Getting Some Rants Off

You could say that 2012 was, to quote Dickens, the best of the times and the worst of times.  You could probably say that about every year, I bet, but I do like that quote. I could do some navel gazing about the past year, I suppose  I had a great year blogging.  I met a few people in the bloggysphere who I think the world of, and I've been able to participate in some great writing communities, such as Write On Edge and Trifecta.  I think that my writing skills have significantly improved thanks to the critiques and the comments of my fellow writers.  I certainly have felt more confident about trying new things, and I hope that I continue to learn and grow.

But today is the day for me to get some of the rants off my bloggy plate.  I often started a blog post with a rant about particular things.  I get riled up, as the saying goes.  But inevitably, I cool off, or get outraged about something else.  Eventually I have to turn off the television and stop watching the news.  So here are a few random rants.  I'm getting them off of my chest, setting them free, yada, yada, yada.  This way I can start the new year off with other stuff to rant about.  Lord knows there's always something to get riled up about!

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If my wish for a super power came true, and I had had the ability to psychically smack people upside the head, I would have been mentally slapping people left and right during the election.  People lost their minds, posting stuff on Facebook about Obama.  Most of it was barely concealed ignorant tripe or scare tactics that often bordered on blatant racism.  There is no place for racism in this day and age, and people who perpetuated it should be called on it.  Bring that hatred into the light of day and kill it dead.  And all that dung about Obama not being an American citizen?  That was downright insulting to my intelligence.  The whole election seemed to drain IQ points from the masses, if what was posted on Facebook was any indication.  Don't even get me started about Twitter. 

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I won't miss the NRA and their shenanigans.  I wish that they were gone, but they'll certainly recover from their sudden unpopularity because they throw stupid gobs of money at Washington.  There's been way too much innocent blood poured out over the last year for anyone to be standing behind the NRA anymore.  It's an antiquated organization that refuses to change with the times, and it therefore needs to die a quiet death in a corner and be buried like cat poop.  We as a nation should be embarrassed by the NRA, and shun it completely.  Yes, the Second Amendment says that a citizen has the right to bear arms.  The Second Amendment does not say a word about a citizen having an AK-47 or an assault rifle. 

Common sense gun control isn't about taking all the guns away, and people need to stop responding in a knee jerk fashion about it.  There's not a darn thing wrong with having a background check before you are allowed to buy a gun. What possible reason would a law-abiding person need to have a gun immediately, where they couldn't wait?   There's not a darn thing wrong with limiting the types of working guns that a person can own.  I can see no reason for anyone who is not in the military or law enforcement to own an assault rifle.   There is certainly not a darn thing wrong with having a national registry of gun owners available to law enforcement.  If your gun is stolen, wouldn't you like to know if it ends up being used in a crime?  

I don't own a gun, and I have no intention of owning a gun.  Well, maybe a shotgun, to shoot rock salt at the random Kirby vacuum representative who shows up at my door every week.  However, I think that owning a handgun creates a false sense of security and an illusion of power that doesn't actually exist. I refuse to drink that Kool-aid.   Most of my friends and family members own guns, however, and that's okay with me. I also don't care if my family or neighbors have guns; if the zombie apocalypse comes, I will be hanging out with my neighbors in the cul de sac for a modicum of protection. 

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Bullying is a huge topic this year.  All these kids are being bullied, I hear, and we must stop it.  Great.  I am all on board with helping kids.  But what about the adults who are bullied?  What about the bullies on the evening news, the ones screaming that if you don't agree with them then you are evil personified?  Doesn't that church in Kansas, the one that pickets the funerals of soldiers, qualify as a bully of a sort?  What about the 'volleyball moms' who deliberately leave a couple of kids' names off of a 'championship' t-shirt, to make those girls feel excluded?  What about a boss who screams at an employee or tells them that they should just feel lucky to have a job?  Doesn't that qualify as bullying?  What good is it for use to tell children not to bully? Vicarious learning is extremely powerful.  The kids do what they see us do.  If your child sees you do it, it must be okay.  I say that we need to take care of ourselves, get out own lives in order, per the bullying, before we get hyper focused on the lives of our kids. 

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Why is the Westboro Baptist Church even warranting any newsprint or mentions anywhere?  This is most certainly a hate group--they probably would tell you that themselves.  To badger people who have been dealt a significant blow--the death of a loved one--by saying that they deserved to die is heinous.  Yes, they are a church, and the First Amendment gives them rights to speak their minds.  But they preach hatred, not love.  They certainly are not Christians, and should be disavowed by all religions.  I am sure that this group craves attention, and they get it from picketing funerals and then slapping lawsuits onto people who try to keep them from being there.  So quit giving them attention.  Stop referring to them by name, stop filming them.  Don't give them air time at all.  The lack of publicity would kill them by suffocating the 'cash' cow.  So stop giving them that attention.  Starve them of it.  Let them be a candle placed in a jar with the lid welded on, so that the flame of their hatred sputters and is extinguished. 


That's it.  I got most of my rants out.  The rest I deleted.  I will start fresh in 2013.  Happy New Year, everyone!  I wish all of you a happy, prosperous, and exciting(in a good way) 2013. 

Shaddup, Politicians: A Small Rant

Did you hear about how Newt laid into the media at the debate on Thursday?  No?  Beuller?

Go here and read about it.

I'll wait...

Gingrich's lambasting of the media at the debate ticked me off.  Cheesed my crackers.  Newt's ex-wife made some interesting observations about him with regard to his behavior during their breakup and divorce(he was cheating on that wife with the woman who is the current wife, for those keeping score).   Such behavior speaks to the kind of man he is, to the kind of POTUS he would be if elected, I think.  Such behavior is not irrelevant, although perhaps not appropriate fodder for the purpose of the debate.  Still, the subject was brought up, the least that Newt can do is answer the question, right. Wrong.  At a televised presidential debate sponsored by the media,  prospective presidential candidate Newt goes on an attack...of the media.  

How convenient.  How original. Everyone clapped and whooped and hollered, just like the bystanders do when a bully gets in a good shot.  It was textbook. 

Everyone loves to pick on the media, politicians in particular.  Blame the media and people want to climb right on that bandwagon.  It's very easy to place blame on some shadowy, generic, entity like "the" media. I'm surprised that the entire worldwide economic crisis hasn't been placed at the feet of ABC.  To hear some talk, you would think that the media was also responsible for the sinking of the Titanic.  Did you ever notice that the only time anyone whines about the media is when the media is asking questions they don't want to answer?   Newt certainly wasn't whining when he was being touted as a new frontrunner, was he?  No, he was lovin' that center stage!  (who wouldn't, at least for a little while?) 

I would love it if the next candidate who whines about the media picking on him was immediately cut off.  No interviews requested.  No newspaper stories. No pictures appearing on the internet. No invitations to appear at debates. A presidential candidate who couldn't get the media to show up for a sound byte wouldn't be much of a candidate.

And don't give me any more crap about a "liberal media".  It's tiresome.  We as a country have exactly the media we want, warts and all.  Think about it.  There would be no Fox News if the media were "liberal"; if nobody was watching Fox News, it wouldn't exist.  Whining about the "liberal" media is how Rupert Murdoch and others get people to change the channel; ennui is what keeps them from changing the channel. 

Okay.  That's out of my system. 




*For the record, I am not affiliated with any particular political party.  They all get on my nerves.