Reflecting on Boston

"Any time a bomb is used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror"

~Barak Obama ~ Eerily similar to my quote on facebook the day following the attack 

"We will find them an bring them to justice" ~Both Barak Obama and Sheriff of Boston Police Department.  I was skeptical because Obama made similar comments after Benghazi and nothing has happened since. But it happened, kudos to BPD and the President 

"(Just like the 78-year-old marathon runner) We may be temporarily knocked off our

feet, but we will pick ourselves up and we will finish the race" ~President Barack

Obama.  Also eerily similar to my silver lining posted on facebook earlier this week.

Black hat, suspect # 1 shot and killed as he hijacks a car ~ 

Wednesday Boston Bruins game, entire crowd sings National Anthem loud enough so the singer stopped and deferred to the crowd to do it.  Bravo on the Patriotism Boston.  I don't remember anything like that after 9/11, just a lot of flags but I don't

remember spontaneous karaoke night at the sporting event.

I must say I'm emboldened and proud of the American spirit since the Boston tragedy.

And those who starkly oppose our president will point out that it wasn't the Feds

or his men that killed suspect # 1 and captured # 2 but the local police that did.  I have always held that despite my personal differences with someone, I will give credit where credit is due.  The last five days Mr. President, thumbs way up, good job.  We got great words and great action!

I’m not sure what happened as different websites tell me different things but if Boston was forced to evacuate their homes, I had mixed feelings, on one hand it’s not the government’s right to force you from your home, on the other, if you don’t leave…..well….that seems like probably cause to see if you’re aiding and abetting.  I guess you could just let cops search your home while you’re in it.  My mixed feelings got some vindication because it was a homeowner who actually saw blood in his backyard, opened the tarp of his boat to find the 19-year-old and then called the cops.  So, if he was evacuated…..that wouldn’t have happened as the cops had already searched the house/shed.  

honor is evil

Throughout my life, I have always believed that your word is your bond.  If you say you’re going to do something, you do it.  If you can’t do it, you be very apologetic!  I have broken my word a handful of times but I have always apologized profusely for it.  I thought this was an admirable trait, I didn’t even think it was a rare one.  As I live longer, I realize that not only is it rare, but it’s vilified.  I can’t say it’s how I was raised because I look at those who raised me and I don’t see honor at all.  My pappou (Grandfather) was the most honorable man I’ve known.  I can’t think of one time that man ever said he was going to do something and not delivered.  I’m not going to say he was perfect, he had many faults, but if I got it from anyone it would have had to have been him.

This is happening because with people very close to me they consistently give me their word about something, break it, then get mad at me for thinking that they would actually carry through with it.  Most of my closest friends have broken their words to me but they are always extremely apologetic and it is rare so therefore, I don’t hold it against them.  I have a lot of problems for the select few who aren’t apologetic, like it’s somehow my fault.  I get excuses like “Life happens” or “it’s unfair because I didn’t realize X” But for these excuse artists, fear not, for media and conventional wisdom seem to back you up.

As I watch the Dark Knight, I revel at how great of a movie it is.  Heath Ledger does such a phenomenal job as the Joker and Christian Bale is by far my favorite batman.  But let’s look at batman, a man that has an altar ego.  A man that puts on a façade that he’s some trust fun billionaire who inherited his dad’s company but doesn’t care about anyone but himself, meanwhile he fights crime every night keeping Gotham safe.  It’s not that he expressly lies, but he misleads, which I’m okay with.  Then there’s the Joker.  The Joker never breaks character.  He tells the world this is what I’m going to do, and then does it.  He says throughout the movie, “I’m a man of my word.”  And never does he go back on his word throughout the entire movie.  This is the message that is sent, honor is evil, just like the Joker.  If you want another example of this being reinforced, take the show Dexter, one of my favorite shows.  Again, the protagonist is a dark character.  In the most recent season, one of the villains, a Ukrainian mob boss, also constantly gives his word to Dexter, a man he’s trying to kill.  Again the Ukrainian mob guy who is evil in all aspects, never breaks his word to Dexter and constantly tells him he’s a man of his word.  Dexter, on the other hand, lies all the time.  He lies to people he’s about to kill, he lies to his sister whom he’s closest to, he lied to his wife, he lies to everyone.  He even brags about it as he’s taunting a victim, he promises he won’t hurt them if they do something, they do it, he says he’s going to kill him anyway.  The man says, “You said you’d let me go” Dexter responds, “You think I’m a killer, but not a liar?!”  The Ukrainian mob boss was a killer but not a liar, the Joker was a killer but not a liar.  So yes, you can be a killer but not a liar, Dexter just happens to be both. Yet, the people love Dexter and hate the Joker and the Ukrainian mob boss and root for Dexter, the liar and the killer rather than just the killer.  Keep in mind Dexter killed the Ukrainian mob boss’ lover.  I can understand why he would want to kill Dexter. 

The media seems to give villains the characteristic of honor and make it devoid in the heroes.  It is hard to be an honorable man, when I see the stars of Hollywood and celebrities, it is clear they fail miserably at it.  So, if you can’t be honorable, attack it.  That’s what emboldens those close to me that blame me for believing they could be honorable.  After all, based on conventional thinking, I’m calling them a villain.  Therefore, I love being, and will continue to be, the villain.  You may hate me, but if I tell you I’m going to do something, I’m going to do everything in my power to stay true to my word and you can take it to the bank.  In near 29 years, I can only think of two times I didn’t keep my word.  Both I regret, and both I’m very apologetic for.  For self-attack decreases the likelihood that it’ll happen again.  In this new culture where honor is villainous, is there really any wonder why divorce rates are so high and backstabbing so common?  

How Victoria Azarenka is like WWE champion CM Punk

Two weeks ago, I was not a Victoria Azarenka fan.  Like many of the female tennis players, she’s a bad server but a great returner.  She was # 1 in the world but tennis rankings have always baffled me because there’s so many tournaments, I feel it’s unrealistic that a player can play that often and travel as much as they are required.  But, if you miss a tournament, your ranking gets affected in a larger amount than is fair.  True, every player has this same problem but this is how Caroline Wozniacki was # 1 but never won a major, she played more tournaments than anyone.  So, I could believe the “experts” when it was all about Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova and nobody cared about Azarenka.  That being said, I still picked Azarenka to make it to the finals and lose to Sharapova so I did trust her over Serena.  But, nobody really believed me. 

I am one of the few people that is not in the closet about being a WWE fan.  I’ve had to defend my fanship to almost everyone for over a decade.  After watching Azarenka win, I realized one more reason I’m a WWE fan.  The superstars in the WWE treat their audience like adults.  Yes, you can insult us.  You can insult the city where we live.  We’ll get over it, it’ll be okay.  Right now, CM Punk has been going on for months about how sheepish the masses are and how all someone has to do is mention the city they’re currently in and they go nuts.  Fans boo him immensely but then he mentioned the town they were in right after mentioning that if he did they’d cheer.  The crowd cheered loudly at the mention of their city.  He then rested his case.  He openly talks about how he doesn’t need the people and the people don’t matter.  Tomorrow is the Royal Rumble; the writers of the WWE have expertly set up the championship match of CM Punk vs. The Rock.  The dichotomy is obvious.  The man who despises the people vs. the man who calls himself “The People’s Champion.” 

Interestingly, the women’s tennis final was set up in the same way without any script (I think).  Usually the crowd unfairly attacks Azarenka for her grunting.  The William sisters, Sharapova along with many other women grunt.  It may not be as loud or as long as Azarenka but Azarenka is the only one that constantly gets mocked and ridiculed by the fans for it.  In the semi-finals, Azarenka got hurt so left the court for a training break. This is completely legal.  When she came back, she ended up beating Sloane Stevens, the 19-year-old sensation that the world, including me, fell in love with.  International news syndicates came out attacking Azarenka for manipulating the rules.  CM Punk has been champion for a modern-era record of 434 days, and a lot of matches he too gets counted out or disqualified since the title can’t change hands on these things.  Again, CM Punk is well within the rules to do it.  He is not the only champion to do it by a long shot.  But, he gets vilified more than anyone else.  Same thing happened to Azarenka.  So then the finals took place.  Sure, Stevens captured the fans attention with her charismatic, funny and charming interviews but now we have one of the oldest women on tour, Li Na.  Li Na has been cracking up fans for years with her surprisingly candid and honest interviews.  One of the reasons I like tennis is that interviews aren’t all the same, they are quite funny and Li Na is one of the best.  Li Na plays her best at Australia for reasons she can’t explain.  This was well documented in her run to the finals beating two of the top women, Radwanska and Sharapova.  As she kept highlighting how she loves Australia, just as how CM Punk predicted, the fans loved her for complimenting their country. 

So, at 3AM eastern time, I sat down on my couch to watch Victoria Azarenka, the woman that has been attacked and crucified in newspapers across the world for the last two days vs. Li Na, the woman that everyone loves for her charm and hilariously candid interviews who loves Australia, battle it out for the championship in Australia.  The fans didn’t boo Azarenka except for one time during the match.  But they were notably silent when Azarenka did well and cheered much louder for Li Na.  It was obvious who the fans wanted, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Li Na would collapse on the court twice for a twisted left ankle and had to receive help from the trainer.  Nobody cared, unlike when Azarenka did it once just two days ago.  The 2^nd time Li Na fell, she banged her head pretty hard and they were worried about a concussion.  If the fans didn’t love Li Na before, they certainly did now.  The woman has come back from twisting the same ankle twice, possible concussion, but she’s going to fight to the bitter end.  She’s not tapping out, she’s not going to quit, she’s going to stand on the opposite baseline and battle the number 1 player in the world.  Victoria Azarenka would beat her in three sets. 

I loved the match but at the end during the ceremony I watched intently to see Azarenka’s speech.  Unfortunately, she did the classy thing.  She got up there and thanked the fans.  I know the logic, without the fans there couldn’t be the large prize money reward for playing tennis.  But, I’m an economist, if it wasn’t for what these players could do, the way they can entertain the masses, they wouldn’t show up.  There are much more people that like watching tennis than can play tennis at the ability of those on court.  Lower supply, higher cost, Azarenka deserves the money.  If CM Punk beats the Rock, he will come out on Monday Night Raw the next day and say, “Once again, I have beaten your hero.  Once again, I have proven that you don’t need the people to be successful.  Once again, I can’t be stopped and have beaten everyone in my path for 435 days to prove that I am the Best in the World”

Now, I didn’t expect Azarenka to say that.  If she did, I’d love her for it.  But, if I were her, I wouldn’t have thanked the fans.  She broke down crying after she won.  I understood it, through all the adversity, having a nation against her, she walked into enemy territory and still got the job done.  Athletes should be mentally tough, but what she went through is unfair and it had to be tough.  I normally dislike crying in sports by male or female but this time I was okay with it.  So, I know I don’t have a big following.  But I will say it for Azarenka since she’s too classy to say it herself.  “I have come out here, and I have beaten your heroes.  Back to back I took out the two non-Australian players you love the most.  Boo me if you want; mock me if you want; but this (as she holds up the trophy) says that I am the champion, this solidifies that I am unquestionably, undeniably, indisputably the Best in the World!  

XFL too early?

As the football playoffs are down to the final four, I look at the NFL and wonder
about where today's sports have come.  Over 10 years ago, Vince McMahon came up with
an idea called the "XFL," which kept football pure.  He had a professional football
league in America that still allowed you to hit players.  Trash talking wasn't
penalized and players and teams were paid more for wins.  Even back then, there
seemed to be discontent with how babied the NFL has become.  Defenders are sometimes
penalized for "leading with their head when tackling."  Looking at the NFL players,
I noticed that all of them have their heads located above their shoulders.  To make
a tackle, they bend down and drive their shoulders into an offensive player.  Given
that, given the placement of the head on a human body, in order to drive your
shoulder into someone, you have to lead with your head.  Football is supposed to be
a hard hitting manly sport.  Now since pretty boys like Tom Brady play it, defensive
players are fined constantly for making hard hits on players.  Defensive players
complain about this all the time, especially now.  But, when Vince McMahon offered
them an alternative, the XFL, it was rejected.  Almost nobody watched.

I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, a very big football town.  My high school has the
state record for most state championships in football.  Because of this, there were
many football jocks in my high school and they all seemed excited about the XFL
since it would allow them to watch real hard nosed football again.  But, alas, this
didn't happen.  No matter what McMahon did, he couldn't get people interested in the
one year that the XFL was in existence.  It ran during the off-season of the NFL and
it still didn't catch.  Now when I hear NFL linebackers complaining week after week
because Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, fined them for tackling someone
hard, I wonder if maybe the XFL's problem wasn't that people didn't want to watch
hard hitting football but that people hadn't hit a fever peek yet with the kid
gloves of the NFL.  Have we reached the fever pitch now?  Was the XFL tried too
early?  Will a Vince McMahon come out of the wood work and offer an alternative so
people can play real football again?  Are fans really upset to see the
overprotection of kickers and quarterbacks and the main defenders on their favorite
teams continually suspended for a game because of a hit that would have been
perfectly legal not too long ago?  Or have Americans really gotten too soft to
appreciate a violent sport?  In a country where anything that could possibly be
construed as taunting is harshly penalized and victimized, maybe people just aren't
built to handle someone looking them in the eye and saying "you suck."  Maybe they
can't handle a bruise on their skin without running to their mommies or wives crying
like a little girl.  Throughout the years, records will be broken, but I will never
give credence to any of them because if you were allowed to hit the way you could in
the old days, these players probably wouldn't be achieving these numbers.

Punish everyone for the faults of the few

It’s amazing to me how easily people can mess up something for everyone.  Just because one person decides to have a bomb in his shoe, everyone has to walk either bare foot or in their socks through a metal detector in an airport.  The thing that’s even more fascinating is how willing Americans are to bend over and just take it.  The example I’m going to give here is the recent soda ban in New York City that will take place in the next couple months.

For those of you who don’t know, New York City is banning soda to be sold in quantities above 16oz in any state-sanctioned business which is pretty much all places except grocery stores.  The US government has no right to tell me that I cannot have a soda above 16oz.  They are doing this because Americans are becoming so obese so they want to try to counteract that by being big brother and forcing them to consume less soda.  This is especially true for poor people because when poor people get obese, they get sick, end up in the hospital and, since they have no health insurance, the state ends up picking up the tab.  Given this, all Americans of all income brackets need to suffer.  If this was really the problem, then the simple solution is to no longer allow soda to be purchased with EBT or food stamps.  That way it only affects the poor.  Of course, they did try this and it had no significant difference.  Why not treat soda like alcohol? if I order a soda, I have to show that I have a health insurance card in order to get above 16oz.  It seems ridiculous but at least I don’t have to suffer since if something happens to me, I do have insurance to alleviate the price to the state.  But alas, that’s not what Bloomberg (mayor of New York) is doing. 

A woman I respect thought that Bloomberg’s logic was sound. To which case, I believe that anything and everything can be banned using the same logic.  Flowers should be banned because flowers have thorns, thorns can cut people and since poor people live in unclean environments, their risk if infection is higher, so their cut from the thorns gets infected, they have to go to a hospital, and the tax payers fit the bill.  Even if you ban thorns on flowers it wouldn’t help because flower pedals can fall, they are slippery, someone slips on the flower pedals they go to the hospital for their fall and the state has to pick up the tab.  Therefore a bouquet of flowers should be banned to limit the amount of pedals that can fall and risk poor people slipping on them. 

For those of you who think this is a New York problem, consider this: New York City banned smoking indoors in 2003.  Shortly thereafter, many states followed the New York model and did the same in their state.  Now, most states have an indoor smoking ban.  America looks to New York, their biggest and most profitable city, as a model for them.  The indoor smoking banned forced bars and industries across the country to close down from a lack of revenue. 

I predict that by 2015, more than 25 states will impose the soda ban.  The idea that soda is solely responsible for obesity is asinine.  If you go to any fast food place in New York, poor people are lined up to eat there.  Two brothers pizza, a New York pizza chain that sells 2 cheese slices and a can of a soda (phew, only 12oz) for $2.75 almost always has a line of people you would not want to see an alley one day.  They also sell fried chicken for cheap.  Given that two slices and a drink normally costs like $6.50 at other pizza places, they do have an excellent deal.  Given all the poor people huddled at two brothers across the city, you think that maybe that contributes.  Healthy food costs a lot of money, that’s why poor people don’t eat it.  Rather than deny the population, hit the problem on the head, if you have an unpaid medical bill, you are not allowed treatment at the hospital.  That simple.   

I often wonder what is the tipping point.  When will Americans stand up and say, “Enough.”? When will we stand up for our freedoms?  Why must I suffer because of the few?  But no, Americans are soft.  They bend it over and take it up the ass.  I will do my part and buy two 16oz sodas with my meals.  Given that I normally get a 20oz, I will be consuming 24oz instead of 20, so the soda ban will actually hurt me as far as the calorie intake.  But I suffer on.  America is really embracing socialism and big brother.  In the late 70s, high interest rates, kidnapped Americans in Iran and inflation under Carter made American says enough is enough I want the conservative Raegan, and the economy soared.  Maybe Obama can ruin the economy to Carter standards before Americans wake up.  But I’m losing hope.  It’s hard to turn the tides.  Americans want the nanny state as was evident by the Obama overwhelming victory.  The last great superpower is folding because they looked to collapsed nations on how to run theirs.  Retards run the asylum and this is what you get.  Fuck mayor Bloomberg. 

Response to college humor gay marriage

There’s a college humor video about gay men threatening straight men that are against marriage to approve of gay marriage or else the gay men will steal their girlfriends and “marry the crap out of them” Let me respond to those gays that made that video.  So their point is that they’re all ripped because they love the gym.  One, I know a lot of gay men that aren’t ripped; they’re not nearly as homogeneous and stereotypical as the video implies.  But their “ripped” physique is really just a show.  What happens if someone tries to attack the girl?  Clearly the gays won’t care as much as they are “taking one for the team” so to speak.  That and they don’t want to mess up their designer shirt with its perfectly pressed sleeves.  Do you really think that guys care if our pizza stained T-shirt is damaged?  No, real men aren’t image conscious; they wear their scars as a badge of honor.  Not sure if “chicks” really do “dig scars” but men think they do.  We are much more likely to get in between a man much bigger than us and our lady.  Sure we get our asses kicked and maybe we’ll wake up in a pool of our own blood but our goal is really just to distract the man so that the woman can get away.  If we succeed in that, it doesn’t matter how bloodied we are, hell we’d brag about it.  It would be nice to win the fight but if we don’t oh well.  You think your kisch cooking flamboyantly gay man will bloody his immaculately smooth skinned face for you?  I think not.  This piece is assuming that men act like real men.  Nowadays, they are a very rare breed and maybe it’s because men are becoming more and more effeminate.  I know many heterosexual men that act like women….hell I have trouble finding ones that don’t in New York as I say in my book.  So, you know what men do cook now.  But let’s pretend that men act the way they say in the video, IE the way men should act.  What happens when it’s late at night and something goes bump in the night?  Men will grab a weapon whether it be the fireplace poker, a baseball bat or something and go walking around the house searching for what that noise may be.  Dave Chappelle makes fun of white men in horror movies for always “going outside to investigate. “  But that’s an accurate assessment to what we would do.  If your lady wakes you up and says, “What’s that?”   You’re going to go check it out.  And maybe you’ll die, but hopefully you make enough noise that your lady knows to call for help and not be embarrassed if it turned out to be nothing.  Real men would gladly die to keep their lady protected.  Will your gay husband do that?  Nope, he’ll just cuddle with you with the covers over their head as if an intruder couldn’t tell from the lumps if they were to come in.  That physique won’t do you any good if you’re not willing to use it to protect your woman.  But alas, women would love the gay husband.  Unfortunately, real men are only necessary when shit hits the fan or when you have the illusion that something is amiss.  What happens when a mouse comes into the house or there’s a spider that needs to be killed?   Your gay husband will jump up on the chair screaming with you.  While we’ll chase it with a knife or a gun trying to kill it.  In the Spider case, we would use our hands if you’re not in the room but if you are, then we’d resort to a shoe or a paper towel.  For those of us that are superstitious, we would let the spider crawl on something and carry it outside and let it back into its natural habitat while you and your gay husband stand on a chair screaming bloody murder.  We will also fix things We’re very handy and can save us a lot money by doing home construction ourselves.  Your gay husband would never rugged or callous those smooth hands of his.  The interesting thing about this is I don’t actually know what women want. Growing up women were appreciative that when they were overly emotional, I was the steady rock of Gibraltor.  They could come to me about anything and I wouldn’t have an emotional reaction no matter how fucked up it was.  I would offer my advice and normally it helped.  Past couple years however, it’s just gotten me into trouble.  Women tell me, ‘I want someone to cry with me” and I’m not very good at that.  Also, my non-emotive dissect the situation stripped of all emotion analysis just make them upset.  So, yes your gay husband will cry with you.  When you’re crying on his ripped physique, he’ll be getting your hair wet with his tears.  He may whine about how your tears are ruining his pristine shirt but normally they’re sensitive enough to just not bring that up….but they’d be thinking it.  Real men wouldn’t.  Fuck the shirt, let it all out and cry, I will be the sturdy force.  Which one would women prefer?  I guess it depends on what the situation is, but I think more often than not, they would rather have the person they’re crying on, crying with them…which makes no sense to us real men.  But women were never good at logic. 

I’m assuming that everything in the video is true.  If it’s true that women have already told the gay men how they like to be kissed or fucked and expect real men to just intuitively know….well then whose fault is it that you don’t get fucked the way you want?  Women’s.  You’re supposed to be the communicators, if you tell your gay friend but not your lover because you expect your lover to intuitively know that’s your fault, not ours.  It’s not our fault that you share more with them.  Sure, the gay guy is more understanding and more willing to listen but on the topic of sex, real men are interested.  Now if you tell us and we refuse then the gay men have a point but if you tell the gay guy how you liked to be fucked but not us, it’s not our fault that they kiss you the way you want to be kissed and fuck you the way you want to be fucked and we don’t, it’s actually yours. 

Defending guns in Newtown massacre

Like many people, in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, I found myself asking, "What kind of person can stare at a 5-year-old down the barrel of a gun and pull the trigger?  The shocking thing is, when you look at the facts, it is actually an extremely common psychological state.  I know anti-gun people will scream that this is why guns should be banned but I believe these instances are evidence for why we need less gun laws. 

Quickly, the psyche of a man that goes and kills 20 kids and 6 adults. it's shocking to me that the facts I've heard have been very contradictory.  I'm going to go with the scenario that he killed his mother at home, drove to the school, broke a window of the school, snuck in and opened fire on his mother's classroom before moving to another classroom.  This is a classic case of someone that is striving for his mother's affection.  He felt that his mother loved the kids she taught more than she loved him, so he punished not just the mother but the objct of her affection too....the kids. At first I wanted to call it "Oedipus" but Oeidpus you only kill the object of your mother's love so you can be with the mother.  If it was Oedipus, I guess he would have to kill only the students.  It is common, however, for a kid to feel jealous that their parent loves somebody else more than they love them.  This is merely an extreme case of that.  The most disturbing statement I've heard is "If you want to kill your parents that's fine but...." we have come to a point in our society where that's how we start sentences.

After this tragic event, I think that teachers should start bringing guns to school.  You obviously can't rely on the government or security to protect you fom these psychos so you have to defend yourself.  If teachers were armed, the bad people with guns would be disinclined to try anything and when someone tries to kill students, the teachers can shoot back.  I'm not sure it would have really helped in the Newtown case because he did have the element of surprise, but it wouldn' have hurt. 

One final political point.  If there are people capable of shooting 20 kids under the age of 6, then I'm pretty sure we can fine people that would have no problem shooting a heinous criminal firing squad style. 

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