Tuesday, June 15, 2010

June - Summer 2010



Wisdom of the Sages

Episode VI

June – Summer 2010


Hello People of the World;

Here we are with the beginning of summer. Man, seems like spring only just got started. There is so much going on in the World right now that I scarce know where to begin. Firstly, I’m not gonna comment on that whole oil leak mess BP got into.

Besides, floods and oil spills and 16-year-olds getting lost at sea we have some sports team winning something, which makes it cool to wear decapitated Indian heads on your clothes again, and that is apparently a bigger deal than ending wars and negotiating peace across the world. Makes sense.

Let’s get started, shall we?

:[ First Item of the Month: There is a reason I try to stay away from political items here on WOS: I’m not any damn good at them. Last month I took a potshot at the new Arizona State Laws when I came to realize that, I never read the entirety of the 16-page “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” and like the “Meri-CAN” that I am, took a swipe at it without any research.

Hey, five more prejudiced remarks like that and I get a free sandwich!

Anyways, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the Arizona law. After reading I can see some sticking points. Most of the law is geared toward businesses that hire illegal immigrants knowingly. Here are some sections what people had a problem with:

B. FOR ANY LAWFUL CONTACT MADE BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE WHERE REASONABLE SUSPICION EXISTS THAT THE PERSON IS AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES, A REASONABLE ATTEMPT SHALL BE MADE, WHEN PRACTICABLE, TO DETERMINE THE IMMIGRATION STATUS OF THE PERSON. THE PERSON'S IMMIGRATION STATUS SHALL BE VERIFIED WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PURSUANT TO 8 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1373(c).

E. A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, WITHOUT A WARRANT, MAY ARREST A PERSON IF THE OFFICER HAS PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE PERSON HAS COMMITTED ANY PUBLIC OFFENSE THAT MAKES THE PERSON REMOVABLE FROM THE UNITED STATES.

Taken out of context it looks as if an officer has the right to determine on the spot whether or not you are an illegal alien. But I don’t know. The other provisions state within that these can only occur during routine stops if you are behaving in a suspicious manner consistent with any other crime. If then it is determined that you are an illegal or are harboring illegal’s then the officer has a right to determine through federal agencies your immigration status.

Someone, please clarify all of this for me, okay?

J. THIS SECTION SHALL BE IMPLEMENTED IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH FEDERAL LAWS REGULATING IMMIGRATION, PROTECTING THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF ALL PERSONS AND RESPECTING THE PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS.

You can read the bill yourself here. Let me know. Discussing this with My Bonnie we both agree that we as country are pretty compassionate about immigrants. We all want them to have the chance to legally be here freely. We also understand the system is in need of overhauling and that it is a very complicated issue. We also understand that quite a bit of it is race-baiting as well. So, until I get a clearer picture on things I will do my best to refrain from instantaneous judgement like we are all want to do.

Still there are two things that still hang me up about the state of Arizona:

1) The restriction of Latino Cultural Studies in schools.

2) The possibility of a law that will deport the children of illegal immigrants born in the Untied States. Isn’t that against the US Constitution? If you are born here, then you are a citizen. So, if we were to do that across the US, by that same logic we Native Americans would get our country back! Hazzah!

:[ Seriously, people, you have to stop stepping out into on-coming traffic to cross the frickin’ street! You’re not that important that the simple laws of averages and physics will not apply to you! There are crosswalks at the end of every block and you still cannot wait to cross the street? Come on! Just don’t fucking cry or complain or sue anyone when you finally get hit by a car you idiots. And no, strutting across in the middle of traffic like you don’t care doesn’t make you look anymore manly or tough. Actually, it validates your stupidity.

:[ 10 Ways You Are Getting Ripped-Off. See? I told you, college textbooks are the biggest scam in American academia. It’s true because the Internet says so.

:[ Hey Jerk Off, how about standing in line to buy a coffee drink BEFORE you frickin’ claim a seat at a table, like the rest of us? Are we that stupid now as a society that we cannot grasp the simple concept of standing in a frickin’ line!?

:[ So, Danica Patrick left the open-wheeled racing world of Formula One to enter the NASCAR circuit. Man, stepping onto the Good Old Boy Turf sure brings the critical eye out in many men. The woman suddenly cannot do anything right. Her tantrums and problems are over-exaggerated when you know male drivers behave the same way. But because she’s a woman, "she don’t know no better".

It reminds me of Martha Stewart, of all people. She did some insider trading and got caught. Stewart simply stepped on the Good Old Boy’s Turf where they inside trade every damn day and she simply got caught. The thing is she was more man than any of those billion-dollar CEOs to take responsibility and did her jail time, “Like a Man.” Which the men still will not do….

:[ Had this conversation with Don Rosin the other day about his coming into the city and how everyone seems to be in a hurry all the time. So, good, I’m not the only one who has noticed this. Mr. Rosin pointed out that people get pretty rude about it and all the unwritten “Rules” of getting out of the way of “VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE”.

For example, the escalators in Washington, DC; where Rosin was called out for not getting on the right side of the escalator, like on a highway, so MORE-IMPORANT PEOPLE can get by as they walk up the escalator. Sheesh, the whole damn point of escalators is so you DON’T HAVE TO WALK UP STAIRS!!

As Rosin so eloquently put it: “If you want to walk, the stairs are right there!”

:[ So, today I was accosted by this woman on the train platform asking about my Hat. She asked if it meant “Native American?” No, native Germany, come on! My Char was there and kept staring at the women like she was stupid. I guess the Hat failed this time. Oh well.

:[ Post-partum Depression: It’s Not Just for Mom’s Anymore!

A recent study shows that 10% of fathers suffer depression during the first year of the child’s life due to “feelings of anxiousness and heavy responsibility.”

You know what I think? Bullshit. Welcome to f*cking fatherhood jackass! If you don’t have the time, don’t have the child. Man up and take some re-frickin’-sponsibility. Sheesh!

:[ It seems that the State of Colorado has passed new laws changing the rules for tenure for school teachers. You can read it HERE. A lot of comments there: there are several good points made that tenure keeps non-effective teachers employed while others state that it is up to the parents to be involved and keep their kids from delinquency, drug use and to keep them fed and clothed that they might actually be in a place to take school seriously.

But like most Internet discussion, it de-evolves into which side is right when both sides have valid points.

Once we start paying good teachers better for the work they do, tenure will become unnecessary and when parents get involved with their kids more academically, aside from sports and cliques, then it will be a win-win and maybe then the education of the US will rise for a change. But then, I’ve been wrong before.

:[ All I keep hearing about how great it is to have a dog in the city. But no one ever looks happy when they are out walking their dogs. Really. Look at them.

I also keep hearing about how some city-dwellers will never have children when they can simply own a dog instead. I don’t know, common sense tells you that you do not keep having to feed a baby 40 pounds of food every week and eventually, the kid will learn to use the toilet… which brings me to another thing: no one ever looks happy picking up their dog’s crap.

Who’s the master now?

:[ So, in the Barnes and Noble there, they have this huge kiosk with an overeager, newly-hired college kid trying to sell you a “Nook”, one of those electronic book pads. This one jumps in my face and asks me if I want to take a look “At the Nook” (self-satisfied smile… ugh.). I turn and ask him “If everybody buys a Nook, would we even need bookstores like this one anymore for you to work in?”

While he stopped to think it over, I made for the coffee shop.

:[ Hey, you’re a Starbucks, how the hell can you f*cking be OUT OF COFFEE!?!?!?!? The last three times, at three separate places, I asked for different things and they were out of it. The first was a simple iced coffee and they were out! They are a

coffee shop, they should never run out! The next was a simple decaf. But no, this place was out of decaf too. I guess they assume no one wants decaf.

The words “Oh, we’re all out of coffee” should never exist in a coffee shop, let alone a Starbucks. If you utter those words, you are a complete and utter failure to the barista profession.

:[ I would have you know that the “The Pledge of Allegiance” is actually a pledge to our nation’s flag. A BAPTIST minister named Francis Julius Bellamy first published it in the “Youth Companion” magazine, which was a Baptist publication in September of 1892, ironically, to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of Columbus landing in America.

Now, two things must be noted; first, the original article instructed conduct during the pledge which was made for school children, which was to stand at a set time of day, and face the flag and recite the pledge while performing what came to be know as the Bellamy Salute (named for the author of the Pledge), which was adopted by many countries in their own pledges of allegiance and was quite common throughout the world. Some speculate that this salute really began in Ancient Rome.

The Bellamy Salute was this: You stand facing the flag, left hand at your side and you raised your right hand to about should height and pointed it at the flag with palm raised toward the flag while you recited your allegiance. Sound familiar? That’s right, up until 1942, the Bellamy Salute during the Pledge of Allegiance was the same one as the Nazi Salute. Yep.

Which accounts for pictures of Charles Lindburg, famed aviator, being accused of sympathizing with the German Nationalist Party during WWII. He was simply performing the Bellamy Salute common to the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag at the time. When images of Nazis saluting Hitler surfaced, FDR changed it to placing the right hand over the heart to avoid confusion and to distance US War fervor from Nazism.

Second notable and most important thing is the original text of the Pledge published by a BAPTIST Minister:

I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands;

One Nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”

Two very big and contentious words were only added during the 1950’s at the height of McCarthyism. So, there.

The fact that a man of God actually got the concept of Separation of Church and State is very cool, and that he also grasped that the United States of America is actually a Republic and NOT a democracy. Which is why the GOP has taken the label “Republicans”; to graft their ideology to the Nation’s origins and that democracy has no place in this Republic.

Yeah, I know what stated earlier. I’m also a blatant hypocrite obviously. Also, people accuse Bellamy of being a Socialist.

:[ From the “This Just In” File: “Little Orphan Annie” ended its syndicated newspaper run on June 13 with the pupil-less ginger getting kidnapped by a bad guy leaving no clues for Daddy Warbucks to find her. Strange way to end an 80-plus run. I believe they are setting her up to crossover into another medium. Don't worry, she'll be back....

:[ Last Item of the Month: So there is this kid, running back and forth in the coffee shop in the Barnes and Noble. He is annoying a bunch of customers but none of them realize that he is off reading books while his mom sits and sips coffee and reads or internets. What is cool is the kid is simply coming to tell his mom what he read or saw. His observations are interesting. Hell, he even counted to 10 in Japanese because he just read how to in a book.

That is pretty cool. We all hope our kids want to stay that connected with us.

That will do it for this month.

As I type this out, it is pouring outside and I am stuck here at the Starbucks without a coat or an umbrella. Man, I am really stuck because it is really coming down now. I guess I should get used to the fact that I will be soaked by the time I get home to post this. Well, at least I won’t be surprised about being wet when I get home.

Well, it looks like I made it back and hopefully I will post this on time. I think a further whittling to maybe 10 items is on order. As always, feel free to disagree, comment, prove me wrong, because, let’s face it, it’s only my ego. Don’t ever let me have the last word on things.

Until Next Time, “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”



© 2010 Ernest M. Whiteman III