Motley Moose – Archive

I’m sitting here at work (home office/spare bedroom) looking at Sam and Fran asleep on the bed across the room from me (they are cats in case anyone doesn’t know that) and thought about picking up my Kindle to either see if I needed to take a turn at Words with Friends or to read a book I’ve already read.  (Work is slow right now, what can I say?)

I’ve done a glance around the Internet and I’ve checked all my email accounts (two work and two personal) and I was in a bit of stream of consciousness thought I guess while I thought about picking up the Kindle.

I’m not sure why but I got to thinking about North Carolina and West Virginia (check Google News for the latest insanity the latter is engaged in) and slid over to Ukraine and then on to protests.

And I wondered why don’t we protest more?  I don’t mean “we” as in Moose I mean we as in Americans.

Events are happening in the Ukraine, spefically Crimea:

This is where I admit I had to study this map because other than a general clue as to where Ukraine is (that is is close to Russia should be obvious to just about everyone at this point) I don’t know much about the country, it’s history, or even what is going on now.

I have been watching a lot of “true crime” series via Netflix.  I love that stuff … always have.  Apparently the Investigation Discovery channel has a bunch of it.  But I’ve noticed myself getting annoyed by the things folks on those types of shows say (or not), do (or not), assume (or not).

This song, while maybe overplayed and considered cliche by the hipster types (I am sooo not one), really speaks to me and I’ve been meaning to post about it because it does so …

When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay,

‘Cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight.

I told my mom, tears rushing down my face

She’s like “Ben you’ve loved girls since before pre-k, trippin’ ”

Yeah, I guess she had a point, didn’t she?

Bunch of stereotypes all in my head.

I remember doing the math like, “Yeah, I’m good at little league”

A preconceived idea of what it all meant

For those that liked the same sex

Had the characteristics

The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision

And you can be cured with some treatment and religion

Man-made rewiring of a predisposition

Playing God, aw nah here we go

America the brave still fears what we don’t know

And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten

But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago

I don’t know …

For non-football fans the Heisman Trophy is given each year to the “best college football player” although it usually goes to a quarterback or a running back so that title isn’t completely accurate.  Also winning the trophy usually dooms your NFL career (see Tebow, Tim and Griffin, Archie [the only player to win it twice]).

The Heisman is being presented Saturday night to one of six finalists including last year’s winner, Johnny Manziel.  Another finalist, and front-runner, is Florida State Quarterback Jameis Winston.

(Full disclosure requires me to stop here and say that I hate Florida State ~ have for years so I may have some slight bias in this case although I have nothing particularly against Jameis Winston minus the fact that he may have gotten away with rape.)

That’s the term used by a defense psychologist to explain how a 16-year-old did not deserve jail time for a drunk-driving crash that killed four people.

Dr. G. Dick Miller, testified that Couch’s life could be salvaged with one to two years’ treatment and no contact with his parents.

snip

Miller said Couch’s parents gave him “freedoms no young person should have.” He called Couch a product of “affluenza,” where his family felt that wealth bought privilege and there was no rational link between behavior and consequences.

My right eye twitches when I read that last paragraph because there are just so many things wrong with this whole story.  But let’s back up a bit.

I originally wanted to write about the Iran nuclear deal based on the opinions of people whose opinions I respect as knowledgeable and straight-forward; these are people who aren’t generally on television giving their opinions as the media are more interested in the he said/she said back and forth of political operatives or staffers or Congresspeople than in detailing the actual agreement.  And since my mind tends to flow in Class IV rapid type stream of consciousness I decided to go with the flow and let ‘er rip on a variety of largely linked topics.

It happens more often than I might have thought: someone mistaken for a prowler or a burglar is shot and more often than not killed by a homeowner.

Some, though, just really make you shake your head and fear for this country.