Dumbest Freeway Exit Ever?

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Albert Einstein, Beefy, blog, blogging, Cincinnati, editorial, Forrest Gump, government, Humor, humour, Life, Opinion, ramblings and rantings, Ranting

Reblogged from Beefy's House o' Fun:

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Hello, my name is Twindaddy. I'm posting here on Beefy's blog today because I lost a horrible, horrible bet. I got hosed.  Honestly, who would have guessed that the power would have gone out during the Superbowl? I thought I had that one in the bag.   I still say Beyoncé's booty shaking rattled something loose in the power grid down there.  

Read more… 821 more words

Well, sorry to keep flooding your inbox, but my guest post over at Beefy's House O' Fun was published last night. You all know I'm a stat whore, so head over there and check it out! Thanks for having me, Beefy! And make sure you click the follow button while you're over there. It'll only bring more Unshittiness™ to your inbox.

Other Unshittiness™ from Beefy's House:

• Daily Prompt: Flangiprop!
• The Blog Oscars
• Daily Prompt: Sliced Bread
• Movie Review: Pretty Woman

Convicted of murder for texting and driving?

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Cell phone, cell phones, distracted driving, Drunk Driving, editorial, Editorials, Homicide by Vehicle, News, Opinion

Wow.

38 states have made texting while driving illegal, but it looks like Massachusetts will be the first to imprison someone for breaking this law.

Aaron Deveau has been found guilty of motor vehicle homicide by texting and faces up to four years in prison after his vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic and hit a pick up truck and killing Donald Bowley on Feb 20 earlier this year.

I’m kind of torn on this.  I agree that Deveau needs to be held accountable for driving carelessly and ultimately causing the death of another human being.

On the other hand, this man is going to have a murder charge on his record for the rest of his life for merely checking his phone while driving.

I guess ultimately, I agree with the ruling.  Texting while driving is dangerous and unnecessary.  Is there really a text so important that you can’t wait until you get where you’re going to answer it?  Is a text message worth a life?

This conviction and the subsequent sentence may seem harsh, but if people aren’t held accountable the message is never going to be heard.  People need to know that there will be consequences for driving negligently and putting other lives at risk.  Just like driving drunk is dangerous, texting or being otherwise disturbed by a cell phone is even more dangerous.   According to this article, distracted driving (which includes cell phone usage) ranks higher than drunk driving.  I checked a couple of other sites and cell phone usage ranked higher on those sites as well.

The bottom line is this:  driving while texting (or using a cell phone in any other capacity) is dangerous and can be lethal.  Yes, this conviction and punishment are harsh, but the message needs to get out there.  Don’t text while driving.  You shouldn’t even text while walking.  We’ve all seen the videos of people falling into manholes while texting while walking.  Hell, Ryan Gosling became a “hero” a month or so ago when he stopped a woman who was texting while walking from meandering out in front of a bus.

What do you guys think?  Is the punishment too harsh, too lenient, or just right?

Related articles

• Distracted Driving Month: Putting Texting in a Safer Context (parkingsigns.net)
• Simulator Shows Texting While Driving Is As Dangerous As Drunk Driving (baltimore.cbslocal.com)
• Homicide Charges In Texting While Driving Death (krdo.com)

Random Thoughts: 6/2/2012

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axl rose, Bill Clinton, blog, blogging, Coruscant, Current Events, editorial, George Clooney, Humor, Lucasarts, Meryl Streep, Miami, misc, Miscellaneous, New Orleans Saints, News, NFL, Opinion, random, random thoughts, Sports, Star Wars, Stupid People, Stupidity, thoughts

• Looks like the Saints players who denied the existence of a bounty system in New Orleans were lying.  I love how they’ve all been proclaiming their innocence since they were all suspended.  Like the NFL would suspend without solid proof of wrong-doing.  Idiots.
• A survey of 1000 idiots people has found that 20% of people urinate in public pools.  Setting aside the fact that you would deliberately piss in a pool that other people are swimming in, why on earth would you piss in a pool and then continue to swim in it? 
• There is apparently a new Star Wars video game in the works dubbed Star Wars 1313.  It’s a bounty hunter game set in level 1313 on Coruscant.  The game is supposed to explore the darker side of the Star Wars universe and may (I doubt it) have an M rating.  This sounds too good to be true.
• When asked who should play him if a movie were to be made about his life, Bill Clinton went with George Clooney.  He then picked Meryl Streep to play Hillary.  So when Bill cheats on Hillary in the movie, you’ll still nod your head in agreement and think to yourself, “Look who he married.  I don’t blame him.”
• If you’re interested in learning the ingredients of “bath salts,” the “new LSD” as it is called, click on this link.  Bath salts is believed to be the catalyst of the recent “zombie” sighting in  Miami, Florida, where a 31-year old man attacked another man and ate half of his face.  Authorities still have not ascertained why Mila Jovavich did not intervene.
  
• A fine gentleman in Cleveland was handed a $344 citation for littering when money he was attempting to give to a homeless man fell to the ground.  Stay classy, Cleveland.
• Axl Rose’s doucebaggery knows no bounds, evidently.  You are apparently not allowed to wear Slash t-shirts at a GNR concert.  Some poor chap who attended the GNR concert at London’s O2 arena was forced to remove his slash shirt prior to entering the arena.  To top it all off, Axl showed up an hour late.  What an ass.
• Christina Valdez, the mother of the child who received the Catastrophe Award, tries to defend herself by saying she’s there for her children 24/7 and that she knew of 3 or 4 assignments that her child didn’t complete because she didn’t write them down in her book.  She says she only wanted an apology from the school for their “humiliating” award.  Yeah, well, in 10 years your daughter’s going to want an apology from you for failing as a parent.  Shut up about the award already and raise your child.
• Some high school students in Mink Creek Idaho had their video camera recording one day and recorded what may have been the mythical Bigfoot. Upon closer inspection of the video, however, experts deduced that it was merely Rosie O’Donnell.
• Heath Campbell, an idiot who named 3 of his 4 kids after prominent Nazi figures (including one named Adolf Hitler) had his children taken away from him in 2009 for merely naming them after members of the third Reich.  Now, I don’t condone naming a child after Hitler, Himmler, or any of the other idiots that tried to take over the world in the 1930’s, but to take away children from loving parents, however idiotic they may be, seems unconstitutional to me.  Do we take children away from parents because they’re racist?  Because they hate gays?  Because they let them listen to Justin Bieber?  No, we don’t.  If this guy wants to be a Nazi and teach his children to be Nazis, it’s his constitutional right to do so.  As long as he’s not neglecting or abusing his children, the court has no right to take those children away. 
• The Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996, has been found unconstitutional by a federal appeals court on the grounds that the federal government has no authority to define a state’s definition of marriage.  What this means for gay marriage is anyone’s guess.
• These are the type of stories you should see on the news.  Not some bullshit about another murder or robbery.  Not news piece designed to inspire fear and promote conspiracy theories.  But this:  A 9-year old boy who won a family vacation to Disney World gave it a girl whose father had just been killed in Afghanistan.  What a classy kid.  How many of you would have done that?  Then, the Disney Company awarded this child’s family with an all-expense paid trip for his generosity and the kid is going to find another military family to donate the trip to.  I bow before this kid’s greatness.
• An Al Jazeera documentary, Songs of War, alleges that detainees at Guantanamo Bay were tortured by having to listen to Sesame Street songs on repeat for days on end.  My first reaction to this was to laugh uncontrollably for about a minute.  My second reaction was to realize how fucking cruel this is.  Could you imagine having to listen to Elmo’s Song for days on end?  Cruel and unusual indeed.
• Guitar Pee?  Yes, please.

• NYC Mayor Michael Bloomburg plans to propose a ban on sales of sugary beverages larger than 16oz.  Just how far into our lives does the government plan to reach?  Isn’t taking choice away also taking some of our freedom away?  Look, Bloomberg, if you take away soda people are going to find something else to shove in their pie-holes.  Why don’t you find something productive to do with your time instead of this giant sack of suck?
• Another day, another Christian preacher who wants to kill gay people.  What the fuck is wrong with these guys?  Is there an 11th commandment I don’t know about?
  

Related articles

• Star Wars 1313 revealed, starring Boba Fett (gimmegimmegames.com)
• Nazi Parents Lose Custody Of Adolf Hitler (inquisitr.com)

 

8-Year-Old Gets ‘Catastrophe Award’ for Most Homework Excuses | ABC News Blogs – Yahoo!

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ABC, abc affiliate, ABC News, child, Children, Christina Valdez, editorial, Education, Humiliation, Kids, News, Opinion, Parenting, Tucson Arizona, Valdez, Yahoo!

8-Year-Old Gets ‘Catastrophe Award’ for Most Homework Excuses | ABC News Blogs – Yahoo!.

Okay, here’s another parenting fail.

Some woman in Tucson, Christina Valdez, is all up in arms about her 8-year old daughter receiving a rather dubious award:  The Catastrophe Award.

The little girl received the award for having the most excuses for not turning in her homework.

Valdez is more than a little pissed and called the school to complain, but claims the principal blew her off and told her it was a joke.

Valdez doesn’t see the humor.

“I think it’s cruel and no child should be given an award like this. It’s disturbing,” she told the local ABC affiliate.  Valdez claims that she wasn’t aware that her daughter had a problem turning in her homework.

Look, if the child wasn’t turning in her homework that would obviously be reflected in the grades she was bringing home.  If you aren’t aware of how your child is performing at school, that’s YOUR fault.

Furthermore, you should be more concerned with holding your daughter accountable than trying to get the school in trouble because she was “humiliated.”  Guess what?  We all get humiliated sometimes.  It’s part of life and it’s something she’ll (the daughter) have to deal with at some point or another.  There’s no time like the present to learn how to deal with it.

I’ll tell you what:  I bet that girl remembers that award next year and does her homework to avoid being humiliated like that again.  Is this a somewhat cruel method to motivate a child?  Perhaps, but it’s effective.

We need to quit coddling our children.  Life isn’t all fun and roses where everyone wins and everyone’s talented like they tell children nowadays.  Our children shouldn’t be 18 when they find that out.  If a child isn’t performing the way they should in school then they need to know.  You are failing the child by not telling them and passing them on to the next grade.

I realize that Christina Valdez has her child’s best interests at heart, but her priorities are misplaced.  Her attention should be directed towards her daughter and not the school.  You may not agree with the method, but that teacher sent a message to her child the day she handed her that award and I bet/hope it works.

Related articles

• Teacher reportedly gives girl ‘catastrophe’ award (foxnews.com)
• Mother’s anger after daughter, 8, is handed ‘joke’ award for coming up with most excuses for not having homework (purestrange.wordpress.com)
• Mother’s anger after her daughter, 8, is handed ‘Catastrophe Award’ for (dailymail.co.uk)

Michigan teacher fired for Trayvon Martin hoodie fundraiser – CSMonitor.com

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editorial, Education, musings, News, Opinion, ramblings and rantings, Ranting, Stupidity, thoughts

Michigan teacher fired for Trayvon Martin hoodie fundraiser – CSMonitor.com.

 

What is it with the Michigan educational system?  Last week we heard that two teachers were in trouble over Facebook photos (one was fired and another suspended and removed from her class) and this week we have another teacher fired because her students asked if they could raise money for the family of Trayvon Martin and the teacher told the students to ask school administrators if it was okay.

According to a national civil rights group (the article doesnt’ specify which group), Brooke Harris’ (the teacher in question) 8th grade journalism students asked her about the Trayvon Martin shooting in class one day.  Later, they asked her if they could all pay $1 to wear hoodies to school and the proceeds could go to the Martin family.  Harris reportedly told her students to ask school administrators, which as far as I can tell, is what the teacher should have done.  She doesn’t have the authority to say yes or no to such a request.

Superintendent Jacqueline Cassell rejected the request and suspended Harris for “encouraging her students to make the request in person.”  While suspended, Harris showed up at school one day to drop of prizes for a contest she had held for her students and was immediately fired for violating her suspension.

I get that she violated her suspension, but it seems to me that a termination was a little harsh, especially in light of why she was there.  Her students were probably told when they’d receive their prizes and she was attempting to ensure that they received them in a timely manner.

I don’t get the suspension at all.  If things went down the way they were reported in this story then the suspension was ridiculous.  She didn’t encourage anything and, as stated previously, doesn’t have the authority to grant or deny these types of requests from students.  So she passed the buck.  As she should have.

Cassell, according to the article, told the Associated Press that she didn’t oppose the effort, but she opposed its timing.  When is a good time to raise money for a family that just lost their child?  I didn’t know there were guidelines for these types of things.  When is the appropriate time?  I’m sure if they need money, they need it now.  Funeral costs are not cheap.

Harris was interviewed by the Detroit Free Press and had this to say:

“I was told I was a bad teacher, that I was being unprofessional, that I’m being paid to teach, not to be an activist.  When I tried to defend myself, it was construed as insubordination.”

If true, that’s pretty shitty.  While I see a certain logic to the school not wanting teachers to encourage their students to take on causes, in this case it appeared to be the other way around.  If the students want to take on a cause, who is the teacher to thwart them?

It’s quite embarrassing what our teachers and students get in trouble for at schools nowadays.

Toddler’s Tragic Washing Machine Accident Sends Warning to Parents | Parenting – Yahoo! Shine

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Bad Parenting, Children, editorial, Kids, News, Opinion, Parenting, ramblings and rantings, Ranting

Toddler’s Tragic Washing Machine Accident Sends Warning to Parents | Parenting – Yahoo! Shine.

This is seriously sad news.  A 21-month old toddler climbed into a washing machine full of water and drowned.

Now the parents want to educate other parents about the dangers of “seemingly innocuous” household appliances.

Before I rant, I would like to say that I truly feel sorry for these parents for their loss and that this really is a tragic accident.  THAT BEING SAID, isn’t it common sense not to leave a toddler alone ANYWHERE in a house unsupervised?

The linked article states that the woman was doing laundry and her child was in there with her.  Great.  Then she leaves the room “briefly” and when she came back he was in the washing machine.  Now, I can only assume that this is a top-loading machine as the side-load ones wouldn’t open when it’s full of water.  So this woman was gone long enough for him to climb on to the top of the machine and fall in long enough to drown.

I’m sorry, but that’s just irresponsible parenting.  I don’t leave my toddler alone at all, even when he’s barricaded into the  living room because he can climb up on the couch and possibly over top of it to get out.   Toddlers are always testing limits to see what they can get in to.   Hell, sometimes they can get into stuff even when you’re watching them and in the same room with them.  They’re quick little buggers.

Again, I don’t mean to belittle these parents or make them feel worse, but I kind of feel like the blame is being shifted to an inanimate object instead of the person who was responsible for watching the child.  Trying to educate people about the dangers of household objects is kind of pointless.  If people don’t already know, then reading the article here isn’t going to make them aware.

Again, I truly feel for this woman and I can’t imagine how horrible she feels, but these are the kind of things that happen if you leave a toddler unsupervised for even a handful of minutes.

Don’t like the Mass Effect 3 ending? Tell the FTC

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Bioware, editorial, gaming, mass effect, Mass Effect 3, Opinion, Stupidity, Video Games

That’s right.  Tell the FTC.  That’s what one person has done.

According to the linked article, some dude on the Bioware forums named El_Spiko has filed a complaint to the FTC regarding the lame ending(s) of Mass Effect 3.  Per the article:

“After reading through the list of promises about the ending of the game they made in their advertising campaign and PR interviews, it was clear that the product we got did not live up to any of those claims,” wrote the poster (who we’re assuming didn’t file it under the name El_Spiko). “This is not somethign [sic] I was happy to do, but after the terrible ending that was in no way the product that had been advertised to me and the lack of any kind of response from Bioware/EA to address this, I felt it was one of my only recourses.”

While I’m not at all enamored with the ending, filing a complaint with the FTC is a little childish, I think.  And idiotic.  I think the FTC has bigger fish to fry than BioWare for an ending that wasn’t all that popular.

BioWare has acknowledged the issue publicly, however, and I found this in my Facebook newsfeed yesterday (I follow BioWare…):

“We are aware that there are concerns about a recent post from this account regarding the ending of the game. In this post it was stated that at this time we do not have plans to change the ending,” the developer said. “We would like to clarify that we are actively and seriously taking all player feedback into consideration and have ruled nothing out. At this time we are still collecting and considering your feedback and have not made a decision regarding requests to change the ending.

“Your feedback and opinions are of the utmost importance to us. We apologize for any confusion this has caused. Our top priority regarding this discussion is to keep communication with you, our loyal fans, open and productive.”

I guess once you think about it, any endings against a seemingly insurmountable foe are all going to be tragic, yet if you play the game a certain way in ME1 and ME2 there are outcomes where everyone makes it alive and you have a happy ending.  The same cannot be said of ME3.  You can recruit every asset in the galaxy and complete every side mission.  It doesn’t matter.  Every ending sends the galaxy back to the stone age and strands the entire military might of every species in the Sol system.  Shepard is disintegrated in every ending, however if you attain the perfect ending you get to catch a glimpse of him buried under rubble and the chest plate rising and falling as if he’s breathing.  The Normandy still inexplicably ends up traveling between Mass Effect relays before they all explode and ends up crashing on an unknown planet.  And somehow squad members that died on Earth walk off the Normandy after it crash lands on this unknown planet.

So am I disappointed in the ending from BioWare?  Yes.   Their track record indicates that they can do much better.  Am I going to the FTC and file a complaint?  Hell no.  It’s a freaking video game.  Get a grip, El_Spiko.  Our government already has its hands in things that it shouldn’t and we don’t need that list getting any longer.  So the ending sucked.  Get over it.  Overall, the game still kicks ass.

Jury says Virginia Tech negligent for delays in warnings about 2007 shootings

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editorial, frivolous lawsuit, frivolous lawsuits, News, Opinion, ramblings and rantings, Ranting, seung hui cho, Stupidity, Virginia Tech shooting, Virginia Tech University

U.S. News – Jury says Virginia Tech negligent for delays in warnings about 2007 shootings.

I just don’t get frivolous lawsuits.  I don’t know why they’re legal and I sure as hell don’t understand why a group of 12 jurors thinks that awarding people obscene amounts of money somehow rectifies some wrongful deed.

For those who may not know or remember, some dude named Seung-Hui Cho killed 2 people in an off-campus dormitory near Virginia Tech University on April 16, 2007.  2 1/2 hours later, Seung-Hui Cho killed 30 more people on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Parents of two of the victims sued the University for negligence for not notifying everyone on campus about the shootings.

Let’s get one thing straight here.  There is only one person culpable for the killing of over 30 people that harrowing day, and that is Seung-Hui Cho.  That douchekite can’t stand trial, though, because he killed himself before the police could apprehend him.

Furthermore, the first two killings happened off-campus and the police on-scene determined it was an isolated incident, so why would the University decide to warn people when they’ve been assured by the police department that there’s nothing to worry about?

The jurors were to deliberate and decide whether or not the University could have reasonably foreseen the events of that day.  Um, do we expect our universities of have working crystal balls now?  Should they all have Sylvia Browne on speed-dial? Anyone with that type of prognostication skill would have won the lottery by now and wouldn’t be worried about having a job predicting anything.

Celeste Peterson, one of the parents who sued VaTech, had this to say after the verdict, “Today we got what we wanted.  The truth is out there, and that’s all we ever wanted. We came here for the truth.”

The truth?  You wanted the truth?  The truth has never been in question.  The facts of these heinous murders were all over the news all day and for a few days afterward.  No, what you did lady was attempt to profit from your child’s death and that is fucking despicable.  Absolutely, undeniably despicable.

Neither the University, nor anyone affiliated with it, committed these crimes.  They did not enable or assist Seung-Hui Cho in perpetrating these crimes.  They did not know about the intentions of Seung-Hui Cho beforehand.  In short, they did nothing wrong.

The idiotic jury awarded $4 million each to the two parents, however Virginia state law limits the awards in cases such as these to $100,000.  That’s still $100,000 more than the University should have to pay.  No amount of money is going to undo what was done.  It is not going to bring back anyone’s children and it certainly doesn’t “get the truth out there.”  It just goes to show how fucked up our legal system is that people can profit from murder.

I would really like to hear the rationale these 12 moronic jurors used to decide that the University should pay $8 million for actions that they had no control over.  I can’t even imagine one argument that would make me even slightly think that the school should pay one dollar to these money-grubbing, pathetic excuses for human beings.

This whole debacle would be akin to me suing the city of Cincinnati because I was mugged on its streets.  The city wouldn’t be able to predict that I would get mugged any more than the VaTech would be able to predict a mass-murder spree happening on campus.  It’s unfathomable and impossible and holding either accountable for either circumstance is RETARDED.

I can find no words to adequately describe the intense disdain I have for both the idiotic parents who sued and the moronic jurors who agreed with them.  Our judicial system is beyond FUBAR when things such as this can happen.

April 16, 2007 was truly a horrible day in American history, but the events in a Virginia court room today and leading up to today are shameful and embarrassing.  I would not mind a bit if legislation were passed to prohibit frivolous suits like this from ever being filed again.

“Snooki” is pregnant

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E News, editorial, entertainment, Humor, Jersey Shore, maury, MTV, Opinion, Snooki, thoughts

“Reality” TV “star” Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is pregnant.  I know this because someone who actually cares about this (non) news posted it on their Facebook page and I happened to be their friend.  That has since been rectified.

This is news for some reason.  And for some other profane reason, people care about this “news.”  I think the real news here is that it took so long for her to get pregnant. That chick spreads more easily than butter.

Query:  Do you think Maury will sponsor the search for the father?

This is how society gets dumber. People like Snooki (what an idiotic name)reproduce. All of our futures just became a bit bleaker.

Commentary:  It amazes me that a show with “real” characters with names such as Snooki, The Situation, Pauly D, Jwoww, and Sweetheart can actually gain a following.  Not only has this show gained a following, it’s one of MTV’s highest rated shows.  All these idiots do is get drunk, start fights, and screw random people.  At least on the show.  How lame.  If I’m going to watch someone do all that it’s going to be me.  In the first person. I can’t imagine how low your IQ must have to be to enjoy this show.

There are additional questions other than who the father might be.  Is Snooki even capable of being a parent?  Can/will she change a diaper?  Will she be able to give birth sober?  Will she even have to push or will the baby just slide out when the time comes?

I feel sorry for that poor kid who will have such a nincompoop for a mother and possibly an unknown father.

 

Random Thoughts: 2/22/2012

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book of mormon, chris chase, editorial, Humor, kate middleton, musings, News, olympic basketball team, Opinion, pga golfers, Politics, random, Random Thought of the Day, random thoughts, thoughts

• Apparently, it’s a huge golfing faux pas to spit out on the golf course.  PGA golfers have made a big deal about this for some reason.  Look, guys, you’re outdoors, it’s nature, and the dude’s spit will be washed away the next time it rains.  Get over it.
• Astronomers have “discovered” a new type of planet — “a steamy waterworld that is larger than Earth but smaller than Uranus.”  I don’t really care about this news one way or the other, but I have to admit that I chuckled upon reading that there is a planet smaller than Uranus.  (Get it?)
• Chris Chase of Yahoo thinks that the new logo for our Olympic basketball team is hideous.  I agree.  It is pretty ugly.
• Singer Adele took umbrage when her acceptance speech was cut short at The Brit Awards.  The program was apparently running over its time limit, so they decided to cut her off.  She then flipped the show’s producers off before leaving the stage.  This is hilarious.  I love seeing the human side of stars.  You seldom get to see this because everybody is afraid of bad publicity and backlash these days.  It’s nice to see someone take a stand without worrying about what the public will think.
• Kate Middleton has apparently released the name of her new puppy.  Thank goodness.  It was killing me not to know.  Seriously, who cares what her dog’s name is?  Why the fuck is this news?
• NATO forces “inadvertently” burned a bunch of Qurans along with other “extremist documents” at Bagram Airfield in Kabul.  Riots followed in which 5 people were killed and many others were injured.  I seriously doubt this was a mistake.  Also, if we’re looking for extremist documents to burn, why not burn the Bible and the Book of Mormon among others?  Both books and other religious texts spawn extremists just as the Quran does.  Does anyone remember the shootings in Norway just a few months ago?  An extremist Christian committed that heinous attack.  So if we’re going to burn extremist documents, let’s burn ALL religious text is it gives birth to a dizzying array of extremists with dangerous views of how people and society should be structured.
• President Obama is poised to propose a new corporate tax plan that would conceivably end the tax breaks for companies who outsource jobs overseas.  Wow.  I actually agree with him on something.  Rewarding companies for taking away American jobs is one of the most ludicrous policies I’ve ever heard of.
• Manny Ramirez just won’t go away.  The twice-suspended slugger has signed a minor league contract with the Oakland A’s.  He cannot play for them until he serves his second 50-game suspension for another failed drug test.  It still baffles me that you can fail a drug test and serve a suspension multiple times in baseball, but if you gamble on even one game you’re suspended for life.  How inane.
• A couple of reporters were killed in Syria while there on assignment to report on the war.  I understand that there’s news to be had in a war-zone and that everybody craves any scrap of news to be had from such places, but is it really worth your life?
• The father of a fallen soldier burned a New Jersey flag in response to New Jersey having its flags at half-mast for Whitney Houston’s funeral.  Bravo, good sir.  Bravo.
• Mitt Romney has accused Obama of having ‘”fought against religion” and sought to substitute a “secular” agenda for one grounded in faith.’  Dear, Mitt.  Ever heard of separation of church and state?  No political agenda should be grounded in faith, you tool.
• Students at Yale and Rutgers universities are up in arms upon finding that Muslim students are being monitored by law enforcement officials.  They decry the monitorings as “antiethical.”  While profiling Muslim and/or Islamic people isn’t necessarily fair, let’s be realistic.  Most terrorist acts are committed by Islamic extremists.  Why SHOULDN’T law enforcement duly monitor Muslim and Islamic activities?
• A military conflict with Iran is starting to look more and more inevitable.  It’s sad that we’ll end up at war because of what amounts to a pissing contest.
• Noble Street College Prep, a Charter high school in the Chicago area, is drawing fire for fining students who are suspended or received detention.  I thought this was extremely outrageous at first glance, but the practice is working.  The school doesn’t have the behavioural problems that most high schools endure, and 90% of their students are accepted to college.  I surprisingly agree with the fines, on second thought.  When I was in school, getting a detention or suspension didn’t faze me.  It was just time served.  I once received a 3-day suspension for skipping school.  With homework.  That’s tantamount to a paid vacation!  The monetary fines will get the attention of the parents, as I doubt most students would be able to pay.  Getting the parents involved is key to a productive child in school.  This is unorthodox for sure, but it’s working.  Bravo.
• Some guy in Wisconsin and his wife allegedly starved his daughter and kept her locked in the basement for the last six years while her older step-brother sexually abused her.  If true, and if they are convicted, the parents face a maximum of 11-years in prison and the step-brother a maximum of 68 years.  That just doesn’t seem harsh enough compared to what they allegedly did to this poor girl.
• The Supreme Court is going to decide once again whether affirmative action should continue.  I’ve already given my opinion on affirmative action.
• Employers can allegedly tell what kind of employee you will be by perusing your Facebook profile.  Also according to this article, some companies demand your Facebook password.  As to the first, potential employers can look all they want.  My profile is completely private.  As to the second, fuck off.  You aren’t getting my password and employment conditional to providing a Facebook password is unethical and probably against some laws.
• Somebody with way too much time on his hands figured up the cost in dollars, materials, and time to construct an actual Death Star.  In short, it’s not going to happen.  As if you needed confirmation.
• Student loans could be the next big “debt-bomb” on the American economy, much like the housing crisis in 2008.  According to this article, student loan debt is even higher than credit card debt nationally.  Students are just not able to get jobs that pay enough to cover the rising cost of education and reform is being suggested by many.  There is no way out of a student loans, such as bankruptcy.  As one of the millions of people confronting this problem, I’m in agreement.  As it stands now, I will not be able to assist my children with collegiate financing when and if they decide to go to college.
• Monday night, I tuned in to CBS a few minutes before 8 as I was giving Baby C a bottle.  I watch CBS’s Monday night line up almost every week, unless there are reruns.  From 7:30 to 8:00, Entertainment Tonight airs and they were still covering Whitney Houston’s death; more than a week after she had died.  I lament that she died and how she died, but seriously, can we give it a rest?  It’s sad that there are that many people still interested in another drug-abusing celebrity.  Celebrity adulation is nonsensical and out of control.  Why society cares so much for these idiots is truly baffling to me.  You don’t know those people and likely never will.  Why are we crying?  Why are we upset?  Did we not see this coming?  For goodness sake, let it be.  Leave her alone.  Sure, her death was newsworthy, but not so notable that coverage should still be so suffocating 9 days after her death.  Get a life, people.