Category Archives: Headdesk
OMG!!!11!!1! Umbrella-gate!
For those having a hissy-fit over Obama’s use of a Marine-held umbrella yesterday, I have one question.
Why is it a problem for the Commander-in-Chief to tell (order?) a Marine to hold an umbrella over his and the Turkish Prime Minister’s head? Because it breaks Marine protocol regarding umbrellas?
Then why was this Marine’s breaking of same protocol lauded, when he broke protocol on his own volition to hold an umbrella over a man to shade him?
Both are instances of breaking the very same protocol, are they not?
Maybe they aren’t. I wasn’t in the Marines, so there may be something I’m missing here.
Look, I don’t like nor respect Obama. Yeah, I think the way he handled the umbrella thing was kinda stupid, because it’s that typical attempt for Obama to try to be cool, but just comes off awkward and unfunny and arrogant. But whatever. Someone didn’t plan for the rain, someone didn’t have a tent already set up, and like any good host you take care of your guest so it makes sense to offer the Turkish Prime Minister an umbrella. And yes, the Marine had to use his right hand because otherwise it would have been more awkward and wrong to place the Marine in the middle of the picture between the two Heads of State.
Why is this even an issue? Don’t we have more important things to call Obama on? Fast & Furious? Benghazi? Spying on the Associated Press? IRS screenings? You get mad with the press or the politicians distract from real issues. Isn’t that what you’re doing by making something out of an umbrella?
Can we stop with the double-standards?
Can we focus on things that actually matter, please?
More than you think you are
Wife is “white”, at least visually.
I am “not-white”, at least visually.
There are those who look upon Wife differently because she chose to marry a “not-white”. Some look down on her because she married “outside her race”. Some look up to her because she married “outside her race”. Regardless of which way they look at her, they look at her differently because of her choice… or rather, their perception of her choice, because they see her skin color/ethnicity/race vs. mine, see our colors don’t quite match, and thus different regard.
Either way, it’s discriminatory behavior.
It’s curious I don’t receive the same regard. I mean, I did the same thing: married someone “outside my race”. I’ve had people publicly praise Wife for her action, and when I point out I did the same thing, I watch their brain lock up and reboot because they never considered the reciprocal. Is it because I’m male? Is it because she’s “white”? Is it because racial issues (supposedly) only flow in one direction?
That’s more discriminatory behavior.
Even more curious is when people look at me, they only see the half of me that’s Asian. They don’t see that white girl married a white boy, they see white girl married “something else”. Note you can only consider me “something else” if you look at me. My name is rather “white”. My voice is rather “white”. My attitudes tend to be rather “white”. For most people, the only indication I’m “not-white” is the slight squint in my eyes, the slightly darker skin tone, and some other physical features. And somehow in the eyes of some, it’s those few features that wind up defining me — not my mind, my heart, but my squinty eyes. It’s those features that, to some, define at least part of the relationship between Wife and myself.
Why do some people only see part of me? Why did they choose to see that part, and not the other part? Or that they choose to only see part of me, and not all of me?
Again, discriminatory behavior.
I grant, ultimately this is human behavior. We’re all guilty of it. I’ve come to accept it, and in fact sometimes I like that I look different be it due to ethnic background, my long hair, or my choice of clothing — especially because my looks don’t jive with who I am versus the stereotypes and preconceived notions some people have about folks that look like I do. It offers me a chance to see how a person really is. Do they look inward at the person? Do they stop at the shell? Are they blind to race and color? Or do they view the world and everything in it through a constant filter of racism, injecting race into every matter and issue and problem in the world?
If you want people to stop caring about race, you need to stop caring about race — period. The first step is to admit your own prejudices and faults, because you probably aren’t as progressive as you think you are.
But when we’re doing the hating, it’s acceptable.
A friend posted a picture on Facebook. Some of the comments made me shake my head and against my better judgement I commented. The replies were as I expected them to be. I opted to move this to my blog because I didn’t want his Wall/Comments to become a big battleground.
So here’s a screenshot, with names and profile pictures removed/blurred.
My comment is in the middle, “So free speech…”
First, my personal reaction to the bumper sticker. Wow… that’s pretty blatant. Takes a lot of guts to put it on your car too for the whole world to see. Racist? Yes it is. Does the person have a right to say it? Yes they do. Yeah, it shocked me a bit to see it, because it takes a lot of balls to do such a thing. But it doesn’t totally surprise me because I know humans are humans and will always have strong preferences. We’re a country that’s growing very divided, very angry. This is just manifestation of that.
And I’d say, the comments are also manifestation of that.
As you can see, my first reaction was surprise to hear the call for violent response. OK, kinda passive-aggressive violent response, but still a violent response. Destruction of property. A call for criminal behavior, but (apparently) it’s justified because the car owner was being hateful first, amiright? Hrm. So violence is OK if someone is being hateful, but me possibly using violence (i.e. carrying a gun) so I could stop someone from manifesting their hate all over me is not and must be banned. *sigh*
I brought up “free speech” because that’s one they always love to parade about. Well, “free speech” and 1A is all about protecting unpopular speech. If that bumper sticker is anything, it’s unpopular speech. Is it racist? Yes it is. But the car owner still has every right to say it. Just like you have every right to voice your opinion that the sticker is revolting. One difference is the car owner isn’t advocating violence.
Then my favorite comment was the second to the last. The commenter starts off by looking down on a group of people. But I thought we were all equal? Why this air of superiority? It’s almost as if you believe you possess characteristics or abilities that distinguish you as superior (and them as inferior), and that your discrimination and hate is justified — you know, racism but without the skin tone. And if these people are not acceptable, what are you suggesting be done with them, because they exist… so what to do? Round them up? Extinguish them? Why no effort to help them? Where’s the compassion for those of lesser-brain than you? No effort to educate them? No effort to lift them up and help them become better? No… they’re just “asking for it”, apparently… and I guess by “it” you mean violent response? That’s what the other commenters were calling for.
And we cap it off with stereotyping. I reckon this person wasn’t from California, right?
I’m not defending what the car owner is saying; I find it tasteless and hateful. But what I find more disappointing is how these “progressives” can’t see the log in their own eye.
And then there were 11
Those ducklings that hatched a few days ago?
We’re down by 3. Only 11 left.
This morning as I left the house to walk to the gym, I saw why.
There’s some sort of predator bird.
I crossed the street, and it flew out of the nearby tree right in front of me. It was too dark, too suddenly there then too suddenly gone to get a good look at it, but I could tell enough that it was a falcon or a hawk or something of that ilk. I looked a little further and saw Momma duck and her babies all huddled in a neighbor’s lawn, Mother’s head up high in sentinel mode ever watchful.
I know the kids are going to be on the watch for this, to identify the predator bird and see if it’s the same one from before. If so, I wonder where it nests.
At this rate, I’m not expecting any of the ducklings to survive. The bird knows an easy (and plentiful) food source is here. We noted being down by one a day ago, and now two more gone. At this rate, maybe a week or two before they’re all gone. Get your “baby duck squee” in while you can. 
It’s OK. It’s life. It’s how things go. Yes I’d like some of them to survive to adulthood, but this is just how life goes. And frankly, we’re all more OK with this than other means of population control. We just don’t like how the HOA and USDA folks come in, trap the ducks, then “relocate” them. Maybe they really are relocating them, but since they never give me details and get evasive when pressed, my only conclusion is they are destroying the ducks. To me, that’s terrible. Yes I understand population management, but to just destroy the ducks is a cruel waste. They taste good, and we’ve got hungry people in this city. Why aren’t we feeding them?
I did manage to finally snap a picture:
Trailer hitches don’t kill cars
A friend sent this to me. “The Trailer Hitch Hater Site“.
The story is a guy was driving his Ford Escort Wagon here in Austin and rear-ended a guy driving a F-250 Super Duty. The truck had a trailer hitch attached, and caused massive damage to the Escort. Click on the site and go see.
But here’s the thing.
The accident was my fault, as I took my eyes off the vehicle ahead of me to rubber neck the slow moving pavement striping vehicle which we were passing at the time, at roughly 8 MPH.
He admits the accident was his fault.
He admits to taking his eyes off the road, to not paying attention to what’s happening in front of him. He admits to rubbernecking. And given what he says he was doing, he was likely going through a construction zone — a place to be paying more attention to what’s going on. And if he ended up a truck’s tailpipe at such a slow rate of speed, either his eyes were off the road for a LONG time or he was tailgating the truck.
He continues.
And yes it’s true, I did have a chrome frame on my front plate, not for vanity purposes, but to shield the sharp edges of the license plate from some unsuspecting knee or shin. This is the responsible mindset which more folks should embrace.
You know what’s a responsible mindset? Keeping your eyes on the road. Perhaps you should embrace that before you tell other people what to embrace and how to be responsible.
I love this part:
The bottom line here is that my sub-compact vehicle was damaged to the point of selling off for parts, and it was all so needless. Just a classic case of carelessness at best, and at worst the driver never actually towed anything, but mounted a hitch so as to insure that his bumper was protected, which is anti-social behavior to the point of almost being criminal, IMHO.
So because the truck driver chose to protect his vehicle — from irresponsible and careless drivers like you — somehow he’s anti-social and criminal? Take note, citizens: taking steps and measures to protect yourself is anti-social and criminal. Throw away your fire extinguishers, stop wearing your seat belts, no need for parents of small children to child-proof their homes, ladies stop carrying your pepper spray and taking anti-rape courses. Y’all are being so self-centered and inconsiderate of others. *eyeroll*
I don’t get it. This guy admits fault, but I don’t think he really believes it was his fault. He doesn’t chalk it up the destruction of his car to his own negligence. If he had been paying attention to the road, not tailgating, etc. he wouldn’t have ruined his car. The destruction of his car wasn’t caused by someone else’s trailer hitch, it was caused by his own behavior.
The solution in his mind? To call for truck drivers to remove their hitches when they’re not towing anything. No call to improve his own behavior, no using his experience as a lesson for others about how distracted driving can have ugly consequences. No… never my fault, always someone else’s.
I teach my children to always look in the mirror first. Something went wrong? What did *I* do or fail to do? What could I have done better? Always look at yourself first and fix yourself. A lesson some people, apparently, never learned.
Dude, I’m sorry your car was totaled. You could have prevented it. Don’t go blaming others for your mistakes.
Trailer hitches don’t kill cars — irresponsible and negligent drivers do.
