Category: Strange people

Mind over matter

So last month Bruce Jenner declared that he has a female’s soul in a man’s body. He used cosmetic surgery to feminize his facial features and give himself artificial breasts, and now refers to himself as a woman by the name of Caitlyn. The press then lauded for her being brave.

Another story broke today. Rachel Dolezal is the head of the NAACP in Spokane, Washington and also an Africana Studies professor at Eastern Washington University. She had claimed she is of white, black, and Native American descent. Her parents revealed to the AP that her ethnic heritage is Czech, Swedish, and German, with possibly a “trace” of Native American.

The NAACP issued a statement supporting her. In it, they claimed “One’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership.” I do not know of any other NAACP chapters headed by a non-black member. I doubt she would have been appointed to head that chapter had it not been for her claimed black ancestry. Still, good for the NAACP. Let’s see how long it lasts.

The controversy over Dolezal has lead to the creation of some Twitter hashtags including #wrongskin (as in, Dolezal was born in the wrong skin being that she is a black woman trapped in a white woman’s body), and also #transraciallivesmater.

So if one Bruce can arbitrarily declare that his physiology of a man is irrelevant, and that he is actually a woman, why should Dolezal’s racial identity be any different? After all, recent pictures show that her claim of being a black woman is more convincing of her racial claim than Jenner’s claim of being a woman (even with cosmetic surgery and Photoshop).

If “gender” is a matter of will, why not race? I don’t see how you can make an argument for the first, but not the second. So welcome to the struggle Rachel Dolezal. I hope you succeed in the fight of your people.

Ice cream man! Ice cream man!

The driver of the ice cream truck in our neighborhood has a lead foot. Seriously, I have never seen an ice cream truck drive so fast. There has been a time or two when we fleetingly thought about buying something from him, but he is past our house and around the block before I can even reach for my wallet. I swear the driver thinks he is training for a drag race.

This afternoon the weather was great so we had our doors open when we heard the passing of the ice cream truck. A moment later we heard “ice cream man…ice cream man…” Honeybun and I both looked out the screen door at the same time to see the 7-year old neighbor girl from a couple houses down running past. “Ice cream man! Ice cream man!” She had her little hand in the air waiving a dollar bill and running as fast as her little legs would carry her. A moment later her mother passes by…”Don’t run into the street.”

I was thinking, “no way she’s catching that guy.” It was almost heartbreaking, “Ice cream man…Ice cream man!” little legs pumping, money waiving.

I guess he must have heard her when he stopped at the end of the block to turn the corner. A few minutes later we saw her walking back toward her house, Popsicle in hand, mom walking behind. Mission accomplished and all was right with the world.

But I bet that strange ice cream man will drive by again at 30 mph tomorrow. He truly is someone I would say is not in it for the money.

Zombies

My 2009 predictions included this tidbit:

3. The zombie invasion will finally be launched from the Midwest and will explain why dead people have been voting in Chicago for so long (sleeper cells).

I still have a few months remaining for this to come true (but who says it hasn’t come true already?). There is good news about zombie attacks though. Canadian researchers have come up with a mathematical model suggesting it is possible to repel a zombie attack. They say the key is “hit hard and hit often.”

Now I know Canadians have the most experience with zombies. Canada is infested with them. But really, did we need Canadian researchers to tell us this?

Some parents don’t get it

And neither does some news writers. A 16-year-old girl was driving and lost control of her vehicle. Her injuries were fatal.

Yesterday’s headline:
Girl in Fatal Wreck Sent Text Message Moments Before Crash

At first glance, it seems this is sad case of not watching the road. The girls mother even says she hopes the accident will make other people think before texting and driving. Yes, a common sense lesson for all of us. But wait, if you read the story, there was an even bigger law violation here.

“Authorities say [the girl] had been driving drunk and was speeding.”

That’s what you call burying the lede. Instead, we get a morality lesson on the dangers of texting and driving. Admittedly, not too smart. But don’t you think the bigger cause of her death was the her driving drunk and speeding?

It’s OK as long as you don’t love her…

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards admitted to having an extramarital affair after months of denials. In admitting to the affair, Edwards told ABC news that he did not love the woman. I’m sure that makes his wife feel much better.

OK, things that don’t make you sympathetic: trying to excuse your adultery by claiming you’re just a cad.

Less than six degrees

Two days ago I was just about to walk out the door to leave for work when my wife told me that our neighbor called to tell us there was a police officer in front of our house with a gun.

I looked out our kitchen window to see the officer walking up my driveway pointing an assault rifle in front of him. I saw another one on the other side of the street. When he looked satisfied that no one was hiding in our carport, my wife opened the door. He told us they were looking for two fleeing felons and to call 911.

We found out later that police had made a traffic stop and an man and woman. When the officer got out of his car, the suspects took off. A chase ensued ending in a crash a few blocks from my house. The two suspects fled on foot but the woman was captured later (after the search on our street) two blocks away from us.

The man has still not been caught. The news reported his name as James Herrera.

This is where it gets weird. “Jimmy” has a brother named Jason (not me). Jason has a good friend named Kevin. Kevin works with me. Unsurprisingly, Kevin tells me that Jimmy seems to have a drug problem. I believe he used the word “loser”.

Arrrrrg!

Today is “Talk Like a Pirate Day.”

You can also find out what your pirate name is.

My pirate name is:
Dread Pirate Rackham

Like the famous Dread Pirate Roberts, you have a keen head for how to make a profit. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Sheehan – morally confused

Yesterday Cindy Sheehan announced that she is quitting the (so-called) peace movement and moving back to California to “try and be normal.”

In her resignation, she said:

“…you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.”

So what kind of country does she love? Well, in one interview she said she would rather live in a country like Venezuela under Hugo Chavez. That’s right. The same Hugo Chavez who yesterday shut down the only nationally broadcast television station that was critical of his administration. That’s correct. Cindy Sheehan supports a communist dictator who opposes freedom of speech.

Notice that Sheehan is freely using her rights of free speech in the U.S. to condemn President Bush as a terrorist and murder while the people in Venezuela (where she would rather live) do not have those same rights. Sheehan lives in Bizzaro world.

Ms. Sheehan, you said we can’t be that country unless we want it. Watch what is happening in Venezuela. I can assure you we don’t want it.

Stupid names

From the “I don’t think it means what you think it means” file:

CNN says that Israelis are puzzled over the name Tom Cruise has given his newborn daughter, Suri. He says it is an ancient Hebrew variation of Sarah. Israelis say it sounds more like a blunt term that means “get out of here” (like scram).

And why is a scientologist using old Jewish names anyway? Let this be a lesson in naming children from languages you don’t understand.

(hat tip: Betsy’s Page)

Florida isn’t the “show me” state

A Florida teenager who flew to Iraq without his parents knowledge is headed back to the U.S. He apparently wanted to see the Iraqi elections firsthand.

According to the AP, the teenager recently studied immersion journalism and wanted to see what the Iraqi’s are living through. If you haven’t heard of “immersion journalism”, that is where you learn about journalism by having all of your common sense removed. Apparently he was an excellent student.

Then again, he is a teenager. Common sense is removed from kids at about age 12 before being returned randomly sometime after 20.