Working in the financial services industry for a few companies now, I’ve seen the phenomenon first hand. An employee realizes that the life is getting sucked out of them through their eyeballs. Overtime is out of the question, as every single moment they have to sit at that computer and repeat the same function over and over it’s as if there’s a clicking down of their life and the meter is right in front of their face the whole time moving ominously with each passing work item. Then one day almost out of the blue, they don’t show up, or they do and at one point in the day stand up and verbally sever their ties with the company and walk out the door. I’ve seen it happen to managers as well, a few months after the epiphany, in a way that lets them know flat out that no matter how hard they work and no matter how diplomatic they’ve attempted to be, the people in charge are grossly incompetent and that their career is essentially going nowhere. Speaking to one of these folks in the weeks following their departure it’s as if they’d suddenly found God and the high authority had granted them everlasting bliss for what they had done. Others regret the choice over time. Some leave in a blaze of glory, others simply get up and quietly walk out the door. Either way, they’re gone. I have a feeling that the life of Ricky Williams was wrought with anxiety over these exact same things, and the joy he now feels may be proof of it.
Sports media has taken its cue from the political talking heads lately in this episode of American sports, as rather than making an attempt to consider all possibilities, Ricky hanging up the helmet was grasped as a way to literally stir the pot. They say it was not super bowl rings but marijuana that he craved day and night, and that it’s most definitely the reason why he quit after only five years. It’s repeatedly reported that the displeasure of having to consume masking agents to cover up his seemingly never ending soul shakedown party ended up being too much for this man. The sporting press would have you believe that this football player, who every year made it through training camp in the blistering Miami heat; who took over four hundred plus hits to his body every year from a never ending line of muscle-bound crazed behemoths, would up and quit because of a beverage. Luckily this is not politics, its sports, and in football especially, the numbers rarely lie. So instead of reading in to quotes, I’m going to recount a number of known facts instead. Read the rest of this entry
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, sports at 3:35 PM GMT+4
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A lot has been made of the effect gay parents would have on their children, and most of the negative claims are spoken of from a place of ignorance as there is hardly a substantial amount of research that has been done on the subject. To hold the belief that two adults would be unfit to raise a child must incorporate facts rather than political or religious bias, as it must as well take into consideration the wretched state of ‘the system’ in America. The first thing wrong with the system is that it’s extremely overpopulated whether it be foster care or prison, and not enough money is allocated in most cases to ensure that what’s best for the individual actually takes place. A budget cut in Massachusetts over a year ago saw a friend of mine, a social worker, whose caseload more than doubled with one signature from the governor on a document. The effect is not only that he’s working longer and more stressful hours, but also that the children who depend on him are now experiencing a higher level of neglect than they had before. These children who have lacked an advocate their entire lives now find another taken from them. As the living conditions in foster homes go unchecked, the situation worsens, and the odds of a child being able to escape from the system during their lifetime decreases. I think that we as a whole in society need to work on ensuring that the system is funded, and to always work towards reducing the number of children raised in it through adoption. Prevention of a child within the system becoming a future criminal is paramount in terms of the progression of our culture, and the legalization of gay marriage would help to greatly reduce the number of unwanted children who would otherwise run the risk of entering the world unprepared with no one to turn to.
This of course doesn’t mean haphazardly shipping kids here and there without the proper work being done, but consistent data showing the negative implications if children were adopted by gay couples over a period of time isn’t prevalent in arguments against marriage. The fear of these children being hazed is legitimate, but there are many things any individual will have to overcome during their life, and while we’d like to shelter our children against negativity, it is the adversity in life that makes us who we are. I learned early on growing up in a tough town that while you’re going to lose some fights along the way, the important thing is to learn how to stand up for yourself. I can safely predict that bullies will always exist in our society. If it’s going to be too much of a hassle for them to harass one child, they’ll move on to the next one. Administrators and teachers would surely play a serious role in policing this type of thing, and in cases where it happens, treat it as they would a black child being called a ‘nigger’. Raise the stakes, because once gay couples are legal, it’s no longer a choice to discriminate or not.
I could be coming off as less than compassionate when it comes to these kids, but a lot of us grew up hard and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I found that it was an experience to build on. Once high school is over the world is your oyster, and all these people you’d hope to never see again, in most cases you don’t. An article I read in which an adult woman who was raised by two lesbians feels as if she’d been ‘cheated’, and to that I’d say, ‘get in line’. I’m not for a second going to give this credence over any kid who grew up without parents at all or whose abused alcohol or drugs or them while they were growing up. When you get to a certain age, having grown from your childhood and become your own person as an adult, a lot of the angst felt towards the tough hand you were dealt falls away out of necessity. Some of us choose to look forward, count up the number of people who love us and thank heaven for each of them. Some of us choose to allow ourselves to make excuses for a lack of success in life or general unhappiness, and most often adults such as this have been able to rationalize that everything can be pinned on someone other than themselves. Accountability for one’s own fate is essential in achieving success and happiness during adulthood. Is the child brought up by a gay couple able to function in society as a law-abiding, tax paying adult? If the answer is ‘yes’ for the most part, it’s surely a better alternative than the child having no one.
I dread nothing more in life than for a brilliant child to be discarded multiple times as they’re brought up, only to be dropped off on the street to start their criminal career at age 18. Once they find themselves in the penitentiary, it feels like home. Read the rest of this entry
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Justice, Religion, politics at 7:44 PM GMT+4
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With Reagan no longer incapacitated but on the other side, maybe it’s now pertinent to mention that he had partnered up with Saddam a few decades ago to engage in war against Iran. With support of the United States, Iraq pushed the line back into Iranian territory and held it for a while. Iran mounted a successful counter attack, which pushed the line back to the Iraqi border and threatened invasion. An ultimatum was given by Iran for Saddam Hussein to step down as the leader of Iraq or else his people would face annihilation. It was at this time that Reagan authorized Saddam to use chemical and biological weapons against their common enemy, and the results were devastating to the Iranian army. The attacks were so effective in fact that from this experience, Saddam realized he had found a friend he could count on. Americans probably figured the friend he’d found was Reagan, not so.
Saddam’s ethnic background as a Sunni made him part of the minority in Iraq. The Kurds to the north and the Shiite Muslims to the south had always outnumbered the Sunni. This basic fact is what lead Saddam to begin work on the ‘mass graves’ we Americans are so eager to cry out about as justification for war. The same weapons he used to destroy the Iranian armies, he in turn unleashed on his fellow Iraqis in the north and south. Whether or not our intelligence had indicated that Saddam was a leader capable of using these weapons ‘responsibly’, a feeling of guilt over what had transpired must have landed somewhere near Reagan’s desk during this time.
This historical truth may in fact be why Bush Sr. decided against unseating Saddam as the leader of Iraq. Perhaps there still existed a fear that he would use those weapons again if forced to do so. Curiously, soldiers returning from duty following that conflict have for years now reported random nose-bleeds and chronic coughing as two of the milder variety of symptoms of what has been called ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ in the years since. Of course, the pentagon continues to refuse that such a condition exists, but from a man who’s seen it first hand, take it from me that something happened to those guys in the desert way back when. So instead of an assault on Saddam waged by US troops, the Shiite Muslims to the south were incited by us to attempt an overthrow of the dictator on their own. They were mercilessly slaughtered and our troops headed home.
Fast-forward to the situation today and it’s easy to assume why Saddam may have had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons seeing as we probably still had some of the receipts. The fact was though, that his fun with these particular toys had ended and been literally buried for a period of time. UN weapons inspectors had their buttons pushed by him for a long while, but had never actually come up with anything substantial that indicated he was up to his old tricks. Our own government even denied the existence of ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ repeatedly, so in terms of evidence supporting our claim for war being a necessity, all we really had to go on was the genocide he partook in directly after we authorized him to melt Iranian flesh with them. This political Pandora’s Box was never opened for obvious reasons, but it didn’t keep the Bush administration from pursuing war based on the existence of such weapons.
In typical American fashion the ironies all of this brings to mind does not enter into the repertoires of our talking heads in their analysis of what’s taking place today. Politically driven goals are at stake, so I suppose there’s no time to stop and look in the mirror, but deep inside at least some of us there has to be unsure feelings based on what’s taken place in these past few years. How much of the past matters in terms of what’s taking place now is arbitrary depending on who you ask, but our ignorance of it points to something significant. What that is remains to be seen, but these facts that remain buried in the mainstream drive-thru news outlet vaults are well known to those on the other side of the pond. Whether or not we choose to look in the mirror doesn’t matter to history as it’s unfolding right now. If we are to overcome all obstacles, then maybe Reagan’s alliance with Saddam and the results it caused will fall be omitted from our children’s history textbooks along with Christopher Columbus’s treatment of that native people of North America. On the other hand, should failure occur, everything we’ve done in the past thirty years will have to be reevaluated with a heavy dose of realism.
The omissions from our own history have been coupled with the digging up of similar omitted aspects of our enemy’s history to create a political platform for this action. The odds of success or failure is really insignificant as the outcome will be politically perceived based on partisan alliance in the long run. The scorecard here in America will be marked up predictably by both sides, but are they the ones that truly matter anymore? Has our act grown old to the point where omissions such as Reagan’s chemical alliance with Saddam start to become part of our reality out of necessity? Supremacy has shielded us from having to consider such things in our everyday lives, but very few things truly last forever in this life.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, History, Military, politics at 5:37 PM GMT+4
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Again the plight of our soldiers has been widely ignored. Some of which are now being recalled after already being discharged for a few years. Conscription is the word to describe the practice of recalling soldiers who have already been removed from the armed forces for a few years. Right wing supporters can point at the fine print all they want, but the entire concept of ‘fine print’ is that you’re trying to dupe someone. When I enlisted it was told to me that the ‘fine print’ was only there in case the US was under attack and desperate for bodies. The US is not under attack by Iraqis and never was. The only reason I received an explanation of the fine print was because I asked.
‘Support Our Troops’ I honestly don’t know how someone planning to vote for Bush again this November could have this on their car or front lawn. The concept is so far away from the realities of politics in this country. Reinstating the draft is an answer, another is permanent expansion of the Army, but neither is pursued for various reasons. The draft will not hit the table because there’s an election to be won…the election hopes of Bush come before the troops, fact. The expansion of the Army won’t take place because the pentagon continues to blow smoke and in spite of all that’s gone wrong in Iraq, continues to plan for the best, when the worst is what we’ve ended up with so far. Their justification for not creating more battalions of soldiers is that by the time they’d be trained the mission will be over. This was the same line they used last year and the year before. Where is our country’s leadership coming from when support for our troops is on the table?
Who in this administration is looking out for the well being of the soldiers? An issue that was argued today was about whether Rush Limbaugh should be on Armed Forces Radio, and the government just involuntarily scooped up some more of our fellow Americans and forced them into slavery. The tracking devices for military vehicles to detect roadside bombs are still not available to the majority of our vehicles over there, and the political motivation behind trying to remove Rush Limbaugh from the radio is the press-worthy issue?
Not only does the Bush administration care not for a single soldier anywhere in the world, the media’s deplorable non-coverage is absolutely wrong. I saw the front of the New York Times yesterday and there the story was, yet on Fox News and CNN it was all about the Edwards nomination and has continued to be that way. There is no outcry anywhere in this country over what’s happening to our men and women in uniform, yet I can’t drive a mile down the street of my hometown without seeing at least five ‘Support Our Troops’ signs or bumper stickers. Read the rest of this entry
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Military, politics at 4:57 PM GMT+4
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With the Sudan in mind, what I gather from Kofi Annan is that he’s the perfect puppet to parade around in an effort to exhibit that the UN cares about everyone on the earth, while continuing to exist as a bureaucratic pit with only European interests in mind. To think that fellow human beings of his own skin color have become another machete chopped brick in the wall on his watch is sickening. The UN has gathered up thousands upon thousands of troops to protect a segment of Europe from genocide. One must look no further than Kosovo to determine that they clearly won’t stand for social injustice or anarchy in their back yard. Yet people from Africa can wield machetes and chop each other up all day and night without so much as a quiver on the face of this organization’s leader, Kofi Annan. His having sold out in such an obvious fashion while blood is pouring makes him the most recent example of a world leader selling his soul to the devil at the expense of millions.
A lot can be said for the leader who understands that they can’t get everything done, but in the case of genocide, his inaction doesn’t fit the mold of responsible leadership. It’s sad to say, but I wouldn’t expect Asians to come to America’s aid if it were needed, nor would I expect African nations to come to our aid either. It’s the truth concerning the current boundaries of race, which exist on the planet. Racism isn’t as much about civil rights these days as it’s how influential nations truly value the lives of foreigners. In a way, the current ignorance of what’s going on in Sudan is a good example of how much closer we humans remain to the methods of thought which enabled slavery to take place in America over a hundred years ago than we have evolved past it. The evidence of UN bias towards white skin is as obvious as it is blatant. Not only that, but they’ve been able to get a black man up on the podium to launder their words and deflect attention from the sorry truth.
I cannot fault UN nations for not supporting the United States in Iraq, as our president’s bravado and the insulting manner in which he carried out his schemes did not fit the scope of diplomacy or brotherhood in any way. Debate was not entertained, and in the end, American companies and the American stock market is almost solely benefiting from the endeavor. We had to go it on our own because we chose to do so. Many in the media would like to link these two instances as proof of something that has to do with American interests, but the UN’s ignorance of genocide in Sudan is something entirely different.
Regardless of what party you support, the turn of events we are witnessing right now is on the one hand a travesty, and on the other hand it’s something to learn from. The people of this planet are not obligated to follow along with or even respect the goals and ambitions of Americans, and while it angers us for it to be this way, human beings are notorious for being able to justify horrific wrongs throughout history. Often time our patriotic bias blinds us. While anger can be derived from being defeated politically in the way we have been in terms of the war in Iraq, at least we can fend for ourselves. The next time the UN bureaucracy angers you in terms of non-support for our wars, consider what’s going on in Sudan and feel good to be where we are.
The mark of a society is in how they treat those who have the least. We as humans continue to fail in proving our worth through this wisdom. Kofi Annan has infiltrated the meeting, yet in doing so, has forgotten what might have inspired him to get there in the first place. Whatever his reason may be for not standing up for those who need it, we may never know. In the end, when all the bodies are buried and the spilled blood has once again become property of mother earth, something will justify the means for all those who have to sleep at night with this on their head. Kofi though was a man in position to do the right thing here, and he failed as a man, as a human being.
Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, History at 2:25 PM GMT+4
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Here we go!
Posted by nick as Words at 12:36 AM GMT+4
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