Dear America,

catch my tears somebody -- it's Maundy Thursday and how.

so the guy has since apologized, basically choosing to take full responsibility only as an afterthought; he regrets the post, but stands by his criticism anyway; he is only sorry if it offended, not so much that the deed was done.

All brought to you by Wonkette ...with no need to say more...but we will.


Please, read the Jack Stuef blog (don't be afraid, it's short and stupid):

Greatest Living American: 

A Children’s Treasury of Trig Crap On His Birthday

"What’s he dreaming about? Nothing. He’s retarded,"  

Jack Sprat spews from the recesses of idiocy...

"Is Palin his true mother? Or was Bristol? (And why is it that nobody questions who the father is? Because, either way, Todd definitely did it.) It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we are privileged to live in a time when we can witness the greatest prop in world political history." 

So we are back to questioning the true mother, are we?  While Jack Sprat takes it one step further, saying "either way, Todd definitely did it?"   that's so funny I forgot to laugh.  I mean, that was trying to be funny, right? you aren't really insinuating a case of incest with the Palin's, right?  oh well, either way, makes you look ridiculously stupider than any child with Down's.

Hey, Jack, do you know any family with a Down's child besides through the miracle of TV and the subsequent narrow minded lens of political posturing? Do you have any real sense of the power of the written word?  Even your half-heart'd apology with no regrets makes a continuing mockery of the whole charade.

You see, I can speak about this, because this thing called Down's I happen to know an awful lot about.; it is something I keep pretty close to my heart, along side a reality steeped and mellowed and warmed with nearly fifty years of intimate, family, brotherly experience.  This meaningless trash talk you just throw out on a blog on a whim on the fly without thinking -- using a Down's child as the worst prop in world blogosphere history, I might add -- is deplorable, a corruption of humanity.  Have you no soul?

And then, as if THAT isn't enough, the entire experience is rounded out (if you get the nerve to take a whiff, anyway) by reading the onslaught of Palin polluting commentary unfit to be seen or heard, let alone taking in with a long, deep breath...just where is the UN? I believe we have an epic human rights violation occurring upon the earth, the likes of which we have never seen before.  oh the sludge, the grime, the irreparable damage...I can't watch.

You know I make it a habit reading comments after articles just to get a read on where the nation sits on various subjects, through media left and right; it's kind of one of my favorite guilty pleasures -- it's like it's so bad, but it feels so good, and all the while, what comes out of it most days is a sense that most of us DO think before we speak.

Not always, of course; but generally, after well meaning articles pick apart the facts, separate the opinion, and keep to a line of respect and professionalism, the comments thereafter generally respect the contributor, writer, commentator right back.  There is divisiveness, at times; other times, opposing opinion cuts off any chance for understanding another person's view before it even has a chance to sink in; but more often than not, those who frequent the site on a regular basis, those who already align with the view before even popping open the home page, naturally concur with most everything said.

That being said, the comments following Jack Sprats juvenile rampage fit to a T.

from 'Barb' --

"...I've said it before and I will say it again, it has to suck for Trig to have a special needs mom.
Happy Birthday Trig! I hope your parents took you out of the 7-day diaper bag long enough to have some cake. I'm sure they will make you a baby bottle full of Triaminic, with its cool grape goodness, and you will go seepie-byes real soon."

from 'Downfist Troll'  --

Here's to Trig! May he be the first Palin to get a G.E.D.

from 'Gopherit'  --

"i can say, with zero snark, that Trig will likely be the most qualified Palin for the presidency. Sorry, Trig. Wish your family didn't suck."

from 'DustBowlBlues' --

"The look-I-didn't-abort-this-retard prop baby named after Roy Rogers' horse. Poor little Trigger got dragged to every possible campaign event in 2008, no matter whether it was time for him to be in bed or not."

every       single      one     of the comments.  all three hundred and thirteen and counting. Wonk on, Wonkette toads, wonk on.

catch my tears somebody.


these are the young, hip minds Obama wooed the first time, in order to get elected; they are all apart of the d-list crowd who watched his Town Hall meeting on Facebook, I'm sure; this, by example, is the kind of civility, generally and widely accepted, from the mouths of his faithful followers.  Stooping to the lowest of the low is part and parcel of the MO they keep and share and pass around like a virus -- taking Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals to heart and to market.


catch my tears somebody.

How in the world did we make people who no longer care about another person's feelings in this way?

Is it simply the unintended consequences tied up in the after-birth of the new age, living vicariously and recklessly and anonymously on the net with no strings attached?  As if it doesn't matter what we say or how we say it or who we talk about -- even if using a Down's baby as a visceral, provocative, prop?  Or is it we only ingenuously care when they are on the right side of our political ideology?  either way, this is as ugly as coyote ugly gets.

catch my tears somebody.


You know, the reality of living with a Down's baby -- for me, coming along a year after and teaching him how to walk...and on through the years...bearing witness to that same Down's baby who never failed to show up and be the brightest bulb on the block... no matter where we were -- is a reality I wish everyone could know.  In truth, everything I ever really needed to know, of the things that truly matter, I learned from him (not to mention his supernatural dry wit, the irreverent displays of all things silly, and the unbridled shaking of the family funny bone all the days of my life).  I love you so much kissy!

catch my tears somebody.

I weep for the world this morning; we seem to be continually losing something of ourselves in each new waking day.  Decency, civility, virtue, are things becoming all too often heavily disregarded and freely discarded, thrown by the wayside and left for dead -- aborted by popular belief and a general sense of selfish, narcissistic, invincibility that reigns superior over everything else. 

wonk on with your big bad self and let's just see where this leads the world, huh? 
are you proud of yourselves? 
does this make you feel good? 
all of you, not just Jack Sprat... all of you... every        single     one of you, huh?

for once, put yourself into somebody else' Tom's shoes, I beg of you.  What you all seem so-happy-go-lucky to throw around on a whim without a care, seemingly quite pleased with yourselves for doing so -- I would not wish this kind of hatred upon my worst enemy.  AND, having this kind of hatred paired with a subject matter so thoroughly and characteristically in-congruent -- the innocence of a Down's baby -- my heart is left stunned by the violation.

...oh my... what's this?  wonders never cease to amaze me.
I am not alone... what is it we have here... I do believe... heaven is crying along side me... hence the drizzle outside my window to the world.


For some of us, I question the probability on this one, but no matter, let's complete the day in our usual flare anyways...


Make it a Good Day, G

really good
as good as it gets even
well, as good as it can get for a Maundy Thursday, anyway.
bless us one and all.

Dear America,

Anybody else get the feeling we are a walking contradiction at almost any time?

“We’re going to prevent bullying 

and create an environment

where every single one of our children 

can thrive."

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/11/white-house-seeks-child-speech-oversight/#ixzz1B1vAjXsT

But on the other hand, we will teach our children how to get along with others, subconsciously, by not saying a word when it comes to making death threats, promoting clashes with police, encouraging waging terror and intimidation upon opposition lawmakers, and otherwise, go to great lengths breaking through windows, doors, however necessary, to further the cause for solidarity...to wreak havoc; taking the art of bullying to the next level.

we will bully governors, like Walker in Wisconsin...we will speak ill will of the character of a woman, and her family, just for her conservative beliefs, like Palin in Alaska...we will discredit the nature of news itself, if coming from a source that moves forward to a different beat, like Fox News...taking the art of bullying to the next level.

Skillfully, the left would have you believe when bullying is done with the right motivation, whatever means necessary, from their point of view, even if somebody gets hurt -- it is simply democracy at play.

(Again) Where is the president on this one? 

When it has been just barely a couple of months -- when he was imploring civility and an opportunity for this country to come together after a tragedy -- as in the days following the Gabrielle Giffords' shooting -- how could he not speak up already?

After hearing of clear and present danger in the words of the protesters in Wisconsin, advocating such an horrific response -- as in real bona fide death threats against another person, simply because they are lawmakers of another color -- how could he not address this just one more time?

DEATH THREATS -- to lawmakers and their families?

Is that where civility has moved?

Granted, the middle east is used to this type of mob mentality and making verbal threats against "the enemy."  

But are we really okay, as a country, moving in this direction?

How can a president one day say bullying is just wrong -- when in fact he encourages it, in a very big way, in the larger sense of the word...

...in order to get things done, 

...to make fundamental transformation, 

...to nudge the people in a certain direction, 

...as a means to an end, 

...never letting a crisis go to waste

...through ridicule...lies...terror...intimidation...character assassination...just by organizing people into one great big crazy mob...

and in a word, bullying.

Even if with sound reason, he has bullied: the oil companies, specifically BP; dictators, most recently Mubarak (really not sure if he is bullying Gaddafi, time will tell); a white police officer -- against the black professor; people who, generally speaking, "cling to their guns and their religion"; fox news...having his own administration claim it not to be a "real" news organization; Wall Street; Banking; Chamber of Commerce; Health Insurance Companies; free enterprise; capitalism; small business owners; the taxpayer...

This president has turned bullying into an art, and yet he speaks of it with disdain when confronting the issue of bullying front and center in our schools -- something is not quite right.

All I ask is that we -- and when I say "we" I really mean the president -- be consistent, if nothing else; is bullying wrong, or not, Mr. President? 

I guess this morning, the thing is, the hypocrisies that surround us really make us who we are -- like it or not; and this morning, I want our president to stand up against bullying in all of its forms and actions; he came in on the dream of making peace, even riding that wave so far, it brought him a Nobel Prize on a silver platter, but what have we really gained from it?

All I see is a greater divide, more partisanship, less civility, and a sense of unrest and insecurity like never seen before (aside from the valleys of history we will never forget).

It seems to me, bullying is being modeled by our children, for sadly, it is what they see as the norm.

Think about it.

Think about the number of views on television, video, and youtube, when someone is being bullied, tormented, tortured, ridiculed, harmed, and even killed.  Think about the world in which we live, and what is freely displayed on the evening news, bullying in all forms; disgruntled lawmakers who can't even come to the table to discuss things, or take a vote, even if by law it doesn't spin your way; Muslims and Christians clashing in Egypt, even after immediately following "a win for democracy" for all intents and purposes (and over a love affair no less); we have pirates tormenting and killing people on the open water; we have entire governments bullying citizens to work; we have parents assaulting their own children; we have husbands and wives bullying each other; we have sisters and brothers bullying each other, while parents sit back letting them just handle it; and we have had bullying in school as long as I can remember...only usually the principle takes charge...and puts a stop to it... or else --

we are living in a powder keg -- but this thing simply called "bullying" somehow seems to be inter-related to nearly everything we do and touch and see.

I watched Oprah yesterday; her audience was a room full of men who had been sexually assaulted when they were just boys; led with the help of Tyler Perry, Oprah walked the audience, and her viewers, through the lens of a young boy tragically affected by unspeakable horror,  most often at the hands of someone they trusted.  ONE in SIX boys are met with this abuse; ONE IN SIX!

Please, tell me, America what the $U#K is going on?  Has honor, integrity and treating each other with respect totally gone out the window... along with the protesters?  

Now it is beyond my comprehension to understand how a parent could sexually abuse their own child -- there are not words to describe...but it leads me to believe a few things...

Beginning with our children -- they are powerless, aren't they?  Their lives began  in the care of those who were supposed to have their best interests at heart, someone who gave them life, someone they grew to completely trust, unwavering; to use a child's love as a tool to do the unthinkable -- bullying -- sexually abusing --  a child who simply doesn't know any better.  How can this happen? This is so sad; these boys grow up to be broken before they have ever had a chance to live.

I have long felt Oprah to have this great gift -- but honestly, the things she opens our minds to be of witness can be so heart-wrenching; but sometimes I think, where would we be without her breaking through some of our day to day illusions of the world we live in; broadening our awareness is the first step for creating real change. In sincere gratitude for that, let's move on....

We seem to be epidemically dealing with a whole host of issues stemming from how much, or how little, we value each other -- if we value anything at all.  

Perhaps it is because, as the more time goes by, we become more and more anesthetized to the evil that surrounds us, even if we know it is there; it becomes simply too much to handle -- denial creeps in, allowing ourselves to be okay with things that are really not okay;

or perhaps, we find we have so many other things to worry about, how can we take precious time to take action against things outside our immediate realm, as if, if it's not my problem, we stay out; we fear getting involved, even when there were "signs"; we don't speak up, even when it is the right thing to do, fearing more of what others may think of us; we let our lives be shaped by outside influences that are totally and recklessly and undeserving of our trust...chock it up to endless stream of bad reality tv...

Oh what's a little incivility over there...

Oh what's a little name calling over here...

Oh what's a little threat really mean...it's just words...

Oh what's the problem with a little in your face bullying ...whether it is a child, a teenager targeted for being "different", an oil executive, the Tea Party... a lawmaker who leans in the opposite direction....

IT IS ALL THE SAME; and more important, our children ARE watching. 

We better learn pretty darn quick to stay on message -- the same message -- a loving compassionate message that clings to our convictions -- to be good, decent people no matter where we are, who we are with, or who in the audience might heckle us if we dare to veer in the direction of calling for real civility -- and really, truly, mean it.

Make it a Good Day, G

and then, nothing can really prepare us for the unexpected fury and delivery of not one, but two, of nature's bullies...as today, our prayers go out to Japan; may comfort come to you soon as the world rushes to your aid.