Pot and Kettle, Mr. President?

If you can read this, you know that bullies have existed forever.  If you’ve not been living in a cave, you know that it has gotten a little worse over the last decade or so, especially since bullies can now have their friends video them doing their bullying on their phones and instantly upload and or share it with all their friends and numerous websites -they can relive the moment and the victims can be laughed at by so many more people.

Recently, there’s been a big anti-bullying-thing going on.  At my kids’ elementary school, just about every person running for an office on the student government, had some sort of promise to stop bullying in the school.  I asked my daughters (2nd and 4th graders) if they knew of any bullying going on and they said no -maybe they don’t see it or maybe it’s not happening in their classes.  Of course, it is possible that the school, school district, state, etc. is trying to drive home the anti-bully message so they are pushing the candidates to mention it.

Last week, the President and the First Lady spoke at some conference against bullying and I think there’s another sort of Public Service Announcement (PSA) against bullying that the President has made. I hadn’t watched any of them until just a few minutes ago, and only because I was writing this, but I’m fairly certain that the majority of the kids who are bullies haven’t and won’t watch them.  Even if they were to watch them, do you think they are going to decide against bullying?  Not likely.

Now, I applaud the President and his wife for speaking out about the bullying, but I have to wonder if this isn’t a case of the pot calling the kettle black.  The President and his administration are straight out of Chicago and are more than willing to use the bullying-style politics Chicago is known for.  To a large degree, a lot of getting anything done in Congress is a matter of who’s got the biggest bully on their side.  At no point was this more evident than last year when the President and his Democrat-controlled Congress pushed Obamacare right over top of the Republicans and onto an American public that, according to all the polls, the majority of the population didn’t want.

To all you bullies up there in Congress, the people sent notice last fall that they are not happy being trampled for political gain or to create your “legacy” -this isn’t based on parties, I hope.  Do what the people who’ve elected want or be replaced.

Peevs: Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Whoop Ass

Is it just me or is it about time we do something proactive about these freakin’ Somali pirates???

They’ve been getting away with this crap for too long.  Yeah, they don’t always get away with it and some of them get killed when they pick on a big enough target that the home country doesn’t want to lose, but that isn’t often enough.

Last week they seized a boat with four Americans on board and killed them.  This week they seized a Danish yacht with four adults and three children aboard, as well as a Greek-owned cargo vessel.

I find it difficult to believe that in a time where we can track everyone who owns a cell phone and see who was home from work when Google took their latest shot of your house, that we can’t track these thugs back to their lairs and terminate them with extreme prejudice.  Are they not a big enough problem yet?  How many merchant ships or private boats or combination thereof do they have to seize and kidnap/kill those aboard before they really rouse the ire of a government.

For me, they are terrorists and need to be dealt with as part of our “War on Terror”, but wait, I think we changed that name to something friendlier, right?

Texas Proposal of Mandatory Dog Insurance

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/16/texas-dog-owners-barking-mad-proposal-mandate-dog-insurance/

How stupid is this proposal?  In a word:  very!

Before I get into the details of this particular proposal, let me just ask how less unfair would this be than the Federal requirement to buy health insurance.  Is Texas not one of the states fighting the stupid Obamacare mandate?  Of course, it is. So, how is it that the fidiot who proposed it can’t see the near parallel.

The root of the problem is that Texas, according to the article, doesn’t hold the owner responsible for their dog biting someone/something unless they have bitten before.  Maybe they shouldn’t have to put the dog down for a first bite, but the owner should certainly be liable for damages their animal inflicts on another or another’s property unless they can prove in court that their pet was intentionally provoked.

Why is it that people in government think the only way to help people is to legislate new stupid laws???  It isn’t really surprising, though.  We have become a nation that no longer forces anyone to be liable for their actions, or, apparently, their pets’.

ObamaCare, a year later

Last year, well, actually, prior to him getting elected, I didn’t like the idea of poorly designed, wannabe socialized medicine, which is a big part of Obamacare, regardless of how he and his administration and their supporters want to spin it.  Sure, it’s got some good points, but it has a LOT of bad ones.  I don’t think anyone who tried and failed to get insurance or who has insurance doesn’t agree that the health care/insurance industry needs/needed to be reformed, but what was in the bill was not the solution.  The problem is that there are just too many institutions that need to be reformed that are intertwined to simply fix one… and do a poor job of it.

As for the promise of transparency… well, by now anyone who believes this administration practices any sort of governing in the open must be blind or just plain stupid.  There, I said it.  And, as Dr. Wolf explains in his commentary in the Washington Post, not only is the Obama administration being willfully deceptive, they know the health care reform they got Congress to pass is a load of crap, which is why all the “friends” of the administration are petitioning for and being granted exemption from it.  Follow the link below for a very well written commentary on it.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/28/tawdry-details-of-obamacare-420960137/?page=1

Fidiot Congressman from Virginia: Rep Moran

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/28/rep-moran-dems-lost-dont-want-governed-african-american/

So, the gist of this article is that the majority of Americans don’t want to be governed by a black man.  I don’t want to split hairs, and maybe I’m not “politically correct”, but he’s not just black, or African American, or whatever. He’s a child of bi-racial, or multi-racial, or pick your phrase, parents, so I suppose, in a way, that makes him more like me and millions of other Americans than most would reckon.  His particular mix is different than mine, but we’re all mixed up… but I digress, and for the sake of simplicity, I’ll stick with black.  A MAJORITY of Americans voted him into office to govern them.  His racial status hasn’t changed since taking office, but two years into his first term, America decided they wanted to change the make-up of Congress, and this fidiot Congressman claims it’s because the majority of Americans don’t want to be governed by a black man.

I’m pretty sure it had more to do with the policies that CONGRESS passed.  Let’s keep this in mind:  The President cannot legislate.  He can’t pass laws.  He can come up with proposals and push ideas that he wants to see legislated, but his only part in that is the signature approving what Congress passed, or vetoing it.  In a big, nasty love fest that happened after The President was elected, he and Congress passed a number of articles of legislation that the majority of Americans didn’t/don’t like.  They were forewarned by the gazillion pollsters that the majority didn’t want these passed, but they didn’t care… and they passed the legislation and sent them to The President, and he signed them.  The majority didn’t like their voices not being heard so they voted some of those deaf peeps from Congress out when they got the chance.

Now, there are a lot of folks not happy with what The President wants to do and/or has done and it wouldn’t be a shocker at all if he gets voted out of office at the end of his first term.  The same things that got a lot of Congress removed from office make him unpopular, and there aren’t any indications that he’s going to reverse course anytime soon.  So, if he gets voted out of office, it’ll be due to his decisions on what to pass and veto and a myriad of other things, but not because he’s black.  That hasn’t changed since the election.

As for the fidiot Congressman from Virginia, Rep. Moran needs to go back to school and learn how to build a logical argument.  Who gets voted in and out of Congress has nothing to do with the President’s race, and everything to do with the piss poor job Congress has done for way too many years now.  The majority of Americans are tired of being ignored by the people they elect and have shown they are willing to vote them out.  I only hope the people in Rep. Moran’s district come to realize what a fidiot he is and vote him out, because toads like him will do and say anything to try to not be held accountable for their own actions/inactions.

Fidiot Drivers

On the way to work this morning, I saw an ambulance, lights flashing headed the other direction (on a divided highway).  For some reason, I had a feeling it was going to be turning around so I was kind of keeping an eye out for it and, sure enough, a couple minutes later I saw it in my rear view mirror coming up.  As it approached, I noticed that none of the cars behind me were doing anything to move over to the sides of the road, but as it continued to gain ground, I pulled over, using my blinker, two lanes and slowed to a stop.  I was passed by easily upwards of five vehicles, maybe as many as ten and the idiot behind me looked exasperated with my stopping.  HELLO!!!  It’s a Law in Virginia and Maryland, for sure, and most/all others I’d guess, as well as most other countries around the world.  You are required to pull to the side and stop until the emergency vehicle has passed.

I’m not sure which scenario of these two is better:  the other drivers were soooo clueless that they didn’t know an ambulance with flashing lights and siren was coming up from behind or that they could see that it was in a lane that wasn’t blocked so they didn’t need to move to let it by.  Either is bad.  It means stupid, clueless people are on the roads –not shocking, or new, or it means people don’t find it important to make way properly for emergency vehicles.

Either way, maybe next time it’ll be one of their friends or loved ones held up by stupid, clueless drivers and (almost) not make it to the hospital in time.

Glute Work

Why is it that during the brief moments the POTUS was on my TV tonight, delivering his version of the State of the Union, between shows I had DVR’d, I suddenly had the urge to work on my glutes???

Making it Cutesy to be Fat at a Young Age

Girls Plus section at JC Penney

Let me say this up front:  I don’t drop all the blame in the fat little kids laps.  Ultimately, I fault the parents.  When the kids are still at an age where they can’t get around on their own, don’t have money to buy fast food or crap at grocery/convenience stores, and rely on their parents to set examples and rules, it’s a failure of the parents.  Of course, the government wants to get into all other aspects of our lives, so I’m really not sure why they turn a blind eye to the amount of negligence it takes to allow young children to become fat.

Laying into parents and government isn’t where I was going when I started this post, though.  Today I was at JC Penney with my wife looking for clothes for our daughters.  We browsed their section, then noticed another section of kids clothes across the walkway.  We headed over and noticed that, at first glance, the sizes were the same as those we were just browsing.  Then I noticed the signs, like those in the photo posted above, for the Girls Plus section.  Really?  Not only is it ridiculous that they need an entire section of the kids department for plus sizes for kids, but I find it down right offensive that they are trying to make it “cute” to be fat.  I get the plus size sections for adults.  There are a LOT of folks who’ve decided they’d rather feed their faces and do no exercise than make healthy choices.  Kids, on the other hand, should not be encouraged to live that way.

It’s a front page story when a 2-year old weighs 80 pounds and looks like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, but when they are fat at 6, 8, or 10 years old, nobody seems to have a problem with it.  Well, someone does… ME!  It’s a sad state of affairs in this country when we are allowing our children, in growing percentages, to become fat earlier and earlier.  I don’t think I really need to go into where it leads, right?  All it takes is a quick Google or Bing search to find a number of links to reports and studies on childhood obesity.  Bottom line:  it isn’t good.

I know I said earlier that I hadn’t intended bashing parents and government to be the main point of this, but it’s difficult not to go that way.  Kids are kids.  They are going to do what is fun and/or makes them feel good unless acted upon by external forces… parents, teachers, and advertisers.  We, as a society, should tell the stores that we aren’t happy with them trying to make it “cutesy” to be fat as a kid, but there’s little chance of that.  We don’t have the collective balls to do more than pay kids lip service about their weight and how bad it is; why in the world would I expect anyone to think it’s wrong of the stores to make money off of them.