tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61057327607437290022024-03-13T15:26:12.606-04:00Daddy on the EdgeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-23513818662604246452015-07-09T21:41:00.001-04:002015-07-09T21:41:20.841-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Our Better AngelsI watched something today.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq4y6q9ZIm3A7zqklgqE3RprXqAb0_vc_B8AWXVHHTZEaVIXCOURCHoB28ayA9a4RqGTX3tlP8jNXlWOmtqT8b0pwUIx_-kbWnc06wIqZB44NizXrrOHQ5GkfwpBHqZodfOAIvVG6D-NXi/s1600/be85396d7c34949075a1b4cee24d96ff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq4y6q9ZIm3A7zqklgqE3RprXqAb0_vc_B8AWXVHHTZEaVIXCOURCHoB28ayA9a4RqGTX3tlP8jNXlWOmtqT8b0pwUIx_-kbWnc06wIqZB44NizXrrOHQ5GkfwpBHqZodfOAIvVG6D-NXi/s200/be85396d7c34949075a1b4cee24d96ff.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Spirit Guide" by Ironshod on deviantART</td></tr>
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<i>Hmmm...y'know Daddy, you've been AWOL for about six months now. Don'tcha think a bit of an explanation might be in order for your five or six ardent followers?</i><br />
<br />
Yeah, I suppose you're right. Hey folks; sorry about the disappearing act. There was...ummmm...laundry. A whole bunch of...laundry.<br />
<br />
But today, I watched something.<br />
<br />
I took a break from the Republican Clown Car of Candidates, averted my eyes from a thrice divorced county clerk suddenly freaking over the sanctity of marriage when two fellas show up at her counter to get hitched - even stepped away from all the ludicrous, backward, just plain ignorant defense of <strike>a loser's flag</strike> the Confederate flag and spent the next twelve minutes watching an incredible video about incredible human beings that made history. <br />
<br />
Most of us never heard about it at the time, because there was other, darker history being made on this date. And yet, through the grimmest, most terrifying hours of a day that no one could ever conceive, this loose cadre of heroes were a largely unsung light in the darkness, and bravely surged into the mouth of that darkness...to help others.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MDOrzF7B2Kg" width="420"></iframe><br />
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There are no words for how hopeful I feel about humanity after watching this. Nowhere in that video were people discriminating against people of different colors or faiths. Nowhere did you see people being denied a place on a boat because of who they loved or how they voted. It would have been utter nonsense and the height of wickedness to have made such distinctions in the face of the unimaginable horror that surrounded them on that fateful day. <br />
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So why is it ever okay? Do we need a 9/11 to remind us that every being we share the world with is just as deserving of help, respect and love as we are? There is so much wrong with the world. There are catastrophes around every corner - people suffering seemingly insurmountable odds...and they need our help, too.<br />
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We should not need one of the country's most horrific disasters to call us to action. We should not need our world to literally come crashing down around us to remember our goddamned humanity, and the humanity of <i>every other person around us</i>. There is an absolutely staggering amount of pain and suffering happening on our planet every single second of the day. We can either contribute to it, or try to alleviate it in some way - in <i>any</i> way. We can choose to be the darkness, or choose to be the Light. For the people on those boats, it was an easy choice. It should be for us all.<br />
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The term "better angels" comes from Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural speech. These words were written in a spirit of reconciliation; a hope for a restoration of friendly relations. He ended his address with this plea;<br />
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<span 22.3999996185303px="" line-height:=""><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."</span></i></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">We can be Heroes. </span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">We can be Angels. </span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">We can be Better.</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-64153588241594102242014-12-24T09:31:00.000-05:002014-12-24T09:31:56.292-05:00Daddy on the Edge of The Grace of God<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"There but for the grace of God go I."</span></i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0oOU2cUEDHAtqS2WsTjJ-TmKaxzobcKiN_8IY5sQRZQvWWwXPlkehhHd0S1Ry5gom9bMehBq-rdc0M_9BqiENtfQpd97yrv74rwFNztpO3ksawDTflMs_gh7kxygo0d68awfO8a-FQ2QB/s1600/10398041_682657515190507_8876308662016027968_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0oOU2cUEDHAtqS2WsTjJ-TmKaxzobcKiN_8IY5sQRZQvWWwXPlkehhHd0S1Ry5gom9bMehBq-rdc0M_9BqiENtfQpd97yrv74rwFNztpO3ksawDTflMs_gh7kxygo0d68awfO8a-FQ2QB/s1600/10398041_682657515190507_8876308662016027968_n.jpg" height="138" width="200" /></a>I'm sure you've heard that saying. It's paraphrased from John Bradford, an English reformer and martyr from the 1500's. It's said that when he would see "evil doers" being taken to the place of execution, he knew that could well be him some day. Eventually, he was right. Today, it's something we tell ourselves when we see someone else's bad situation and realize how easily it could become our own. It's a reminder that, no matter the station or circumstance in life, we are all alike.<br />
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We are all, deep down inside, the same. We want what's ours. We want to be treated fairly. We want to be happy. We want to protect our loved ones, and gain justice for those loved ones who have been wronged. We want to be understood, to be loved, to be rewarded for our good deeds and not punished too harshly for our bad deeds.<br />
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Deep down inside, I want what you want. You want what I want.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>We are all the same.</i></span></div>
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When a private citizen dies, that is a tragedy. I frankly do not care if he was selling loosies, or was belligerent or had a criminal record - when a private citizen dies, that is a tragedy.<br />
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When an officer of the law dies, that is a tragedy. I don't care what any other person in uniform did or did not do in some other place and in some other time - when an officer of the law dies, that is a tragedy.<br />
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When any one of us dies, any human being on this planet, that is a tragedy.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>We are all the same.</i></span></div>
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We used to at least attempt to walk a mile in another's shoes. We used to at least attempt to not throw rocks if we ourselves lived in glass houses. We used to at least attempt to not cast stones, as none of us were without sin.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">But we forgot.</span></i></div>
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We got blinded by differences, and lost sight of our similarities. We got overwhelmed by competition, and looked at each other as opponents to be beaten, rather than teammates that could share success. We immersed ourselves in conflict, and starved ourselves of comradery.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">We got real good at Hate, </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">and all but cast Love aside.</span></i></div>
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Blame whatever you want; in the end, it doesn't matter. Blame is just another false flag - another senseless diversion that upsets and divides people, but in the end accomplishes nothing. If you got an STD, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who you got it from - what matters is the healing.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And healing begins with realizing </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>that we are all the same.</i></span></div>
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Have you ever wanted a superpower? I did - I wanted to fly, but today I thought of a new one - a much better power;<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
I wish I had the power to make people see the face of a loved one </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
or themselves on any person they tried to harm.</div>
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We've gone down such a road of desensitizing - of seeing anyone who doesn't share our beliefs as someone less than tolerable, as someone to be marginalized to satisfy some mis-perceived "greater good" - maybe seeing our children's faces on those people that we seek to harm could give us pause. Maybe seeing our mother's faces on those who are suffering would cause us to not turn a blind eye. Maybe looking deep into our own eyes, and our own hearts, would cause us to realize that we are all the same. Then maybe we could stop trying so God damned hard to hurt every "other" person around us, and instead try to help, and to heal...and to love.<br />
<br />
I tried something today, and I'm going to ask that you try it as well. It's not going to feel easy - it may initially feel uncomfortable, but it gets easier and more comfortable the more that you do it; after a while, it can even feel like fun. So, here's what I did, and I hope you'll try it too -<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Today I decided that I would find something </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>I liked or loved about every single person I saw.</i></span></div>
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It could be anything - the way they walk, the shape of their eyeglasses, their hairstyle or their cool jeans; their fashionable scarf or the sparkle in their eyes or the sound of their laughter or a million other random things that make up the people that walk into and out of your life every day. The only rules are that you must find something good, you can't "skip" anyone, and if you see something that you don't like, you must dismiss it immediately and instead only focus on what you like.<br />
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I decided to try this as I was arriving at the mall. Two days before Christmas. Trial by fire is what I was expecting. Well, I have to tell you, I have never smiled as much on a shopping trip as I did today. There's something that happens, when you seek out and appreciate the positives in the people around you - it shows in your face. I'm not sure what "it" is - that you appreciate them? That you enjoy their presence in your life in that moment? That you make them feel good? I can't tell you, but whatever it is, I felt it - and the more I did it, the more I felt it - an extra energy, a physiological shift - <i>a connection</i>.. As people, we're generally accustomed to being ignored, or treated coldly and all too often we do the same. We disconnect. We self center. This exercise brought me out of myself and allowed me to reconnect, however briefly, with those miraculous, beautiful creations with whom I have so much in common.<br />
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And if you don't believe Daddy, then listen to Dalai -<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IUEkDc_LfKQ" width="420"></iframe>
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We all have the potential. And it's easier than we think.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">All My Love, </span></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-13619816857950296302014-11-10T21:41:00.000-05:002014-11-10T21:41:54.892-05:00Daddy on the Edge of Giving<br />
I'm here today to talk about giving.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTDDH3Vg1Khtyo8pQBi4T2wt-c7e9r2SVaClU2cx_25-zIooaxK_oS9N6Uy3qalw3I_AEDWlwAdx7C8XpgzCER3vbEoNbtXEvU3zlGcw-JMxM4WUwjkHOeLUhEd6FGguBSCpiD1YeqDrt/s1600/tim-minchin-300-002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTDDH3Vg1Khtyo8pQBi4T2wt-c7e9r2SVaClU2cx_25-zIooaxK_oS9N6Uy3qalw3I_AEDWlwAdx7C8XpgzCER3vbEoNbtXEvU3zlGcw-JMxM4WUwjkHOeLUhEd6FGguBSCpiD1YeqDrt/s1600/tim-minchin-300-002.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><br />
And Tim Minchin. <br />
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Minchin first.<br />
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Tim Minchin wrote a Christmas song. Well, no - Tim Minchin wrote a song about happenings occurring during the Christmas season, and clinically dissected the actual holiday and it's religious counterparts in his own <i>Minchinesque</i> fashion. Minchin doesn't speak of Jesus as the miracle baby away in a manger; he does instead refer to him as "a dead Palestinian press-ganged into selling Playstations and beer"...<br />
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It's one of my favorite Christmas songs.<br />
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Not because it bashes organized religion, but because, once you get past all that, the song reminds us that - dogma and commercialization aside - the holiday season is really about two things - love and family.<br />
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I was gonna start sermonizing here, but I'm stopping myself. That's not my place (although Daddy <i>is</i> an ordained Minister. Just throwing that out there; y'know, in case anyone reading this wants to be married by a blogger). Daddy's trying to remember that he too is a flawed human being and that his horse is not, and should not be, any higher than anyone else's. <br />
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But I've gotta say; as the holiday season approaches, I'm more than a little depressed and just a little bit pissed at some of the things I see on my screen lately. We're getting ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us in countless Bible verses and parables to love one another and to help the less fortunate among us.<br />
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So, what better way to ring in the holiday than by busting a Priest, a Minister and a Samaritan for feeding the homeless?<br />
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But yeah - that's what happened. The City Commission of Ft. Lauderdale (henceforth known as "The Dickhead Squad"), passed an ordinance in October making it actually very difficult for Mark Sims (the Priest), Dwayne Black (the Pastor) and 90 year old Arnold Abbott (the Samaritan) to feed the homeless without getting arrested.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX32OzJQef58aPYeJDgnvbHsAwYYOkxYMNEuzRllOdwBCdMyg1nQ0ln5fWp7XA4uj1MBB8G3Cfa9lnayD9i4TQu9HKb3sUHIBA0-vxC_NiinUPuzMp62dqjyj4U-d3wDI7jn9nL-5zO3_K/s1600/1020_1415209554.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX32OzJQef58aPYeJDgnvbHsAwYYOkxYMNEuzRllOdwBCdMyg1nQ0ln5fWp7XA4uj1MBB8G3Cfa9lnayD9i4TQu9HKb3sUHIBA0-vxC_NiinUPuzMp62dqjyj4U-d3wDI7jn9nL-5zO3_K/s1600/1020_1415209554.png" height="242" width="320" /></a><br />
So they did it anyway.<br />
<br />
And they got arrested.<br />
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Okay - they weren't actually taken to jail - they were cited and ordered to court. If they don't show, <i>then</i> they'll be taken to jail. If they do show, I imagine they'll be fined. 'Cuz you don't want to encourage this whole helping those less fortunate, right? Gotta shut that right down - after all, this is 2014 Ft. Lauderdale, not 33 AD Jerusalem - got it??<br />
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Damn - Who Would Jesus Call a Weenie?<br />
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Sitting in church as a kid, this is what I was taught - you help those less fortunate than you, you stand up for injustice, you are your brother's keeper -<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">You. Do. What's. Right.</span></b></div>
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These men were feeding hungry people. What could be more right? Feeding the hungry - that was in Jesus' Top Ten! Calling this a crime stuns and saddens me - and saying that feeding someone who is hungry helps "keep them in that cycle of homelessness" (as Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler said) is horseshit of the highest order. Of course, the idea behind such thinking is that if you stop feeding them, they'll go away, which is just Pez-head logic. Here's a crazy idea - maybe, instead of arresting the Samaritans trying to help the hungry, maybe the local government could try to help the hungry as well. Maybe, instead of passing new laws to make life tougher on people that are <i>already living on the fucking streets</i>, the community can try to think outside the box, and search for solutions to help people up instead of knocking them further down.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Maybe they could stop giving out tickets and start giving a shit about their fellow man.</i></span></b></div>
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Damn. I preached anyway, didn't I? Yeah, sorry - now meekly climbing off of my high horse (which is only slightly higher because we climbed up on my soap box) and getting back to the original point -<br />
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Tim Minchin wrote a Christmas song. And, if you buy this song from iTunes from November to January, all proceeds will go to <a href="http://www.autism.org.uk/">The National Autistic Society</a>, which provides support, information and services for people with autism and their families and campaigns for "a better world for people with autism".<br />
<br />
So, you can help some people and <i>not</i> get arrested. And you can hear what is really quite a beautiful song. Click <a href="http://www.timminchin.com/2014/11/04/white-wine-in-the-sun-reminder-proceeds-from-november-to-january-sales-go-to-the-nas/">here</a> to see the many ways you can purchase the tune. Also, if you would like to support the work of 90 year old Samaritan Arnold Abbott, you can click on the following link and contribute to <a href="http://lovethyneighbor.org/">Love Thy Neighbor</a>.<br />
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And one more thing - I'd like to ask a favor. In the spirit of the season, I'd love for you to give me your favorite quotes on the subject of giving. Just googling "quotes on giving" provides tons of resources to some really wonderful quotes - please post your fav in the comments section. Here's one that I really liked -<br />
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<i><b><span style=><span style="color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">“Giving does not only precede receiving; it is the reason for it. It is in giving that we receive.” </span></span></span><br style=" color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style=" color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7023141.Israelmore_Ayivor" style="; color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Israelmore Ayivor</a></b></i><br />
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And now, without further ado, I give you Tim Minchin...<br />
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fCNvZqpa-7Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i> Thank you so much, </i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i> Daddy</i></b></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-36226051073868129612014-10-23T20:10:00.000-04:002014-10-23T20:10:21.603-04:00Daddy on the Edge of F*cking Feminism<span style="font-size: large;">As a Daddy of two daughters, I've got a thing or two to say about gender inequality - </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFyLWgycgRyxKWdpH615kBOI0QMC9TPCdviRI1ct81Hg47axreJyu72CCpLEqoh7vNYjfiJ6ufKljsYwLs8BkyOneRoMj0jmOLTddzTWEZqO1r6k6NSNSPMhpSgJrovy2cJ04VHrNbibl/s1600/fckh8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFyLWgycgRyxKWdpH615kBOI0QMC9TPCdviRI1ct81Hg47axreJyu72CCpLEqoh7vNYjfiJ6ufKljsYwLs8BkyOneRoMj0jmOLTddzTWEZqO1r6k6NSNSPMhpSgJrovy2cJ04VHrNbibl/s1600/fckh8.jpg" height="112" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Thing One - The only workplace </span><span style="font-size: large;">where having a penis should factor into salary negotiations is in a male whorehouse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thing Two - See Thing One.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Seriously, there's a ton more that I could say on the subject, and one day I will - but there's a video going around that states it so perfectly that I'm just gonna let it speak for itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I do have to prepare you though - this video was produced by FCKH8.com. Daddy featured a video of theirs in a previous blog post, <a href="http://www.daddyontheedge.com/2010/09/daddy-on-edge-of-promoting-gay-agenda.html">"Daddy on the Edge of Promoting the Gay Agenda"</a> and I offered the same warning as I do now;</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span 16px="" 18.9149990081787px="" arial="" bold="" font-family:="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" sans-serif="" verdana="">Here's the </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;">Daddy on the Edge</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;"> warning -</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.9149990081787px;" /></span>
<span 16px="" 18.9149990081787px="" arial="" bold="" font-family:="" font-size:="" font-style:="" font-weight:="" italic="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" sans-serif="" style="font-size: large;" verdana=""><i>If the word Fuck bothers you, then you probably shouldn't watch this Fucking video. There's a Fucking cleaned up version of it, but that, to Daddy, is like low fat Fucking cheesecake - what's the Fucking point? You want to say Fuck in your video? Say Fuck in your video. So here's the Fucking video. I hope you Fucking enjoy it as much as I Fucking did.</i></span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Fuck yeah,</span> </i></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Daddy</i></span></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-29393196402007553172014-10-18T18:18:00.000-04:002014-10-18T18:18:59.736-04:00Daddy on the Edge of The Common Core<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Full Disclosure - I wrote most of this post in May, and I didn't publish it...because I thought it might be too crazy. </i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes, even Daddy has an edit button - it's hard to see, and is oft forgotten in favor of the much larger, more used "What's the Worst That Could Happen???" button, the "Fuck 'em if They Can't Take a Joke!!" button and the "Perhaps I should sober up a bit first...NAH!!!!" button, but it does exist, and sometimes I blow the dust off and ever so gently engage it's function, turning off my own mic, as it were.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So why publish now? Because apparently, I am not alone in my theory. Crazy loves company, but then again - so does sanity. And the difference between sanity and insanity usually comes down to opinion. so, you tell me - am I crazy? </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Oh, and one more thing - WARNING: This is probably the wordiest, most statistic filled Daddy on the Edge post you will ever see. Sorry - it couldn't be helped. There are lots of moving parts to this story, and I felt like the whole thing needed to be put out there. I'll make it up to you in the next post, I promise. So, now that you have been aptly warned, </i></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Here we go....</span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></i>
<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy on the Edge of The Common Core</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Who doesn't like a good conspiracy theory? They make you think. They make you wonder. They make you question. Daddy loves 'em - the door to creativity opens with the key of "What If...?" and that is how every good conspiracy theory begins.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="font-style: italic;">What if Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't the lone gunman? </b>The grand-daddy of them all. And No. No, he wasn't.</span><br />
<b style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">What if the government is manipulating the weather using HAARP technology?</span></i></b><span style="font-size: large;"> Do we microwave the atmosphere? Hmmmm....</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>What if Congress is trying to force the Post Office to go broke?</i></b> I know - why would they do something like that? Why? Because Money, that's why. Lobbyists from Fed Ex and UPS shelled out a whole bunch of money to Congressional leaders, and as a result, they passed a statute in 2006 that required of the US Post Office the early payment of 75 years of retirement benefits within ten years. I know, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well here's Daddy's very own conspiracy theory - stop me if you've heard this one before...</span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">What if Common Core Curriculum was implemented expressly to cause public school children to fail?</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I know - that doesn't make sense. But it does. Why? Because Money, that's why.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQpnQJlopncRT6n-Jg9YPIq_TmT7fwE6ZIYxYx2CS4uIGPWKU-var2OXl0evZpKDKBkHPeVLFZ5yWe8vU6GU46tTdrYIod_aVavStsSe8draDuzwVWogCpjfAhwtbnvO-WGuEDO7aVw41/s1600/walter-white-money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQpnQJlopncRT6n-Jg9YPIq_TmT7fwE6ZIYxYx2CS4uIGPWKU-var2OXl0evZpKDKBkHPeVLFZ5yWe8vU6GU46tTdrYIod_aVavStsSe8draDuzwVWogCpjfAhwtbnvO-WGuEDO7aVw41/s1600/walter-white-money.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Money - really, really big money isn't made overnight. To make "fat stacks", the smart money is on <i><b>The Long Game</b></i>. When Warren Buffett talks about investments and anticipated future performance, he talks in <i>centuries</i>. The game I describe isn't quite that long - this game starts to build steam in 2001.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. The thinking behind NCLB was, I think, in the right place - schools had to do well to receive funding. If a school didn't do well, steps were taken to improve it. Consistently poor scores met with increasingly harsher penalties and remedies. If a school was marked "in need of improvement" for two consecutive years, parents had the option of relocating their child to a private or charter school. Six straight years of school failure meant possible school closing, conversion to a charter school, hiring a private company to run the school, or asking the state office of education to run the school directly. So basically, <i>"Teach your children well, or go through hell, and kiss your school good-bye" (apologies to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)</i>. We know the upshot to this - teachers began "teaching to the test"- training their students to become proficient at exactly what was going to be on the exams, but not a whole lot more. The other unintended effect was...well, lying. They didn't call it that, of course - they called it "creative reclassification". For instance, at Houston's Sharpstown High School, 463 of it's 1,700 students left during the 2001-2002 school year, but not one was reported as a dropout, which makes Houston's dropout rate somewhere between 33 and 50 percent rather than the reported 1.5 percent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why do I bring this up? Charter Schools. From 1999-2000 to 2010-2011, the number of students enrolled in public charter schools increased from 0.3 million to 1.8 million students. During this period, the percentage of all public schools that were public charter schools, based on schools that reported enrollment, increased from 2 to 5 percent, comprising 5,300 schools in 2010-2011. As of September 2013, the number of charter schools in the US has grown to over 6,000, educating 2.3 million children. They might have gone up more than that, if not for the individual states placing limits or caps on the number of charter schools that were allowed to exist in each state.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But let's rewind a little bit to 2009. In 2009, Arnie Duncan (a big fan of charter schools when he ran the Chicago Public Schools) released the Obama Administration's "Race to the Top" initiative, handing out $4.4 billion in federal money to the states. But "handing out $4.4 billion" isn't exactly correct - Race to the Top was not a law or a mandated federal program - it was a contest. Schools had to do certain things to gain points - gain enough points, and you were eligible for the green. Here's a quickie <i>Wiki</i> sample of the points system -</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">State applications for funding were scored on selection criteria worth a total of 500 points. In order of weight, the criteria were:<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-execsummary_1-0" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_Top#cite_note-execsummary-1" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup>
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<ul style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19.2000007629395px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Great Teachers and Leaders (138 total points)</span></b><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance (58 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals (25 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Providing high-quality pathways for aspiring teachers and principals (21 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Providing effective support to teachers and principals (20 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Improving the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs (14 points)</span></li>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">State Success Factors (125 total points)</span></b><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Articulating State's education reform agenda and <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_education_agency" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Local education agency">LEAs</a>' participation in it (65 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Building strong statewide capacity to implement, scale up, and sustain proposed plans (30 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Demonstrating significant progress in raising achievement and closing gaps (30 points)</span></li>
</ul>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Standards and Assessments (70 total points)</span></b><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Developing and adopting common standards (from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Core_State_Standards_Initiative" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Common Core State Standards Initiative">Common Core State Standards Initiative</a>) (40 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Supporting the transition to enhanced standards and high-quality assessments (20 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Developing and implementing common, high-quality assessments (10 points)</span></li>
</ul>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">General Selection Criteria (55 total points)</span></b><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ensuring successful conditions for high-performing <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_schools" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Charter schools">charters</a> and other innovative schools (40 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Making education funding a priority (10 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Demonstrating other significant reform conditions (5 points)</span></li>
</ul>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Turning Around the Lowest-Achieving Schools (50 total points)</span></b><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Turning around the lowest-achieving schools (40 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Intervening in the lowest-achieving schools and LEAs (10 points)</span></li>
</ul>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Data Systems to Support Instruction (47 total points)</span></b><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fully implementing a statewide longitudinal data system (24 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Using data to improve instruction (18 points)</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><span style="font-size: large;">Accessing and using State data (5 points)</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In addition to the 485 possible points from the criteria above, the prioritization of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education is worth another fifteen points for a possible total of 500.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-execsummary_1-1" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_Top#cite_note-execsummary-1" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So, as you can see, instituting Common Core Standards got you some points. Another stipulation not mentioned here was that for a state to be eligible, <i>they had to lift their caps on the number of charter schools.</i> So certain states are gonna get massive moolah. But they're not the only ones.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fast forward to May, 2012. President Obama grants eight states, including New York, waivers from the NCLB education mandates, bringing the total of states with waivers in 2012 to nineteen. Waivers were needed because Congress wouldn't fix the law, and it was pretty clear by now that the 100% mandated success rate just wasn't going to happen. But there was a catch - again, probably a well meaning one in some respect, but a catch none the less. In exchange for the NCLB waiver, the states had to promise to implement "common core standards" for students. Between the waivers and Race to the Top, we were sure gonna need a heckuva lot of new common core textbooks, huh?</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Cha-Ching.</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is estimated that national cost for compliance with common core will be between $1 billion to $8 billion and the profits will go almost directly to publishers. Pearson Education is one of the big winners in this whole thing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But that's not even where the real money is. The real money - the truly fat stacks - they come if the scenario I am about to paint becomes fully realized. What am I talking about? I am talking about a perceived systematic failure of our entire public school system - a ranking of "piss poor" due to the fact that our children will have lost the ability to do simple addition and subtraction - not because they are lacking in intelligence, not because teachers are not skilled in educating, but because the Common Core that was introduced was intended not to educate, but to confuse both children and parents alike. Why? Oh, come on - say it with me -</span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">'Cuz Money, That's Why.</span></i></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMq9fBw__6j5jiiQIgKBrnoLq7jCJepyrixVurUq61mLpyeSA_-d7FYV6t5Y7lw_Rd_qpsPqy9y2ylM5E7hRwIWBDjDt7gWuZt4W4s9eH2z_BN9oq5fDbtR-FO9p2qNBwrCqL4zKs1JMiN/s1600/breakingbad_skylerwaltmoney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMq9fBw__6j5jiiQIgKBrnoLq7jCJepyrixVurUq61mLpyeSA_-d7FYV6t5Y7lw_Rd_qpsPqy9y2ylM5E7hRwIWBDjDt7gWuZt4W4s9eH2z_BN9oq5fDbtR-FO9p2qNBwrCqL4zKs1JMiN/s1600/breakingbad_skylerwaltmoney.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's</span> a glimpse at what's already happening in our society as a result of the already existing charter schools (and remember, the more public schools fail, the more charter schools are "needed") -</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Alan Singer, a social studies educator in the Department of Teaching, Literacy and Leadership at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, and the editor of Social Science Docket (a joint publication of the New York and New Jersey Councils for Social Studies) has taught at a number of secondary schools in New York City, including Franklin K. Lane High School and Edward R. Murrow High School. He is also the author of several books. This appeared on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/why-hedge-funds-love-char_b_5357486.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;">his Huffington Post blog</a>.</span><br />
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<i style="line-height: 1.8em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Alan Singer</span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Obscure laws can have a very big impact on social policy, including obscure changes in the United States federal tax code. The 2001 Consolidated Appropriations Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton, included provisions from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Renewal_Tax_Relief_Act_of_2000" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000</a>. The law provided <a href="http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2001/Aug/TheCommunityRenewalTaxReliefActOf2000.htm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">tax incentives</a> for seven years to businesses that locate and hire residents in economically depressed urban and rural areas. The tax credits were <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2013/09/18/banks-press-congress-to-renew-neighborhood-revitalization-tax-break/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">reauthorized</a> for 2008-2009, 2010-2011, and 2012-2013.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a result of this change to the tax code, banks and equity funds that invest in charter schools in underserved areas can take advantage of a very generous <a href="http://www.alternet.org/education/corporations-advise-school-closings-while-private-charters-suck-public-schools-away?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">tax credit</a>. They are permitted to combine this tax credit with other tax breaks while they also collect interest on any money they lend out. According to one analyst, the credit allows them to double the money they invested in seven years. Another interesting side note is that foreign investors who put a minimum of $500,000 in charter school companies are eligible to purchase immigration visas for themselves and family members under a federal program called EB-5.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The tax credit may also explain why Facebook CEO <a href="http://www.alternet.org/education/who-profiting-charters-big-bucks-behind-charter-school-secrecy-financial-scandal-and?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">Mark Zuckerberg</a>partnered with the former mayor of Newark, New Jersey, to promote charter schools; donated a half a million dollars worth of stock to organizations that distribute charter school funding; and opened his own foundation, Startup: Education, to build new charter schools.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <a href="http://www.alternet.org/education/who-profiting-charters-big-bucks-behind-charter-school-secrecy-financial-scandal-and?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">real estate</a> industry, which already receives huge tax breaks as it gentrifies communities, also stands to benefit by promoting charter schools and helping them buy up property, or rent, in inner city communities. One real estate company, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-big-business-of-charter-schools/2012/08/16/bdadfeca-e7ff-11e1-8487-64e4b2a79ba8_blog.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">Eminent Properties Trust</a>, boasts on its website:</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"Our investment portfolio of nearly $3 billion includes megaplex movie theatres and adjacent retail, public charter schools, and other destination recreational and specialty investments. This portfolio includes over 160 locations spread across 34 states with over 200 tenants."</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Charter management group Charter Schools USA recommends that rental costs should not exceed 20 percent of a school’s budget. However the<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/19/v-fullstory/2541051/florida-charter-schools-big-money.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">Miami Herald</a> reported that in 2011, 19 charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward exceeded this figure and one in Miami Gardens paid 43 percent. The Herald called south Florida charter schools a “$400-million-a-year powerhouse backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians, but with little oversight.” Its report found charters paying exorbitant fees to management companies and that many of the highest rents were paid to landlords with ties to the management companies running the schools.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">According to <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/hedge-fund-moguls-pay-has-the-1-looking-up/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">The New York Times</a>, the 10 highest-paid hedge fund operators with close ties to charter schools also includes <a href="http://www.hedgethink.com/tough-leadership/david-tepper-king-distressed-investment/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">David Tepper</a> (No. 1 at $3.5 billion in 2013), founder of founder of Appaloosa Management and New Jersey based “Better Education for Kids”; <a href="http://schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com/2013/12/billionaire-hedge-funder-and-charter.html" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">Steven A. Cohen</a> (No. 2 at $2.4 billion) of SAC Capital Advisors, which was forced to pay a $1.2 billion dollar penalty for insider trading, who has given over $10 million to the Achievement First charter school network; and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tudor_Jones" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #2e6d9d; text-decoration: none; zoom: 1;" target="_hplink">Paul Tudor Jones II</a>(tied for tenth at $600 million), founder of the Tudor Investment Corporation who has supported charter schools through his Robin Hood Foundation."</span></i></div>
</article><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">That last mention kills me - dude calls his scam, "The Robin Hood Foundation". Is it still robbing from the rich and giving to the poor if the rich first stole from the poor, only to profit from their altruism when they return a bit of their ill-gotten gains? You can't conspire to destroy public education in the United States for another few zeros at the end of your bank balance and call yourself Robin Hood, dude. Honestly, I don't know how you do that and call yourself a <i>person</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In the name of Capitalism, we have gone to war where we didn't belong, we have watched banks ruin the economy <i>and be </i>rewarded for it in bailouts, we have mortally wounded our planet. In the name of Capitalism, we have vilified the poor and needy, malnourished the least and the youngest of us, we have practically forced many of our number into lives of crime, so that they might be locked away...in for-profit prisons.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In the name of Capitalism have all these things been done, and now they have come for education. Common core is not a solution - it was never intended to be a solution. It is a virus, poisoning the Public School system until there is no alternative but to quarantine and kill it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Does the US education system need re-vamping? Yes, of course it does. In the most recent analysis, the US ranks 36th in the world in education. And before anyone spews all that crap about Asian countries working their kids to death to be number 1, let me just say that countries like Canada are also kicking our asses. Canada. Let that sink in for a minute.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So yeah - there need to be real, dynamic paradigm shifts in our educational process, but in a <i>positive</i> direction. Common Core was never the answer to our education problem. It was the answer to a profit and loss statement - and it's time that Wall Street's profits stopped coming from our children's losses.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I was gonna wrap this up with the 1984 music video, "What People Do For Money" by <i>Divine Sounds</i>, because it's "old school" (see the hook?) and, well...'cuz money, that's why.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But in my YouTube voyaging, I encountered a paradigm shift of my own when I came across the spoken word of one Suli Breaks. Check it -</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/y_ZmM7zPLyI" width="420"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>So what do you think? Do you think I'm crazy?</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Daddy</b></i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-36324185749252004342014-05-31T17:53:00.000-04:002014-05-31T17:53:31.454-04:00Daddy on the Edge of FashionYou've seen this one before, but watch it again...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xVdz985HTJk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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How much awesomeness is that, huh? I think this speech should be required viewing by all Liberals - we need to watch this once a month just to remind ourselves that we are not any of the ridiculous, hateful things that the Right Wing paint us as being. That we are so much better than how they see us. We need constant reminders that we should not be ashamed, but rather proud of the fact that we are Liberals.<br />
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And that's why I made a t-shirt.<br />
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Is creating a t-shirt a huge political publicity stunt? Nope. An earth shattering outcry against the Right Wing? No, Sir. Will this action forever alter the political landscape and, consequently, life as we know it in this country????<br />
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Hardly.<br />
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It's just a t-shirt. It's got some names on it - names of other liberals. Liberals who have changed the world for the better. The Right Wing mercilessly tears at the word <i>Liberal</i> - it's a sneer and a punchline when they say it - but Galileo was a liberal. Ghandi was a liberal. John Lennon and Einstein and yes - despite the Tea Party rhetoric - Jesus Christ was a liberal.<br />
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Here's a picture of the shirt - what I hope will be the first of the <i>Daddy on the Edge</i> line of clothing for fashion forward forward thinkers.<br />
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<a href="http://teespring.com/LiberalT"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZkHLaJiv4ovVxa5Vn926OMER16pvyIhjyqfOTyxWwIOJFlvgA7ty33tEtVe47BMlSlLAhIXokSwZNOdD5KtobROl2o0lxxBVOmWl5m6X61sIPHHaaDnODH23xkOUXX3tHF_mzb1pMCVT/s1600/front.jpg" height="320" width="268" /></a></div>
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If you click the pic, it will take you to the link <a href="http://teespring.com/LiberalT">http://teespring.com/LiberalT</a> where you can purchase the shirt. This is a limited run - it's a test balloon, so we've set our goal at selling 25 shirts. There's also a limited time that you can purchase - we began a 25 day campaign last night, so we have 24 days to sell 25 shirts. Teespring, the company we're using, requires that you meet your sales goal before they print any shirts. If you don't meet the goal, anyone who's ordered the shirt will receive a refund.</div>
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I like the shirt. It's a conversation starter, it's a history lesson - it's a way of saying, pretty boldly, that the wearer refuses to buy into the hype and be ashamed of what we are - what all of these people are; </div>
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">People that have tried to make this world a much better place, not just for a select few, but for all of us.</span></b></i></div>
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I'd like for us to meet our sales goal, but more importantly, I'd like to spread this message. The Right Wing has been pounding their messages pretty hard over the last few years - I think it's time we stood up and reminded them of who we are, echoing the voices of those that came before us. </div>
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If you believe in the spirit of this shirt, I hope you'll purchase it. I'll leave you with the words of John F. Kennedy - </div>
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<i><b>"What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the word “Liberal”? If by liberal, they mean - as they want people to
believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government
and who is unconcerned with the tax payers dollar, then the record of this
party and its members demonstrates that we are not that kind of liberal. But if by a liberal they mean someone who
looks ahead, and not behind; someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid
reactions; someone who cares about the welfare of the people – their health,
their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil
liberties; someone who believes that we can break through the stalemate and suspicions
that grip us in our policies abroad – if that is what they mean by a liberal,
then I’m proud to say that I’m a Liberal."</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Stand Proud, </span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-87262646410939726332014-03-18T22:05:00.000-04:002014-03-18T22:06:22.248-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Using Your WordsWatch:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/VFNkU7UnzTU?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>
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<br />
Everlast - <i>"What It's Like"</i>. Pretty moving song. Of course, this is the first time I've actually heard it all the way through without half of the words squelched out (squelching is my word for what we used to call bleeping, or censoring - they mask the lyric with a rap record "scratching" sound). Some of the words they squelch are predictable - "fuckin'" and "shit" are still pretty de riguer in radio land. They censor the word "balls" (as in testicles), but I think that's only because the lyric refers to cutting them off. The word "whore" is censored from this song on many radio stations, but to my knowledge, has not been removed from any printings of The Holy Bible. Come to think of it, the Bible also mentions eunuchs a couple of times, which are guys that operate sans balls. There's even talk that marijuana (or "green") is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments - (you can click over to <a href="http://www.equalrights4all.org/religious/bible.htm">here</a> to read about that.) Pretty funny that American radio's standards of decency are more stringent than...well...God's. But then, America and God haven't always been in perfect harmony on everything - America gets their panties all up in a wad because someone says "shit", but they let a lot of things slide - often going out of their way to broadcast and re-broadcast them in a 24 hour news cycle - yet I'm pretty sure that God would never approve of backwoods, hee-haw, hatespeak shit like this:<br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"God hates fags." </i></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"Thank God for dead soldiers."</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><b>"Italy is a nation of mobster-breeding perverts."</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"> <i> </i></span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><i>"It's a sin to pray for America."</i></b></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"> </b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px; text-align: right;">"A fag is a Jew, pretty much." </span><span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><b>"Santa is a fag."</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>"This is the hypocritical, fag-infested, fag-run United States of America and we're supposed to respect that fag rag flag?"</i></b></span></span></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">
<span style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;">"If you would STOP worshiping false gods, </span></span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;">being a </span></span></b></i><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;">fag would not be a complex matter."</span></span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><br /></span></span></b></i>
<span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;">I don't even pretend to understand that last one. But yeah...in case you haven't guessed by now, Daddy's </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5z7NcwmgzCYUcyNNran0QE6ghNMJdn3N0g26B8qYy7Z6P_akwuy_n8jPQyLkbJHc9InF48fQBn9kUmiwr8KPhXdhYZlM_fzYtARAQL-R2WmiOdhR-t2Vm5J4V0JdGG-ytcmxbhbXR0ChL/s1600/phelps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5z7NcwmgzCYUcyNNran0QE6ghNMJdn3N0g26B8qYy7Z6P_akwuy_n8jPQyLkbJHc9InF48fQBn9kUmiwr8KPhXdhYZlM_fzYtARAQL-R2WmiOdhR-t2Vm5J4V0JdGG-ytcmxbhbXR0ChL/s1600/phelps.jpg" height="161" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span 23.100000381469727px="" line-height:="">talkin' about the <i>Douchebag du jour</i>, The Reverend Fred Phelps. He's said far worse than this, but even Daddy's got standards, and frankly, the only reason that I'm even talking about this whack-a-mole is because I'm growing exceedingly pissed off with America's double standard when it comes to what can and cannot be said in our country, and Freddy is a real popular poster boy right now.</span><br />
<span 23.100000381469727px=""><br /></span>
<span 23.100000381469727px="">In Fred's world, God hates me. God hates you, too. According to Fred, God hates pretty much everyone who isn't Fred or Fred's family. But do you w</span><span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;">anna hear something funny? The Westboro Baptist Church, which Fred Phelps founded and which is made up mostly of Phelps' extended family...excommunicated him.</span><br />
<span 23.100000381469727px="" line-height:=""><br /></span><span 23.100000381469727px="" line-height:="">Yeah...they kicked his ass out last summer. You may think that God hates us Fred, but we've got some pretty strong evidence that your family, your church - hell, pretty much your entire world - isn't too crazy about you, either. </span><br />
<span 23.100000381469727px="" line-height:=""><br /></span>
<span 23.100000381469727px="" line-height:="">That's not to say that you haven't done some good in this world, Reverend. Your vile, disrespectful behavior toward your fellow men </span><span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;">has inspired a Federal law and laws in numerous states limiting picketing at funerals. Granted, I don't think we ever needed such laws before you came along, but I imagine they're good to have now that you've made picketing the dead so hip. On the other hand, the Supreme Court did rule that your church and it's members couldn't be sued for monetary damages for inflicting pain on grieving families under the first amendment.</span><br />
<span 23.100000381469727px=""><br /></span>
<span 23.100000381469727px="" line-height:="">Dude can't sing about ganja but a hate group can purposely make grieving families suffer even more than they already were, ridiculing their fallen family members as a part of some macabre, hillbilly circus - without fear of litigation. What a frigging First Amendment triumph.</span><br />
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<span 23.100000381469727px="">It s</span><span 23.100000381469727px="">eems like the role of censorship is to shield the innocents (read children) from things that may be harmful to them. Well, it may make me a bad parent, but Daddy's kids have heard some four letter words in this house. They will also learn about drugs - what they are and what they can do - because knowledge is power. Hearing these words, knowing about these things isn't harmful. Hate speak is harmful. Fanning the flames of hate is harmful. Hate has done more evil, has destroyed more lives than the word Fuck or Shit or any other "profanity" ever possibly could. And, in this case, Phelps and his flock have named The Creator as an accomplice to their Hate. You wanna talk about using God's name in vain? Censor That.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 23.100000381469727px;"><br /></span><span 23.100000381469727px="" line-height:="">We're hearing now that the Reverend may not be long for this world, and Daddy's been trying to put himself in a right way about that. If Fred Phelps has taught me anything, he has taught me that it is not right to express joy at a death. I am not happy that this man is dying. I also hope that no one decides to picket his funeral - poetic justice aside, it is (as we know all too well) a disrespectful act, but more importantly - it would only serve to give this man the attention that he has so desperately craved throughout his existence on this planet. Denying him that is the true Justice. Let us leave him alone - completely, totally, utterly alone - and pray that, when he does leave this plane, that some of the hate that he has fostered over the years leaves with him. We have had quite enough of it.</span><br />
<span 23.100000381469727px=""><br /></span>
<span 23.100000381469727px="">As I mentioned at the start of this piece, the Everlast song is highly squelched, because the lead singer cursed and talked about drugs. And yet, there's a song that came decades before - a song who's poetic turn of a phrase managed to rarely get censored, despite the fact that it talks about transsexuality, drugs, male prostitution and oral sex. I can think of no better farewell to Reverend Fred Phelps than to dedicate this other First Amendment triumph to him. </span><br />
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Freddy baby, this one's for you...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RsVLIiI8Vfo?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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God doesn't hate gay people. God doesn't hate soldiers, or Italians, or Jews; God doesn't hate the liberal media or the conservative media or America or Santa. God Loves Us All. Even you, Fred Phelps. Even You.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">God Bless, </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></b></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-4705808366260483752014-03-15T21:11:00.002-04:002014-03-15T21:11:42.773-04:00Daddy on the Edge of The FenceA friend of mine asked me not too long ago how I choose the subjects that I write about here. I was quick to say, "I write about things that piss me off", which is pretty much true. But then I thought about all the things that aggravate Daddy on a daily basis, and realized that if being pissed were the only litmus test, then I would never stop writing in this place. Turns out there are two criteria; subjects have to piss me off, and I <i>still</i> have to be pissed about them weeks later. If they're still bugging me, I'll write about them. Sometimes Daddy has a hard time letting go, but I'm in good company - watch:<br />
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Now, let me just say right here that I have no desire to force anyone to eat their own face meat whilst family looks on - that is not my intent. But I do have to cry fowl on occasion when I hear or read something that paints me or mine in a negative light. <br />
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<b>"Me and mine", in this case, refers to Men.</b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #343434;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was reading an article by a friend of mine - the subject was sex. My friend likes to talk about sex. A lot. I haven't quite figured out if it's because she has an over-active libido or if because talking about sex gets more clicks on your articles, but I try not to think about it at all. In the past, every time I have mentioned that she looked good in a picture, she has said "awwww" and told me to give my wife and kids a big hug (a subtle reminder that I'm married and shouldn't be noticing that she is attractive, even if it's meant in the most platonic sense). So, I don't tell her she looks good anymore. Goofy I know, but it's just not worth the grief of always feeling like I'm some kind of lech when I </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">know I'm not. And I already hug my wife and kids plenty, thanks. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #343434;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color: #343434;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">So, if I'm not even looking at pictures of a person with their clothes on, the last thing I want to do is read about them describing sexual acts. But there it was - the article was about sex - mind blowing, "f*ck your brains out" sex, but quickly denigrated into the mind aching, time honored tradition of reinforcing the archaic differences between Men and Women. Men were described as emotionless. Lacking intuition. Solid and Unchanging. Possessing No Desire. Oh, and we're good at Penetrating. Penetrating seems to be our best thing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #343434;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #343434;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">At best, based on this description, Man is this:</span></span><br />
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But we can't all be Khal Drogo from <i>"Game of Thrones"</i>, so on average, we'd be more like this...</div>
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But really, when you boil the text down to it's simplest form and look at the adjectives - Solid, emotionless, unchanging, devoid of desire, used for penetrating, then it becomes clear that this is what we are really seen as...</div>
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Now originally I thought that's what had upset me - I was having an emotional response to the importance of my gender being minimized to it's basest, most...dildo-ish form - but then I remembered that men don't experience emotion, so I looked deeper.</div>
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And that's when I realized the trap that I had fallen into. Us vs.Them. Male vs.Female. Black vs.White. Zero vs. One...</div>
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Binary.</span></b></i></div>
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Binary technically means "composed of two parts", so it's basically the understanding that there is only one or the other - in this case Men or Women. The Binary is a dynamite sales and marketing tool - as is stated in the article I reference, John Gray made multi millions of dollars in personal wealth with his "Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus" series of books. Did it do much for people that didn't relate to being from Mars <i>or</i> Venus, other than making it more obvious that they didn't fit into that "norm"? Maybe not, but who cares, right?? - it spent 121 weeks on the best seller list! Yup...more clicks for the same old schtick.</div>
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<b>Trouble is, the schtick isn't real. </b> </div>
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Do you have any idea exactly how many people feel like they don't fit into the standard Male/Female role? How many gay, lesbian, bisexual, panssexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, hermaphrodite, asexual, eunich, androgyne, bigender, genderqueer and questioning people there are in the world? If you said yes, then you're lying. The truth is that, while there are millions of people that come out and live their lives as who they truly feel they are, there are vast multitudes of people who know that they're "different", yet are afraid to admit it - they find the idea of being their true selves terrifying. Why? Because so much of our world hates them (and not like you hate the Red Sox kind of hate - like slit their throat and leave their body in a ditch kind of hate). Why? Because they're "not normal". Why do we think they're not normal? See "The Binary".</div>
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"Hetero-normative", "gender conformist", "heterocentric" - different words with a similar message - that the heterosexual lifestyle is the one fully accepted, practiced, "normal" way to be. Unfortunately, the flip side of that acceptance and embracing of heterosexuality...is homophobia. Why? Us or Them, baby. Black or White. The Binary.</div>
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And it doesn't have to be the outside world hating on them - a lifetime of the world telling a kid that what they are is wrong - yeah, that shit can turn inward - can turn into self loathing; a vicious, violent denial of who and what a person is - a painful internal battle that they have to fight and hopefully win before they even have a prayer of taking on the rest of the world. It takes an awesomely brave, incredibly strong individual to come out as anything that deviates from the "norm" - in large part because of the subtle, constant reinforcement of the binary, and that anything not "this" or "that" must be "wrong".</div>
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Constant, relentless repetition that outdated gender stereotypes have any place in any kind of enlightened discussion may be good for some page clicks, but it has real, life and death implications for those outside the binary - for those people not so specifically, entirely, absolutely Male or Female. Words are a powerful flame - they can light the way, or they can scorch the earth. The choice is yours.</div>
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I thought I was pissed about being called a dick. Turns out it was something bigger than that. I had originally titled this piece <i>"Daddy on the Edge of Tired Ass, Supermarket Checkout Aisle Rationalizations, Generalizations and the Compulsive Need for Clicks, Licks and The Same Old Schtick (ADULT)"</i>. Instead, I'm going to call it, <i>"Daddy on the Edge of The Fence"</i>. Why? Watch the vid.</div>
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Opened with Minchin...closing with Minchin. Tell the folks what I've been trying to say, Timmy...</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">It's not that simple.</span></b><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></b></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-37479972373448151242013-12-04T21:34:00.000-05:002013-12-04T21:34:13.228-05:00Daddy on the Edge of a Happy Birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><b>Go Daddy! It's your birthday!</b></i><br />
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<i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BfzkK5k84qB_HsGFIqpIN7e84yO-ps1EAIFnK2is3tK9FaBrJNFk6A_HD3eexqE7Cy9E1uv3UncQu8GAekTRTuNOyFHJVc8BZsOKmcNKDcmXg63Sq1wSRVVDaEm_ZrWtSCMcWYRvc0so/s1600/OLDMANFIRE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1BfzkK5k84qB_HsGFIqpIN7e84yO-ps1EAIFnK2is3tK9FaBrJNFk6A_HD3eexqE7Cy9E1uv3UncQu8GAekTRTuNOyFHJVc8BZsOKmcNKDcmXg63Sq1wSRVVDaEm_ZrWtSCMcWYRvc0so/s1600/OLDMANFIRE.jpg" /></a></b></i></div>
<i><b>We gonna party like it's your birthday!</b></i><br />
<i><b>We gonna drink Bacardi like it's your birthday!</b></i><br />
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Feh. Daddy don't like Bacardi (however, Daddy is a fan of fine tequila, so if my name comes up on your Secret Santa list...). The lyrics above are from a 50 Cent song called <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qm8PH4xAss">"In Da Club"</a></i> - the song has absolutely nothing to do with birthdays, despite the misleading opening - but it is my birthday, and it's a fun little open, and it's about as close as an old white guy like Daddy gets to singing rap, so there it is.<br />
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Number one question on your birthday? <i> "How do you still look sooo incredibly sexy at your age?" </i>Oops; my bad - that's the number one question I <i>wish</i> I would hear on my birthday (as opposed to the oft heard, "You're how old? Damn, I really thought you were older."). No, the number one question is <i>"What do you want for your birthday?"</i> And it never ceases to frustrate my wife, because there is quite honestly very little that I want, at least in terms of material possessions. I used to want things - lots of things - and I bought a lot of them, often using credit cards and ringing up my average share of the average American debt. So, what do I want now? <br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">I want money to be no object.</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What do I desire? It's different than "what do I want?". Desire burns, it comes from deep inside and it is rarely fully quenched. Want is fleeting, and usually does not stand the test of time. Right now, go into your closet and take a long hard look at those things that you haven't worn since the Clinton Administration. There was a time when you wanted every one of those things - the fuscia <i>Le Tigre</i> dinner jacket, the dayglow leotards which you wore with the Flashdance legwarmers. We had to have that stuff (and yes, during Daddy's performing arts career, even I wore legwarmers) so we bought it. We bought it all, and if we couldn't pay for it, we put it on credit. And God almighty, would you look what's happened since - </span><br />
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From <i><a href="http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-card-data/average-credit-card-debt-household/">nerd wallet finance</a> - </i><br />
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American Household Credit Card Debt Statistics: 2013</h1>
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by <span class="author vcard" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial, verdana; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; letter-spacing: 0px !important; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="url fn" href="https://plus.google.com/112853363530188727335?rel=author" rel="author" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #4691c3; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">TIM</a></span></div>
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The average US household credit card debt stands at <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$15,112</strong>, the result of a small number of deeply indebted households forcing up the numbers. Based on an analysis of Federal Reserve statistics and other government data, the average household owes <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$7,050</strong> on their cards; looking only at <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">indebted</em> households, the average outstanding balance rises to <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$15,112</strong>. Here are statistics, trends, studies and methodology behind the average U.S. household debt.</div>
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Current as of November 2013</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">U.S. household consumer debt profile:</strong></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Average credit card debt: <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$15,112</strong></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Average mortgage debt: <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$146,215</strong></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Average student loan debt: <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$31,240</strong></li>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In total, American consumers owe:</strong></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$11.08 trillion in debt<ul style="list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.571em; padding: 0px;">
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">A decrease of 3.2% from last year</li>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$846.9 billion in credit card debt</li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$7.75 trillion in mortgages</li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">$1,002.0 billion in student loans</li>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">An increase of 10.9% from last year</li>
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Did'ja get that? In 2013, American consumers owe $11.08 trillion dollars in debt! That's a lot of leg warmers. And it's not just the price of the leg warmers; it's the interest. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The national average interest on credit cards is currently 14.95 percent. Our interest payments alone could buy a small country. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And of course, these are just averages. Many of us, in terms of the amount of debt we've been able to amass and the interest that we pay, are quite above average. Some of us are just frigging</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span><i style="line-height: 1.5em;">exceptional.</i><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> There are many reasons for debt. Medical issues, school loans, divorce, death - a myriad of perfectly valid, sometimes heart wrenching reasons to have gotten into the hole...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">and they don't mean squat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That's not meant to be insensitive; it is only meant to say that what's past is past, and there is no reason (aside from a legally binding contractual agreement that we and our credit card companies entered into) that we should keep spending our present and future days financing the past. We are spending too many of our tomorrows on our yesterdays. And society has been built up around it.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Debt has become a way of life; both for those that pay for it, and those that charge for it. What would the world economy look like if all that debt were to suddenly disappear? Can you imagine what kind of world it would be if people could no longer profit from debt? Can you imagine what life would be like if we didn't embody the bumper sticker sentiment, "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go!"?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Can you imagine what would happen...if we all just stopped making the payments?</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Well, that's what I'm suggesting. Not defaulting - not unless you absolutely, positively have to. But instead, by working as hard as we possibly can - harder than we work at our regular jobs, harder than we work on winning a Facebook debate, harder than we work to get to the next level of Candy Crush - to pay off every single bloodsucking, life altering, time wasting, dream killing debt that we have (and we have 11.08 trillion of them - that's a lot of dreams being killed.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Alan Watts asks in the video above, "What would you do if money were no object?" The way some of us live with our debt, that's like asking a burning man, "What would you do if you weren't on fire?" We can't think about that; we can't think about anything at all - except the fire and the fact that we are being burned alive. And yet, we continue to feed the very fire that destroys us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's time to stop the fire. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Proverbs 22:7 says, "Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender". As far as the Bible is concerned, we are slaves to our credit cards, to our mortgage companies, to our leasing companies - time to stop that, too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the United States, we talk a lot about "Freedom". No, that's not right - the word "Freedom" is said often, usually by politicians telling you that <i>other</i> politicians are trying to take it away (your freedom, that is - to practice your religion, to carry a weapon, to say "Merry Christmas" - whatever "Freedom du jour" will best serve the purpose for the point being made), but if we think about it, we can hardly call ourselves free if we are carrying the weighted chains of debt. We're just deluded slaves.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't want to be a slave anymore. I desire to be free. I'd like to walk in the sun and ask myself what I would do if money were no object, and know that I have the luxury of time to think about it, and to come to a real and fulfilling answer, <i>because money will be no object</i>. That's what I desire - for me, and for you, and for every one in the whole frigging world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I want us all to be truly "Free". That's all I want for my birthday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That, and the tequila...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You could get me the tequila if you really wanted to...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But pay cash.</span></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></b></i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-6880867625351080622013-11-24T18:27:00.000-05:002013-11-24T18:27:16.636-05:00Daddy on the Edge of the Voice of God<span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't usually listen to NPR.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not that I have a problem with the station; on the contrary, I don't think the world gets enough intelligent humor and commentary anymore aside from<i> Frasier</i> re-runs, Bill Maher, and Dennis Miller (y'know, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">before he became an asshole).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But I took my wife's car to go and pick up milk, and it was on her radio. For whatever reason, I did not automatically change it to the classic rock station, and instead found myself listening to a story so compelling that even now, weeks later, it's still very much on my mind (and Daddy has always got a world of troubles on his mind - you have really got to rate to get that much play on my mental big screen).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was a story about a man named James Hampton. Born in 1909 in Elloree, SC to a self-ordained minister and his wife. The father left his wife and children to "follow his calling" and at age 19, James left home as well, travelling to Washington, DC where he stayed with his brother's family, and found employment as a short order cook. In 1942, he was drafted into WW2 and served in the Pacific as a carpenter. In 1945, he was honorably discharged, moved to a boarding house back in DC, and started working for the General Services Administration as a janitor. In 1964, he died of cancer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Compelling, right? Fascinating! Amazing! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah, hardly. If you were trying to script a more mundane existence, you probably couldn't do much better than the apparent life of one James Hampton. Couple of things distinguish James Hampton from the least interesting man in the world. First, he believed that God had appeared to him as a real person in real life. Second, God told him to build this - </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1950, James Hampton rented out an old stable building behind 1133 7th Street NW and, for the next 14 years, worked diligently for four to five hours a night after having gotten off his job at the GSA at midnight. Every night, for 14 years he toiled in service to his Lord on this creation - and by all accounts, he still had more to do when he died.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This incredible, glittering tribute to The Creator, consists of little more than cardboard and broken furniture pieces, foil and jelly jars, desk blotters and burned out light bulbs. Mr. Hampton would tour the streets, back alleys and used furniture shops of his neighborhood, looking for materials - one man's trash that he could transform into a holy treasure. Upon his passing, the doors to the stable building were opened, and his creation was revealed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is called <i style="font-weight: bold;">"The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly"</i>. It was the name that got me - it sounded like something out of a Terry Gilliam movie, but you knew it was not - that it held a much deeper meaning than could be understood by the uninitiated, by those not members of Mr. Hampton's inner sanctum - by those of us who hadn't spoken with God. James Hampton had an extreme internal communication with the Almighty. In his writings, he referred to himself as St. James (more specifically, "St. James, Director for Special Projects for the State of Eternity"), and recalled being blessed by visitations from God and angels alike during his time on earth - indeed, he believed that God visited the stable building regularly to direct him in The Thrones fabrication.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It was St. James' hope that The Throne would be recognized by religious leaders and that it, and he, would find their rightful places within the church structure. That reality was not meant to be. Instead, James Hampton died of cancer and The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly found its way to the American Folk Art Division of the Smithsonian Museum .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">From the <a href="http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=9897">Smithsonian American Art Museum</a> - </span></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Where there is no vision, the people perish" — Proverbs 29:18 (King James Version)<br />posted on the wall of Hampton's garage</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">James Hampton's entire artistic output is this single work which he called The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly. Hampton worked for more than fourteen years on his masterwork in a rented garage, transforming its drab interior into a heavenly vision, as he prepared for the return of Christ to earth. The Throne is his attempt to create a spiritual environment that could only have been made as the result of a passionate and highly personal religious faith.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hampton's full creation consists of 180 components—only a portion of which are on view. The total work suggests a chancel complete with altar, a throne, offertory tables, pulpits, mercy seats, and other obscure objects of Hampton's own invention. His work also includes plaques, tags, and notebooks bearing a secret writing system which has yet to be, and may never be, deciphered.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hampton's intricate, large-scale design for The Throne derives coherence from parallel rows of constructions, densely packed on several levels. A seven-foot tall cushioned throne at the rear center is the work's focal point. Pairs of objects on either side of it impart a powerful, compulsive sense of symmetry. To the actual throne's right, objects refer to the New Testament and Jesus; to the left, the Old Testament and Moses, a division that corresponds to the disposition of the saved in the Bible. Every item has a relationship to the others and most bear a dedication to a saint, prophet, or other biblical character that may have appeared in the recurrent visions that inspired Hampton's efforts.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Massive wings, suggesting angels, sprout from most components; framed tablets line the walls, and crowns and other complex foil decorations fill every available space of the assemblage. The entire complex was originally placed on a three-foot tall platform set stage like against the rear wall of his garage.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Throne and all of its associated components are made from discarded materials and found objects consisting of old furniture, wooden planks and supports, cardboard cutouts, scraps of insulation board, discarded light bulbs, jelly glasses, hollow cardboard cylinders, Kraft paper, desk blotters, mirror fragments and electrical cables and a variety of other "found objects," all scavenged from second-hand shops, the streets, or the federal office buildings in which he worked. To complete each element, Hampton used shimmering metallic foils and brilliant purple paper (now faded to tan) to evoke spiritual awe and splendor. Hampton's symbolism extended even to his choice of materials such as light bulbs, which represent God as the light of the world.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Praised as America's greatest work of visionary art, Hampton's Throne reveals one man's faith in God as well as his hope for salvation. Although Hampton did not live to initiate a public ministry, the capping phrase "FEAR NOT" summarizes his project's universally eloquent message.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When Meyer Wertlieb, landlord of the old stable building behind 1133 7th St. NW, opened the doors on the space following Hampton's death, he could scarcely believe what he saw. He contacted Hampton's sister, and when she decided not to take possession of her brothers' creation, he reached out to the press. <span style="line-height: 21px;">“You can’t just destroy something a man devoted himself to for 14 years,” he told a Washington Post reporter. ”It seems to be an example of the futility of life.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">I guess that all depends on your definition of "life".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tony Robbins once said, "Your life is either a shining example or a cautionary tale". Now, there's no doubt </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">that, under the rules of the Corporate Ladder, Married with Kids, Good Old American Dream, the life of James Hampton is indeed a cautionary tale - you don't want to grow up to be like Mr. Hampton, a poor, solitary man surviving on a meager salary in a nowhere job - a life practically devoid of material rewards. However, in the spiritual sense, what could the life of St. James the Janitor be but a shining example? Where one could complain, he sought to rejoice. Where one could resent, he sought to honor. When God give James trash, James made for Him a treasure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span 17.03125px="" line-height:="">Albert Einstein said, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Easy to call a man like James Hampton crazy when he doesn't follow our version of reality - but when it occurs to us that we spend the majority of our waking life chasing scraps of wealth, laboring to make other people's dreams come true, driven by an almost compulsive need to purchase, to consume, to spend and that we call that "normal"; well then, perhaps his existence was much more worthwhile, much more fulfilling than our traditional, "normal" one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.03125px;">Does God speak to us? I believe that he does. I believe that God makes a multitude of "suggestions" during our days - sometimes in the form of gut instinct or a nagging feeling, sometimes in the shape of an overwhelming passion to pursue a dream, no matter how ludicrous or impossible it may seem - sometimes merely in the guise of the </span></span><span style="line-height: 17.03125px;">serendipitous moment, or </span><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.03125px;">the happy accident. It's not crazy to believe that God speaks to us - what's crazy is that we don't listen nearly as much as we should.</span></div>
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<span font-family:="" inherit=""><span style="line-height: 17.03125px;">What might happen? If we listened, if we opened our ears to the suggestions of a Higher Power, if we allowed ourselves to be blown by the winds of Our Creator? It's hard to imagine, largely because of the fears that society has lodged into our psyches - fears that say trying and failing at anything new would be horrible and is best not pursued, that taking time from your work to instead pursue your joy will leave you starving and broke, that diverting from what the majority refers to as normal will cause you great shame and suffering - so many fears, most of which revolve around other people and what they think of someone who no longer wishes to </span></span><span style="line-height: 17.03125px;">participate</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.03125px;"> in their particular illusion of their particular reality.</span></span></div>
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<span font-family:="" inherit="">If James Hampton considered any of those fears, they were apparently quickly forgotten. St. James was doing the work of God. Perhaps it was that higher calling, or of course direct direction from the Almighty, that had him crown the throne chair with the words, "Fear Not". We must not fear the persistent illusion; we should, instead, let ourselves </span>faithfully<span style="font-family: inherit;"> fall into the arms of serendipity, and open our sails to the winds of destiny.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was planning on wrapping this entry with the video to The Fray song, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFg_8u87zT0">"You Found Me" </a>(<i>"I found God, on the corner of First and Amistad..."</i>), but fell into this happy coincidence when a friend posted the following video on Facebook. Moments of divine intervention aren't always monumental, and they certainly aren't rare...if we open our eyes, our ears and our hearts to them. Watch -</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.03125px;"><i>"When the solution is simple, God is answering." - <span style="font-size: x-small;">Albert Einstein</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large; line-height: 17.03125px;"><i><b>Hallelujah, </b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large; line-height: 17.03125px;"><i><b>Daddy</b></i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-66709908464595120262013-06-03T21:18:00.000-04:002013-06-03T21:18:37.269-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Another Banana in the Big Gay Hate Sundae<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Look, Mom! A pandering idiot! Let's see what he has to say!!</span></i></b><br />
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Sigh.<br />
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The asshat in the ironic "gay equality" tie<i> (look at it again - red background, pink equal sign - what's that they say? "Man dresses himself, and God laughs")</i> is former evangelical pastor and conservative activist David Barton. Daddy has got a real fucking problem with David Barton - not because he founded <i>WallBuilders</i>, a Texas based organization which promotes the view that it is a "myth" that the US Constitution insists on separation of church and state. Not because he is the former vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas. Not because he has been described as a Christian nationalist and "one of the foremost Christian revisionist historians" who's work is devoted to advancing the idea, based upon research that many historians describe as flawed, that the United States was founded as an explicitly Christian nation.
Not even because his buddy, Glenn Beck - referred to him as "the Library of Congress in shoes".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLCGOgsnI07eHqcIShFCT-Qz937VOLYVhimD3LsmZdUErvRbQxMWXVkOZjeQM98HX9lkW0Ub5cEnyOiNqNfyqdCjIGLXCNr0AV920C8RquPhqNabMkgm2yTcBLIFZPnMk52-uJ7LRhz6nD/s1600/jim+dandy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLCGOgsnI07eHqcIShFCT-Qz937VOLYVhimD3LsmZdUErvRbQxMWXVkOZjeQM98HX9lkW0Ub5cEnyOiNqNfyqdCjIGLXCNr0AV920C8RquPhqNabMkgm2yTcBLIFZPnMk52-uJ7LRhz6nD/s320/jim+dandy.jpg" width="133" /></a>Whatever the hell that means.<br />
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None of that is why I have a fucking problem with David Barton. It's not even because he's trying to get people to hate on gays. Don't get me wrong - hating on the LGBT is a surefire way to get on Daddy's Shit List, but this douche is just the cherry on top of the GOP Gay Hate Sundae. Honestly, after a while, you start to wonder if any of them have original thought, or if they all memorized the same script and improv is forbidden - it reminds me of children's auditions in the 80's - <i>"If one more kid comes in here and sings "Tomorrow", I'm gonna set my eyes on fire..."</i><br />
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But that's Part One of the Republican Playbook - say the same stupid ass thing as all the rest of the GOP <i>- if we all say the same stupid thing, it echoes and reverbs and echoes again and of course it has to be true because we're all saying it and the echoing and the reverb...ing and it's just gotta be TRUE!</i><br />
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Part Two of the Republican Playbook consists of taking a veritable smorgasbord of truly idiotic statements and stacking them neatly, precisely until they form a seemingly impenetrable Jenga style tower of Batshit Crazy.<br />
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And then they throw God into it.<br />
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And that is why Daddy has a real fucking problem with David Barton, because David dipshit Barton did all three...David Barton went for the GOP Trifecta, the Holy Trinity of Holy Shit, and decided to just let a wad of silliness and foolishness roll out of his wordhole, and it was just too much for Daddy to bear.<br />
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Let us dissect the STOOPID, shall we? Here's how he started...<br />
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<i><b>"Starbucks is pouring all this money into destroying traditional marriage..."</b></i><br />
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Okay. Starbucks may be donating money to efforts that support and defend the rights of the LGBT community to marry, but that does not "destroy traditional marriage". Gays have no interest in destroying traditional marriage - in fact, in most weddings, you can be pretty sure that gays were involved in one or more of the following - designing the wedding dress, designing the tux, doing the hair and makeup, catering the event, planning the event, providing the flowers, providing the music, taking the pictures - face it dude, at the end of the day, gays don't destroy traditional marriage - <i>they keep it alive.</i><br />
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<i><b>Can a Christian give money to a group that he knows will use it to attack what God supports?</b></i><br />
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Hmmmm....so much stupid here, I don't know where to start. Christ supports Peace; can a Christian give money to companies that support war and war profiteering ? Christ supports caring for the poor; can a Christian give money to companies like Walmart that keep their national employees poor enough to require food stamps, and let their international employees (who were making slave wages) perish in a substandard building collapse? Christ said to give away everything and follow Him, so I guess the real question is, <i>can a Christian keep any money at all?</i><br />
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God supports Love. God supports Forgiveness. God supports Peace. Starbucks is not <i>attacking</i> any of that.<br />
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<i><b>"If you know that, when you buy a cup of Starbucks, five, ten, fifteen cents is going to be used to defeat marriage, can you do that? Answer is no..."</b></i><br />
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When my wife and I got married, after we had our first dance, do you know what we did? We went to the wedding reception across the hall and beat the holy living bejeesus out of their marriage!!! Defeated the Crap out of it!! Yeah! Sweep the leg, Johnny!! Cuz that's what marriage is! It's frigging Thunderdome! Two Marriages Enter - One Marriage Leaves!!!!! <i> THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!</i><br />
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David, David, David...marriage is not a welter weight boxing match (<i>sorry Rhianna baby, it's really not</i>). It is not something that takes place in finite space, where there is only room for one to survive. Nothing that anyone ever does will in any way threaten, cheapen or otherwise lessen the marriage that I have with my wife. If your marriage isn't that strong, then that is just your fucking problem, idn't it?<br />
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<b><i>"Biblically, there's no way a Christian can help support what is attacking God..."</i></b><br />
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In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the world. He is all powerful, all knowing, He is every where, He is every thing; there is nothing in <i>all of all there is</i> that is mightier, more divine, more completely and utterly awesome than God.<br />
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And I attacked him. With a Mocha Frappuccino.<br />
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What the hell was I thinking? God could totally kick my ass! Sounds ludicrous, right? Almost as ludicrous as God concerning himself with the passing of currency for the purchase of java, with a bit of that spare change going to lawyers who fight for fairness.<br />
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I could go on and on about the douchiness factor of David Barton, and the pathetic pandering that he engages in to remain minutely relevant and religiously provocative, or I could thank him for reminding me of why I admire Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as much as I do. Howard Schultz isn't waving a Bible in the air, and calling you a heathen if you don't wave yours too. No; Howard Schultz is openly supporting diversity in his company and the right of his employees to have the same rights as David Barton. Can you see what he's doing here, David? It's this thing called doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, with a side order of judging not lest you yourself be judged, followed with a nice slice of loving your neighbor as you love yourself.<br />
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And ya know what's great to wash that all down with, David? A nice, hot cup of Pike Place.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Next cup is on me, </b></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></b></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-41968164466381453432013-05-27T11:45:00.000-04:002013-05-27T11:45:30.327-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Memorializing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs6IoNzZbbRKHEvKnljFMntApp3bV003DRR0Cwiq7N1x_dCLZBe4jl-wVBtUsuWwelkUUFUcnpp_vAhiRKYPrWqo7ZTRz9dUqg5o05Ajg0WnYyvb8L9DCdhN1HTD2nfeylxs_YXp4OJLoF/s1600/%2521%2521%2521%2521%2521%2521how_to_support_our_troops4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs6IoNzZbbRKHEvKnljFMntApp3bV003DRR0Cwiq7N1x_dCLZBe4jl-wVBtUsuWwelkUUFUcnpp_vAhiRKYPrWqo7ZTRz9dUqg5o05Ajg0WnYyvb8L9DCdhN1HTD2nfeylxs_YXp4OJLoF/s200/%2521%2521%2521%2521%2521%2521how_to_support_our_troops4.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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It's Memorial Day again, and Daddy on the Edge wishes to take this time to thank all of those who have <span style="text-align: right;">worn a uniform and served our country, as well as their families. I want to thank you by suggesting that every business that profits from Memorial Day Sales gives 1% of their profits to organizations that support the active duty military and veterans. You can start with these folks; watch...</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/805cXY-U5qw?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>
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Watch...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qa09iO0Dm9U?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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Watch...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JvYLUjf2v6M?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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We have the worlds greatest military - let's treat 'em like it - Every Day.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>T</b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">hank You,</span></b><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-61657680129268481522013-04-16T19:56:00.000-04:002013-04-16T19:56:51.979-04:00Daddy on the Edge of a RebuttalDaddy on the Edge doesn't get a whole lot of feedback.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-NYK7i4rpZX2u0Ay31aJGqnrqECz7MVbJYNaPkogypfE9E6n3u1hlt7bNeKvTt4aTLdhwqK77drTrFsKV0JacR0GuMuZc19Xs0h4R-dVsmpjk3a8WPGOjFWg9LnmDR71DT2VfcJs5N5d/s1600/morning-hangover-71-andrew-looks-for-feedback-patrick-has-tv-envy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6-NYK7i4rpZX2u0Ay31aJGqnrqECz7MVbJYNaPkogypfE9E6n3u1hlt7bNeKvTt4aTLdhwqK77drTrFsKV0JacR0GuMuZc19Xs0h4R-dVsmpjk3a8WPGOjFWg9LnmDR71DT2VfcJs5N5d/s200/morning-hangover-71-andrew-looks-for-feedback-patrick-has-tv-envy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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It happens, and I've come to accept that. While I know there are a pretty fair amount of people that come by and read the posts here, the comments section remains fairly bare (which I gotta tell you, can sometimes feel like having sex with a mime - in the dark. You think you're doing pretty good, but it's always hard to know if you have truly "satisfied" with your "content". Was she thrashing in pleasure, or pretending to be assaulted by the wind, holding on to an invisible rope so she wouldn't be blown away?).<br />
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But today, Daddy got a comment; here's a bit of it -<br />
<span 13px="" 17px="" arial="" font-family:="" font-size:="" grande="" line-height:="" lucida="" sans-serif="" tahoma="" verdana=""><br /></span><span 17px="" arial="" font-family:="" grande="" line-height:="" lucida="" sans-serif="" style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px;" tahoma="" verdana=""><i>"I read <sp> your most recent blog post from the 9th...you speak of charity and then deride conservatives for not giving to charity.</sp></i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 13px;">I find this humorous and uninformed since study after study (including Pew Research, whom I am sure you find more palatable than say Breitbart) have all concurred that conservatives consistently give more to charity than liberals."</span></i><br />
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I have not found a study that supports this idea - not exactly, anyway - I have found studies that suggest that "Red States" give more to charity than "Blue States", but I know lots of Democrats who live in Red States and vice versa for the Republicans, so it's not so easy for me to buy into that argument. And besides, that's not the argument I was making.<br />
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While I did use the word "Charity" in my last blog post, what I was driving at was the idea that we should care for each other, that whatever we do for the least of us, we do for Christ; that helping the least fortunate among us is a major theme in many, many different religions.
The idea of "giving to charity", while it should be synonymous with what I'm saying, can often times...not be. It's easy to say that Republicans give more to charity, (and my critic did indeed provide me with articles - one from <a href="http://talkingpoints.wordpress.com/2006/12/01/conservative-vs-liberal-charity-donations/">2006</a> and one from <a href="http://philanthropy.com/blogs/prospecting/conservative-voters-are-more-liberal-with-charity/19091">2008</a>) but what are we really talking about? <br />
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<b>From Wiki</b> <i>- <span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">A </span><b style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">charitable organization</b><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> is a type of non-profit organization</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on non-profit and philanthropic goals as well as social well-being ( e.g. charitable, educational, religious </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">or other activities serving the public interest or common good)</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">Like these guys - The </span><b style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">American Family Association</b><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> (</span><b style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">AFA</b><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">) is a United States non profit organization </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">that promotes conservative fundamentalist Christian </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">values.</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> It opposes same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion.</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13.328125px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">goals and has lobbied against the Employee Free Choice Act. </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">The AFA defined itself as "a Christian organization promoting the biblical</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">ethic of decency in American society with primary emphasis on television and other media," later switching their stated emphasis to "moral issues that impact the family."</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">It engages in activism efforts, including boycotts, buycotts, action alert</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">emails, publications on the AFA's web sites or in the</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><i style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">AFA Journal</i><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">, broadcasts on American Family Radio, and lobbying</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13.328125px;">. </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">The organization is accredited by the Evengelical Council for Financial Accountability</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">(ECFA) and posted a 2011 budget of over US$16 million.</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13.328125px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">AFA owns 200 American Family Radio stations in 33 states, seven affiliate stations in seven states, and one affiliate TV station KAZQ TV) in New Mexico.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">AFA has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center as of November 2010 for the "propagation of known falsehoods" and the use of "demonizing propaganda" against LGBT people.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 10.828125px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> AFA has been criticized for its opposition to LGBT rights.</span></span></div>
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<b>Annnnnd... it's a Charity.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKM7CpuLztxzyRnoohPiRmmASYt1P65drGpQsdLvq40mcpzJ3ke4z_-cL0fMD6R_gNAjELrVYusiFLyHVc8J0l5pFASX31YORf_9W1XR7FHtMSQqd5dw6ltJFTtuVCvfeiVrIAo0jUg0BA/s1600/wcfnl.support.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKM7CpuLztxzyRnoohPiRmmASYt1P65drGpQsdLvq40mcpzJ3ke4z_-cL0fMD6R_gNAjELrVYusiFLyHVc8J0l5pFASX31YORf_9W1XR7FHtMSQqd5dw6ltJFTtuVCvfeiVrIAo0jUg0BA/s200/wcfnl.support.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
The AFA is but one example - the Southern Poverty Law Center lists <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/the-hard-liners">18 Anti-Gay Hate Groups and their Propaganda</a> that all claim non-profit, tax free status, and any donation you make to them can be claimed as a charitable contribution on your 1040's. <br />
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Then there are the environmental charities. Nope, not Greenpeace - these non profit organizations are "sock puppet groups" put together by the Koch Heads and their ilk to counter rational, scientific conclusions regarding climate change with their own brand of...methane.<br />
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In February of this year, The Guardian posted a story that talks about these organizations, which you can read in it's entirety <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/18/charities-pr-rightwing-ultra-rich">here</a> - the following is a snippet of that article...
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" As the Guardian revealed last week, two secretive organisations working for US billionaires have spent $118m to ensure that no action is taken to prevent man made climate change. <snip></snip></div>
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The two organisations – the Donors' Trust and the Donors' Capital Fund <snip> have financed 102 organisations which either dismiss climate science or downplay the need to take action. <snip></snip></snip></div>
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Among them are the American Enterprise Institute, American Legislative Exchange Council, Hudson Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Reason Foundation, Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Mont Pelerin Society and Discovery Institute. All pose as learned societies, earnestly trying to determine the best interests of the public. The exposure of this funding reinforces the claim by David Frum, formerly a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute, that such groups "increasingly function as public relations agencies"".</div>
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The Westboro Baptist Church is a charity. The Ku Klux Klan has enjoyed tax free, non profit status. Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network is a charitable organization, (despite the fact that Roberston used CBN money and equipment to aid his diamond mining operation in Zaire). There are volumes of charities, 501c3s, non profit organizations - countless groups, (all tax exempt, mind you) that, while charities <i>in name and filing status</i>, are in no way charitable. Now, if you want to tell me that Republicans lead the way in giving to <i>those</i> types of organizations, well then I'll have no trouble believing <i>that</i>.
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But again, what I was referring to were actual works - things that you do that directly help or hurt the poorest and weakest among us. When sequestration was put on the table, the cuts were designed to be so unpalatable that no decent person could actually let such a thing happen, and that Republicans and Democrats would do whatever was necessary to avoid them. Now that obstructionist Republicans have blocked every attempt at actual <i>progress</i>, this is what will happen to the poorest among us;
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<strong>From Mother Jones; </strong></div>
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<strong>Public housing subsidies: </strong>$1.9 billion in cuts would affect 125,000 low-income people who would lose access to vouchers to help them with their rent.</div>
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<strong>Foreclosure prevention:</strong> 75,000 fewer people would receive foreclosure prevention, rental, and homeless counseling services.</div>
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<strong>Emergency housing:</strong> 100,000 formerly homeless people could be removed from their current emergency shelters.</div>
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<strong>Educational programs: </strong>Learning programs for poor kids would see a total of $2.7 billion in cuts. The $400 million slashed from Head Start, the preschool program for poor children, would result in reduced services for some 70,000 kids.</div>
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<strong>Title I Funding:</strong> The Department of Education's Title I program, the biggest federal education program in the country, subsidizes schools that serve more than a million disadvantaged students. It would see $725 million in cuts.</div>
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<strong>Rural rental assistance:</strong> Cuts to the Department of Agriculture would result in the elimination of rental assistance for 10,000 very low-income rural people, most of whom are single women, elderly, or disabled.</div>
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<strong>Social Security:</strong> Although Social Security payments themselves won't be scaled back, cuts to the program would result in a massive backlogging of disability claims.</div>
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<strong>Unemployment benefits:</strong> More than 3.8 million people getting long-term unemployment benefits would see their monthly payments reduced by as much as 9.4 percent, and would lose an average of $400 in benefits over their period of joblessness.</div>
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<strong>Veterans services:</strong> The Transition Assistance Program would be forced to cut back some of the job search and career transition services it provides to 150,000 vets a year.</div>
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<strong>Nutritional Assistance for Women & Children:</strong> The government's main food stamp program is exempt from cuts, but other food programs would take a hit. Some 600,000 women and children would be cut from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which provides nutrition assistance and education.</div>
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<strong>Special education:</strong> $978 million in cuts would affect 30.7 million children.<strong> </strong>For example, the scaling back of federal grants to states for students with disabilities would mean that cash-strapped states and districts would have to come up with the salaries for thousands of teachers, aides and staff that serve special needs kids.</div>
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<strong>Job training programs:</strong> $37 million would be slashed from a job retraining and placement program called Employment Services, and $83 million would be cut from Job Corps, which provides low-income kids with jobs and education.</div>
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Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa) said that the $85 billion in cuts "would really help a long way and get us on a sustainable fiscal path." Hmmmm...so would only fighting the wars that we really needed to, as well as not paying for antiquated weaponry that is obsolete to our current military needs (and is expensive as hell); so would abandoning your parties repeated attempts to repeal "ObamaCare" (which as of July 2012 had racked up costs of approximately $48 million) and constantly defending the Defense of Marriage Act ($ 3 million so far) - then there's that pesky notion of paying salaries, health care, personal protection, ground, air and sea transportation, pension and rent to a bunch of Congressional jack-wads who would rather propose <a href="http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/04/12/694-anti-choice-bills-in-just-3-months-republicans-continue-to-attack-womens-rights/">694 Anti-Choice bills in three months (!) </a>than actually sit down and work with the President to tackle the serious problems still facing this nation and this planet. I'd much rather give that money to Head Start kids or homeless Vets than to a bunch of self aggrandizing K Street whores who don't seem to have a fucking care in the world about ANYONE but themselves. And yeah, I'm talking about you, Toomey. Weenie.<br />
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So, in conclusion - thanks for the feedback. Glad you found some humor here, and I hope you come back. And honestly, I love feedback - I would be thrilled to hear from anyone and everyone who's got something to say, but know this - this blog is the radically amplified, barely censored, oft times caustic opinion of a self proclaimed ludicrous asshole who goes by the name of Daddy on the Edge. The fact that you call me <i>uninformed</i> frankly makes me giggle, but you go right ahead and call me that if it makes you feel better. Facts are facts, and even blind guides and blind fools can see that your GOP brothers wailing for this to be a Christian Nation are about as Christlike as a post Purim nosh at the 2nd Avenue Deli.<br />
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I'll wrap this up with a few words from the biggest Liberal I know; Watch...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ID9iQiJLwBE?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Go with God, </span></b></i><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-89189684252598623152013-04-09T19:58:00.001-04:002013-04-09T19:58:08.508-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Jesus, Muhammad and The Common Good<i>"This is the rule of most perfect Christianity, its most exact definition, its highest point, namely, the seeking of the"common good". . . for nothing can so make a person an imitator of Christ as caring for his neighbors.” ~John Chrysostom
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Did'ja know that Daddy is an ordained Minister?<br />
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Yep - signed, sealed and delivered us from evil honest to God fearing Man of the Cloth, courtesy of The Universal Life Church Monastery. I also signed The Big Book in NYC <i>(seriously - no joke - it's this massive, leather bound tome that they pull out and have you sign - this after you've been sitting in the main waiting area of City Hall, listening for your name to be called and watching couple after couple coming in to get married - the whole afternoon was like some sort of college film, but I think I can say quite honestly that it was the best time I have ever had in a government building)</i>, which means I am able to marry people in Manhattan and all the Five Boroughs. What could be better than having Daddy on the Edge officiate at your wedding? Well this, for starters...<br />
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This is salted caramel ice cream, hot fudge, peanuts and caramel corn. The creator of this concoction, <a href="http://feliciaday.com/">Felicia Day</a>, calls it a Cracker Jack Sundae. It is delicious sounding, decadent looking, and it is consuming most of my thoughts this evening. This needs to find a way into Daddy's mouth by the end of the week or bad things may occur. I might even accept this as payment for performing your wedding ceremony - that's how badly I want this thing. Will marry for food? <i>I might, rabbit...I might.</i><br />
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But I digress (ya think???). Salted caramel ice cream and all the fixin's is not the topic of today's foray into Daddy's brain. Today, Minister Daddy, (nah...Papa Padre? Father Father? Eh, screw it) - today, I want to talk about The New Testament, The Qur'an, and The Torah.<br />
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I'll take "Religious Best Sellers" for $1,000, Alex! Yep, these are three of the big boys - the play books, the instruction manuals, the veritable "eHows" for being the best darned Christian, or Muslim, or Jew you can be. Throughout the centuries, they have been used to highlight our differences (usually to point out how one is so much better than the other two), but Preacher Pop (<i>still not quite right...</i>) is looking to focus for just a moment on one of the similarities of these three Holy Books - one of the main, central tenets that they all share -<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Charity.</span></b></i></div>
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<b><i>2 Corinthians 9:7 - Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.</i></b><br />
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<i><b>Deuteronomy 15:7 - If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b> The Noble Qur'an -By no means shall you attain to righteousness until you spend (benevolently) out of what you love; and whatever thing you spend, Allah surely knows it. (3:92)</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b>Mark 10:21 - Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b>Leviticus 25:35 - If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.</b></i><br />
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We could be here all day highlighting how religions share a common belief in the importance of charity to their spirituality. I've touched on three, but Hinduism practices a "daily morality" based on Karma and Dharma, Buddhism says that there must be joy in every act of giving, the Sikh Guru Amar Das says, "Blessed is the godly person and the riches they possess because they can be used for charitable purposes and to give happiness." - On and on and on. I've saved this one for last, because I thought it was excellent -<br />
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<b><i>The Prophet Muhammad said: 'Charity is a necessity for every Muslim.'</i></b><br />
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<b><i> He was asked: 'What if a person has nothing?'</i></b><br />
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<b><i> The Prophet replied: 'He should work with his own hands for his benefit and then give something out of such earnings in charity.'
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<b><i>The Companions asked: 'What if he is not able to work?' </i></b><br />
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<b><i> The Prophet said: 'He should help poor and needy persons.' </i></b><br />
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<b><i> The Companions further asked 'What if he cannot do even that?' </i></b><br />
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<b><i> The Prophet said 'He should urge others to do the good.'
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<b><i>The Companions said 'What if he lacks that also?' </i></b><br />
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<b><i> The Prophet said 'He should hold himself from doing evil. That is also charity.'
</i></b><br />
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If you can't do anything good, at least stop yourself from doing evil. That is also charity.</i> Congress could learn a lot from the Prophet Muhammad.<br />
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Day after day, I hear a growing number of our legislators and lawmakers calling for this to be a Judeo-Christian Nation, a nation that embraces Christianity - truly, One Nation Under God <i>(the GOP God, of course - kinda looks like a cross between Charlton Heston and Jerry Garcia - loves assault rifles, hates gays...surprisingly runs hot and cold on Ted Nugent.)</i> But their words and their actions don't match.<br />
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From the book of James - <i>"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ..."</i><br />
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What do the latest "works" of Congress, specifically that God fearing, Jesus loving Right Wing of Congress - show us? Attempting to restrict voter rights, cutting food programs for the poor, refusing to raise an anemic minimum wage, countless campaigns and measures unleashed daily for the seemingly sole purpose of hurting the least of us. That's not Christ talking, that's someone else. Please, please show me one bill, one proposal that has been suggested by anyone in the GOP that could even be considered the least bit "Christlike". I'm here to tell ya, they don't exist.<br />
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Meanwhile, the folks that we have been told to revile; well now - they seem to be walking the path of the righteous a lot easier than the self-righteous whack-a-moles of Congress.<br />
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Compare and contrast with me for a moment, willya? While House Republicans recently proposed cuts to nutrition assistance that will kick 280,000 low income children off automatic enrollment in the Free School Lunch and Breakfast Program, The <a href="http://www.icny.org/icny">Imperial Court of New York</a><br />
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was hosting the 27th annual Night of a Thousand Gowns, a gala fundraiser, this year raising funds for GMHC and GLAAD. In their history, the court has donated over a million dollars to worthy LGBT and HIV/AIDS related causes. Seems that crossdressers, drag queens and "sodomites" (as many a Republican has referred to my gay brothers) are being a whole lot more "Christian" than all you good, morally <strike>bankrupt</strike> <i>upstanding</i> GOP mothers. <i>(PS: The folks on the right are newly crowned Emperor XXII Wen-Dee Bouvier Pinkhouse and Empress XXVII Gracie Steeles - word is the house was royally rocked at their coronation, and all of us here at Daddy on the Edge wish them a most epic reign. Link to ICNY will be on the sidebar - go get involved and be frigging fabulous!).</i><br />
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Here's another one - while Paul Ryan and his holier than thou GOP Cabal are still trying to cut $1.4 trillion from Medicaid over a ten year period (way to sock it to those "takers", Paul Ryan, <i>you</i> <i>Social Security Recipient you</i>) prison inmates in various correctional facilities were helping charities through several different methods. At The Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, CA, a group of inmates known as "The Longtermers Association" has raised and donated over $150,000 to charitable organizations. In Key West, FL, "Art Behind Bars" is a program that provides inmates with art classes, whose work is then exhibited and sold with the proceeds given to charity. Since 1994, the group has donated over $100,000 to 400-plus non-profit organizations. You can read about more of these organizations <a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2010/04/15/five-prison-charities-helping-inmates-give-back">here</a>. These folks are amazing to me. Prison can tear you down; it can eat you up inside, leaving you with nothing but darkness - or a person can choose, even in their darkest hour, to find a bit of light...and make it brighter. <br />
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The Republicans in Congress snuff out that light, or they try to. They decry, defund and destroy every charitable program that doesn't fit with their way of thinking (ACORN, Planned Parenthood, anything <i>"gay"</i>), all the while making poor people poorer and rich people richer and THEN claiming that somehow, that's the way God wants it.<br />
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God doesn't want that. Jesus doesn't want that. Muhammad, Moses, Buddha - they don't want that either. Saying that they do; saying that you act in Their names, is the mark of a False Prophet. Worse - it is the mark of a Pharisee.<br />
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Jesus was not a fan of the Pharisees. He called them blind fools, serpants, and hypocrites, accusing them of saying one thing but doing another - accusing them of making heavy burdens for men to carry, without lifting a finger to help. He accused them of making a show of their faith, but doing very little to back it up with works. The Pharisees, like our present day GOP, cared little for "the common good".<br />
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Who but demons would demonize the poor and the defenseless? In every religion, save the religion of Greed and Avarice, what the Republicans are doing to the poor, the hungry, the homeless and destitute are some of the greatest sins imaginable. And when we give in to their constant mantra - when we allow ourselves to believe, even for a moment, that it's the poor and their "entitlement programs" that are to blame for our current financial situation - then we have succumbed to the teachings of False Prophets.<br />
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This callous, malevolent, <i>evil</i> attitude toward the poor in this country Must End. It is an empty, fruitless, heartless endeavor and we are simply better than that. We Must be better than that. How do I know? Jesus told me.<br />
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It's sad that I have to look to a fictional character to wrap this up - how extraordinary would it be to hear one of our elected leaders speak these words, or words anywhere close to these? Thank you, Charlie Chaplin - for reminding me that the Kingdom of God is within every one of us. Watch...<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Can I get an Amen up in here?</b></i></span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></b></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-83258526521799011062013-04-06T19:55:00.005-04:002013-04-06T19:55:56.652-04:00Daddy on the Edge - The Expiration of Inspiration<br />
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<b>I don't breathe much, really...lately.</b><br />
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<b>I mean, obviously I breathe enough; I'm walking and talking, doin' my thang in the blogopolis, so I must be getting enough O2 in my system.</b><br />
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<b>But it's not the real thing, y'know? What most Americans (and probably folks in a whole lot of the world) pass off as breathing is actually this shallow, ragged push me-pull you between oxygen and carbon dioxide - it's just about enough respiration to keep us conscious and alive, but not a helluva lot more. It's like duct taping the hell out of that broken mailbox post so it'll stay upright a bit longer- it ain't the right way to do it, but it gets the job done, know what I mean?</b><br />
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<b>And the real kicker is that it should be so easy! It's breathing, for crying out loud! But when work, and bills, and work, and taxes, and work and the dog and work and broken appliances and work and health issues and work and work and work...(whew...head rush)...yeah, when the pressures of life get to rest too heavily on one's chest and one's mind, this simple thing to do ain't no longer simple, and we suffer from a lack...<i>of inspiration</i>.</b><br />
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<b>Isn't that great? The art of the inhale is called inspiration. Daddy loves unexpected words like that - for instance, the french word for "Warning" is <i>"Advertissement"</i> (which makes perfect sense if you've ever listened to the litany of nasty side effects in one of those Cymbalta commercials). The french word for "gasoline"? <i>"Essence"</i>. Isn't that awesome? <i>"Will you be home in time for dinner?" "Sure - just gotta stop for some Essence and then I'll be there."</i> Filling your tank sounds downright sexy when the french say it (although at $4.00 a gallon, it still feels like you're getting mugged at the pump, no matter what you call it).</b><br />
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<b>So, I've been suffering from insufficient inspiration. The flip side of Inspiration (breathing in) is Expiration (breathing out), hence the title of today's post. I'm not sure where I first heard the term, but I wrote it down immediately because it just tickled the hell out of me. I didn't take it to have anything to do with breathing, although that is how it had been introduced. To me it seemed like speculating that there could be an expiration date, a finite period of time - a limit to one's inspiration, or perhaps to the usefulness of such (use it or lose it, as it were).</b><br />
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<b>We've all seen that happen, so there must be something to that - my great ideas, your great ideas - they don't die if we don't act on them - only our time to act on them expires, and they go on to someone else. Years later, we see our ideas being sold on TV, </b><b>or Bill Gates is unveiling them, </b><b>or someone else opens that coffee shop, and we sulk quietly, jealous of all the attention <i>our</i> ideas are getting, up there with those other people who actually <i>used</i> them. Song about <i>The Twilight Zone</i>? My idea. <i>"Yadda, yadda, yadda"</i>? Swear to God, it was mine before it was Seinfeld's. I tell ya, you've gotta copyright that shit the second it pops into your head, 'cuz you never know how long you're gonna have it.</b><br />
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<b>Inspiration - it begins. Expiration - it is over. We live and die in a single breath, to be born again with the next, and the next, and the next. Every breath an opportunity to be inspired anew - to go down another path, make another choice - live another life. Not these half assed, token sucks of air like people drowning in oceans of their own design - but real, clean, deep down in your toes, get you high kind of breathing. Do this with me right now - Exhale; whatever breath you have in you, force it out of you - empty yourself - push it all out...every last bit. Now, deep and steady in through your nose, inhale as much air as you can comfortably take in , and then take in just a little bit more, and hold it. Hold it in for four times the amount of time you took inhaling...and then release. Exhale normally, and let your breathing return to normal.</b></div>
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<b>How'd that feel? Did your teeth tingle? Feel a little bit high? I know, I know - it's nothing new. Y'all do this in yoga and meditation - but for many of us unenlightened ones, this is not something we come by naturally, because we're stressed beyond belief, because there's too much <i>noise</i> and not enough <i>sound</i>, because there's too much <i>doing</i> and not enough <i>being</i> - because sometimes <i>life</i>...makes it hard to breathe.</b><br />
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<b>But it's not life that makes it hard to breathe - it's all the crap with which we clog up our existence and refer to as life. Life is not our job, or our political affiliation; Life is not our house, or our car, or any of the material possessions that we hold dear. Life is expression. Life is inspiration realized. Life is every unencumbered, unstressed breath that we allow ourselves to take.</b><br />
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<b>We can breathe; we can absorb inspiration freely and easily; we can be divine and mystic and extraordinary and epic...we just have to get out of our own way.</b><br />
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<br /><i><b>
Observe your own body. It breathes. You breathe when you are
asleep, when you are no longer conscious of your own ideas of self-identity.
Who, then, is breathing? The collection of information that you mistakenly
think it’s you is not the main protagonist in this drama called the breath. In
fact, you are not breathing; breath is naturally happening to you. You can
purposely end your own life, but you cannot purposely keep your own life going.
The expression, “My life” is actually an oxymoron, a result of ignorance and
mistaken assumption. You don’t posses life; life expresses itself through you.
Your body is a flower that life let bloom, a phenomenon created by life.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></b></i></span><i><b>
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<i><b><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 115%;">~ Ilchi Lee</span></b></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Breathe easy, my friends.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Daddy</i></span></b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-20249291419906029212013-01-02T21:05:00.000-05:002013-01-02T21:05:35.167-05:00Daddy on the Edge of Believing...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My daughter was in a recent episode of the award winning web series <a href="http://www.haywireseries.com/">"Haywire"</a> . She had some very basic action - be chased from one room to another. I was at rehearsal and watched her <i>pretend</i> to run from someone, causing the person chasing her to slow down and end up <i>pretending</i> as well. I asked the director if I could speak to my daughter for a moment. He agreed and I quickly walked over to her and said "I'm chasing you - don't let me catch you! RUN!", and I chased her at full speed. Now that she was actually being chased, it was real for her, and the pretending was over. Because acting is not ever about pretending...<br />
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Acting is about make-believe.<br />
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Some would call pretending and make-believe the same. The Free Dictionary lumps make-believe together with fantasy, unreality, charade - even mock and sham - and a host of other terms that would regulate it to the world of the imaginary, the unreal...the false.<br />
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I disagree. In Daddy's lexicon,<br />
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<b>Make-Believe = Making the viewer Believe.</b></div>
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It's not about pretending; it's about <i>convincing</i>. And to truly convince someone else, you first have to convince yourself. Great actors immerse themselves in a role, <i>losing themselves</i>, so that they might become this other person, and convince you that they have done so. Acting is like sales; the first step is that you yourself believe in your product. You have to <i>make</i> yourself believe, in acting, in sales...in our everyday lives - and sometimes that last one is the toughest - can you make yourself believe...in you?<br />
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Sometimes, that's a tall order. Sometimes Conventional Wisdom, The Powers That Be, or the so-called Experts will make it almost impossible for you to believe that something is possible. They'll call you a dreamer, or worse - a fool for believing what you believe. Can you still overcome? Can your belief system overcome theirs? Can you make yourself, and others believe what, up until now, was wholly unbelievable?<br />
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Let's ask this guy...<br />
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Thank You, Arthur Boorman - for your service to our country, for serving as an amazing inspiration, and for making Daddy cry those good tears, those happy tears...those tears that flow <i>every time I watch you run...</i><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">You Make Me Believe.</span></i></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks, </span></b><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-86843444309421095762012-12-31T10:24:00.000-05:002012-12-31T10:29:21.847-05:00Daddy on the Edge of a New Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1Oo7Ad-IlPYKV879pAIDThWpqJtABD97htyO7QeX7dieEqVlqh549daxG4nWIfE_7g-dLxATof1E9IjeKn9aNi1s4RB8AZmkiZ-4AbY04J4Gd1AZ6j30rFAl8v5s98b8dCNq6VsPATFb/s1600/2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1Oo7Ad-IlPYKV879pAIDThWpqJtABD97htyO7QeX7dieEqVlqh549daxG4nWIfE_7g-dLxATof1E9IjeKn9aNi1s4RB8AZmkiZ-4AbY04J4Gd1AZ6j30rFAl8v5s98b8dCNq6VsPATFb/s200/2012.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
The Mayans were wrong.<br />
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Cool, 'cuz Daddy had a full Saturday planned and a Friday end of the world would have really futzed thangs up, ya feel me? But it's cool, because they were wrong. We're still here. Glad I didn't tell people what I really thought about them. ;)<br />
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Still though, plenty of people bought into the whole Mayan calendar thing - We're a people that likes to buy into things, don'tcha think? It's like we groove on the danger - "<i>Y2K!!! End of the world!!</i>" <i>"Rapture coming 'cuz some Baptist Minister said so! End of the world!!" "Snookie's having a baby!! End of the world!!!!!!!" </i>Any excuse for us to stock up on bibles, guns and canned goods - we're in.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And we play that damned REM song 'til it can't play no mo'.</i></span></div>
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You know the one. I know the one. I think even my mother knows the one I'm talking about, and my mother still thinks that Jim Nabors is a great contemporary artist. The song is "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I feel Fine)" -<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><i><b>From Wiki</b></i> - <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">"</span><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)</b><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">" is a song by the rock band</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> R.E.M. </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">which appeared on their 1987 album <i>Document</i></span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">, the 1988 compilation <i>Eponymous</i></span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">, and the 2006 compilation</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> <i>And I Feel Fine...The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987</i>.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> It was released as a</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> single i</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">n November 1987, reaching No. 69 US Billboard Hot 100 </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">and later reaching No. 39 in the</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> UK singles chart </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">on its re-release in December 1991.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The song originated from a previously unreleased R.E.M. song called "PSA" ("Public Service Announcement"); the two songs are very similar in melody and tempo. "PSA" was itself later released as a single in 2003, under the title "Bad Day". In an interview with <i>Guitar World</i> magazine published in November 1996, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck agreed that "End of the World" was in the tradition of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The music video was directed by James Herbert, who worked with the band on several other videos in the late 1980s. It depicts a young skateboarder, Noah Ray, rifling through an abandoned, collapsing farmhouse and displaying the relics that he finds to the camera.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Following the terrorist attacks on</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> September 11, 2001</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">, the song was placed on the</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> list of post 9/11 inappropriate titles</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">distributed by</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> Clear Channel</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">.</span></span><br />
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It's a fun song; I'm sure it's a favorite at karaoke bars, and it's probably the only reason you will hear entire rooms of adults shout out in unison, <i>"LEONARD BERNSTEIN!!" </i>But I think there's a little more to it than that...<br />
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The lyric is, "It's the end of the world <i>as we know it</i>...and I feel fine". Prepositional phrases are such important things, don'tcha think? The end of the world...<i>as...we...know...it. </i>Did you know that the world as we know it ceases to be, completely and utterly, in the half of a half of a nanosecond after we've known it?<i> </i>Human beings, the planet that we live on, the animals that share it with us and the atmosphere and the stratosphere and the universe - we are all in a constant state of regeneration. Life in transition.<i> </i>Life <i>is </i>transition. The atoms that make up your body once made up the body of Christ. I didn't say that - Deepak Chopra did. We are ever changing, living in a universe that is never the exact same from one millisecond to the next - matter and energy ever changing, ever transitioning, ever <i>Becoming. </i>That's the good news - we are always becoming something new, something different; often times, something wonderful. <i>But only if we allow it.</i><br />
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Y'see, the universe is simple, in a way. It listens, and gives us what we want; kinda like a cosmic McDonald's counter person. If we see ourselves as a standard hamburger, and believe ourselves to be a standard hamburger, then when the Cosmic Counter Person asks us what we would like, we confidently (and all too routinely) answer, "hamburger, please."<br />
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<i>Yum.</i></div>
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And why wouldn't we? It's what we've known; it's all we've known. It's what our family and teachers and friends and work associates know us to be, so it must be true, and therefore must be continued. But, what if we ignored our history, our daily adherence and belief in what we are, and all the evidence it provides to our senses that we are merely - the standard burger. What if we allowed ourselves to dream for a moment, to go wild in our fantasizing, and imagine ourselves to be... the Number 1 Combo Meal - the Big Mac, large fries and your choice of an icy soft drink! What if you ordered <u>that</u> from the Cosmic Counter Person? Hell - why limit yourself to the McDonald's menu? Why not order the Mascarpone Enriched Chestnut Agnolotti from <i>Per Se</i>? Why not embody <i>Del Posto's</i> delightful Pumpkin Cappellacci with brown butter and biscotti? Or <i>Amber's</i> Hokaiddo Diver Scallop with Jerusalem Artichokes, green apple, 56 month old Patanegrade bellota ham & white alba truffles (which I understand pairs magnificently with the <i>2003 Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion Blanc, Pessac-Leognan, Bordeaux</i>) ??<br />
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Or a banana?<br />
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My point is; change is inevitable. Why do we not take active control of that change, instead of leaving the choice of who we are to be made by the powers around us? A rudderless ship will still be carried by the ocean's currents, and will find itself arriving at a destination that it had no say in choosing, or worse yet, may just become lost at sea, never finding it's home, it's true destination...it's destiny.<br />
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We have a rudder. We have a wheel. We have a choice. The Status Quo was built and is powered by people and organizations that profit from The Status Quo remaining as it is - unchanged. Since we have established that everything changes, then the only thing that maintains The Status Quo...is our belief in it. Our belief that we are what <i>they</i> say we are, and that we are powerless to change it. Such myths are the stuff of fairy tales. We have had, and always will have, the power to change our worlds in an instant. What we have lost is the desire to do so, and the belief that we are able.<br />
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Tonight marks the beginning of a new year. My wish is that it truly is a "New" Year for us all; unlike the old years of compliance, complacency and acceptance of the unacceptable. In 2013, may we be unconventional in the face of conventional wisdom, may we rise up and challenge inane notions that we can be categorized by percentages, or antiquated belief systems; may we see the dronings and squawkings of Television News Puppets as the silly, nonsensical noise that they are and not for a second take them seriously; may we begin this day to become something completely new, something superior to what we have ever allowed ourselves to be before. In 2013, may we be <b><i>Magnificent</i></b>. It <i>is</i> the End of the World as We Know It...and I <i>Do</i> Feel Fine. How 'bout you?<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Happy New Year,</span></b><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-86090488037597762442012-09-24T18:22:00.000-04:002012-09-24T18:22:16.323-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Imagining...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NQIqHTFWQqOjKL7W-klv7IC43jaMegSYfBjvsAzfR-oielXmFengxf3DNuIhTBA3Ce12ROGe1502ID9-JJxQdKxerw13YS9jWP6-Jl5XTy48w7bBXtcMxjwDFqEjDhWGogcSgKv1OFVU/s1600/417224_3525898427555_705023906_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NQIqHTFWQqOjKL7W-klv7IC43jaMegSYfBjvsAzfR-oielXmFengxf3DNuIhTBA3Ce12ROGe1502ID9-JJxQdKxerw13YS9jWP6-Jl5XTy48w7bBXtcMxjwDFqEjDhWGogcSgKv1OFVU/s200/417224_3525898427555_705023906_n.jpg" width="141" /></a><i><span style="font-size: large;">Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"> Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too, </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Imagine all the people, Living life in peace...</span></i><br />
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I was gonna spew some pompous shit here, but then I realized there was no need. Just watch this guy...<br />
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Pretty fucking cool, right? Now watch these people -
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How amazing is that? Wanna see something even more amazing? The Iranians responded (this is even more amazing because the Iranian government could show these people a world of hurt for participating in such a video) - watch -<br />
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And Ronny isn't done - now he wants to get the new message - "Not Ready to Die in Your War" - up on billboards in Tel Aviv. Wanna help? Check his indiegogo page - <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/peacefactory">http://www.indiegogo.com/peacefactory</a> and give what you can. Or go to the Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/israellovesiran">https://www.facebook.com/israellovesiran</a> or just share the videos above. Can we tell the politicians to shut the hell up? The <i>people</i> are speaking, and the people are calling for <i><b>Peace</b></i>.<br />
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What would happen if they threw a War and nobody came?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Imagine, </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></b></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-80033802336284656402012-09-22T13:20:00.001-04:002012-09-22T13:20:59.608-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Chicken ShitSometimes Corporate America pisses me off.<br />
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Why? Oh, so many reasons, but the first is that they screwed up my blog. If you came looking for the last blog post, "Daddy on the Edge of a Musical Interlude", you may not have been able to view the second video that was featured, because the idjits at Vimeo put some stupid subscription lock on it. So, screw Vimeo. I went to YouTube and got a replacement which seems to be working fine, so if you tried to view the last post and were running into problems, please go back and see the whole thing as it was meant to be seen - there's really some amazing music there. As for Vimeo, I know you were trying to gain subscribers, but instead you got me telling folks how much you suck, so job well done there Maybe in the future, you won't put content out there as something good only to later turn around and change the rules...weenies.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqg887iHRt0FR1ZbSZmOSK5UYlIiVSi9FJBLgLmIuvwuEGhzkd8k0LkfL1mrz-5SuOBrcQ4X2-JYGjpLN5dKLv0tTvJEmOGHHifjyNiOgw7pJ4Pp_gZJbKv_3svmwKIiNHX3AXB-qyxcj/s1600/DanCathy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvqg887iHRt0FR1ZbSZmOSK5UYlIiVSi9FJBLgLmIuvwuEGhzkd8k0LkfL1mrz-5SuOBrcQ4X2-JYGjpLN5dKLv0tTvJEmOGHHifjyNiOgw7pJ4Pp_gZJbKv_3svmwKIiNHX3AXB-qyxcj/s200/DanCathy.jpg" width="200" /></a>Which brings me to This Asshole! Yes, Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A is back in </div>
the news and back on Daddy's shit list. As you may remember, Dan Cathy caught a lot of heat for funding anti-LGBT groups. Protests, counter-protests, boycotting Chick-fil-A, Mike Huckabee calling for a day to support the chickenhawk or something like that - all the whack-jobs came out for that one...<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">It got nasty for the Chicken Head, because he wanted to build a new Chick-fil-A coop in Chicago, and Alderman Joe Moreno basically said that he wasn't gonna bend the zoning laws required to let Cathy's homophobic chickeny goodness come to Chicago's North side. </span><span style="text-align: left;">So, there was no joy in Mudville...until this story came out (credit to Yahoo News - written by Dylan Stableford)... </span><br />
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<i>Chick-fil-A agrees to stop funding antigay groups, Chicago alderman says</i></h1>
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<b><i>Chick-fil-A, the fast-food chain that sparked a firestorm earlier this year after its president <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/chick-fil-gay-marriage-201108120--finance.html" id="yui_3_5_1_21_1348329159741_362" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">made public comments against same-sex marriage</a>, has agreed to stop funding antigay groups, a Chicago alderman says.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Joe Moreno, the alderman whose opposition of a proposed Chick-fil-A on Chicago's north side helped fuel the controversy, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-chick-fil-a-chicago-0919-20120919,0,3725045.story" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">told the Chicago Tribune</a> the company has pledged to include a statement of respect for all sexual orientations in a memo to staffers, and has promised that the WinShape Foundations, its not-for-profit arm, would no longer contribute money to groups that oppose gay marriage. Moreno said he will recommend that Chick-fil-A's construction plans be approved.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>"Last week, I met with Chick-fil-A executives for the second time this month," Moreno said in a statement on Wednesday. "These meetings cap 10 months of negotiations with the company over concerns about fair and equal hiring and serving practices within the company. Before now, Chick-fil-A had no formal message as it related to the fair treatment of all citizens in our great democracy. Now, for the first time in the company's history, Chick-fil-A provided an official company document, which clarifies their new policies to ensure equality at Chick-fil-A facilities."</i></b></div>
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<b><i>The memo, "Chick-fil-A: Who We Are," will be distributed to all corporate employees and restaurant operators, encouraging them to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect—regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender," Moreno said.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>In a letter to the alderman, the company wrote that WinShape is "taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas."</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Since 2003, the nonprofit has donated millions of dollars to groups that promote "traditional marriage," including Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage. <a href="http://jointcra.org/" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">According to the Civil Rights Agenda</a>, a Chicago-based LGBT advocacy group that worked closely with Moreno, Chick-fil-A executives "clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations."<span id="more-31479"></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i>A Chick-fil-A spokeswoman declined to comment to Yahoo News but forwarded a statement the company made in July:</i></b></div>
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<b><i>"The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect —regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender," the statement reads. "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena."</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Now, let me tell you - Daddy was frigging ecstatic to read that. Giddy as a school girl I was, and I posted this story immediately on my Facebook page, praising the company for reversing their discriminatory stand. Unfortunately, that was all too short lived.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTo_LU46E_LLFrt_gPh9P4m4w7jffSyXo9Viy7sWgpk4tsvkqXuZzs4izYwtP01SJt8WTHxxuDupteOKn5sqb6P4F21gGJLzXkD9a65eyG5CwZWsHevIelVEpLaYj4yjKR2xuXjKmUR3xd/s1600/A3H1xXUCAAACu8g+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTo_LU46E_LLFrt_gPh9P4m4w7jffSyXo9Viy7sWgpk4tsvkqXuZzs4izYwtP01SJt8WTHxxuDupteOKn5sqb6P4F21gGJLzXkD9a65eyG5CwZWsHevIelVEpLaYj4yjKR2xuXjKmUR3xd/s200/A3H1xXUCAAACu8g+%25281%2529.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Days after Dan Cathy himself said he wouldn't give any more money to anti-LGBT groups, he tweeted this - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><b><i>"WinShape Ride for the Family bikers locked and loaded for 200 mile ride to Wilmington out of Charleston."</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">This event was to raise funds for the Marriage and Family Foundation. This is the exact group he promised not to support - y'know, the one he's proudly tweeting about supporting right here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Before, I was pissed at Dan Cathy because he was cherry picking the Bible, and because he and his company were supporting charities that actively wage war against the LGBT community - that's doubly annoying because the idea of a hateful charity seems like an oxymoron to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;">But now, I have to wonder how stupid Dan Cathy thinks we are? I have met some brilliant liars in my day and, while I don't believe that lying is a good thing, I can't help but appreciate watching a master of the craft weaving a tale of deception that, while being completely fictitious, rings with an undeniable sound of truth. Dan Cathy and others of his ilk are bush league liars; they don't do it well, and they don't even seem to care. They bullshit for just as long as they have to to get what they want and then act like they never said any of that, that you imagined it, or misinterpreted their words, or the all too popular, "took my words out of context".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;">Well Dan, you lied. Simple as that. Now, I was about to hope that Joe Moreno rescinded his permission to let you build your new store, but the more I think about it, the more I think you should build that store. Building that store will mean construction jobs, tax revenue, and salaries for your employees. So build that store. In fact, build two.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;">But know this - we're gonna keep reminding people to never eat at your Hate-Shack. We're gonna keep up the campaign that lunch tastes better without homophobia. Until you stop funding your Anti-LGBT friends, we'll do our best to make sure that your employees always outnumber your customers. "Eat Mor Chikin"? How about "Keep the Hate Off My Plate"? That's a slogan I can get behind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;">My thanks to Willam Belli, Detox and Vicky Vox for providing the following Chick-fil-A theme song...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sO-msplukrw?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"> Chow Down, Cathy. </span></b><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Daddy</span></b></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-85040273549325413782012-08-22T20:14:00.000-04:002012-09-22T11:21:06.351-04:00Daddy on the Edge of a Musical Interlude<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtPdP4InwiBmEErSpcSib3S8mhh4bW3xxa2DzV0GTN8JM1566RjKCRL76FPlZFraKs2IjRlwq1i0LROCG70507PCh6fqdiKDHcJRzkR4a7gewzP0SUOmZLUIV1mvy5-x7MsQEF5Dpm9kV_/s1600/original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtPdP4InwiBmEErSpcSib3S8mhh4bW3xxa2DzV0GTN8JM1566RjKCRL76FPlZFraKs2IjRlwq1i0LROCG70507PCh6fqdiKDHcJRzkR4a7gewzP0SUOmZLUIV1mvy5-x7MsQEF5Dpm9kV_/s320/original.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Wassup, potential voting populace? Disclaimer - the picture above has very little to do with today's post - I just found it and couldn't resist. I kinda like it, though - these guys might have a chance in Hell in Daddy's neighborhood if they were anything like this pic.<br />
<br />
Anyway, there's been a lot of really, really, utterly, completely Stupid Shit coming out of political wordholes lately, and I am doing my very damnedest...to avoid talking about it. Why? Because rape is a serious, serious issue - it is a heinous act with devastating, long lasting consequences. It can all too often be a destroyer of lives. The last thing - the very LAST thing it should ever be is a prop in some misguided Republican's campaign. Because it never ends there. In RepublicanLand, if one of your brothers says something so completely fucking stupid that you check him for signs of severe head trauma, your reaction as a Republican brother MUST be to stand along side the idiot and not only defend him, but rationalize his behavior and question why the liberals are over reacting. It's the Republican Double Down, and they've perfected it. I used to think it could be countered; I used to think that if we yelled back just as loudly, that we could possibly change some minds. But lately, I see more and more that those set in their way of thinking are not going to be changed by logic, or common sense, or facts. Dave Ramsey has a favorite saying; "Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still". And it's true. It is my fervent belief that Barack Obama has been a good President during a very difficult time in our countries history; I further think that he could be a great President if he had a Congress with any motivation to do anything (aside from seeing him fail - they have gleeful amounts of motivation for that - weenies). But no matter what I believe, no matter what I say, it will not change the right wing hatred of this President. Why the hatred? Two reasons;<br />
<br />
1. Because they believe what they hear on FOX News.<br />
<br />
and/or<br />
<br />
2. They're racist. <br />
<br />
That's really it. Seriously, let's stop sugar coating this - unemployment is down, housing starts are up, the DOW is at near record levels, the auto industry is back, banks have repaid TARP money with interest, and taxes are at their lowest rate since the 1950's - I could go on, and on, and on - but that doesn't matter. To the right wing, none of that matters because <i>he's a Secret Communist Socialist Muslim Kenyan Demon who wants to destroy the US and hates the military and hates America and hates our Freedom and blah, blah, blah</i> - here, have some more Koolaid. It's your favorite flavor - "<i>DumbFuck</i>".<br />
<br />
So anyway, Daddy's not gonna change their minds. And I'm pretty much done trying, so I can just let this be plainly said;<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Republicans, we're better than you. </span></b></div>
<br />
There. I said it. We're better than you. We're smarter than you, we're more honest than you, we're kinder than you (to everyone, not just the other straight, white guys) we're definitely happier than you ('cause all that hate'll eat you alive - and y'all seem to hate just about EVERYBODY who ain't YOU!) and, most importantly for this post - we sing circles around your sorry asses!<br />
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Don't believe me? Fine - presenting, for your approval (or not - I no longer give a shit), Exhibit A;<br />
<br />
On August 21st, an organization called The Chicago Young Republicans (The CYR's) put out a YouTube parody video to "Call Me Maybe" - Check it -<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iCBfFMV5q78?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
So...yeah. First of all, I just gotta say, if one more dumb ass tea-bagging bimbo says "Give me back my country" I'm gonna projectile vomit in her general direction. Sweetheart, your country is still here; it's pretty much the same as it was under the last guy except we're out of Iraq, Osama is dead and there's better healthcare. Did you want any of those things back the way they were? Dumb as a box o' rocks, I swear.<br />
<br />
But secondly, and far more importantly, I am offended as both a performer and as a professional parody writer by this video. This was a crass, amateur, seemingly rushed attempt to push through a misguided, non-factual message with little to no thought of the proper execution of such an exercise (which actually sums up the current Republican Congress quite well, so if that was your point - then job well done!)<br />
<br />
In contrast, I now present Exhibit B. "One Term More" is a political parody written by Don DeMesquita to the music of "One Day More" from the musical "Les Miserables" - Check it -<br />
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0WHw32bv9BQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">No Contest.</span></b><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-20640055187367606702012-08-07T20:54:00.000-04:002012-08-07T20:59:35.314-04:00Daddy on the Edge of a Foodie...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiogbiR7L5DyW1EcGbvHbGI2Xcr6IyfYAdCPTLRRAVg881jsazmxslxJy2o9iYXor_huG5vD0Wlr6xmEgsyl1VkqiqwpYCI5fjbiOJUpPl8Pz3oeEMDBQIRf-28lci6AT1f0LOFNdZLdV/s1600/campusFoodieHeader.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguiogbiR7L5DyW1EcGbvHbGI2Xcr6IyfYAdCPTLRRAVg881jsazmxslxJy2o9iYXor_huG5vD0Wlr6xmEgsyl1VkqiqwpYCI5fjbiOJUpPl8Pz3oeEMDBQIRf-28lci6AT1f0LOFNdZLdV/s200/campusFoodieHeader.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><b>A</b>s defined by the Wiki -</i><br />
<br />
<i><b style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">"Foodie</b><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The Official Foodie Handbook</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">.</span>
</i><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><i><br /></i></span>
<i><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news.</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food."</span></i><br />
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Daddy...is <i>not</i> a Foodie. Daddy is the homegrown result of a white bread, middle class family of six from Upstate New York - a homogenized distillation of umpteen generations of WASP cooking - our average menu was the culinary equivalent of low fat mayonnaise, but not quite as flavorful. Oh, and there was no drinking in my house, either - and that included wine. So...low fat mayo, and milk.<br />
<br />
Since moving out of my parents house over two decades ago, I have certainly expanded my palate (and I've had an awful lot to drink), but I have never, and don't think I will ever be such a "fan" of food that the label of "Foodie" would ever apply to me. Daddy can give you two shows a night of liberal politics, LGBT rights and a list of which members of Congress are weenies and whack-a-moles (don't worry Boehner - you're still Number 1!) - yeah, with that stuff, I'm here all week, you're a great audience...try the veal.<br />
<br />
But if you want to know <i>about the veal</i>...really <i>understand the veal</i>...you don't talk to Daddy.<br />
<br />
You go check out <i><b>"<a href="http://dinneranda.wordpress.com/">Dinner and a...</a>"</b></i><br />
<br />
I met Vince Umbrino, Chief Correspondent of "<i>Dinner and a...</i>" on the set of the web series, "Haywire". <i>(What? You've never heard of this critically acclaimed web series featuring Daddy hisself?? Click </i><a href="http://haywireseries.com/">HERE</a><i>, and check it out!!) </i>Since learning about his blog during that initial filming session, I've been dropping in from time to time when I need a break from my sanctimonious, socialist soapbox and there's always something entertaining to read. The title of his very first post is,<br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>"And I got six syrups on the table, I gotta use every one of them...otherwise why be there? </b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Why be there?"</b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And that just tickled me. That's a smile with a side of fries (and the boy's got a thing or twelve to say about fries - don't think he hasn't). And so, our "Smile of the Week"<i> (or week and a half, or month...I don't know - Smile of the Fortnight? Let's stick with week, although that's not all together accurate)</i> goes to the lovely and talented Vince Umbrino and "Dinner and a...". Click the neon burger and check him out - I think you'll be glad you did.</div>
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<a href="http://dinneranda.wordpress.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1KjsEydvHMJYGJgaQojQCDqPpFNOYcxE-Gm8N7Wkwd9T-B2UjTzg1b9hpOqN30LMVFkFrBTFgmz8zp9DLzFQtlL8EVcx7neRfw_Cdhwakj6tdnECtfd4aQw2HURu7FRWNdmLQV7rctLqs/s1600/385434_127506064026695_1627037833_n.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>Tell him Daddy sent you,</b><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-44984248643689108412012-07-27T20:18:00.000-04:002012-07-27T20:18:38.328-04:00Daddy on the Edge of a Smile<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxuRVc0GKzrKn8R938C0mCyUw0P0oSFne2K3jBSHi6oGwhPg8mTKlAZ3KtPnR_2VaFYwwJ6YLtzRY1Ab3h07j9xjUqK_-ELvrjoN1yab_UyQ38Hw4SZ-6_34GegqGT6z1KfYOwHwTEIcnf/s1600/Diner_4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxuRVc0GKzrKn8R938C0mCyUw0P0oSFne2K3jBSHi6oGwhPg8mTKlAZ3KtPnR_2VaFYwwJ6YLtzRY1Ab3h07j9xjUqK_-ELvrjoN1yab_UyQ38Hw4SZ-6_34GegqGT6z1KfYOwHwTEIcnf/s200/Diner_4.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
In the 1982 film "Diner" (which if you haven't seen you absolutely, positively HAVE TO SEE! - <i>this, of course, has made me think about all the other films that you absolutely have to see, but I'll post that list another time. Trust me, though - you will not be disappointed</i>).<br />
<br />
Okay, I guess that was a stand alone sentence - let me try this again. In the 1982 movie "Diner", Kevin Bacon has a catchphrase; you'll find him doing something that makes him happy, and he says; "It's a smile". Not, "It makes me smile" but, "<i>It's</i> a smile" - activity and result have become one - cause and effect have merged. I love that.<br />
<br />
Daddy loves a good smile, and Daddy loves to share - so every once in a while, I'm gonna post a referral and ask you to visit, for a little while, someone that Daddy thinks is pretty cool; something that qualifies as "a smile" or, as Judy Jetson would say, is "the most ut".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Gl-zqqv7xt2Q335GrgFbmw3VA5M5a_-0Dtk2qoC1o-2fMnIkTO5HnhnpegJkPIThKik9HMFcC2DSvERosPVcNi0cXHBNAwRrdO7oJWEkhWc6aUPROxqquywm2Ip4T7BCYCAdx0rsJKfb/s1600/JacksonPearce_AuthorPhoto_Color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Gl-zqqv7xt2Q335GrgFbmw3VA5M5a_-0Dtk2qoC1o-2fMnIkTO5HnhnpegJkPIThKik9HMFcC2DSvERosPVcNi0cXHBNAwRrdO7oJWEkhWc6aUPROxqquywm2Ip4T7BCYCAdx0rsJKfb/s320/JacksonPearce_AuthorPhoto_Color.jpg" width="213" /></a><br />
Enter Jackson Pearce.<br />
<br />
This woman is a smile. Not because she's pretty (which she is); no, Daddy's got a whole house full of pretty ladies - you've gotta do a lot more than that to turn my head (especially since I've got this arthritic neck that makes it <i>hard</i> to turn my head - I really only do it on special occasions). Jackson Pearce is funny, and witty; she knows her way around social commentary and is pretty darned handy with a screwdriver.<br />
<br />
This is her formal bio (courtesy of <a href="http://jackson-pearce.com/">http://jackson-pearce.com/</a> )<br />
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<div style="color: #111111; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 1.571em; padding: 0px;">
<i>"Jackson Pearce lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with a slightly cross-eyed cat and a lot of secondhand furniture. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and a minor in Philosophy. She auditioned for the circus once, but didn’t make it; other jobs she’s had include obituaries writer, biker bar waitress, and receptionist.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>Jackson began writing when she got angry that the school librarian couldn’t tell her of a book that contained a smart girl, horses, baby animals, and magic. Her solution was to write the book herself when she was twelve. Her parents thought it was cute at first, but have grown steadily more concerned for her ever since.</i><br />
<i>Jackson is the author of a series of retold fairytales, including <a #112d32;="" 0px;"="" 0px;="" color:="" href="http://www.jackson-pearce.com/sisters-red" margin:="" padding:="">SISTERS RED</a>,<a #112d32;="" 0px;"="" 0px;="" color:="" href="http://www.jackson-pearce.com/sweetly" margin:="" padding:="">SWEETLY</a>, and <a #112d32;="" 0px;"="" 0px;="" color:="" href="http://www.jackson-pearce.com/fathomless" margin:="" padding:="">FATHOMLESS</a> (Fall 2012), as well as two standalones, <a #112d32;="" 0px;"="" 0px;="" color:="" href="http://www.jackson-pearce.com/as-you-wish" margin:="" padding:="">AS YOU WISH</a>, and <a #112d32;="" 0px;"="" 0px;="" color:="" href="http://www.jackson-pearce.com/purity" margin:="" padding:="">PURITY</a>."</i></div>
As you might have noticed from the bio, Jackson is not someone that would normally come across Daddy's radar (although I was nearly in the circus as well, but that is a story for another time). So what brought me to her? What made our stars align?<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Chick-fil-A.</b></div>
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Yes, the home of waffle fries and a homophobic CEO. I was thinking of commenting on the whole Chick-fil-A <i>weirdness</i> but luckily, Jackson Pearce beat me to it and said it better than Daddy could ever have imagined.<br />
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And so, without further ado, here is Jackson Pearce;<br />
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Thanks for being a smile,<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></i></b><br />
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<i>PS: To Jackson - I love that your electrical panel is labelled as well as it is, but I would always caution against trusting those labels and recommend the use of a voltage tester before attacking a light switch. That said, as a licensed Home Improvement Contractor, I can say with authority that you are 100% correct - you do not need a penis to make repairs around your home. And I'll never look at a Philips head screwdriver the same way again. Thanks for that. ;)</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-70335197162042750732012-07-26T08:02:00.001-04:002012-07-26T08:04:00.971-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Aurora<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLGVglWuBOhRYPfvttw5dFTzpFDkYzhJ7nkUE6m8pR3umueyY3bUfkZiS_b042Guv4zwODGZVbyHTnQqmqlbCQEdc8MSmGYgKwGd1MZ5jNKelOC68RvP00EPKxpV63SmippPC2glR-7Tv1/s1600/tdkr-review.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLGVglWuBOhRYPfvttw5dFTzpFDkYzhJ7nkUE6m8pR3umueyY3bUfkZiS_b042Guv4zwODGZVbyHTnQqmqlbCQEdc8MSmGYgKwGd1MZ5jNKelOC68RvP00EPKxpV63SmippPC2glR-7Tv1/s200/tdkr-review.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I'm sorry. <br />
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All my life, the movie house has been a special, reverent place - a place of magic and possibility, illusion blending with reality, a place that seemed to contain within its walls the stuff from which dreams were made, at least for me.<br />
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It was never supposed to become a living nightmare. It was never supposed to destroy. Reality was never supposed to raise it's ugly head and change lives forever in a moment of smoke and gunfire. It was never supposed to happen.<br />
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And for that - for all of the victims of the tragedy in Aurora, I am truly sorry.<br />
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It's hard to know what to say - what to do in a time like this. We can't really look to our elected leaders, since they're all up for re-election and no one wants to piss off the NRA. I'm not sure why being against automatic weapons in a movie theater should piss off gun owners, but they seem to think that any speaking out against any type of guns is a direct assault on their Second Amendment rights. Well, sorry guys - Daddy's not running for any office and I feel perfectly secure in using my First Amendment rights to call NRA leaders and lobbyists a bunch of fucking douche bags. No one, aside from the military, needs to have semi-automatic weapons unless they intend to hurt a lot of people in a short amount of time. These weapons were banned until you fuckheads got our pistol whipped government to roll over and repeal the ban. Repealing that ban was truly a senseless act, and it begat another senseless act, in which many innocent lives were lost. But hey - y'all get to play soldier with your M-16s now, right? You fucking, fucking, fucktards.<br />
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Anyway, while we've had our share of villains in this story, we have also seen a hero or two. Enter Batman.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRW1ouj6VJwssBj_SKfZRgg7nNpGzw7zPUfOHwgms9ODmDrrEORnMmeX2mBHxKA3uL5e-NEDw8BEs2qz0XjdXFnkCulJBG-D_t3OZd_LhwFa1lSlavKqvuZMz9KhnB8aKOmd0daFV-eLi/s1600/christian-bale-colorado-stop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJRW1ouj6VJwssBj_SKfZRgg7nNpGzw7zPUfOHwgms9ODmDrrEORnMmeX2mBHxKA3uL5e-NEDw8BEs2qz0XjdXFnkCulJBG-D_t3OZd_LhwFa1lSlavKqvuZMz9KhnB8aKOmd0daFV-eLi/s200/christian-bale-colorado-stop.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Christian Bale and his wife Sibi Blazic visited Aurora, first laying flowers at the makeshift memorial for the victims, then heading to The Medical Center of Aurora where they spent over two hours meeting with doctors, first responders and seven of the wounded.<br />
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He was not sent there by Warner Brothers. There was no press conference. He asked that the media not be informed of his visit. In a world seemingly owned and operated by ulterior motive, Christian Bale decided to just do the right thing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFh3o_xAqCzAb456zmjcDAnu0v9PmSNFH4Ct2zVxBvRLavngBHGSOQnHku-REk_6mt7yQ5XigwzrB8P1pI6-43SYKv1XOvUD-4zK6rqn6zs1_d9MYN4LFq00Myf8tgOM9X8tdU9QXMjKc/s1600/christian-bale-visits-aurora-victims__oPt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmFh3o_xAqCzAb456zmjcDAnu0v9PmSNFH4Ct2zVxBvRLavngBHGSOQnHku-REk_6mt7yQ5XigwzrB8P1pI6-43SYKv1XOvUD-4zK6rqn6zs1_d9MYN4LFq00Myf8tgOM9X8tdU9QXMjKc/s200/christian-bale-visits-aurora-victims__oPt.jpg" width="200" /></a>Here he is at the bedside of Carey Rottman, who was quick to post this photo to his Facebook page. Shortly after the shooting, a Facebook campaign had been launched imploring Bale to go meet with the victims. I don't know if that was the impetus for his visit, or if he just decided to go on his own. I'd like to think it was the latter, but either way - this is what a stand up guy looks like. Congress - take note.<br />
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Carey Rottman was lucky enough to be awake and alert when Batman showed up in his room; Caleb Medley was not as fortunate.<br />
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This is Caleb Medley. Caleb was shot in the eye during Friday's shooting, and is currently in an induced coma. His wife Katie, who was also at the theater but made it out uninjured, gave birth to their son Hugo in the same hospital on Tuesday. Caleb has a tough road ahead of him, made tougher by the fact that his medical bills could run as high as $2 million...and he has no insurance.<br />
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<i><br /></i><br />
<i>From The Huffington Post;</i><br />
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<i>"Medley’s story illustrates the dangers of remaining uninsured in America. The Affordable Care Act aims to help the ranks of that class, which has swelled for four straight years and is now approaching 50 million. The law, which the Supreme Court ruled constitutional last month, could extend health care coverage to up to 30 million uninsured Americans like Medley beginning in 2014.</i></div>
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<i>As Medley's tragic story shows, going without health insurance can have stark consequences. About 26,000 Americans died prematurely in 2010 because they lacked health insurance, according to a recent report from Families USA.</i></div>
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<i>In addition to lacking health insurance, rising costs have made it increasingly difficult for Americans to get access to health care. In 2010, Americans spent $2.6 trillion on medical care, a tenfold increase from 1980. That boost in cost pushed nearly 60 percent of Americans put off or went without health care last year, according to a June report from the Kaiser Family foundation."</i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">There's just so much wrong with this story, it's hard to imagine a happy ending - hard, but not impossible.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">First off, if you want to donate to Caleb's medical bills, you can visit the donation website by clicking <a href="http://calebmedley.com/help">here</a> . I would ask - I would practically <i>insist</i> that if you are a card carrying member of the NRA, that you give verrrry generously. It's the least you can do. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Second, let's talk about some rules and regs for a moment, shall we? While discussing this subject, folks on the Facebook have trudged out the argument - <i>if the killing had been done with a car, would we rush to outlaw driving?</i> At first, I argued that cars and guns are two very different things, but then I thought about it. Perhaps we should treat them the same - as follows; </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Like a car, you must be licensed to operate your weapon.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Like a car, you must pass a test showing that you know how to properly operate your weapon.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Like a car, you must register every weapon you own.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Like a car, you must have all your weapons inspected on a regular basis.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Like a car, you must carry insurance for each of your weapons and their subsequent use.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">None of this would infringe on anyone's Second Amendment Rights, but there's a decent chance that it would make gun owners a little more responsible. Does this do anything about illegal firearms? Nope, but the shooting in Aurora was done with weapons that were all purchased legally. Well, I'm sorry - but we have to make it just a little more difficult to kill people - it's gotten way too fucking easy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;">If you agree with me, call your Reps. Call your Senators. Call the White House. Share this blog entry. Tell a friend. Give to Caleb Medley. Do something, right now, to make things better. Be the good guy in this movie. Be the hero - </span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-size: large; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i>Be Batman.</i></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-size: x-large; line-height: normal; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i>Daddy</i></span></b></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-27050532944660738162012-07-08T13:32:00.000-04:002012-07-08T13:32:52.665-04:00Daddy on the Edge of Your Circle of Friends...FaceBook is funny.<br />
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It's social media, for sure - but it's also a social experiment. We have re-defined the word "friend" as basically anyone that we felt like including in our thoughts, or anyone who's thoughts we were curious about - sometimes it's just uncomfortable not to <i>friend</i> someone, so you do. Like, you've known of the existence of your best buddy's ex-wife's sister for so long that, when she pops up in the "people you might know" box, you almost feel beholden to "friend" her. She will often feel equally beholden to you, and she won't want to feel awkward or make you feel skeevy for asking, so she'll accept your friend request. Congratulations - you have now entered each others worlds.<br />
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She now knows of your love of 70's sitcoms, Sarah McLachlan and flan. You are now keenly aware of her passion for 12th century weaponry, the music of <i>My Chemical Romance</i> and the collected works of Stanley Kubrick (including "Eyes Wide Shut" - no, wait, you misread that...<i>especially</i> "Eyes Wide Shut"...oh dear).<br />
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And...you now both know each other's political views.<br />
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Sometimes this comes as a sigh of relief. You see that they've "liked" Rachel Maddow and you know that you can invite them to your hemp rally. Or, conversely, maybe you see that they had prayed for a third Bush Term and you know you can proudly show them your "I Heart Cheney" underoos (which are doubly cute because the heart symbol is actually a picture of a pacemaker) - <i>btw, I went looking for a picture of that in Google images, and all I could find was this - pretty damned close if you ask me</i>;<br />
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But I digress. You learn about your friends' political views on Facebook, and you can now also see what your friends <i>friends</i> think about all things political, and that's when you start to feel like perhaps you're in a game of "Six Degrees of Fred Phelps". Daddy is a left wing liberal - that's pretty damned obvious, and I make no secret of it. As such, I expect a degree of debate and lately, am not at all surprised to see overtones of complete disdain for my opinions. I'm good with that. I mean obviously, I think my opinions make more sense than the conservative arguments, but while I heartily wish that the world at large would agree with me completely, I know that others on the opposing side of the discussion have equal conviction to their arguments, so universal group think is probably never gonna happen. And that's probably a good thing. Discussion is good. Debate is good. It is only through questioning that new answers are found; it is only by debating the old ways that new ways come into being. A better Tomorrow is achieved by not being satisfied with Today.<br />
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However, if you cannot make your argument without resorting to lies, racism and baseless epithets, then I am going to assume that you're argument is not worth very much, if anything at all. But hell - why even form an argument, when complete and utter disrespect can go so far? Dave Hurtt, a Florence, MT resident spends $700 to build an outhouse on a trailer - he names it "The Obama Presidential Library" and brings it around to Republican Conventions. It made an appearance in the Memorial Day Parade in Corvallis, a town in Montana and was also featured outside the Montana GOP convention and prior to that at their annual Lincoln-Reagan Luncheon. Andy Griffith, American Icon, passes away and is <i>vilified </i>by the Right Wing, because he apparently was a supporter of Obama. They're <i>"glad this idiot is dead"</i>. He's <i>"another hollywood commie lib"</i> - here's my fav, from someone who likes to call himself "godisangry" - <i>"Griffin, like all other liberals who have (sic) die, is now in helll paying the high price for his support of Obama and other liberal causes". </i><br />
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That's how y'all talk about Sheriff Andy? Damn...that's cold.<br />
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Now, I know what you're saying - they're not ALL like that...no, they're not. Some of them just dole out the Socialist, Muslim Kenyan schtick; some of them openly declare that their number one mission is to make Obama a one term President and gleefully do their best to muck up the works. But most of them take all of the failures, all of the epic disasters of the Bush Administration, lay them at Obama's feet and say, "It's all your fault." It's a great way to wage an election battle, but it's a senseless way to debate the issues in a way that will benefit the country as a whole.<br />
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And that's the point...of fucking everything. The Benefit of the Country as a WHOLE. A rising tide lifts ALL ships. A successful team beats with ONE heart. Here's a favorite teamwork quote;<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives.It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."</span></i></div>
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That last quote is from Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie came to this country from Scotland in 1848. His first job was as a factory worker in a bobbin factory. He went on to become the second richest man in history and one of the most important philanthropists of his era. He was a man that could see how capitalism and the common good could work together in harmony; indeed, he viewed business as simply a means to an end, as a tool for the betterment of many, not as an endless quest to attain all of the worlds fortunes for himself. <br />
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I'm going to show you a video now. It's from 2009, but it's still relevant. I think Andrew Carnegie would agree wholeheartedly with the content of this vid - in my opinion, it's a good, positive message, serving as a reminder that we're all in this together. However, if you view this on YouTube and look at the comments section, you will of course see the Right Wing tearing the piece apart. Please, whether you're Right, Left, or anywhere in between - watch the video. Then watch it again. Take notes. If you disagree with any of what's being said here, let me know in the comments section. Tell me why. Convince me that this is wrong - that what these people are saying is flawed and should not happen. Do it with fact based realities, not right induced rhetoric or thinly veiled racism. If your argument is strong, you should have no problem stating it like that. If not, perhaps you should abandon your argument altogether. Just a thought. Watch the video;<br />
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<b>Tell a Friend, </b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Daddy</b></i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6105732760743729002.post-59636527524263316362012-05-09T19:32:00.000-04:002012-05-09T19:32:13.408-04:00Daddy on the Edge of The Man of The Hour<br />
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Mr. President - today you are a Rock Star.<br />
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Well Done, Sir.<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Daddy</span></b></i><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0