Why is it Ronald McDonalds fault your kids eat junkfood?

I read this short article today about parents trying to get McDonalds to "retire" Ronald McDonald.  The reason?  Thats right the advertising of junk food is bad for kids.

I have one thing to say to those kinds of parents....Fuck yourself.  It is not a companies job to stop your kids from wanting their products.  Why don't you grow a set and tell them you.  YOU are the parent, YOU are the adult.  If your kids are fat (baring an actual medical issue) it is YOUR fault.  I am sorry if they are whining or whatever, but its YOUR job to deal with it, not McDonalds.

So in closing raise your own kids and stop trying to make others responsible for you being a lazy and shitty parents.  If you dont want your kids to get fat then dont buy them things like McDonalds all the time.

2011 in review....crazy year!

This week I had a look back at my 2011 and I realized just how absolutely crazy the year was.  Three major things have happened to me this year.

The most crazy thing that has happened this year is the addition of JW to our family.  The past 4 months have been the fastest/slowest/best/most stressful months of my life, but at the end of the day I am just thrilled that I get to go home to a fantastic wife and baby at the end of the day.  CG put it best when he said having a kid is like a lifelong science experiment

The other big thing that happened in my life in 2011 was my dad dying.  Now most people who read this know that I was not super close to my dad at all, still a bit of a shock to have him die.  Luckily he did get to come up and see JW about a week before.  I am going to write a post that goes a bit more into this, see next post.

The third big thing that happened in 2011 was actually all the way back in January, that was that MW was pregnant at all.  Its very easy to forget about that time as we have JW here now, but it was a huge shock to find out.  It was terrifying, but exciting.

So although this isnt a very detailed post I wanted to get it published, I have had major writing block lately and want to head that off.

Happy 2012 everyone!

Wet houses...an interesting option

Last month I read a story about a wet-house

and I have been tossing the idea around in my head for a couple of weeks now and I think its an interesting option...

A wet-house is sort of the other side of the coin from a dry-house. A wet house is a community house that allows alcoholics to drink. At first the thought goes against everything we have been raised to think, but lets break it down.

A wet-house provides a place for alcoholics, many of them homeless. to go and stay. The person is given a stipend of 89$ per month to do with what they will, including buying alcohol. The issue that some people have is this is partly financed by the taxpayers, with the rest being financed by Catholic Charities. It seems very odd that someone would be able to spend taxpayer money on alcohol, but lets think think it through for a second.

The amount of money paid to the residents of St Anthony's residence in St. Paul Minnesota is 89 dollars per month. There are approximately 60 people taking advantage of this service.

$89*60 people=$5,340 per month

$5,340*12 months=$64,080 per year

Yes 64,00 dollars a year is a lot to you and me. However in the United States a hospital cannot refuse care to any patient, regardless of their health care situation (which is the way it should be) How much money do you think is spend every year in illness and injury due to homelessness? lets take a look (the below information was found at CNN.com and belongs to them)

"A University of Washington research team studied a group of 95 chronically homeless alcoholics and found that in one year, they cost taxpayers more that $8 million in hospitalizations, detox centers and incarcerations.

When the same group spent one year in Seattle's Housing first program-- residences where they are allowed to drink--the same group cost $4 million in taxpayer money." (This study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association)

This is a simple math equation here guys. If it is cheaper to have houses where they can drink, then thats the way to go. They cannot get better until they decide to, which is the truth no matter where they live. Why wouldn't we at least give them a place to live??

Why don't we just elect a bunch of monkeys....at least we can pay them in Bananas

Government Shutdown....

This is a topic that I have been struggling with for the past couple weeks. I knew I wanted to say something about it, but I wasn't sure exactly how I felt.

Let me outline what will happen if the government shuts down (at least so far as I can figure)

-All non essential workers will be furloughed and sent home until the government restarts.

They will keep their jobs, but will not be paid

-Non essential versus essential will be determined by the individual agencies following some "guidelines" from the feds

-Essential jobs will continue

Essential jobs include Air traffic controllers, airport security, military and defense, mail

-Non essential jobs will include but not be limited to

Trash men in DC (how is sanitation not essential?), administrative jobs, national parks, passport processing, tax return processing etc.

All of these things I can look at and say ok. Not that I agree with them, but in principle i could see those as essential vs non essential (except trash collection) There were two points that I would like to point out that I cannot fathom or accept as the right way to to things

-Congress will continue to get paid

-other essential jobs, including military families, will not get paid

Those two points are unimaginable to me. The people whose job it is to set a budget didn't do their job and got us into this mess in the first place. Those people will continue to get paid, but those who are doing their job correctly will not get paid? I live paycheck to paycheck, as do many Americans, but those would be the people losing their pay?

Well fuck you congress. Fuck you house of Representatives, fuck you White House. The fact that you cannot pull your heads out of your parties asses and put together a budget is pathetic. This is part of your job, your fucking job! Do your job! Anyone who says bring on the shutdown your are a fucking tool. Thats peoples livelihoods! Thats your Armed service going into harms way and not even getting the shitty pay they did before! Thats your neighbors, your friends and your family so grow up you child

Democrats grow a set of balls. The country is trillions of dollars in debt, you will not get everything you want. Spending needs to be cut, which means programs will be cut. To have so much of my paycheck taken away is ridiculous. I make the money if I want to help people I will.

Republicans there is something called separation of church and state, I would appreciate it if you fucking listened to it. Ideological problems should not be holding up anything. Planned Parenthood is a fabulous organization that helps treat thousands of men and woman across the country who cannot afford the current health care system. Pregnancies are legal, get over it. You want to change that? Your allowed to try, but your concern now is putting forth a budget, not regulating a womans body.

Tea Partiers you are the worst group of asshats I have ever seen. Don't try and call yourselves Patriots, Minutemen, especially don't say you are small government. Compromise doesn't equate to weakness. You can have your ideals fine, but this is the United States of America, not the Tea Party express. You represent your constituents, but they are only a portion of the US. It;s your responsibility to put forth a workable budget, not one that caters to your every want. You aren't libertarians so don't call yourself one. You aren't pro Constitution so don't call yourself that. You are bunch of whiny bitches who want to take their ball and go home because someone wants to play different rules at kick ball.

Hard alcohol at a Red Sox game!? I am in!

While reading boston.com today I ran across this article on the Red Sox wanting to expand hard alcohol availability at Fenway. The story itself is rather tame, with the usual things happening. The Red Sox saying yes, the police saying it would be a threat to safety. I understand both stand points on this, although I doubt there would be any visible difference at Fenway if they served hard alcohol. It's not like they limit the amount of beer you drink or anything. To me this would be great because it means I would actually have something to drink at the Sox game.

The thing that really got to me was the comments. There are so many that talk about the fact that hard alochol gives you a different kind of buzz and how it would turn Fenway into less of a family friendly environment. First off alcohol is alcohol, if you drink enough of it you will still get drunk...case closed. Second of all have these people been to Fenway in the last 10 years? It's been quite a long time since Fenway was a family friendly environment. There are always nasty drunks, slobbery drunks, slutty drunk, clueless drunk and every other kind of drunk at the game. So why not make a little bit more money and let those who can't or don't drink beer partake. I mean the Garden has bars that serve hard alcohol, where is the problem.

This got me thinking and I think I have isolated the problem. Any guesses? Thats right its responsibilities. When you actually read what people are saying its all about the fact that the populace can't be trusted with hard alcohol. Somehow its the alcohols fault? I mean look this is basic personal responsibility. Do you think that people are going to get more drunk because they can buy hard alcohol, they will just buy 5 more beers because they are cheaper and reach the same affect. But that's ok because hard liquor is evil, beer is only kinda bad. Stupid bastards.

Announcement

So MW and I have an announcement, although I would imagine most who read this already know, but we are expecting a little one in late August! We are both very excited about this and can't wait to meet the lil guy! For those of you who are interested I have decided to start another blog, Pregnancy: The Final Frontier . When I first found out we were expecting I was a little panicky, as most people would be. So I went to the place that always seems to have the answers, the Internet. However this time I was sorely let down by my old buddy, it seemed like everything on the web revolved around the Mom. Now granted the Mom is a huge part of the equation, but so is the Dad. So, in discussion with MW, I have decided to set off on my own to try and give some of the weary/excited/stressed/confused Dads to be an insight into my experiences in pregnancy. Now ladies rest assured this will not be completely geared towards men, for it being geared towards one partner only is the current issue with these blogs and self help places. Pregnancy involves two people, not one as many peoples in-law, friends, strangers may think. So check it out if you want updates on whats happening with MW and I, if you have any questions, or if you are just plain curious on what the heck happens!

Keep in mind that the blog is still under construction, it will get better I promise.

If you break into someones house, you can't call the cops on them

I love this story. In fact its probably one of the great comedies of this generation. In what far away world do you get off calling the police on the owner of the house you just broke into?

I am sorry that you seem to think that law enforcement should prevent him from taking any means necessary to assure that his home is properly guarded.

This is one of the major things wrong with the world today. He broke into another guys house, you don't get to then call the cops because you are afraid he may have a gun. You break in you take the chance you jackass

More to come later....

Saying no is a part of being a parent! / Its not tobaccos fault you smoke

So I was reading through my usual morning news this morning and found this article. This woman is suing McDonalds because of their marketing ploy towards children. Putting aside the fact that's an idiotic lawsuit lets talk about this specific quote.

"We have to say no to our kids so many times and McDonald's makes that so much harder to do. I object to the fact that McDonald's is getting into my kids' heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat."

Are you serious right now? What you are saying flat out is that you don't want to/can't say no to your kids about McDonalds? What kind of shitty parent are you? This is one of the things that has really gone wrong in the world. Your a parent lady, its your job to say no when it needs to be said. It's not McDonald's problem that you don't want to say no to your friggin kid!

Ok that being said lets go to the other great news story (sarcasm) of the day. In Massachusetts the superior court just awarded $71,000,000 tot he family of a life long smoker because tobacco marketed towards her as a child. Dude what are you two? The woman was 54 years old when she died and still smoked up to that day. Take some responsibility for yourself dude. How is it a company's fault for her continuing to smoke? If this was any drug other than smoking this would not happen, people die of liver issues from alcohol every year and people don't sue Budweiser.

This is a really big issue for my generation. I can only hope that we have more sense than our parents and take some personal responsibility for things. It's not always other peoples fault, in fact i bet most of the time its your own personal fault. Ugh!

what do you want...a cookie?

Dear facebook/twitter/foursquare/friends-

I feel we must talk. First off I am very happy that we live in a land where you can vote and politicians are not chosen for us by the goverment. Let's get that straight right off. However I am getting a bit sick of being told by people to vote. Whether I (or anyone else) votes is not the concern of the public. Voting is a right, not a requirement. In fact I would be so bold as to say if you don't have an opinion, or if you like none of those running, not voting is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

I am not sure where this push to have everyone in the country vote came from. I know that my mom and grandmother would always say you need to vote! Here is my question to all, why do I need to vote? Thats part of what makes America amazing, the fact that you do not need to vote to have a part/opinion/bitch about the government.

Now I am also not saying that I don't like to vote. I really and truly love to vote if I am informed on the issues being voted on. Nor am I saying whether or not I voted last night, I don't feel its really anyones business. All I am saying is that it seems to me we should encourage discussion and interest in political issues and activities instead of just saying go vote.

So please stop letting me know you voted on Facebook, I really don't care. And please don't give me shit if I DECIDE not to vote, its my right.

Love

Chris

Ps. I love debate so feel free to leave a comment if you feel that voting is something that everyone should be doing in all elections. I am not saying mine way is the right way, just that it's what I like best.

Since when is the Pentagon authorized to disagree with the Court?

Alright so usually I am very pro things that the military, as a whole, does. But where the hell does the Defense Department get off telling soldiers to remain quiet until pending appeals go through? This is America and the United States Court system has ruled that Don't Ask Don't Tell is unconstitutional. Fuck you DOD. You don't have the right to punish anyone who is following the law. Thats not how the United States of America operates. The law is ridiculous and unconstitutional in the first place, but you making a move to disagree with the court and not assure that the courts decision can be followed is unacceptable. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on D.O.D

Ps. A gay person can protect and serve just as well as a straight person. This is America home of the free, not America home of the free unless you are gay in which case you need to pretend you are straight or you may hurt your fellow soldiersfeelings. Your fellow soldiers don't like it then they should take a dishonorable discharge. They sign up to protect and serve the people and constitution of the United States, including people they dont agree with. If they don't want to carry out that charge then get the fuck out of the military you stupid cowards.

All the MMA kids will cringe at seeing this but it's the truth in this case.
" Mine is not to question why, mine is but to do or die" Do your jobs, I'm sorry your big macho-ness is offended by a gay person, just do your damn job

Conscientious Objectors

For the longest time I had a real issue with conscientious objectors. I didn't understand (beyond getting drafted) why you would join the army if you didn't want to fight. After some news reading today I came across this article and it changed my views dramatically on what bravery and a conscientious objector really is.

To me this is the true measure of honor and duty. Here is a guy who was a conscientious objector, finding fighting to be against his religion. Instead of saying o hey I don't want to fight I am out of here, he took a fantastic approach. He became a medic. It seems to me this is the perfect thought for what a CO should be. This is saying that he wants to help people, he doesn't want them to be hurt. He is going out of his way to help his countrymen (and any others for that matter) by healing them. The fact that he won the Congressional Medal of Honor is not relevant (although I think its fantastic) Here is a guy who didn't abandon his post nor his duty and still followed his beliefs. I think more people should do this

Banning of novelty lighters will not reduce the novelty of fire

Ok so today I read that Massachusetts has banned novelty lighters.

A novelty lighter is a lighter that is made to look like something else, a truck, a Christmas tree, a smurf, etc. I understand why this rule was made, they look like toys and kids like to play with toys. Kid plays with lighters, lighter set kids on fire, kid is injured or worse. However this legislation will not do anything to change the amount of fires caused by children playing with lighters and matches. This is just another perfect example of the state stepping in when its an issue with the parents/adults in these situations. Why is your kid able to get a hold of a lighter, whether it look like a smurf or a lighter? That is the issue here, adults responsibility. It's not the manufactures fault that irresponsible people leave lighters around for children to play with. As long as the exists then fires like this will happen.

Unfortunately there is no real way to solve this issue. Instead of recognizing that fact the state of Massachusetts besides it needs to tell law abiding intelligent citizens that they cannot own these types of things because so people act irresponsible with them. Are you serious? This is one of the huge problems with this state. The people who are getting punished by this law are not the ones who are causing the problems. The ones causing the problems will just continue to do so with lighters and matches, are we going to ban them next? How about shovels? For that matter what about steak knives, fork, spoons, toothbrushes, electricity, pools, dogs, cats, bears, cars, trucks, streets, buckets that can fill with water, glass, shoe laces, hand sanitizer, cleaning products (just to name a few.) These are things that you can die from due to negligence. Its not the lighters fault, the guns fault, Ben Franklin's fault, or Henry Fords fault, its the people who are negligent and leave these potentially dangerous things around for children to play with. Grow a set and take responsibility for child proofing your house from all of the above.

Scott Brown/Sarah Palin/Current Events

I am not a huge Scott Brown supporter (neither am I against him on everything though) I am not even a fan of Massachusetts, I think this state sucks. But Sarah Palin shut the fuck up. Don't talk about Massachusetts, your from Alaska, talk about that. Don't tell me what the people of Massachusetts want, obviously the majority wanted Scott Brown. Thats how democracy works. You failed to win vice president then decided that the end of your run in Alaska wasn't worth it so just shut the fuck up.

That being said I wanted to do a shout out of topics in the news recently that I have read about which fascinate me.

First up Jimmy Carter in North Korea to free a US citizen from the DPRK. Now I have always been of the mindset that, if a country holds a US citizen hostage then we take action, but not if we break another countries law. This guy broke the law of North Korea, guy deserves to be in a N. Korea jail. Do I think his sentence was fair, no I don't, but that DPRK law. So why are we sending in people to negotiate for his release, a guy breaks our laws in our country and I hope we don't let him out.

The UN peace keeping forces and how much they suck. So how do 400 people get raped when a UN peace keeping force is down the road? They use the excuse well we didn't know. What do you mean you didn't know? You were warned of a large force in that area, you know that these types of forces have a history of rape. Put 1 and 1 together people. I am not a huge fan of the UN (love the idea, meh with the reality) but if you are there to do a job then do the job right.

Mothers/Fathers killing their babies. So when did it become a mental health issue to be annoyed with your baby. Like the fact that you don't want to have a baby, or that you are annoyed with it doesn't give you the right to kill it. There is the person in Europe (I think Britain but im not sure.) who killed 8 of her babies because she didnt want to have them or ask for contraception. I'm sorry to any mental health person who thinks this is a mental health issue, but these people are shit. I think they should be taken out back and shot like the dogs they are. You don't kill a baby, that's just off limits. Even many murders think child killers are scum.

Thats all for now. On a more personal note the wedding is in less than a month. It has been a very up and down ride to get to this point (with planning and all that fun stuff) but we are almost there. So hope to see you all at the wedding on the 25th!

Seriously? You are the President!

Are you serious?
Alright this is just plain crazy. President Obama has led the presidential race in times appearing on prime time cable shows; Jay Leno, David Lettermen, ESPN (for the dumb college basketball bracket)and now The View. Dude you are the President, not some kind of ridiculous TV celeb. You are supposed to be controlling the most powerful military in the world. You could be helping with the crippling economic issues so many people are having right now, or maybe trying to help out with the current job market since college grads are coming out with no job and 100 k in debt. But no you decide to go on The View.
I understand the thought behind it. Touching base with a group who you haven't touched base with. As one of the comments on the bottom of the stories says the group that watches the view doesn't necessarily watch CSPAN. That being said thats what you have a press group for. The presidents job is to get things going, not go on TV. So far he has gotten nothing done on some of the most important issues, but goes on TV. Stop going on TV and do work. Try spending the time you would be on the View balancing the budget or some other activity that I deem a bit more important than what Whoopi and Barbara have to say.

Bad parenting actually exists....

Are you serious?

So I read this news story and it actually went as far to say that people who leave their kids in the car (the kid died of hyperthermia) are not bad parents. What the fuck are you talking about?? That is the DEFINITION of bad parenting. You forget about your kid in the car, leave them there, and they die?? I mean if thats not bad parenting what is?

I am not saying that those people are bad people or meant for this to happen, but it IS bad parenting guys. Sometimes people are to blame for what they do! Criminy

A star on Earth...really?

As i was perusing the news as I do every morning I came across this article Now I have been trying very hard lately to be better about working all day while at work and not slacking off by writing a blog about something that pisses me off. I had to stop and take a minute and write about this.

Why does it seem to anyone to be a good idea to make a small star on the Earth? How is anyones mind is that safe. We have zero control over that kind of power and they are going to try and make a star to solve the energy crisis? How about trying to solve the "We just got blown to shit because we tried to make a star" crisis? It seems like someone didn't quite think this one true? I mean yes I am sure that a star would have ample power to solve our power needs, but how can we control that kind of power when people still get killed from electricity, which is only a fraction of the power??

This really brings me to a bigger issue...why does man think he can control nature? I mean nature has proven us time and time again that despite all of our "advances" in technology we are no match for the awesome power of an earthquake or flood, so who thought that we were ready to tangle with the power of an star?? ITS A FREAKING STAR!!

Anti Bullying

This post refers back to my post on zero- tolerance. In this article it speaks about how anti-bullying legislation is under review in both the senate and the house limiting bullying. Although I agree with the fact that bullying is (and always will be) an issue the second you pull law in it becomes more than an issue.

If legislation is passed that means it is law. The second something turns into law then (in reality) it is zero tolerance. Yes it is up to the district attorney on whether they want to press charges, but from the schools point of view it is zero tolerance.

This is going to turn into something like you son called my son a name so now he is expelled and may face criminal prosecution? That is ridiculous, but that is the only way schools can operate. They cannot go against federal legislation limiting bullying. By taking the power away from the schools the government is essentially saying that bullying is now a crime. Bullying is part of life, life is not always a good thing. In fact if life is always a good thing then you are screwed because you have zero idea how to react when something bad happens. To think that something like bullying is being encroached upon by the federal government is sickening.

Here is a thought, pay attention to your kids! I know that is not going to solve all the bullying issues, but sometimes its YOUR kids fault, not the other kid. People voting for this bill are essentially trying to pull ranks on parents and schools on how to deal with issues. Bullying is such a wide term that to legislate it is going to do more harm than good. Would it do good? Yes, but I don't want my kid going to court or the police station because they get in a fight with someone. Fights happen, bullying happens. This is going to take out the common sense factor that schools have now (not that they use is) to punish children as they see fit.

zero tolerance

Read this

I actually laughed out loud when I first read this article. I completely agree with the point that there is no reason for a girl to get arrested because she wrote something on a desk. I think that in itself is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. The thing that made me laugh was that the people who are now outraged at this are the same people that pushed so hard for zero tolerance or completely shat on schools when something happened that they felt should have been forseen.

The whole idea of zero tolerance is pretty simple. These are the rules, if you break them (no matter how small the thing is) you broke them and you have to face a penalty. The thought that zero tolerance works for common sense is a silly thought, you make zero tolerance rules so that common sense (in fact thinking at all) doesn't come into play. Zero tolerance is taking things out of the hands of those who would have made the decisions before (in this case teachers).

I have a split thought on zero tolerance rules such as this. On the one hand I am a very literal person, you broke the rule you pay the price. That being said I think that me being a common sense person wins out in this case. The zero tolerance rules need to be taken out of use and the teachers (in this case) need to be trained on how to react to these types of situations to best represent the opinions of the school administration. The issue with this type of training is that it impossible to teach common sense. That's something that people have to learn on their own. Maybe a clear cut policy and the option to call in an administrator, department head, etc would work best?

I guess really what I think should happen is that, instead of adding all these zero tolerance rules, reduce the amount of rules you have for more quality rules and training for teachers and administrators so that they can properly enforce the rules. This goes the same for laws. Stop adding stupid laws and make the laws we have better. (what I am thinking of specifically in the case of law is stop locking up people for doing drugs(hurting themselves) and give harsher sentences to violent offenders (hurting others)) I know thats a lot of () sorry about that!

I will leave you with this quote from the above article
"There is zero intelligence when you start applying zero tolerance across the board," he said. "Stupid and ridiculous things start happening."

Thoughts?

Cant believe I didn't bring this up!

Ok so this will be a short post, but I cant believe I didn't bring this up when I first heard about it. A Boston woman recently sued her realtor for not stating that the person below the condo she was thinking about buying smoked. She sued him for $405,000. The woman had been in the condo on multiple occasions and smelt smoke, but still bought it anyway. Despite the fact that personal freedoms are going to hell in this country it is still a condo owners right to smoke in their own condo. If this woman had an issue she should have gone to the condo owner. In this case she did and the owner reiterated that he was following all building codes and regulations.

I found out today that this woman lost! It was not the decision I thought was going to come from this case and I am very happy at the Suffolk District Court members who reached this decision in less than an hour.

This is America! People are allowed to smoke in their own homes. IF you dont like it dont live there.

its not a sex addiction...its called cheating on your wife!

So I was reading a story on Tiger Woods and his sex "addiction" Pretty much the story said that sex addition is this huge thing that people don't understand, but its a disease that needs to be treated. BULL CRAP. Look everything isn't a disease. Becoming addicted to something (cigarettes, crack, sex, the internet etc...) is not a disease. Lets get that straight right now. Now that doesn't mean that I dont think the body is a powerful force to be reckoned with when it comes to addiction. If your body becomes used to something and it wants to continue getting that something its going to try its darnedest. But if you want to you can beat addiction. Some people need medicine, but some people don't and there is the distinguishing factor. Addiction can be defeated solely with free will. That to me isnt a disease or a condition. Its a lack of that free will to take the step to stop what you are doing.

I lived with a hard core alcoholic for the majority of my life and it was the most annoying thing knowing that he could stop drinking for long periods of time but always started up again. Dude if you want to stop then stop....it really is as simple as that. Again not saying the act is simple, but its a matter of knowing what you want and going and getting it. Take some responsibility for yourself and your body and make the change that you want.

So this brings me back to Tiger. A sex addict...are you serious? Watch this...ready im gonna make the problem disappear... keep it in your pants!! Wow look at that, I solved your problem! The thought that someone is so taken by the thought of sex that it drives them to just hump everything that moves is silly to me, but i will buy it. What I can't buy is that happening,but someone having enough sense to cover it up or lie about it. Thats not a sex addiction.. its called cheating on your wife.