Not Censorship, Just Civility

I was channel-surfing the other night and came across a program on Comedy Central. I was curious as to what it was--and desperate for something good to watch--so I held off turning further until I could discern what it was I was watching. So there I was, looking at a man trying to convince his girlfriend/wife/whatever to not break up with him and just then 4 men came out of the closet. I immediately knew I was watching Workaholics as I recognized three of the four men. I never really had interest in the show, and after lqaying witness to what happened next, I'm sure I won't ever. The first man says to his woman, "What, is this what you want from me? You want me to blow these guys? Cuz I'll do it." He then turned to face the guys, got on his knees and said, "Come on, all of you. Pull your dicks out and put them in my mouth." I wouldn't be so upset over this if it wasn't for the fact that Cameron was sitting right there, witnessing this whole thing. The fact that we both saw it was, when all is said and done, an accident and nothing more as we were not familiar with the show because we do not watch the show, thus the arguement that "All you have to do is turn the channel if you don't want to watch it" was lost on us. I am against censorship, but I think television has a responsibility to its viewers. Leave it to Beaver, Dobie Gillis, The Brady Bunch, Family Ties...These shows did not have toi be crude to be enjoyable. Jackass is another prime example. When it first aired, it was just stupidity at its finest, but with every new movie that comes out it is less on what is funny and more on what is sick. I mean, the onje where Preston goes into the Porta-Potty and Wee-Man comes out was funny, but a Poo Volcano most certainly is not. This is nowhere the quality of a post as I would like, but I am still recuperating and my patience grows weary.

HRT ATK

I vividly recall the conversation; it was one of those things where one believes he is gaining great insight and understanding, but finds out that the outcome is as nothing he has imagined. Such was the case back in early 1999 when I was talking with a fellow employee on the topic of heart attacks. He had asked me if I  had ever had one, and when I answered no he said, "Believe me, it brings on a pain you will never forget." I did not know then that by the waning months of that same year that he and I would share a common frame of reference; I had had my heart attack, and more importantly I had experienced the most unique, hurtful pain in my jaws than any other pain I had ever experienced--broken bones and surgery included. Four stents and thirteen years later the memory of the heart attack has endured, yes, but the pain in my joints, especially my jaws, never left me, which is why--on April 17 2012, at approximately 10:00 p.m.--I knew I was having a heart attack. My wrists and elbows had been hurting since around 6:00 p.m., and my chest felt fiery, painful, and to some extent numb. I had my mother take me to the hospital where, after extensive testing, it had been determined that I been symptomatic of a heart attack, so I was kept overnight for observation. At around 6:00 a.m. Wednesday morning I had had another, and a heart cath determined that I had five blocked arteries. I was told I would be kept in the hospital until the 23rd, at which point I would undergo quintuple bypass surgery. I came out of the surgery okay for the most part--just sore from having my chest cut open. I took part in what little rehab was offered at Cardiac ICU, and I excelled. I was determined to get better and leave that hospital, which I did yearerday, April 29. So here I am now, at home and blogging about this experience. I have had a few people try to convert me to Christianity because of this, but as Dennis pointed out on my FB page "well my friend I wont waste any time prayin as I know you," and he is right. I have no newfound need for that in which I did not believe prior to this happening, no new insight into my spiritual needs, no ephipanies...nothing. The only thing I know is that I have to do away with butter, mayonnaise, and pork cracklins (all bad foods), I must exercise more, and I need to quit smoking. Being in the hospital for two weeks forced me to jump-start this, so continuing to adhere to it now that I am out will be the big thing. I am 46 years old; it looks like I would have understood this enough back in 1999 when I had my first heart attack, or 2008 when I had my second stent put in, or 2010 when I had my 3rd and 4th stents put in, but I suppose I held onto that belief that I would live forever. A quintuple bypass is the last option, and it does force me to realize that if I do not do this for myself, then I should do it for my children, all of whom acted like there was just a little too much going on in their lives these past two weeks to really give a damn if Daddy pulled through or not.

Respect Respect

I have always attempted to be respectful of others, even they who show no amount of respect for those around them. What makes me successful at this is my ability to assess, analyze, and reach a logical conclusion before offering commentary. I can easily sum this up by saying I am driven less by emotion and more by intellect. This is not to say I am without passion; on the contrary. My intellect is... driven by passion. Be patient; this is going somewhere. It ticks me off when I see someone wearing a shirt with an advertisement of one kind or another boldly emblazoned upon it for all to see, but the person feigns knowledge by stating, "Oh, I just picked something up and put it on," or "Oh, it's my (brother's/friend's/cousin's) shirt." There are people who wear Che Guevara shirts simply because their friends wear them, and once they are told the guy was a Marxist who murdered innocent civilians they (once again) feign ignorance, feign revulsion, or just come right out and say they do not care, as in "I don't care about all that, it's just a cool shirt to me." People are walking billboards, and whether it is something such as this or a shirt that reads "All bitches is hoes and all hoes is bitches" or something with racial overtones--or blatant racial slurs for that matter--people seem to believe they should not be held accountable for the beliefs they publicize on a daily basis. Over the past few years we have seen this trend move from the T-shirt to the home-or-profile page, and yes, especially here on Facebook it has become a disease, dark, prevalent, unrelenting. I have always attempted to explain to any who would listen that a public forum such as this is not the place to air one's dirty laundry; as far as that goes it is really not the place for sharing EVERY aspect of one's life. My reasoning behind this is that while everyone has the freedom to express themselves however they wish, it must be understood that the same freedom of expression works in the opposite direction: The RESPONSE to the Post. One person's opinion of Che Guevara may be that he was a great revolutionary. My opinion is that he didn't die quick enough. Who is wrong here? More importantly, how can one person get pissed off at another voicing his or her opinion? I opened this dialogue with, "I have always attempted to be respectful of others," and I shall continue to do so. I have sometimes defined that as not responding to a post I have seen, but henceforth that shall no longer be the case. If I feel the need to comment, please respect the fact that I am simply exercising the same right as you. I mean no malice nor ill will; I just wish to offer an opposing view. I shall always remain respectful, so please respect the respect I give you. Thank you. DUNCAN

What's in a Name?

Cracker. Hillbillie. Hick. Redneck. Light-bread. Mayonnaise. Honky. Peckerwood.
Nigger. Spear-chucker. Mud Duck. Burr-head. Spook. Porch Monkey. Kaffer.
Spic. Wetback. Beaner. Greaser. Berry-Picker. Wetican. Po' Wiki.
Heeb. Kike. Jap. Nip. Chink. Gook. Camel Jockey. Towel Head. Hadji. Dago. Mick. Geronimo. Injun. Redskin. Kraut. Tea Bag. Frog.
Fag. Dyke.

Instead of finding ways to separate ourselves through hate, let's bring ourselves closer together through love and tolerance.

If you don't want the truth then don't read this.

I am just returning from Atlanta where I took part in the SkillsUSA competition; my area of expertise was extemporaneous speaking. Quite a bit happened over these past three days, and I will do my best to present the chronology of these events in a clear, lucid manner. Of course I cannot name names, so please understand that even though I may be disgruntled to some degree, this in no way keeps me from showing tact and respect to those who, at times, may not have deserved such.

It was made abundantly clear that someone in a position of authority is--by their own actions and comments--a racist. I suppose I should be used to it by now, but it still stings every time someone reveals their true nature.

The hackneyed shenanigans of the SkillsUSA officers was undone only by the blatant buffoonery of the participants. We are supposed to be a group of professionals, yet our opening ceremony resembled nothing more than immature high school antics. I was very disappointed in the officers. I was asked to be a delegate in the voting for the next set of officers (2012-2013), a station I accepted with much pride and alacrity. Prior to the new candidates' speeches I spoke with most, and as I heard their formal speeches I made my decisions based on how effectively they communicated their beliefs/desires/etc. When the speeches were over I, along with the host of other delegates, made my way to the front of the room to cast my vote. I was stopped by an advisor who held a piece of paper toward me and said, "This is who they want you to vote for." I assured this advisor that I was more than capable of making that choice on my own--was this not why I was asked to be a delegate?--and would do so accordingly. I further stated that once I turned in my ballot, I would then look at the list and inform as to who did and did not make the cut. Well, only two of the four people who were on the list found their way onto my ballot, and for that I am not sorry. As an FYI, of the five people I cast my vote for, four were elected. The fifth, some jackass who apparently studied Buffoonery 101, was the only candidate whom I did not vote for. I was really pissed with this whole voting thing because it seemed that advisors did not want the best person for the job, but the person representing their school. I have nothing to apologize for; I did what I felt was best.

I made mistakes in my speech. Mistake #1 was apparently looking at the topic and being so prepoared that I was ready to give my speech immediately after reviewing the topic. I have always been better at delivering from the hip than taking time and planning an outline, and what tripped me uip was that even though I was ready, the judges were not; I was made to wait three and a half minutes while they wrote their critique of the previous speaker (we were to take five minutes preparing a speech, but I felt I did not need this time). So as I was standing in the middle of the room waiting, my mind began to wander on what I should talk about instead of just allowing it to naturally pour from me. Big mistake. It would end up being my deathknell. I should have elaborated on the three I's, and I should have closed with a summary--both of which I would have done if I did not begin formulating that speech in the three and a half minutes of downtime. But as the signals for "3 minutes, four minutes, and five minutes" were flashed I began to race toward my conclusion. Bottom line is that I know where I messed up, and realize it cost me the gold or silver medal. I won the bronze--third place--for which I am truly grateful, because I had already decided that if I had won the gold there was no way in hell I would go to the nationals, not after the few days I had already had.

I awoke this morning around 6 a.m., packed my bags, got dressed, went downstairs and smoked a cig, and returned to my room to find my roommate had exited in my absence. I also found my watch was missing. I looked under the bed, behind the dresser, then took everything from my bags and carefully looked through them, but to no avail. I informed my instructor of this, and she in turn informed the (Wiregrass) event organizer. I was told they "would get to the bottom of it." I went to have breakfast, but cut things short because I really did not feel right about accusing my roommate; I had allowed for that one percent chance that I had overlooked something. So I returned to my room and while I was searching my roommate came in and informed me that he and I had the same watch--he showed me "his" and sure enough it was an exact replica of mine. He told me the organizer had mine, so I immediately returned downstairs to have "my" watch returned to me. I put it on and knew right away it was not mine. I took it off and looked under it to see rust and grime, which confirmed it was not mine. I turned to tell the organizer but she was nowhere in sight. I entered the hotel lobby, found my roommate, and told him to take off the watch he had on. He handed it to me, I looked under it and noticed no rust or grime, then thrust his filthy watch toward him and said, "This one is yours!" He said nothing, slowly took the watch, at which point I walked away from him. It is my contention that he had planned this all along in a feeble attempt to swap his old, grungy watch for my newer, shinier watch. I kept my effects on the corner of the dresser across from my bed. He stated he thought the watch was his, but he never could explain how "his" watch got mixed in with my pen, lighter, cigarettes, room cardkey, change, comb...you get the point. What pissed me off even more was the fact that everyone was buying into his "innocent mistake" fable. The god-damned bastard tried to steal my watch and replace it with a piece of shit. Period. He is in another department at my school, but I will be thrice-damned if I ever acknowledge his existance again.

It was not a completely awful experience. I did have perhaps the best prime rib I have ever eaten last night. Definitely well worth the $32 pricetag. Aside from that, Momocon was going on these past few days, and let me tell you that these kids put a lot into their costumes. I was able to get my picture taken with Lady Yuna and Auron, Link and Dark Link, Nightcrawler and Mystique, SS3 Goku and Broly, Harley Quinn, V (for Vendetta), Sora and Ansem, Cloud, and a ferw others I can't remember at the moment. These young adults were very polite, respectful, and accomodated everyone's request for pictures. Freaks and Geeks? Nah. They were more professional than most of my colleagues.

Something to Think About

I ran across this little gem as I was cleaning off my computer desk this morning, and felt the need to share. Its author is unknown to me.

The paradox of our time in history is that we:

Have taller buildings, but shorter tempers
Wider roads, but more narrow viewpoints
Spend more, but have less
Buy more, but enjoy less

Have bigger houses, but smaller families
more conveniences, but less time
More degrees, but less sense
More medicine, but less wellness

Have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values
Talk too much, but listen too little
Love too seldom, but hate too often
Have added years to life, but not life to years

Have been to the moon, but cannot cross the street to meet a new neighbor
Have conquered outer space, but not inner peace
Have split the atom, but not prejudice
Have higher incomes, but lower morals
Have become obsessed with quantity, while dismissing quality.

These are the times of tall men, but short character
Steep profits, but shallow relationships
This is a time when there is much in the showroom, but nothing in the stockroom
A time when technology can bring you this letter, and a time when you can either choose to make a difference or allow that same technology to simply delete this message from your life.

Political Science Discussion Board

As I sit here looking at the five choices we have for this week's discussion board I cannot help but feel they are not indicative of what truly transpires with our nation's press in the coverage of news events, at least, not in a modern context; therefore, I shall provide commentary that, hopefully, will address some--if not all--available discussion questions.

I recall watching a local news channel several years ago and as Dawn Hobby's image came into focus she greeted the audience and said, "This is the news we feel you should know at this time." After all these years this has remained engraved in my mind, and I suppose the reason is that--at least to me--it was the first time I felt I was truly encountering a form of censorship, being made to accept what was being offered instead of the myriad of other items that could have been presented; additionally, it was the emphasis she placed on "we feel". To a degree, this was covered on page 269 of our text (The American Democracy, 10^th Edition) under the heading "Informing the Public, or Attracting an Audience?" sentences two, three, and four of the second paragraph. While I am sure that news stations make decisions every day on what they will or will not cover, to be told this was rather upsetting; as a result, I never again watched the news on that channel.

Though dead less than two months before I was born, Edward R. Murrow was revered by his peers for his honesty and dedication to truth. http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=murrowedwar. The same was said of Walter Cronkite http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-07-17/news/17929428_1_anchor-seat-walter-cronkite-cbs-anchor, who earned the title "The most trusted man in America." What these men brought to the news industry in general and Americans as a whole was a belief that the news was not tainted by partisanship or unfounded opinion but was pure in its delivery by its messenger. Objective press may have superseded partisan press--and let it be known that I do not agree with censorship in any form--but I believe the unbiased reporting of legitimate, newsworthy items--insofar as the arena of politics is concerned--came to an end the day the FCC rescinded the Fairness Doctrine. In recent history the ONLY news program that has provided a completely unbiased view of politics was Hannity and Colmes, and this is because two opposing views could be presented and debated on and leave viewers with a sense of better understanding. Meet the Press? 60 Minutes? There seems to be a liberal agenda underlying their reporting on the issues of the day, and I can certainly do without that. I am a conservative; I have let this fact be known in previous posts. This does not mean that I wholly agree with any conservative newscast or newscaster, but I am inclined to place more faith in the FOX tagline "We report, you decide" as opposed to the blatantly obvious partisanship of MSNBC. The Associated Press helps to lessen partisanship to some degree, but overall is it still prevalent in our news agencies.

I believe modern media has but two roles, not four, and those would be misdirection and sensationalism. Many people thrive on gossip while not caring one way or the other how the political landscape is progressing, unless the gossip surrounds a politico. Our text made a perfect example of this in reference to Mark Sanford's tryst, and we have but to look less than a year into our past to remember Anthony Weiner http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-anthony-weiner-picture/story?id=13774605 and his inappropriate acts. Currently we have the Limbaugh Fiasco we can look at, but if he was not a man of celebrity would this situation have gotten so far out of hand? Rush likes to state that he is right "99.9% of the time," so do we relegate this faux pas as the .1% he is wrong? Should he have said what he did? Let us look at the big picture. Sandra Fluke, a law student, was complaining that she did not have FREE ACCESS to birth control http://cnsnews.com/news/article/pelosi-fluke-s-3000-contraception-testimony-factual-despite-9-month-birth-control-pills. First of all, what is with this sense of entitlement that she feels her birth control devices/medications should be paid for by the government? Second, she quoted a price of three thousand dollars for the entirety of her stay at Georgetown. Slut? Prostitute? Anyway one chooses to look at it, that's a hell of a lot of sex going on, and since she and a partner are having this consensual sex, why do they feel it is not their obligation to pay for contraception themselves? All in all, Rush may have pushed the envelope, but not to the degree where he should have apologized--and his apology was more for his sponsors than Ms. Fluke anyway. The thing is, the liberals jumped all over this, jeering and chiding Limbaugh even as the echoes of their laughter continue to resonate every time Bill Maher calls Sarah Palin "dumb twat" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGE3G5kfzps and "cunt" http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/29/report-bill-maher-doubles-down-calls-sarah-palin-c-word/. The bottom line is that the only uniformity we see much anymore is partisanship, and the belief that the double standard should exist in favor of the drive-by media.