Hoist the Double Standard Again or Painting for dummies.

     So there has been a shooting where armed men in bulletproof vests fired at a group of Black Lives Matters protesters.  Now all the details aren't in yet and with cries of White Supremacists and a marvelous conspiracy theory running around that the shooters were actually undercover cops, I am actually going to wait to through in on the good/bad in this situation.  (One video purporting to be of BLM people there seems to say that the shooters were chased from the scene and attacked and then opened fire, but like I said actual facts are still coming in.
     What I am going to comment on are the ever so predictable "All BLM members are terrorists!" bs running around.  Because a small number of BLM protestors have made comments such as "Pigs in the blanket, burn em all up!"  and one BLM member may have shot an police officer, the White Logic(TM) seems to be that ALL BLM members are terrorists and out to kill cops.  Course, we shouldn't be surprised.  After all these are the same people that say all Muslims are terrorists because of the actions of a few so like I said predictable.  
     Now what's so durned knee slapping funny is these are the same people who say "Well you can't judge all gun owners for the actions of a small number of murderers"  or "You can't blame White people" when a white man goes into a church and shoots and kills a bunch of Black people.  It is a classic case of the old double standard.
     In the classic case of US vs THEM (Pick any us or any them, it will apply.  Trust me!) the double standard always flies high, especially when it is a volatile and controversial idea.  You will always find the US condemning the THEM for acts of not niceness while doing everything they can to make sure that all of their fellow US aren't painted with a broad brush as well.
   Fer example, Terrorism!  US loves to show all of the horrors committed by THEM, such as bombing innocents or gunning down whole groups of US.   By US standards, all of THEM are indeed terrorists of the worst sort because a small number of THEM have done bad things.  Now spin around and THEM accuses US of being terrorists because we fly armed drones into hospitals or homes or neighborhoods in the blind hope of possibly killing one THEM.  In the process, US kills hundreds and hundreds of THEM who's only crime was being in the place being bombed.  But US aren't terrorists, no no no!  US is waging a war on terror so US cannot possibly be terrorists.
    That is just one example.  There are many more out there.  Don't even get me started on politics where OUR party is all okay even the idiots, but THEIR party is completely corrupted and evil and out to destroy the country.  GAWDBLESSMERRICA!  OORAH!  
     Something in the human nature seems to force this blind, adversarial mindset where if people aren't part of your little group then they must be the bad guys.  Or even better, if some of a group (as long as it isn't your group of course) do something bad then all of said group must be bad too.  We can't seem to help it.  Bad wiring maybe?
     People say that all cops aren't bad because some cops commit horrible acts of violence against Blacks.  Then they turn around and say that all members of BLM are bad because some might be bad.  That is the highest I have ever seen the Double Standard flown and I have seen it flown pretty durned high.  So just remember, if you want to paint all of a group with broad strokes don't come whining back when someone else hits you with a spray painter.  Just saying.

Charity vanishes at home or Homeless, I don't see no stinking homeless.

Wow, look at that empty street!

How was that again?

     So here we are a few days after the horrific Paris attacks and, after a brief period where no one tried to blame the Refugees or Obama, things have returned to normal.  You got memes galore blaming Obama for the bombings, the crisis in the Middle East that caused the flood of Refugees to begin with and, of course, you have Conservative Politicians blustering about making completely useless claims that they would ban any refugees from entering their states.  (Newsflash for the dim minded, they can't but hey its all show and circuses anyways right?)

     So the two biggest trends I see in these memes are Homeless Children and Homeless Veterans.  Now I also see Homeless in general and some just using the Poor.  However, the main ones are Kids and Veterans.  Now I get the trends.  I mean nothing pulls at the old heartstrings more than hungry waifs and abused Vets, so when you are trying to fan the fires of hate, who better to use?  Hence, the dozens of memes I have seen working off those heart-wrenching images.

     Now, here is the part that I find absolutely pathetic and simultaneously hilarious at the same time.  I have to wonder, out of all the people posting "Well we should take care of the homeless kids and vets first" memes, how many of them actually give a flying backwards half gainer flip about the very people they are posting memes about?  Do they even notice them when they walk down the streets?  

     I have seen dozens of social experiment videos that pretty much prove the answer to that one is no.  One really great one had the filmers dress family members up as homeless and position them in plain view of another family as they walked down the streets "begging" for food or money.  Even though their faces were clearly visible, the "homeless" were completely ignored.  Here is the link to the social experiment video.

THEY'RE INVISIBLE!

     As for homeless Vets, our so-called leaders on both sides of the aisle have already proven that they are damned good at sending men and women to war, but really don't give a damn about them once they get home again so that little meme is a bit of a joke.  How many people even notice a man standing on the side of the road holding a sign saying "Homeless veteran, please help?"  

     So to all of you "We need to help the  homeless children and Vets out there, I just have one simple question.  What the hell have you done today to help?  Did you "round up your change" at your local grocery store to help the homeless?  Did you buy food and donate it to the local food banks or homeless shelters?  Did you volunteer your time to help out at those same institutions?  Did you stop and speak to a homeless family on the side of the road to see how you could help?  (Wow that's more than one question isn't it?)  The answer for the vast majority of you is probably no.

     There is a great series of books where they introduce the concept of the SEP or Somebody Else's Problem.  It is a comical way of rendering things nearly invisible by making people just not notice them.  The Homeless are basically SEPs, but not in a humorous way.  People ignore them because they think one of two things.  The first is that the people are obviously faking it so they can rake in huge amounts of cash and treasures begging on the streets.  The second is that people actually need help, but helping them is other people's responsibility.

     (As an aside, anyone who thinks you get rich panhandling has obviously never begged for food and money.  You should try it sometimes, you might make enough for a Big Mack.  No fries or soda, though.)

     So here is the deal and it is a simple one. Until you actually care about the homeless and do something to help them, you don't get to post stupid memes about turning away refugees and...well helping homeless Vets and Kids.  Until you spend a few hours in a soup kitchen serving food or hand out blankets to people who are freezing to death, you don't get to pass laws banning refugees from your states.  Until you are willing to give a handful of change to the guy on the street, you don't get to comment on "helping the homeless."  In simple words, put your actions where your mouth is.

End of Rant

Friend one and Friend two, Friend two and Friend one or No, sorry you are not being oppressed.

That's what he said...

 I have a friend. He isn't the sharpest pea in the haystack, but he is my friend. He loves to argue against equal rights and treatment under the law because “You cannot legislate morality.” He argues that men should be allowed to find equality and balance without the pesky intervention of laws and legislation. Now anyone with even the smallest understanding of humanity and history will know this isn't true and probably question said friend's sanity. God knows I often do. However, in a sense he is correct.

Wait wait, before you start hitting me with rocks, let me expand further. I have another friend who is actually extremely intelligent and wise that I disagree on with one or two issues. He feels also feels that people would just be better off if people were allowed to do their own things without interference from the Government. What these two friends have in common is that their views are pretty much a Utopian ideal. (Admittedly the second friend's idea of Utopia is a bit different from most, but that is one of the reasons I love him.)

In an overly simplified sense, both are right. In a Utopian world where everyone could be trusted to play nice and work towards the common good of everyone, their ideas might work. If man was not a greedy, selfish animal interested only in his personal well being, things might work out okay. (Funny side note here, Friend #1 keeps arguing we don't need laws because we are no longer the greedy selfish “robber barons” of a hundred years ago while blissfully ignoring the facts.) Unfortunately for the world, man is just as bad as he has ever been. How many 1000s of acres of Rain Forest will be destroyed this year? How much poison will be pumped into our air and water? People are still hell bent on destroying the world simply for their own advancement.

(Funny aside the second, Friend #1 argues that this is okay and that these people aren't being destructive robber barons because they “obey the law” while ignoring the fact that the laws are being written by the rich and powerful to further the interests of the rich and powerful while leaving everyone else to choke in poisons.)

Anyhoo, I have actually wandered away from the main subject of this rant. The idea of legislating morality. See in that mythical perfect world, no one would have to legislate morality because it would be inherent. But since the people in power want to stay in power and certainly don't want to share that power with anyone else, especially “them,” (The them being spoke of varies but the idea is constant.) they find or invent ways around sharing.

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that ALL men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain rights.” Okay slightly edited but you get the idea and the full text appears at the start. See that is a very simple statement. It should be all anyone needs to understand. ALL (Everyone regardless of race, color or religion) MEN (Well in this case mankind not just possessors of the Y Chromosome (Total aside here, WTF do I always try to spell Chromosome with an N instead of an M on the end?) are created equal and they all have the exact same rights. See nice and simple. No ambiguity, no confusion. Right?

See unfortunately, that is not the case. People of power interpreted that to mean all WHITE CHRISTIAN MEN (in this case the people with that Y Chromosome) had certain rights. Not Women, not Blacks, not Native Americans but WCMs and as a side note, not all groups of Christianity were included in that. For an easy reference, look at all the uproar when Roman Catholic JFK was elected POTUS.

My Friend (1 not 2) argues that special interest groups will always try to pass laws and legislation that give them special rights and privileges. In a sense he is right. What he ignores is that he is a member of the #1 Most Powerful special interest group in the country being that he is a White Male. He ignores the fact that his group has been making laws that benefit it for the entire life of the US and still is. He gets peeved off because now, other special interest groups are enacting laws that provide them equal treatment under the laws.

Throughout history, the moment the ruling force is challenged in any government, those in power and those with all the protections, start screaming that they are being oppressed and predicting that their freedoms will be destroyed in the near future. See, what they fail to understand is that just because other people are now being given the same rights and protections as the majority does in no way shape or form reduce the rights the majority has. It just means the majority isn't more special than everyone else. Sucks for the, but is great for everyone else. So suck it up, Buttercups because in a way, you are right. As far as you are concerned, it is only just going to get worse.

End of Rant

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.