BREAKING NEWS: THE NFL IS DANGEROUS!!

What?!

You mean two- and three-hundred pound men running around a field at top speed towards each other and crashing countless times over four quarters is RISKY?  That playing a sport requiring its players to WEAR HELMETS could possibly result in permanent brain injuries or Alzheimer's later on in life?  That a sport that has to have a RULE barring bounties on players for hits could possibly cause brain damage?

*crosses arms*  Well, this hopelessly-addicted-to-watching-football gal just doesn't believe it. 

But there's good news!  Looks like I'm not alone in this, my utter disbelief.  Apparently, LOTS of former NFL players and their families agree with me.  I mean, they're suing the NFL because they say the NFL intentionally hid the dangers permanent brain injury from playing this sport they know inside and out.  Now they want the NFL to pay for their medical care and monitoring for future signs of brain damage.  They say the league relied on biased studies about brain injury that were self funded and presented that information to the players as fact in an effort to hide the dangers of the game from these, the PLAYERS OF THE GAME, who know it so well.  I do have a question for the plaintiffs though:  Would any of you play football in the NFL without a helmet?  No, right?  But why?

BECAUSE FOOTBALL IS DANGEROUS!!!!

Every single one of you knows this when you first start playing the game!  I know that if my nephew gets out there on the field we're just going to have to buckle our seat belts and monitor our blood pressure.  Those of you who had both parents at home remember the argument they had when they discussed you playing football and how your mother freaked out at the thought of you getting hurt out there.  Think she was worried for nothing?  You are all made aware of the rules and the dangers of getting hit, you're even taught how to hit properly to avoid injuring yourself (Troy Polamalu did NOT listen, clearly).  You get an extra ten, twenty pounds of padding to put on, not because the game is so safe, BUT BECAUSE YOU COULD GET HURT OTHERWISE!!

Let me ask another question:  How many of you are ready to sue the NFL because of that achy joint or bone every time it gets cold because of that injury you got on the field?  No one?  But why?

INJURIES ARE PART OF THE GAME!!  Yes, even brain injuries.

Now I realize that a lot of you aren't the sharpest tools in the shed to begin with.  No one's fooled, we know a lot of you did very little of your own schoolwork, especially in college.  But this is basic common sense.  Of course, judging by the number of you that don't have enough common sense not to blow away $50 million dollars in less than ten years, I realize asking some of you to embrace common sense may be a bit much to ask.  I wonder how much of this lawsuit IS about the fact that in 2009, Sports Illustrated estimated that 78% of you are bankrupt within TWO YEARS of retirement.

Wrapping your head around THAT can cause permanent brain damage!

That aside, take responsibility for your own personal safety and health.  You can get a degree and do something besides play a sport that requires pads and a helmet for safety.  There are other ways to make lots of money that don't involve putting your health and the security of the families you may have at risk.  If you're that concerned about football, I encourage you to try something else.  Don't blame the NFL for letting you play, most of you would have played no matter the cost so this lawsuit seems not only ridiculous, but pointless at that.

Now...is it September yet?

Cannibals...????

So now we have people snapping the hell out and not just killing people, but eating them afterward.   What the entire fire burning hell is that all about?

What do you say about someone who eats off someone's face?  What do you say about someone who kills someone and then eats their brain and other body parts?  What can you say about someone who videos themselves killing someone, then chops the person up and starts mailing their body parts all around
Canada?

With the face eating guy, it was supposedly bath salts.  I know they sniff or swallow it to get high, but now I don't even wanna put it in my bathwater.  Bubble bath anyone?  Damn.  Then the guy in MD that at his roommate's brain after killing him, then dismembered him and hid body parts in the house for his dad and brother to find...no one knows what the hell was wrong with him.  Aside from his nutty Facebook posts about death cults and the decline of black people, no one really knows why he flipped out.  Then the guy in Canada mailing arms and isht, this guy was apparently making a snuff film.

This is some sick isht right here.  Clearly some people will get high on ANYTHING, regardless of what it is.  Just sick.  All I got.

Houston Family Chronicles

Yep.  Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who made money off Whitney Houston when she was alive has signed up for a reality show so that they can keep making money off of her now that she's dead.  They're using the whole "Oh we were going to do it anyway, this was in the works BEFORE Whitney died..." excuse. 

Right.

Every single member of that family has been talking to the media NON STOP since she died and not one of them mentioned anything about a reality show having been in the works at the time of her death.  Do you REALLY think they would have missed the chance to bring that up?  Not with all the media whoring they've been doing.  The reasons for Whitney's problems are becoming more clear the more these people run their mouths.  No wonder she had so many issues.  Seems like she's better off where she is now.  Yeah, I said it.  Am I that far off base?

Trayvon Martin - UPDATED

Trayvon Martin was visiting his father in a gated community in Sanford, FL on February 26, 2012.  He had walked to the store and was walking back in the rain with Skittles and a bottle of iced tea when he caught the attention of George Zimmerman.  Zimmerman was a self-appointed neighborhood watchman who had a habit of calling the police for the smallest things and of being a bit hairtrigger in his tactics.  He had called them on this night too, saying he was watching a suspicious looking guy that looked like he was "on drugs or something" because he was walking around in the rain looking at the houses.  

Seriously?

According to the 911 calls and witness accounts, Trayvon notices Zimmerman watching him.  Trayvon runs from Zimmerman, yells for help, struggles with the older, bigger man and is then shot dead.  Trayvon was 17. 

Trayvon Martin could have been my son.  Your son.  My nephew.  He could have been anyone.  Anyone's kid walking home from the store with candy and iced tea.  He wasn't doing anything that made him suspicious.  This kid was shot because he was black.

Why do I say that?  Maybe because Zimmerman was a known racist.  Or maybe it was because the boy was UNARMED and all he was doing was WALKING!  Maybe because he had the nerve to be present in a gated community, of course he didn't belong there so Zimmerman had to go and teach him a lesson.  Why else would he approach someone if he felt he saw someone suspicious and possibly dangerous enough to warrant a call to the police?  Why would he follow him when he ran off?  He didn't see him do anything other than walk in the rain with candy!  If he was that concerned for the safety of his neighbors, why would he chase a kid who may have been trouble right into the neighborhood he claims he was trying to protect?  

Any WHY is the police department allowed to overlook this cold-blooded murder and do their level best to sweep it under the rug?  What makes them think it's ok for a 17 year old kid to be shot dead and his killer to walk the streets free?!  Why are they covering up what this guy did?  If they weren't trying to cover it up, why did it take so much time and pressure from so many in order to get them to release the 911 tapes?  Recordings which clearly show that Zimmerman was the aggressor in this incident and that Trayvon was screaming for help BEFORE he was shot in cold blood.  Why are they downplaying or trying to coerce witnesses into altering their statements? 

Do I seem angry?  You're damned right I'm angry!  Everyone should be angry!  This is someone's CHILD that is DEAD for NOTHING!  For no other reason than because he was somewhere being himself.  I don't care what color you are, no one should have to worry about their children looking suspicious because they have candy (something a few kids like, just so you know) or because they're the wrong color.  Trayvon represents EVERYONE'S child.  He represents every murder that goes unpunished and every victim of some psychotic wanna be cop who puts himself in charge of the neighborhood watch. 

Now before I continue, I have to do a little disclaimer.  You see, I know this blog has a good amount of Christian readers.  It's one of the reasons I waited so long to blog about this story.  Yes, I wanted to wait to hear the 911 tapes first, but I also wanted to get my language right before I put anything up.  Don't want anyone not to read about something this important because of a few choice words.  Having said all that, I apologize for the language going forward (really isn't that bad) but there is one thing about this that REALLY pisses me off...

Why the HELL hasn't my BLACK ASS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA had ANYTHING to say about this?!?!  Because he knows DAMNED well that before he got Secret Service protection, SOMEBODY at the country club he was patronizing asked him to fetch them another glass of scotch.  He, of ALL people, should be front and center on this because this has been him before I don't care how light he is.  The most I've heard from the White House (ain't that some sh*&) is this bullsh*& right here:  "[O]bviously we're not going to wade into a local law enforcement matter".

What the hell is that supposed to mean?  So a 17 year old black boy gunned down in cold blood doesn't bother my black ass President because it's a "local law enforcement matter"?

You know what...

I don't mess with politics here and I'm definitely going to stick with that since this is not about politicians.  This is about Trayvon Martin, a boy who I don't want to see die for nothing.  So just like so many of you fell all over yourselves reposting the Kony 2012 video, post about Trayvon Martin until your fingers bleed if you have to.  This could have been your son, nephew, brother, friend, student.  

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

UPDATE

In fairness, President Obama did make a brief statement regarding Trayvon's death yesterday at the White House.  A link to the video is here:  

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/03/23/president-obama-trayvon-martin.pool.html
 

It's clear that this is a difficult statement for him to make and yes, I do understand that especially now, as commander in chief, he has to maintain a degree of impartiality.  Having said that, his delay in making this statement is still troubling to me.  Nonetheless, since the FBI and company have become involved so for now, I'll assume he's saying a lot more with this action. 

Gotta love America

Michigan has done something that makes sense!  They have stripped a woman of her $200 monthly food stamps after she went on TV bragging about how she was still getting them even after she won a million dollars on a lotto game show.

She cleared a bit over $500,000 after taxes.  Showing her age (24), she went out and bought a car and two houses but she forgot to get a job while she was out doing all that.  It's been a LONG time since winning $500,000 could get  you "set for life" or even legitimize going on a huge spending spree with real estate and cars, especially when you have no job. 

She'll be broke again in a few months (if that) and when she goes back for food stamps this time she'll actually qualify, although for being that much of a loser she wouldn't deserve one penny's worth.  Especially since they're being paid for by those of us that have jobs.

I never will understand how people think they can sit on their behinds and do nothing and that everybody else is responsible for them.  Oh wait a minute.  That's how welfare works, isn't it?  What a joke.

"Shut up, woman!" (Part Two)

So Rush Limbaugh issued an apology for the mind numbingly sexist and ignorant remarks he made about Sandra Fluke.  Most likely because he was bleeding sponsors and he probably felt he had no choice.  Just like I said, he'll probably be on his best behavior for a good while, but he'll still be around, spewing the same narrow minded thinking he always has.  I truly couldn't care less.

What I do care about is what this says about how far women have come in this society, how far we still have to go, and for heaven's sake, why?  Why do we even have people who think it's right to have a discussion about an issue that affect women without having at least one woman involved in the discussion?  Why is it that there are people like Limbaugh who think it's perfectly acceptable to make remarks like that about women in a society where, at least by law, we're all created equally?  I mean, supposedly women have equal rights.  Or is that only as long as we "know our place"?

I believe that we, as women, have to accept our share of responsibility for the fact that this type of mentality still exists.  We have to conduct ourselves in a manner that commands respect.  If we want to be seen as women and not objects, we can't objectify ourselves by doing things that demean us as women.  We have to respect ourselves first and make that self respect OBVIOUS to those around us in the way that we behave and the way that we conduct ourselves.

We have to start using our brains to get ahead, not our bodies and our looks, which fade I don't care how much plastic surgery there is.  Women spend so much money buying fake breasts, behinds, lips, and hair because society wants us to believe that the more attractive we are physically, the more money there is for us.  That may be the case for a little while, especially if we want to be video models or strippers, industries created specifically to exploit women.

We need to spend money on educating ourselves instead of buying body parts that we weren't meant to have in the first place.  If more of us start using our brains to get ahead instead of using our bodies we may have more opportunities presented to us that require the use of our brains and not our looks.  Then we may be taken more seriously.

It's much hotter to be a smart rich girl.  When the wrinkles on your face stop you from paying the bills, you always have the ones in your brain to fall back on.  I think we'll do ourselves a great justice to put this into more frequent practice.

"Shut up, woman!" (Part One)

So this whole recent firestorm about the birth control issue and Rush Limbaugh and his big mouth has me pretty irritated.  First, the whole situation is a mess to begin with.  How do you have a panel to discuss women's reproductive issues that consists of a bunch of rich old white guys?  Didn't we straighten this whole thing out back in the 70's?  LAST century?  Why is it being brought up again and why in the world is it being addressed by everyone but the people who take the pill in the first place? What a JOKE!  Guess that's why so many prescription plans pay for Viagra but don't want to pay for the pill.  The plans that do pay for the pill are probably behind this whole movement, but I'm sure they'll still help with your Viagra buddy. 

And then you have Rush Limbaugh's mouth.  Rush seems to think that Sandra Fluke is a "slut" and a "prostitute" because "she wants to be paid to have sex".  Extremism at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.  But he didn't stop there.  The next day he says that if we're to pay for her birth control, we want video of all her sexual exploits so that we could all watch.  The hell?  Would ANYONE in radio have DARED to make a remark like this about a man?  What kind of idiot says this stuff and thinks it's ok?  But it probably will be.  Let's face it, next year this time, Rush will probably still have his radio show and he'll still be spewing complete ignorance that a lot of people like and he'll do something stupid like this again very soon.

It's really too bad, to me, that women are still so low on the social totem pole and still so sexually objectified.  To the point that a politico who doesn't like what a woman stands for uses sexually charged terminology to voice his disagreement with her views.  Here's a young woman studying law, being brave enough to step in front of the world and voice her concerns.  This after getting doors shut in her face because there was no room at the table for a woman to debate birth control because the table's full of men.  Ms. Fluke should be seen as a role model for young women and girls who want to study law or who are afraid of what may happen if they stand up for something they believe in.   Yet because she decided to speak up for what's important to her, she's publicly degraded and in a sexual way because she's a female.

If he was trying to make the point that if you can't afford to pay for birth control you shouldn't have sex, well, it's an excellent point.  I actually agree, however, that is not the reality of the world we are living in today.  That may well have been the case in the 30's, which is apparently where he thinks we are now, but we're actually in 2012 Rush.  We should certainly have evolved enough that we remember that we're all created equal.  I would hope things have improved to the point that if people feel a need to insult someone because they disagree with someone else's point of view, they can do it without such a filthy way of insulting the holder of the offending opinion.  But what I wish people like him would do is just sit somewhere and shut the hell up.

I mean, that's basically what he wants Sandra Fluke to do, right?  Why so much vitriol in his remarks?  It's this whole, "Shut up, woman!" mentality.  Joan of Arc, Hilary Clinton (though I wish she would), the Suffragettes, hell, Gisele Bundchen!  They were basically told to go somewhere and be seen and not heard.

(to be continued)

Tell The Truth And Shame The Devil!

I keep seeing stories surrounding Whitney Houston's death from "unnamed sources" who are speaking about Whitney's erratic behavior in the days prior to her passing.  I see reports about her finances, her declining health, how Bobby isn't being allowed near Bobbi Kristina because Whitney's family doesn't want him to try to get his hands on her money, how he's not invited to the funeral...so much is being said. 

I saw Kelly Price on GMA talking about her now infamous appearance at her pre-Grammy party celebrating Kelly's two Grammy nominations.  I saw a woman who spun so much denial it was ridiculous, saying that Whitney appeared sweaty and disheveled because she'd been there for a long time and it was hot and she'd been dancing.  Whitney came stumbling out of that party looking about as coherent as Ozzy Ozbourne on his best day dripping blood down her legs with scratches on her arms.  Story after story has come out of that party about Whitney's behavior there in the days since she passed.  It appears she got into some kind of verbal altercation with a contestant from X-Factor named Stacy Francis that may have stemmed from Francis approaching Ray J who has apparently known her for a long time.  During this altercation, reportedly she pushed pregnant R&B singer Keke Wyatt, telling her to get out of her face.

Also, during that party, she was seen drinking heavily and being belligerent.  One thing is clear:  she wasn't surrounded by the right people.  It seems as if all reports from her camp claim she was just fine in the days leading up to her death, that nothing seemed out of sorts.  Yes, she liked a drink or two but she didn't go overboard, making excuse after excuse for her behavior.  It's clear they are still in denial and making excuses for her, even after her death.  While she may not have been doing "hard drugs" as they like to call it, she was on enough pills to cause a pretty dangerous reaction if she wasn't careful.  Combine them with even a small amount of alcohol, much less how much she'd reportedly been drinking, and you get what we have here.

Then all these reports about the family blaming ex-husband Bobby Brown for her downfall and not wanting him hear Bobbi Kristina for fear of him trying to get a piece of Whitney's estate.  First, reportedly Clive Davis was paying ALL of Whitney's bills for some time prior to her death, Whitney was obviously broke.  True and sad, Whitney will be worth more now that she's gone, one look at iTunes should tell you that and Bobbi Kristina will probably end up being a very wealthy young woman in the coming years.  But she's his daughter and Whitney was a great love of his life.  I understand that everyone grieves in different ways, but to place blame on someone that you have no choice but to acknowledge in your life is just ridiculous.

Whitney was a grown woman who had an addiction long before she met Bobby Brown, in her own words.  Continuing to try to blame anyone other that the person responsible for making up her mind every day is pointless.  Whitney is still gone, drugs of some kind are probably related, and it still won't be Bobby Brown's fault or anyone else's.  What they may be better off doing is asking who let her feel like it was ok to drink as much as she was drinking taking the medications that she was taking.  The woman failed a basic physical for a FACELIFT for Heaven's sake!  She had no business drinking ANY alcohol - "a drink or two" or not! 

I keep saying it, enablers do the devil's work for him and they don't even realize it.  Unless an addict has a consequence to consider, the behavior is going to continue.  If they run out of people to get money from, if they run out of sofas to sleep on, hotels that allow them, etc., then they have other things to deal with.  If they're willing to sink low enough to getting it from the streets, then let them do it.  They can't get it if they can't get it.  I speak from experience...something I'll talk about more later.  But I do know what it's like to live with an addict and what it's like to have to deal with CONSTANT enabling from people who just want to be close to the addict no matter what it takes, not realizing they're KILLING the addict.  It ends badly, it did for my father just like it did for Whitney and Michael Jackson.  I'm not disrespecting the dead, we're talking about people I adored.  What I hope to do is shine a light on not only my take on this, but also a facet of addiction that is so often overlooked, enabling. 

Sweet Angels and Scary Monsters

So most of you know by now that the sons of Susan Powell, who went missing from her home in 2009, were brutally murdered by their father.  Charlie and Braden were being dropped off by a social worker for a supervised visit with their father, one of several since November, when the visit turned into a nightmare.  In less than ten minutes, the house exploded into a fiery inferno at the hands of the monster that was their father.  He had locked the boys inside, luring them with the promise of a "big surprise".  He proceeded to take a hatchet to his own sons' heads and necks before rigging the place to blow up into a fireball and making sure his flesh and blood had no chance of escaping the flames and smoke.  No chance of telling the story of what their father had done to their mother the night of their "camping trip".  No chance of them putting him in prison for the murder of their mother with statements like "mommy was in the trunk".  All the while, their social worker tried frantically to get inside and then get help as the gasoline fumes, then flames overtook the air. 

Elizabeth Griffin Hall, the social worker assigned to their case, did everything she possibly could have done given the circumstances.  She tried to get the police involved, but the 911 operator seemed to be a bit high on himself and informed her that he didn't know when the police would be there because they had to respond to life threatening situations first.  This clown really needs to be dealt with.  I mean I have no idea why the smell of gas in the air and an unresponsive parent who won't let in a social worker for a supervised visit should be considered life threatening.  None at all.  He picked a bad time to be an ass on purpose.  Is it ever ok to speak to people that way when they're saying they have an emergency?  There's a way to say everything.

There are already a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks who think things could have been done differently and they'll swear that if they were in charge, they'd have made sure that this didn't happen.  There's no way to know that.  The only thing we know for sure is that their grandparents are now grieving for them the same as they've been grieving for their mother since she disappeared.  Susan Powell is still gone, the fact that she's probably dead hasn't changed, and what really happened to her probably died with her husband in that house.  Ms. Griffin Hall, though scarred, vows to continue on as a social worker forever changed by the fate of her two young charges.  A fate beyond her control, though it unfolded only steps away from her reach.  We can only take comfort in the hope that Susan and her sons are together again, wherever that may be.

God bless both families.  May those who are still on this earth that know what happened to Susan speak up and give the Cox family some sort of solace.  Allow them to bury their daughter with her children.  Charlie and Braden, finally you're safe.

One of very few "political" posts you'll see here...

I didn't watch, but I'm sure by now many of you have heard all about last night's CNN Southern Republican Presidential Debate.  I'm sure just as many of you have heard about the ex-wife of Newt Gingrich giving an interview during which she claims that he asked her for an open marriage and she refused, resulting in their divorce.  Hey look, the whole lot of them (Democrats, Republicans, the like) are up to much worse than that I'm sure and if I had my way I'd fire every single one of them and replace them all.  But I don't do political discussions so anyhoo...I'm talking about this because it's a sad state of affairs that moderator John King chose to OPEN the debate by asking Gingrich about his ex-wife's allegations.  Now, I'm sure most of us figured it would come up at some point, but to begin it that way?  A question like that deserves the ire it got.  Way to keep it classy America.  Come on, people!