There's no place like a home.

Heart-wrenching isn't it? I often come across images like this one that remind me just how fortunate I really am and how much more I could be doing to help others that aren't so lucky.

It's hard for many people to lend a hand to those in need knowing that there are so many people out there that are deceptively milking the system. The harsh reality is that the people begging are just the ones you see, there are far more out there that you don't see. There are people too embarrassed or ashamed to ask for help. They hide from the world and pray for a second chance. Those are the people that need the most help.

I've had numerous debates concerning our welfare system and others like it. Everyone seems to have their own perspective of how well (or not well) they work. I consider myself to be of the mindset that the system is very necessary, but is unfortunately under-monitored and over-used. Anyone can fall on hard times and I firmly believe that there needs to be something there to catch us when we fall. However, it is extremely important that there are more regulations and more monitoring to prevent people from taking advantage of it. Something should be put in place to drive people to get back on their feet - welfare should be a short journey, not a destination.

I inevitably think of my friend (who I will call "B"), whenever I discuss issues of homelessness. My eyes tear up when I think about him wandering the streets with nothing but his delusions to keep him company. He's not on welfare and he's not staying in shelters. He isn't taking advantage of any of the state-sponsored resources, so he's not milking the system. He's just homeless - just lost. I've tried everything I can think of to help him. I have spoken to countless mental health professionals, lawyers, police officers, and shelter staff members about his circumstances. They've all agreed that there is nothing I can do for him - he has to be the one to ask for help. How can he ask for help that he doesn't even know he needs? He has cycled between various jails, hospitals, and mental health centers over the past 5 years and he always ends up back on the street where he started. I've been told that the only way he could get help without asking for it would be if he hurts himself or someone else. It's absolutely devastating to think about that and I worry about getting "that phone call" all the time. Wherever he is, I hope he is okay. I haven't heard from him in over 6 months and that's the longest I've ever gone without hearing from him. It's a daily battle to make peace with the fact that I can't do anything for him except be there for him and encourage him to get help. I really wish there was more I could do.

So today I decided that while I may be powerless to help "B", that doesn't make me powerless to help others like him. I contacted a local shelter and asked them if I can be of service. I'm anxiously awaiting their reply...

K8

Heart Attack Happy Meal?

Meet the Triple Bypass Burger of the infamous "Heart Attack Grill" in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For those of you that may be salivating, this colossal burger weighs in at over 8,000 calories, which is 4 times your daily caloric ceiling. The artery-clogging fare doesn't end there, in fact, this beast has a big brother - the Quadruple Bypass Burger. This restaurant prides itself on its unhealthy food and even offers it for free to anyone who weighs over 350 lbs! (There is a scale on site to determine who qualifies, so tough luck if you weigh-in at a mere 345 lbs...)

The waitresses are dressed as sexy nurses and the customers are referred to as "patients". There is a real, on-call ambulance permanently parked outside of the establishment and there have been a number of documented incidents where the ambulance has needed to come to the aid of a "patient". The danger is real and they don't deny it. There are signs all over the restaurant that reference severe risk to your health and the possibility of death - and this place turns a profit every year.              *Insert slow sarcastic clap here*

This is why people all over the world make fun of Americans. Not only do we have an obscene obesity epidemic, but we seem to glorify it. Starvation is a real global issue that many nations struggle to alleviate, and here we are with a restaurant that not only serves up enough food to bust your gut in one sitting, but the food is so unhealthy that it could kill you! I can honestly appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit of wanting to offer people something different in a restaurant and I'm sure the owner of this restaurant worked very hard to do just that. But at what cost? Businesses should want to add value to their communities, not pounds and hospital trips.

Unfortunately, the blame for the success of this unethical eatery is entirely placed on the consumers. This place wouldn't have seen the end of its first fiscal year had it not been for the brainless masses who choose to pay homage to this toxic establishment. So once again, here is prime example of us doing damage to ourselves at our own expense - when will we ever learn?

Check please!

K8

Fruit Cup Dilemma

It's true. You can literally look up anything on the internet and find information on what you're looking for.

Example? Expiration date rules on fruit cups.

I grabbed a fruit cup from my sister's pantry a while back, planning to bring it to work as a snack. Well, time passed and the fruit cup endured...4 months passed it's expiration date.

As I rushed to pack my lunch this morning, I grabbed the fruit cup out of desperation without bothering to look it over. Needless-to-say, I brought it for snack today and instantly gawked at the December 2011 date stamped on the lid.

What to do?

Without missing a beat I brought up a new window on my computer and promptly entered "do fruit cups expire?" and instantly got a plethora of hits.

Not only did I come across generalized "best by" vs. "expires" guidelines, but I came across postings between individuals discussing my very same predicament. The opinions on how long after the "best by" date that fruit cups were still edible were as varied as they were numerous. There was even a debate about the margin of error in terms of fruit cups with syrup, light syrup, and no syrup.

It was far more information than I ever expected and I was becoming increasingly irritated at the lack of consensus on the subject. After several minutes of reviewing a variety of opinions, I was still unsure of what to do. Some people seemed to think it would be okay and strongly believed that most expiration dates were grotesquely inaccurate anyway. Others seemed to stand by the dates used on fruit cups, citing horrific experiences of gastro-intestinal warfare that resulted from not minding the dates.

So, where is my fruit cup? In the trash.

Two lessons learned:

1) Check expiration dates before packing lunch.

and

2) Just because you can look up anything on the internet, doesn't mean you should. It can be an appalling waste of time.

K8

R.I.P. Facts

"Facts died Wednesday, April 18, after a long battle for relevancy with the 24-hour news cycle, blogs and the Internet," he wrote in a staggeringly brilliant "obituary." Huppke says Facts (360 B.C.-A.D. 2012) took a fatal blow when Rep. Allen West (R-FL) claimed that Congress is rife with communists. Facts is survived by its siblings, Rumor, Innuendo and Emphatic Assertion."

I really wish political satirists and writers like Huppke got more attention than talent-less celebrities. They have so much more to offer than your average Kardashian. While you may not agree with their point-of-view, you can at least find value in the fact that they draw attention to an important issue and you may even end up getting a laugh out of it. Much like a child could learn a life lesson from an episode of Sesame Street, an adult could become enlightened by reading a political cartoon. I don't know about anyone else, but I've never felt enlighted after reading about Lindsay Lohan or any other celebrity for that matter.

I've been a long-time critic of our political system and more specificly, of the polticians who operate within it. Though I lack the artistic talent to illustrate my criticisms, I find that my opinions are best expressed through the written word. Many people might say that being critical of our government makes me unpatriotic and some would probably suggest I shut up or even move to a different country. However, I think healthy criticism is very patriotic and quite necessary as a matter of fact. Gerald Ford once said that "a government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." The chilling reality is that if the power that governs us goes unchecked and unopposed, it will undoubtedly turn into the power that rules us.

That reality is what makes me believe so strongly in a small government. Is government necessary? Absolutely. However, the bigger the government gets, the smaller our liberties become. If you rewind about 200 years, we fought that same battle to win our independence from Britain. I'd venture to say that by comparison, it is much easier to fight a tyrant from across the Atantic, than to fight a tyrannical government that we created ourselves. 

It seems as though most people have been convinced that all of the power is centralized within our government. These people are terribly mistaken. Our government works for us, not the other way around. We have all the power we need to make the changes we want, we just have to assert ourselves and get involved. The people who are currently holding office are only there because our votes (or lack thereof) allow them to be there. So unfortunately, we are doing this damage to ourselves - we are simply handing them power that they have no business having.

The less people vote, the less power we have. The less power we have, the stronger the government gets. The stronger the government gets, the weaker our power gets. Rinse and repeat.

It's funny how one news article or political cartoon can stir your thoughts. This post is my proof and prime example of the influence that they have over me (and I hope others as well). Do yourself a favor - read.

K8

Parental Discretion is Ill-Advised

Kindergartner handcuffed, taken to police station after allegedly throwing tantrum -- and furniture

"The family of a 6-year-old Georgia girl is upset at police and school officials after the girl was handcuffed and taken to a police station for allegedly throwing furniture, tearing items off the walls and knocking over a shelf, which injured the principal." - Courtesy of MSNBC.com

Summary viewpoint of the girl's family: How dare you handcuff a 6 year old kindergartner! Did calling the police really have to be the first step? She was shaken up by the whole experience. She may have misbehaved, but not enough to warrant an arrest.

Summary viewpoint of the school/police: There were several attempts to calm the child down and there were several attempts to contact her parents. The 6 year old was fighting, throwing items, damaging school property, and biting. For the safety of the child and the protection of school employees/property, she was detained as anyone else exhibiting behavior like that would have been.

My viewpoint: Get that child some counseling and be thankful the school stepped in! Tragedies are born from schools that don't.

Being an Aunt 8 times over, I have seen my fair share of temper tantrums and yes, some of them had exorcism-like qualities. Children can certainly act crazy with a side of psychotic. However, I think it is completely unfair to throw stones at the school staff and local police for how they chose to handle this young soul who was temporarily possessed by a spawn of Satan. It would be interesting to see how the tables would have turned had those parents been the parents of another child in that school. What if instead of calling the police, the school officials had decided to write off her tantrum as "a kid being a kid" and let her go back to her class where she was free to go ballistic and injure her fellow classmates. I bet if her parents had been the parents of those other kids, they would be out to crucify the maladjusted child (and her parents) and would probably question the school staff as to why they weren't proactive enough.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. School officials always seem to be at the pointy-end of the sword and always seem to be at fault. They're the first to be hanged when a case of bullying goes to far without their intervention, and they're the first to be slapped on the wrist when parents claim they impeded parental rights after taking the initiative to prevent a situation.

This is classic conundrum seems to be rampant among American families. A toxic mixture of entitlement coupled with a "hands-off" mentality. Protect my child, but don't make an example of my child if they're the one that others need protection from. Crack down on bullying, but don't punish my child for "just being a kid". Are you serious? You can't have it both ways. At some point, you have to hold yourself (and especially your child) responsible and hold yourselves to the same standard as everyone else. If your kid goes bat-shit crazy in school, you should be the first to scold your child's erratic behavior. You should be the first to admit that your child was wrong and you should be the first to thank your local officials for trying to scare the reality back into your child. Children should not be given the impression that destroying school property and being disrespectful to adults is acceptable behavior, least of all by their parents.

So my advice? Two things:

1. Stop throwing proverbial tomatoes at the people who acted in the best interest of your child (and other people's children) - they had a difficult choice to make and I assure you the experience won't have any long-term negative effects on your child. In fact, the experience may open their eyes as to how actions like that are dealt with and may prevent furture tantrums.

2. Talk to your child about appropriate behavior and determine if there was a cause for the outburst - perhaps your child is having difficulty with something that you can help them with. You know, be a parent.

K8

Craigslist Calamity

"Did we hook up at the Megadeth/Motorhead concert? - w4m - 28 (Aragon Ballroom),

                 Me: Blue hair, silver tube top, fishnets, Knee high black biker boots.
                 You: Red mohawk, black pentagram gauges, viper piercings.

Anyway I'm pregnant. It's yours. contact me if you want to be part of your child's life."

I have chosen this Craigslist post (that recently made headlines) as my very first blog topic. This women's seemingly obtuse attempt to learn the identity of her unborn child's sperm donor is a perfect demonstration of just how far the character of human kind has fallen in terms of internet usage. I would normally not draw attention to other people's misfortunes, but since this nameless soul decided to share her experience with the entire Craigslist community, I feel completely justified in using her as an example.

There was a time when privacy seemed to be valued and respected. A time where people only shared information that was truly necessary and left out anything superfluous. The digital age has brought with it a drastic change in culture which was the driving force behind my decision to remove myself from MySpace and Facebook. While I enjoyed the ability to stay in touch with people with ease, I found myself frequently annoyed by the content that other people chose to share. It seems as though people want to know and share everything about anything.

Facebook status examples: "Julia is eating Cheerios and watching Judge Judy."

Really? What on earth made you think that post was noteworthy let alone necessary?

So it came down to this: Do I sacrifice my disdain for pointless posts in order to keep my networking capabilities, or do I remove myself from that circus and stay in touch with people "the old fashioned way"?

I emphatically chose the latter.

When I come across posts like the one of the "accidently impregnated heavy metal fan", it definitely affirms that I made the right choice. Although I will admit, they are definitely good for a laugh.

K8