IT'S THE CHRISTIAN THING TO DO

I know I’m not alone when I ask the question, what has happened to this country? Was 9/11 the surgery that completely removed our backbone. Suddenly we seem to be afraid of everything and everybody, and helping the needy doesn’t appear to be a chore we’re willing to undertake.

Refugees by the droves have been fleeing their native country of Syria, driven out by the brutal savagery of ISIS. They’ve traveled thousands of miles with nothing but the clothes on their backs and not much else to keep them alive. Some countries are willing to take many of these refugees in and help them as best they can. Even France, (remember, the country we dubbed weenies because they wouldn’t back our stupidity in Iraq),after all the carnage they just endured they’re still taking in refugees. Why, because it’s the Christian thing to do. Apparently, we are not one of those countries!

Just a few days ago President Obama announced that we would welcome ten thousand of these refugees into our country, a miniscule number in comparison to some nations, yet you’d think he had just reinstated the draft. Politicians are bombarding the President from every angle over the danger of a terrorist sneaking in with the refugees, even though it hasn’t happened anywhere else. Do we actually believe that there are no terrorists in this country now? And the rhetoric is more than embarrassing. One candidate says we should take only Christians. Another says he wouldn’t take in a child over the age of five. And one, a Reverend, (and I use the term loosely) says we shouldn’t take in any refugees under any circumstance. My God! What has happened to us? We define ourselves as the mightiest country in the world, yet we’re scared to death of a six year old child. Never in my life have I been more ashamed to be an American, or even a Christian. And the worst part of it all is that more than half the nation agrees with these bewildered politicians. I would dare any of these frightened souls to ask themselves one question. What would Christ do? I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t say lets have a two year vetting process, or take only the children under five, and I’m damned sure he wouldn’t say take only the Christians. What I think he might say is take in as many as you can handle, and if a couple of terrorists slip in let your faith in God protect you.

We lost two things this week that we may never recover. We can no longer consider ourselves the strongest country in the world, and we certainly can’t entertain the notion that we are the most humane.

Here’s a good idea. Let’s find a desolate area, far from any Christian population, and build a large compound. We can give each and every refugee family their own room to live in as well as feed and clothe them. We’ll vet them for ten to fifteen years, just to be sure they can’t harm us in any way. We’ll put plenty of security around the compound and hang a sign on the front gate; GUANTANAMO II Why? Apparently, it’s the Christian thing to do!

Stan Wamboldt - ex-Army, ex alter-boy, and leaning toward ex-patriot

WHEN DID COURAGE BECOME A COMPETITION?

Since the day Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself to the world, the word "courage" has been tossed around like it's going out of style. Everyday, there is a new definition for the word, as people attempt to limit its' usage for what they deem appropriate. The list of folks who display "real courage", including war veterans, cancer patients and domestic abuse victims, are compared to her very public announcement in an attempt to squash its' importance. Personally, it makes me sick.

Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you. It's strength in the face of pain or grief. That is the dictionary definition. Stop reading this, and go look at yourself in the mirror. Who do you see? Most of us see ourselves. However, there is a significant population of our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, friends and co-workers who look in the mirror and see someone else. They trek into our cold, compassion-less society everyday being someone that deep down they know they aren't. Until one day they decide to shed what has been forced upon them and be who they really are.

I probably haven't done justice to what it feels like to be Transgendered, but my point remains. Courage comes in all shapes and sizes. It's ignorant and self-serving to limit its definition to suit your personal agenda. The vitriol that has accompanied Caitlyn's announcement is exactly why its courageous.

Our military personnel are courageous. Our police and firefighters are courageous. Patients with debilitating or deadly diseases are courageous. Women who survive and leave violent, abusive relationships are courageous. This list goes on.. and on.. and on.. so just STOP.

Stop comparing, Stop justifying your disdain for something you don't understand by downplaying its social significance. Stop posting pictures of what is or isn't courageous.

COURAGE IS NOT A COMPETITION!!

AMERICA'S HYPOCRISY WITH FREEDOM AND LIBERTY

America prides itself on our "Liberties", and yet it seems we don't know the actual meaning of the word.

I'm not 239 years old so I can't just shout "FACT" and expect all of the interwebs to believe me (those are the rules, right?) However, I feel comfortable suggesting that America's Founding Fathers chose their words very carefully when they wrote the Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Translation: It's pretty friggin obvious, but we'll say it anyway. Everyone is created equal. Period. We all have the same rights including, but not limited to; living the life we want to live as happily as possible.

UNALIENABLE: Absolute. Inherent. Permanent. As in, you can't just go around making laws that take away rights from other people. We are guaranteed these rights... fooor-evvvv-errrrr.

LIBERTY: The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.

How is it even remotely possible that there are states in which not all people have the same rights? I want to look all those voting against gay marriage square in the eyes and ask this one question:

"Why are you allowed to get married, and I am not allowed to get married?"

There isn't one single answer that wins you that argument EVER! I don't want to hear about the Founding Fathers and their slaves or Jim Crow Laws. I don't want to hear about Japanese Internment Camps. Why? Because people seem to think that our country's past admitted fuck-ups somehow justify our present and future fuck ups! And instead of LEARNING from those mistakes we use them to rationalize how we can get away with doing it again! That's moronic on every level.

We ALLOW these things to transpire and be explained away with some kinda-sorta rational thought process and then associate them with words and phrases that will get people to back the idea. That's called "being a manipulative douche". Everyone gets their panties in a bind over "Freedom of (insert the thing you love most here... religion, bear arms, speech etc)". So whenever these elected a-holes want to convince you that they're doing what is in everyone's best interest, they just label it Freedom of Something. And we buy it. Hook, line and sinker.

This isn't an attack on religion or religious freedom. You have the UNALIENABLE RIGHT to practice your religion. Go to Church or Temple or Mosque... talk about Jesus or Moses or Allah. You have every right to knock on my door and tell me how you don't think I should get blood transfusions or celebrate my birthday because Jehovah, and I'm not allowed to punch you in your preachy mouth because that's against the law. FOR EVERYONE. But when you open a business, you have to follow business laws, just like everyone else. Because in THIS country, "separate but equal" doesn't fly anymore.

Let me give you some dates that might put things into perspective.

Plessy v. Ferguson confirmed "separate but equal" in... 1896. That was ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN YEARS AGO! 29 years before the invention of the television.

Brown v. Board of Education began the change in... 1954. That's right, it took 58 years to correct THAT mistake. And yet still, that was SIXTY. ONE. YEARS. AGO!

You can read all about it HERE if ya like.

In a nutshell, who I sleep with has no effect on you, your business or your rights as a human being. Why on God's GREEN EARTH anyone thinks what I do in the dark (or during the day, if I'm feelin' froggy) has anything to do with you, is beyond ridiculous. When I go to your restaurant, I'm going to talk, eat, laugh, drink... pay my check and go home. Just like everyone else. When I go to your shop to buy flowers, whether I give them to my soon-to-be-bride or my mom or leave them on my step-fathers gravestone truly ought to be irrelevant to you. I'm not going to march a Pride Parade into your shop, stick a flag pole in your floor, waving a rainbow and claim this store for the gays!

We are paving the way for another "separate but equal" with gay restaurants and gay bakeries and gay clothing stores, which the not-bigoted breeders will frequent because we have a knack for cooking, baking and fashion. Obviously. It's wrong, and you can't justify it with catch-phrases and historical context that helps you sleep better at night.

So when you fight for children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school, understand that it also contains the phrase, "...with liberty and justice for all". It's not just a Metallica album. While you're waving your American Flag, proudly declaring that ours is a country that stands for Freedom, understand that in the next breath you're voting to purposely take away some people's liberties. It's this hypocrisy that makes you sound like an ignorant, self-centered, mindless jerkoff.

You should probably work on that.

LAWYER PROPOSES DEATH PENALTY LEGISLATION FOR GAYS

So this homicidal lunatic is a lawyer in the state of Uganda, I mean, California.

His brilliant ballot initiative that he was actually crazy enough to go so far as to file paperwork to get the ball rolling... proposes that gay people should be executed.

No, I'm not joking, it's like a real thing that happened. The Sodomite Suppression Act.

Seriously.

Matthew "Crazy Pants" McLaughlin, the real life (not made up evil villain) lawyer says his wicked neato law would mandate execution by “bullets to the head or any other convenient method” for “any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification.” -- Advocate.com --

There are a lot of perfectly legal things other people do that I don't like, even things I dislike with some intensity. Never once have I said "You know what we should do? Just shoot all those people." You know why? Because I'm not a sociopath. 

I bet his parents are super proud.

AMERICA'S CALCULATED PLOY TO CREATE MINDLESS SHEEP

So I was reading the story about the 47 US Senators who sent a letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran and I was completely embarrassed as a US Citizen. How did we get to a point in our political system where undermining the President publicly in the face of our fellow Earthlings seems like a good idea? As I blame most of the breakdown of our country on our shit education system, so too can I blame this.

Here is my thought process.

We passed this "great" education reform where by students have to take this stupid test that proves whether or not they memorized certain facts. If your students don't learn those particular facts, your school doesn't get public funding. The domino affect of that was that teachers stopped teaching and they started feeding facts, otherwise they have no job next year. 

Your students have to pass, they cannot fail. Your paycheck depends on it. So they don't fail kids anymore. The domino affect of that is that the high school diploma has become useless. Meaningless. Now in order to get a job that pays you enough money to live, you have to have a college degree. If you can't afford one, you'll take out a loan, or you'll live off the government, or both. The rich stay rich because their schools actually teach. The poor stay poor because theirs do not. 

We have raised an entire generation of stupid people who know a bunch of useless facts but who don't know how to problem solve. That stupid generation is able to vote. They're not going to do research, they're not going to find out the truth because they have been taught their whole lives that THIS is the answer. Memorize it. Know it. Believe it. The end. So all this political advertising has become twice as valuable because all you have to do is make it sound halfway legit to win the election. 

Slowly but surely the generations that came before are dying. That's just life. Soon we will have a country of stupid sheep who believe whatever you tell them to believe, because its the only way they have learned. The privileged won't fix it because they're in power. The poor will be helpless and they may not even know it. They will blindly accept that they are powerless and at some point, they may even stop voting. Laws will be changed to keep the powerful in power... all while sending the message that we are trying to help you, America! And the stupid will keep buying it because ... they saw it on TV, so it must be true. 

This is what our founding fathers did not want. They tried to avoid this by stating very clearly that every man, woman and child is ENTITLED TO a quality education. But we have chipped away at the source of learning and its only a matter of time before there are two classes... the powerful and the powerless.

"Politician" was not meant to be a career. Our founding fathers had other professions, they did their time as PUBLIC SERVANTS and then returned to their lives. We have elected officials who make their living off tax dollars and have the AUDACITY to vote themselves pay raises! 

Politicians have handcuffed educators. 

Lending corporations have handcuffed students.

Sweeping changes have come from both sides of the aisle, so pointing the proverbial finger is unnecessary.

I urge everyone who is of a voting age to STOP RE-ELECTING ANYONE!

Demand change, and if it doesn't get fixed, elect someone else. Keep electing new faces until OUR country changes for the better! The Citizens of the United States of America hold 100% of the power, but you lose that power when you "pick the lesser of two evils". 

Think. Vote. Change. Maybe someday we can be proud Americans again.

I'M BASICALLY SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR PROTESTS

Black Teen Shot Dead by Cop in Madison, Wisconsin

Teach your children to respect themselves.

Teach your children to respect others.

Teach your children to respect authority.

Teach your children to respect life.

Teach your children that "Their Life Matters", they are important and special.
(But not too important or too special, because ugh... that's a completely different sort of annoying)

These are all ways to prevent protests on behalf of your dead son or daughter, who was killed for attacking a police officer and/or anyone else.

I know this is a difficult concept to grasp, but... POLICE OFFICERS ARE PEOPLE TOO. They are people who can and will defend themselves, and others, when they are put in danger. They are people who TRY to the best of their ability to quell a situation in a non-violent way.

I know that personal responsibility is difficult, but... Maybe that feeling like we live in a "police state" comes because of you. Yes, you. The one reading this and not even considering how you might be responsible but instead coming up with your super-angry response to tell me how ignorant I am! You.

If you are protesting, you are putting your city in danger. Period. Local businesses are in danger. The neighborhood is in danger. The school down the street is in danger. So you're damn right they're coming out in their riot gear and on edge waiting for confrontation. You know why?

YOU!

Here's an idea, how about you take some personal fucking responsibility! How about you treat EVERYONE like their life matters and THIS WON'T BE AN ISSUE!

It's like lighting your house on fire on purpose and the Fire Department comes to put it out but can't extinguish the flames until after it's too late and you've lost everything... so... you protest that Black People's Personal Belongings Matter. It's kinda just like that.

You know who had all the answers? Whitney Houston. Legit.

CDL LAWS ARE UNIMPORTANT BECAUSE JESUS

Sooo... the Mississippi state legislature is introducing a bill that would enable anyone to DRIVE A BUS without proper training or a license, so long as it is for a Church, because Jesus.

"Miscellaneous small Church in Podunk Mississippi can't afford a bus driver, so I've got  a GREAT idea!!", said one moron law-maker "Let's put everyone's lives in danger and just let any shmoe drive the bus, amiright? HALLELUJAH!"

Or hey why not just like, I dunno, wave the fee for training and licensing instead.

*GASP*

I know, I know. Crazy idea, right? That way you save them money AND you don't kill 400 people in a bloody, burning bus accident because Nana had to take her lucky troll dolls to Bingo.

The idiot who introduced the bill

Who votes for these people? How is it humanly possible that ANY THOUGHT was put into this bill before it (guess what) PASSED the Mississippi State House. Are you kidding me??

Oddly enough there are CDL laws for a reason. Safety. Because God helps those who help themselves. To licenses. To legally drive. So as not to kill people.

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?!

THE RULES DO ACTUALLY APPLY TO YOU

"NO BALL PLAY IN THE HALLS", reads the sign on the wall, approximately 8-10 inches away from where the lacrosse ball bangs with a rhythmic thump against the cinder block. That sounds like a great place to practice your lacrosse passes... if it weren't in the middle of a busy sports-complex hallway where a few hundred people are standing or walking all day. 

Self-explanatory, no?

The culprit? A 10 year old boy and his late-twenties / early thirties dad. 

Let's pretend for a second that "maybe we shouldn't be throwing lacrosse balls against the walls of a hallway" isn't common sense, and let's also pretend that the adult in this situation did not see the very large sign posted right in front of his face. When a staff member of the facility walks by and says "Hey fellas, please hold onto those balls in the hall, ok?", that should be the end of the shenanigans, right? 

Nonsense, this is 2015!

The non-adult, said "oh, sorry" and placed his stick and ball down on top of his equipment bag. The fully-grown adult stopped throwing the ball long enough for the staff member to pass, at which time he resumed his rule-breaking behavior and said "Come on pal, let's warm up". 

Now very confused, the boy looks at the staff member (who isn't deaf or blind) and back to his dad, not sure which he should listen to, until dad turns around, caught red-handed. Perhaps the request wasn't specific enough the first time? "Please don't throw the balls in the hallway.", which elicited a snarky remark from dad, but he complied, nonetheless.

Good parenting, bro. 

• Lesson Number 1: The rules don't apply to us.
• Lesson Number 2: It's completely ok to ignore authority figures.
• Lesson Number 3: As long as you're doing what's most beneficial to you, the safety of others is irrelevant. 
• Lesson Number 4: If you get caught doing something you shouldn't be doing, instead of take responsibility for it, get mad at the authority instead. It's somehow their fault and not yours.

Now, I'm sure 10 year old Bobby isn't thinking all those things consciously, but it's likely not the first time a situation like this has occurred in this young child's life and eventually he'll get the hints.

I don't mean to be the judgmental non-parent who tells other people how to raise their kids, but who are you going to blame when your kiddo comes home from school with a report or a call from the principal that he isn't following the rules and/or is ignoring his teachers? Your actions speak WAY louder than your words, so maybe you should make a better effort to like, I dunno, be a little more self-aware? If kids were super-heroes, they'd be Spongeman... able to remember every stupid thing you didn't mean to teach them, but you did. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is, please stop raising a generation of selfish, self-centered, entitled little brats who smack the medium Cinnamon/Hazelnut Dunkins' out of my hands with their stupid lacrosse sticks and don't even give it a glance or second thought. Great, thanks!

Ps: Stop hanging your jackets on the fire extinguisher. I mean, seriously... I shouldn't even have to utter that sentence to adults ever. Honestly.

MEDIA GOONS REWORD HEADLINE, FOOL TL;DR POPULATION

Why is this a thing?

Denver Police Shoot, Kill 16-Year-Old Girl in Car

Oh by the way that 16-year-old girl struck a police officer with a stolen car. 

Call me crazy, but if I was driving a stolen car and I hit someone with it, especially someone carrying a loaded firearm, I would fully expect there to be immediate repercussions. 

Girls lives matter. Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. Can we just agree that LIFE matters? I don't think anyone in their right mind would argue that some people's lives just don't matter; strong emphasis on "in their right mind". Are we suggesting that this police officer is gender-biased and only shot and killed this particular suspect because she is, in fact, a she? Nonsense! It couldn't possibly be because she blasted someone with A CAR! 

Given the very early reports in this case, and trust me I have no inside knowledge, this appears to be one of THE dumbest protests I've ever seen... ever. 

Go home. Or at least find a real cause to fight for, like, I dunno, starving children or homeless veterans. Protesting everything just makes you seem whiny. Pick your battles, folks!

PEOPLE HATE WINNERS ~ GREEN IS THEIR FAVORITE COLOR

Remember when the New England Patriots were the NFL's version of the Chicago Cubs? They had mild success from time-to-time, but nothing worth writing home about. The lovable losers from New England made appearances in two Super Bowls and lost them both to Jim McMahon's shuffling Bears and Brett Favre's dominant Packers.

People like losers because it makes them feel better about what they're not doing with their lives.

People hate winners because it makes them feel horrible about what they're not doing with their lives.

The end.

Don't believe me?

New York Yankees, Boston Celtics, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Lakers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bulls... you hate them until they get on a solid success drought, and then they're lovable again. Nobody hates the Cubs, that would be ludicrous! How can you hate on a team that's perpetually terrible? (Well, okay, it's just different with the Raiders, they're hate-able. Am I right?)

Turn back the clock to February 3, 2002, the first Super Bowl after the 9/11 attacks. American sports fans were cheering for New England, under the rallying cry "We are all Patriots!"

Today, everyone hates the Patriots and their evil supreme leader, Bill Belichick.

Why? Because nobody likes a cheater, they say. Ahh yes, good old "spygate".

That is a big.. steaming.. bucket.. of bullshit.

One of the most successful NFL coaches of this generation, Bill Cowher, tells you that "it was something everybody does" but that gets ignored.

Well what about how they used trickery with their eligible receivers against the Ravens? John Harbaugh says nobody has ever seen it before except for when they have, but let's ignore that.

This former NFL referee says deflation of game balls is a non-issue and that gets ignored.

The NY Times reports that Eli Manning's game footballs are months in the making and that gets ignored.

Aaron Rodgers tells NBC Sports that he "likes to push the limit to how much air we can put in the football, even go over what they allow you to do and see if the officials take air out of it" and that gets ignored.

Silly facts always get in the way of unwarranted witch hunts.

Gregg Doyel - Clown from Indianapolis

<-- This guy says  “I’m sure I’m in the minority saying you can’t send this team to the Super Bowl. But I really believe that. You can’t do it. They got caught rigging the game. You can’t send them.” Really? 

Okay, don't send the Patriots to the Super Bowl. Who would you send instead? Well you can't send the Packers, their quarterback over-inflates the ball. Maybe we just name the Seahawks Champions and turn the NFL into the NCAA. Does anyone really believe that Reggie Bush didn't win the Heisman or that USC didn't really win the 2004 National Championship?

The only good thing to come from this topic are the hilarious, off-color jokes about deflated balls. It's the gift that keeps on giving. 

People like losers because it makes them feel better about what they're not doing with their lives.

People hate winners because it makes them feel horrible about what they're not doing with their lives.

The end.

PROTESTERS TAKE TO THE HIGHWAY, WON'T LEND YOU THEIR LANES

It's a song, look it up.

James Taylor. Seriously.

Anywho, this happened in my home state of Massachusetts today...

A-holes protest in the middle of the busiest highway ever to tell people they don't like racism.

93 is like a wicked busy highway, guy.

Nobody LIKES racism... except racists. Even mildly racist people or those who don't even know they're racist don't admit to liking racism, so that's a nifty message, you're against it. Cool. I'm against littering, words that start with silent letters (pterodactyl, really??) and the NY Yankees, but I'm not going to protest about it in the middle of a busy highway. Mostly because I value my life and also I'm not a d-bag.

I'm a big proponent of peaceful protest. There are several key social turning points in our great nation that have come about because of it. This won't be one of them. Disrupting a whole traffic system so your voice can be heard is selfish and it just makes people focus on you being a dillhole instead of your actual message. Fail. In a completely unrelated way, it also makes me want to run through your sign and throw my arms up in victory; Lord knows I won't actually win any real races. But I digress.

Before you protest, ask yourself: Will I be effing up someone elses life to get my message across? If the answer is yes, then find a new place to do it. Or just lead by example with your non-racism instead of standing there looking like a clown with your sign making everyone late for work. Jerk.

**Edit**

And then I read this...

Didn't really think this one through, did you?