of Victims.
July 26, 2010
Whats wrong with this picture?
So.
On a recent trip to California, at a Starbucks, I happened across a scene that very nearly, for me, could be a marquee for the the States’ ills. As goes California…?
Indeed. The ills of a Nation. Literally.
The rule of the minority. As recently pointed out to me, a form of tyranny.
Woe is me. Not my fault. Mommy and Daddy (can I have my allowance now?) made me, in mind and deed, what I am. ACOA. ADHD. PTSD. Placard please.
Of course the scene I spied that day, and which I recount, is hugely politically incorrect. The handicapped are off limits.
If it were only so.
One in five, that’s the ratio. Handicapped to fully functional.
Of three available parking spaces (three total, mind you). Two, are handicapped.
Being of the larger fraction, immensely fortunate, I should be grateful to be allowed to park across the street, just in case even one of those two spots are used. Right? The reasonable, compassionate thing to do. I should be thrilled to have to install a handicap restroom and ramp, at huge cost, in my new business. Even though my restrooms aren’t public. I should be beside myself with glee to be allowed to give way in some manner or tax to the placarded, to those who won’t give way to the Double cheeseburger. I should be in line to purchase, for them, their very own motorized body hauler. Just like the commercials say… “No cost to you. We’ve got this, have a seat…forever!!”
I miss stigmas.
A hand out…not likely. What’s a little hunger looking at welfare?
Hunger sated, dignity compromised.
Your teen daughter is pregnant…avert the eyes and hope the loss of an election might be enough to warn her peers of severe consequences.
The sins of the…
~sigh~ The good ol’ days.
It’s said the most traumatic experience is very probably emerging from the womb. You stayed on the tit for years afterward but you eventually got off it…right? You finally quit your bawling and got on with it. What happened? What made you want to crawl back up into fetal and start sucking your thumb again?
Someone told you no? In a harsh and firm voice? Some other kid score more goals than you? Or, more likely, I think, someone told you not to bother. They would take care of you, your being damaged and all. The War, you know.
You didn’t think to wonder at the cost? That you would then be at their mercies, like a domesticated pet, unable, by lack of need, to care for yourself?
My God, look at you. Have you no shame?
Quit your whining for one minute and consider your proud heritage. How faced with returning from battlefields of horror, having seen and done things that should have never been asked of them, they got on with it. Not JUST got on with it, but made the greatest Nation on Earth.
Sucked it up. For you.
What have you done?
You got on the pipe. You need medical marijuana to cope. You post at off-ramps begging for scraps. You attend “sessions.”
Do you really believe your experience that unique? That their dreams or anxiety, less?
Unique, certainly, that you only think to your next bowl.
They…thought of you.
Oh yes, they drank. They beat their wives, their children.
Not the majority though.
The majority of them, after fitful nights, woke drenched in sweat, struggled for purpose, rose, dressed all by themselves, braced, and walked out the door into a World of uncertainty. Of anxiety and fear. But a different fear. A fear of not measuring up, of letting those counting on them down. They put their heads down and squared their shoulders and got on with it.
You are the result of that sacrifice and labour.
Lucky us.
Wanting better for us than they had themselves. They blew it. They forgot to give us the “no free lunch” spiel. In their haste to provide, to build, they didn’t foresee the fine Ivy League schools, they proudly sent us off to, changing the curriculum from “Enter to Grow in Wisdom” to “Someones comin up short cuz I’m gettin mine.”
Instead, handing off their chains of dry cleaners, their car dealerships, hardware stores and insurance companies to us. We, drooling at the mouth to get our ungrateful, undeserving, grubby little fingers on them so that we could sell them, break them up. Half centuries of dedication and sacrifice, reduced to a few years backpacking in Europe, a new BMW, and a paper thin condo.
Because we’re entitled.
Then…when we’d lost it.
After countless rehabs, couch surfing, moving back home at thirty four, we have the gall, the cheek, the absolute nerve…to blame them.
Mom was a drunk. Daddy didn’t read me bedtime stories.
We would attend Adult Children of Alcoholics meetings, were it not for our Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. What choice did we have?
Panty waste. We’ve got that coming.
You are disabled. Your placard is in the mail.
Pitiful looks, over easy, just how you like them.
of Poetic Justice.
July 10, 2010
Imagine something. Something that for you, largely because the rest of Mankind will appreciate it, can make you feel like a blathering idiot. Something you just didn’t get.
imagine that it was an extension of something you held in such high esteem and reverence, but still just could not grasp it.
Imagine that it had the power to change the lives and perceptions of mere twelve year olds, the World over.
The Sun Bursts Thought.
of You.
July 6, 2010
Yes, you.
I can’t do this without you.
This age of Facebook and Twitter. “Look at me, look at me, hands in the air like it’s good to be!”
Surely you’ve heard? I mean…it’s my status.
Surely you follow my every move? How could you not?
Well, no…I haven’t seen yours. Why would I?
Because I can’t do this without you.
So.
I’d like to have a conversation. Where we both take part. Where I am completely convinced that everything you are saying, I am hearing. That I want to hear.
I want to listen intently, without the impulse to interrupt, beginning my own version, about myself.
I want you to know I’m interested. That I don’t assume my life and opinions are all that matter. That without yours, mine are premature, undeveloped, ill informed.
I would pillage your thoughts, your desires, and goals. Your content, anger, and frustration. Your naivete, arrogance, and insecurity.
I would take what you offer and from it, cast my own, weave my own fabric.
I insist you do likewise.
Otherwise there is no conversation, but instead, a sounding off.
You can’t do this without me.
of Freedom of Speech.
July 3, 2010
Jake is a friend of mine, in the Military.
Patrick, also a friend of mine, made a comment about the flag…Jake responded with threats of violence.
I said…
So…
For my part, I am pleased, grateful and reassured that you, Jake, are willing and able to protect Patrick’s hard won (by others) right to feel and speak to, however he might, our Nations grandest symbol
But however he might, he must be able to.
I dont think your valiant efforts and sacrifices were to dictate what speech is included in the First Amendment, but that the First Amendment exists.
It is prevalent throughout our nations history, that those whom most enjoy these hard won freedoms, are in fact the very same whom take them the most for granted and one might argue, do the least to preserve them. In this case. I would be remiss to not suggest that it is indeed Patrick’s ilk that contribute profoundly in curbing the very same freedoms of speech they so enjoy. In the guise that is political correctness.
Nigger, Kike, Faggot.
All offensive. All intended to demean, abuse or debase. All generally disallowed. And NONE would be tolerated amid Patricks own congregation. Yet are they any more offensive then the proffering of hatred and disrespect for what someone else holds dear and sacred?
I submit that freedom of speech, by it’s nature, is equal. That all expressions, hateful or otherwise, are allowed and is at the heart of who we are as a Nation. Separate from the Parliaments of Europe, with their ever intrusive manners of governing.
Thank you Jake, for what you do and thank you Patrick, for reminding us why he must.
of Technology.
July 3, 2010
So.
I have the suspicion, had I not left the States, Circuit City® would have not had to shut their doors.
I am and have forever been, the quintessential consumer.
In truth, it’s not really a matter of spending money, per se, but what I spend it on.
I am my Father’s Son and MUST have the latest version of any gadget. At any cost.
I’m stupid like that.
Like my old friend Patrick , I will pay list price, the day of release, to upgrade an existing item or to have the next bad-ass technological accoutrement.
Unlike my named contemporary, I do NOT have to explain said purchase to my wife.
I can think of no better reason to NOT have a wife.
I love my gadgets and the thought of watching the money I could be using on something wireless, be instead put towards diapers, lots and lots of diapers, would reduce me to tears.
I’m selfish like that.
With all the trials of these times, I still consider myself fortunate to be a witness to the incredible and exponential change in technology. For better or worse, I am a willing participant.
Interestingly though, I find, of all my toys, Ipods, Phones, laptops, Bluetooth helmets, my newest and favorite technological innovation is…my laceless Chucks™.
What will they think of next? Elastic waist Dickie® shorts?? Sign me up.
I’m stupid like that.
of Arizona.
July 2, 2010
So.
I had not planned on voicing an opinion but I’ll be damned if I’ll idly standby whilst Shakira voices HER non-citizen opinion.
Interestingly, her and I are in concert. It’s a stupid law.
Though not for the same reasons.
Like I give a crap about illegal, resource sucking, havoc wreaking aliens.
I care about giving the cops more ambiguous power.
My fellow recalcitrants out there, only too familiar with the warm hood of a patrol car on our faces, the small comfort of sitting on a curb, handcuffed, having our belongings, persons and dignity rifled or the inconvenience of being booked on a holiday weekend, purposefully, and not getting OR’d till Tues for not displaying the proper regard for their authority…know also what a crock of shit “Probable Cause” or “reasonable suspicion” is.
Ultimately, they will, with this added authority, invent PC and it will take a high dollar lawyer to contest it. Very few targeted by this law with have such resources. Once given, these powers are never rescinded and the body always seeks more.
While the Right is incredibly naive in it’s declarations of the rule of law, the Left is equally thin in it’s solutions.
I will offer mine.
If the big concern here is that of racial profiling then I think a National ID card may well have to be considered. Only those in the States legally could get one and EVERYONE would be required to carry it. The cops, in turn would require EVERYONE to produce it. Done…and done.
It’s a different era folks. The expectations of liberties, decades past, are sorely tested. With unique hurdles and varying consequences.
of This Land is Your Land.
July 2, 2010
So.I propose we open a business, you and I. Something small to begin with but with great promise and potential. Huge expansion probable.
For the most part we have what inventory or resources we need.
What we will need, from the gate, is labour. Hired hands.
We can offer more than just steady employment, we can offer a piece of the pie.
We might even consider an ad, of sorts. Perhaps something like “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses”, you know…entry level, huh?
After we have hired all we need, divied up the pie, we can take down the “Help wanted sign”. Cant we?
or…
Will we, out of some naive sense of obligation, continue to hire? Asking more of our tenured employees, to make room for the less fortunate. Asking more but, unfortunately, offering less.
They wont mind. That was why they applied, part of our allure. They got a chance, a good start. They will certainly want everyone else to have the same and will gladly take a pay cut to make it possible.
No…we are no longer profitable but look!! See what we have been able to do…the huddled masses…
outside..our doors. Shut. Out of business.
PS.
ofREH 