Chag Chanukah Sameach

I want to wish you a very joyous holiday and continued blessings in the new year.

December 7, 1941

71 years ago today over 2,000 people lost their lives in the attack at Pearl Harbor. As the attack was happening a reporter was assigned to cover it. The story she wrote was deemed to graphic to print and was rejected. 71 years later her report has finally been released.
h/t to Cindy for sending this to me.

Happy Hanukkah

Right off the bat, I know nothing about Hanukkah. Is there a traditional greeting or blessing? I do want to wish you a happy holiday and I hope it brings you and your family many blessings and joys. Shalom.

Copper Mining

Beth asked me to help her spread the word about this story and being the kind of guy that I am I told her to buzz off. But she offered me $20 and I saw the error of my ways ;) No. It's a pretty good piece on Alaska's Pebble Mine Project and efforts to stop it.

Thoughts Are With The Tornado Victims In The South

We've all been watching the coverage of the devastating tornado outbreak that hit the Southern states. 250 people, so far, confirmed dead. Beyond sad. Watching all this I can't help but be reminded of May 3, 1999. That was one of the scariest nights of my life. Between 3 & 5pm they started forming near OKC and just blew up. The F5 that formed that night was almost, if not, a mile wide and recorded the strongest winds ever at over 300 mph. Data's still not in for the storms that hit Alabama but the tornado that hit Tuscaloosa may have been even bigger. And that's beyond frightening. Thoughts and prayers go out for the those down South. Let's hope this doesn't happen again any time soon.

April 19, 1995

16 years ago today 168 people lost their lives when the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City was attacked by terrorists Timothy McVeigh & Terry Nichols.


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I was in the 10th grade. It was, if I'm able to remember correctly, 2nd or 3rd period Algebra. We walk into the classroom and the tv was turned on to the coverage. We just sat there for the entire hour, and the rest of the day for that matter, watching. Of all the coverage the one thing that stuck out for me at the time was the day care that was in the building. Of the 19 children that were killed in the attack, 15 of them were in the day care center. The attack in OKC doesn't get as much coverage as the September 11, 2001 attack, but please remember them today.


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Use to be we had to learn Spanish in school because we were becoming Mexico II, but now they're teaching Chinese to kids in Kindergarten. They are our new overlords. zào-wù-zhǔ bì-yòu Měi-guó

Censorship

Happy Halloween!

Burning The Qu'ran

So a church in Florida wants to hold a Qu'ran burning. While I think it's down right stupid and don't agree with it, they do have the right. Just like we have the right to burn or destroy the Bible, or any book, CD or what have you, or the flag. Or like those Westboro Baptist asses have the right to protest. I think it's hate speech myself, but they're not breaking any laws. At least I don't think they are. What I would like to see is this much attention and outrage when someone burns the flag. That would be nice.

Well I Done Got Old

So I turned 31 yesterday I've been kind of dreading it for some time. I know some of you are thinking "31? Please", but for me it's a significant moment. I can remember my brother turning this age, 15 years ago, and now here I am. Pink Floyd once sang "And then one day you find ten years have got behind you, No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun". I still feel like I missed that starting gun. Here I am an adult but I don't feel grown up. Perhaps that's the curse of my generation. And something else I've noticed. I've been saying "Back when I was a kid" or "Back in my day" a lot.

Anyway, on to the meat and potatoes of this post. I saw this story and, while it made me laugh, it also caused me to think of things from my past that "kids today" may have never experienced or even heard of.

Cassette tapes

Vinyl records before they were retro

Pre-GHz processors

Popples

Gas under $1/gallon

Rotary telephones

Bo Knows...

The Gulf War

Mr. Wizard showing me how to insert a needle into a balloon without popping it

Pogo Ball

Tupperwear parties

Sticker books

Windows 95

Seeing my first Compact Disk

Are You Gay Or Something?

I was watching a show on BBC yesterday about actor John Borrowman trying to find out why he's gay. Why no one else in his family is but him. In it he went all over the world to find factors as to why and as the show goes on he's finding different scientific methods and stats that may determine why someone might be gay or straight. Every one of these methods and facts, except one, say he shouldn't be gay but he is. And these factors and stats they listed say, scientifically, that I should be but I'm not. Keep in mind that these are just theories and haven't been proven but I found it kind of fascinating. If you believe that it's a choice rather than how you're born then you probably won't like it but if you get BBC America you should check it out. It's called The Making Of Me: John Borrowman.

So You Say You Want A Revolution

I was thinking a couple of days ago about the different revolutions that have taken place around the world. Mexican Revolution, Russian Revolutions, Cuban Revolution and so forth. Most revolutions, for whatever reason, have resulted in the killing of the ones in power and have led to Communism, Socialism and dictatorships. Then we have the American Revolution. It didn't result in the death of King George. It didn't lead to a dictatorship. It brought about the world's first free republic where we have the power instead of the government. It led to a leader that we selected and we're supposed to have power over. We could have easily went the way of oppression like others but we didn't. What made, and, for the most part, makes, the people here so different? Has anyone really thought about that? Americans are so very different than anyone else in that we... you know, I can't quite put my finger on it. We're just tougher, more independent people. We don't like being told what to do. Our forefathers lived in that type of environment across Europe and dreamed of escaping it. That's what America is. A haven for those who have had enough. People who are sick and tired of having their lives ran for them. I know it's considered jingoist or racist or whatever to believe in American exceptionalism but we are an exceptional country. A better country. And although we've lost some of the magic that's made America the land of hope and dreams over the years, I have to, need to, believe that there are still enough of us who respect the traditions and history of this country that it will always be here. A free nation for people to come to when they need it.

Some Miitary Votes May Not Be Counted

The very people who help may it so that we can vote are having their votes tossed out because they weren't given enough time to do so. F'ed up.

More On Shirley Sherrod & The NAACP

The Shirley Sherrod story has another hitch. It seems, and I haven't seen the tape yet, that she was telling a story about something that happened almost 30 years ago. So she thought about being racist then thought better of it. But there's a question that I need to ask. Was this all a set up to try further discredit some? We've seen a number of people on CNN and MSNBC blame FNC for this and the NAACP, despite having the tape and knowing what she was talking about, is now blaming FNC and Breitbart for their, the NAACP, reaction to the story. And did Gibbs try to blame Fox yesterday? I'm not sure. It stands to reason that the NAACP would know how some would react to this, especially after the whole Tea Party resolution stunt. A Black person talking about not helping a White person. People fell for it hook, line and sinker. Myself included. We should have been more vigilant. That was our fault. But it does seem a little convenient that it would surface when it did. And was the tape that was released not the whole thing? In the article above it says

She said that a video of her entire speech would reveal that she described...

I don't know. But if it was a stunt then it seems to have gotten a little out of control when some in the government decided to get involved.

Look, I honestly don't know if it was a stunt or not, it probably wasn't, but should we be afraid to ask the question? I don't think so. It's our obligation to do so. And it's actually the job of journalists to ask these sorts of question and then to look into them. With the political climate in this country the way it is today, anything's possible.

Party At My Place

Cause it's Friday, you ain't no job and you ain't got "stuff" to do.


Anyone up for a weekend of teenage-style debauchery? Find a babysitter and get your butts down here* for the party to end all parties. I have the handcuffs and masks, you bring the baby oil and the feathers.



*Don't actually come to my place. Trespassers will be shot.

Cool Add-on

If you're using Firefox here's a pretty nifty add-on you might like to check out called Screengrab.

You Mean There's A 7 AM?

Well, I'm screwed. I sure ain't no morning person. I'm barely an evening person.

Pride Parades

There's been stories in the news lately about all the Gay pride parades that have taken place. There's also parades to show pride in the city you live, ones to show pride in your race, unless you're White, and so forth. And it got me to thinking, what other kinds of parades could we hold to celebrate things we have no control over? I want to hold a Brown Eye pride parade. I love my brown eyes. Or how about a Brunette pride parade? My Favorite Color Is Purple pride parade? I Love Beer pride parade? Wait, that's St. Patrick's Day. There's hundreds of pride parades that we're missing out on people. Contact your local City Hall and let's get moving.

This Post Is So Gay

Can someone explain to me the trend of calling things we don't like "gay"? "That movie was so gay" or "Soccer is gay", thank you Twitter follower. We would never say "Dude, that movie was so Black" or "so Jewish" when we meant bad or dumb, so why say Gay?