Jivvies - Kaneva Profile

Jivvies

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Jivvies

Virginia Hughes

Jivvies

San Antonio,TX

Female

33 Years Old

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Member Since: 10/14/2007
Raves: 4

Relationship: Married, Orientation: Bi-sexual, Religion: Other, Ethnicity: White, Children: I am a parent, Education: High School, Height: 5 feet-5 inches, Smoking: Yes, Drinking: Yes, Hometown: San Antonio

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My Interests

About Me

I'm a 31 year old housewife. I've worked in a lot of fields, failed in some, excelled in others, always got bored. I have some fairly passionate views about the world, and chose to share them here. Now I just need a way to drag people to the site. :)

Activities/Hobbies

RPGs, crochet, beadwork, cooking, reading, CoH

Artists/Celebrities

Hinsel Scott III. Seriously. Go check his stuff out.

Books

Just read Deadspeak again, any suggestions?

Charities/Causes

Does Libertarian count?

Game Clans/Guilds

Bloodweavers, Infinity server

Games

COH

I'd like to visit

Germany, Japan, IRELAND

Music

Looking for more artists. I need an infusion of new sounds.

My Goals

Improve America

Quotes

If you are going through hell, keep going.

Role Models

Mama Maureen

Blogs

Feb 2, 2008
I was wrong

There is one more site that I should have listed.

http://www.petitiononline.com/af8f6912/petition.html

This is a petition to release a journalism student in Afghanistan. At present, he has been sentenced to death for copying (copying, not writing) an article from a website containing un-Islamic material. Please sign this petition.


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Feb 1, 2008
Glints in the darkness

So, I'm into politics. For anyone that's read my blog, this should be no surprise. I'm not into American politics, though. I keep track, but only until I start seriously considering how little my daughter has to look forward to in this life, then I have to step back for awhile and look at the bigger picture. Away from the politicians and pundits and back to the people.
I have to believe that this world is a hopeful place, despite the hideous ugliness that has seeped up like sucking mud in the cracks of humanity left by religion and war and the slow death of common decency. Granted, four percent of the world are sociopaths (no, I did not make that up, that percentage is listed by the department of health and human services) and I read recently that the world of corporate executives harbors twice the standard ratio. The Shadowrun future that I dread is starting to look more real. The war in the middle east is going to drag on yet more. Oh, for the days when you cut off the snake's head and could claim victory. Toys are contaminated with lead. Dog food is contaminated with god knows what. Our air and oceans are contaminated with our own refuse, but....
Where can we go but up?

I have to believe that this world is a hopeful place. I don't have to believe it because it gets me through the day. I have to believe it because I've seen it with my own eyes. Under the ugliness and mud and darkness, I see glints. Humanity fights back. People from different nations with different ideologies talk to each other because it's the human thing to do. In Iraq, a war that the traditional media sources only report as a daily death count, stories are leaking about American and British soldiers going out and risking themselves every day to help people. They say they do it because it's their job. Honey, if this was just a job, they'd do the bare minimum and we'd never get out, but after the troop surge, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Hallelulah, praise whichever deity ya want. No matter what the reason, no matter how justified we thought we were, no matter how much it helps these strangers, war is still the ugliest of things. It's death and hardship and pain and want, and you can't blame any evil spirits or mythical devils for it. It just is.

Let me clarify something right here... I'm no dove. I believe that with the information we had, we did the right thing, and you can't just start bombing someone, then go "oops! Our bad!" two weeks later when you get an update. Even if we started the job for the wrong reasons, we had to finish it. At the very least, Hussein and his children were monsters and the darkness is a little thinner for their absence.
Nor am I a hawk. I volunteered at a veteran's hospital during my formative years, and I know from what I saw there and what I was told just what a horror war is. If I could think of a better way, trust me, I'd be voicing it.

Where was I? Oh, yes, people. The last place that I look if I want to know about people is the nightly news. I sit at my computer, I open Firefox and I set to with the reading. Once a week, I read through a lovely assortment. Today, I'm giving you the best of the internet anti-jihad movement.

First, there's Michael Yon. OK, granted, he doesn't really qualify as an anti-jihadist. He's a reporter embedded with troops in Iraq and he does the best imitation of a journalist I've ever seen. He might even be the real thing.
<a href="http://www.michaelyon-online.com"><img src="http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9162/myon406x605id.gif" border="0"></a>

Next, the Gates of Vienna. This is an excellent and very active blog that takes a look at the effects of government enforced multi-culturalism and 'tolerance' compounded by mass immigration. Even if you have no interest in what's going on in Europe, you should really take a look at these guys. If nothing else, their link list is amazing.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/

And my personal favorite, the excellent work done by diligent people (possibly with no life) to remove terrorist training and propaganda material from youtube. Yes, folks, along with talking cats and dancing fat guys, you can also watch zoom-ins of snipers at work and IEDs blowing other human beings to hell. Sign up for a youtube account and join the fight in getting these sicko videos removed and their posters banned.
http://muninn-quotheraven.blogspot.com/2010/01/welcome-to-operation-youtube-smackdown.html

In the same vein, the jawas stand between us and the forces of militant intolerance. They track down the IPs of jihadist websites hosted by western companies and inform the companies of what they have on their servers. If you'd like to join the fight, here's the link.
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/

That's enough of my trying to change the world for one post. Just check them out, and don't be afraid to speak up one way or the other.


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Jan 8, 2008
Crazy internet quizzes

I'm moving and I have a new job. Yay! No real time, though. :/


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Dec 6, 2007
Double the lovin'

Ron Paul is running for president again, and this time he has some real backing. Last time he ran, it was as a libertarian, and he didn't get so much as sneezed at. Now he has ABC coverage, even if they are trying to influence your vote by calling his campaign "insurgent-style."
I haven't voted in over a decade. No one worth voting for. If they had a chance, they were trash, politics as usual appeasement artists. If they had principles, a message, or anything of substance, they had no chance. The world wasn't ready for them. The internet wasn't ready to spread their message. We weren't ready to listen. Now we're tired of it. Congress has hit an all time low approval rating. Half the nation hates our president, and the most of the other half just doesn't care anymore. Those who have studied history see that our Roman Empire is falling, and we're tired of it.
Ron Paul seems to have views on everything, and while I don't agree with all of them, I've decided to list here what I believe are most fundamentally important for the survival and improvement of our nation.

Ron Paul favors a return to a gold standard for our currency. A lot of folks are not aware of this (which I find astounding) but once upon a time, you could go up to the Federal Reserve and turn in a dollar for a dollar's worth of gold. During the presidency of Richard Nixon, we moved completely away from the gold standard. We now use what is called fiat currency, which basically means that "this is worth a dollar because we all agree it's worth a dollar." I'm just 31, and I remember when a dollar was worth a whole lot more than it is now. Even though I've never lived with a gold standard, I want a return to it. Yesterday.

Ron Paul is against partial birth abortion but for the overturning of Roe V. Wade in favor of a state's rights approach. He doesn't want a federal ban on abortion, he wants each state to decide for itself. Well, I'm pro-choice, but I'm also pro state's right. Even though I'm the minority in Texas, I would rather see a ban on abortion instated here than to let the federal government make such a choice.

He voted against the Iraq War. Do I really need to point out all the folks that voted for it that are now saying it's a bad thing? He said it was a bad thing all along. I'm undecided on the issue, but I admire the man for sticking to his principles from the very beginning.

He wants to limit government. These aren't just words. He has voted against government and tax increases at every opportunity, and I was really impressed with his record. Yes, I check records. There are places to do it easily on the internet. Try http://www.vote-smart.org/official_five_categories.php?dist=voting_category.php and see how your chosen candidate actually stacks up with their rhetoric.

Dr. Paul proposes term limits on members of the House of Representatives and declined to register for his pension. I don't know if any other candidates that have served in Congress declined their pensions, but I truly felt that this was important to add. It shows me that he is in politics for the right reason, not the money.

He has sponsored a bill to abolish the income tax. He has been voted one of the 50 most effective members of Congress. John McCain is quoted as telling one of his employees that he "worked for the most honest man in Washington".

I'm registering to vote. I'm registering as a Republican, even though I'm a Libertarian. I want Dr. Ronald Paul as my president. I want to be proud to be American, again.


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Dec 6, 2007
Teen kills more

The average person seems to make their choices out of fear. Today, on Mechanical Turk, one of the questions asked was how to stop teenage gun violence. Not how to educate the teenagers, not how to know if someone you love that lives in your home is about to snap, but how to change gun laws to keep guns out of teenage hands. Before you read my answer to this question, please be aware that I did not spend my life untouched by a teenager getting ahold of a gun and doing something stupid. This is still my answer.

I don't believe that the gun laws need to be changed. I grew up with guns in the house. I had an extremely difficult adolescence. Never did I put the two together and consider violence. It's because my parents took the time to educate me about the power and consequences of firearms from an extremely young age. I first shot a gun when I was five years old, and my father intentionally handed me the one with the biggest kick so that I would respect the weapon that I had in my hands. After the .357 knocked me down, even at the age of five, I understood that this was not a toy. This was something very dangerous that I should never touch unless it was an emergency or my parents took us to the shooting range.
As my sister and I grew older, we both had to face the choice of having a gun in our homes, around our children, or not. We both chose to accept the responsibility of educating our daughters about guns. My daughter is two, and too young to understand the lessons, so at the moment, we operate with a gun safe on the top shelf of our closet. My nieces are both old enough to understand and have been properly educated about the consequences and power of firearms. They have never so much as gone to where they know the gun is kept to look at it.
The point of this is that the responsibility is on the parents to sit with their child and explain this to them. If they give their child that respect, their child will give the guns that respect.
More government regulations would not help. I agree with the NRA, because it is common sense. Outlaw guns and ordinary, everyday people like myself that have always acted responsibly with their firearms become outlaws. Taking guns away in a small nation like Great Britain worked because it is such a small nation. Trying it in the United States would be a disaster. The right to bear arms was not written in to make people feel better about the British. Take a look at the politics of Thomas Jefferson and the real reason comes to light. Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying "A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference." Any government. Including our own. He also said that "Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories." Thomas Jefferson had the foresight to see that our government could become what people are looking to it as these day, a parent, an authority unquestioned. He believed that every citizen of the United States should be educated, should be a soldier, should stand up for what they believed in and should never, ever let the government make all of their decisions for them. He is perhaps most profoundly quoted as saying "Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
I believe that the citizens being given the right to arms was our founding father's attempt to prevent that tyranny, and I will not give up that right out of fear of someone else's child. I will trust in my child to make an intelligent, educated decision because I took the time to teach her about the responsibilities that her right to bear arms also places on her, and I hope that she will continue that tradition with her own childrren.
Personal responsibility is the lock that we should place on our children. If we have taught them properly, if we have trusted that our teachings have been passed on to them, then we should trust them to make the right choices. If you don't trust your teachings, then don't own a gun. Simple as that.


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Dec 1, 2007
Bathroom Nightmares

I haven't wanted to neglect my blog. I've been busy. Honest to god too busy to work because my house was falling apart busy. Last weekend, my husband went through the floor in our master bathroom. He was fine, thankfully, more startled than anything else. I don't think he even had a scratch. This could have been because his fall was slowed by the cpvc pipes that supplied water to the entire room. Two thin pipes, apparently one already cracked and leaking, but slowly, and one perfectly intact carrying hot water. They were cast in twain, to throw a pretentious word out just for the hell of it. Water sprayed everywhere. I got him out of the hole and then ran outside to shut the water off. I sighed, I got my hacksaw, and I cut off a sample of the pipe. Our local hardware store didn't carry any junctions for it. No one did. I could by the pipe, but none of those lovely little sleeves of plastic that join one pipe to another.

I could, however, buy caps. After two days without water, in which time the local gas station came to know us by a first name basis, I broke down and bought the caps, the primer, and the good old red bottle of cement. I capped the pipes, effectively turning our 2 bathroom into a one bathroom. I nailed plywood over the hole to keep critters out, and I put the appropriate fittings on backorder at the feed store around the corner.

Well, I got a whole day of rest. I luxuriated in a bath to remove the dirt, dust, and insulation from my skin. The baby got two baths. I started catching up on the laundry that always piles on so quickly when you have a small child. I made soup and iced tea. It was a wonderful day, and I was glad that my plumbing problem was behind me, at least for a little while. Then there was a knock at my door. The street had water running from somewhere, and they had traced it to my door.

The water main. The O)#@((* OIJFO:EIUBVG@%&o veB WATER MAIN. Once the pressure was back up from getting the leak fixed, or at least capped, the water main blew. Not the whole pipe in a wonderfully spectacular explosion. I might actually have enjoyed that. No, it was a fiercely spraying little leak where the metal pipes of the water company and my in ground PVC pipes met. The water lost is estimated to cost somewhere between $100 and $150, and my water company intends to charge me for it. My pipes, my fault. There was no warning at the house, no loss of water pressure, but apparently, I should have somehow psychically been aware that my plumbing had an issue three feet below the ground.

I shouldn't complain about my water company. They have been wonderfully understanding in the lean times when it came down to food or bills, and the two gentlemen that determined that the leak was at my home were also kind enough to dig it out for me so I could deal with it. I could have just made my life easier and bought another of the exact same type of union for the pipes, but I no longer trust it. It can't be more than a few years old, because it was updated right before I moved in here, and I really don't want to go through this again in a few years. So, I'm still using the same type of joint, but I'vecomplicated matters. Now we have the compression union, a metal pipe, a metal nipple, a PVC adapter screwed onto the metal nipple with Rector Seal applied liberally, and all I have to do is join adapter to pipe in an orgy of horrific purple primer fumes and belly pinches from the boards I've been laying on. Only problem is, I can't wiggle the pipe around to the adapter. I have to do some more digging. So, I have unbolted and pushed back the portion of chain link that was over what will be the continuation of the hole, and I have set things aside for the day. I just can't face anymore, today.

Another day without water. I just needed to rant.


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Nov 9, 2007
What are we afraid of?

I admit, I've been out of school for a few years. OK, better than a decade, but has school really changed so much in less than a generation?

I'm referring to this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21661718/ and also a video on CNN.com. A 13 year old was given detention for two days for giving two friends hugs. Wow. A hug across the shoulders is against the student handbook.

Really, what can I say? It's so stupid that it's obvious to everyone that takes even the tiniest step back. PDA rules are to keep students from making out in the hallways.

Some days, I wonder if administrators and bureaucrats are really the same species as the rest of humanity. There seems to be something different about their brains.

This wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't see it as completely a sign of the times. Our lives are micromanaged by government and authority from the time we are born to the time we die. This nation was founded on the concepts of liberty, personal freedom, and free speech. No taxation without representation! I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will die to defend your right to say it. Governments governs best which governs least.

Some say I overreact. OK. Let me offer some specific examples from my own life. When my daughter was born, my ob/gyn was out of town at a conference. The doctor that she handed me off to delivered at a different hospital than I had agreed on with her. Wires were crossed, we ended up at different hospitals, and to make a long story short, my daughter was delivered by a doctor retained by the hospital. Because of this, a simple misunderstanding, I spent my first week with my daughter talking to social workers. Four different visits to ascertain that I had water and electricity at my home, that I wasn't being beaten (there wasn't a mark on me, so that question was ludicrous), that I had health care. It was offensive and intrusive, and while many will tell me that it was just in the best interest of my child, allow me to smack you upside the head with a little lesson in manners. One visit, even two is in the best interest of my child. Any more than that is harassment.
Next example! I live in San Antonio, TX, where they have put what basically amounts to a ban on smoking in the city limits. 50 yards from the entrance of anyplace that serves food. I realize that this may seem like nothing to most of you, but I would imagine that the majority of those people have never been to San Antonio. You can barely walk 50 feet without hitting another place that serves food. "Oh, no! The poor smokers! I guess they'll just have to inflict their secondhand cancer on someone else", I can hear many smugly exclaiming. Please, PLEASE follow this link. http://www.smokersclub.com/banloss3.htm
That site shows the real economic damage that a smoking ban does to these restaurants.
I know, smokers, the new minority to spit on. Doesn't matter, they're not human, right? Bite me. I've been a smoker. I've been a non-smoker. I'm a smoker right now, and if you think the life police are gonna go away after they make smoking illegal, you're an idiot. Next is junk food. They've already started on it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/
As you can see, I'm backing these things up with as many facts as I can. Don't want anyone to say I'm blowing smoke.
On to federal law! There is a law on the books that allows the government to practice something called forfeiture. This means that someone accused of a narcotics crime (thank you, Nancy Reagan, for your inneffectual and damaging war on drugs) can have everything taken from them. Everything. If someone finds a marijuana seed in your car, you can lose your car, home, retirement fund, anything.
I have links! Follow them if you don't believe me, the information is out there for anyone that looks.
http://www.totse.com/en/drugs/legal_issues_of_drug_use/noasset.html
http://www.doaskdotell.com/content/alabama.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/csa.html

Now Homeland Security? I won't even start that, because I can't finish it in one night.

Are we really so desperate to suckle at the government's teat that we'll give up every liberty we steeped the beginning of this nation in blood for? I'm not, and I'm ready for the revolution.


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Nov 7, 2007
So romantic!

Recently, a young man named Patrick Moberg made national news by searching for the girl of his dreams.

He had seen her on a subway but been too shy to approach until it was too late, but he felt that he had to find her. He set up a website called nygirlofmydreams.com and he actually found her!

For once, I actually care if a couple of strangers find a way to make a relationship work. I hope he finds complete happiness with her.

On another note, I usually get inspired by something in the news to make me blog, but there's been absolutely nothing lately. Even odd news has disappointed me. I spend at least an hour each morning going through news stories, updating myself on the rest of the world, snagging the odd story here and there to discuss with my brother in law later in the day. I have found some strange stories, mostly fluff pieces that entertain me for a few minutes, but nothing really worthy of talking to ya'll about. It's very depressing.
I have, however, discovered some fascinating alternative news sources. I am now an avid reader of Public Secrets: from the files of the Irishspy. It's a blog, yes, but it links to some of the most fascinating stories that you'll never hear on American news channels. Seriously, I have to hunt these stories down, and they're big things. Gates of Vienna is another excellent one, and if you can find it, Michael Yon's article. This is a truly freelance journalist. He makes his living from the donations of people that want to hear the actual news unsanitized by censors, politics, and ratings wars.
The internet is a beautiful thing.


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Oct 30, 2007
The things on the internet these days...

OK, so, I admit it, I'm a mechanical turker, but there are sometimes some jobs on there that lead to neat stuff. I normally won't take a job asking me to blog a review, but this site is just such a cool timewaster! It's http://www.ListAfterList.com and there are lists for everything. Best paying jobs, most career sacks, and I found a nice one full of movie quotes. You can surf random lists if you just want to kill ten minutes. You can start your own lists. You can contribute to someone else's lists. Lists are categorized for convenience, everything from amusing to informative to scary. Yes, scary is a category.

For me, the best part is being able to go from list to list to list to list. Each one will have a few links at the bottom that lead to connected lists. Sometimes this link is pretty tenuous, so it can lead you to strange places. I'm not entirely sure how, but I started with facts about Angelina Jolie and ended with a list of why to hate Wal-Mart.

Now, the bad part. Each list is bordered top and bottom, right and left with ads. They're not too intrusive. I haven't spotted anything flashing at me or telling me to shoot the duck for a new Playstation. They do have links in some of the lists that will pop up an Amazon ad, though.

Still, all in all, it's a great way to kill time at work, and some of you may find the Wiki lists that are available there helpful. I give it 4 out of 5 geek smilies. :)


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Oct 30, 2007
Pregnant MO woman lies facedown on the highway

Wow, yet more news about the cops mistreating some poor woman. I read the article and watched the clips and watched the video from the police car. Those videotapes are great, aren't they? Instead of having to take someone else's word for it, you can make your own decisions about what happened. I'm even so nice that I'm giving you a lazy man's helper.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3774390
Go ahead and watch it and make your own decision. Hey, that doesn't mean you don't get to read mine!
Of course, I'm gonna disappoint you. I'm not gonna scream with outrage, and I'm not gonna rail against the cops. They had a report from a security guard at a JC Penney's store that the driver of the car was a car thief targeting their parking lot, and they followed procedure. Count the seconds between "stop, get down and your belly" and "She's pregnant". Go ahead, count 'em.
Now, I'm not happy about this. No one should be, least of all the cops, but they honestly were just following procedure. They had what they thought was reliable information and they acted accordingly. The moment they realized the mistake, they were calming her down, they were calming her kids down, they had her up off the ground, and they were apologizing to her and her children. The one truly at fault here is the security guard that made the decision that because she was a black woman in their parking lot, she was a car thief.
Yes, I have been pregnant, and if I'd had to go through what she went through, I'd be upset, too, but I wouldn't be suing the cops. I'd be suing JC Penney's.
Frankly, if this woman wasn't a principal of an elementary school, this would never have been news.


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Oct 27, 2007
Transformers

It's been a bad week for little Jivvies. Rough at work, rough at home, and I couldn't give Mother Nature the attention she deserves while she cleanses a small portion of North America of everything in her path. Sensing my melancholy, my husband brought home a treat. Transformers.
I saw it on the big screen and I just got done watching it again. It lost nothing for me. Nothing. Michael Bay is now in my pantheon of geek gods.

Let me explain a little of my love affair with Transformers. It's the first cartoon I remember watching. I did not care what was going on with my friends, with my family, with anything. If Transformers was on, I was sitting still and watching it. My mom was great and let me, mostly because it was the only thing that I could sit still for. Bumblebee was a favorite. Ironhide was the favorite, but Optimus Prime was almost a father figure to me. Even as a 5 year old, I understood that this was a good man, no matter he was made of, and I took to heart the lessons he handed out. Honor, honesty, freedom, sacrifice. I was not too young to understand those concepts, and Transformers taught them. Everytime that I would go up to visit my grandparents, my Mema would laugh about her little tomboy granddaughter and that robot show, but Pepa watched it with me. He enjoyed it as much as I did.

Watching the movie by Michael Bay was the most intensely nostalgic 2 hours that I have spent in my adult lifetime. I was on the edge of my seat for every chase, every fight. "Freedom is the right of every sentient being." I think I mouthed those words. While those images were on the screen, I was suddenly five again and learning those lessons fresh. It was like coming home.

Thank you, Michael Bay.


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Oct 24, 2007
The fires in CA

Gosh, I'm torn. On the one hand, I love a good blaze. It clears away the detritus and opens the earth up to new life. On the other hand, half a million people have been forced to evacuate and it's putting firefighter's lives in serious jeopardy. So far, more people have died from the evacuation than the fire itself. There's a fun fact for you. One has been killed by the fire, three have been killed by various accidents during the evac.

Subsequently, I can't just park myself in front of the TV and enjoy as nature practices survival of the fittest, or at least the fastest. I want to. I really want to. Fire is not a bad thing. Heck, up in northern California, it's a necessity for the reproduction of the California Redwood. Those are some cool trees. Living, rooted proof of evolution. They were pressured in their range by fire and they responded to that pressure by making fire a necessary part of their reproductive cycle. That is genius, life finding a way to prosper because of adversity.

Still torn. I feel really bad for those folks. A lot of them are losing everything that they have but the shirts on their backs. Sure, they can rebuild, but it's so hard to start completely from scratch. Everything feels ten times as hard. Instead of thinking about a thing at a time, shelter, job, clothing, car, food, you get hit with it all at once. They have my sympathy and my heartfelt prayers.

But, gods, this is not truly a disaster! This is consequences! The government and people had the audacity to believe that they could manage the course of nature, tame the land and the trees and the elements into a new garden of Eden, and when that didn't work, they insisted that we stop trying completely and wouldn't even let folks clear brush on their own land! This is the consequences of arrogance, plain and simple. This isn't England or France, beaten down and gentled by a millenium of humanity. California is still a wild creature, and every once in awhile, she's gonna turn around and maim her handlers.

I hope that some out there will take this experience, accept it into themselves and learn the lessons that it offers. Go with what the land tells you. If a cleansing fire is the norm, then do the occasional controlled burn. Fit yourself into the ecology. I know, it sounds all cheesy, but the world tells us in a million different ways how to fit ourselves into its pattern. As much as I grieve for those people, I'm no longer torn. I'm gonna pop some popcorn and watch the smoke rise.


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Oct 17, 2007
Yes, I read the news every morning.

OK, I'm still not sure if he's doing it for real or not, but Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for the presidency.
While I'm not sure how I'd feel about him as a president, I do know that I would like to see him elected. Colbert in the White House would be a wonderful awakening slap to the back of the head for the political community. Politics as usual has crippled this nation. Politicians are equal opportunity appeasers, and we all saw how well appeasement worked back at the beginning of WWII. I think that Colbert as a president could be exactly what America needs right now... And it would serve him right to win.

Still, that's not the news that I really felt that I had to blog on today. I saw this in the news today, and I had to make others aware of it. http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/oct/08/fort-pierc-police-conduct-internal-investigation-o/

I admit that I don't have the best view of police. Every time I've had to deal with a cop in any sort of situation, they've come across as overbearing, self-righteous and absolutely content to abuse their power to make their own lives easier. Sure, cops live with the threat every day of being shot just for doing their jobs. Guess what! I have no sympathy on that score. They chose the job. The school-time and training that it takes to enter a job in any police department gave them plenty of time to reconsider that choice and all of the repercussions of that choice. Just like being a soldier, a fire-fighter, and any number of very dangerous jobs out there, you can't go into this one and not know the risks and not have accepted those risks without reservations. Still, this video shocked me. That cop had in his complete power a terrified fifteen year old girl. You can tell within five seconds that this kid is so freaked out that she is in no way rational. Now, I get it, she bit him. You can see her bite him, and you can see him punch her in the face as a response. Wha... Huh? This guy is a foot and a half taller than her, easily twice her weight, she's obviously not rational, and he punched her in the face for biting him? Well, surely this child must have done something of felony level to get herself arrested if he's going to use that much force to restrain her. Wait, what's that? She's being arrested for violating curfew?

Side trip. For those of you that don't get the concept of curfew, let me explain it. It's a government-mandated bedtime. It is the time when your children absolutely must be inside of a home. Why do communities set curfews? Well, they believe that it lowers the crime rate. It's a nice way of saying that they believe that your children, left to their own devices, will go out and commit a crime the moment it gets dark. It works in some, but in most, it's a way of making people feel better and has no real effect outside of reducing loitering calls. Back to the main road.

Now, the Fort Pierce, FL police department justifies the punch and subsequent pepper-spraying of this girl by saying that a bite is a serious intent to harm, what with the threat of AIDS out there. Look closely at that cop's face. Do you see anything about AIDS going through his mind? How about any actual concern for the young lady when he tells her that he doesn't want to hurt her? All I see is indifference becoming mounting frustration finally building to a barely controlled rage after she bites him. He isn't punching her or using pepper-spray on her because he fears for himself, he's doing it because he's angry at that little girl. He loses it. He yells "Bitch, don't bite me." He yanks her arms up behind her back, he coldly reaches for his pepper spray and then aims it directly at the eyes of a now dazed and hysterical child.

Well, at least the guy is off active duty until they finish their internal investigation of the 'incident'. Oh, wait... No, he's not.

I'm not sure if what makes me the most angry is that officer's treatment of a scared child or the blanket denial of any wrong-doing by the Ft. Pierce Police Department. All I know is that if I ever get stopped by that cop, I'm going for my pepper-spray before he can.

Power corrupts. Ft. Pierce just proved it again.


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Oct 15, 2007
Monday, Monday

So, while reading through the morning news, something caught my eye. Condi Rice has decided that we should form a Palestinian state. Let me think back to what happened the last time the world stepped in, appropriated land from one nation and created another... Israel.
OK, Israel really seemed like a good idea at the time, I'm sure, and I don't personally know of any better solution to the misery and mistreatment of the Jewish people throughout history. I would love to think that the Final Solution would have been enough of a slap in the face to the world to make it set it's hatreds aside, but I know humanity better than that.
Still, the creation of Israel has undoubtedly led us to the state of the world today, where fanatical and draconian policies permeate the political climate (Hey, check out my AB Speak!) of the Middle East. Now, if some Western nation that had actually made the decision had chosen to give away some of their own land, rather than someone else's... But hindsight is 20/20.

I see this as a potentially dire mistake.
First reason: There is so much hatred built up on both sides that rearranging borders will not fix the deeper issues underlying the problem. It will simply expand what is at the moment a civil war between a theocratic government and the followers of a non-state faith. It will most likely become an actual war within two decades.
Second reason: Would we even be considering this step if the Palestinian movement weren't bombing cafes, buses, and busy streets? Not a shot. We are very literally giving in to the tactics of terrorism. I know that may not seem like such a big deal to you at first glance, but think about it... If you give in to one, the next is just gonna step up their tactics so you give in to them even faster. Same premise as spoiling your child. Don't do it, they'll just get worse and worse and worse.
Third reason: Where is this new nation? What will it's policies be? Will it be a protectorate at first? Will some other, richer nation have to step in and "help" them get started? If so, will it be the U.S. or will someone else come swooping in with money and aid? As much as the world likes to rag on Bush, let me point out that he is all about business, and a stable world enables more trade than an unstable one. That motive, I can understand, even if it does take us one step closer to the Shadowrunnish corp-owned future I fear is coming. Then we get to China and Russia, neither of which I know the motives of. That uncertainty coupled with the questions that I already have about the new nation that Condi so off-handedly announced was suddenly a goal of the U.S. scares the hell out of me.

Yeah, that's it for today. I have a fourth reason, but I can't argue it logically, so I'm going to dismiss it as an unjustifiable fear and leave it at that.


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