Why Pay For Schools When You Can Have The DNC?

Hooray for Charlotte! The DNC has chosen Charlotte as the host city for the convention in 2012. I am very excited to have an event to protest next year. However, someone pointed something out to me that I hadn't thought of until now: how are we going to pay for it?

Here is a quick rundown of the situation in North Carolina: teachers are being laid off in droves because we can't find money to keep them employed. The state is slated to lay off another 5300 teachers from our already-strained education system that is already ranked at 23rd in the nation. So lets cram more kids into already overburdened classrooms so they can be taught by underpaid and overworked teachers.

Social services are being slashed which will add to the crime rate and homeless rate because we can't find any money. What happens when mental health services are cut to people who are already living on the fringes of society? Homelessness, crime, and a load of people entering an overburdened prison system.

Those are just two very important aspects of our state and its lack of money. So please, someone explain to me how can Charlotte afford to spend $40 million on the DNC.

Even with restrictions the party has placed on corporate fund-raising, Foxx [Charlotte Mayor] said, "we will raise the money," estimated to be $40 million. "I have no doubts about that." He also said that "a lot of security dollars are going to come into our area."

So when your kids can't go to school and half of your family is on the streets because there are no care centers for those in need of mental health, ask the DNC why they needed to bring a party of Republicans-in-drag to our city and spend money that we don't have.

Sue Myrick Wants To Shoot You In The Face

North Carolina: not quite as insane as South Carolina, but sometimes you would think they want to be. The idea of our politicians carrying guns around like we live in the old west is a little disconcerting, to say the least. Recently, NC Rep Heath Shuler (D) and NC Rep Renee Ellmers (who yo may remember as running on a “say-no-to-the-terrorist-mosque” platform, as if it has anything to do with North Carolina) have decided to start packing heat just in case they are confronted with a Tuscon-like scenario.

A Charlotte Observer review of N.C. county records for the entire delegation shows that Shuler and Ellmers are the only two members with permits. U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, doesn't have a permit now, but said she had been thinking even before the shooting in Tucson of obtaining one.

Well isn't that lovely. Now, these two characters have shamed NC Rep Sue Myric (R) into joining the congressional SWAT team. Rep Myric is one person from this state that is unstable enough to carry a gun and “accidentally” shoot an innocent bystander.

Perhaps these Wyatt Earp wannabes should read a little further into what happened in Tuscon. AZ Rep Giffords was shot in the back of the head. She never saw if coming. If she had been carrying a .50 cal, she would have still been shot in the back of the head and would have never seen in coming. Carrying a gun will not stop a crazy person from coming out of the woodworks and attempting assassination and it won't stop them from succeeding.

That is the answer to all of our problems in the US though, isn't it? If we don't understand something or are worried about something, just pick up a gun. Scared and panicked people have never made a mistake while handling a weapon.

No Money For You.

Brown told the Journal he doesn't believe HIV/AIDS patients should be covered for diseases caused "by the way they live," saying that any patients who contracted such illnesses "sexual behavior or drugs" should pay the full cost of treatment themselves. - The Charlotte Observer.

You have got to be kidding me.

Ok lets just go for the obvious here, you can’t just pick one or two disease caused by lifestyle choices to not offer assistance for. The standpoint of ‘No coverage for something you did to yourself’ is all inclusive not pick and choose. The short list of diseases for which funding should be removed in cases where lifestyle was the direct cause. 

Cancer - Are you a smoker? Were you exposed to caustic chemicals? Bummer, no money for you either you had a choice and decided to expose yourself. No money.

Obesity - Did Little Debbie hold a gun to your head and make you eat all that mass produced crap food that is so cheap and mass marketed to you and tell you not to exercise? Nope. No money tubby.

Diabetes - You again tubby? Shame on you. You mean to tell me someone made you drink all that high sugar soda? I don’t think so you could have had a vitamin water. No money. (And I hear that diabetic testing stuff is expensive. Good luck!)

Heart Diseases - You again! Tubby you really need to stop asking. So now you want me to believe all that crap you ate clogged up your arteries, now your heart doesn’t work to well? Oh well no one made you eat it. No money

You  get my point, we can’t just cut state funding for a programs or medications because odds are lifestyle of the sick lead them there. Sure, they did it to themselves, whatever. Doesn’t mean we leave them in the gutter to die. You take them in, place them in programs to help them get better so they can live a productive rest of their time. Hopefully sharing their experience to educate and help prevent these things from happening in the future.

Cutting the funds and turning people away will just lead to huge death tolls. People can’t afford the treatments they need. Plain and simple, people count on those in charge to help take care of them. Brown’s plan for the great state of North Carolina will be sitting back watching people perish.

I just wanted to mention this in the spirit of being fair. A lot of articles I have read are calling Brown’s comments on the subject; “hateful rhetoric” In this case, I don’t think so. Yeah, he hates gays, but he hates a lot of other things too. it’s not fair to say just because a man made comments that included the words "queer" and "fruit loop" that every decision he makes is based on his hate of gays. I think sometimes people forget he's a person, He has plenty of other things to hate he doesn't spend every second of every day plotting against just gays.

He was quoted saying; because of… "sexual behavior or drugs" Statements like ‘sexual behavior' or 'perverse lifestyle' are all encompassing, straight or gay. I asked an openly gay friend of mine to read the article and give me his thoughts on it. Here is what he had to say.

“It’s exactly this kind of hypocrisy that's going to kill us. One has to think of it like this: if his reasoning is correct, then how many other medications should we cut funding for because of lifestyles that cause illness? Should we stop funding Diabetes medication and research because high sugar and fat intake can cause it? Should we stop should we stop funding blood pressure medications? Cholesterol meds? Sure, not all cases of the above are always a result of fucking up somewhere in our lives, but quite a few are. For every glandular problem there are going to be 10 people who compulsively eat. For every infected blood transfusion there may be 10 promiscuous people. Oh well. It is not on us to judge why or how. It's our job as people to show compassion and help them anyway, like it or not. Money is replaceable. Our lives are not.”  - Mark Bryan

Yes, we have the same name. Anyway my point is, an openly gay man saw no “hateful rhetoric” which is not to say he didn't notice any of the underlying tone of Brown's anti-gay feelings, but rather that he was able to focus on the real issue at hand. So for all you groups out there tearing this apart to help promote your cause give it up, it discredits you and your organization by taking focus away from those who might lose necessary medical assistance. Tackle the issue at hand, not the one that supports your cause.

The Winter Blunder Land

My neck of the woods has been shut down since Monday morning. Just as Southerners do, we see three flakes and loose our minds. People flock to the stores to buy up all of the bread, milk, and eggs (two of which will go bad as soon as the power goes out) and then lock themselves inside of their compounds. Well dammit, not me! I have to work!

Yesterday morning I got up at 5 am, as usual, made my obligatory cup of coffee (decaf) and a bowl of Cream-of-Wheat. I packed my lunch and headed out the door and immediately regretted my decision. 7 inches of snow, snow still falling, -8° C, and my work vehicle has no visible doors. No problem, I am a trooper, a man's man!

I broke my door open, kicked the snow off of my shoes, and started driving... at 5 KPH (yes, I know the US uses degrees Fahrenheit and MPH, but I feel better being in line with the rest of the world). I made it 5 K from my house before i spun around in the road several times. After making it through that patch, I made it another 5K before sliding into a ditch. Luckily, a good Samaritan pulled me out and got me back on the road... to my house. Work canceled.

I tell this story to illustrate a few things. First, Southerners don't know how to drive in the snow because we never get snow. So all of you Yankees out there who bitch and moan about the city shutting down because of a few inches, there is I-77 and I-85 that head north. Pack up your shit and go home.

Second, the cities here are out of money. The reason that the means roads where not clear is because there wasn't enough cash to have them going as soon as the powdery stuff started falling. So we ended up with the main roads being nothing but a sheet of ice and me in a ditch. But guess who just got a huge tax cut? I don't think it needs to be said. Thank you, austerity measures.

Third, because my work closed for the day, I did not work. Normally, that wouldn't be a bad thing. However I am not a salaried worker, so due to no fault of my own, I missed a day of work with no pay. Today isn't looking any better, and to be quite honest, I am not exactly rolling in the dough. Like many in the US, I live paycheck-to-paycheck with very little savings. The company I work for is the third-largest privately owned company in the US. Way to take care of your workers, guys.

Well, hopefully I will have something to do today. I can't really afford another day off. However, it's 10am and no one has called yet. I guess masturbation is always an option.

Bill James Is A Homophobic Douchebag

For those of you who were wondering, hate is still alive and well in North Carolina.

Anti-gay, Republican Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James on Monday said gays are “sexual predators” in an email to his colleagues on the board.

James’ remarks were made in response to County Commissioner Chair Jennifer Roberts’ request to send a letter thanking some members of the Charlotte-area congressional delegation for their “yes” votes on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) repeal this month. Roberts was to send the letter to U.S. Reps. Larry Kissell and Mel Watt and U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan. President Barack Obama last week signed the repeal act into law.

This guy is beyond repulsive, and I am not just talking about his resemblance to a hybrid of the guy from Mask and Porky Pig. So to get the personal attacks out of the way, No, Bill James. There isn’t one guy on the planet that would fuck you. I am not sure there is one woman on the planet that would fuck you, and we all know how notorious women are for having bad taste in men. You are like a bag of smashed assholes that has been mixed with a bucket of dicks and a quart of bullshit. What a hideous cake you would make. Moving on.

“Homosexuals are sexual predators,” James wrote in one email from a string of several between county board members, Roberts and County Manager Harry Jones, and provided by James to qnotes. “Allowing homosexuals to serve in the US military with the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Commission ignores a host of serious problems related to maintaining US military readiness and effectiveness not the least of which is the current Democrat plan to allow homosexuals (male and female) to share showers with those they are attracted to.”

OK, from the comments you can guess that this philistine has never served in the military. Had he served in the military, he would know that there have always been gay people in the military. The military is one of the gayest organizations I have ever been involved with. Men are showering with other men as we speak and not engaging in a rape fest. The repeal of DADT is going to go ahead with or without the OK of the Mecklenburg County Commission. I think one of the serious problems with the military is assholes like Bill James acting like they know anything about the military.

Want some more info about the character of Bill James?

James’ anti-gay comments following the Christmas holiday are not the first time the public official has spoken out strongly on LGBT issues. He often uses derogatory language or slurs to describe LGBT people in debates or communication with fellow public officials and constituents. During debate last December on domestic partner benefits for county employees, James leaned over to his Democratic colleague, Vilma Leake, and called her son a “homo.” Leake’s son died from AIDS in the 1990s.

I can only guess that the good people of District 6 are as hate filled and backwards as Bill James because they keep voting this guy into office. Maybe I should start taking bets on how long before we find Bill James balls-deep in some male prostitutes ass.

Talking To Idiots

I have recently been in contact with one of my sisters' friends. She felt the need to send me a message (via Facebook) to voice her opinion about me over the billboard issue. I am going to post the conversation (so far) here to let you see the kind of people that we deal with daily here in the South. I have left off her last name so as to not break the law. I apologize for any gushing I do about the military here, but there was a purpose for it. Enjoy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The title of her message was "remember you grew up believing both"


Brandie ***** ****** July 7 at 11:42pm Report
praying for you
...Please remember that only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you...JESUS CHRIST and the AMERICAN SOLDIER. One died for your soul and the other for your freedom.
Sent via Facebook Mobile

William Warren July 8 at 5:00pm
I am not sure what this message is supposed to mean. I am not sure if you know, but I actually served 5 honorable years in the Marine Corps. Believe it or not, there are quite a few atheist serving the country (and dying). I lost many friends who died serving people who obviously can't tolerate their existence. Tell me, when did you serve the country? I gave up 5 years of my life to do so. What have you done?

The statement of Jesus dying for our sins is making some pretty bold assumptions: a) Jesus was actually divine, b) Jesus was a defining force in my life, and c) we have a soul. Remember, you are making the claim. Since you are making such a claim, I suppose you have an overwhelming amount of evidence. And by evidence, I mean something that would hold up in a court of law, not a "feeling" or "what the bible says". If you have no evidence, all you have is opinion and I would prefer you to keep that to yourself.

As for praying, I would prefer you do something useful. I have never understood that when something bad happens (which being an atheist is not), people hit their knees and start praying instead of actually getting up and going to do something. I would also direct you to your bible, which you hold so dear, to Matthew 6:6 which says "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Again, prayer is an assumption for which there is no evidence. Keep it to yourself.

William Warren July 8 at 5:31pm
P.S. I just noticed the title of this message. I also grew up believing in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. What's your point?

Brandie ***** ******* July 8 at 9:16pm Report
Hey I'm not the the one all over tv expressing "my views" I have strong feeling about my views and so do you. There is a 50% chance I'm right if I'm wrong, know lost. But if I'm right I hate it for you. But just the same I will still say a pray I have found worst things to waste time on. Like reading all that other mess you typed.
Sent via Facebook Mobile

William Warren July 9 at 2:48pm
Yeah, I have been on TV expressing my views of "equality" and "acceptance". What a horrible concept. You need to remember the fact that you sent me a message, I didn't contact you.

You have still avoided the questions that I raised to you that were brought up in your message. Did you send me the message merely to antagonize me? Do you know how many christians I have contacted to try to make them feel bad for their beliefs? None. Zero. For you to attempt to appeal to my childhood and family is down right despicable.

I know the rest of the "mess" that I wrote was horrible for you. It may have made you think. This proves to me that you had nothing to say, just accusations to make. I'll say it again, if that is all you are trying to do, keep it to yourself.

P.S. I am still waiting on the answer to what have you done for the country.

Brandie ******** *********** July 9 at 9:55pm Report
I didn't send the message to antagonize you. I'm not going to debate religion with you. As for my country I respect what it stands for. What did you do its not like you were out fighting for your country . Did you not say a prayer everday and whats on your dog tags? If the usa military and millions of people pray it looks like you are the one attacking our views. With that sign! you just might not say it to there face. Sorry to have bothered you.
Sent via Facebook Mobile

William Warren July 10 at 10:58am
So your definition of someone doing something for this country is going and pulling a trigger or being shot at? You do realize (of course you don't) that there are roughly 2 million members of the military, of which 80% (that's 1.6 million) never see combat? Oh, my dog tags said "USMC" and "Atheist". What do your dog tags say? Oh that's right, you didn't join the military. I am not saying that you have to have been in the military to have done something for this country, but when you say that it's not like I was fighting for my country, I have to know what your definition of defending the nation is? When did you become an expert on the military? I hope the other 1.6 million members of the military whose good names your are disgracing right now can somehow find their way into the graces of "Brandie, Military Expert." I guess I have been forced into a position of justifying my military service to someone who has reasoning problems. Oh, and no, I did not say a prayer every day; or any day for that matter.

Your ridiculous views of "just because so many people do it, it must be right" are laughable. I suppose you think slavery should have been kept around because, you know, all those white people in the majority liked the idea of having black slaves. Read a book and get back to me, because your knowledge of, well, anything up to this point has been somewhat less than a four year old.

If you think putting up a billboard is attacking your beliefs, then your belief system must be as weak as hell. I have to remember though, dealing with thin-skinned people can get a little dicey sometimes. So putting up a billboard is attacking your beliefs? So then I am sure you would agree that someone vandalizing said billboard (which is private property) would be equivalent to all out war? I hope I never see the day when people like you are left in charge. Of course I shouldn't expect you to have even a cursory knowledge of the Bill of Rights, because that would require "learnin'".

What am I afraid to say to someones face, that I think people should be treated equally? I have said a lot worse directly to someone. I don't appreciate being called a coward. I consider the coward the person who would rather bitch at someone over Facebook than call them directly. I am not afraid, nor have I been afraid to speak my mind to anyone. I would consider the long list of death threats from good Christians like yourself to be the ultimate indicator of that. That's the problem though; religious people don't want equality. That is something that I will not tolerate.

You have bothered me a great deal. It has been like talking to an irrational wall. But as long as you keep replying with your child-like retorts, I will continue to spend time trying to decipher what you are trying to say and respond.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That is as far as we have made it. I am not sure she will reply and could honestly care less. What do you think? Would you have handled this situation any differently?