New recipe: 2 quarts of sports, a teaspoon of politics, a couple table spoons of entertainment news, a few pints of beer...Stir gently before drinking.
All comments (even the ones I poke fun at) are welcome!
Thanks to Orb Almighty for sharing this with me...
Apparently they breed them real dumb in Lafayette Indiana. Holly Schnobrich was arrested not for driving while intoxicated...but for being intoxicated and in the car alone with her two boys ages 3 and 5 while the eldest of the two brothers, Weston Schnobrich DROVE HER HOME.
Seriously you can't make this up. She was hopped up on Percocet and Vodka. Best quote of the article..."(Schnobrich) informed the officer that she took Percocet not for pain control ... but she took it when the children acted up,".
Second best quote comes from young Weston..."I want to be a race car driver when I grow up,". This is how Nascar started people.
I have two burning questions:
Where the hell was she at that she had her two kids with her while she knocked back the cocktails?
If she's this messed up and has custody of the kids how bad must the dad be?
You can read about the plight of our heroin and watch the news clip here.
I know, I know, I've been neglectful. It's been extremely busy at work and the Admiral has the social calendar on over full right now. Alas I know its not an excuse. Let's get to it...
When I was a kid I went to a lot of church. And I mean a lot of church. A light week was 4 – 5 times. To say that like many folks I was raised on the “fear of God and the feel of the rod” approach would be an understatement. I also read and collected more than my fair share of Comic Books. I grew up with the overly romanticized notion that good things happen to good people and that doing the right thing made you special and in so many ways “better” than the average human being. Not in a superiority sort of way although I’m certain I’ve come across that way to some folks.
Our society is based on the same basic principles. “Do what’s right”, “look after your fellow man”, and so on. If the world ever collectively faltered on these points the amount of chaos that would ensue would be catastrophic. I once read that character was doing what’s right when no one is watching.
But what if its all bullshit? What if its all a lie? What if we’re all the same and not one of us is better than the other? Does great responsibility really come with great power? Does Camelot really exist? And is it worth fighting for? Or maybe its all just a bunch of windmills and the dragons have long since been slayed.
Look around you. Read the news. Bad things usually happen to good people. People with power constantly and consistently abuse it without recourse. God is either sleeping at the wheel or non existent in most people’s lives. I don’t mean to say that people don’t believe. On the contrary, most do. I just don’t see much evidence to suggest that this belief is doing them any good. The belief in a higher power is often nothing more than an excuse for forcing others to believe as you do.
Ultimately, most of us are just fighting to survive. But it’s the rules of this conflict that intrigue me. One of the best people I know is a superb father, a fantastic employee and the sort of friend that anyone would be lucky to have. I can only hope that I’ve been as good a friend to him as he’s been to me. But in a lot of ways he’s very unhappy. He’s in love. Just not with his wife. This could easily morph into a discussion on Poly-Amorous relationships and the like but that’s a topic for another day. He’s fighting the great windmill of guilt. It’s a crisis of faith and identity.
His dilemma is that in order to allow himself to fully love this other person he will have to come to grips with the idea that he is just like everyone else. That he’s just as vulnerable to temptation as we are. That he’s HUMAN. And more importantly, that it’s ok. This is certainly easier said than done. It means accepting that you lie, cheat, and steal just like everyone else. It means admitting that you’re not the person you thought you were.
The things is (and there’s always a thing) that this Person – the Super Hero good guy type – doesn’t really exist. It’s the Yin Yang theory all over again. You can’t have a Super Hero without automatically creating a Super Villain. No Superman without a LexLuthor. No Batman without The Joker. We’re all nothing more than shades of grey. Every morning when most of us get up we make a subconscious decision to do the right thing. We decide we’re going to be “that guy”. Will we still lie, cheat and steal? Yes. Does it make us bad people? No it doesn’t.
For my part…I’ll always be that guy. I’m afraid I don’t know how to be anyone else. I’ll still lie, cheat and steal from time to time. And I guess I’ve come to accept that part of me on some level. But in the end when the ashes have been scattered I suspect the stone will read, “Here Lies Chad Johnson; He Died Doing The Right Thing.”
Can you imagine what they'd have done to some of the cops on the LAPD? Courtesy of the Associated Press:
Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot pink armbands featuring "Hello Kitty," the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday. Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late — among other misdemeanors — will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won't wear the armband in public. The striking armband features Hello Kitty sitting atop two hearts. "Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor," said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok. "(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It's not something macho police officers want covering their biceps," Pongpat said. He said police caught breaking the law will be subject the same fines and penalties as any other members of the public. "We want to make sure that we do not condone small offenses," Pongpat said, adding that the CSD believed that getting tough on petty misdemeanors would lead to fewer cases of more serious offenses including abuse of power and mistreatment of the public by police officers. Hello Kitty, invented by Sanrio Co. in 1974, has been popular for years with children and young women. The celebrity cat adorns everything from diamond-studded jewelry, Fender guitars and digital cameras to lunch boxes, T-shirts and stationery.
Has anyone even heard of this movie? Despite how bad it looks I can't possibly be the only one that wants to see it. Tim? Cyemm? Dave? C'mon how bad could it be?
Here's a solid reason why Obama and Giuliani need to win the Primary for their parties. If they win we get to see more of Obama Girl and Giuliani Girl battling it out. I'm not above mindless entertainment. Become mindlessly amused at www.obamagirl.com.
Why is that? There are things happening in Darfur that make the war in Iraq look like an underaged frat party being broken up by the cops.
First a warning to anyone that has grown accostomed to my more "light hearted" rants. This isn't one of them. Something occured to me the other day that makes me angry. VERY ANGRY. Take a look at the big home page websites today, or any other day and you'll see what we've all gotten used to seeing.
Mike Vick and his dog fighting troubles The woes of the American auto industry. Paris Hilton is still a stupid ditz. Brittany is still a trailer park ho. Lindsey ain't much better The current financial standings or latest blurb of the 2008 Presidential Candidates. News about China or another rich Asian Country. And for gods sake let us not forsake Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, or any other oil rich country.
But no one cares about Africa.
Today at http://www.msn.com/ the leading headlines were: How to date if you both have kids Has shark week jumped the shark 10 things your bartender won't tell you The freaky history of Christian Rock A stall in the negotiations of the Terror Bill A healing diet for dogs that may suffer from Cancer A check on how your local bridges rate on the national scale, oh and apparently Paris Hilton is making a move on a Nascar star
But no one cares about Africa.
At http://www.cnn.com/ we finally learn that: Anne Hatheway knows she's a good celebrity A couple welcomed their 17th child (that's just irresponsible) Someone was mauled to death at Ving Rhames' home A missing UK girl was seen in Belgium An earthquake in Russia left 2,000 people homeless Even the section of headlines dedicated to Africa is devoid of any news on Darfur
Why does no one care about Africa?
MSNBC...nothing Fox news...zip ABC news...nada
No one cares about Africa.
The numbers - The lowest estimate of deaths since 2003 in Darfur is 200,000 at a minimum and some estimates have reached as high as 2 million. To put this into perspective the total casualty rate of every country involved in the Iraq war is at 135,000. This includes military and civilian.
Thousands of Africans are raped and murdered every month. The UN claims that despite the many deaths there is no intent to commit genocide. And isn't that a relief to all of us.
Darfur, not Iraq, is the defining moment of this decade. It will not be more than a footnote in our history books but make no mistake it is the one tragedy that can be stopped. It is a chance for not just America but for the world to stand together united in a fashion that has not been seen since the days of Adolf Hitler.
Did the images above shock you? Make you turn away? Good. It means you have a pulse. It means you're part of the collective that is the Human Race. It means that perhaps the people of the Sudan may out live this tragedy because somewhere there are enough people that were shocked and ashamed enough into action.
