Tag Archives: current-events

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The Results are In

I’m mostly happy with the way the election went yesterday. My new voting spot, which was much farther than I think a voting spot should be from their people, was much nicer than I anticipated considering the awful neighborhood it was in. They had free coffee and soup. Because of our impish little love, voting was quite difficult and needed a tag team process. And my husband forgot to take advantage of the free coffee he was so excited about.

It was a good sign that the people seemed to rise against the same old, and voted a different way. I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing that the Republicans have taken control of the house, but I knew it was coming if people were smart enough. That sent a sign of “do your damn job or get voted out”, and it was a sting that our politicians need to feel. I called it previously in another post about how the Republicans would gain control of both houses, and it was no one’s fault but the Democrats for sitting around with their thumbs up there butts. It’s a chance that will influence the next election in epic fashion, I predict that. If the Republicans do something good, balance the budget and make true reforms into how things are done, than the presidency will go to a Republican because they had fixed everything that was broken. They have a chance to remedy the past here.

However, I’m not hopeful for that. All over the news they decided this was a sign to repeal Obamacare. Really? That ship is floating just fine, and the world has not collapsed as a result of it existing. That is the least of the problems that needs to be fixed. The absolute least of our problems. Plus unless my math and understanding of the whole process is incorrect, even if they vote to repeal it, the president can still veto it and they don’t have a 2/3rd’s majority to overrule the president. So if I am correct, they will still be doing a whole lot of nothing by making their first priority as repealing Obamacare. Excellent message guys. You were voted in to start getting stuff done and your first order of business is to get absolutely nothing done. This is why people hate politicians.

Go forth, newly Republican Washington and make an actual difference. Prove us wrong that all politicians are crooks that waver to the highest bidder and do nothing but collect our tax payer money and lobbyist hand outs to line their pockets. Reduce wasteful government spending on useless things, stop focusing on social issues that are settling themselves by people’s choice and balance a budget. Fix the broken welfare and other entitlements systems. Focus on that, not impossible tasks that aren’t actually that bad to begin with. Massachusetts complained about Romneycare and adjusted and things are going pretty well for us, and I don’t here too many complaints about Obamacare anymore. Deal with it, and fix Washington.

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It’s a Busy Busy Time

I have been trying, really trying to get something up here to let my readers know that I have not forgotten them. Alas, as more jobs come my way via freelancing I must take them. Unfortunately, the busier I get with those jobs, the less energy I have to commit to this. I will definitely aim to do better at this, even if that means only making a 3 sentence post. I do feel that this is an important outlet to discuss topics openly, and would love to keep going with it. But let’s get to some important topics.

Election Day is tomorrow, and I am known for my rants about issues. I stand by every one of them, including if you don’t want to bother reading about issues don’t bother voting. Have I decided my votes? I am about 90% positive where I am going to go with my votes. No, I don’t want to pay 5 extra cents to buy a bottle of water. No, people already voted and said they wanted casinos and re-voting on it really just sends a terrible message that we can just keep voting on the same topics and get the same results each time. What was that about the definition of insanity? Re-voting on already discussed issues is what makes Washington suck at politics, let’s not stoop to their level. We’re better than that. Should the gas tax be automatically increased? Not sure, if what I read is correct the money isn’t even going to repair streets and bridges anyways so that excuse seems flawed to me. We’ll see what I finally decide come tomorrow. Now, I was on the fence about the mandating paid sick time, but I think ultimately I will vote to see it enacted. The fact that it covers helping take care of families and deal with domestic violence are really selling points. Plus coming from an essentially single family income and experiencing what happens when you don’t get paid when you are sick, it’s a really shitty spot to find yourself. It’s easy to judge until you have to walk in those shoes. As for the other important races, like Senate and Governor. Well, I’m also torn. Well, sorta. I’m pretty sure my vote for Governor will end up going to Baker, though Falchuk is a very enticing vote. This will probably be a last-minute call. As for Senator, I’ve decided that Herr will probably end up with my vote. Pro-choice, pro-marriage equality are very important to me. I also pray that he stands by his belief on term limits, because we absolutely need that. In seriousness, I live in Massachusetts and the other spots are mostly just filled with Democrats that are running uncontested anyways.

This die with dignity argument seems like a joke to me. Why? Because it shares my similar stance as abortion does: #noneofmydamnbusiness. I’ve seen family members suffer through dying horrific diseases. If they want to die so our memory of them isn’t someone who is withering away in bed while suffering in unmentionable agony, let them. They are dying. They have earned their “do whatever makes them happy” right. People keep blabbering on about how the government takes away freedoms, blah blah blah. What about their freedom to live happily and on their own terms? Just because they don’t understand something, ie: making a choice about whether or not to have an abortion or who they want to marry, does not mean they get to make the calls. I know if I end up with something terminal and terrible, I would want to end it on my own terms and not wait to be bedridden and suffering a misery while my family was helpless to do anything but watch. It’s their choice. Not ours. This should be legal in more than just 45 states.

Final note on current topics: ever watch that NFL ad for ending sexual assault and domestic violence? Am I though only one that wonders why someone like Ben Roethlisberger is not on it mentioning about horrific rape is? Hey guys, let’s get all our clean cut American heroes up there. It’ll make everyone believe that we actually stand by this cause. Kthxbai.

In closing, NaNoWriMo has started. My novel is 3,000 words in and it is entitled “The Science of Suicide”. It is about a student who is writing her dissertation on the topic of suicide. Her obsession with this topic has lead her down an interesting path, and I can’t wait to complete her journey for you to read. Wish me luck!

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Through the Weekend of Events

As the weather cools outside, I just want to cuddle up with a nice tea and focus on my writing. However, last time I attempted this my precious toddler nearly spilled it all over the place in a possible attempt to burn the both of us. Instead, I will drink this ice-cold water in an attempt to pretend it is anything but water. Now, to focus on a weekend of news and noteworthy mentions.

Ebola has still only killed one American on American soil. Until that number gets to at least 10, how about we cool the horses and stop the panic. Travel bans will not help, because we do not have authority over telling the countries that are actually suffering an outbreak to stop flights. Which means even if we stop flights to those places, people can still come in. Unless I’m missing something, which you can feel free to inform me of it. I like Shep Smith, and I have always stated my love for him. If you have not seen it where he said “if you’re concerned about getting sick and dying, get a flu shot because the flu has killed more people”, check it out immediately. He is 100% right, like most other situations. So news, stop spreading panic and focus on something that is actually beneficial to us.

Michelle Knight, who seems to be forever known as one of the girls that Ariel Castro kidnapped and repeatedly assaulted, seems to be getting some angry comments about forgiving her kidnapper and blaming his actions on a disease. While I do take some issue with allowing a person to let circumstances be a blame for their disgusting and appalling actions, hasn’t she been through enough? If she needs to forgive him to get closure and move on from the situation to go on and live a normal life, then don’t mock her for that. Some people need religion to make it through tough times, and no one blinks an eye. She mentions forgiving some now dead insignificant pile of dirt, and people are like “oh no, she crossed a line”. I actually admire her courage for coming out and speaking about those horrors. I admire her for being strong enough for forgiving someone who did such atrocious things to her and the others he had kidnapped. I wish I had that sort of enlightenment to forgive someone, because I’ve hated people for longer for obviously much less. Let her do what she needs to in order to move on with her life.

Elections are coming, so don’t forget to vote if that’s what you want to do. If not, don’t complain on the outcome. And try to remember not to be a jerk because someone disagrees with your politics. If you are, than you are the reason the political system is as awful as it is. If you do not bother to educate yourself on anything you are voting for, please don’t vote. You are probably the idiot that you are complaining about. Let’s talk about placing names on ballots without their political affiliation next to their names. If you go into the booth not knowing anything about any of the candidates, that’s kinda your fault and I hope that if you’re one of those people who only vote for one party, that you vote for the other on accident as a result. It’s your fault, and next time you should read something other than political propaganda sites. That “Obama Sucks” Facebook page you read doesn’t have the correct information on it anyways, and you’re an idiot for believing anything on there.

Finally, NaNoWriMo is starting very soon, and I’m very anxious for this. I have my story set and a few notations ready to go for starting. Ideally, I had wanted to start an outline which I think would have made this much easier than last year going in blind. Unfortunately with my freelancing duties in an attempt to earn money, has gotten in the way of that. Maybe I can get something quickly up by then. Probably not though. I can tell this one is going to be great, as my greatest cheerleader is actually very interested in the premise and story. He actually seems very excited to see what comes of it, and I this has helped me be more excited about it. I will unveil more details when November hits.

Thank you for visiting!

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The Only Good News, Is No News

I was reading the news today, like most days. Top stories include catching the jackholes that did that god awful thing to that poor autistic kid during the ice bucket challenge. (Also, my post on the ice bucket challenge was proven true. People forgot all about that.) Then of course it wouldn’t be a news day without Ebola. Or shootings or other violence in public areas. Or other things that make you cringe and go “what the hell?” Let’s take a look at the top stories in news today.

 

To Abort or Not to Abort?: Last month, I was reading the monthly Cosmo. Yes, my guilty pleasure and judge me if you must. However, reading that magazine does not mean I have lower intelligence. It means that I acknowledge that sometimes you need to read mindless things to keep yourself from getting too serious. Not the point. I read a story about how this doctor was essentially sending his patients across the border into Mexico to buy “abortion drugs”. He couldn’t actually perform the abortion because of the new law that Texas had enacted, but he could fix the problem if someone took medicine to make sure it worked and was not a danger to the woman. I sat in awe. Seriously, we have amazing doctors here but we’re sending them across the border into cartel land to get a procedure that was allowed due to Roe v Wade? Why was this granted? So many women had died during botched self-procedures or shady doctors just trying to get a quick buck. Flash forward 41 years later, it seems to have reverted back. Until now, when the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to block portions of this law. Am I pro-abortion? No, I don’t think anyone is pro-abortion. Am I pro-it’snoneofmydamnbusiness? Yes, I am. It’s the libertarian way of the government should stay out of person lives. That’s how it’s supposed to go, right? Or is it that the government needs to be small enough to fit in your bedroom? Either way, I’m glad that now the women can be safely treated for this procedure if it is their choice. I’ve been a teenager who was unexpectedly pregnant. I know what it’s like to weigh all options. It wasn’t the choice for me, nor will it be unless there is a serious medical problem. Unless you’ve been there, don’t presume to know what it’s like to be in their shoes.

 

Eeeeebola: Since March of this year, about 4600 people have contracted Ebola. Of those, around 52% of them died. These are stats that you can easily look up on the CDC website. Also according to the website, the only real confirmed cases in America were in Dallas. The person who died was from out of the country (my impression from the data on the site) and the recent patients that contracted it were healthcare workers that might have made “oopsies”. How is Ebola transmitted? I’m not going to have Ebola and breathe into the air and infect a whole movie theater of people, and then have my city shut down with military people barricading the place and risk possibly getting nuked. (God, I loved Outbreak.) It gets contracted by close contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids. Any other report is an embarrassment and a fear-mongering attempt that I just laugh at. I actually feel bad for the people who do not take the time to properly educate themselves. Let’s put this all into perspective. 92,000 people have died as a result of heart disease. 84,500 people have died as a result of cancer. Ebola? 1. Thanks to medical advances in America, we have death. So American news organizations, stop scaring everyone into thinking that everyone who sneezes next to you has Ebola. Report facts not scare tactics because facts save lives while scare tactics cause panic.

 

Sometimes Hitting Kids is Necessary: I wrote a hubpage on disciplining as a parent. I have expressed my displeasure that anyone who dares to spank their kid is an evil source. A person replied to me by informing me that I was wrong when I spanked my oldest child when he was younger and I had damaged him. There is a fine line between discipline and abuse it seems. If you’re quick to smack your kid over every little thing, yes that will absolutely cause significant damage to their mentality. Now, if you spank your kid twice in a span of 9 years that is not going to cause huge harm. They say “oh well that excuse of I was spanked and I turned out fine means nothing”. Let’s look at a fact here, because I love facts. When we were kids, would we have dared to fill a bucket of disgusting bodily fluids and film ourselves dumping it on a kid with autism? Heck no, our parents would have slapped us silly and locked us in a room without anything but staring at walls for months at a time if we dared. Today? I bet there are thousands more incidences just like that because no one wants to discipline their children. That’s why children are growing up to be crueler than ever. We were bullied as kids, but no one was ever bullied enough to cause someone to kill themselves. Even more, not enough to go to their wake and spit on their dead body. Maybe there is a correlation between discipline from younger generations to older ones and why there is such a rampant amount of adolescent misbehavior. Because, guess what? They grow up to be miscreant little shits and no one wants to take responsibility for that. If your kid is a little shit, look in the mirror because it’s your fault for allowing that behavior to get so bad that you lack any control of your children. You are not their friend; you are the person who is supposed to be molding model citizens with the capabilities of changing the world for the better. I keep thinking about if my son is autistic and this happened to him. Part of me would do unspeakable harm to them while the logical part of me realizes that little punks are worth the jail time. I hope they get the book thrown at them, because they are disgusting people. And then I want to know how their parents feel about it, because learned behavior does exist and I wonder how much they learned about teasing an autistic kid they learned from them.

 

Sorry for the length of the post, but it was all necessary to get it all out.

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Ending the Week With Controversy and Exciting News

Fall is coming, and this means the happiest time of year for me. I wonder if I could convince my husband to start setting up the Halloween decorations already? Too soon? He gets to put up stupid Christmas stuff over a month early, why can’t I get my Halloween stuff up early?! #debateoverholidays . It’s exciting to have our first holiday come up while we’re in our first house and I can’t wait to go completely overboard and be the neighborhood crazies. Which is horrible of me to say, considering one of the apartments next to me has mentally ill people. Besides the point, entirely.I promised both controversy and exciting news, and I will hopefully deliver on both.

I have written many blogs on how god awful it is to have Islam as a whole be accused of being a religion that celebrates terrorism because there are some radicals out there. I have even noted in the past that what makes those terrorists, but we ignore those radical Christian groups that bomb/shoot at abortion clinics. Why isn’t Christianity considered a terrorist religion because of those bad seeds but we automatically label all Muslims as terrorists. I even have recalled in the past how a person I grew up with (who was fantastic person) was Muslim and how she was treated after both terrorist attacks. More recently, people destroyed her family’s store after the Boston Marathon Bombing because her family has the nerve to not be Christian. I would even argue that even if they weren’t Muslim this would ‘ve happened because assholes in America only see skin color and clothes and not individual people.  So with that, I talk about ISIS.

People against calling them ISIS say it’s because they are neither a state nor part of Islam because they do not follow the teachings. While I agree it’s not a state, declaring them not Islamic is actually a half lie. They follow their own twisted ideals of the religion, as many twist Christians turn around the teachings of the bible to fit whatever endgame they have. Do I think they follow the teachings of the Qur’an as intended? Absolutely not. Despite what scaremongers want you to believe, they are a peaceful religion like any other peaceful religion. What do I think we should call them? I don’t care what you call them as long as you bomb the crap out of them and make them non-existent. In fact, how about we not refer to them as anything and not give them any airtime so they no longer get the toddler temper tantrum attention that they are getting. They are just children that want Mommy and Daddy’s attention, so give them the bomb treatment and call it a day? Not really because so many innocents are going to die. It’s not my place to decide which people die and who lives, unless it’s in a story I write. I just think this whole argument is stupid and distracts from the real issue of making them gone.

Now that the controversy is over, onto the good news. I have mentioned that I am going to join in another NaNoWriMo, hopefully with a completion like last year. I have the novel idea set, just need a title and to actually write it when November 1st hits. For now, I hopefully get my 4th e-book released in time for Halloween, a nice monster story for the masses to enjoy. Thank you as always for taking the time to read this.

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Why I Won’t Do the Ice Bucket Challenge

The title should be self-explanatory. Do I think this makes me a terrible person?  No, but it probably makes you think I am and I doubt if you’ve already reached that preconceived notion about me solely on a blog title, that you even know me well enough that I would care about your opinion about me. I have not been nominated for it, probably because my friends know I would ignore it and not even care about paying the $100. I don’t have $100 to give every charity that needs help. I hope someday I do have a lot of money that I could spread across to all kinds of charities, but until then I have to pick.

Call me a cynic and blast me with hate comments, but we are all about viral trends in America. Sadly, right now ALS is the “charity du jour”. I can’t deny the amount of money it has raised for charity, but what happens when the trend stops? They will start struggling again while another trend will take waves. I hate to compare it to “planking”, but let’s be honest in that it will be forgotten as quickly as it spread. I don’t mean to take away from those people who did it, kudos to you for raising awareness. But in most of the videos, there was no mention that it was for ALS or even a place to send donations. How does that help spread in the awareness of a very serious disease? “Tuesdays With Morrie” had more of an effect on me wanting change than watching people dump ice on themselves. Also a note: I have only actually watched 2 videos. My brother’s and the one where the woman pulled out papers to protest this idea rather than actually dumping water on herself.

During this whole thing, the Jimmy Fund Telethon did its usual marathon to raise money to help the Dana Farber  Cancer Institute to help fight cancer and raised just over $3 million dollars. While people were dumping ice on themselves, this charity needed money. My cousin every year tries to raise money for awareness for TSC (Tuberous sclerosis), a disease that I had never even heard of until she started fighting for the cause and her family. (Shameless plug to help her out: http://giving.tsalliance.org/site/TR?px=1001886&fr_id=1122&pg=personal) I hope that helps her cause and I hope they don’t need a “take a swim in pudding” video to get the awareness that this cause does so desperately need.

We shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for not participating. I loyally give to the Jimmy Fund every year, in some way or another, and I don’t have much else to give. I take part in the Relay for Life. I have donated my time at a soup kitchen. I don’t need to splash my good deeds around to make myself feel good. The fact that I did something is enough for me. It’s the little things that you do in your daily life to make a difference some place that matters, not whether you dumped ice on yourself. If my son chooses to do it, will I discourage him? No, it’s his choice and it makes him feel like he’s making a difference in the world. I have no right to judge him for doing it anymore than you have the right to judge me for not. If it makes you feel good, then you should do it. Just make sure that you are doing it to raise awareness by spreading the word about what it’s for and where to send the money and not just do it because someone dared you to.

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The Mass Protest In Little Big City

Where I live, I am in the same city as Westover Air Base. In fact, I could basically just walk about 20 minutes and be standing right at one of the gates to get inside. This might mean nothing to you, except that in recent days it was named a possible housing zone for the illegal immigrant children that they don’t know what to do with that have come from Central America. It’s in a city that people have probably not even heard of outside of Massachusetts. Hell, some places inside Massachusetts doesn’t even know it exists. Though, in a funny note as a resident: Rizzoli and Isles has mentioned it a few times in a few different episodes, including one where they incorrectly stated there was no Popeye’s in Chicopee. There is one, in fact, right on the main drag. Do your research, television writers.

Now that I have successfully gotten off point, we went out to get groceries yesterday there was a protest of not too many people. Probably no more than 40, but I didn’t care enough to count them. They were protesting said plan to bring those children (I won’t refer to them as immigrants or illegals. It doesn’t seem fair to call a child something they do not understand.) to said Air Base. I joked to my husband: “Look, that is the entirety of the Western Mass Tea Party”. We had a laugh, and drove by not really concerning ourselves to them. If you get a 100 people, you’re a protest. If you get less people than I had attend my wedding, it’s just a gathering. no matter how many “Don’t Tread on Me” flags or antique style American flags that existed in the days of slavery you have waving in the storm’s wind. (Side note, I swear the lightning kept striking in the area where they were standing. Sign from God?)

Were they even residents of Chicopee? Why should it matter to them? If they were, then let them be. It is our right as American’s to protest! I don’t care that they were there, they weren’t in my way to the grocery store. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed them if it weren’t for the yellow flags they were waving. “Support our Troops, not Illegals” signs were being waved. I can get behind that. Our troops have fought to ensure our freedoms and safety, they should get better care than they currently get. We could save money by forcing people who don’t feel like working out into the workforce to raise revenue to better treat the troops. That’s a great idea that we’ll never see happen, though the increase in minimum wage makes it less beneficial to just not give a shit, because now they make more than the people living off the system. (Another point altogether).

At first, I had some concerns. I agreed with people saying that we’re stressed enough supporting said people who don’t feel like working now we’re going to have to put resources towards children from other countries too. As a parent of a child in the local school system, I know some of the classes already have 20+ children in them. I don’t want my child to suffer in school because of more of an overflow of children. That was calmed when I found out they would be educated on base. The money part didn’t bother me as much as it should have; we’re already paying for people that don’t need the help, why not take the money from them and put it towards children who are actually in need? I’m a mom, I can’t handle the thought of a child being neglected or mistreated. That sickens me, 100%.

Should we house them? I’m not sure. It’s not my call to make. They have people who know all the facts, but like everything else they never tell us everything. Everyone just tells us enough to sway us in whatever position they want us to go. I don’t fall for that line, and I’m not going to feign outrage unnecessarily because that just makes me look like an ass. An uninformed, uneducated ass. And I’m only guilty of one of those, as are most Americans. I have the mass amount of student loan debt to prove I was properly educated, the uninformed is the politicians and media’s fault.

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All About Random Stuff

My head is swirling with all the stuff all over the news and otherwise. And what better place to air that swirling than right here with my readers. Don’t worry, next week we will be able to get started on the grand reveal of the house. I’m really just waiting for my resident photographer to not be working crazy overtime to get nice shots for you guys. Until then, you’re stuck with my rant of randomness for the day.

1) Can women have it all?: This has been a debate that has been going on for a while in the news. I ignored it at first as a ridiculous ploy to rile up the masses of my fellow gender. Can women have it all? Absolutely not, at some point something has to give. Even now as I’m currently trying to write this, following my dreams of writing, I am half watching my son to make sure that he is safe but half uninvolved because I can only multitask so much. The question isn’t whether women can have it all; the real question is “can anyone have it all?”. Which again I answer with: “absolutely not”. We can have pieces of it all, but you can’t fully be invested in everything. Does that make you a terrible person? No, it makes you just like the rest of us humans that are struggling to juggle family, home, and career aspirations. That does not mean you should have to choose between any of the above, it just means that you’re splitting yourself into pieces and not having it fully all to yourself. That is why I stand by my “no one can have it all: no man, woman, or child” stance.

2) It’s all in God’s plan: (I will probably let a few obscenities slip through with the next 2 rants. It’s passion, not anger. Okay, maybe a little anger.) Whenever there’s a tragedy, people always say “don’t worry, it’s God’s plan”. I’m sorry, but if it’s God’s plan to take an innocent life away, than I want nothing to do with that God. This is why I send my child to CCD without actually attending church myself. I understand that some people take it as comforting, but do not try this line on me because it will likely anger me into a rant of how “religion only exists for the people who need something to cling onto and I’m not someone who needs lies to cling to” which will just make me into an even more unlikable human being. The real truth is something bad shit happens to good people. I’ve dealt with my fair share of bad shit, and you know what? There are 2 types of people in the world: the type that uses tragedy as a teachable lesson to help them grow into strong people or the ones who dwell on it and try to make sense of the nonsensical. There is no answers to tragedies. We don’t know why that kid decided to shoot down that school. We don’t know why our kid got cancer and the neighbor next door that’s a terrible person lives to be 110. Unfortunately when it’s your time, it’s your time. Like they say: “a person walks out of the hospital being cured of cancer and gets hit by a car and dies.” Bad things are inevitable. That just means you need to cherish all the good things in your life even more, because gratitude for all the good will make up for the bad.

3) Need versus Choice: I keep struggling with my ideals on what “need” is, in terms of people who need assistance and help. Not just from the financial aspect of the government, but also in general. People might disagree and I know I have stated this before but I really need to reiterate this point. A person in need is deserves all the help they can get. A person in need is someone who just has the world crapping on them no matter what. They spend all day looking for a job to no avail. They sweep backrooms of bakeries under the table for a few dollars to get something in. They are trying all the career training and temp searches they possibly can to get something, anything to provide for their family and themselves and have no luck in life. That is a person in need. A person who just doesn’t feel like doing anything and wants to sit back and let the government pay them is not someone in need. That is someone who chooses a lifestyle of poverty. A person in need deserves my sympathy and empathy. A person in choice neither deserves nor will get any pity at all because while I believe some people just have shit luck (I am one of those people), you can try your hardest to fight against that luck. And sometimes you do get lucky. Even if you’re flipping burgers at Burger King to provide insurance and income into your family, there’s no shame in doing whatever it takes to provide for your family.

4) Our America: I have always love the “Our America with Lisa Ling” series on OWN. The episode on foster kids that I finally watched last night tugged at me like nothing else has in a while. You should find it On Demand or whatever and watch it. It immediately made me want to hug all those other kids, which is amazing since I’m not really a “kid person” let alone a “people person”. (Yes, I’m aware I have 2 children, but it’s much different when they’re your own.) Though true to myself, it made me want to hit the abusive stepfather that let the stepchildren see has he abused their mother repeatedly. The poignant line of the night came from the mother, who had lost her kids because the stepfather basically kidnapped one of the kids and she pulled a gun out on him trying to protect herself and her family: “I learned from those classes that even though he only abused me, he was putting another kind of abuse on my kids by making them watch. They learn from that. I learned to be careful who I associate with when my kids see me. Because they learn from that.”

1050 words later, and I have completed my rants. Thank you for reading and feel free to share your thoughts.

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Leave the Remdawg Alone

Normally I don’t discuss Massachusetts only topics here, nor do I really discuss sports here. I felt the need to discuss the situation with Jeremy Remy that’s a hot button issue in this dubbed “Red Sox Nation” on whether he should continue his job calling the Sox games while his son is on trial for brutally murdering the mother of his child. It seems to be a divider among viewers and is taking away focus from what should be a discussion on Opening Day or whether or not the Sox will be the first team in  about 13 years to repeat a World Series win.

Before the season, Remy admits to enabling his troubled son in efforts to help him. He agreed that maybe he went too far, but what was he supposed to do. Normally I agree that enablers are as guilty for a situation as the person they enable, if you give someone a fish and whatnot. His son was an uncontrollable rager waiting to happen. The only thing they are guilty of is not letting him sit in jail longer because they thought he was fixable. Every parent likes to think that their child is fixable.

Now here’s why I don’t think enabling him mattered: Jared probably would’ve done it anyways and no matter what Jeremy did, he still would be blamed in the media. An abuser is an abuser for life until he’s stopped. If the courts were harder on him or if all the women he beat stood up and put an end to this, he might have been in jail longer,  but he still would have done this. His son was a bad seed that liked to beat up people. If Remy had cut off Jared and wiped his hands clean of him and his son still killed his baby mama, the media would still rake Jeremy Remy over the coal and Remy’s resignation would still be called for. Except instead of being guilty for enabling a bad seed, he’d be guilty of neglecting a child that needed him and because of that a woman has died. There is no situation where people aren’t calling for his head on a big Red Sox shaped platter.

The issue here is accountability. No one ever wants to take responsibility for themselves. It’s always someone else that needs to take the blame. Boo hoo, his daddy worked all the time. Mine did too, but I didn’t kill anyone or shoot up heroin. The real person at fault here is the one who committed the crime. He was a grown “man”. (I use the term “man” here very loosely because no man hits or acts violently towards a woman let alone the mother of his child.) He’s the one on trial and should stay the only one on trial. I have a hard time feeling sorry for a woman beater, let alone a rich spoiled child. Leave the Remdawg alone and let him do his job. When I see him today, I will see the same guy I’ve always seen only with a little bit more sympathy because his dirty laundry is fodder for the news while essentially being compared to an accomplice to murder.

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The Line Between Beliefs and Neglect

An article was sent to me about a measles outbreak in NYC and the rising toll of infected include infants who aren’t old enough to be vaccinated. Apparently this is becoming common in  some of the largest cities in America. A while back, there was a church that was anti-vaccination that suffered a massive outbreak amongst its church that resulted in many sick and some deaths. I bet you’re wondering what the church did. The answer is: they set up vaccination clinics and changed their happy little tune when their own fell gravely ill and died. Beliefs are awesome, until your children die and then it’s an “oopsie”.

I’ve considered arguments against vaccines. And I’ve considered ones for vaccines. So I would like to approach this topic logically, as I try to approach everything here. I will point out the opposing view and why I personally find them illogical.

We don’t know how safe they are. That’s a valid point. We really don’t know how safe they are. But, I absolutely know how unsafe not getting them are. They argue that getting vaccines can cause asthma, seizures, and death. There are other side effects or illnesses people believe are caused by vaccines. I’d like to see in those studies how many children were predisposed to these ailments to begin with. As for the death, I think I can say that not getting vaccinated can lead that way as well, so you’re really just taking a crap shot here.

But we don’t really know what’s in them. We could be poisoning our children.  This is true, so another very valid point. My argument to this is simple: we know what’s in Chemotherapy medicines and we still give those to our dying children. That is a poison. You are giving poison to children with cancer. And you know what? Since we started purposely poisoning our children, childhood mortality rates from the most common of the cancers have been dramatically reduced. What’s in that Epi-pen or inhaler you give your child? I don’t know what’s really in them, but I wouldn’t think twice about giving them to my children if they needed them to save their lives.

There’s all this evidence on how bad they are for you. This is one argument I can’t say I can understand. I’m sure if I Googled long enough I can find articles proving that Elvis isn’t really dead or that the sky is green. You can find anything to agree with you. Now I’m sure this argument can be used against me, but I have reputable science sources to back mine. Even still, math and statistics are on my side if you look at it through cost – benefit goggles. The few children that suffer the rare consequences from getting the shot versus the much larger mass that benefits from not having to suffer serious and miserable from exposure to these illnesses.

Vaccines cause Autism. I also can’t stand behind this one as well since this was also scientifically disproven. The truth is no one really knows what causes Autism. The people who blamed vaccines probably gained financially from saying that it does and allowed for a push of holistic medicines that benefits no one but themselves. The reality is people like to place blame somewhere, especially if it’s off of themselves. Instead of focusing on something that was already proven to not be the cause, the focus should be figuring out what actually is. All this does if cause fear mongering and risks the lives of children too young to be protected.

I think I’ve covered all the bases here. I think that if you can arrest a parent for denying treatment for an illness, you can reasonably do it for not vaccinating them because it still follows the same principle. I think if their sick child infects a baby and that baby dies, the parents should be held responsible. I know that it might be viewed as narrow-mindedness. I can say the same for not even considering, really considering, this. I’m concerned for the greater health concern at question here, not just illnesses that should be eradicated but aren’t because of not vaccinating children but what is the real culprit for Autism and whether it is as over diagnosed as ADHD. This would be the best use of everyone’s time and funds.