Bergdahl treatment shows a darker side

I would like to start off by apologizing for taking so much time between blogs. I lead a pretty hectic life, and sometimes, it feels like my only rest comes when I’m sleeping.

I enjoy my right to free speech, and I am eternally grateful for those that fought for that right. I can sit here, post this blog, without fear of repercussions from the government. Unlike in a place like China which has blocked much of the internet to prevent people from learning about the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989. China this week blocked google in an effort to keep people from learning of the event in which the government slaughtered student protesters.

Earlier this week, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was released from a Taliban prison in exchange for five members of the Taliban. This is a time honored tradition that every war time president has done. The first act of kindness to POW’s can be traced back to Clovis I in the year 464.

For reasons that escape logic, the GOP is actually pissed off about this recent trade. They’d prefer that Bergdahl die in prison, or that’s just how they come across. I don’t care if Bergdahl walked off his post, in the abstract, that’s a red herring argument. Now, if he’d engaged in the rape of village women, killed an unarmed citizen, or committed a viler war crime, then I could see the backlash. However, I cannot fathom why there is this backlash. Who knows what intel Bergdahl might have amassed during his time as a POW. And by the way, John McCain, you’ve officially gone off the deep end. When news first broke, McCain, a former POW himself, was against the trade, and bashed President Obama is the press. While he has since reversed course, he still came off rather badly. I wonder what would have happened if party politics had been the way they are now 40 or 50 years ago. I wonder what would have gone through McCain’s mind if he read that his own country was upset that he was part of a prisoner trade, and they’d rather he’d rot.

I thought I’d take this time to highlight something from the Geneva Convention (something that the core GOP wish didn’t exist). A person is entitled to POW status if combatant must be part of a chain of command, wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance", bear arms openly, and have conducted military operations according to the laws and customs of war. Under special circumstances, inhabitants of a non-occupied territory can also be considered a POW if they  spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units.

Oh, for the record, here are the five winners we traded: Mohammad Fazl, Khairullah Khairkhwa,  Norullah Noori Mohammed  Nabi Omari Abdul Haq Wasiq

Now these are all evil men, there is no doubt, but let’s not act like this is the first time we’ve traded people of this caliber to get one of our own POWs. Hell, even John Bellinger, former Administration Official for Bush said that George W would have made the trade. Hell, Czar Ronald Reagan once traded 1,500 weapons for hostages. Yeah, you read that right, Ronald Reagan the God of the current GOP once gave terrorist weapons in exchange for hostages. Tell me how a 5 for 1 swap is so terrible? And let’s not kid ourselves, I’m sure the government has ways of tracking them. After all, it was the Obama White House that managed to locate and eliminate Bin Laden, something the Bush White House FAILED to do in eight years.

I won’t even get started on Fox News. I’m just going to say that the assailment of Sgt. Bergdahl is one thing. However, the attack on the man’s family is the most gutless act of cowardice one can imagine. The brain-dead trio on Fox and Friends went as far as to say that Bergdahl’s father looked like a Taliban member! Are you goddamn kidding me? But this is the type of ruthless mentality that the “journalist” that Murdoch employs at his GOP media outlet known as Fox News. Their job isn’t to report the news, it’s to be critical of everything President Obama does. I find it funny how scandalous such an attitude would have been from 2001-2008, and for that, I offer the Dixie Chicks as an example. And just the notion that so many rally behind the idea of leaving one of their countrymen to die just confounds me beyond what words can express. When you break it down, Bowe Bergdahl has a family that missed him, hoped for his return. What really should have been a day of celebration, this once anonymous family has been thrust into the public light, and is having their lives turned upside down. What does it say for our society as a whole that we allow that to go on? What other country treats a serviceman in this manner. We really should hold our heads in shame. This is not how we wish to be portrayed when it comes to how we treat those who fight for this country.

I understand that people reading this are going to have a different opinion than me on this, and I look forward to the feedback. I hope to get back to blogging on a more regular schedule.

Michael Sam history in the making

The majority of the time, I know what the blog is going to be about. And there are those times, when there are so many topics that I want to tackle, that I struggle to make the choice of what I chose. And then there are times like these, where I feel like I know what I’m going to talk about, but where is it going to take me is what I don’t know.

Last week at this time, I was rooting for Michael Sam to be drafted. Not just because he’d be the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL, but because the kid does possesses the talent to play in the league. He’s not going to be a starter at the point, but he’ll make a great special teams player, and he should do well it plays against teams in pass mode. He’s lacking that burst of speed that the starting pass rushes in the NFL usually have. It took up to the final round of the final day before he was selected. He celebrated with his boyfriend, a former swimmer, and planted on him a celebratory kiss, just as many other players had done with their girlfriends and mothers. While ESPN pretty shrugged it off, and didn’t make a big deal about it, other did. On Fox and Friends, they assumed that ESPN had “motives” for broadcasting the kiss. Miami Dolphins’ player Don Jones, an average player known for sitting on the bench more than his play in the field, tweeted his disgust. He was suspended by the Dolphins, a team still in recovery mode over “Haze-Gate”. Then there was Marshall Henderson’s ill-conceived attempt to give the world a psychology lesson. He has since tweeted that his comments were to just get a reaction from the public, but all and all, his experiment could have been done a lot better. Needless to say, his timing was horrible.

I’m happy that Michael Sam was drafted, and I wish it had been by Tampa Bay. I’m annoyed at the amount of negative reaction he got for a simple kiss. I saw nothing wrong with what happened. But then again, my life isn’t dictated by an old book of fairy tales either. And if you ask people why they are against same sex relationships, they will point to that big book of myth, commonly called the bible. Ask them to state another reason they won’t be able to find a valid one.

And then I began to think about a former NFL player, Jerry Smith. Smith was a star tight end for the Washington Redskins in the 1960’s and 70’s. If he played today, he’d be in the mold of an Eric Decker type. Smith was a star player who set many records, and by the time he retired, he held just about every receiving record for the position. Smith was a handsome man who attracted the attention of the ladies. However, many of the players, including their wives, began to suspect Smith was gay when he spurred all of their advances. No one of the team spoke a word. Perhaps Smith confided in former teammate Dave Kopay, who acknowledged he was gay well after his career was over. The public wouldn’t know about Smith’s sexuality until nearly a decade after he retired. Sadly, Jerry Smith became the first athlete to contract the disease known as AIDS. Smith’s jersey number 87 and the Redskins logo appeared on the AIDS quilt.

Smith had faded into history until the NFL Network presented a special on him under their “A Football Life” banner. Former teammates Calvin Hill and Brig Owens were interviewed on set, and viewers tweeted in questions. Owens, in no uncertain terms, said it was his belief that if Smith was a heterosexual man, that he’d be in the hall of fame by now. Owens stated he felt Smith’s sexuality was the sole reason that Smith was never going to be enshrined in the hall of fame.

Flash forward several years and now we have Michael Sam. We don’t know how Sam’s career is going to turn out.  He could play one or two years, he could play eight or nine. And then there is the slight chance he could play zero games. If he gets released before the regular season starts, you will have voices that say “it’s because he’s gay” that was the reason he was released. He could very well get released by the Rams, and snatched up by another team that feels he’s a get fit for their defensive scheme.  For right now, that’s neither here nor there. We are living through history. Michael Sam will forever be linked to being the first openly gay man playing an American sport. And so far, we’ve had two college athletes come out and admit their homosexuality and bisexuality respectively. There could be more down the line.

Maybe that could be a victory. None of us really knows how this is going to turn out, and that is partly what is so interesting about this. We’re on a train ride my friends, much like they were 60 plus years ago with Jackie Robinson ending the 50 year color barrio in major league baseball. And who knows, maybe the argument to electing Jerry Smith to his rightful place in the pro football hall of fame will follow. Sexuality of an athlete won’t matter, just like their skin color doesn’t matter anymore. And the naysayers of today will just as foolish as those generations before.

I’ll be rooting for a long career for Michael Sam. And I’ll be rooting for the culture change that is currently taking place to take shape.

So Long Sterling

April 29^th, 2014 is a day that will live forever in the lore of the National Basketball Association. It was the day that a newly minted commissioner Adam Silver stood at the podium, before a room filled with reporters, and the sounds of cameras clicking away. Obviously nervous, as it showed in his quaking voice, Silver lowered the boom heard around the world. Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers a franchise known more for failed draft picks and being at the bottom of the standings, was banned for life. No going to the office, no attending games, nothing. The only way Donald Sterling could watch a NBA game was to turn on the TV, or watch it online.  And not that it mattered to multi-millionaire Sterling, he was fined $2.5 million dollars, the max an owner or a player could be fined.

The sad part of this tale is that it’s been well documented that Sterling embraces outdated racist views. Sterling was sued twice over apartments he owned. He steadfast refused to rent to blacks (“They are Lazy and smell bad.” Sterling quipped, according to the testimony of a former employee of his rental company) and Latinos (“They don’t work; they sit around all day and drink.”) Sterling also refused to rent to people receiving government assistance. Sterling, according to the two lawsuits would recruit employees to give these renters surprise inspections, refuse to make repairs, and destroy checks made for rent payment in order to evict them. Sterling also settled in a lawsuit from Elgin Baylor, a legendary NBA player who worked in the front office.

I’ve seen plenty of viewpoints saying that V, the woman who secretly recorded Sterling in the phone conversation, and leaked it to TMZ, is bitter, a gold-digger, and a hussy. They say she did it for money. Well, let’s look at the failed logic of that line of thinking. Why would she cost Sterling millions and millions of dollars? She knew that there was going to be serious fallout, maybe not this bad, but she something was going to come of this. It wouldn’t make sense for her to record him and release the tape to the media.

However, the NBA has long been aware of Sterling, and has done zip, nothing to deal with him. It took Sterling’s mistress, it took a player revolt, and it took sponsors jumping the goddamn ship for the league to do a goddamn thing. The league didn’t care when Sterling, going on the cheap, demanded that his coaching staff learn how to tape ankles so he could relieve much of the training staff of their duties. The league did nothing when the stories of Sterling being discriminative in his rental policies came to light via lawsuits. The league let a legend like Baylor twist in the wind in order to not let the world know that one of its owners was a racist.

This is an actual Sterling quote: “I Support them and give them food, give them clothes and cars, and houses. Who gives it to them?” This was in response to how he could own an NBA team and have such racist views. They only comments that were more out of step with the times was when that tax evading scumbag Cliven Bundy said that blacks were better off as slaves.

There is no clearer villain in this than Donald Sterling. The NBA owners are just minor players who sat silent. Sterling is the one that is a racist. Sterling is the one who walked all over the poor and needy. Sterling has become the most vile owner since the late Marge Schott of the Cincinnati Reds. Schott used a very racist way to describe Dave Parker and Eric Davis (a word I won’t print here) and Schott also infamously said “Hitler wasn’t a bad guy, he just went too far.”

Congrats Sterling, you are now in the same class as a woman who praised Adolf Hitler. The NBA in the end did what it needed to do. It ran Donald Sterling and his vile, racist views out of the league. Donald Sterling’s name will always be connected to racism. The league in the end, saved itself, avoided alienating its fan base, an avoided a full out player revolt. I applaud the decision, and I applaud the strong stance Adam Silver took.  Now if only the NFL could convince Daniel Snyder to change the name of the Redskins, and if Major League Baseball could finally remove Cap Anson and Kennesaw Mountain Landis, two other vile racist, out of the hall of fame.

Gun owners, you've been had.

There is a wrestler in the WWE named “Bad News” Barrett. His gimmick involves taking the microphone and saying something like “I know you’ve all come here to see me lose, but I’ve got some Bad News for you.” Well, that’s pretty much summing up today’s blog. Gun owners, I’ve got some bad news for you….you’ve all been had.

The gun companies have played you. The NRA has played you. And the Republican Party has really played you. They played on your passion, and they played on your fears. They’ve used you for their own agenda. Gun owners, you got had.

This came to me one night, when I thought to myself, you never used to see gun stores advertise on TV. And now you do. The NRA, along with the GOP and their public relations outlet, Fox News, have stirred up such fear that President Obama is going to take away your guns, that you’ve given your hard earned money willing to stop it.

Well, President Obama doesn’t have to power to just outlaw guns. He never could just “take away your right to have a gun.”  Because exactly three-hundred and thirty-eight years ago, a little document was written called the US Constitution. The second Amendment assures the right to have a gun, but it is still debatable if it assures the right of every non-militia member to own a gun. That being said, I’m going to open the wizards curtain, and tell all of me gun owning, Second Amendment protecting friends how they’ve gotten played.

Let’s first take a quick look at the NRA. It was started in 1871 by two former civil war veterans who felt that the average farmer couldn’t shoot as well as a well-trained militia man or guerilla. The NRA’s goal was “Firearms safety, Marksmanship Training, and Shooting for recreation.” Thanks to the NRA’s first president, a rather famous man named Ambrose Burnside, the NRA even worked with the military to get second hand guns, as well as training in use of the weapon.  The goal of the NRA had nothing to do with defending your home, but to defend your home land. They wanted citizens to be trained to assist in repelling acts of rebellion, like the one committed by Daniel Shay. Despite what some ill-informed tea party members have said, the second amendment has nothing to do with staging a full on insurrection.  Then came the 1920, when the NRA became very active in authoring gun control laws. I’ll give you a second to re-read that statement. The NRA once was at the fore front of writing gun control laws. There was concern for these laws, especially in New York, which nearly saw its mayor assassinated.

The NRA even helped President Roosevelt draft the gun control laws that were a part of the “New Deal.”  Then NRA president Karl Frederick praised the law, citing that gun ownership should only occur with a valid license. When President Kennedy was assassinated, the NRA called for a ban on mail order gun sales.  However, a split would soon occur within the NRA. Gun owners felted singled out, rural cities and states felt they were being punished, and race was an issue. One of the biggest groups calling for an extension of gun owners’ right was…the Black Panther Party. Once again, take a second and re-read that.

So this all de-evolved into the mess that we have today, with the NRA now fighting pretty much all gun control laws. Which brings us to my opening statement; on how all of you second amendment supporting gun owners have been had. You’ve been told to get your guns before President Obama takes them away, which once again, he doesn’t have the power to. You know, there are those people in the Senate and Congress that would have to draft such a bill, and we know it would never survive to reach President Obama’s desk, not to mention it would be a constitutional nightmare if he were to sign such a bill.

The gun companies right now are making massive profits, as are the companies that make the ammo. They have the cash to spread around, buy the representation they know will bow to their wishes, and like a puppet on a string, these newly purchased elected officials spread the propaganda that they’ve been told to spread. They’ve preyed on your fears, and they’ve laughed all the way to the bank. The NRA has used you. Gun rights groups have used you, and your elected officials have used you.

 So, before reading this, how many of you knew that the NRA was more concerned on making sure people were properly trained with guns, and that criminal elements could not legally purchase a gun? How many of you knew that many of the current laws in place, such as waiting periods, were actually authored by the NRA?

Sounds a lot different than what exist right now, doesn’t it? Listen; let’s be clear, I’m not calling for the end of the Second Amendment. I’m just calling for a little common sense, and for the NRA to go back to its original purpose: the proper training of people to use guns, and to act as an expert to the congress when it comes to drafting gun laws. But I know that’s not going to happen.

So maybe some of you can re-think if the NRA is really here to help you, or to further their own agenda, which has changed since Harlon Carter helped corrupt the group (by the way, google the named Harlon Carter). Though Carter was dismissed in 1978 from the group, he was one of the first to call for a repeal of every gun law.

But I digress. I hope this has been educational, especially the part regarding the NRA. And I hope your eyes have been opened to how the gun industry on a whole has used your fears to take money from your pockets. You’ve been played, my friends. Maybe it’s time that the level headed, defend the home, teach about proper use of guns, sensible gun control law members of the NRA to stage a coupe , and get rid of the extremist that have no issues with guns being used to settle debates.

Time is running out for you to act. That is all.

So Long Phelps, you won't be missed

I have to admit, this is going to be a blog that even I have no clue how it’s going to turn out. Because thanks to a moment of thought…the entire landscape of this blog is going to change.

As I went to write this blog, my original intent was that of a celebration of the death of Fred Phelps. Phelps, the leader (or as I’ve learned, the fallen leader, appears he wasn’t intolerant enough of homosexuals to appease his family) of the Westboro Cult, which routinely picketed funerals of soldiers, gay people, victims of school shootings, and so forth. They held signs that read “Thank God for 9/11”, among other vulgar, disgusting things. As disgusting and distasteful as their comments and signs are, according to the Supreme Court, they are protected under the first amendment. A rite, that thankfully, extends to blogs like mine.

I would like to take this time that I shed not a single tear for Fred Phelps, and I reacted with a celebratory cheer when I heard he was dead. I even had joined a group on Facebook, called the Fred Phelps Death watch. I have several friends who are gay, in same sex relationships, and I have a cousin who had gender reassignment surgery, going from female to male. I support all of them, and I’ve declared Phelps, his ilk, supporters of Westboro my sworn enemy.

I still find myself intrigued on why someone would personally decide to make themselves so hated. Why does someone in real life, want everyone else to look upon them with disgust. In my career as a pro wrestling manager and commentator, I’ve played the role of a villain, only becoming a “good guy” over the last few years. But there is the key, I was playing a role. Outside of the character I played for years, I’m the most easy going, accepting person you’re ever going to meet.

If Phelps wanted to be against gay marriage, fine that’s his right, just as the KKK and others like them rallied against interracial marriage 50 years ago.  No matter how clear the evidence is that not only is someone wrong morally, that they are on the wrong side of history, they have a right to their opinion.  However, the question that begs to be asked, is why take it to such an extreme?

What drove the likes of Phelps, Hitler, Bin Laden all peas in the same pod, the feed off hatred?  Was it a desire to satisfy the ambitions of fame? Are they just men who felt more comfortable embracing hatred, and spreading the seeds of evil?

Simply fact is we are never going to know. And while some may find my happiness that a vile being such as Phelps has shuffled off the mortal coil wrong, when you have a right to that opinion. Protesting his funeral isn’t going to do anything, because his family is going to love every minute of it. They are attention starved, and the best thing we can do, is ignore his funeral. Though I do kind of think it would be funny if someone broke into his gravesite, and buried and inflated male sex doll with him, it is best that we simply move on.

It’s time that the Westboro cult fades into obscurity and becomes forgotten about. Maybe they will become a walking punchline like the KKK has become. Maybe, our culture will so become acceptive enough of same sex relationships, that when future generations gaze upon the Westboro cult, they will laugh mockingly, wondering how anyone could have such foolish hate-filled beliefs like Westboro. Much like right-minded members of our generation view the Klan.

So let the emotion cool and set aside the urge to protest. Let’s give Westboro something they don’t want…a cold shoulder. And for those wondering why I compare Phelps so much to Adolf Hitler, it is because they really have the same doctrine. Just Phelps has recast gay people in place of the Jews. And like Hitler, Phelps was a man with zero redemptive features. A man who no one is going to shed a tear over, and as I suggested before, will suffer a fate fitting him. In search of fame, he’ll instead be relegated to the bin of the forgotten, only to see his name resurrected when it comes time to compare a vile, evil, and disgusting existence of a man to someone.

And now we’ve reached the end, so, now we both know how this blog turned out. So long Fred…you won’t be missed!

Return of Bonds ingites old question

It’s nearly spring. And for those of us tired of the winter, we have a sign that the cold season is almost over. That of course, is spring training baseball.

Now, the stars really don’t play much, and many of these games feature those players trying to solidify their spot on the roster, toss in a bunch of minor leaguers who most likely, will fade away into obscurity after they are demoted.

However, the big talk surrounding this spring training is Barry Bonds. Yeah, Bonds, after spending the last four years out of the spot light is back as a spring training advisor for the San Francisco Giants. Feel free to insert your jokes here.

For those who aren’t baseball fans, Barry Bonds is forever linked to the steroid era. Bonds, whose weight ballooned from 175 to nearly 250 pounds seemingly overnight, went for being a for batting average hitter to being a power hitter. Though every single sign pointed to PED use, Bonds steadfast denied it. Bonds would go on to break the all-time single season record for home runs, and career record for home runs, though no sane baseball purist would acknowledge these records.

Bonds, like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and many other players from what is now famously called “The PED Era” is also the center of another conversation: Is he worthy of the hall of Fame?  There are many that feel that none of the players linked to PEDs should be allowed into the hall of fame.

And it is at that point where I have to disagree. I have no problem with any of the PED players going into the hall of fame, because many of them already were putting up hall worthy numbers. Well, save for Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmerio, because they were more nice career, but not HOF career players.

I also think both Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson should be in the hall, ditto for White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte. There was never any hard evidence, on or off the field that Jackson tanked any games. In the case of Cicotte, he admitted to through a couple games he pitched. After years of denial, Pete Rose admitted to gambling on a few games.

There is this misnomer that only players of pure virtue can be elected into the hall of fame. Don’t let yourself be fooled. If there was really something called “the sanctity of the hall”, there are two men who never would have been admitted.

Cap Anson was the first bonafide superstar of baseball. He was a star for Chicago from the 1870’s into the 1880’s. He had plenty of power, both on and off the field, and he would use that later in his career. Anson was a racist. He had a strong hatred from African-Americans that would lead to him bullying many semi-pro and major league teams from fielding them. A famous incident occurred in 1884, during an American Association game against Toledo. The AA was the second major league, and Toledo featured an African-American catcher named Moses Fleetwood Walker. It was only after the Toledo manager refused to withhold payment of the Chicago team then Anson relented.

Angered at the mere notion of integrated rosters, Anson put forth the movement known as the “White Players Revolt”. After threatening the owners in the National League that they’d walk out and form their own league, the owners drew up the agreement that never again would an African-American be allowed to play on a major league team. Despite this legacy, Anson was elected to the baseball hall of fame. No one batted an eye at what he did off the field to harm the game.

Kennesaw Mountain Landis was the flag bearer for keeping major league baseball a White Man’s only game. As commissioner of baseball, Landis famously said “They have their league, and we have ours. That’s how it must remain.” Landis had no issue threatening any team that scouted a black ball player with permanent expulsion from baseball.

Landis had a reputation as a judge for sentencing African-Americans to harsher penalties than he would a white man. Landis got the job as the czar of baseball for a single reason. When the Federal League, attempting to be the third major league, sued Major League Baseball, Landis was the judge assigned to the case. Landis dragged his feet on the case, and it wasn’t long before the Federal League was broke, and out of business. As a reward, Landis was chosen to clean up the mess of the Black sox Scandal .Sadly history has recast Landis as a hero for his actions. It is no wonder that Jackie Robinson’s debut never occurred until after Landis’ death in 1945. Had Landis lived a few years longer, Jackie Robinson very well may have never played in the Major Leagues.

So here is what one can surmise. As for election to the hall of fame, they are willing to overlook racism. However, take steroids, or bet on a game, well then, you must be banished forever. I don’t understand that logic, and I never will. I seriously would love for someone to explain why if they hold the hall of fame in such high regard, why racist are allowed enshrinement. I’m not holding my breath, because no one has done so yet. Though it would be nice if someone finally did make a statement.  Of course, it would be better if they were going to keep Jackson, Ciccotte, Rose out, and keep the PED players out, they must expunge known racist like Landis and Anson from the hall. Anything else is an endorsement of bigotry.

Putin longs for the past

I’ve searched high and low, and I simply could not find one. I sort of felt like Sherlock Holmes, or Encyclopedia Brown on the hunt for a clue, and yet it kept evading me. Searched and searched until mentally, my mind could not take now more.

Alas, I could not find one quote or phrase admonishing FDR for not taking a stronger stand against Adolf Hitler. I searched further back, trying to find any instance in which elected officials in the US sent so much words of admiration of a man trying to dominate through force a group of weaker people, yet condemning their own elected leader. And yet, that is what we have right now, with people like Lindsay Graham and failed VP candidate Sarah Palin. Graham has suggested that president Obama is weak because he hasn’t gone in guns blazing into Russia to repel Putin’s army. Palin, gushing like a school girl in love with a teen idol. Said “Putin wrestles bears, and a hunt without a shirt on, President Obama wears mom jeans.” Ouch! In fact, talking heads at Fox News (also known as the unofficial PR firm of the Republican Party) have suggested that President Obama is weak because he has the gull to actually negotiate in cases in Russia and Syrian, instead of sending in troops first.

And that’s pretty much the game plan for the Republican Party when it comes to handling world affairs. President Reagan didn’t want to attack Russia in a full scale war, so he used Afghan troops instead. Instead of pulling out of Vietnam like President Johnson had suggest, President Nixon instead rushed in, amped up the war, and cost countless lives. If you trace back through America history, some of the bloodiest and most costly military engagements have occurred under the leadership of a Republican president.

America got into a mess in the Korean War. Countless lives were lost, and it pretty much ended up being a stalemate. Sadly, not much is taught in school about this war. I’m willing to bet that if you polled a random group of people, they would say that Vietnam was the war following World War II.

And on the subject of World War II, I could endlessly restate how America had been on the outside looking in until we got drawn in combat after Pearl Harbor. Instead, I’m going to focus on what Hillary Clinton said when she rightfully compared Putin’s actions to that of Hitler. It is almost like they are following the same game plan. Invade a small country say that you were worried about your fellow countrymen there, etc. Russia under Putin has had some of the most repressive laws of any nation not in the Middle East. Putin famously jailed members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot because they had written songs critical of the government. For those of you, who know your American history, think of President Adams’ “Alien and Sedition” acts, which made it a crime to speak ill of the president or the government. Some of you might have experienced something on a smaller scale from 2002-2008, when anytime you spoke out against the many war crimes of the Bush regime, you were considered not to be a true patriot.

Putin’s outdated thinking has also led him to enact laws that state homosexuality is a crime. In Russia, you can be arrested for being gay, or in possession of pro homosexual material. Yes, owning an all lesbian porn film could very well get you arrested in Russia. So, President Obama, in a stroke of brilliance, sent over to Russia a committee of some of America’s most well-known gay athletes.

Bottom line is this, just because you take a seat at the negotiating table is not a sign of weakness. It shows that you act out of intellect instead of emotion. If said talks fail, then they fail, and it works to the advantage of the US, because it shows Putin for what he really is: A black hearted former KGB agent who longs for the days of the cold war. He longs for the days in which both Russia and the US spent much of their budget on military defense and very little on anything else.

Hell, maybe we’ll take it one step further back. Perhaps Putin envisions himself a modern day Khrushchev, with President Obama playing the role of John Kennedy.  Perhaps all of this is nothing more than Putin’s own Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s clear to anyone that Putin longs for a past that is best to stay buried. Putin wrongly claims that the Ukraine government is illegal, despite that he belief his been rebuked many. Maybe Putin knows that deep down, and it is true what I’ve suggested in this blog. Putin is simply a cold war relic.

I have no problem with how President Obama is handling this. And I really don’t give a damn about what the puppets at Fox news spout. I just find it amusing that these are the same people engaging in acts now that they once found so un-American.  

Putin is a clown, and sooner or later, he’s going to have to retreat back across the border. And if Sarah Palin wants to admire him so much, she can jolly well book herself a one way trip to Russia. And if Lindsay Graham wants a war, he can jolly well carry a gun and stand a post. If anyone is doing anything to harm America’s standing in the world regarding this rift with Russia, it’s people like Graham and Palin. Putin is on the wrong side of history….and he’s going to see that soon enough.

Religous Freedom or sanctioned hatred

With the veto of the “religious Protection” bill, the conservatives need to admit, they may like to talk about the US Constitution, but they’ve never read it.

For those of you in the dark, earlier this week, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed the bill which would have allowed discrimination against same sex couples, by allowing businesses to cite “religious confliction”.  This all stems from a wedding photographer who declined to shoot the wedding of a same sex couple, citing her religious beliefs.

Now, the very first amendment says, and I quote “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Take a moment, and re-read that if need. Right now, we’re going to skip to the 10^th amendment, because it connects with what we are talking about.

Amendment X reads: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

It is quite clear within the framework of those two amendments to the US Constitution that any law that allows a business to hide behind the skirt of religious beliefs is not constitutional! Seeing how the first amendment has already established that not a single law can be made to favor one religion over another, it’s clear that the issue is not left up to the states; the question has already been answered!

Did Governor Brewer make the right decision in vetoing the bill, yes she did, but let’s not cast her as some kind of hero. Coca-Cola, Home Depot, The NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA all laid pressure for her to kill the bill. The NFL said that if the bill wasn’t vetoed, that they would pull the Super Bowl from Arizona. By the way, that would have marked the second time the NFL yanked the Super Bowl from the state of Arizona. The first occurred when the NFL expressed concern over the state refusing to acknowledge Martin Luther King JR. Day as a Federal holiday. The NFL was given a resounding middle finger by the state. So the NFL yanked the Super Bowl, and the dye was cast to show that Arizona was perhaps the least tolerant state west of the Mississippi. And it’s an image that Arizona has actually done its best to cling hard to.

The very notion of a company having the ability to decline to serve someone based on the sexual orientation is nothing but 21^st century Jim Crow laws, it is has simple as that. To claim otherwise is simply being intellectually disingenuous. For centuries, segregating whites and blacks was viewed as a religious rite. One would think that we’d have evolved since then, but shocker, we haven’t.

Anyone who’s seen my Facebook page, seen my twitter page knows that I wholeheartedly support gay rights.  I found the very notion of the law that Arizona attempted to pass offensive. And I will not allow anyone to hide behind their excuse of “it will conflict with my religious beliefs if I provide a business service to a same sex couple”. I wonder really love to test these people. See how many of them keep the Sabbath holy, and refrain from eating meat on a certain day. I’d love to see how many of them actually follow the doctrine that they so claim to cherish. I’ll bet the farm that 100% would fail badly if such test was administered.  

Let’s be blunt, and call it what it really is: Religious sanctioned hatred. Bottom line, that’s all it really is folks. A bunch of people upset over the way others lead their lives because a book of fairy tales told them to be upset.

I worked retail for nearly a decade, and I dealt with some pretty shady customers. I bit the bullet, understood that I worked in a position that dealt with the public. I never refused service to anyone. I did so because I was a professional at what I did. If my EBay business was a brick and mortar store, I still would never refuse serve anyone based on their sexual orientation, religious dogma bottom line.

To quickly round back to an earlier point, I mentioned the 10^th amendment earlier for a reason. It clearly states that if a question or right hasn’t been explored. Since the first amendment clearly address the issue of favoring one religion over another, you cannot have a law enacted by a state that favors one religion over another.  In short, religious freedom laws like what Arizona tried to enact, are in violation of the US Constitution.

So, in closing, I hope that everyone can see past the “Protect religious freedom” crap that the right is trying to fling around. This is just another attempt to make it okay to discriminate against a group of people. Just another attempt to make them seem less than human, so whatever we make them endure doesn’t seem wrong. In reality, the only thing these “religious freedom” laws are missing is the ghost of Roger Taney saying that gays aren’t a full citizen of the US.

Giving walker his due

It is February, which is also Black History Month. And I decided that when I got the chance, I was going to do a blog that honors one of the historic figures in African-American History. And I could think of no other person that I would like to talk about than Moses Fleetwood Walker.

For those of you unaware of Moses Fleetwood Walker, consider this your introduction. Walker was a star baseball player for the University of Michigan in 1882. Walker also at the time was playing semi pro baseball, and it was here that Walker began to experience racism. Many times Walker would be refused entry into a hotel, or allowed to eat with his teammates based on his skin color. Based on Ohio’s proximity to Kentucky, on many occasions, Walker won’t even be barred from playing, because the opposing teams would often refuse to take the field against any team that had on its roster, a black ball player. Some teams would relent, mainly because Walker’s back-up was a below-average player who was not a catcher by trade, and would often muff pitches tossed to him. That player’s ineptness would be a catalyst for Walker to take the field as a defensive replacement.

In 1884, Toledo signed Walker, and the team was set to make its debut in the American Association. The Toledo Blue Stockings had been a minor league team, but looked to make the jump to the big leagues by joining the AA. The American Association was one of the first main competitors to the National League, considered by everyone to be the highest level of ball of player could reach. Walker took his nature position of catcher, and made quite a battery with Toledo ace Tony Mullane. Mullane, however, was not a fan of African-Americans, and would often cross up the signals that Walker gave him, many times resulting in passed balls, or Walker himself being struck with a pitch. Mullane’s racist views many times would cost Toledo a game.

Being struck by a pitch from a racist teammate wasn’t the worst Walker had to endure. The most vulgar treatment of Walker would come from Cap Anson. Anson was a hot headed racist who had been kicked out of both Notre Dame and the University of Iowa based on his hot headed temper. Anson was also an amazingly gift baseball player, and quickly found himself playing in the major leagues. Anson’s hatred of African-Americans got him into hot water plenty of times, including one incident that took place against Walker’s Toledo squad.

Anson noticed that Walker was playing catcher, when he made a protest to the empire. Anson boldly announced that his team would not, under any circumstances, take the field against any team that started a “Negro ball players.” The umpire informed Toledo manager Charlie Morton of this, and Morton marched across the field, and informed Anson that Chicago would not receive any gate receipts if they refused to take the field. It was either player against Toledo with Walker on the field, or go home with no money whatsoever. Anson wasn’t going to call Morton’s bluff, and begrudgingly took the field.

By 1891, Walker was out of baseball, but by no means was he suffering. He owned a hotel and a movie theater. Walker also wrote books that called for the African-America community to return to Africa.  And while Walker was making a name for himself in that respect, Anson was making his name in a whole other light.  He was tied to the White Players revolt of the 1890’s citing that a black man should not be allowed to compete for a White man’s job on the baseball field. It was this action that led to baseball becoming a white man’s only game until the courageous Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson. Robinson endured a lot of hatred, but helped pave the way for the color lines in baseball to be broken forever.

It’s rather sad that Cap Anson has since reached immortality with his induction into the baseball hall of fame, and Walker has faded into obscurity. If Walker had a more successful baseball career, who knows how well Walker would be remembered today. Anson apologizers criticize any notion that Anson is to blame for Walker not continuing his career, or the overall lack of African-Americans being allowed to ever play major league baseball.

I in no way seek to lessen the accomplishment of Jackie Robinson. Robinson if often referred to as the man who broke the color barrio of baseball. Robinson didn’t break the barrier, as much as he kicked down the down that had been locked by bigots like Anson. However, it would be nice to see major league baseball acknowledge Walker’s accomplishments as well. When Robinson first took the field, America had just endured World War II, and it had been some 80 years since the final salvos of the Civil War had been blasted. When Walker took the field, he took it against the sons of the men who fought in the war. He played baseball in front of men who had fought in the war. The wounds were much fresher when Walker took the field, than they were when Robinson took the field.

I write this in hopes of spreading the name of Moses Fleetwood Walker. It’s not fair that he has faded so much into obscurity. Hopefully, in the near future, Walker will finally be recognized by major league baseball. It was Walker who had a hand in paving the way for Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby to take the field 60 years later. Who knows, maybe if walker had never written a book calling for the African-American community to abandon America, maybe history would have treated him kinder. And as we sit here, hundred years after he wrote that book, and close to eighty years after his death, we perhaps need to review how we look at Walker. Maybe it is about time that this trailblazer finally gets his due reward for what he done.

America The Beautiful, a history lesson

Seriously, people just need to get over themselves. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Coca-Cola produced a commercial for the Super Bowl this past weekend that had many people in this country going crazy. It seems that people take pop songs about America very seriously. I hate to see what would happen if a Canadian Rapper did a cover of Lee Greenwood’s Proud to Be an American.

 

Sadly, to show the overall lack of intellect by so called “Proud Americans”, many people complained that the National Anthem shouldn’t be sung in a language other than English. Yeah, it seems these really proud Americans don’t know that this is not the anthem of the country.

But what is the song, you ask, that its mere singing in another language has driven people out of their mind?  The song was based on an 1895 poem called Pikes Peak, written by Katharine Lee Bates.  The title was changed to America, since the magazine in which it first appeared was published on July 4^th. The music behind it, written by Samuel ward, was lifted from another one of Ward’s works, a song called O Mother Dear, Jerusalem. In 1910, the song itself was published, and America the Beautiful was born. Now, several times over the last hundred years, there has been a push to put America the Beautiful on the same pedestal as The Star Spangled Banner. To this date, this has yet to happen. The consensus is that the Star Spangled Banner relies too much on war images, and doesn’t represent America. The song itself has been written and re-written three times since Bates first put pen to paper. So, before everyone loses their collective heads anymore, the song you’re getting so mad about is a third edition re-write.

Because the song got is beginnings as a hymn, which is perhaps why the song has never gotten to the stage of the Star Spangled Banner.  I still can’t figure out why every thinks that a hymn needs to be sung only in English. After all, aren’t we the giant melting pot? Isn’t the sharing of the song a great way to bound with people of other nations?

And therein lays the main issue, which people don’t really have a damn clue about the true meaning of the song. It has at its core, nothing really to do with the flag, mom, and apple pie. The song was written as an ode to the mountain, lakes, rivers, and beauty of the land of America, not the people, not the flag. The song says here is this great land, with these beautiful sites to see, these lakes, these mountains. And there is nothing wrong with someone singing about this country to their native people in their native tongue. They are singing about the purity of America. Why must the onus be placed that you can only sing of America in English?

One thing that I’ve been staying away from is the people who’ve posted on the various social media outlets that song must be sung in English because it is the language of the natives of this land. That couldn’t be further from correct. If you really want to sing America the Beautiful in the first dialect spoken on America’s shores, then you better brush up on your Apache, Seminole, or Navajo. Just a small sample of the many natives that were here long before a group of people boarded a ship called the Mayflower.

I know I’ve pissed off more than a few people today by several times referring to America the Beautiful as a pop song of its day. I can deal with that, because it’s time that the myth is shed, and the truth be known. Despite the folklore attached to it, America the Beautiful was an ode to the land and sites of the nation’s heartland written by a lesbian. It is a song, not the anthem of America. I firmly stand by Coca-Cola for the Super Bowl commercial. Because I know that all of those nations represented in that commercial represent where many of our ancestors came from. Think about that.

State of the Union thoughts and reflections

I’ve had a lot of fun watching the conservatives pretty much lose their minds over President Obama’s State of the Union Address. And for some reason, they chose a rather unknown to deliver the GOP response.  Her message was pretty much the standard response, with God tossed in to make their fan base stand up and cheer. It kind of came off like an infomercial for a 1970’s greatest hits package.

 

But terrible setting for the response aside, I had to laugh at some of the GOP responses. Randy Weber, Republican, who tweets @TXRandy14 said “On the Floor, waiting for the Kommandant-inChief” he also ranted about Obama being a “Socialist”. Funny how that is always the refuge, to call someone a socialist. Roger Williams (@RepRWilliams) tweeted “Ignore the Constitution #SOTU. Did Williams somehow forget about Bush, who happily stripped away freedoms under the guise of protecting the American Citizenship from terrorist? The overwhelming majority of the NSA programs in effect today where put into place by Bush, many just infant programs circa 2005.

That aside, the conservatives are dusting off the corpse of Ronald Reagan as the standard bearer of the constitution loving president. Let’s examine the idea of Executive Action, which president Obama has said he will do in order to get his measures past to help the country. Ronald Reagan instituted 381 executive orders. That’s 47.6 per year over his eight year reign in office. At this rate, President Obama will finish with 114 fewer Executive Orders than Reagan. In fact, tor each Reagan’s numbers, President Obama would need a third term in office to outdo that number. For the record, President Obama at the time of this writing has a mere 167 orders. So, if Obama is a dictator, what the hell was Reagan? You won’t get any Republicans to answer that without them doing the Texas two-step around the question.

Listen; there are things I would have loved to hear throughout the State of the Union Address. I would love to have heard that there was going to be a fight to help veterans currently living in halfway houses or out on the streets. I would have loved to have heard that these men and women would be covered for life under a special insurance program. I would have enjoyed hearing that there was a plan to create more VA hospitals in rural areas to ease the burden of vets who live in these places. I would have loved to have heard President Obama push for more spending on education. President Obama has been handicapped by one of the most worthless congresses in American history. The only congress that comes to mind that is as bad as the Tea Party congress is the Congress from 1803. Many members of that congress, smarting from President Jefferson removing many of John Adams “Midnight appointees” decided they were going to make Jefferson’s life hell. And yes, while Jefferson had two terms in office, he wasn’t able to accomplish everything he wanted to do. They took to the press to do so, outing Jefferson’s affair with Sally Hemmings. They took after Jefferson with great gusto, much like their modern day counterparts have done today. Only instead of Federalist newspapers, they use their PR arm, a billion dollar Fox News network. See my friends, history really does repeat itself.

Now, from 2001-2008, anytime you spoke out against the President, called him a dictator, you got grilled in the press, you were considered un-American, or you were giving hope to terrorist. The Dixie Chicks said they weren’t proud of President Bush, and in an act of free speech repression (real free speech repression, not what Phil Robertson thrust upon himself) radio stations banned playing Dixie Chicks music, Country Music TV refused to play their videos, and with the Republican PR machine in full motion, the career of the band died. While Toby Keith, who took after them in the press, wrote generic anthems, and everyone flocked to him, purchasing his albums en masse.  MTV refused to play music videos from the heavy metal band Otep, whose song “Warhead” contained the verse, “He lies they die, keep the peasants terrified” in reference to Bush. Eminem released a song called Mosh before the 2004 election which as well mocked Bush, featuring the famous verse “Let him strap on an AK, Let him impress Daddy that way.”  MTV quickly pulled the song from rotation. All under the guise that you were not allowed to mock President Bush.

Now, flash forward a few years, and save for the songs, the GOP is using many tactics they were so against. And the fear they have tried to instill in people who lead to one of the greatest racial divides since before the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.  Thankfully, some people are seeing passed these parlor games, and hate mongers like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Savage are seeing their ratings drop. Limbaugh and Beck have begun to lose radio outlets as a result.

So here we sit, and for the next two years, until the new president is elected, where going to hear more of this. And by the way, maybe it’s about time our media began to fact check both sides. It used to be the news was reported, no hyperbole, just the facts. Maybe it is time our media actually acted like the damn media, and stopped playing kiss ass.

That is all.

Ducks, Spills, and finally, someone with class

Last time I checked, it was 13 degrees out. Much of the US, as I write these words, is trapped in a frozen weather front. And despite all of this, and the fact that much of Alaska is warmer than all of New York or Pennsylvania, there are still brain-dead climate change deniers like Sarah Palin out there, posting uninformed ramblings. However, enough about the dimwitted like of Palin, let’s move to another collection of dumbasses.

Let’s, instead talk about the Duck Dynasty clan, aka, the newest members of the 15 minutes of fame club. Yeah, many conservative Christians were ready to defend Phil Robertson’s right to free speech (while, ironically, never saying anything about former Vikings punter Chris Kluwie, blackballed from the NFL for supporting gay rights), however, not many of those people tuned into the Duck Dynasty premier. Maybe they were a little taken aback by the fact that the Duck Dynasty crew is nothing but a bunch of actors. You see, that GQ appearance, followed by Phil Robertson’s misguided statements about gay marriage (not to mention the infamous YouTube video that surfaced in which Robertson advocated for child marriage) shook a few skeletons from the closet. I’m sure by know you’ve seen all of those photos in which the Robertson clan looked like an advertisement for frat boys gone wild.

It seems those rough and tumble throwback hunters are really the Abercrombie & Fitch crowd. Clean shaven, well-groomed, dressed in clothing that cost more than much of the Duck Dynasty makes in a month. However you look at it, Duck Dynasty went from 12 million viewers for last years’ season debut, to 8 million for this years’. Yes, this includes the DVR’s as well. And yeah, I figure that many of the Duck Dynasty fans are going to claim that it was because Phil didn’t have a big presence on the show. And that’s just a cop out, plain and simple. Fact is that some people were smartened up that Duck Dynasty is just a TV show, no different than anything else. Duck Dynasty has script writers, much of the so called real emotion is faked, and that everyone on the show is playing a character.  They are nothing more than generic representations of southerners. And they don’t really care, and I think they could care less if the show ends up canceled. The Robertson’s have made millions, hand over fist, and truth be told, they really don’t need the TV show. Enough hunters buy their products that they can afford mansions, and expensive vacations. And if you need proof of that just google some of the country club photos that have surfaced.

But, enough about those chuckleheads. Let’s talk about people who have been through hell who didn’t deserve, and that is the residents of Charleston, West Virginia. I’m sure by now everyone has heard about the chemical spills that have made the water undrinkable (something I’m sure pleases the CEO’s of the various bottled water companies). Now, I don’t have a degree in the sciences to give me expansive knowledge of the chemicals spilled, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that certain things should not make it into the public water supply! Not only is a nasty cleaning chemical called MCHM in the supply, but a second, called PPH, also known as mixture of polyglycol ethers, which can cause danger, is swallowed, but thankfully, there hasn’t been any reported death. It also appears that Freedom Industries has engaged in some clever fiscal maneuvers to keep its current owner, J. Clifford Forrest, having the ability to starve off the eventual liability lawsuits heading his way. (For more on that, please read the following: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-23/a-second-toxic-chemical-spilled-in-west-virginia-and-freedom-industries-said-nothing-until-now )

From many of the reports that I’ve read, it seems that West Virginia has some of the loosest regulations of any state in the union. Hopefully, this will be the jumping off point to disprove the long held conservative belief that businesses can regulate themselves with zero over sight from any government agency.

And before anyone says anything, outside of this notice, I intently didn’t say anything about Justin Bieber because he’s not news worthy; he’s not worth any attention in my blogs.

In closing, everyone has been talking about Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, and his post-game interview with Erin Andrews. I found it refreshing, and thankfully atypical of the usual generic postgame interview.  And those that called Sherman a thug have eaten plenty of crow. And I like how Sherman linked calling someone like him a “thug” as a roundabout way to call him the n-word, and he hit the nail right on the head. And after hearing about Sherman’s off the field work with special needs kids, I no longer see him as a brash player with the Joe Namath gift of gab. I see him as a man worthy of everyone’s respect.

And with that, I closeout this edition of the rant, until next time.

Theater and school shootings, and Bridgegate

It’s a brand new year, and already we’ve had more than a few major news stories on TV. The year is not even four weeks old and already we’ve had school shootings, a nut job go ape in a movie theater, and some people weep over the notion if a murderer was given a humane exit. Oh, and Judge Scalia once again proved that he’s perhaps the dumbest man ever to sit on the Supreme Court.

 

In perhaps the dumbest statement issued by a court justice since Roger Taney blacks weren’t full people, Justice Antonin Scalia on Wednesday took issue with buffer zones at abortion clinics. He complained that the law referred to the folks with the anti-abortion signs as protester. Instead, he referred to them as “Councilors” and that they were merely at the abortion clinics to “comfort” women seeking an abortion. Take a second to re-read that sentence, and let it sink in. A sitting justice on the Supreme Court, allegedly an educated man, said that the people that stand outside of abortion clinics holding placards featuring pictures of dead babies and shouting “murderer” aren’t protesters, but they are there to comfort and offer advice to the women seeking an abortion. I’m not sure what logic he was following there. When I see a large gathering of people chanting and holding signs, you know what I think they are? I think they are fucking protesters! By Scalia’s logic, anyone protesting the war isn’t a protester, no, they are anti-war councilors attempting to make the world leaders fight their battles without weapons.

I have no issue with the buffer zones, because I’ve seen how insane some of these protesters can get. And I’m going to call them protesters because that is exactly what they are, protesters. I’ve seen them shout at women, calling them baby killers and murders. They don’t really take into account that maybe the women are having the abortion for health reasons.  Nope, that would be rational. It’s not like some of these protesters don’t have a past in which they’ve killed people. Oh wait, that’s right, they do, which is why the buffer zone was put into place to begin with! Justice Scalia’s position on this subject is as ill-informed as it is dangerous.

On the subject of dangerous, that brings us to retired police chief Curtis Reeves. Reeves are the man who shot and killed another man simply because the man was texting during the preview of a movie. Oh, did you know that Reeves in a previous incident followed a 27 year old woman to the bathroom after confronting her over texting during the previews of a movie during a previous visit to the movie theater by Reeves. So it’s not like Reeves just snapped, because there is now record of his stalking a texter. Reeves is a former Police Chief who attempted to use the “Stand your Ground” act. Reeves’ attorney actually had the balls to say that Reeves felt threatened because Chad Oulson threw popcorn at him. I’m not sure in what universe popcorn throwing is a threat and cause for someone to take out a gun and open fire. So, Richard Escobar, attorney for Curtis Reeves, actually had the balls to say that because popcorn was being thrown at his client, that use of a weapon was justified because Reeves felt threatened!

First, I’m not exactly sure why Reeves brought a weapon into the theatre. What’s more disturbing is that Reeves was seeing the movie Lone Survivor. All that really matters is that Chad Oulson texted the day care center his daughter was in and it cost him his life. Reeves, who by the way, was denied the Stand Your Ground claim, is sitting in a jail cell, perhaps surrounding by some people either he or his son, who is a current Tampa cop,  put there. But I can’t really say that I have any faith that the Florida District Attorney’s office will be able to keep him there. After seeing them botch George Zimmerman and Casey Anthony in such amateur style it would be fitting for a comedy movie, you can’t say that Florida is home to the best and brightest legal minds.

On the subject of shooting, we also had a school shooting committed by a 12 year old in Roswell, New Mexico. Thankfully, no one was killed this time. A teacher, unarmed might I add, was able to talk the boy out of doing any more damage. Imagine that, talking actually got someone to put down a gun. Funny how the NRA isn’t trying to get every police agency to get rid of hostage negotiators and simply rush in anytime someone is held hostage.

Now, I’m sure that some of you might be wondering why I haven’t offered my opinion of “Bridgegate” and Chris Christie. Fox News, the unofficial PR firm for the Republican Party, anytime something happens, automatically, President Obama had full knowledge and knew everything a head of time. When one of their own claims no prior knowledge, they take it as gospel straight from Luke. Sorry, Chris Christie having zero knowledge that a bridge was going to close in order to stick it to a political rival doesn’t exactly right true to me. However, let’s be honest about one thing. If Chris Christie did put the bridge closure into play, he’s just taking a page from a playbook that was first written back in 1802 with John Adams and the midnight appointments. It’s nothing more than gamesmanship between political rivals than anything else, which is why I really don’t care about it. To me, it’s a minor issue. I think I’ll pay more attention to how the GOP plans to screw the unemployed, thank you very much. That is the bigger story.

That does it for this edition of the rant. I’ll see you next time.

Some Say I'm a Dreamer

The question needs to be asked, who are we? Seriously, as a nation, who are we? I find myself with the dilemma of pondering this question every time I hear one of these ultra conservative Republicans speak. They act like they speak for the vast majority of Americans, but I have to hope, that they really don’t.

The reason I ask this question is because of the ping pong game going on in congress over unemployment benefits. Thanks to the wisdom of FDR, social security and unemployment made their way into being. The previous president, Herbert Hoover, thought very little of these programs.

Now, before I get back to my opening question, let’s quickly examine Herbert Hoover, the 31^st president of the United States. Hoover was a self-starter. He’d been born into poverty, he became an orphan. He attended Stanford, and used his degree in engineering to fashion himself into a multi-millionaire.  To use a modern model, he was a business man, not unlike the Republicans fashioned Mitt Romney to be. Hoover, however, won his presidential bid in 1928, and part of his platform was to run the country the way a smart business man would.

Alas, October 29, 1929 brought an end to the countries admiration for Hoover. He put forth tax cuts to big business, attempted weak public works programs, and all the while, told the press that America would soon be on its feet again. However, his staunch view that the government should have little if anything to do with the poor was a fatal view. Homeless people set out shanties called “Hoovervilles”  Hoover flat refused to give any thought to unemployment insurance, or any spending by the federal government to stop the bleeding. By the time 1932 rolled around, unemployment was ay 25%. In the next election, FDR crushed him. FDR’s new deal brought a revival to the nation, and history would rightfully paint Herbert Hoover as the most ineffective president in the nations’ history.

I use that little history lesson to bring us back to my opening question, what type of people are we? I hear about how the Republicans are entrenched in making sure that any extension of unemployment benefits comes with some serious cut backs to the Affordable Health Care Act. That’s right, they still haven’t let go of that one. Now to hold some of the downtrodden people in this nation as hostages in order to deep six a program you don’t like is sickening. I don’t get the logic why not simply use the program as a platform in the next campaign, why this fight to stop it now?

Then it began to occur to me that this could very well have very little to do with the people on unemployment, well, those who saw their benefits end because those they elected failed to help them. And I say help and not take care of them because I’m not going to fall into that trap. There is this misguided school of thought that liberals want a nation of people depending of the government. There is nothing wrong with helping people when they are a little down on their luck. That is what a kind hearted nation does.  I remember learning as a child about a man who went around, helping the sick without charging them a dime, what was his name? Oh yeah, that’s right, it was Jesus. You know, that savoir guy from the bible that conservative are always grasping close in their hands.

There is nothing wrong with helping people when they are down. And it’s rather vulgar that people would paint compassion and caring in a negative light. We claim to be caring people, in the time of tragedy, we’re amazed at when neighbor helps neighbor. No money exchanges hands, just people being humane. I don’t see charges of dependency against those helping to rebuild a home.

It sickens me that there has to be paid programming to raise money for those who served this nation in battle. Those people should always, always receive our best care. They answered the call to defend this nation. Under no set of circumstances should any of their benefits be subject to cuts. There is simply no defense for such an act.

I’m frustrated to see children with cancer. We can make Ipods, picture taking cell phones, and about a thousand other little gadgets but we cannot provide medical care for the ill. Let’s take a step back, and look at ourselves goddamnit! Let’s ask why medical care is so expensive that it prices some people right to the grave! Let’s ask why medical care of others has to be a for profit business. How come those we elect won’t answer that question?

And has I sit here, typing these words, I’m again drawn to the question I posed at the start of this blog, what type of nation are we? How is it that we can so easily turn a blind eye and call names to those that are at their lowest point?

I guess you can say I’m frustrated. I’ve never saw the value in not helping someone. I can never see that point, I don’t look at them as takers, and I look at them like they are people, because they are people.

And that could perhaps be the issue, that these people have been used as a wedge issue for so long it’s become hard for them to be people as people. A John Lennon famous song lyric goes “Some say I’m a Dreamer.” But like him, I hope I’m not the only one.