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It seems that the Los Angeles County Probation Department has a problem. They really don’t know where their probationers are a great deal of the time! The company that provides GPS tracking devices for the City of Los Angeles can’t keep track of the released felons because the bracelets fail so often. Sometimes they are just defective, sometimes the batteries won’t hold a charge, but the sad truth is, overall, the system is chronically broken. Sentinel Offender Services blames untrained probation officers and felons ‘who fail to follow instructions’ for the breakdowns. Is this for real? It sounds more like a Saturday Night Live skit that isn’t funny. How do these incompetent products and services providers get awarded huge government contracts in the first place? At what point do we citizens refuse to continue to fund these boondoggles and finally hold public service 'officials' accountable for wasting so much money and putting us at risk?? I have a problem with Nevada County officials telling a local church it must tear down an outdoor sign because they failed to get a permit to change the graphics.
The Simple Truth Church put up a new graphic to cover an old dilapidated sign that had been an eyesore for twenty years! The new graphic featured an American Flag with a tag line of “Support Our Troops!” Was the County doing this because of the administrative error, or are there other considerations? Was the County doing this because the sign is sponsored by a Christian church? Was the County doing this because it featured an American flag and an image of a Cross? Which of these seemingly harmless, some might say noble, suggestions is the County upset about? Could this obviously anti-religious government action smack of bigotry? Would that be surprising? http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/12/28/nevada-county-church-ordered-to-remove-support-our-troops-sign/ As we approach the End Of 2013, it is always shocking to look back at the famous people who have passed away. I guess it hurts because we all feel related to them as we appreciate their immense popularity, talent, and inspirational personalities.
Death is a natural part of life, though we all live in complete denial most of the time, lest we become morose. Nevertheless, it does us good to confront our mortality once in a while, while we show our respects for the past, we re-focus our attention on today and the future. Remembering Paul Walker, James Gandolfini, Peter O'Toole, and Dennis Farina from the film industry; from the music industry we lost giants including Patti Page, Ray Price, George Jones, Richie Havens, and Ray Manzarek. Other iconic figures include Annette Funicello, and Jonathan Winters, among many others....see more at: http://variety.com/gallery/in-memoriam-paul-walker-james-gandolfini-cory-monteith-dead-2013/#!1/introduction/ There may be little agreement on the specifics of year, origin, or justification, but the fact is most people on this planet live by a calendar based on the birthday of Jesus. Christian, Jew, Muslim, or other, civilization has decided that this is an appropriate date to organize life around. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. For decades, it has been the unofficial global standard, adopted for pragmatic interests of international communication, transportation, commercial integration and recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union. We look at history as of two eras, Before Christ, and Anno Domini, or after the Birth of Christ. That fact, in and of itself, is pretty amazing. In my family, Christmas is the most important day of the year. Is it because we venerate Christ as our Lord? To a degree, yes. My family has a Christian heritage. But to be honest, like most people I know, Christmas is even bigger than that. What? How can I say that? Even if we were very religious and committed Christians, even if we went to church every Sunday, and dedicated ourselves to spreading Christ’s word, I think we would have to admit that Christmas, with respect to the entire planet, is bigger than an affirmation of our particular belief system. Christmas, like the Gregorian calendar, is something the whole world pays attention to. Christmas is a day of the year where what Christ proselytized, is actually effectuated. It is a day when people treat each other as brothers and sisters, and spend quality time with friends and family. People all over the World reach out by giving gifts and attention. They offer help and love where there is little. The twenty-fifth day of December reaches into every neighborhood, across borders, over fences, and into prisons. It reaches into the lives of the rich, the poor, the disenfranchised, the uneducated, the sick and the elderly. Men, women, confused or physically incapacitated, everyone knows about Christmas, and most act differently before, during, and sometimes after December 25th. You can’t say that about any other day of the year, about any other special event, religious or otherwise. Christmas is, once a year, the reassertion of an idea, a spirit, a way of living that engenders itself by remembering the birth of a messenger who delivered a recommendation to the World; Forgive. From this Family, to Your Family, and to the Family of Man, may the 25th of December bring Joy and Peace to Our Planet. The screaming child at the check out counter, that is what many uber-liberal Americans sound like when they attack people like Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty.
“Mommy, I want that!” “No, sweetheart, you can’t have that.” “I want it! Ahhhh! I want it!” “Honey, no…” “Ahhhh! Ahhhh!! I want it! I want it! Mommy! Ahhhh! (if I scream loud and long enough she will give in because I am annoying so many people) Ahhhh!” “Please, can you get your kid to behave?” “He’s a kid! Kids cry! What’s your problem? Don’t tell me how to raise my kid! OK? Don’t judge me!” For nearly three decades, Americans have institutionalized the social doctrine of moral equivalency and non-judgementalism. Mainly, because many of the children of the sixties are now the critical parent, most Americans, young and old, have adopted this convoluted, contradictory and illogical life management style. Public school curriculum is based on equal outcome education; protecting self esteem; avoiding conflict and self-denial; non-judgmental inclusion and gender equality. It is reasonable to extrapolate that each generation will embrace greater degrees of ambivalence to any kind of social stigma. So when a high profile television star has the gall to challenge that dogma, he is chastised, publicly humiliated, and ostracized, because it ‘hurts’ to be judged. What is so sick is that those who scream ‘ouch’ the loudest turn right around and do exactly what they complain about – judge those who have arrived at a different conclusion! ‘Judgementalism’ is like vegetables in your diet; you may not like it, but the human body needs it. |
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