Living in the U.S.A (United States insane Asylum)

Insanity

Would someone please go out front and look at the sign over the entrance?  I firmly believe we are living in the asylum. 

This story out of NC a few days ago simply lends credence to my opinion.  “You committed a crime against your minor self but we can, and in fact we are charging you as an adult, and oh, by the way, here’s the victim help line number to call since you have been victimized as a minor self from your adult self and…..

Did you hear about that one; about the teen that had nude pictures of himself on his phone?  He was charged with possessing child porn because he was sixteen when the pictures were taken.  The prosecution charged him as an adult because he turned seventeen before they charged him.  So let me get this straight, he's a minor victim of his adult self?!?

So, for possessing pictures of himself nude, he is charged with possessing child porn?

Are we living in an idiocracy?

What about you?  Do you have nude pictures of yourself somewhere?  NO?  Are you sure?

What about those pictures your loving mom snapped of you in the bathtub as a toddler?  What about the ones of you as a baby?  Were you possibly nude in any of those Kodak moments?

Still got those old black and white prints?  Are they in the family photo album?  You could possibly be charged with possessing child porn even though it’s you.

Do you think that could never happen?

Don’t you think the above mentioned story couldn’t possibly happen?

I hope these kids learn moral values and plain old discretion.  I also hope they actually receive justice, not this ludicrous perversion perpetrated by over-zealous morons who call themselves public servants.

Did you look at the sign over the door?  Does it say United States Asylum?

"Nooses" at University of Delaware Expose Idiocy

I've sworn off getting political on my personal blog but if you think (like I do at times) that the lunatics have taken over the asylum, consider this story that appeared overnight in what passes for the news these days.

Nooses found hanging from tree on University of Delaware campus ~ USA Today

*I failed to grab the link earlier and they removed the original article and replaced it with this sophomoric attempt at a retraction.  It essentially says, “yeah, they weren’t nooses but everyone around here is still has racist problems.”

Or

Makeshift nooses found on University of Delaware campus ~ Fox News

Or

Nooses Found Hanging From Tree on University of Delaware Campus ~ NBC News

Or

3 Nooses Found at Delaware School ~ U.S. News & World Report

Those are just a few of the “news” reports concerning what turned out to be leftover garbage from lantern decorations.

This sort of knee jerk, rush to press garbage would be comical if it weren’t so sad.

ABC News follow up article explains the mistake….

"The University of Delaware says three items found hanging from a tree on campus were not nooses, but remnants of paper lanterns left over from an event.

Interim university President Nancy Targett initially announced Wednesday that the discovery of the items hanging in front of a campus building Tuesday night prompted a hate crime investigation. But in a statement posted online around daybreak, Targett says the investigation found that the items weren't instruments of a hate crime, but left over from an event on The Green, a campus open space.

Still, Targett says the incident revealed the campus' sensitivity to the potential issue and shows a need for "continuing dialogue." She invited the community to gather Wednesday afternoon."

But that admission was a day late and oh so inadequate.  It also highlighted the idiocy of those involved in this fiasco.

Check out Ms. Nancy Targett, the university’s interim president (this is the best they could come up with?) who still thought it was important to call it an “incident.”  The only “incident” here was the idiocy of those involved in jumping to outlandish conclusions.  Prior to her (hopefully embarrassing discovery that they weren't, in fact, nooses, here's what she said.

"This hateful display stands in stark contrast to Monday night's peaceful protest and discussion. We condemn this despicable action and ask everyone in our community to stand together against intolerance and hate," Targett said.

I mean, look at the photo again.  This is string, not rope.  There is a wire clothes hanger (go ahead zoom in.  It's a flocking clothes hanger) hanging from the end of some string, and it is all haphazardly arranged.

Do you see “nooses” in this mess?

The person who found this and immediately thought “OMG!! Nooses!”  Needs to be tested to confirm they have a functioning brain; the police who began investigating this as a “racial hate crime” should turn in their badges and resign, and Ms. Targett should shamefully step down with a profuse apology for her own ignorance. 

But no, she still wants to have a gathering of the community to have a “continuing dialogue” about the “issue”  Fine Ms. Targett, have a gathering to discuss the potential issue, but please acknowledge your own error and think about why you were so ready to believe that trash in a tree was a noose.

*Sigh*

If it weren’t so obscenely stupid, it would be funny.

Shoelaces Ain't What They Used To Be

Shoelace……

The very word brings a tear of joy to your eye doesn’t it?  At least it ought to make you smile a little.  They ain't what they used to be.  If adversity builds character, shoelaces used to be character builders.

Back in the day (or as my kids say, “in the olden days when you were young,”), shoe laces were a source of daily aggravation.  Every pair of shoes I had sported at least one broken shoe lace or laces where the aglets were missing.   (I bet you never thought about the fact that those little plastic shoelace caps have a name)

Every time I tried to cinch my shoes on nice and tight, it seemed like I wound up with a 10” length of amputated shoelace in my hand.  They constantly broke.

Or, I’d put my shoes on to find that the (now much shorter shoelaces) had come out of the eyelets at the top of my shoe and I’d have to try and thread the needle with a hairy dog’s tail to lace them up.

Then there were several pairs of sneakers which I was constantly moving the laces up the shoe until eventually the lace was engaging only the top two eyelets in an attempt to hold the floppy sneaker on my foot.

Granted I came from a poor family so we didn’t have a drawer full of laces for replacements.  Maximizing the usage of a worn out lace was almost compulsory.  But even if we’d have had a quizillion extra pairs of laces in a drawer it wouldn’t have helped.  I would have had to carry around two extra pairs at all times just because of the MTBF (mean time between failure) of those crappy laces.   Shoelace technology sucked back then.

There were basically three choices (maybe four tops) and they were all cotton laces.  But you could get them in your choice of white, black or brown.  Brown was usually for Sunday School occasions when you had to wear the crappy dress shoes that otherwise would have been thrown away.

The fourth (potential) choice was leather laces which no self-respecting slum dweller would dream of putting in his “wish-they-were-actually-Chucks” shoes.

It was bad enough that my mom bought our shoes at the Pathmark (super market) out of the big dump bin at the end of the canned goods aisle.  Those kicks had genuine molded plastic soles (ice skates) on cheap canvas uppers and cost $1.89 a air.  That was humiliating enough but we would have been bully bait with leather laces that cost more than the shoe itself.

So we lived with white cotton laces until they were brown and beyond redemption (usually about two weeks) and finally needed to be replaced.  Then it was more cheap cotton laces from the supermarket again.

Back then, every lousy pair of shoes we owned probably needed a dozen pairs of replacement shoelaces before the shoe itself was shot.  Not anymore.

Fast-forward to modern times (nowadays as my kids say) and the current shoelace technology.

Besides having a quizillion different types of shoe laces in a bazillion different colors and stuff, shoelaces last forever now.  It’s like they’re made out of space alien material or something.  I end up throwing out a pair of shoes long before the laces even think of breaking.   In fact, I can’t remember the last time I had a broken shoelace.

And those aglets that used to crack and fall off in one day??  Well now they display the shoe company’s logo on them and you couldn’t get them off the lace with a blow torch and pickax.

Shoelace technology is so great now that my kids may never experience the joy of a broken shoelace in their lives.

And that’s something to smile about I guess.