Why I Sympathize With Gaddafi

You can call me whatever you want for this piece.  You'll read it, probably be outraged, call me un-American, and shout "How dare she?"  My purpose is to make you think.  We've lost humanity and America and the world have become the biggest hypocrites than any of our and other countries ancestors.  Hypocrisy is my peeve.  I'll go through some histories it's rather long and interesting, but jump to his murder, sympathy and hypocrisy if you want to get to why I sympathize with him.

Colonel Moammar Gaddafi (who has about 100 versions of his name out there - here, he will go by MG) was something else.  The traveling tent with his camel, the crazy outfits, and he was a dictator.  Dictator derives direct negative connotations today.  Oh no!  Bad man rules a country and no one can stop him!  Did you know Saudi Arabia is under dictatorship?  Oh wait, they are of noble blood, it's "monarchy".  I have a problem with anyone who isn't privileged being labeled a tyrant off the bat (like the US did when he took over the country in the first place).  Apparently, having loads of cash can buy you favor in the world too!  In fact, there are quite a few countries left in rule of a monarchy or dictatorship, but they are too strong, give us free stuff, or their country doesn't have anything cool so we don't want to deal with them.

Stop Glamorizing Suicide

*Update for further clarification added below

You won't like what I'm about to say.  It's controversial, it's straightforward, it's the dialogue we should be having instead of having pity.  Another day, another suicide from bullying.  It's parents fault, it's the school's fault and we all take sorrow in a child/teen dead.

Every time we glamorize the suicides (most notably from bullying lately) we are telling kids, "Aw, poor thing, I'm going to give you the recognition and sorrow you should have gotten in your life".  Kids on the edge are being pushed over by the notion that they'll get famous, in my truly honest not-so-humble opinion.  Even a decade ago, suicide was shameful.  Not to mention two, three or four decades ago.  I experienced the full realm of bullying from having my homework stolen out of my hand and no teacher willing to listen, to being thrown from my desk (or it toppled with me in it), hair pulled, spit on because I was a heavy girl (not even obese at the time, just not a stick), because I refused to go anorexic, a double whammy in wearing glasses, a triple whammy in being poor and a quadruple whammy in having a messed up family.  I was taunted, teased, physically harmed, every day of my school life until I got so fed up (even with my straight A's) that I stopped going overall.  Parents even hated me because I addressed them as Mr. and Mrs., which they felt was trying to suck up to them.  The early boyfriends I did have ended up dumping me sometimes because of the pressure they faced from peers taunting them about being with the fat, ugly chick.

AttackWatch.com Dispels Lies or Perpetuates Them?

A good friend of mine posted a link to Attack Watch on her Facebook today.  I thought it was satire (I'd been out of the news loop for the last day).  It's real, it's run by Obama's campaign manager.  Not only is it butt ugly (all that money and you can't spring for more than black and white?) but it's part opinion, part lie.

Obama's campaign is to have us all tattle on each other.  Seriously.  You can go to the site, put in an "attack" from a drop down menu and even attach files to support the attack you want to report.

Feel free to go to the report section and put in silly attacks like "Obama refuses to wear underwear" and flood the report system so someone has to weed out the dumb ones from people genuinely tattling on people they don't like.  This wouldn't fly with me regardless of who it is.  Obama has successfully turned the country to racist, classist, elitest, religious groups all hating each other.  Now, you too can tattle on that "other race", that person that has more than you, that person who has a job or that damned Catholic down the street!

I'll tackle the first "attacks" here.

9/11 In A Child's Eyes - Never Forget

10 years.  I was 17, turning 18 the 12th.  Now, as a mom to four sons - I allowed my oldest, who turns 8 in two weeks to watch the news footage and personal videos of the horrific acts that day.  I made kiddie coffee, something I wanted to share with him at the right moment that my Pappy let me have when I was 8.  (About a teaspoon of coffee in milk and sugar.)  I made us cinnamon rolls and we curled up on the couch together to begin watching.  The others were asleep.

I was prepared, but still flubbed the words to explain "Why did they attack us?".  As I started to explain, I realized that my wording was leading him to think all Muslims were bad.  I had to clarify further the definition of terrorists and extremists and that there are good Muslims out there.  He had many questions.  I answered them as unemotionally as possible, but I teared up when they showed the jumpers.  I tried to convey their feelings when he asked why they would jump to their death - noting that if they knew they would die, it's better to jump and die quick than to burn alive.  He said "Mommy, I'd jump too.".

 (More after the jump)

Casey Anthony - Opinion of the Jury (Updated)

Update Below

I must first preface anything I say in that I believe the evidence showed Casey was guilty.  That said, I've always taken great pride in my ability to see both sides of the coin.  I present the coin in the air.  I don't think there is another side to the coin in this case, just a coin flipping, maybe just enough to avoid murder one.  I also strongly feel the jurors knew they were going to cash in.  Scott Peterson's jury wrote a book that became a top seller - those who wanted to, could stay anonymous.  I won't lay out the case by details, there's plenty of blogs and articles out there already who have.  I raise some serious questions however, based on the evidence, the jury's comments and what we do know.  The trial happened an hour away.  The jury lives in my county.

Caylee Anthony 2005-2008

The world was shocked by Casey Anthony's not guilty verdict, and I mean the world.  Just in my very limited understanding of vernacular and prose of other languages and some minor words - comments not in English were pretty much the same as those who were.  Unfortunately, the comments sections of news stories are some of the very same people who insisted on her guilt, saying "oh, uhm, yeah, I knew that".  Juror's paid media appearances after the fact may show some serious incompetence and underlying motives.

More after the jump - click on headline

Urgent: A Plea, Call to Action over Medical Collections Act

Stay with me here, there's some hope, a rainbow and some personal experience.  At the end is a call for action from voters that could save you thousands of dollars, even just in the next 5 years, depending.

I was reading the St. Pete Times when I came across the business section recently.  In a short story the headline stated "Medical debts may torpedo credit scores".  Tell me something I don't know.  For the last 12 years (yes, it started when I was a minor), I've been fighting with medical collections companies over my credit reports - not only in a few unpaid bills, but on paid ones as well.  They talked about the Medical Debt Responsibility Act.  Feel free to surpass the personal items to get to the legislation discussion.

Click on headline for more after the jump

Updated: "Go the F to Sleep IS Funny", Karen

Update below, looks like our lovely hypocrite can't stand the courage of her convictions.

I came across an article today on CNN that somehow managed to grab the headlines.  It was titled: "Go the F*** to Sleep" not funny.  Normally, it would just be an opinion, but Karen Zacharias managed to make the leap of the entire article that people who enjoy this book are abusers, while quietly dispelling that in a one off sentence.  (An example of her leaps is equating Lady Gaga's charity theft to sexual abuse by Bishop Eddie Long.) An excerpt: 

As the title suggests, "Go the F*** to Sleep" mocks the parental frustrations of trying to lay a child down to bed. Crass in concept and execution, this is an expletive-filled bedtime story intended solely for the amusement of parents.

 More after the jump - click on the headline.

Stolen Valor and InfantryFacts.com Is A Lie

Ah, the ever present internet has created another false prophet.  This post addresses the statements by InfantryFacts.com - his stolen valor of our service members and degradation of us measly little military wives.  I am not just a house wife though.  I'm a well spoken mother, military wife (twice over, including first one being infantry), daughter, granddaughter (twice over) and niece.  Though I wasn't able to join the military myself for medical reasons, I think with my surroundings I must bleed little American flags.  Even if we ran with his "I'm Infantry", he had to have been in the service at least a decade ago before all this started, then he had to re-enlist, against his conscience to have any semblance of current service members tribulations.  How does that make sense?  In fact, I have a pretty good idea who of who the actual creator is in Twitterland and have constantly had a problem with the lies and assertions from there too.  It's all ripped from conspiracy headlines, sometimes damn near verbatim from places like Above Top Secret.  Because it's becoming a pattern, I want to address it.

More after the jump

Lisa Lampanelli Cries Over Housewife's Comment (NSFW?)

Lisa Lampanelli just used gays for pay.

Okay, first - I know many of you are asking who the hell Lisa Lampanelli is.  If you've ever watched a celeb roast put on recently on Comedy Central, she's the loud fattie in the middle of the roast panel.  She's the almost 50 year old woman, that SCREAMS fake laughter to try and get cameras on her and laughs about her twat being so loose she can't hold a bucket of bolls of cotton in for a tampon (that was my joke, but you get the gist).  She laughs about the jokes about her doing black guys and being a sperm dumpster.  Her Twitter profile states "Queen of Mean".  Apparently, she's not only the court jester everyone points and laughs at, but she's also scared of a 27 year old stay-at-home mom.  (Me.)

Stay tuned below the jump to see how a 50 year old woman responds as a child.

What Mendenhall Should Have Said

Well, the horse's tongue is sticking out, it's lying on it's side, prepping for death.  However, in this age of social media, I'd like to train Mendenhall's big fancy, Ivy league educated PR team how to handle a Twitter flare up.  You see, what they wrote was silly.  It was beyond Mendenhall's scope, so it wasn't even as if we could argue he dictated it and it was cleaned up.  There are exceptionally smart, well rounded players out there, Polamalu comes to mind.  Mendenhall doesn't.  The PR team attempted to erase all things, leave what they thought was the worst, address it by not addressing it and hope it goes away.
(More after jump)

Mendenhall's Dumb Mea Culpa (Well - His PR Team's)

So Mendenhall's initial tweets have been covered in the prior post here (Mendenhall - Hypocrite Misogynist Hiding Behind God).  Today, almost two days after, he releases a statement I'd like to break down and break the heck apart.  It's first off, incredibly insulting.  What's more important is what it doesn't say.  You see, one of the worst tweets Mendenhall put up, was deleted within a few hours of his posting.  A few caught it.  I chose not to include it in my original story because it was only up for a short time and it was along the same thread as the others, however, given his new statement, it's now clear that it's incredibly insulting.  The original tweet:

More after jump

Mendenhall - Hypocrite Misogynist Hiding Behind God

Update: Yes, there was a non-statement statement from the Steelers.  Nothing of importance and due to the lockout, I doubt we'll see much since they can't speak to Mendenhall.  At this point, all I can imagine is an agent somewhere SCREAMING his head off and, given Mendenhall's propensity of enjoyment in controversy, a spoiled brat laughing (via a previous tweet about seeing if he should just burn all the money he has made).

I saw this happen live last night and seeing the backlash this morning from some media outlets, they are not covering the angles I want to.  Last night, Rashard Mendenhall of my beloved Steelers decided to use his Twitter to voice some controversial opinions about 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden.  Of course, if you haven't heard,Osama's dead.

Despite some stories, this IS Mendenhall's verified account.  It's verified by Twitter and it's also acknowledged by other players and the Steelers official account.  Now, with that said, Mendenhall, quit hiding behind God to judge others.  Let's first look at an offending tweet of last night:

(More after jump)

Selling Babies and Planned Parenthood

The hoopla over the recent budget cuts to Planned Parenthood got me to thinking about several things.  Why the hypocrisy and how do we stop abortions?  No, not stop as in legal outlaw it, but stop as in cut down the occurance.  My idea, sell the babies.  No, not in the way you think.

Read more after the jump.

I Witnessed Autism and I Want to Be a Better Mother

On Sunday, April 10th, more than a month late, we finally got around to Jaykob's birthday party.  Circumstance led us to not being able to do it any sooner.  In our new neighborhood, our next door neighbors seemed very nice and on Saturday, we invited them over for cake and ice cream as they had a little boy and girl about my older son's ages.  We told them gifts weren't necessary, it was informal and it was last minute for them.

For the full story, click on the headline.

Parental Perusings

While I deal with what can only be the craziest period in my life, people often either think what I'm going through is unimaginably easy or incredibly difficult.  Both are right.

We are in the midst of a 3 bedroom tiny apartment, waiting to close on a new home.  After having a son diagnosed with bipolar disorder over a year ago, we have started seeing the medication not be as effective.  So, not so much trouble, but I was pregnant with twins so we needed to put our 2 year old in daycare.  Okay, not a big deal - except either between the apartment's condition (only known after living here) or the daycare environment, he's constantly sick with fevers and some array of accompanying side effects.

So again, not too much to handle, then shortly after our move and while still unpacking the necessities for our apartment, I needed to go to the hospital.  At 23 weeks, my babies were diagnosed with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome.  They were so far along, they were hours from death.  Basically, one twin (the donor) was being sucked dry of his blood and nutrients by the other (the recipient).  Donor had no fluid around him to process, so he was suffocating slowly, could not digest and his bladder was almost gone and he was stuck to the uterine wall like he was shrink wrapped.  The recipient, for lack of better description was drowning in too much fluid and his heart was starting to beat backwards.  I was whisked away to Miami for a surgery by a world-renowned doctor.  Any other time or place in my life, I would have lost them because I could never have made it in time.

(More after the jump)

Seola's 10 Best Soundtracks

Yeah yeah, Saturday Night Fever was sooooo epic.  No.  Remixing a standard disco groove over a master's work is not epic.  Grease, while catchy to sing along was so cheesy, I had to drink a desert wine with it.  Too many people also pick "best" based on a single song being awesome on the soundtrack.  Somewhere Over the Rainbow does not a soundtrack make.  Now, onto my picks for best soundtracks ever.

List after jump, click on headline.

AIDS, Gays and Hate

Recently on CNN, Larry Kramar shared a rather... interesting viewpoint on AIDS.  Sadly, as seen in the comments section - his opinion spurned more hatred from both sides of the viewpoint than it did anything else.

The preface to the story acts as if his comments are facts, stating they are "realities".  He also labels what he thinks people think as an indisputable fact, that "we" didn't want to know the truth.  I could dispute it, since before I even began to think about sex, I wanted to be safe.  His comments in centered italics, my rebuttals after. 

1. AIDS is a plague -- numerically, statistically and by any definition known to modern public health -- though no one in authority has the guts to call it one.

Numbers do not define illness or plague.  More people die from heart disease (which is less preventable but still possible) than suffer total from AIDS.  Plagues cannot be stopped with education and thorough testing. 

(Continues after jump) 

Why Thanks "Gen Xers"

I'm apparently in a newly defined older "Gen Y" subset called Millennials.  I was born 2 years after MTV came on the air, my son was born when MTV went off the air and just became RTV (Reality Trash Viewing).  I have often lamented my peers reactions to everything in life.  I had a troubled childhood, but I almost wonder if that was for the best.  My counterparts are - mostly - self righteous, entitled, spoiled brats.  Products of homes where no one "lost" a game (not teaching children good sportmanship), where everyone got ribbons, even for 20th place (everyone deserves a prize), where some sports eliminated winning and losing altogether (self-esteem), all forms of punishment not written about in books by some "expert" without kids was outlawed and taboo (because all punishment hurts self-esteem and is embarrassing) and that every kid was taught they were the most special thing in the world and everyone else is beneath them.  They are taught that bullying is a reason for suicide (yes, I said it - TAUGHT).

(More ramblings after jump)