Staring at Disabled People?

Why do some people stare at disabled people?  Do a self check.  If you’re walking along or sitting somewhere and you see a disabled person, what do you do?  Do you start staring at them?  Does your brain go into an analysis or curiosity mode?  Do you find yourself staring at whatever body part of the person is different from yours.  It’s like our mind is trying to create a story line that explains the difference.  You could be having a conversation with a friend and then you see the person, the disability or difference and you go into a stare/analysis mode.

A few of us who make contact with a disabled person may find your mouth asking a question.  “What happened to_____”  Fill in the blank with the appropriate body part.

My theory is that we all suffer from People’s Stupid Curiosity Syndrome, PSCS.  I think we need a three second staring rule.  That’s all you need to do your analysis.  Three seconds of stare time.  And no looking back for a second look.  We need street referees to enforce the rule.  If you are caught breaking the three second rule you get a yellow card.  Three yellow cards and you can’t walk outside for a day.

Suppose someone disabled or different was staring at you?  How would you feel?  Especially if they weren’t  smiling?  You’d think something was wrong with you or they didn’t like you. So today if you find yourself staring at a disabled person, stop it!!

Childhood Memories - Moving From Saint Louis, Missouri to Compton, California

I remember that as a child every year we moved to a different apartment.  It was like we were on a 1 year schedule. After awhile I wouldn’t unpack my stuff.  I’d just leave my stuff in a box.  I figured, “why bother, we’re going to move again anyway!”  Saved me packing time each year.  Everybody else was scrambling trying to pack stuff up.  I just scooted my boxes of stuff over to the door and went out to play.

One year we made the ultimate move.  We moved from Saint Louis, Missouri to Compton, California.   Why, I still don’t know.  Cause life turned to hell for us in California.  My parents drove two old ass cars 2,000 miles across country from Saint Louis to California on one tank of gas.  We were driving about 20 miles per hour all the way.  My dad in one car with my oldest brother and me pulled a small U haul trailer behind his car.  My mom had my sister and one of my brothers in the other compact car.  At night time we slept in the car.  Forget sleeping in a hotel.  This was 1968 America.  Black people didn’t sleep in hotels on road trips.  We were barely allowed in hotels still.

We wore the same clothes every damn day.  Showering?  Hell no.  If we washed up we did so in the public restrooms.  Meals during the trip?  We started off eating homemade sack meals of bologna sandwiches.  We had a container of water and no cups.  Everybody drank from the same container.  Yeah I’m talking backwash city!  Once the bologna sandwiches ran out I think we barely ate anything.  I do recall my dad stopped at some place and got us each a big ass hamburger.  I mean this burger was as big as your face.  It excited my Dad but I was like “how am I supposed to eat a burger as big as my face?” 

At 20 miles per hour it took us what seemed like 69 days to get from Saint Louis to California.  The small car that my mom drove had about 12 flat tires on the way to California.  My mom wound up driving into Compton on just the rims. Then we finally got to the Promised Land.  A housing project in Compton called Park Village.  It had a big ass Berlin Wall all around it.  The wall was about 10 feet tall.  It served its purpose though.  It kept the inmates, us, contained in the project.  And it kept the outside world from seeing how bad we had it or that we even existed.  When we got there I was thinking, we left Saint Louis for this?  Hell, I was ready to head back home to Saint Louis.  I just looked at my parents each day after that and shook my head disgusted. “Thanks for moving us to this American Dream in the projects!”

Audacity and Arrogance - Delay a Nomination to Supreme Court???

Several years ago President Obama authored a book titled “The Audacity of Hope”.  Several Republican Senators should now ban together to author a book titled “Audacity and Arrogance”.   After the death of Supreme Court Justice Scalia, several Republican leaders made outrageous comments that President Obama should allow the next President to nominate a replacement to fill Justice Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court.

These Senators who call themselves leaders want to have the American people wait 11 months before a key judicial position is filled.  Rather than have a full bench on the Supreme Court deciding issues over the next year, these Senators truly believe that partisan politics is more important.  There answer is delay, delay, delay.  When does delay help bring closure to major judicial issues?  Voters in those states who have Senators advocating delay should simply call those Senators’ office and request that they resign and come home.  We’re not paying Senators a salary to simply delay addressing issues.  That’s part of what’s wrong with the current level of politicians.  They are not managing the chaos in the government.  Instead they are contributing to it.

The American people re elected President Obama to carry out all the duties of the Presidency.  That includes making nominations to fill vacant spots on the Supreme Court.  It’s an important nomination and the full Senate will have the opportunity to review and vote on a final candidate.  That is the process.  Action not delay.  Senators and Presidential candidates advocating delay need to rethink whether they are fit for public service.

Comical Observations

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) at Republican Debates

The Republican debates continue to be ferocious.  Yeah, they may wear white shirts and dress ties for the debates.  But give them one week.  I guarantee they’ll start showing up wearing wrestling gear.  Especially Trump and Cruz.  I’m talking a mini Royal Rumble.  In the next debate they’ll start off answering a real question.  Then it’ll get kind of testy.  Fingers being pointed and then Trump will apply a solo flex move to Rubio and they’ll be on the stage pounding each other in the head.

When there is one candidate left I’d bring in The Rock to challenge the final nominee.  Can you imagine that?  “The Rock says shut your candy ass up. Tell me why you think you should be President?”  Then when he tries to answer the Rock tells him, “It doesn’t matter what you think!”  Then he gives him the people’s move and knocks his ass out.  The debates are all entertainment anyway.  Nothing they say is going to solve any problems.  They’re all making empty promises and lying to us.  You know it right?

Medical Commercials

I saw this commercial on TV advertising some medicine.  It was a cartoon character that looked like intestines.  I’m not sure what his/her name was.  I call it the Colon Thing.  It had the colon mouth opening and small beady eyes.  Maybe it’s me but in real life are not intestines slimy?  If you saw a walking intestine coming towards you would you hug it?  I can imagine the next medical cartoon character.  It will be a commercial for erectile dysfunction.  It’ll be a comical cartoon figure of a flaccid limp penis all alone.   Then after it takes ciallis or Viagra it become an erect, happy hard penis with women and men flocking around it.  Now that would be a great Saturday morning kid’s cartoon show.  “Mommie can I have some cereal while I watch Penis Man?”

NBA World Team Player's Names Challenging for Announcers

I watched the NBA All Star “festivities” last week. They had a “rising stars” game that featured first and second year players.  They divided the teams by players born in the United States and those born in “foreign” countries.  It’s a “we” versus “them” game. “Them” was the “World” team.  The most challenging part of the game was hearing the announcers try to pronounce the foreign born players names.  By the time they announced all the names of the World players it was half time.

The names of the World players had like 8 syllables, and that’s in the first name only!  “Forward, from the San Antonio Spurs, Andrukylitis Staseepopulous Beecherenko Radmonivac.”  The name on the jersey ran in a horse shoe shape up, down, and around his back.  “Point guard, from the Ukraine, Vladimir Tychowsky Demetrioff.  They call him V.D.”  I hear women groupies avoid him.

The Zika Virus Takes a Cruise - satire

My wife and I took a cruise to Zika virus land  last week.  In preparation I sprayed about 2 gallons of pure Deet on my arms, legs, elbows, and toes.  We get to the Caribbean islands.  I wore long sleeved shirts and pants in 75 degree temperatures.  I even wore goggles and a helmet.  I was mosquito proof!   Didn't see one mosquito.  I even looked for them.  I even called out for them. "Mosquitoes where are you?"  Then I would duck and look for swarms of mosquitoes to attack.  No mosquitoes.

So my wife and I go back to the cruise ship, all happy and Zika free.  We get to our stateroom and walk in.  I thought I saw somebody out on our balcony.  So I go and look.  There sitting in our chairs playing cards are these two, four foot mosquitoes.  They look up and say, "Hey you finally got back!  We've been waiting here for you at least 3 hours.  I'm Zika Andromeda, my partner here is Zika Borelis.  We're making our way north to Canada.

I didn't know what to say, so I stammered. "Hello, pleased to meet you.  Then Zika Andromeda said, “you ready?”  I said, “yeah might as well get it over with.”  Then Zika Borelis said, “Okay, hold out your arms.  Then they both bit into my now Deet less arms.  Now I’m a Zika carrier.  But, they sent me a postcard  from Toronto last week. I thought that was nice of them!

New Hampshire Primary Results

And so it begins.  The political primary season has begun.  The first results from New Hampshire were announced tonight.  No surprise in the announcement of the alleged winners.  Look at the demographics of New Hampshire and there is no surprise as to why they won.  The state's residents are 94% white with Hispanics at 3% being the highest percentage of minorities.  New Hampshire by no means mirrors the makeup of the United States as a whole.  71% of the residents own homes.  The median income is around $65,000.  8% of the residents live below the poverty level.

The results in upcoming primaries will be different based on the makeup of each state's population. But the media will make all types of conclusions from the results of this one primary.  Don't be swayed by the analysis of the network's political "experts".  Just understand that the results only represent the views, biases, opinions, and prejudices of those who voted in the state of New Hampshire.  That's it.  It doesn't mean that the candidate who "won" are the best candidates for the job of President of the United States.  In another state, California or Ohio for example, the results would be different.

So give the network commentators 15 seconds then turn to an entertainment channel.  Read about the candidates views yourself via their website.  Decide for yourself.  When your state's turn comes, vote based on the issues and what you believe and feel.