question as you ask the Cantservatives, "So how much have you done to help the poor and needy personally?" they get really vague and confused looks on their faces like they can't even begin to understand the question.  When you do get answers back it is generally along the lines of "Well that ain't my job, that is the Government's job.  That's why I pay my taxes."
     So you see, both sides have completely opposite reactions to how things should be done, but have the same opinion on what their personal responsibilities are.  It basically boils down to, "That ain't my responsibility, that is someone else's job.  The only difference is who they feel is supposed to do the job.
     Here is my personal two cents and you can take it for what it is worth.  It is EVERYONE'S responsibility to help people who need help.  The Government should do everything it can to help the poor and needy.  Charities and Churches should do the same thing.  Individuals should also do everything to help too.  It is not "someone else's job."  It's your job.

End of Rant.