Every year at Thanksgiving we tend to pause, and consider what we have to be thankful for. This year it’s a bit harder than usual.
Back in August my grandmother passed away, and event that shook me deeply. It was not that I was particularly close to her mind you. I shared her with a hundred or more other people in my immediate family.
It was the knowledge of who she was, and the vacant place she leaves behind in the circle that I envision my family.
I still cry for her. Being one of her pallbearers was both the highest honor and the hardest task I have ever performed.
But still, I am not bereft of family. Indeed, I am blessed as at the age of 47, I still have both of my parents, 12 aunts and uncles, 38 cousins, 3 siblings (one may be missing or estranged, but she still counts in my heart) and 4 kids who make my world filled with joy.
And I have some of the best friends imaginable. You may have great friends, but sorry, mine are better.
12-year-old charged after deliberately “breaking wind” in class
NOVEMBER 21–A 12-year-old Florida student was arrested earlier this month after he “deliberately passed gas to disrupt the class,” according to police. The child, who was also accused of shutting off the computers of classmates at Stuart’s Spectrum Jr./Sr. High School, was busted November 4 for disruption of a school function.
I can’t help but wonder if he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, or if this was classified as a hate crime….
A Martin County Sheriff’s Office report, a copy of which you’ll find below, notes that the 4′ 11″ offender admitted that he “continually disrupted his classroom environment by breaking wind and shutting off several computers.” The boy, whose name was redacted from the police report released today, was turned over to his mother following the arrest. The young perp turned 13 on November 15.
The charge was actually “Disruption of a school function”, according to the police report.
I rarely go to theaters. It’s not the prices necessarily, though 5 bucks for popcorn is still shocking. It is more that I enjoy being comfortable at home watching it. So usually when a big hit comes out, my particular take on it is about six months late when the DVD releases.
And occasionally the movie in question has generated a stir of complaints and controversies that I hear about in depth before I even have a chance to see for myself what the fuss was all about.
I heard in nauseating detail about the leftist indoctrinations, the insults and insensitivity to the obese and a few other complaints.
I was prepared to not like it, as I tend to dislike paying money to be preached at.
I was wrong. I loved it.
First, the actual story. The setting: Earth in the 29th century. The world has become overtaken by a global corporation (BnL or Buy n Large) and for 700 years has been completely depopulated. The world has become a scrap heap of trash, with only clean up robots left to perform a seemingly endless task of providing trash compacted order out of chaos. Life is apparently limited to a bug, who is our hero’s pet.
So as I read through my many daily reads, there were too many stories I wanted to talk about to do them all, so here is a quick mask up.
Suppression of free speech in New York?
Apparently. Specifically this is a buffer zone for protesters, and mandatory prosecution of harassment. Of course this is all those rabid anti war nutbags protesting the Military recruiters, right? No, it is to praying abortion protesters at abortion clinics.
You can stand in front of a church yelling “Mormon scum,” but if you pray in front of a taxpayer-subsidized abortion clinic, watch out.
Emily L. e-mails:
I thought you might find this interesting. NYC is considering legislation to create a 15 foot buffer zone between abortion protestors and the clinics. The legislation would also enable the clinics to press harrassment charges against protestors, even if the patients don’t wish to pursue charges. This is one opinion piece about the proposal: link.
Even more interesting was the flurry of Letters to the Editor sent to the Daily News today. This is from Planned Parenthood:
When it comes to finding liberals, no place is a bigger haven than California. And where liberals go, so also goes social reconstruction.
The debacle called Proposition 8 really started a few years ago in 2004 when San Francisco went rogue and began issuing wedding licenses to gays, in defiance of State law.
No one was really surprised, San Francisco being the unofficial gay capital of the US, but eventually the practice was stopped after only a few months. But the debate and lawsuits continued until the California Supreme Court ruled that California’s equal protection clause granted gays the right to marry.
So in response, Prop 8 was filed to amend the state’s constitution and was approved by the voters. While legal changes remain, at this moment, only hetero marriage is recognized in California.
So that is the bare bones of the current problem in California. California, which voted to elect Obama 60% to 37% instead opposed gay marriage 52% to 48%.
This is hard to fathom, unless you admit that marriage is a much deeper issue to a lot of people than it seems.
My daughter has been a frequent co-contributer to this blog, mostly behind the scenes in the form of ideas, inspiration and occasionally comments. But several times she has also appeared in the form of blogs I have reposted, with understandable fatherly pride. The responses have been amazing as she is a gifted writer.
This is no exception, and may be her finest post to date. She sent me this in response to the vitriolic comments over a blog I posted yesterday mocking the attempts to create an Obama Federal holiday. I am immensely proud of her, not because she shares some of my conservative values, because she is unafraid to make her beliefs known.
Enjoy ~ LSU
Once more, this now-eighteen year old has to just shake her head at what a group of grown adults can babble and scrabble about.
As I sat down to write, I originally aimed my focus at denouncing those who have posted some strange gibberish under my dad’s post about Obama-day. But after a few days that have left me emotionally exhausted (Including losing one of my co-workers to a heart attack) and drained, I decided to write something else, and to, perhaps, give someone out there a view into the mind of at least one of America’s youth.
The co-chair of Barack Obama’s Transition Team, Valerie Jarrett, appeared on Meet the Press this weekend and used, shall we say, an interesting word to described what she thinks Barack Obama will be doing in January when he’s officially sworn into office. She told Tom Brokaw that Obama will be ready to “rule” on day one. It’s a word that reflects the worst fears that people have for Obama the “arrogant,” the “messiah,” that imagines he’s here to “rule” instead of govern.
Jarret told Brokaw that “given the daunting challenges that we face, it’s important that president elect Obama is prepared to really take power and begin to rule day one.”
By itself it is a minor event, perhaps an unconscious gaffe.
I have posted about my feelings about Veteran’s day and the military. This year, I offer this post, edited from a blog I wrote in 2005 before the advent of this site.
What Veteran’s day means to me.
I posted my daughter’s feelings on soldiers and the military. Now it’s my turn.
When I look at my military service, I admit I can be less then impressed. Not counting training bases, I was only stationed at one base, Travis AFB, for 12 + years, and I never went overseas. I left my base 4 times: Once to an overnight training exercise about 100 miles away; Once to repair an aircraft in Santa Ana; once to work on a training exercise for about a week in Monterey and once to attend a leadership course in San Bernardino - all still within the state of California.
While there I worked in a repair shops, admin positions, supply and tool cribs. I worked the flightline for two different shops, then finished my time in a maintenance repair dock. During these years I worked on C-5 and C-141 aircraft.
Hey, remember when presidents had to actually lead and accomplish things before having a national holiday named after them? Well, now all you gotta do is be black and show up for the job.
Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation’s 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.
“Yes We Can” planning rallies will be at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. every Tuesday at the downtown McDonald’s restaurant, 1100 Kansas Ave., until Jan. 13. The goals are to secure a national holiday in Obama’s honor, to organize celebrations around his inauguration and to celebrate the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12 1809.
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