Kraft, One Million Moms Engaged in Meaningless Online Feud

Well, here’s a full-house of stupidity.  Kraft recently launched an ad campaign for its Zesty Italian salad dressing with a bare-chested, hot Italian dude endorsing the product.  In one particular ad, the dude is laying naked on a picnic blanket with a corner of the blanket pulled over his, um, junk (modesty people!) and a bottle of the dressing laying next to him, along with other various picnic items.

If I were a woman, I don’t think I’d be wanting a salad after seeing this. Might need to change the panties, though…

Enough is Enough, Facebook

There has been some unrest in the Facebook kingdom of late, and rightfully so.  It seems that Facebook selectively enforces their hate speech guidelines.  While ads supporting breast cancer are denied because they show a breast, images of a woman with tape over her mouth that say “don’t tap it and wrap it, tape her and rape her” are allowed to stay as they fall under the category of “poor taste” or “crude attempts at humor.”

Stay classy, Facebook (Image via thinkprogress.org)

Over the past week a movement has started to boycott Facebook and/or companies that advertise on Facebook.  People have left Facebook.  Companies have pulled their ads.  Then Facebook responded, albeit noncommittally. 

Many of my fellow bloggers are contemplating leaving Facebook and some of them actually did.  I considered it momentarily, but when I realized I’d have no way to keep tabs on the twins’ Facebook activity I decided not to.  Of course, it then occurred to me to deactivate their accounts as well, but I’m not sure they’d understand, though I suppose they need to learn to make a stand at some point.  I’m not sure I’m ready to explain to them what rape is.  I won’t be able to answer the inevitable question of “Why?”.  I have no idea why someone would rape another person and I have even further trouble understanding why someone would find it funny.

This Should Never Have Happened

So with all the mass shootings going on recently you’d think there’d be an even greater emphasis on gun safety by gun owners.  You’d think with all the attention and criticism heading their way by the non-gun-owning population that they’d be doing what they can to not give any more ammunition (pun not intended) to the opposition.  You’d think…ah, never mind.  People just don’t think at all any more.

So, sad bit of news out of Burkesville, KY.  Evidently a 5-year old was playing with his rifle while his mother was out dumping grease into the yard.  The 5-year old didn’t realize that there was still one in the chamber and BAM, his 2-year old sister is dead.

As tragic as this is, the folks around Burkesville are defending the parents for giving their 5-year old a rifle.  

Hero of the Moment: The Honorable Judge Innuendo

It’s been a long time since I have made an entry into our Hero of the Moment annals.  Too long, actually.  I fail.  I suck at blogging.  Oh well.  I’m over it now.

Anyhow, I have a new Hero of the Moment.  And it’s a judge, surprisingly, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, let’s start with a little background.  The people of San Antonio are stupid.  At least, over half the population there is.  You see, somehow an ordinance was passed there that requires dancers in strip clubs to wear bikini tops while performing.  How you can continue to run a strip club in this town is beyond me.  Maybe that’s the point, but I’m tired of people using legislation to push their beliefs on other people.  If you don’t like strip clubs don’t go to them.  Don’t ruin it for everybody else, assholes.  Moving on…

Jason Collins: Trailblazer

Jason Collins. Active NBA player and gay man.

Finally.  An active player from one of the four major American sports leagues has finally “come out” of the closet.  It’s long overdue and frankly I’m surprised it has taken as long as it has.

The intrepid soul who came out is Jason Collins, a Center, most recently for the Washington Wizards.  He bravely announced that he is gay via a Sports Illustrated article last Monday.  Per the article, Collins is quoted as saying the following:

I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.  I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.

Surf Your Way Into Jail

[Editor's Note:  Please welcome BrainRants, Stuph Maphia™.  Funny story.  A few weeks ago 1jaded1 asked me if I read BrainRants.  I thought she was confused and meant brainsnorts, and I said yes without further thought.  Then a day or two later I received a comment from BrainRants and then realized that I was the one who was confused.  Sorry, Jaded.  If it's any consolation this just proves you're smarter than me.  Take that for what it's worth, which isn't much.

See? I’m a member!

In the short time I’ve been following BrainRants I’ve found him to be witty, intelligent, articulate, hilarious, and crude.  And that’s my kind of people.  He has since become a member of the Maphia™ and I’m now a card-carrying member (huh huh) of the Rants Army™.

As always, folks, please ensure you visit our guest’s blog and click on the almighty follow button.  You’ll be sorry if you don’t.  Hell, you may even become a card-carrying member, like me.]

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” — Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

I wrote a glib piece about proposed Amendments to our (American) Constitution a while ago as a lark, not really paying attention to the news article I read that sparked the idea. I found several respondent notions about strengthening privacy rights but ignored them. Then I came across another series of articles

Flag Half Mast

I have not yet addressed the bombings in Boston. There is really no information on who did it, how they did it, or why they did it. Fingers are being cast in multiple directions. It’s the Muslims’ fault. It’s Obama’s fault. Other’s are using this tragedy as a platform to talk about gun control. Somehow important things have gotten lost in the midst of this tragedy. Like the victims.

I had no intention of posting any thoughts on this incident…until this morning. As I dropped the twins off at school I noticed their flag flying half mast and it reminded me again of what had happened. Then on the way to work I drove by a fire station and their flag was at half mast. It was another reminder. A reminder that though it is important to find out who perpetrated this crime, it is even more important not to forget those victims who suffered the consequences of this unspeakable crime.

So, as I often seem to get when I’m reflecting, a poem began percolating in my head. Here are the results of my fully brewed thoughts…

Photo courtesy of clevescene.com.

Random Thoughts: 3/25/2013

*Disclaimer:  This is our 1000th post!  Yay! Woot!*

Wow.  It’s been over 3 months since I’ve done one of these posts.  Unbelievable.  Sorry, Elyse.  I know you like these.  I’ll try to do them more often.

Anyhow, as a refresher, my random thought posts are where I peruse the news and then add my commentary and/or reaction to the articles.  Soooo…here we go!

• Karl Rove has suggested that Stephen Colbert might need anger management after seeing a bit where Colbert stabbed a likeness of Rove (affectionately referred to as “Ham Rove”) repeatedly during an interview.It seems that Rove’s capacity for idiocy escapes him and that most people react to the moronic things he says that way.  Colbert was merely acting out what most Americans would like to do to him.  So, I guess we all need anger management.

White Smoke and the Next Apocolypse?

This isn’t meant to be a post about religion or faith. You can read TD thoughts on his faith in his most awesome post. My response to the judgers is “Some like it hot”…*owned but TD stole it and I’m too tired to chase him down.*  I tend to avoid churches except for the psalm 22 week and Good Friday.  I end up a disaster after each attendance.  I respect everyone’s idea of faith.

Richard Engel is free! Yay! What the hell was he even doing over there?

NBC Correspondent Richard Engel Freed from Captors in Syria – Yahoo!.

NBC News correspondent Richard Engel, and his crew, were released at a checkpoint in Syria this morning after being captured 5 days ago just after crossing the border into Syria from Turkey.  This is fantabulous news.

While I’m truly glad that Engel and his entire team made it back safely and unharmed, I have to ask:  why the holy fuck would you willingly enter a war-torn country mired in civil war just for the purposes of gathering information to be released via the media?  Is any information gathered there worth your life?  Is your job that vitally important?  You are a frickin’ reporter, not a spy or a soldier.  It’s hard to feel sorry for someone who voluntarily puts themself into a situation like that.

I mean, there are jobs where it’s worth putting your life on the line.  A cop.  A firefighter.  An EMT.  A soldier.  A McDonald’s taste-tester.  I may have made that last one up.  Either way, reporting the news is not one of those occupations.

When did breaking news stories become something worth dying for?  We all know Syria is in the midst of civil war.  What did Engel and his team need to sneak into the country for?  What did they hope to find out?  What were they going to tell us that we didn’t already know?

“Well, I won’t be doing THAT shit again,” remarked Engel upon disembarking from this vehicle.

I was watching the news a few years ago after a hurricane had made landfall somewhere in Louisiana.  I can’t remember if it was Katrina or some other hurricane, but I distinctly remember Al Roker reporting from the eye of the hurricane.

Al Roker is one of the most prominent meteorologists in the country, folks.  Why send him, or anyone for that matter, into the storm?  What could he have told us about the storm that he couldn’t tell us from the safety of his New York studios?  Why endanger Roker, or the crew that went with him, just to tell us things that could be learned without sending these people into harm’s way?

Media bias and stupidity astound me.  You can bet  your sweet ass that if I were a reporter and I was ordered into the middle of a civil war, a hurricane, or something else equally as dangerous, this is what my boss would see:

It just ain’t happening.  I’m not risking my life for some unworthy cause and Richard Engel, Al Roker, nor any other reporter should have to, either.

What do you think, dear reader?  Do you agree or am I up on my soapbox for no good reason?