Something's rotten in NYC

Yesterday's big smell in NYC is still a mystery. There is finger pointing all over the place as is normal when mysterious smells come around with each person pointing his finger at the other. I say his because we all know that women do not participate in big smells.

I have the sure means by which the source of the smell can be identified. In fact, any third-grade boy knows the solution:

First smeller is the feller

It's that simple.

Pier Mother Not Guilty!

In the headlines this week is the story of a mother who threw her three children off of a pier in San Francisco. It is a very sad story. The tragedy of family hurting family is the single saddest fact of the human existence.

Many who know me and my generally conservative views may be surprised by this but I think that the mother, Lashaun Harris, should not be charged with murder. Let me tell you why.

I live with a schizophrenic. I know what the mood swings can be like. My wife, who is mildly schizophrenic, will occasionally go completely berserk. Afterwards, she tells how she knows what she's doing but she can't stop. On one hand, she can see rationally that what she's doing is wrong but, at the same time, another side of her just won't stop. It is like an out of body experience where the rational side of her watches the irrational side doing irrational things and she can do nothing to stop it. I will bet money that this is what happened with Lashaun Harris.

It is almost a fact of life that any person on a successful regimen of medication for psychiatric problems will try to go off of the medication. After all, they're doing great. Just ask them. Just ask the people around them. They don't need medicine, they're doing just fine! Of course they, and too often those responsible for their care, forget that they're doing just fine because of the medication. In my own experience, my wife has never gone off of her medication - not because she hasn't wanted to but because her family and friends have made it important enough to her that she stay on the medication.

Even on her medication, and it is so for anyone taking anti-psychotic drugs, she still has bad days. The bad days can be mildly difficult or they can be nightmares, both for her and for me. Thankfully, in my wife's case, she stays on her medication, as I stated before, because she does have a support mechanism of family and friends.

Lashaun Harris, on the other hand, was living in a homeless shelter (more on that later). There was no support for her. There was no one who could tell her that it was important, to her and to them, that she was ok. There are just some days that, when she is staring at her pills and debating with herself whether or not she needs them, she very desperately needs to have someone put an arm around her and tell her yes, she needs them and that they need for her to take them.

She had her kids but that's not the same. While it was important for the children's sake that Lashaun stay healthy, who was there to remind Lashaun of that fact? The children didn't understand that their mother needed support, they didn't know how to give the support, and they didn't know that their lives were in danger.

My wife knows she can't care for our grandkids for more than a few hours at a time. This is hard for her because she practically raised our oldest granddaughter for the first few years while my daughter-in-law worked. But since my wife's problems have gotten worse, she hasn't been able to care for them. It is unimaginable to my wife that she would have to care for children by herself for days, let alone a lifetime. And my wife is in much better emotional and psychological shape than most schizophrenics.

So the problem is then, what idiot left Lashaun Harris in charge of three small children? There is your murderer! Anyone who knows anything about the type of problems Lashaun has should have known she should never be responsible for children alone. Perhaps she could have taken care of her kids if she was on medication and with a strong family support system but she didn't have that.

Which is the next part of the problem. Why were Lashaun and her children living in a homeless shelter? Now that the children are dead, there are family all over the place. How can anyone let a member of their family live in a homeless shelter? Let alone with children. And even worse, psychotic and with children! All of these aunts, sisters, family, and friends should all be charged with negligent homicide just as if they had left a toaster on the side of the children's bathtub. They killed these children.

Sure, they are all talking about how they notified authorities and the authorities said nothing could be done. So reserve jail cells for the authorities as well. But had any of these family members made room in their hearts and homes for Lashaun and her children, it is very likely that this would never have happened!

This is a shame that brings me nearly to tears. And I am basically a heartless SOB or it would have brought me all the way to tears. Shame on the family and authorities who failed Lashaun Harris and her children. All four of them, Lashaun and her three children, victims of neglect and abuse.

Bless you, Lashaun. My heart goes out to you. I hope that you can find the support to get you through the terrible pain you must be enduring now. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive yourself. Understand that what happened was a terrible thing but the response must be treatment and support not punishment and more pain.

American Girl versus Christian Terrorism

American Girl dolls are a favorite of mine. And, luckily, I have 4 granddaughters so I get to buy and play with them. They have great theme dolls, accessories, clothes, and just about everything you would want with a doll.

My granddaughters have grown up with them; they all got Bitty Baby as their first doll, and have continued to get American Girl dolls and accessories each year for Christmas. What I'd really love to do is to take them all to Chicago one year to the American Girl store. If you've never been, you're really missing out on a great experience. I go every time I am in Chicago.

Now I hear that the American Family Association (AFA) is threatening to boycott American Girl. They don't like that American Girl donates money to Girls, Inc.. Girls, Inc is descended from Girls Clubs of America. They are a non-profit organization "inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold."

AFA does not like that American Girl is selling "I Can" bracelets for $1.00 each, from which the proceeds benefit Girls, Inc.'s "I Can" initiative. The "I Can" initiative, according to Girls, Inc., "supports three specific Girls Inc. programs - building girls' skills in science and math, developing leadership skills, and encouraging athletic skills and team spirit." I guess AFA thinks these are all bad things.

What AFA doesn't like is that Girls, Inc. "tolerates lesbianism", "opposes abstinence-only education for girls," and "supports abortion." Apparently, the AFA thinks that all lesbians should be jailed and that girls who have sex deserve to die of Aids. Oh, and girls who have sex and get pregnant, and the children of those pregnancies, have no rights either. If they are raised in homes where they are unwanted and in poverty, that is what God wants for them because of their sin for having been conceived outside of wedlock.

I seem to have missed the "Turn-your-daughter-into-a-lesbian" initiative on Girls, Inc's website.

Just for the record, I am anti-abortion. I think that there are always alternatives. I have known a few women who have had abortions and all of them live with serious guilt issues over it. But that is my opinion and I could be wrong. I will never be pregnant and have to deal with pregnancy in that way. Just because I am against abortion does not mean I, or anyone else, has the right to decide for every woman everywhere what they have to do with their own body. While I strongly hope that all women everywhere will always choose life, I accept that it is, ultimately, their right to choose, not mine!

So, back to the AFA threat against American Girl. This is nothing more than Christian terrorism, just like Al-Queida's threats to destroy the infidels. Either you believe what AFA believes or they will destroy you. Can you imagine if they were ever to believe they could get away with bombing or ... oh wait... Some of their ilk do think they can get away with bombings.

I have always been, George Bush (both of them) aside, very - almost ultra - consertive politically. I am a Christian. But let me tell you, the Christian right, groups like AFA, scare me! While I don't believe abortion is a constitutional issue - it is never mentioned in the constitution - you can be sure that the AFA would absolutely deny you your constitutional rights if they ever get enough political power in this country. They would impose their morals, their religious beliefs, and their view of "Family" on everyone. Infidels would be jailed or, as we have seen groups with similar beliefs to the AFA do, bombed and killed!

If you are truly politically conservative, or a constitutionalist, as many ultra right wing conservatives like myself believe that we are, then the groups to boycott are the AFA and others like them, not groups, like Girls, Inc., who do a lot of good even if we don't agree with every single thing the organization or its leaders believe. Girls, Inc., in my book, is not a perfect organization. But what group is perfect? What person is perfect? What Christian is perfect? I can only imagine the leaders of these Christian "ministries" laying in bed with their concubines and prostitutes coming up with these judgmental and stupid boycott ideas because someone else is not "perfect" by the standards of these religious leaders!

I still remember the day that hundreds of students from Oral Roberts University went to a mosque in Tulsa, circled it, and put their hands on the walls of the mosque, and prayed for the salvation of the infidels inside. Talk about terrorism!

I call on George Bush to designate the AFA and groups like them as terrorist groups and to treat their leaders and members just like they would treat any other terrorist group in the United States.

BlowHard On Katrina

See my new BlowHard On Katrina blog for my opinions (the facts) about the handling of this tragic disaster.

Hurry the hell up!

No matter what you're doing, where you are, or who you are, just hurry the hell up, would you? Time is precious. Quit wasting it!

The Day that Disappeared Went Missing

I remember the day very well. Before then, people disappeared or vanished. If they disappeared of their own free will, perhaps they ran away. If it happened by accident, perhaps they were lost. No one disappears anymore. In fact, from May 1, 2001 until today, not one thing has disappeared... anywhere.

Now things "go missing" or are "gone missing".

What happened on May 1, 2001? That was the day that the U.S. news began reporting that Chandra Levy disappeared on the day before: April 30, 2005.

I blame CNN. CNN management and its anti-American American-made-billionaire founder, Ted Turner, are constantly trying to purge their guilt for being Americans by trying to internationalize even their American talking heads.

So instead of saying Levy disappeared, CNN's very American news personalities used the opportunity to show the world how how international they were and reported the disappearance with the British term: gone missing. Of course, the rest of the U.S. press, following blindly rather than actually researching news for themselves, repeated the phrase until you never hear the word disappeared except perhaps in a magic show.

I don't dislike the British or their ways but I have been accused of being narrow minded for my views on this subject. I think that celebrating the differences in culture, race, and religion is the epitomy of tolerance. Before the murder and disappearance of Chandra Levy, we used to celebrate the differences in our cultures rather than trying to blend those differences out. To try to blend those differences away, or to pretend they don't exist - to look at a black man and pretend only to see a man, for instance - is the ultimate in narrow-mindedness.

I am a citizen of The United States of America and am not ashamed to be one and I do not feel like I have to pretend to be something else in order to live with the guilt and shame of living in what was once the most powerful, most highly skilled, and richest nation in the world.

Hopefully, soon (but probably not) I can write a blog article titled "The Day that Went Missing Disappeared."

And I Thought I Was A BlowHard

I was looking at CD's on Amazon today when I saw a review by "A Top 10 Reviewer." Number 8, it turns out.

Do you know how many thousands of reviews you have to write to be the number 1 or number 2 reviewer at Amazon? What do you get if you are number 1?

Do you suppose that number two, Lawrance M. Bernabo, who says that "The basis of a democratic state is reviewing," and has, as of this writing, written 10,664 reviews, is staying up all night writing reviews in hopes of snatching the coveted title away from number one, Harriet Klausner, who started doing freelance reviews after her son was born and who must have completely abandoned her son in order to have time to write 9,601 reviews?

Can anyone possibly own or have used that many items?

And I thought I was lifeless.

Amazon's Top Reviewer List

February 19, 2009 update: Here we are three and a half years later, and Amazon has changed their top reviewer formulas. Now the #1 reviewer has only 500 reviews. Amazon is giving more weight to recent reviews and to helpful reviews. I bet that just really irks Harriet Klausner, now #568 by the new formula, and Lawrence Bernabo, now #14 by the new standard. At least Lawrence beat out that pesky freelancer Harriet Klausner, huh?

There is good news, though. Amazon still reports the standings according to the old formulas as well. and guess who are #1 and #2 still, 3 and a half years on (that's European English for 3 and a half years later). Did you guess Harriet Klausner and Lawrence Bernabo? If you did, you got it right. All this time and thousands upon thousands of reviews later and #1 and #2 have not changed - using the "classic" reviewer standard.

Death & Taxes

I filed my 2004 taxes today – Yes, I am a procrastinator. I filed an extension in April even though the extension was 95% of the work to file the taxes.

So that means the only day worse than today will be the day I die, huh?

I love my government. I love the IRS. *Looking over my shoulder*. I love paying my share of taxes. Too bad I can't pay more.

Continued in BlowHard On Politics...

The Worth of a Child

I heard today about a convicted child molester released this week from prison. He served two years of a twelve year sentence. It seems the prisons are just too crowded to keep child molesters, rapists, and murderers locked up – too full of those real threats to our society: Pot smokers and housewives who bounced checks! (I could have said: Housewives who bounced checks and pot smokers, but I don't know of any women in prison for bouncing pot smokers.)

Another report today is about Tommy Chong (of Cheech & Chong) recently being released from prison after serving 9 months for selling bongs online – not for selling or posessing pot, mind you but for selling glass bottles with rubber hoses attached! And we've all heard the stories of people getting 20 years to as long as life for possession of a couple joints.

In Oklahoma, there is a woman serving 25 years in prison for writing a bad check. Had the woman had a gun and robbed the store and shot the cashier she would have gotten 7 to 10 years.

With criminals like these threatening the well-being and safety of our society (or, more accurately, threatening the bank balances of the rich and powerful) it is no wonder we can't afford to keep minor criminals like child molesters in prison.

Notice the pattern? A crime against the institutions of our society or against the state will get you a long prison sentence. A crime against an individual doesn't count.

From recent experience with the rapist in Colorado, the child stealer and killer in Idaho, and the San Jose, California predator with 36,000 documented molestation incidents, we can expect to hear about this fellow that was released this week having killed a child before summer's out.

A couple sites you should visit from time to time are ThrowAwayTheKey.org and ChildAdvocacy.com - not that it will do much good. It sickens me to live in a society where we will not protect our children and women from the likes of these men.