Blog Archives
The Shooting
Note: This is long, it is rambling, at times incoherent, and should probably not be read by anyone.
After learning the details behind the Giffords shooting this past weekend – kinda strange that we call it the Giffords shooting, when she survived, when all those others did not; why not the John Roll shooting [and it goes to show that just a few days after the shooting, it took me ten minutes to actually find an article that references his name and not Giffords] – I was as disgusted as anyone, and probably a bit more than the average American. I was disgusted that this is the world we live in, that any douchebag with a mental problem can get his hands on a gun and kill people with no real danger to himself, and that it took no time for people on either side of the political “spectrum” (hard to call anything that consists of two points a spectrum, honestly) to start pointing fingers at each other. The ongoing debate over it all disgusts me. Humans disgust me. Read the rest of this entry
Five Things for a Weird Tuesday, Oct 26th
I haven’t done a “5 Things” post in a while (small bits of stuff that don’t warrant a full blog post, but allow me to write something), but since I’ve been sporadic and feeling guilty about it, I decided to do one today.
1. A very strange day. Out of the blue, I got a Facebook message from an aunt on my father’s side. I don’t recall ever speaking to her or meeting her, although it’s possible I did when I was very very young. When my Dad died when I was 7, we pretty much lost all contact with his side of the family (and the majority of my mother’s side as well, long story). One of his brothers, Phil, kept in occasional touch, mostly because he was executor of my grandparent’s estate, and when they died I received a small sum of money, along with all his other grandchildren. In the space of a few hours, my aunt and I exchanged a few emails. She’s a hospice nurse with lots of children and grandchildren. It was nice to finally “meet” my father’s sister.
Why I Can Never Root For Michael Vick: A Hopefully Rational Viewpoint
Recently, I’ve read three articles written by prominent sports media figures describing why they are rooting for Michael Vick to succeed and become a inspirational story as he plays for the Philadelphia Eagles: Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports, Bill Simmons of ESPN.com, and Barry Petchesky of Deadspin. The gist for all three is the same: Vick has paid his dues to society for dogfighting, and deserves to become a role model for future generations for battling through his own demons and adversity. To some degree or another, they all indicate that they understand why some may disagree. Read the rest of this entry
The Power of the Media
I’ve read two articles recently that struck me, both illustrating the power of the media to distort truth and damage lives. Growing up, I seem to remember thinking the news was pretty impartial, stating facts and pretty much leaving it at that. The editorials section of the paper had some opiniated pieces, sure, but on the whole, the facts were presented with the reader left to conclude what it meant. Now, it seems all we have are editorialists, and we tune into Fox or MSNBC to get the slant we most generally agree with. Maybe I’m wrong, and the “golden age” of impartial journalism never existed.
A lot of us know about Ben Roethlisberger’s idiotic drunken escapade. We’ve heard the story about that night. But what most of us didn’t know the first story, the one that came out the night of the incident:
“13. THE ACCUSER HERSELF WAS UNCERTAIN ABOUT THE MATTER. When the officer on the spot said “I need to talk to the alleged victim, not [the sorority sisters],” he asked the accuser if Roethlisberger had raped her. She said:
(A). “No.” (DA news conference; PART 2, starts 2:42, key point: about 4:10: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/index.html [also at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaRGdYizw7g])
(B) When asked if the two had sex, she said “well, I’m not sure.” (DA interview, PART 2, starts 2:42, key point: about 4:20: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/index.html [also at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaRGdYizw7g]).
- (Blash also said she seemed inebriated, incoherent, “nonchalant,” and at times seemed to to want to tell someone that “y’all did whatever.”)”
Winter in Derenemyn 