The Rise of Bullies in America

OK, these are dogs, but don't they just look exactly like the sour countenance of the current Republican leadership? Sorry doggies, no offense.


Have you ever been bullied?

One third of school children 1-12 grades report being bullied at least twice a year.

The highest level of bullying happens in the 6 and 7 th grades. (the emotional and intellectual level of the majority of our elected representatives State and Federal)

Half of all workers report at least two instances of bullying a year.(mainly by those in authority)

Most bullies are men.

Most bullies never change their habits but can be inhibited by social or peer pressure.

All this sound familiar?

So when 40 or 41 bullies hold up health care for a year at the cost of 45,000 un-necessary deaths from those who don't have health insurance should we be surprised?

When they say we don't care if you did win the election we don't want you to govern, should we be surprised?

When the last guys running America are still trying to bully the public, are we doing anything about it?

When this gang of bullies ban together to destroy the first "black" president as much for the fact that he is black as he is not of their gang, should we care?

We have seen the rise of bullies in all aspects of our society. The rules, even the laws, don't apply any more. Civil Rights, harassment, all that enforcement has had its teeth pulled.

Now, our courts are going to let the bullies actually carry guns on their hips damn near any place they please. Intimidation and bullying by their mere presence.

From the Hallowed Halls Of Congress to the local greasy spoon there are bullies everywhere you turn. They've always been there, but now they seem to be reinforcing one another and even have an agenda of sorts: "If you want something then you must ask me for it, even if it is yours in the first place."

Are we in a downward cycle? Will we not stand up to these bullies? Will our leaders not each grow a pendulant pair and use them?

You know, I am somewhat certifiable myself. I'm a bit crazy. But you know if I begin to feel intimidated by the gonadless dickheads sporting a 9mms on their hips(or an M-2, .50 cal mounted on their truck) at my local eatery I might just play the game myself. I can legally carry a automatic shotgun around with me in this State even where handguns are now posted as forbidden. Neat, huh? Hell if I buy the small "child's hunting guns" I don't even need to have a background check or be registered. Shit it is the same for any black powder pistol. You don't even need a permit to carry. I'll just take my .44 cal revolver and fill the chambers with 60 grams of powder and a ball and be ready to rock-n-roll. Wild West, bring it on friends and neighbors.

So I guess I got a mite off subject. OK, maybe I'll not do that gun thingy, but then if the other guy.....

Red Dirt Cajun Cat Vivienne

Vivienne the Foster Cajun Cat

Times get tough.

They're tough now.

As Robert Frost wrote, "Home is the place that when you have to go there, they have to take you in".

That applies to cats a well.

First it was Veto. Veto was our oldest son's cat. Marriage, moving, and his mother's overgrown fondness for his cat meant when had to leave, his cat stayed.

Visa, my cat, just showed up as a small calico kitten eating bugs and following me around like a puppy. Sort of like my wife did when I first met her. (no, not the bugs part) I've always been a true sucker for sweetness.

Then there was Hektor (with a "K"). Hektor was destined for a non-kill animal shelter. Unfortunately my youngest son was asked to deliver him the next morning. Hektor never left of course. My youngest has the softest and largest heart in the family.

So when the youngest had to move away of course Hektor could not leave the wide open spaces of his home and yard much less his friends Veto and Visa.

Louisianan has decided that higher education and other such luxuries need not be continued to be funded at current levels. So my daughter and spouse had to divest their household of cost and responsibilities in order to eat. Thus came to us our foster cat Vivienne.

Vivienne is 9-10 months old, still a kitten. She is a long haired calico and cute as can be. She has been living inside a home with two older boy cats and she has an attitude, and of course the behavior of a kitten. (Did I mention she has a fluffy tail like a skunk's?)

So now we are integrating her into our cat household. She has been isolated from the other felines in rooms upstairs. We have introduced her to the older cats through the doors and windows and an occasional live visit under highly controlled circumstance. We have let her roam the entire house sans other cats and leave her smells all over the place so they could get used to her presence. So far so good.

I think she will have more issues with the older cats than they will with her. She sleeps in my lap sometimes, but generally she is on the move, up, down, over, under, run, jump, climb, chase, escape. My oldest cat is eleven years old, Veto. Veto just looks at her with disgust. Visa who is about eight years old pretends that she is not there, at least until Vivienne comes over to play which Visa interprets as attack and flees. Hektor who only about 3 years old looks at her and says hey gal what's up?

I figure that Vivienne qualifies as a Cajun Cat. Pretty soon I'll introduce her to the red dirt in the back yard. Our cats are in/out cats and so Vivienne will be too.



The other night when my youngest son slept over in Vivienne's room, it seems she 'made' him play with her late into the night and then slept cuddled up on the bed beside him.

I think as she settles in and learns the relationships and the smells she will do fine. If the daughter waits to long to take her back, it might not happen. Sorry girl.

Go To College: Naw, Take A Couple Of Years Off

I worked for a Higher Education Board for 27 Years.

College used to be a gateway to the American Dream.

College used to be a good investment.

Now it simple cost too much. There is nothing at the finish. It is not worth it.

You will have to borrow so much in student loans from the banks that upon graduation you will be their cash cow for the rest of your life.

You will spend an average of $23,000 for one year of public university tuition, fees, and board &
room . 2/3 rds of you will have to borrow most or all of that from banks that control the boards of the schools that are setting tuition.

If you are after an education degree you will pay as much 125% of the actual cost of the degree, while the engineering student will pay less that 10% out of pocket. Why bother. If the kids you teach are so deprived that they can't learn then you will be the one fired. Is it a calling, a mission, forget it.

Forget the Universities. Forget the Four Year Colleges. If you MUST go to college, go to a two year school and see what's what.

What you really should do is lay out for a couple of years and see what America becomes before you invest your money and life in lost causes that contribute to the Wall Street profiteers.

See America! Take a Van across the country. Join a theater group. Write those songs, or poems, or stories. Go fishing. Go camping. Draw, paint, sculpt, create, anything! Mow lawns. Volunteer to help the elderly. Volunteer at an Animal shelter. Try the Peace Corp or Volunteers For America. See the world.

Don't Go To College. If the Dream isn't real, then why buy it? If it is real, why pay three times too much for it? Take some time off. If enough students do that, maybe, maybe, it will be worth a damn when you get ready to go to college.

Seriously, Take a couple/three years off.
Grandma, pa, mom, dad, give the kids some cash and let them experience the world. It will be much cheaper for you and better for them. It is time to say no.

Moon-Pies and Operation Exodus

I needed a gas and food stop on a quick trip to Alexandria La. last week, so I pulled off I-20 just over the Louisiana State line at the Love's station and store.

As I stood outside eating my double layer banana flavored Moon-Pie and drinking a bottle of milk I watched this camouflaged jeep all covered in mud pull in and stop. Four old white guys in camouflaged hunting outfits got out. They pulled a variety of shotguns and rifles out of the jeep and carried them to cars parked nearby, and put them into their trunks. Hunters, not likely, there were four guys and at least a dozen weapons. So I surmised I was probably watching some Militia types coming home from some sort of target practice. Having been raised in "it's none of your business" country in Southwest Oklahoma I tried not to appear too curious.

Imagine my surprise today when I heard that the local Sheriff has organized his own Militia/Posse and that I may have encounterd some of them right there in the Love's parking lot. Small world ain't it?

Bossier sheriff launches 'Operation Exodus'
"The Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called "Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.
"The buck stops with Larry Deen," said Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. "The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it."
Deen said he had been formulating a plan to protect Bossier Parish's vital resources, like food and gasoline, in the event of a catastrophic event, such as war or a terrorist attack. Deen said he had been thinking of the plan since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Local residents may remember then-President George W. Bush's address to the nation was made out of Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City immediately after the attacks. At that time, Deen's men and about 100 other patrol cars barricaded entry to the base to protect the president from what turned out to be the nonexistent threat of an assault on the base.
Deen's office contacted more than 300 parish residents it thought would be useful during a similar emergency. Two hundred were chosen. Most of these people are ex-police officers and sheriff's office deputies that the sheriff's office was familiar with, Deen said.
Under the plan, these volunteers, supplemented with active public safety personnel, will be dispatched to vital areas in Bossier to protect them from looters or rioters. Deen listed as examples food inside grocery stores and gasoline in gasoline stations, not to mention protecting hospitals and other public meeting places.
These volunteers will be armed by the sheriff's office, using, among other things, shotguns, riot shields and batons. The members are mostly white men. Five are black. Women involved will only be used in "support roles," Deen said, which indicated non-combat activity. One of their first official training sessions was Feb. 20 when they learned basic hand-to-hand combat techniques." (Click on the headline above to read all about it at the sherevporttimes.com)

Now next time your driving Interstate-20 in Northwest Louisiana keep an eye out for these guys and their War-Wagon. Be assured that at least along this stretch of road terrorism will be kept at bay.

Sheriff Department Video

Drink Me Too

Source:Maripiperni.com


Source:LIFE Magazine

SPITE? Is That What Is Happening?

Nobel Economist Paul Krugman says it is SPITE!

Although I'm not in any sense an expert in game theory it seems to me that the winning strategy of tit for tat requires SPITE to be used in a logical sequence not in a meaningless train of events.

How Does SPITE Work:

Spite Fallacy is a fallacy in which spite is substituted for evidence when an "argument" is made against a claim. This line of "reasoning" has the following form:

Claim X is presented with the intent of generating spite.
Therefore claim C is false (or true)

This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because a feeling of spite does not count as evidence for or against a claim. This is quite clear in the following case: "Bill claims that the earth revolves around the sun. But remember that dirty trick he pulled on you last week. Now, doesn't my claim that the sun revolves around the earth make sense to you?"

Of course, there are cases in which a claim that evokes a feeling of spite or malice can serve as legitimate evidence. However, it should be noted that the actual feelings of malice or spite are not evidence. The following is an example of such a situation:
Jill: "I think I'll vote for Jane to be treasurer of NOW." Vicki: "Remember the time that your purse vanished at a meeting last year?" Jill: "Yes." Vicki:"Well, I just found out that she stole your purse and stole some other stuff from people." Jill: "I'm not voting for her!"
In this case, Jill has a good reason not to vote for Jane. Since a treasurer should be honest, a known thief would be a bad choice. As long as Jill concludes that she should vote against Jane because she is a thief and not just out of spite, her reasoning would not be fallacious.

Examples of Appeal to Spite
Bill: "I think that Jane did a great job this year. I'm going to nominate her for the award." Dave: "Have you forgotten last year? Remember that she didn't nominate you last year." Bill: "You're right. I'm not going to nominate her."

Jill: "I think Jane's idea is a really good one and will really save a lot of money for the department." Bill: "Maybe. Remember how she showed that your paper had a fatal flaw when you read it at the convention last year..." Jill:"I had just about forgotten about that! I think I'll go with your idea instead."

Now tell me doesn't that sound like the drivel coming out of FOX news and the Republicans?

Look Up and Smile: The Drone You See May Be Your Last

Update on my Monday February 15 blog "Look Up and Smile":
This weeks Newsweek Magazine has an article on the flip side of Drone Airplane technology entitled: Defending Against Drones.

How our new favorite weapon in the war on terror could soon be turned against us!
For less than $50,000 a few amatures could shut down Mahattan, says a robotics expert.
Whoopie!

The article was written by P.W. Singer who is the director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution and the author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century.