Parents. do some actual parenting

Sorry it has been so long since I posted a blog. Issues have come up that made my updates sparse.

What has caused me to come out and post? Well this news thread:

http://www.wesh.com/cnn-news/20366679/detail.html

For those who do not want to cut and paste here is the story:

DELTONA, Fla. -- A Deltona teenager was hospitalized on Wednesday after suffering multiple burns while imitating a video posted on YouTube.

Gortzig" border="0" width="240" height="180"> Russell Gortzig

Russell Gortzig, 13, said his friend siphoned gasoline from a riding lawnmower and poured it on Gortzig. The teen said he held the lighter away from him, but a combination of the spark and fumes caught his shorts on fire."Skin missing all the way down to his ankle on the front and the back," mother Linda McCrea said.McCrea said the boys were trying to copy a stunt they saw on the video sharing Web site, YouTube, where a man in a banana suit lights himself on fire. She warned other parents to closely monitor the online activities of their children and wants YouTube to tighten its user guidelines. She believes YouTube is partially to blame for her son' pain.

More Images | Survey: YouTube To Blame?

A representative for YouTube said the Web site takes in 20 hours of video every minute and said, while it's impossible to screen postings in advance, users can flag potentially dangerous video.It is reviewed and age restrictions are often added.Gortzig is in stable condition at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital.

End story

Now here are the issues I have. I put in bold red letters the main problem I have with this news story. Now here is the link to the video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RjWN_POc9s (depending on if they pull it or not) Now from the video you can see how bad it was, and how catastrophic it could have been. Now the mother wants to blame youtube? How about you own up to the fact that you were not paying attention to your son, or what he views on youtube. I mean look at the picture, the kid knew he done something stupid.

I really am starting to hate that parents are now expecting other people to do the job the parents are suppose to do. You know like parent their children. It is as if this woman never taught her son that taking a lighter to gas could cause and explosion. Most of the parents that actually take care to watch their children and teach them basic principals.

Now I would bet the next course of action will be an attempt to sue youtube. I only hope if that is the case that youtube then counters with child and family services. Obviously there is a problem if one video that is a minute long, and for the most part should be an eye opener for any kid watching it, to have such an impact to have these two kids to light themselves on fire. I mean even the end of the video the guy says fire is bad. Did I also mention that video has been on youtube for over 2 years now?

Point blank Linda McCrea, don't blame your poor parenting on a website. Especially since that website did not instruct your son to do something so remarkably stupid. I think if this has gone worse your son would have won a Darwin Award.

Till next time,

Blogger X

Valley Swim Club racism or just don't want kids around?

The Creative Steps Day Car, A Philadelphia-area day care center, claimed that Valley Swim Club in Huntingdon Valley made racial comments then canceled the daycare's swimming privileges.

Now in reading the story and I, myself calling Valley Swim Club (VSC) I came of the mindset that this is not a case of racism. This is not about a group of African American kids running around a rich white person swim club. When I first read the story my mind was screaming something was wrong.

Well let's discuss first private swim clubs. These are usually high cost recreation areas. in other words members pay hefty dues to be a part of the club.The VSC club includes more than 10 acres of land and a 110,000-gallon pool, according to its Web site, and is a private nonprofit organization chartered in 1954. A single membership is $395 per year. The expectation of paying these club costs are for the peace and relaxation. Most of these swim clubs do have membership forms to fill out and need to be accepted before you can attend. Imagine if you would that you are a dues paying member. You spend hundreds of dollars per year to be a part of a private swim club, you go to the pool and suddenly you have dozens if not hundreds of kids running around and screaming. What happened? You did not join a public pool, you did not spend your hard earned money to be subjected to this. Being someone who has had their pool overrun by people who I thought did not belong, I can understand the frustration. I do not think the racial comments were said, but I will address that later.

Now let's discuss the day care center. What is not clearly reported is how many councilors were on hand to handle 65 kids at the pool. Some unofficial reports claim it was as little as 4 councilors, others claim it was 8 councilors. What was also scarcely reported was how the kids from the camp entered the pool area. Several reports were the kids rushed the pool screaming and yelling then jumping into the pool. It was also not clear was how many other day care centers were there. This was not about racism this was about a pool club that gave no warning to its members when it allowed these day care centers come to swim.

Here is my personal thoughts on this:

First this is not racism. I will explain in detail my thoughts on this. This is poor planning on the part of the VSC to not notify it's members. Had the members been notified that day care children would be attending and not to be surprised things might have been handled differently. The sudden influx of black children screaming for the pool might not have been such a shock or surprise. I am sure some comments would still be made, but not racial remarks. More along the line of "How can they let those kids carry on like that?"

Second this is also poor handling on behalf of the day care center. They did not keep the kids in control they let them run loose, as they charged the pool essentially scaring the crud out of everyone there. I am sure it would have looked like the pool was being invaded by a bunch of kids who did not belong there. Instead of keeping the kids under control they ran rampant until they were asked to leave.

Third kids are going to be kids. If they are not with their parents, or just bad parenting, children will act like excited children who have not been to the pool in a long time. In other words yelling, screaming, running. These things that are not expected at a private swim club.

Lastly I firmly believe that this was blown out of proportion by the day care center. I see this as a way to get back at the day care center for canceling their swim time. It is far to easy in this day and age to claim racism and get a huge amount of publicity. Instead of dealing with the fact that your kids did not act appropriately and were kicked out for bad behavior. Let's label this place racist and get the media to condemn the swim club.

Bottom line this is not racism, as much as people want it to be. This makes me embarrassed to be a black man.... or am I.

As always I am Blogger X, an unknown. You can take my report at face value or you can try to deem me a racist. Either way you don't know if I am white, black, man, or woman. Instead I am a human being making a non biased report on something I perceive as biased media reporting.

Till next time,

Blogger X

Too overprotective of our children?

Are we as a society getting too overprotective of our children? It is something that is getting to us more and more. This weekend made me think a lot about it. While we were happily indulging in one of two days that we go all out and throw caution to the wind, and many Americans buy large amounts of explosives to light up the night sky. I am of course speaking of the 4th of July. As I watched kids staring at the sky in awe. A group of parents annoyed me to no end. Why? Well because anything to do with fireworks is a death sentence.

Let me lay the scenario out for you. Kids running around enjoying the block party at the end of the road. Music is playing, grills are cooking hundreds of pounds of meat, all sorts of liquids are consumed. As the sun starts to set, and the block begins to get dark, all around on other blocks you can hear the fireworks going off. The men get a look of childish glee in their eyes as they go into houses and bring out some of the most dangerous toys we can buy. Fireworks.

As the festivities start various colored fire, smoke and noise begins to fill the air. Then the kids want to join in. So what do we do? Well we break out the sparklers. The joyous little sticks of sparkling fire. Now I know some children should not have these, hell when I was young I burned my hand several times, but your not going to give a 3 year old a sparkler. 10 year olds however should be able to responsibly handle them. Not these parents. Nope. I am almost sorry for the kids to have such over protective parents.

I look into my spouses stash to see what I could give the kids that would be fun, yet harmless. I found about three dozen party poppers. You know the things, you pull a string it makes a pop and paper strings come out. Well after about the fifth one goes off one of the mothers runs up and starts to yell at the kids for playing with fireworks. I pipe in and said I gave it to them, and she proceeds to yell at me. I throw my hands up and walk away. It was pointless to argue with stupid people.

So the kids get sad again, and I look around again for something for them to play with. I found the mother load of popits. You know the white balls of paper, you throw at the floor and they pop. Even the 3 year olds can play with. You would never know popits could cause such a meltdown. These mothers went crazy claiming the kids were going to get injured. Saying the things would blow up in their hands and such. I proceeded to take a fistfull of the things and slam my hand down popping a lot of them. Not even a red mark on my skin. So much for that notion. I feel sorry for the kids not getting a chance to be a kid.

I think this subject will get a double post. There are so much more I could go into.

Till next time,

Blogger X

What is wrong with wives of politicians?

I was happy that Jenny Sanford did not stand near her husband for his infidelity. I was finally happy that one of these wives would do the right thing by saying it is over and actually standing her ground. I was giddy with this thinking yay she is not the typical political wife.

Then I saw that she is willing to forgive him. Are you freaking kidding me? The cynical little person inside of me just has to think that this is something motivated by the GOP. It just seems way to political turn around for her. It just seems to convienent for my tastes. None of this leaves a good taste in my mouth. I also lost a ton of respect for this woman.

What is the deal with these political wives? I mean come on each time a politican is caught they are there standing beside them pretty much saying I condone this behavior. Man that must be a good gig for the cheater. I get my mistress, and I get to keep my wife.

What a sad state of affairs our world is in.

Till next time,

Blogger X

Ahh the joys of Sarah Palin.

It was in my thought process all day today about making a post about Sarah Palin. Yet how do I take some old news, and make it relevant now? Well thank you Mrs. Palin, you came through for me. In case you have not heard the news Sarah Palin will be resigning as Governor of Alaska at the end of the month. I for one could not be happier for the people of Alaska. I have yet to see a more inept politician. (That is saying a lot!)

Now I had some pretty strong opinions of this woman when she first came on the national scene. It only took a week of her speaking to know that McCain doomed himself. No way could this woman be vice president, or in the case of him dieing, president. I found her to under educated, naive to the world around her, and a publicity hound.

Now after a brutal beating she took during the presidential run, she returns to Alaska to face a huge wave of ethics investigations. In addition to that she tries her best to stay in the media light, because let's face it 2012 is 3 years away. She has a need to stay in the spotlight.

Now all the stories on her are old news, she needs something new to rail about. It starts with the publicity her family gets when it comes to light her 17 year old daughter is pregnant. Oh Bristol is not married either. Now they are trying to force Levi, (who in their right mind comes up with these names?) to marry Bristol, so the GOP can claim a positive. I guess that abstinence crap they try to force on the rest of the world does not work hmmmm?

Back on track, so the media target the kids and then Palin, who has been flaunting her kids throughout the presidential campaign, suddenly says her children are off limits. So let me get this straight. It is ok for you to thrust them into the media spot light, but it is not ok for the media to report on them, comedians make fun of them, or do things to photos.

Yes I am referring to Lettermans misfired joke, caused so much outrage from her. Now some say she genuinely thought Letterman was referring to Willow. So is Willow now pregnant? I think not. We all know who he was referring to. If she did not, well it just proves the point she does not have the mental fortitude to hold any office.

The next big out rage was when Linda Kellen Biegel, an Alaskan Democratic blogger, doctored a photo of Palin and her son Trig. Biegel photoshopped the face of Eddie Burke over Trig's face. She named it Baby Burke, because of the seeming close connection Burke has for Palin. Now this photoshoping (is that even a word?) is an evil act to desecrate the face of a special needs child.

Quote: Recently we learned of a malicious desecration of a photo of the Governor and baby Trig that has become an iconic representation of a mother's love for a special needs child.

The mere idea of someone doctoring the photo of a special needs baby is appalling. To learn that two Alaskans did it is absolutely sickening. Linda Kellen Biegel, the official Democrat Party blogger for Alaska, should be ashamed of herself and the Democratic National Committee should be ashamed for promoting this website and encouraging this atrocious behavior.

Babies and children are off limits. It is past time to restore decency in politics and real tolerance for all Americans. The Obama Administration sets the moral compass for its party. We ask that special needs children be loved, respected and accepted and that this type of degeneracy be condemned.
End quote:

So now this photo is iconic? I think not. I would not want my special needs child to be represented by that photo. Point blank cutting through all the political BS this is just another way for her to stay viable. They did not doctor the photo to be malicious to Trig at all. Unless they put Sloth from the movie Goonies on his face.

We get it Sarah, you have a special needs child. You have a daughter having a child out of wedlock (run Levi run!). You need to stay in the media light. I hope, truly hope that people remember that you abandoned your stately responsibilities to further your own shallow political career. Good job your in the news for another week.

Till tomorrow... that is if I do not blow my self up first.

Blogger X

Men conserve water.... go pee on a tree.

In this day and age we need to do all we can as a human race to help correct the damage we have done to our planet. It always makes me laugh when people say that global warming is a myth, or a conspiracy by (insert random group here). Anyone who cannot see that our climate is going through some severe changes really needs to get out more.

In my household we recycle everything. If it is paper, plastic, or metal it goes into the recycle bin. I have 7 recycle bins and one trash can. I can go 2 weeks without taking out the garbage, but I know it the second I miss recycling day.

People should do all they can to. Energy efficient lights, turning off things that do not need to be turned on. There are a ton of things we as a human race can do, but there is one thing men can do to help conserve water.

Instead of peeing in the toilet, and wasting 1.5 gallons or more of water. Go pee on a tree or a bush. Think about how much water you would save over a month? Even if you only did it once a day for 30 days that saves 45 gallons of water on average. Think if one million men did it? That is a lot of water.

Now I know it would not be feasible all the time. You know your employer might frown upon it, same goes if you live in an apartment complex, or a condo. Hell maybe we can bring back the outhouse for peeing.

We should be doing everything to help protect our planet. Do me a favor go pee on a tree.

Blogger X

What bill is Jefferson on?

Why it is the $2 bill of course. Why would I post this? Well today I went to the store and as I was waiting for the woman to check out in front of me trouble begins. Her bill was $17.22. She hands the cashier 9 bills. The guy looks at it and hands it back asking for real cash. I about lost it.

The woman handed it back saying it is real money. The man accused her of trying to pass counterfeit bills. He went as far as to say that the only bills were the one, five, ten twenty, and one hundred dollar bill. At this point I had to pipe up. I asked innocently as I could "What about the fifty dollar bill?" He turned to me and said "You be quiet and don't make trouble, or else you will be in trouble too."

Now the way this person told me to be quiet, took me back for a moment and had me stunned. Then it really dawned on me. This person truly thought he had a counterfeiter on his hands. At this point the lady was furious demanding a manager. I don't blame her. The manager comes up, and I sware this kid could not be out of college yet. He agrees with the cashier. Now while the three argue I look around for a camera. I am thinking there is no way in hell this is real.

Thing escalate and the woman has plenty of other cash to pay with but she is holding firm. No way is she going to be told her $2 bills are not legal tender. They had just come from the bank. Just when I think I saw it all the police show up. I am thinking great this will be over now, so I can get my Pops and go home. Then I am nearly floored with laughter. The cop says they are counterfeit too, because there is no $2 bill. I could not stop laughing.

The officer looks at me and asks if there was a problem, and I responded with "I never knew they let morons in the police department now." This started a back and forth between the officer and I, and I finally remarked. "Your right you have a huge counterfeiting ring here. You better call the secret service." Mind you there are more people joining in the conversations from all sides.

Salvation finally shows up in the form of a police sergeant who came in looked at the bills for about two seconds, then pulls out his I Phone and shows the cashier, manager, and the cop that there is indeed a $2 bill. I could not stop laughing. The cashier gives the lady her change, she leaves, then it is my turn. I pay with my debit card and request $2.00 cash back. The guy goes to hand me singles. I say "No I want a $2 bill." Would you believe the moron said they had no $2.00 bills? He did. I said some curt words and walked out with my Pops and my new crisp $2.00 bill.

Funny thing is I look at my receipt. I have two boxes of pops I was charged $.79 for a snickers bar...... I do not have a snickers bar.

Till next time
Blogger X