Dog Days

I am trying to figure out why we are so outraged by the "thousands" of dollars made off of dog fights, yet nobody seems concerned about the millions of dollars wagered on human fights.

I mean it is outrageous that they would "sometimes using steroids and treadmills to prep the animals for their bouts." Can you imagine if say Ultimate Fighters were to train and use steroids. Or even worse, what about the starts of the WWF.

Can you imagine if we spent billions of dollars to train men and women to fight and then send them to fights all over the world. It is barbaric.

What if we spent millions of dollars each summer to see fictionalized violence.

I just can't believe that people could possibly be so cruel to dogs when obviously we have such great respect for humans.

Today's Evidence That St. Louis is Racist

While perusing the articles on stltoday.com I decide to look at the comments on a story about five men that had been charged with the theft of property for the Hazlewood School District. I didn't have to go far to find evidence of racism.

If you click on the link above you can follow a lovely discussion between myself and a bunch of judgemental racists.

I'm sure that if I visit the anonymous comment pages of any major publication that I would uncover evidence of lunacy, but I think that the problem in St. Louis is deeper than that. St. Louis is a racist town.

If you ask almost any white person about the May Day Parade or Annie Malone they would have no idea what you are talking about. The infamous high school question is merely a ploy to place a person in the proper socio-economic or racial class. Almost any St. Louisan can point to a road that is the dividing line between black and white parts of town.

This town is racist.

Poor Cynthia Davis

Cynthia Davis feels as if she has been unfairly maligned by the press that, unfortunately for her, published some less than compassionate quotes. Since I fear taking her out of context I will provide all of here words while providing comment.

Summer Feeding Program

Last week a local Missouri newspaper ran an editorial that misrepresented (like she misrepresents O'fallon) my views and the true issues surrounding the summer feeding program article I wrote a few weeks ago. We all agree on the importance of feeding children, but we differ on who should do this.

Good now we have established common ground. Starving children, bad. Feeding children, good.

I believe this duty belongs to the parents. Instead of respecting this time honored jurisdiction of the family, the summer feeding program treats families like they do not exist.

Time honored I'm sure, but is it parent honored. Time has honored a lot of things. By this logic anything that has existed should continue to exist. Or is there a certain time limit that must be reached. Obviously the idea of the community hasn't existed long enough to be so honored.

When government takes over a family function, like feeding children on a daily basis, we take a group of people who are capable and treat them like they are incapacitated. (Uh, because they are.) Some have a low view of parents, presuming most of them are inept and proposing governmental intervention as the only solution.

Not "inept," incapable. What part of poverty do you not understand. People do not make enough money and therefore are not capable of providing food.

I believe most parents are good and want the blessing and privilege of feeding their children.

Okay, a personal note here. I only have had the blessing and privilege of feeding a child for the last six years, and during that time I have been screamed at for not providing the right food, told that the meal that I made was gross, and rarely is anything happening other than coercion and manipulation.

When families are sharing a meal around the kitchen table, much more is happening.

Right, I already said that. Remember the coercion and manipulation?

Mealtime is the primary time for shaping values and strengthening bonds. All of this is missing or diluted when it happens outside the family.

Okay, seriously? Shaping values is diluted if we don't eat dinner together? Values aren't shaped at t-ball practiced, and during bedtime stories? Bonds are strengthened during episodes of The Clone Wars? My memories of dinner are being force to eat Lima Beans and waiting around to be arbitrarily excused from the dinner table. Good times!

Look into your own heart and ask, "What made a difference in my life as a child?" Was it standing in a line for a cafeteria style meal at school or was it sitting around the kitchen table with others in your family?

Wait, are we disparaging cafeteria style eating. The ultimate in the democratic process. No I take that back. The mall food court is the ultimate in democratic dining, but the cafeteria is a close second. I will admit that cafeteria with family is the best, but only because I finally had the freedom to choose the food. A grilled cheese sandwich, chocolate milk, and three pieces of pie. I didn't have to pick a vegetable, or a fruit. Oh sweet freedom.

All the children being fed in this program have parents or guardians who are already functioning in a nurturing roll. They have not been judged to be neglectful or abusive in any way. Government should not take the care of their children from them. The right way to help is treat the root cause, not the symptom. We must support the parents in providing for their children, not circumvent them.

Isn't the root cause poverty?

We can go a long way to strengthening our families without any government program at all just by connecting our less fortunate families to churches and food pantries. Parents will usually feed their children before themselves. Wouldn't it be better to fix the overall problem for the family rather than use private vendors and make the children go back to an institution to eat two meals a day?

So is the problem the government? If the churches do the same thing that the government is doing then it is okay. I'm sure that the families can bond while they are begging for food at the pantry. If it is a tax problem, then explain to me the difference between tax dollars and tax canned-goods.

Yet to dare suggest there are alternatives for rational people to discuss and consequences of government taking over so much in people's lives is to be branded an inhuman monster (As opposed to the human monsters) in your editorial. If you truly believe there are parents who "wouldn't" feed their children breakfast or lunch during the summer, why aren't you concerned that they aren't getting dinner, may not have clean clothes or a proper bed to sleep in? Don't you care about children? Isn't the next step under your scenario to take children away from their poor parents?

Again, "root of the problem" remember? The next step is to make the parents NOT poor.

My goal is not to replace parents, but to reinforce them. The solution is found in helping those near us, not in yet another gigantic federally funded mass market approach. Bigger government invites fraud and robs people of the dignity of personal human relationships.

I know my dignity is restored when I have to face the people that are giving me the hand outs. It is so much easier to admit my need and feel like a failure, than it is to participate in a program designed for the masses.

Perhaps the core of our differences comes from a conflict of vision. I see beauty in human potential emerging from finding local solutions to local problems. Short of a national disaster, all family problems are as local as you can get and need local solutions. Missourians have the resources and capacity to address the needs of our own residents without our national government coming in to "spare us" from our own individual problems at a tremendous cost.

If you don't mind I think I will go hyper-local and stop by for a bite to eat tonight with my family. Maybe we can do The Fourth together. There is no better way to celebrate our nation than by refusing its help.

It's Not the Heat it's the Stupidity

I don't know what is worse the heat or the people that insist on opening their mouths to complain about it and thus simultaneously increasing the temperature while decreasing both air quality and average IQ.

Talking about the heat is just a sign that you have nothing of interest to say. So why not keep it to yourself. As evidence I offer this blog. I had nothing to write about, see last months posts (there isn't any) so I decided to talk about the weather.

Freaky Deaky Elephant Sex

At this moment I couldn't be more proud of being a St. Louisan. We have been first in STDs for quite some time, but I was disappointed that it was limited to one species. No longer. At least two of the elephants have contracted herpes.

Now I have not actually seen an elephantine cold sore, but as the largest land mammal I am sure that they are impressive.

Of course the first step in prevention is education. I am sure that the zoo keepers have been showing Power Point presentation with overly disgusting photos of untreated and rampant festering sores. There are probably uncomfortable questions from the younger elephants.

"If I just give him some trunk, can I catch it?"

"I'm dating a giraffe that hasn't had syptoms in two years. Is she still contagious?"

"Do Trojans come in extra, extra, extra, extra large?"

I just pray that the next step is not pachyderm pap smears.

Mayor Slay is a Whiney Baby

I am sick of hearing Francis whine about the stimulus check. For some reason I get the distinct feeling that it just an outlandish performance orchestrated to make him look caring for the primary election.

It is nearly as fake as him walking into the sunset with a homeless vet.

I understand the need to be a politician, but St. Louis is facing so many real problems. Why is mayor still searching for photo opportunities. Maybe he could demand that Ballpark Pit be filled with something other than a rancid pond. Perhaps he should stop trying to dismantle the public school system and work with what he has instead of setting up his cronies with charter schools.

We don't need the stimulus money. The last time I checked there is a major highway reconstruction going on. I also seem to recall the state footing a good portion of the bill for the arhitectural blight known as Busch Stadium.

Mayor Slay you need to stop whining and do something other than run for office.

Car Break-in Camouflage

Every car on our block recently received a flyer from the police department imploring us to "park smart." I can only assume that these are a result of a series of recent break-ins. Admittedly I take some joy in this since a majority of the cars that park on our street are actually cheap bastards.

We live near Washington University and a Metro station, and there are many people that, in order to avoid parking fees, feel that it is perfectly acceptable to park in front of our home. If I am home during the week I fear leaving the house because I may have to park a block away when I return. Plumbers, Electricians, Tree Trimmers, and Rooters can rarely park anywhere near our house. So the thought of these penny pinching pains getting rob is slightly amusing. Most of them drive nicer cars than I do, and seems as if the financial divisions of Karma is working everything out.

However, I don't think that I would be nearly as amused if my car was broken into. In fact, it was violated last year when someone took my book bag out of my unlocked car while I had returned to the house to get something. I'm just hoping that somewhere there is a crackhead grading high school essays.

With that said, I think that we are relatively safe from the possibility of a break in because of how we camouflage our underlying opulence. First we drive older model cars with a few dents, dings, scratches and a sideview mirror that dangles like an eyeball plucked from its socket. Secondly we litter the floor with McDonald's wrappers, QuickTrip cups, and cookie wrappers. This detritus obscures any laptop computers or purses that may stored in the vehicle and implies a certain level of poverty that would preclude any excess electronics.

I have recently thought of marketing our refuse as an anti-theft device. We could simply place our trash in a bag (from Walmart or the Goodwill of course) and sell it at flea markets around town. If we put a little work in to it, we could include pamphlets from the free clinic, classified ads with a few random jobs circled, and Aldi's grocery ads. Sell them for a dollar a piece and we would still be profitable.

So remember to park smart. Secure all of your valuables and proudly display the remains of a lower income lifestyle.