Coffee Creates Focus...In The Wrong Places

So when I show up to a coffee place and they ask for a name, I usually say Spartacus.  Mostly I am hoping when they call the name and I stand up or step forward and say I am Spartacus, someone else will, or multiple other people will.  So far, no luck.

However, the Washington Post thinks the goings on of a Starbucks is important.  After all, it is located in the Central Intelligence Agency.

The article goes into the in depth quandaries of doing background checks on the Starbucks employees, the fact that receipts record the store number as number one, and that customers don't offer up a name, not even fake ones as I do.

My whole issue with all this is not who or how the CIA conducts operations in its own Starbucks.  It can even recruit people to the Osama bin Laden Capture team for all I care, but what I do care about is the Washington Post's abject failure as a news organization.

Their coverage of the IRS and Benghazi scandals has been pitiful - acting more like a mouthpiece for the Administration than a member of the Fourth Estate.  Even now, when Obama's popularity numbers are sagging, they feel it their responsibility to focus on coffee's ability to focus CIA employees rather than is the Administration focused on the threats America faces.

In case you missed it in the news, this Administration appears to have used the IRS to target groups it disagreed with politically.  This Administration refused to protect its own overseas employees in an attack on the American consulate in Benghazi and woops, in case anybody forgets, the CIA under this Administration has missed the growing presence of ISIS as a force.

I keep hearing how print media is going the way of the dinosaur and I keep wondering if they aren't hastening their own exit.  They are creating the situations for why more than half of people don't want to read them.  They are slanted propaganda pieces, not independent voices in the political arena.  I apologize if I am ranting about a newspaper's misplaced focus, but I understand why they are dying off.  In the meantime, I need a cup of coffee.

Playing Games With Abuse

All day anymore I hear about bad behavior by NFL athletes.  It is becoming over the top anymore.  Do football players just play football anymore or are they too busy beating their wives or children, getting busted for drugs and guns, DUIs, possible sexual assault, and who knows what else?

I guess they have finally pushed me to the edge with the Adrian Peterson ongoing stories of child abuse.  Below is my opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News which makes my points.  It is getting ridiculous anymore and I am shocked and dismayed by the league's impotence on these issues.

Four children will die. They will die today, like they did yesterday and like they will tomorrow.

The children are not dying of cancer or heart disease; they are dying at the hands of loved ones who are abusing them. You guessed it. I am talking about the Adrian Peterson abuse situation.

Adrian Peterson tells us he is just raising his children like his parents raised him. Wrong. He isn’t raising children at all. He tells us he is just disciplining his kids. He isn’t.

Study after study tells us he is slowing the cognitive development of his own children. That’s right. Peterson is increasing the likelihood of anxiety, depression and antisocial behavior. Another worrying statistic: Children who get “whooped” — Peterson’s description — are nine times more likely to become involved in criminal activity.

Adrian Peterson said he hit his child with a tree branch “10 to 15” times. However, he said, he doesn’t “ever count how many pops I give my kids.” Look at his son’s leg. It has at least that many marks where the switch caught his thigh. Use your senses and let’s consider this 4-year-old — a 4-year-old who was beaten by a man who is 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds.

The police report notes defensive wounds to the hands. I wonder how able this child was to defend himself against a guy who rushes through 300-pound giants.

I won’t attack the game, but we need to realize that if the players cannot control their impulses at home, they need to find a new line of work. I hate to interrupt this young man’s ability to carry a ball down the field just to save the life of his child, but let’s consider his child for a second.

Take a look at the pictures of his child. If you can stomach it, take a look. Take a second and let the images sink in. Now, what would you do if you sent your child to a friend’s house and he came back with those injuries? Would it be acceptable for your neighbor to “whoop” your child like that if he got out of line? Peterson did that to his own son.

Listen to his son. He didn’t want to talk to the police because he was “afraid of Daddy Peterson.” Forget the statistics for a moment about learning difficulties. Forget about long- term psychological issues. This child is afraid of his own father.

Yes, I am silly enough to think the National Football League should clean up its act. They should suspend Mr. Peterson for a year and make him complete a parenting program. Yes, I am silly enough to think that the NFL should keep this man from his profession.

Of course, for now, things appear headed in the opposite direction for Peterson. The Minnesota Vikings reinstated him on Monday, a day after they lost 30-7 to the New England Patriots without their star back.

“I understand that this is a very difficult thing to handle,” said Rick Spielman, the general manager. “Whether it’s an abusive situation or not, or whether he went too far disciplining, we feel very strongly that that is the court’s decision to make.”

Right now, the league is lost. It’s lost like a child afraid of his or her own parent, and that should scare every fan and every family.

Maybe we should stop playing games until we learn how to deal with abuse.

Four children will die today, just as four died yesterday. Let’s make it the last day.

As always, I look forward to thoughtful comments and I hope I am not offending.

How's The Fishing?

I am reminded by Bill Cosby that dentists always like to talk to you when they have sharp instruments in your mouth.

"Do you do much fishing?"  he would start as he described the process of a conversation between patient and provider in the dentist's chair.  I believe him all the more now because my dentist seems to have the same habit.

As dentists go, he is a good guy.  He works to keep you comfortable.  He is personable.  He doesn't pontificate about why I need to floss nineteen times a day.  He just goes about his business and likes to ask questions that can't be answered thumbs up/thumbs down.  Oh well.

If this is the biggest problem I have, I guess I don't have problems.  Good Monday to you all.

Labor Day

Today is Labor Day, the first Monday in September when we recognize the role the labor movement has had in America.  To create safer working conditions, to procure the forty hour work week...even if it isn't forty hours anymore.

As a middle class guy I used to get labor.  As an economics student I was okay with unions because they allowed management to budget out labor costs specifically without having to guess what a future wage would cost.

I paid my dues.  I paid my dues even in Right to Work states to belong to my fire associations (Texas and Virginia) and served as President of one.  The International Association of Firefighters.  I paid my dues despite the fact that I knew my dues in many cases were going for things I did not support.  I paid my dues and I participated in our MDA work to raise money, but I look back now and wonder why.

When I think of the MDA Telethon, I think of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, but it has now been two years since he was removed from the program and I wonder where my Labor Day entertainment has gone.  It makes me wonder why an organization that profited over $2B since Jerry Lewis started hosting his fundraising appeals would move away from the character that was Jerry Lewis.

Sure, he was something to deal with.  He was the punch line in a number of jokes, but he always raised money and his labors were that of love.  According to tax filings, MDA received pledges of $60M in 2011, but collected only half that.  Part of me is sad because this was apparently a self inflicted wound.

They removed the namesake...doesn't everyone think of Jerry's kids when they think of muscular dystrophy?  I support an entirely different group, the Never Forget Foundation, who has an entirely different mission, but I still grieve for what was a good organization that killed one of its own stars.  It seems like the type of thing management would do to a labor member who had poured hours of his soul into his work, but it wasn't fitting the company priorities and in the end it is the company who loses by losing its most important resource.  It's human resources.

The Quiet Outrage Over Lamborghini

The outcry is deafening.  I wish they would stop...or start in this case.

Earlier this week I posted about the tragic story of the 9 year old who shot a firearms instructor with the Uzi she was using.  I will leave the arguments for and against that topic in the previous topic, but as expected I immediately heard the calls to ban various firearms.  I have yet to hear anyone cry out for the banning of Lamborghinis after an 18
year old killed himself driving at too high a speed.  (It should be noted that while this was a joy ride, it was authorized and the car owner was in the vehicle too.)

I hope the point is obvious.  We call to ban certain things, but not others.  For instance, guns should be banned, but not Lamborghinis.  We legalize marijuana in Colorado and Oregon, but illegal drugs are dangerous too.  So what do the numbers tell us?

In the United States, firearms account for roughly 32,000 fatalities per year.  What is not indicated in this number though is 60% of these deaths are suicides.  In general I hear no call to make illegal drugs more illegal...just the opposite in fact, but overdose related deaths topped 41,000 in 2011 making drugs more dangerous than firearms...and that is only prescription drugs.  Let me take it a step further and ruin your Sunday football commercials.  You know the constant Sam Adams and Budweiser commercials?  Well, alcohol contributes to 88,000 deaths per year.

I dare you to send a letter to your local NFL team suggesting they cut back on the booze they serve.  I suspect their response will be something about a long walk down a short plank.

My point here is people are quick to jump on tragedy, but when you look at the things killing us in real life numbers no one wants to ban those items because it would deny their freedom.  However, a specific freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights is discounted because it is politically unpopular.  It makes me a little dizzy sometimes trying to keep up, but maybe I am just dizzy from all the outrage over an 18 year old behind the wheel of a 600 HP vehicle.  For some reason it isn't quite as loud though, but perhaps it should be.

I Scream, You Scream... (Reprise)

In the category of "Are You Serious?" a baseball player, namely Jesus Montero, should have been ejected for trying to brawl...with a cross checker, a senior level scout, from his own organization.

The media story goes Montero who showed up to Spring Training a hefty forty pounds overweight was coaching first base in Boise for the Everett Aquasox and was told to speed up on his way back to his dugout by the cross checker.

Deadspin reports that Montero who did not respond to the calls of Rapido! Rapido! then had an ice cream sandwich ordered for him by the cross checker and sent down to him in the dugout. At this point, Montero decided to throw the sandwich into the stands and may have held a bat in a menacing way.

Hmmm....so....was he mad it wasn't a banana split or was he mad he was being called out for not managing his weight as you might expect a professional athlete to do?  Despite being banned for 50 games last year due to a PED suspension, Montero did not seem to take the discipline to heart.

For me I do not mind a cross checker busting him for not busting it.  So far, Montero has hardly shown himself to be Major League material despite the initial projections which we now have to presume were PED driven.  Further, he seems to take his current standing as an opportunity to be lazy rather than to push himself every day?  What message does he send his team mates when he is not willing to work the weight off - especially after being shown to be a cheat?

I look at this really simply.  Montero showed up to Spring Training unable to play pro ball because he did not do the things he had to so that he could contribute.  He has ended up on a rehab assignment to the Northwest League where he can't seem to fight his urges at the dinner table, but is more than willing to fight the people who expect him to perform.  Further he isn't in Everett, Washington to play and get in some game time...just to rehab, i.e. he can't even play on a Short Season A Ball team!

I scream and apparently so should Mariners management who traded away an above average pitching prospect for this knucklehead.

Stories

Let me tell you about the time I went fishing recently.  The fish I caught was so big...

Okay, so in water cooler talk about Ned's latest fishing trip we expect exaggeration.  Without a Facebook picture or other documentation we expect a story that probably over-hypes reality.  It is what it is.  However, when we watch our news networks though, we expect them to still perform at least a minimal level of journalistic activity and verify stories.  Right?  Two examples this week demonstrate that the expectation of journalists doing there job is probably giving them more credit than they deserve.

First, CNN airs what is reported to be audio of the Ferguson, Missouri shooting.

As CNN notes it did not independently verify the recording...it just ran with it.  Again.  I say again because I assume you remember when CNN "broke" the story that the Affordable Care Act had been struck down by the Supreme Court.  CNN now is trying to walk back their exclusive coverage worried their audio may be a hoax.  Woops.

At the same time news reports tell us the University of Southern California Cornerback Josh Shaw admits to lying about saving his drowning nephew from a pool in his apartment complex.  It was only a few days ago they were informing of us that his dual injured ankles was the result of jumping from his second floor flat to help his nephew.

While USC and local authorities continue to investigate, my question is what is it you were trying to do, i.e. how did you really injure your ankles?  Was this some sort of crime or pseudo crime?  Was this just teenage foolishness?  What?  Now we all want to know and since we know your first story is BS I hope the next one is better.

There seems to be a mantra in network news these days that first is better than being accurate and while I do get the idea of breaking news, shouldn't it be close to accurate and/or news worthy?  Any more you get stories coming out: BREAKING NEWS...the former Governor of Virginia may enter a plea.  This isn't news, it's speculation.  BREAKING NEWS...the White House may allow more immigrants to stay in the country.  Here too I get that some of the information we get is via intentional leaks to trial balloon ideas before the public before an actual decision can be made.  You have to check with the oracle known as polling before you can play leader.  (And I blame both Democrats and Republicans and corporate America for this.)  However, there is zero requirement to actually go along with this by journalists.

When did the media give up on their fourth estate rights?  When did they decide they were just going to give everyone a pass?   These are the things that drive me nuts when it comes to network news, but it does allow for some decent parody. 

For those of you who wonder what I might mean, here is Katie Nolan of Fox's No Filter whose weekend story is at least interesting.  (As a disclaimer I will note that Fox too missed the SCOTUS opinion on the Affordable Care Act.)  Maybe the guy in Ferguson and Josh Shaw could take come and get lessons because she is at least interesting.

Enjoy your Thursday and be careful what news you consume.  Let's just say some news is undercooked and may be hazardous to your health.

Racist Or Stupid?

Unbelievable.  So post Emmy showcare, people have taken to Twitter to complain about the tribute to Robin Williams with references that he is a racist.

how is Robin racist you ask?  Well he does what many refer to as a racist impression of a Muslim woman in Iran asking for help.

Ummm....have you looked at the Middle East of late ladies?  The politically correct police are once again demonstrating their utter ineptitude when it comes to the state of the world.

The young ladies to the left (and probably happy to sit there) are offended that Mr. Williams would do an improv sketch where he uses a scarf as a headdress as he impersonates a woman in totalitarian Iran.  You know the same place that supports Female Genital Mutilation.  The same place where women do not have the option to not cover their faces?  The same place where a woman speaking out on any issue - not authorized - she might be beaten.  That Iran ladies?

I do get that they are probably children or perhaps young women who are starting out their lives, but is this really the fight they want to wage?  Moreover, who are their friends making these tweets their favorites?

Robin Williams was always working for the little guy, the under dog, but he did so using a right we have in America called the First Amendment.  He used his free speech rights to push the envelope - often uncomfortably for people - and he offended many by doing so, but he wasn't racist.  If you were offended by this you miss the opportunity for comedy to provide a transformative change to policy discussions.  While you might not like Williams' take on stereotypical activity against women in Iran, that does not make it racist.  It must be very convenient to live in a world where you don't see or feel danger because it is all around you.  If anything Williams tried to make an unfortunate situation funny, but he didn't act as a racist.  I wonder if any of these ladies were bothered when Williams started a joke about Pavarotti walking into a comedy club: "Two jews walk into a bar..." or when he pushed at the Roman Catholic Church.  Somehow I doubt it which makes me wonder.  Are they racist...or just stupid?

Welcome Immigrants, Natural Citizens Go Away

I am not sure when we made this left turn, but here we go.

A diner in Vermont decided to take part in a local initiative to plant flower beds in the median to prettify the local area I expect.  They were rewarded with a street sign that said "Yield for Sneakers Bacon."  Sneaker's being the name of the local establishment...bacon being what you serve at a diner pretty much at every meal.

So...a Muslim immigrant who lives in the community decided to complain.  Still okay with it...you're allowed to complain...I am not sure why you are personally offended by a sign about bacon.  No one said you had to eat it.

Meanwhile the town's Mayor, Katherine "Deac" Decarreau was quoted as saying “The cool part of living in a diverse community is that it’s not always comfortable.”  Umm, apparently it is very comfortable if all you have to do is say something offends you and you are off to the races.

I don't make it to Vermont all that often, but the next time I am that way somehow I suspect I will be avoiding this place.  After all, sneakers are shoes that were first worn in the inner city.  I am offended that this establishment would find it comfortable to name their establishment after the shoes of at-risk inner city kids.

I am also offended that the city seems unable to do anything with the pornography that is in its local bookstores and is offensive to both me and many other church members.  You see the slippery slope that occurs when you start to control others speech?

Of course this isn't control because the owners were dumb enough to allow themselves into this.  They said they want to serve breakfast, not politics.  Well, you should keep up with the bacon then and leave the bull to others because you just jumped in with both feet.

God Knows?

Once again, I would have to say I am concerned, but not surprised.  Apparently in Tennessee it is a bad idea to say "bless you" after someone sneezes.  You may be suspended.

What?

The assistant principal of the school, Dyer County High School, says the incident had been blown out of proportion on social media.  He is quoted as saying: "In this case, this was not a religious issue at all, but more of an issue the teacher felt was a distraction in her class," he said.

Unfortunately, the situation was blown out of proportion when the teacher decided a student needed to be removed from the class for saying bless you.  The comment is hardly threatening and given the dangers that rock many school campus today, this should have been a welcome comment.

Since there are multiple students who say the teacher is the one with the problem...with faith, perhaps that is the real distraction and perhaps school administrators should focus on that issue.

When Did Murders Of Convenience Become Okay?

Thankfully, I live in a state where only two theaters were playing the propaganda film Obvious Child.  The film which is described as a romantic comedy tells the tale of a stand up comedienne who after a one night affair is pregnant.  The solution: abortion.

The director claims that this isn't a pro-abortion film, but while denying the obvious the screen play includes dialogue where our "heroine" is told to "kill it out there tonight" before a set at the local comedy club.  The "clever" retort is that she has an appointment to do that tomorrow.

I am blown away.

At what point did the pro-abortion lobby admit that killing the innocent child is what they do?  Second question, when did that become acceptable?  Third, what other murders of convenience are acceptable?

Those who clamor for the rights of women and the War on Women should look around.  It isn't conservatives and the pro-life movement that is engaging in war.  If you want to talk about the peace movement, come talk to those of us in the pro-life network.  If you want to talk about death and war, you should take the blinders off and start looking in the mirror because that is where the war is.

You're Entitled To Your Opinion As Long As It Agrees With Mine

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. – Oscar Wilde

So Phil Robertson…having a successful television show wasn’t enough?  Being followed by millions on the airwaves, currently on A&E, wasn’t enough for you to hold off on talking about God for just a little while?

It reminds me of the line in the movie Braveheart when the Princess offers William Wallace a chest of gold and he responds “…that I should become Judas?”  Amazingly enough, you stuck with God and seem indifferent to the decision by the network ivory tower types to suspend you from the show.  Great job.

Too many people in this day and age sacrifice themselves on the altar of paycheck or fame or whatnot. It is great to see someone who is not doing that right now.

Moreover, I think agree with Matt Walsh’s blog that this is the same as network suicide.  I agree with him that someone did not look at the Chick-Fil-A example a very few months ago.  Could there be a better example of boycott going wrong and responding to a vocal minority?

In any case, I don’t remember if it was Michelle Malkin or Katie Pavlich who tweeted it out, but Glen Beck has a pretty successful thing happening down the street.  Maybe he could pick you up and A&E can see how far its influence goes then.

Empathy and Strength

This is a tough topic: Alzheimer's and dementia.

Thus far I have not had to deal with it except in third person as a citizen watching President Reagan's health deteriorate after he had left Washington, but as many of you know, I write for the Dallas Morning News Community Voices section.

One of my colleagues if you will, Catherine Ehret, had this piece published based on her experience with her mother.  I ask you to read it and sit back and think.

I bring it up today because I nominated it for the best of the early submissions in our group and was amazed at the professional columnist's take on it.  It doesn't matter who, but I was amazed at the ticky tackiness of writers who criticized the piece.

For me, I found it to be genius.  It has the true heart of good writing which includes an utter honesty about the situation the author is facing in the very non-fiction reality which she and her family exist right now dealing as Catherine notes "It’s strange to write in the past tense when your subject is still alive."  There is no gloss covering what was clearly a loving, but perhaps somewhat distant relationship.  This was a great column in my mind and I hope you will think so too.  When I read it I immediately empathize with her situation and am not-so-secretly happy I am not dealing with the issue, but I also admire the rock of strength that Catherine clearly has - both the medical situation her mother has and submitting herself to the arrows of "friends" in an open critique session.

The whole issue makes me think of the people with the blue pencil in our lives who are editing or trying to edit away.  Sometimes I have to ask what is their purpose?  Are they trying to make us better or just more like them?  Either way, go have a great Wednesday and be careful who you let edit your life.

Bad Behavior

 Back to school parties can be bad, especially when high school age kids mix alcohol, drugs, and who knows what else.  The Albany Times Union reported that several teens got the great idea that they would break into an ex-NFL players home and use it as a personal party pad for the weekend.  The problem, other than breaking in and using it for a personal party pad, was that they decided to post pictures and other evidence on Facebook and Twitter because when committing a crime, there is nothing better than self-disclosure.

Personally, I am happy they did it because now we can skip the mea culpas about "not my fault" and I didn’t mean to when they really mean, they didn’t mean to get caught BS.  This type of behavior is exactly what Brian Holloway called it: "a migrating mass of absurd ideas and entitlement."  That's right, this behavior happened, not because it is okay, but because the kids feel entitled and parents are more likely to lash out at the person trying to correct their child's behavior than they are at their kid who they apparently have skipped parenting for the past sixteen to eighteen years.

Instead of parents showing up with their child to help clean up the property, Holloway has reported multiple parents have threatened to press charges against him, sue him, or firebomb he and his family after he reported what their children had already reported via Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Is this a joke?

Your kid breaks into someone else's house.  They are obviously underage, yet still probably engaged in drugs, alcohol, and potentially date rape when you read some tweets about roofies and being unable to wake up young women.  Your kid tweets about all of the above and you are mad that someone says, you shouldn't out my kid?  Really?!?

Hey, better idea...raise your kids to have a clue.  Help them learn a little respect for not only their over inflated egos, but for other people's property.  Instead, you are worried your kid won't make it into college now.  Maybe college and being around more drugs and alcohol isn't quite the right place for your temperamental child whose value system is pretty poor anyway.

While the students' behavior was bad, in general, it is the defensiveness of these moronic parents that is worse.  How can we grow as a society when parents defend the actions of these wannabe parasites who think the world will just show up and deliver to them?  For those parents who think this is okay, you should be glad Mr. Holloway is trying to help get them on the straight and narrow.  Some folks wouldn't go the route of education and helping them like Holloway is with his Help Me Save 300 Initiative.  Some folks would use force - deadly force - to stop this.  Whose side is the law on when it comes to defending yourself and your property.  What happens if it isn't Holloway's home, but that of George Zimmerman?

Since some of these parents are so eager to go to court to save their precious Johnny's reputation, I hope Mr. Holloway follows suit and not only presses criminal charges, but engages in his own civil suit against these parents who think this type of behavior is acceptable.  I would love to be on THAT jury.  It isn't often that the defendant puts the evidence against himself or herself out there for all to see, but in this case, how much easier could the case be?

In the meantime, instead of expressing gratitude and appreciation, your anger is funny.  Now that you are ready to play mamma and papa bear to your little wayward cub, you want everyone to be nice to your little bear cub.  I am guessing you are the same mamma and papa bear who were busy yelling at teachers to let Johnny retake his chem test because he was caught cheating, but you thought that was okay....a youthful mistake because instead of teaching valuing ethics and integrity, you taught how important 401(k) and BMWs were.  I am guessing you were the same parent yelling at coaches and referees when Johnny couldn't catch the ball as if it were their fault, Johnny thought he could just do those moves like they do on the Wii football game.

You clearly went into CYA mode when you decided that it was a good idea to delete that evidence against little Johnny, despite the fact it had already been posted and screenshots had been nabbed.  Much more important to deny, deny, deny than take Mr. Holloway up on his offer to help clean up his place.  Smooth move Ex Lax!  I realize your poor little one shouldn't be exposed to the idea of cleaning up urine soaked carpets, but maybe they shouldn't have been exposed to urine soaked carpets to begin with.

You should be glad Holloway is trying to parent your child since you gave up on the task so long ago, but my real question is, who is going to parent you?