What is justice? A reponse to George Takei

I am a haphazard blogger at best. Just look through my posts and you will see that there have been huge gaps between posts. But every once in awhile something sparks my desire to post something, this is one of those times. 

George Takei, a guy that I respect and enjoy, has posted a blog entry on the Trayvon Martin killing on his blog at http://www.allegiancemusical.com/blog-entry/trayvon-martin-deserves-justice. In it he states what we all “know.” Trayvon was stalked, hunted down, and shot in cold blood by a hot headed white guy named George Zimmerman. That is what the media has reported over and over, and is the extent of what most people know because most people take the news at face value. 

Before I go further let me state unequivocally that I believe that Trayvon’s death is a tragedy. And if, after all the facts are weighed, it is determined that George Zimmerman broke the law then I hope justice is served. But, it is not up to the news media to try Zimmerman. And if, as I suspect will happen, there are riots, attacks, and other violence triggered because of this story I believe the media should be tried for their criminal negligence in how they have handled and reported this story. 

Let me explain.

As George Takei posted, we all “know” that this white guy hunted down Trayvon Martin, gun in hand, and hot him in cold blood. 

But we don’t really know that do we?

The reality is that all we know can be summed up in 7 words.

George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin.

What we don’t know is how it all went down. But more evidence has been coming out recently that casts some pretty big doubts on the version that George Takei states.

So let’s take a look at this. 

According to the media George Zimmerman is white. Well, now they have adjusted this to say that he is a White Hispanic. Does this mean that President Obama is a White African-American? Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic, and comes from a mixed race family that includes Hispanic, Black, and White. But the media wants you to concentrate on his Whiteness, because that makes it sensational, because that makes it a race issue. 

While the media does not come out and say that Zimmerman is a racist they sure are trying to imply it. On Zimmerman’s 911 call he clearly says, “These a-holes, they always get away.” According to some, like the oh so esteemed Reverend Jesse Jackson, this is proof of his racism. But considering the neighborhood where he lived had, in recent weeks, dealt with multiple burglaries, vandalism, and a shooting, isn’t it more likely he is referring to criminals in the neighborhood, and not any particular race? Some have said that Zimmerman uses a racial slur in his 911 call, but having listened to the whole thing I cannot find it. 

Oh, and the media has also discussed how Zimmerman was a repeated caller to 911. Like this somehow makes him crazy. He was the head of the neighborhood watch! In a neighborhood that was constantly having issues! Of course he called 911! And now it is coming to light that he had not called anywhere near as many times as was initially reported. You have to love accuracy in the news.

From here we get to how Zimmerman hunted down the teen. During his 911 call he states that the young man was coming closer to him and checking him out. Soon after the teen ran away, and Zimmerman got out of his car to follow at which point the dispatcher tells him that he does not need to do that. Most of the news that I have heard cuts the audio right there. But if you listen to the full tape you hear Zimmerman agree. He then states that he no longer sees the teen and has no clue where he went. He then spends a fair amount of time talking with the dispatcher about where to send the police when they get to the scene. You can tell, just by listening, that Zimmerman is no longer moving around as he was when he got out of his car, and his speaking and breathing are both normal. This is not someone chasing another person. And again, he had lost sight of Trayvon. 

Now we have to move forward a bit as we do not have any witnesses to what happened next.

According to Zimmerman he was attacked from behind, knocked to the ground, and then straddled and punched repeatedly while calling for help.

One 911 caller, who was inside her house at the time and could not see anything going on, stated she heard a struggle outside. On the tape you can hear someone calling for help. The media has stated that it is Trayvon. And I have had several Facebook friends post that tape talking about how horrible it is that you can hear Trayvon calling for help, and then the gunshot. But, an eyewitness that came on the scene has stated that Trayvon was straddling Zimmerman, as he lay on the ground, and was punching him repeatedly in the face. In addition, that witness has stated that it was Zimmerman that was calling for help. Also, Trayvon’s father stated, when asked by police, that the voice calling for help is NOT his son. 

The police report, and subsequent treatment at the ER, shows that Zimmerman took a blow to the back of the head causing a significant gash and also suffered blows to the face, including a broken nose. In addition his back was wet and covered in grass stains. This is consistent with both Zimmerman’s account as well as the eyewitness. 

At this point the eye witness is unclear as to what happened. Zimemrman states that his pistol was uncovered during the struggle on the ground and he and Trayvon both fought for it until Zimmerman was able to gain control. At this point he shot his attacker.

Is that exactly how it happened? I do not know. But the evidence I have seen outside of the media’s reporting shows a stark contrast to the reports we are getting from so-called “journalists.” They are trying this man in the court of public opinion, yet it appears that their evidence is about as factual as a Michael Moore documentary, just enough to give a semblance of truth, without giving the full picture. 

But I do know this, Zimmerman is in hiding. He has been the target of numerous death threats. The new Black Panther party has declared a bounty on his head. People that usually are staunchly against the death penalty are demanding he be executed. The President is lamenting this senseless murder. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? What happened to journalistic ethics? This story, even more than the biased political reporting by the media, shows just how far the news media has fallen. No longer content to report the news, now they must spin things in order to sensationalize it to their utmost ability. 

Guilty or not, Zimmerman is already a marked man. Even if his name is cleared by the investigators he is doomed. 

I don’t know what really happened. I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know for sure whether Zimmerman is guilty of something or not. And neither does anyone else. But what I know is that the media’s handling of it is criminally negligent, and if Zimmerman is found to be justified and is later attacked, or if there are retaliations against others, or if there are riots over all of this, they should be held accountable for their crimes.

Followup on my last post

A couple of people responded to my last Blog post on Facebook where others had linked to the post.  I am going to respond here because, well, I can. If you haven’t read it, you should before reading this.

 

JB: First off, a union is a lot less powerful than a corporation, and has always stood on the side of people interests, not the interests of a made up organization that cannot actually experience suffering or punishments in any meaningful way. Fining a corporation for breaking a law, or a corporation losing money on a deal, is far different from an employee losing a limb due to unregulated conditions or losing their job and still having to feed children.

Response:  You make a point here that really ignores a major point. Today, unions are in fact corporations in every sense of the world. They were born out of a necessity, true, which you allude to in the statement about an employee losing a limb, but these days there are regulations for these things. And those regulations were brought about because of protests of the workers during the birth of the unions. But, to return to your first point, in many senses the unions have more political power than any single corporation as they are able to skirt the donation rules. That will likely change now that some of those rules have been eased but that is yet to be seen. But, in some cases the unions now have exorbitant power over the companies they are in contract with, and are as abusive in that the use of that power as the companies were during the birth of the unions, sans the working conditions obviously.

But we also need to look at the history of unions. They were born out of necessity and I agree that they were needed. The working conditions and the way some people were taking advantage of their workers were deplorable. But you can’t sugar coat it either. The protests were violent and destructive. And after the Mob joined in to support it got more so. And they were not just attacking the bosses, they attacked workers that crossed the lines as well as workers at companies that did not take advantage of their people yet did similar jobs. And there are still instances to this day of union agitators intimidating people, and the lobbying by unions to make votes to unionize be through public ballots is one of those. There are also incidents of union leadership making back room deals in order to pad their own pockets while selling their members interests short. So don’t make an absolute statement like unions have always stood on the side of people interests as it is just not true. They have stood for some people interests at the cost of others.

JB: The bailouts were given to the banks and corporations that were essentially placed into the system by the same banks and corporations that received the bailouts.

Response: Had a hard time following that sentence. I think you are saying that they created their own regulations that caused them to fail. That is untrue, they took business risks (and in the case of GM also have a very unfavorable contract with the UAW) that were foolish; coupled with regulations placed on them (in the case of the banks at least) as to how much in “risky” loans they had to maintain. Add the housing bubble and a recession and boom! And bailing them out was the absolute worst thing to do.

JB: His quip about the haves and have-nots shows a lack of understanding about how the system works. They don’t have a job, they haven’t been able to get a job despite trying, and if they did get a job somehow, then their wages would remain stagnant, while they got to watch a system tilted in favor of the rich help the rich get even more wealthy. He’s chasing a dream, and the barriers to keeping him there are the barriers that the 99%ers are against.

Response: Pretty sure my “quip” shows that I do understand how things work. I am responsible for me. If I want more then I need to get off my butt and go get it. I do not want a handout. Even when I was poor as dirt I never took anything that I did not earn. I suppose I was poor but proud. I agree that the unemployment situation is bad, but it is a government meddling issue, not a corporation issue. If the government creates an environment where corporations not only want to hire, but need to hire, domestically, then they will. Right now that is not happening, and since the majority of the Obama “jobs” bill is just “Stimulus 2.0,” i.e. high investment for low return jobs going disproportionately to union work for short term positions, that climate is not being created. As for watching the rich get richer, why is it anyone’s business? If they spent more time working on themselves and less drooling in envy at other people’s stuff they would be much happier.

JB: This started off as a grassroots movement of college kids, and now unions are involved, and unions at one time were themselves grassroots movements.

Response: Yes, it started that way all right. A bunch of disaffected people that wanted to protest because corporations are evil made up entities that aren’t doing their civic duty by doing what the protesters think they should be doing. I think. Maybe. But the thing is, the unions taint the message. Which is exactly what happened when the unions were forming, if you recall, organized crime got involved in the workers movement thereby tainting them as well, interesting is it not? Grassroots movements sometimes get hijacked, and just saying something is grassroots does not somehow make it right.

JB: It’s when he got to his red points that I honestly stopped reading. It was just sad to read through, and I’ve got better things to do. Does this person do anything besides watching Fox news? Did he pay attention at all in history class?

Response: So you stopped reading when I started discussing the actual points from the occupy.org site? That was the best part. And I don’t watch Fox news at all. And yes I paid attention, but I also went to schools that actually taught history.

SB: The second red point was ignorant. There are, indeed, successful companies that are run democratically. Your friend basically coughed up a biased point of view without doing any research. Bless his heart :(

Response: Biased? Well yeah, it is my blog. And this is an opinion piece in response to another opinion piece. But I have done my research, and I am hardly ignorant. There are lots of successful companies that run through organizational democracy. But they still have leaders that make decisions without putting each and every idea to a vote and going on consensus. So they are not truly run democratically as the protesters are demanding, which is where my point comes into play. Anyone that has ever served in a group that is democratically run knows how hard it is to pick what to have for lunch, much less run a company.

 But they are also not limiting their demands to any type or size of business. So, based on their statements, if I had a small business and I hired someone then that person should then have an equal say in the direction of the company. And that is ludicrous.

I have a few other things I want to say but I will make those in another post.

The Occupy People

I just read an article talking about the Occupy Wall Street folks that really got my back up. You can read it here

Let me start by saying I find the fact that these people claim to speak for me absurd, because I am certainly not one of the 1%. But I apparently am not one of this 99% either. Because I find many of things they stand for, and make no mistake they do stand FOR quite a few things, according to their statements on the web and elsewhere, totally misguided and offensive. So the premise many people espouse, that they stand AGAINST things, but not FOR things is just wrong.

Yes, there is a problem with money essentially buying politicians. But some of the biggest groups doing just that are the very same unions that are protesting WITH them. And as others have noted, those unions are trying to bolster their numbers as well. So, apparently for them it is only when CERTAIN groups buy politicians. But through this their message is already tainted.

Yes, it does annoy that banks took bailouts and then sat on it. But I don't really blame the banks for this. I blame the idiots that gave them the money that so naively ASSUMED that they would use it as they thought it would be used. And did it more than once! Have they never heard the fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me mantra? But again, a lot of that money essentially went to the Occupy groups bed buddies, the unions. Why aren't they enraged about the millions of dollars wasted that went there? And the taint spreads.

But they also apparently believe in so much more.

They believe that the existence of “haves” and “have nots” is unfair. But how is it fair to expect that those that “have,” should give everything to the “have nots?” Based on this belief it is not a question of whether you are a bad person or not, it is simply that you have what they want. And this ticks me off. I started out with nothing, but I have worked my butt off to get where I am now. And while I am still not a “have” (in my opinion, something tells me these people might not agree) I am really hoping to get there someday. And my work should be for me and my family. Not for others that people like this think are worthier of the fruits of my labor. My grandfather would have put this very clearly. GO GET A JOB! Any job is better than none. If you can’t afford what you want either do without, or go get either a better job or a second one.

Oh, and the idea that this is a grassroots movement is silly. If it was then the unions would not be trying to recruit people for it. If it was then the reports out of Chicago that many of the protestors are being paid for their time would not exist. Professional protesters! Hello hypocrisy, are you there?

The OWS website has numerous lists and such and moving on I want to touch on some of them.

This one seems to be who can be one of the 99%. Never mind that logic would say if you are not in the 1% you are by default in the 99. And then there is the simple fact that there is no way 99% of Americans agree with all this. But hey, it looks great on a sign.

1. If you agree that freedom is the right to communicate, to live, to be, to go, to love, to do what you will without the impositions of others, then you might be one of us.

Yeah, I pretty much agree with all of that. But aren’t they trying to impose on the “haves?”

2. If you agree that a person is entitled to the sweat of their brows, that being talented at management should not entitle others to act like overseers and overlords, that all workers should have the right to engage in decisions, democratically, then you might be one of us.

Yeah, you are entitled to the sweat of your brows. But you are not entitled to the sweat of mine. And this idea that all decisions in a business should be made democratically is ludicrous. No company could ever survive like that. You have to have leadership.

3. If you agree that freedom for some is not the same as freedom for all, and that freedom for all is the only true freedom, then you might be one of us.

I think I already covered this. Freedom for all means you can’t take from me and give it to others. Go out and get your own stuff, you have the freedom to do that now. Sheesh.

4. If you agree that power is not right, that life trumps property, then you might be one of us.

Power is not right? Does that mean no one with power is ever right? Because, if so, that is a rather asinine statement, some people with power are right, some are wrong. Look at the power being exercised by some of the union groups. The companies they work for are not able to be competitive because of the insanely high people costs they are being forced to absorb. That is a power being used wrong, but by groups that are welcomed and supported by the members of this movement. And life trumps property? On the surface that seems obvious, but in a bit we will get a little more insight on that one.

5. If you agree that state and corporation are merely two sides of the same oppressive power structure, if you realize how media distorts things to preserve it, how it pits the people against the people to remain in power, then you might be one of us.

The same oppressive power structure? Huh? We aren’t perfect but I have lived all over the world and seen some pretty oppressed places. And America doesn’t even begin to be so. Don’t these people even realize that if it were, they could not be doing what they are doing! Now about how the media distorts things I have to agree. For instance, the media keeps talking about how this is a popular grassroots movement. That’s why there are millions of them. Oh, wait.

After that clever list of inanities they move on to a call for action. So let’s look at that next.

1. We call for protests to remain active in the cities. Those already there, to grow, to organize, to raise consciousnesses, for those cities where there are no protests, for protests to organize and disrupt the system

So basically we want more people. And we want to disrupt things. So essentially calling for civil disobedience. Got it.

2. We call for workers to not only strike, but seize their workplaces collectively, and to organize them democratically. We call for students and teachers to act together, to teach democracy, not merely the teachers to the students, but the students to the teachers. To seize the classrooms and free minds together.

Workers should all strike and seize their workplaces collectively. Wait, I thought they were only against the bankers and rotten politicians. Based on this they are against pretty much ALL businesses that operate for profit. So essentially that picture pointing out the hypocrisy of the protesters using cameras, wearing clothes, using phones, is actually true, and not a straw man statement as some have stated. What makes it even better is how many of these young people seem to have REALLY expensive stuff. 99% huh? Oh and seize the classrooms. Why? Most classrooms are liberal brainwashing centers already. Why would you want to change that? Some issues with self loathing perhaps?

Haven't seen the picture? Here it is...



3. We call for the unemployed to volunteer, to learn, to teach, to use what skills they have to support themselves as part of the revolting people as a community

Well yeah, they should use their skills to support themselves. As opposed to expecting others to support them. I have to be honest here though, I know what they are saying about people being involved in a revolt, but I can’t help but chuckle at the revolting people. Take a shower!

4. We call for the seizure and use of abandoned buildings, of abandoned land, of every property seized and abandoned by speculators, for the people, for every group that will organize them.

Ok, so again with the promoting of civil disobedience. Seizing property? With no real thought to who may own it?

Well that was one of the posts on the official site. Basically these people are a mixture of anarchists and communists. Which is a pretty interesting mash-up in my opinion.

But wait, there’s more!

On September 21st, 2011, roughly eighty percent of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track.

Ending the modern gilded age is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly 15% of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing.

Ending political corruption is our one demand.

Yes, most Americans do believe that the country is on the wrong track, and yes they don’t approve of the job Congress is doing. But what the majority of them disagree with are the socialist policies coming out of the current government. Not an end to a modern gilded age, but I do like the idea of ending political corruption. But I would guess that the country will go in a radically different direction than these people expect if it were.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of Americans did not have work.
Ending joblessness is our one demand.

I think learning math might need to be their one demand. 9.2% is way too high, but it is just under one tenth, not one sixth. But demanding it won’t make it happen. We need to have a government that is pro business in order to create jobs. Being pro union is not going to do it. Neither is this crazy idea of creating a democratic workforce that has a say in all decisions.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of America lived in poverty.
Ending poverty is our one demand.

That sounds great, but how? If you take from me and give to someone else that just brings me down to the poverty level. You cannot pull someone up that is not willing to work for it themselves. It sucks, but there it is. Creating massive welfare states such as in Europe is proving to fail again and again. It just does not work. But these same people also claim to support Greece’s people in protest of that countries austerity measures. They are broke, and they are finally having to fix that. And they are broke because they tried to end poverty through the creation of a welfare state.

On September 21st, 2011, America had military bases in around one hundred and thirty out of one hundred and sixty-five countries.
Ending American imperialism is our one demand.

That requires a very broad use of the word base. Not to mention that there are 196 countries in the world. We actually have personnel in 148 countries, but in 56 of them there are less than 10 total people present. But I do agree we need to stop being the world’s police. Another thing that the OWS folks ignore is that the majority of those countries we are there by invitation of either the country or at the request of the UN. There are only 13 countries in the world where we have more than 1000 personnel. And considering the fact that we could have turned Iraq into a new US territory and instead turned around and gave it back, the imperialism statement is laughable.

Conclusion

These people are not truly against what they say they are. If so they would not be in bed with the unions that have skirted the giving limits again and again by donating to candidates in the name of each of their members. By allying with groups that use intimidation and corrupt practices constantly they show that they are in fact just what many accuse them of. They are hypocrites.

What cracks me up is their continued support for the people of Greece and other European countries that are either going, or have gone, broke through attempts to do exactly what they desire. How dare they stop paying for things with money they don’t have. Things that they cannot pay for because the tax base is so diluted because there is no incentive to actually work for a living. And even better, they are ticked off at the possibility that America might cut back as well, to try to keep from completely failing like Greece. But hey, who cares if we can actually afford to pay for this crap. That matters little to these folks.

The big thing for me is simply this. There is only one country like America. There are lots of countries that are much more like what they are calling for, granted they are all going broke because of it but they do exist. I propose a trade, we will send the OWS people to them, if they send willing workers that want to make something of themselves to us. Seems fair right?

I'm Back!!

Ok, I have been seriously remiss in my blogging. In fact, it has been over a year since I last wrote anything. But perhaps it is time to start again. And maybe Melissa will as well.

I graduated from Liberty University with my Masters degree, and now I am left with the same thing that assails graduates everywhere of every age. Now what! I would like to teach, online or in the classroom would be fine. I have considered writing; I do have a novel kicking around in my head. And I have thought of starting my own business. But for the summer at least I am mostly just relaxing. After 7 years of school, on top of full time work and full time parent, it is nice to have a break this summer. But I can’t rest forever.

Midget is doing well, and still working hard at gymnastics. She has taken great strides into truly owning her sport and has shown some amazing dedication. But she is struggling with a bar skill called a kip, and without it she cannot move up to level 5. The only way she will get it is if she continues to increase her dedication by working on certain things at home, which she hopefully will start doing today. Otherwise it will be another year of level 4, which in itself is not really a bad thing, but I would love to see her move up.

On a personal note I decided last month to follow in my Sister-In-Law’s footsteps and take Taekwondo. At 41 this is NOT an easy feat. But so far things are going pretty well, though I am about as flexible as a tree. I am belt testing on Thursday, for a yellow belt. Lets hope I don’t blow it.

Anyway, just a rambling post for my return to the blogosphere, more to come soon, especially on the political front, since there is so much going on.

Tough Decisions

I hate hate hate having to make tough decisions when it involves Midget. I am not averse to making tough decisions normally, yes I consider them carefully but once Mel and I make the decision I am fine with it. With Midget it is so different. I agonize over them.

Case in point is gymnastics. We have been going to the same gym for the last 2 years and it has been a home away from home for us. The owner and coaches have instilled a deep love and desire for this sport in my daughter and I am forever grateful to them for it. When she made the team she was given a choice to do gym or dance, and since then she has not looked back once. That was a good decision.

But now we have decided to pull her from that gym and move her elsewhere.

And I hate it.

We love the owner, we love the coaches. We trust them. We know that we can leave Midget with them and everything will be fine. We felt like part of the family. And to go with that we know that there is no such thing as the perfect gym. So what is the problem?

Consistency.

While each of the coaches is wonderful, ok, most are. There is little consistency between them. Midget was once taught the same skill over 3 days by 3 coaches in 3 ways. She was getting confused. She was getting upset. And so was I.
I think it would have helped had there been a clear leader among the coaches, an actual head coach. One that made sure everyone was consistent and really ran the team. But we didn’t have that.

So we are moving to a new gym. In fact today is the last day at the old gym. The owner knows we are leaving and I don’t think there are hard feelings. I hope not anyway. Based on what Mel told me I believe the door is still open if we end up hating the new gym. I am glad about that. I am really really glad about that. I feel like we have a safety net.

But I am still agonizing over this. The owner indicated to Mel that she will be putting a coach in charge of each level. Which, as I mentioned above, is the major problem that we feel needed addressing.



I think we are making the right decision, but I can’t help but agonize over it.

The current healthcare bills blow

So let me see if I have this straight.

Both houses in Congress have passed healthcare reform bills that equal about 4,000 pages. One has a public option and one does not. Both were created under the argument that all Americans, being equal, deserve to have the same access to health insurance. Not health care, health insurance. They have decided that this goal is so important that they are willing to ignore public sentiment (as is their right, they don’t have to poll their voters prior to making a decision) and go ahead even as they acknowledge they will most likely not be re-elected.

But…

Congress themselves are exempted from any and all of the various requirements. They get to keep their own plan forever and ever and it is not considered a “Cadillac” plan.

Some states, because their senators’ votes were in question, got sweetheart deals that basically mean they do not have to pay for any of it.

Public employees and union members do not have to pay the 40% tax on “Cadillac” plans until after 2017, though that date could be renegotiated in the future.

So my questions are as follows:

If this is such a great plan why is Harry Reid trying to sneak language in that essentially makes it impossible to repeal? Something not allowed under the current rules and he does not have the votes to actually pass. Which essentially means that the passage of the bill as written is illegal anyway.

If this is such a great plan why is Congress exempt?

If all Americans are equal how come the majority of the states will be paying for the few that got bought off? If this was such a great plan that would have hardly been needed right?

Why are the unions getting preferential treatment? I mean I know the answer but seriously?

I am not ready to say that we should vote out every incumbent but if someone is coming up for re-election and they voted for either of these piece of crap bills show them the door! Passing something with the idea that it will be fixed later is idiotic.

One last thought…

If you voted for Obama. Good call!

Meet Report

Midget had her 2nd to last meet Sunday in the UAGL league which is a non-sanctioned relaxed meet. Several of you may recall this is the meet that has the fun announcer that likes to tease the girls a bit during the awards.

We were really looking forward to this one since it is so low key and just fun after the stress of qualifying and competing at States. Plus we are prepping for the last meet which is the Magical Classic in Orlando next month.

The last few weeks have seen Midget and one of her partners in crime uptraining during practices more than anything else but she did spend the last practice before the meet working on the L3 routines.

But I digress.

First up was floor. She has been really consistent but not great on floor all year but she was looking really solid during warm ups. The judge was flying through the girls and I had looked down at my phone and missed the Midget was up. And the camera was still off. OH NO!! But anyway, she did a great job, held the handstand prior to rolling out of it, and looked very pretty. Scored 8.9 and I was ecstatic!!

On to vault. As you all have heard this is her nemesis. Her run has always been bad and she was taught the old dive roll instead of a handstand-forward roll. But she has been working on the L4 vault, which she is much better at, and her coach told her to do the L4 handstand and just roll. She did very well on her first one and got an 8.4. Again I was thrilled.

Bars. She has her Mill Circle now and we were very hopeful on bars this meet. Of course there is always a danger on that mill but her warmups looked good. But the last time she had this judge she got a 6.4. She gave a bit of a second hop on her mount but feet together and toes pointed. Everything was nice and tight and straight. Leg cuts were awesome, and she nailed the Mill! She did bend her front leg as she stopped it but who cares! Score: 9.2!! WOW!!!

Now beam. Midget's best event. She was solid as always so not much to say. She scored a 9.25.

All-Around: 35.75

Placements;
Vault: 2nd
Bars, Beam, Floor, AA: 1st

Midget was on cloud nine. She can't wait for the Magical Classic next month.

She also has not figured out that she is being promoted for sure to L4, even though we know she is. But she wants it so bad. LOL.

Ok, so I stink at blogging

I havent written anything in a while as evidenced by the lack of anything new being written. ;)

The fact is there is so much going on in the political world that I have been following that I have not been able to settle down and write about any of it. Potential subject overload I guess. But I should be picking things up soon.

For now though let me just say that I am very proud of my daughter for getting 2nd in the state on Balance Beam and 8th All-Around. Bella you rock, and I love you so much.

Also, I want to welcome my new nephew Justus into the world. Can't wait to meet you in person.

Pet Peeves

I think most people that know me realize that I am a very laid back person. Though I will say that I have been less patient in more recent years than ever before, but I am working on getting that back.

That said, I have some pet peeves.

1) Stopping in the door of a store or some other public place so people cannot get around you is there. Come on, be aware of your surroundings!

2) Generally being so loud you are impacting all the people around you. This is pointed at cell phone users, music players, etc. I love my music loud myself, but in a neighborhood or a stop light I turn it down out of courtesy.

3) Young men, say between like 12 and 50 sitting on their rear ends on a bus while women, children, and older people are standing. This is the biggie for me right now. Seriously, guys what happened to chivalry? At Disney last week over and over I saw this and it was all I could do to start yelling at an entire busload of people about how ridiculous it is.

I know I post about several things I see wrong with the country among other things, but this is really the worst thing. This lack of courtesy and manners is the real issue with everything. I wish I knew what the answer was.

Healthcare: Fun with numbers

The healthcare debate is still going strong. Obama has been called a liar, Grayson says the GOP wants people to die quickly, Reid wants to slip it through attached to another bill that already passed, and not even Dems can agree on a public option. The one thing almost everyone can agree on is that we do need some kind of reform. And from my perspective it really seems like our representative democracy has forgotten an important part of the whole deal, representing.

I find it interesting that our government has come down so hard on private companies being run poorly and even criminalizing it, yet look at how the country is being run. Obama is spending record amounts that we do not have, and Congress is helping him do it. Might as well throw Bush in there too, he did plenty of damage as well. Enron execs are in courtrooms while these idiots are getting away with much worse! But I digress.

Several stories that Grayson, other Dems, and the State Media have talked about in their attacks on the GOP and push for public healthcare have talked about specific people in the 45K. Several of the stories are about people that got something easily treatable and chose not to go to the doctor because they did not have insurance. This, they say, is how someone dies of not having insurance. I would submit to you, however, that these people died not because they did not have insurance, but because they were too dumb to actually drag themselves to the doctor or hospital. I am sorry they are dead, and I grieve for their families, but this is not an argument for free healthcare for all! (like it will be free really)

I want to dig into some numbers being thrown around. President Obama, right before saying that illegals would not be covered by public insurance and being called out of it by my hero Joe Wilson, stated that 47 million do not have healthcare in the United States. He has since dropped that number to 30 million tacitly acknowledging the truth in Wilson’s allegation by excluding the 17 million illegal aliens in the country. Apparently Grayson did not get that memo as he has been using the 47 million numbers.

Grayson also likes the 45K number that a Harvard study says die a year from not having insurance. I won’t get into how the study was flawed, and even acknowledged as flawed by the group doing it, but I will say that I have looked through the CDC numbers and have yet to come across a cause of death of “not insured.” Instead we get these, actual, causes of death.

Number of deaths for leading causes of death:

• Heart disease: 631,636
• Cancer: 559,888
• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
• Diabetes: 72,449
• Alzheimer's disease: 72,432
• Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
• Septicemia: 34,234

More people died of the flu than of not being insured.

While we are at it, according to the CDC about 2.4 million die each year in the US. Well if 45K of them died because they were uninsured then 2,355,000 died FROM having insurance. Lets dig deeper into this.

If we go by the 47 Million numbers, and 45K died, then 1 in 666 died from not having insurance.

If we go by the 30 Million numbers, and 45K died, the 1 in 1044 died from not having insurance.

307 Million people live in the US, subtracting the 47 million is 260 Million. 2,355,000 died so 1 in 110 died FROM having insurance.

Conclusion: It is better to NOT have insurance.

But this is fun so let’s dig deeper.

47 Million have no insurance. But we take out the 17 million illegal aliens leaving 30 million. Of those there is 25%, or 7.5 Million, that are eligible for Medicaid or S-Chip. 20%, or 6 Million, have an income of over 58K per year and could conceivably afford insurance. And 20%, or 6 Million, have turned down their employer option for whatever reason. The last two numbers it is of course possible to have some overlap so for my purposes I am going to assume an overlap of 50% which gives us 9 Million that either turned down their employer option or make enough already to get their own insurance.

30,000,000 - 7,500,000 - 9,000,000 = 13.5 Million (or 4% of the population) that are slipping through the cracks. That is the number that we need to be targeting in the healthcare debate. We need reform that will help them! Leave the rest of us out of it!

On top of all this we just recently learned that some 63 million dollars in fraud was identified in the Medicaid system in just 5 states! If we just pass that down and multiply it by 10 to get to 50 states that is 630 million dollars! Fix that and pay for the 13.5 million needing help!

Before I conclude I also want to touch on something that people that support public healthcare like to point to. They constantly bring up stories about people being denied coverage on procedures and how it impacted their lives. I understand where they are coming from; I really do, as we ran through a lot of this with my wife and our insurance company recently. But do these people really think that the government run healthcare will never deny a claim? Maybe you need to look at the following chart.



You guessed it, Medicare denies more claims than anyone else!

I am not saying that we do not need healthcare reform. We do. But it is certainly not something to rush into. Take some time to do it right, and listen to your constituents. Or find another job.

Midget's 1st Real Meet of the Season

Saturday was Midget's first real gymnastics meet of the season. She competes in the United Alliance Gymnastics League (UAGL) which is a fun centered non-sanctioned meet that serves as a great intro to competitive gymnastics. She did really well last year as a level 2 and this year she has moved up to level 3.

When we got to the meet, which is in Paducah, KY and about 2.5 hours away, we learned that she would compete as a 7 year old. This is because she will turn 7 prior to the final qualifier in January. This revelation brought on a small case of nerves for both myself and my wife, and we debated on whether or not we should set the stage for a potential loss due to the other girls being older. We decided not to based on the simple fact that if she did well we would never hear the end of it.

She started on beam and I was a nervous wreck! Beam has the potential to be great but just by the nature of the event it is so easy to fall. Add to that she had earlier admitted that she was nervous about beam because she was afraid to fall and get hurt. This is new for her but it comes from a fall she had a few weeks back on bars where she hurt her arm. She now realizes that getting hurt can happen. But the kid is a trooper. She got up there and she rocked out a 9.05! Best score she has ever gotten on beam, and honestly I think she got scored low, but WOW!!!

Next up was floor, probably her best event. She did absolutely beautiful. A few really minor bobbles but she got a 9.2! 2 9s! Another first for her as she has never gotten 2 9s in a meet before.

On to vault. Vault is funny for her. She has this odd run where she sometimes turns her right foot in and it gives her this weird frog run thing. Her warm-up runs were really awful though no frog run. Instead she did this odd really short steps for the first half and then these long gazelle like bounds for the second half. But it all cleared up for her first vault and she nailed it and got a 9.2!! Oh wow! 3 9s!!

One thing about these meets. There is a Red and a Blue division. Red is for the newer girls, with Blue for the more experienced. If you get a 34 AA you get moved up to Blue in THAT meet. Midget was obviously really close. She just needed a 6.55 on Bars and she was being moved up, and honestly that scared me cause those girls were all much older and were 2nd year L3s.

On bars is where it got just plain odd. First off Midget is really nervous about her dismount ever since she wiped out and got hurt. So she tends to come off the bar too early now. Which makes her wipe out again. Which is what happened during warm-ups. But then she got it again and all seemed good. Her mount was great, but her Mill Circle is still a work in progress. And then she fell on the dismount. Pretty much face planted. But overall not bad, and then the score flashed. 6.4?

Turns out it was a small coaching adjustment. Her leg cuts, and those of her team mates, need to be one motion without resting their legs on the bar. Big deductions for both the cut in and the cut out. Easily fixed according to the coach though. But she missed moving up to the Blue division by .15. She was upset, but I was pretty happy with it as those girls all seemed a bit older and I think several of them were repeating the level.

Apparently everybody struggled on bars though because even with the 6.4 on bars she swept Gold.

Good thing we had not said anything or she would be driving us nuts with "I told you so's."

She is bound and determined to get to Blue next meet though. Should be interesting.

What if everyone could be traded?

Last night while watching Monday Night Football it hit me, how wild would it be if your company could trade you like is done in sports.

Could you imagine being called into your boss' office to be told that you needed to pack up because you had been traded to Microsoft for a VP and 3 new college graduates?

Just had to share.

Songs praising Obama taught to school kids

I am just speechless at this point. There is a story on Fox about a video that shows school kids singing songs that praise Obama, complete with lyrics ripped from "Jesus Loves the Little Children." I will post the video link later but for now I have the lyrics to share.



Song 1:
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

Song 2:
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----

Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!


Note: I had planned on posting about the Narcissist in Chief's use of I and Me almost 1200 times in his 41 major speeches but this had to go first. Look for that later.

Running frustration!

The last 2 weeks have been very frustrating when it comes to running. Between multiple late nights from working and school and the weather my running has suffered greatly. this morning I woke up to it pouring, with some thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure. I like running in the rain, but there are limits!

Lets hope it gets better.