The media frenzy and rabid, foaming at the mouth impugnment of Paula
Deen's character is rubberneckingly amazing. The media, corporations
and politicians have not only thrown her down a hole, but they are now
using a plunger to send her further down and pull her back out so they
can assail her even more - and sell more ad space, deflect attention and
milk the witch hunt for all its worth.
I have no need to
explore Paula's cultural heritage, character, remorse, rehabilitation,
upbringing or Christic morality regarding the matter. What I find more
interesting are the corporations who are severing all ties with her and
putting as much distance between them and her as they can. Why?
They
are all hypocrites. We live in a society whose mob mentality embraces
revenge, punishment, ostracization, fear and unforgiveness. The irony
is that many of these corporations probably have people on their boards
who are far worse "racists" but are smart enough to never admit it.
This will teach people to paint over their windows of transparency.
Nobody
is the worse thing they've ever done or said and we've ALL said or done
things we may not be proud of. Whether those things have gotten us in
trouble or fired does not negate the fact that we may have learned from
those experiences, grown from them, changed or even made restitution and
asked for forgiveness. Many people go so far as to work more hard to
prove themselves as worthy and productive members of society in the
process of that reinvention.
If someone asks for forgiveness
and we don't offer it, what does that say about us? I'd rather have a
repentant criminal live next door to me than a surreptitious "good guy"
who has never been caught. For those of us who are Christians, while
on the cross, Jesus took a repentant convicted criminal to paradise with
him, not an honest man like all those "good" people who accused,
convicted, leered and denied him.
As an aside, (Did anyone see
the movie "The Gathering?" It was about [spoiler alert] the people who
witnessed the crucifixion and did nothing to stop it. They were
condemned to spend eternity witnessing the worse atrocities humanity
inflicts upon itself for, not to act is to act. ( For instance, the
church must condone war since it does little to stop it)).
The
corporations who severed their ties with Paula are blind. All they are
doing is tearing down and destroying in an effort to either get people
to notice how superior and ethical they are or, to deflect attention
away from themselves (Look how evil Paula is and how good we are because
we threw her to the curb. We're not hateful, prejudice or evil as she
is. Look at our moral superiority by denouncing her and her
wickedness).
If I were in charge of one of these corporations,
I'd embrace Paula and design an ad campaign using Paula and focusing the
ad on race relations, the destructive force of prejudice and how we can
heal from hate. I would show the world what hate looks like, what it
can do and what we are doing to help heal the wounds of ignorance. Then
combine it with coupons and events to promote healing, attract
attention to the good we are doing rather than what we are not doing and
of course, sell product. What is that age old axiom about honey,
vinegar and flies?
When all you do is destroy, disown and
dissolve, you can't heal or build. These companies are cutting off their
noses to spite their face. So far, these companies are The Food
Network, Walmart (a paragon of race and fair wage relations) Caesars
Entertainment (gambling is not an addiction but bring your credit card
anyway), Target now has her in their cross-hairs (Target finds it
acceptable to sell products made by minors working for $2 a day in Asian
sweatshops. Their PR teams are thanking Deen for diverting attention
away) and Smithfield Foods.
Smithfield issued a statement saying
"As an ethical food leader, it is important that our values and those of
our spokespeople are properly aligned.”
Smithfield has ethics?
Their use of gestation crates would seem to be at odds with that. Not to
mention all the land they have contaminated with feces-ridden runoff.
The very fact that they have the gall to use the word "ethical" when
referring to themselves strikes me as ludicrous.
Novo Nordisk
which produces the drug Victoza has dumped Paula, too. Victoza is a
drug for people with diabetes. Paula was a spokesperson for Victoza
while at the same time she was promoting lifestyle and dietary changes
in an effort to battle diabetes. I'm sure that that competitive opinion
didn't sit well with Novo Nordisk who would rather that people
afflicted with diabetes take their drug instead of putting down that
doughnut and getting exercise. Paula's alternative method of healing
certainly had nothing to do with Novo Nordisk breaking their contract
with her, I'm sure. But her use of the N-word, the concision of insult,
came at a convenient time.
The ancient art of the invective
has been around for centuries and will be around for centuries more. It
won't stop by firing Paula and negating all the good she did and is
further capable of doing, but, imagine what could be accomplished by
using her to educate people and proffering a little forgiveness laced
with mercy and grace.
I have no doubt that Paula is going to
reinvent herself and come back bigger and better. The question is,
which savvy corporation is going to align with her and make a big score
when she does have a lucrative comeback? Paula, I'm in! But all I
have is ten bucks.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Trilobite and Brachiopod Fossils
I found these fossils while hiking around Thatcher Park. The park is part of the Helderberg Escarpment, one of the richest fossil-bearing formation in the world. It is about six miles of limestone cliff-face and rock-strewn sloes overlooking the quaint town of Altamont.
These fossils are from the Devonian period which was known as "The Age of Fish." For you Christians, it is called "The Fifth Day." From Genesus 1:20:
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life
And the evening and the morning were The Fifth Day
For an extremely informative academic report on the geological data of the area, Union College of Schenectady put out this document:
http://www.union.edu/academic_depts/geology/outreach/trips/helderberg.pdf
http://media.tumblr.com/99b8d0da12cbd65e194adf36c7775c6c/tumblr_inline_mozyll5GPj1qz4rgp.jpg
http://media.tumblr.com/de8d1b5ada4db77fabc16f27e66b2de6/tumblr_inline_mozykf06lw1qz4rgp.jpg
These fossils are from the Devonian period which was known as "The Age of Fish." For you Christians, it is called "The Fifth Day." From Genesus 1:20:
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life
And the evening and the morning were The Fifth Day
For an extremely informative academic report on the geological data of the area, Union College of Schenectady put out this document:
http://www.union.edu/academic_depts/geology/outreach/trips/helderberg.pdf
http://media.tumblr.com/99b8d0da12cbd65e194adf36c7775c6c/tumblr_inline_mozyll5GPj1qz4rgp.jpg
http://media.tumblr.com/de8d1b5ada4db77fabc16f27e66b2de6/tumblr_inline_mozykf06lw1qz4rgp.jpg
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
From the Conspiracy Department: "Well, it's their fault for bringing kids into a battle."
I'm sure everyone has an opinion regarding those people who leak
government secrets. Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning
are the latest. We held Manning for three years without charge while he
was kept in a small cell, most of the time he was naked, the lights were
on 24/7 and he was provided no blankets. This "torture" was for his
own safety.
Manning leaked a video to Assange who then posted it on Wikileaks. The government said that the video put American lives at risk. I provided a link to the video so you may see our national security being compromised. The two murdered men which the video highlights are Reuters News Services photographers each carrying cameras. After the massacre, a van pulls up to help the wounded. In the van was a father who was bringing his two children to school or to visit a relative. While driving by, he saw one of the wounded men and stopped to help him. No good deed goes unpunished. The video is located here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU
You can read about the video here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike
Manning is just now, three years later, being formally charged for treason because he leaked that video. There are legal avenues to blow the whistle on the government but, there is no way the government would release this video on its own merit had Manning even pursued those avenues.
The soldiers' demeanor in the video raises other issues. There are many people who harshly judged them although no charges or punishment was lodged against them. I admit I wouldn't want any of them as neighbors but this sort of activity and behavior is what they are trained to do. They are trained, rewarded and some would even go so far as to say "brainwashed," into taking joy in what they do: Killing. The alternative is PTSD or not being able to do their job when it most counts. They are like police dogs who are trained to attack. Police dogs are not being vicious, they are having fun when they attack, it is mostly play for them. That's how they are trained. That is why they are effective at fighting crime. If a dog didn't like what he was doing, he probably wouldn't do it, at least not effectively.
Military training is one reason why there are so many unemployed veterans. Employers know the type of training military soldiers go through and don't want to take a chance on one of them going "postal." An interesting movie on the topic is "Jack Reacher." It is about a military homicide investigator who digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims because he was trained to kill and was never afforded the opportunity to do it.
The other bane veterans have lurking in their corner is that many of them entered the military fresh out of high school and despite having some of the best training in the world, they don't have college degrees. So a nurse, trained in battlefield triage, who has amputated limbs, stitched gaping wounds, stabilized traumatized bodies, set broken bones and even performed her job while under enemy fire, is not qualified to take your child's temperature in your local school. Given the rise in school shooting incidents, I think I'd rather have her at my school than someone with text book training in boo-boo management.
So, Manning, Assange, Snowden - are they patriots like so many of our national heroes who came before them by doing much the same and made this country what it is today or are they enemies of the state? Sure, Snowden just informed every terrorist in the world that we are reading their emails and listening in on their phone calls (like we didn't know this ten years ago when Bush signed the Patriot Act) but don't you think that that too is a deterrent? How many armchair terrorists have second thoughts because they now realize that trying to pull something off is too risky or difficult with the government listening in on their calls?
We were warned after the Tsarnaev brothers pulled off the Boston bombings that there would be copycat bombings. Well, after learning that there is a camera on every corner, in many cars, in every shirt pocket, in most stores, how many would-be-bombers decided not to do anything because they now know they can't pull it off? I don't think Snowden put as many American lives at risk as we think. He may have actually saved some.
Isn't that the reason our country criminalizes honesty? If someone admits to completing a crime we send them to prison. Not because they are necessarily a threat to society, but the punishment is designed to serve as a warning to others not to commit the same crime. In reality, if someone has designs to commit a crime, they're going to do it anyway because they are not thinking of the consequences, they are thinking about the immediate payoff. They all think they can get away with it, that's why they do it and that is why deterrence sentencing doesn't work.
Reading peoples' emails, Facebook accounts and cell phone records is a good way to stop crime as it is happening. Knowing that the government is reading emails, Facebook accounts and cell phone records can also deter crime so it doesn't happen. Knowing there are cameras in stores prevents shoplifting although, everyone knows that most store theft occurs by the employees in the back rooms. You know - the people who passed the background and drug checks.
I'm not sure how I feel about entrapment. Should we turn the lights out and leave our doors unlocked so we can entrap criminals and burglars or should we warn them that there is a pit bull inside and and out of fear, they don't do the crime in the first place? Currently the government is the biggest distributor of child pornography. They distribute it so they can catch people downloading it. If the government didn't distribute it, would the criminals exist? Is it a wise investment to spend $30,000 per year to incarcerate someone who would otherwise be a taxpayer had we not entrapped him? We then put them on the sex offender registry where they will be unemployable and a drain on the largess of the social service department. Although, the new Farm Bill denies people convicted of violent crimes, such as downloading child pornography, of food stamps and other benefits afforded to people who can't find jobs or housing.
Contrary to what everyone opines, Manning, Assange and Snowden were not thinking about an immediate payoff, fame or fortune, they were thinking about the consequences and the actions by our government. They knew they were sacrificing everything for what they thought to be the greater good: Knowledge and transparency.
One thing these patriots/whistleblowers/traitors/snitches do reveal to us is why so many other countries in the world view America as the terrorists.
Manning leaked a video to Assange who then posted it on Wikileaks. The government said that the video put American lives at risk. I provided a link to the video so you may see our national security being compromised. The two murdered men which the video highlights are Reuters News Services photographers each carrying cameras. After the massacre, a van pulls up to help the wounded. In the van was a father who was bringing his two children to school or to visit a relative. While driving by, he saw one of the wounded men and stopped to help him. No good deed goes unpunished. The video is located here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU
You can read about the video here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike
Manning is just now, three years later, being formally charged for treason because he leaked that video. There are legal avenues to blow the whistle on the government but, there is no way the government would release this video on its own merit had Manning even pursued those avenues.
The soldiers' demeanor in the video raises other issues. There are many people who harshly judged them although no charges or punishment was lodged against them. I admit I wouldn't want any of them as neighbors but this sort of activity and behavior is what they are trained to do. They are trained, rewarded and some would even go so far as to say "brainwashed," into taking joy in what they do: Killing. The alternative is PTSD or not being able to do their job when it most counts. They are like police dogs who are trained to attack. Police dogs are not being vicious, they are having fun when they attack, it is mostly play for them. That's how they are trained. That is why they are effective at fighting crime. If a dog didn't like what he was doing, he probably wouldn't do it, at least not effectively.
Military training is one reason why there are so many unemployed veterans. Employers know the type of training military soldiers go through and don't want to take a chance on one of them going "postal." An interesting movie on the topic is "Jack Reacher." It is about a military homicide investigator who digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims because he was trained to kill and was never afforded the opportunity to do it.
The other bane veterans have lurking in their corner is that many of them entered the military fresh out of high school and despite having some of the best training in the world, they don't have college degrees. So a nurse, trained in battlefield triage, who has amputated limbs, stitched gaping wounds, stabilized traumatized bodies, set broken bones and even performed her job while under enemy fire, is not qualified to take your child's temperature in your local school. Given the rise in school shooting incidents, I think I'd rather have her at my school than someone with text book training in boo-boo management.
So, Manning, Assange, Snowden - are they patriots like so many of our national heroes who came before them by doing much the same and made this country what it is today or are they enemies of the state? Sure, Snowden just informed every terrorist in the world that we are reading their emails and listening in on their phone calls (like we didn't know this ten years ago when Bush signed the Patriot Act) but don't you think that that too is a deterrent? How many armchair terrorists have second thoughts because they now realize that trying to pull something off is too risky or difficult with the government listening in on their calls?
We were warned after the Tsarnaev brothers pulled off the Boston bombings that there would be copycat bombings. Well, after learning that there is a camera on every corner, in many cars, in every shirt pocket, in most stores, how many would-be-bombers decided not to do anything because they now know they can't pull it off? I don't think Snowden put as many American lives at risk as we think. He may have actually saved some.
Isn't that the reason our country criminalizes honesty? If someone admits to completing a crime we send them to prison. Not because they are necessarily a threat to society, but the punishment is designed to serve as a warning to others not to commit the same crime. In reality, if someone has designs to commit a crime, they're going to do it anyway because they are not thinking of the consequences, they are thinking about the immediate payoff. They all think they can get away with it, that's why they do it and that is why deterrence sentencing doesn't work.
Reading peoples' emails, Facebook accounts and cell phone records is a good way to stop crime as it is happening. Knowing that the government is reading emails, Facebook accounts and cell phone records can also deter crime so it doesn't happen. Knowing there are cameras in stores prevents shoplifting although, everyone knows that most store theft occurs by the employees in the back rooms. You know - the people who passed the background and drug checks.
I'm not sure how I feel about entrapment. Should we turn the lights out and leave our doors unlocked so we can entrap criminals and burglars or should we warn them that there is a pit bull inside and and out of fear, they don't do the crime in the first place? Currently the government is the biggest distributor of child pornography. They distribute it so they can catch people downloading it. If the government didn't distribute it, would the criminals exist? Is it a wise investment to spend $30,000 per year to incarcerate someone who would otherwise be a taxpayer had we not entrapped him? We then put them on the sex offender registry where they will be unemployable and a drain on the largess of the social service department. Although, the new Farm Bill denies people convicted of violent crimes, such as downloading child pornography, of food stamps and other benefits afforded to people who can't find jobs or housing.
Contrary to what everyone opines, Manning, Assange and Snowden were not thinking about an immediate payoff, fame or fortune, they were thinking about the consequences and the actions by our government. They knew they were sacrificing everything for what they thought to be the greater good: Knowledge and transparency.
One thing these patriots/whistleblowers/traitors/snitches do reveal to us is why so many other countries in the world view America as the terrorists.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Criminalizing Shopping
Councilwoman Margaret Chin is in charge of the Chinatown district, and
she's hoping to pass a law that would prohibit the buying of counterfeit
goods with the threat of a $1,000 fine and a year in jail. She said
that "More needs to be done to crack down on counterfeits, which cost
the city $1 billion in annual tax revenue."
It costs the city nothing for, if I didn't buy my $20 fake Rolex watch, I certainly wouldn't buy the $34,000 authentic Rolex watch. The state lost nothing and at least my $20 supported some person who probably couldn't find a job otherwise.
Bargain hunters from around the world flock to Manhattan’s Chinatown for bags, jewelry, perfume, electronics and other accessories bursting onto sidewalks from storefronts along Canal Street. While tourists are there, they are spending money on other products, food, transportation, hotels and entertainment. Margaret Chin is criminalizing shopping and does not take into account the innocent bargain hunter who doesn't know they are buying a fake and simply thinks they are getting a great price on an item. Buyer beware.
Margaret Chin's legislation will only hurt the city, hurt Chinatown and fill their already overcrowded jails with grandmothers, unaware shoppers and poor people. I would imagine that the police have bigger fish to catch than naive little old ladies or people who can't afford to buy the overpriced real item and is willing to settle for a fake at a fraction of the cost. At least the fakes are not made by underpaid third world child labor.
I know a priest who purchases a fake Rolex and cologne each year. He knows he is getting what he pays for and doesn't mind. He also can't afford the real thing. Nobody is losing anything by his purchase but his trip to the city does provide other forms of revenue.
Of course we want to protect the innocent person who thinks they are buying the real thing at a too-good-to-be-true price but, carnival games, casinos, lotteries and horse races are designed to take your money, too. Nobody seems to mind if those people are ripped off and taken advantage of by impossible odds.
When is Margaret Chin up for reelection? Chinatown should make a statement. Maybe instead of spending money on the undercover cops it will take to scare off and entrap unwitting shoppers, she should put up an information kiosk educating people on the difference between fakes and the real thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
It costs the city nothing for, if I didn't buy my $20 fake Rolex watch, I certainly wouldn't buy the $34,000 authentic Rolex watch. The state lost nothing and at least my $20 supported some person who probably couldn't find a job otherwise.
Bargain hunters from around the world flock to Manhattan’s Chinatown for bags, jewelry, perfume, electronics and other accessories bursting onto sidewalks from storefronts along Canal Street. While tourists are there, they are spending money on other products, food, transportation, hotels and entertainment. Margaret Chin is criminalizing shopping and does not take into account the innocent bargain hunter who doesn't know they are buying a fake and simply thinks they are getting a great price on an item. Buyer beware.
Margaret Chin's legislation will only hurt the city, hurt Chinatown and fill their already overcrowded jails with grandmothers, unaware shoppers and poor people. I would imagine that the police have bigger fish to catch than naive little old ladies or people who can't afford to buy the overpriced real item and is willing to settle for a fake at a fraction of the cost. At least the fakes are not made by underpaid third world child labor.
I know a priest who purchases a fake Rolex and cologne each year. He knows he is getting what he pays for and doesn't mind. He also can't afford the real thing. Nobody is losing anything by his purchase but his trip to the city does provide other forms of revenue.
Of course we want to protect the innocent person who thinks they are buying the real thing at a too-good-to-be-true price but, carnival games, casinos, lotteries and horse races are designed to take your money, too. Nobody seems to mind if those people are ripped off and taken advantage of by impossible odds.
When is Margaret Chin up for reelection? Chinatown should make a statement. Maybe instead of spending money on the undercover cops it will take to scare off and entrap unwitting shoppers, she should put up an information kiosk educating people on the difference between fakes and the real thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Monday, June 3, 2013
Why Some Dogs Pee and Poop in the House
When I was about 13 years old, I had a significant growth spurt. All of
a sudden my bones grew faster than the rest of my body. My muscles and
tendons couldn't keep up with my bones and as a result I had minor
growing pains. Another area my body had difficulty compensating with
was in muscle memory. I was always tripping over nothing, falling up
the stairs and misjudging leaps. I had suddenly, and for no apparent
reason, become rather clumsy. I was embarrassed around friends,
provided great amusement to my parents and convinced myself that I had
some disease which would propel me into the pantheon of Jerry's Kids.
Muscle Memory. Just as your foot knows exactly where the brake pedal is in your car, or you hand knows where the snooze button is on your alarm clock, if you were to suddenly grow three inches, your body would have have difficulty finding these items, you would need to re-learn the distances but it would only take a brief period of time. Since our bones, muscles, ligaments and organs don't grow at the same rate, our brain is constantly compensating for these evolving differences and sometimes it takes time for instinct to find its way. I grew out of my temporary clumsy stage only for the unfortunate malady of another growth spurt to reassert itself several months later. D'oh!
A friend of mine had an eight year old son who stood at five foot ten. He was extremely tall for his age. This eight year old boy had a bed wetting problem and his parents punished and humiliated him severely for it. His problem (besides bad parents) was that he had an adult body with an eight year old child's kidneys. His bones and muscles grew fast but his kidneys and other organs hadn't caught up yet. He was constantly hungry and had a voracious appetite. His body was processing adult portions of food but his kidneys couldn't keep up. He couldn't make it through the night without the need to void three or four times. This unfortunate and uncontrollable process often happened while he was asleep.
My German Shepherd dog could be left locked up in the house all day and if I had to be away, she was able to "hold it" until I got home late in the evening. For many dogs, their mutual body and organs were designed for their size. That is the way God/Nature/Time had designed them through the process of natural selection.
Enter man who then begins to mess around with canine breeding and DNA. We're not as proficient at evolution as God/Nature/Time and have bred animals who no longer have sympathetic body parts designed for their breed, size, metabolism and body.
Sure, you can figure out a way to take the tires off of a Hummer and put them on a KIA but it will look really stupid and not be very functional. Likewise, you can probably figure out a way to take the KIA tires and put them on your Hummer. Again, it will look really stupid and will definitely not be very functional. Why do we do this to dogs?
So the next time you leave your dogs locked up for ten hours and you come home to find that they messed in the house, don't blame them. Blame your breeder. And the next time you come home after having left your dogs locked up for ten hours and there is no mess, praise both your dog and God/Nature/Time for their time tested and perfect creation.
There is one other thing; Why are you leaving your dog locked up for ten hours? What's wrong with you? At the very least, hire a dog walking service to come over and let them out one or two times each day.
Muscle Memory. Just as your foot knows exactly where the brake pedal is in your car, or you hand knows where the snooze button is on your alarm clock, if you were to suddenly grow three inches, your body would have have difficulty finding these items, you would need to re-learn the distances but it would only take a brief period of time. Since our bones, muscles, ligaments and organs don't grow at the same rate, our brain is constantly compensating for these evolving differences and sometimes it takes time for instinct to find its way. I grew out of my temporary clumsy stage only for the unfortunate malady of another growth spurt to reassert itself several months later. D'oh!
A friend of mine had an eight year old son who stood at five foot ten. He was extremely tall for his age. This eight year old boy had a bed wetting problem and his parents punished and humiliated him severely for it. His problem (besides bad parents) was that he had an adult body with an eight year old child's kidneys. His bones and muscles grew fast but his kidneys and other organs hadn't caught up yet. He was constantly hungry and had a voracious appetite. His body was processing adult portions of food but his kidneys couldn't keep up. He couldn't make it through the night without the need to void three or four times. This unfortunate and uncontrollable process often happened while he was asleep.
My German Shepherd dog could be left locked up in the house all day and if I had to be away, she was able to "hold it" until I got home late in the evening. For many dogs, their mutual body and organs were designed for their size. That is the way God/Nature/Time had designed them through the process of natural selection.
Enter man who then begins to mess around with canine breeding and DNA. We're not as proficient at evolution as God/Nature/Time and have bred animals who no longer have sympathetic body parts designed for their breed, size, metabolism and body.
Sure, you can figure out a way to take the tires off of a Hummer and put them on a KIA but it will look really stupid and not be very functional. Likewise, you can probably figure out a way to take the KIA tires and put them on your Hummer. Again, it will look really stupid and will definitely not be very functional. Why do we do this to dogs?
So the next time you leave your dogs locked up for ten hours and you come home to find that they messed in the house, don't blame them. Blame your breeder. And the next time you come home after having left your dogs locked up for ten hours and there is no mess, praise both your dog and God/Nature/Time for their time tested and perfect creation.
There is one other thing; Why are you leaving your dog locked up for ten hours? What's wrong with you? At the very least, hire a dog walking service to come over and let them out one or two times each day.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
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