I’m Back, and it’s Worse than I Thought
A few days in the desert clearing my mind, and I’m back, safe and sound. Maybe not completely sound. No, I’m not in the above image. I’m the one in the 100 year old mine tunnel taking the picture. My friends did not share my belief that “It’s perfectly safe.” Of course it wasn’t perfectly safe, a half wheelbarrow full of gravel and rocks could have showered on my head at the entrance, falling from a few inches. I would have been bruised and dirty. Inside the tunnel, if it was a Hollywood movie, the entire tunnel could have caved in on me, crushing me in front of my horrified friend’s eyes. In real life, tunnels cut through solid dry rock are used as bomb shelters. Yes, there was a minuscule chance that a boulder could have fallen from the ceiling and killed me. Probably about the same risk I take crossing the busy corner by my house several times a day. It’s all about relative risk people.
Speaking of relative risk, standing near New York cops when they open fire clearly has some hazards. They managed to hit nine bystanders while gunning down an armed man?! Is this some sort of record? Fortunately only the suspect was killed, and none of the nine was seriously injured, few of them being directly shot. As police shootings go, this one seems justified to me, so hopefully there won’t be too much hue and cry. And another example of the need for cradle-to-grave health care. Sadly there will now be lawsuits instead.
Speaking of graves, Neil Armstrong is dead. He was a good man, a true hero. And not so much a hero for being the first man to step on the Moon, a hero for being humble about it and sharing the credit for what was a team effort involving tens of thousands of people. Yes, he “flubbed” his line when he was the first person to step on the Moon, but anyone with a functioning brain understood what he meant. He was kinda nervous at the time, so I think we can safely say he gets a pass. And no, he wasn’t an Atheist; and the Mr Gorsky thing is an urban legend.
Two nice segues in a row, but now I got nothing. I have done a bit of digging, and discovered that 31 states allow rapists some parental rights. And that Ryan, Romney’s running mate, co-sponsored a bill that would have given parental rights to rapists. I really hope some gentle reader can confirm that this isn’t true. I did seem to find evidence that Ryan believes that rape is “just another method of conception.” Yeah, and murder is just another form of death. This is the problem with ideology (and “life begins at conception” is as ideological as it gets,) it means that followed to its logical conclusions in any number of directions, one gets sick absurdities. No, rape is not “just another method of conception,” it’s a terrible crime. And rapists do not have parental rights. The Republicans need to clarify their position on this.
A Jason left a nasty comment on my “We Could Have Won Vietnam” post, it’s the last comment. Sigh. Aside from missing the point of the post, he not only regurgitates the myth that we fought the Vietnam War with our hands tied behind our backs for political reasons; he comes up with a new myth, that our victories in World War Two were due to barbarism and unrestricted warfare. No, our victories in World War Two were because the Allies built dozens of planes and tanks and ships for every one that Japan and German built. The war crimes the USA committed on the side had no appreciable effect on the outcome of the war. And no, I’m not going to make any pro forma remarks about competence and heroism by Americans during the war. Deal with it.
Iran has opened the Summit of Nonaligned Nations with a call for a world wide ban on nuclear arms. A prominent Israeli spiritual leader called for Jews to pray for “the annihilation of Iran.” What’s wrong with this picture? Not to be out done, North Korea’s Kim has threatened war over a joint US/South Korean military drill. Of course if Russia and Mexico held an annual military drill in the Gulf of Mexico involving tens of thousands of Russian troops and nuclear weapons, the USA would be threatening war as well. Alas, most people are so wedded to their good guy/bad guy world view that they can’t imagine other perspectives. I still remember an online friend who insisted that it was “illogical” for Iraqi insurgents to be attacking US troops. One of the finest examples of Straw Vulcan Logic I have ever heard.
I hope everyone had a great weekend. ;)
(The above image is Copyrighted with the awesome might of the US legal system behind it, and may not be reproduced for any purpose. Credit and copyright 2012 Doug Stych, all rights reserved. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to publish it, but am very reasonable if asked. Coming someday, more desert pictures, some inspired by the fine photography of Mary Molnar.)
Doug's Darkworld 
Neil Armstrong was THE MAN!!! Go to utube and see him test fly the ‘flying bedframe’ (some sort of terrestrial moon lander mock up) amazing… He was no less spectacular in the moon landing, touching down with a few seconds of fuel to spare…
I agree with you so much about the class act he remained afterwards. The first astronauts were treated like gods, given literally anything asked for. Instead of becoming a regular on “Hollywood Squares” or the”Tonight Show” he didn’t give too many interviews, letting his actions speak for themselves…
Steve
August 27, 2012 at 11:58 am
Good post doug, and welcome back from the desert.
Keep up the good work.
Josh V.
August 27, 2012 at 4:57 pm
He’s back! Looking forward to your chemtrails post…
Andrew
August 28, 2012 at 8:11 am
On your note about rapist and parental rights. I work with children and research(I know it can be biases) shows that children do better when both parents are present. Meaning chidlren don’t really care until about middle school whether their parents are good or bad people. The longer a child can spend with both parents the better it is. I am curious though what if both parents are the same sex? Does the research only track those children who are from hetrosexual families?
What about child molestors? Should they have parental rights (Some do)? What about the it will only happen once(there are those people out there) kind of offenders? Should murders have parental rights? How about drug dealers or cookers of meth? I am only wondering if we get to pick and choose who are good parents and who should have rights of the children, would all of us pass as good parents?
As a behavioral specialist, I have to look past the behavior and see the person. Look past the rape and see the father who may be a good father but not so good of a man. Just a thought. I don’t have the answers, just keep thinking up questions.
Liz Doyle
August 30, 2012 at 4:30 pm
I think you are overlooking the rights of the mother. It’s barbarous to force this on someone. And as far as the “only happen once” – why would that have anything to do with it? It’s only bad when it’s done more than once? WTF? I also can’t see how a molester could have children with the children he molests unless a rape also occurs. Did you even think about that? Pretty much the same about murderers and drug dealers. Not sexual crimes that result in pregnancy. And for the gay/straight thing – where in the hell did that come from? Gay rape, by its nature, cannot cause a pregnancy.
My head hurts reading this.
Matt Johnsen
August 30, 2012 at 5:41 pm
I am not overlooking the rights of a mother. Having been there myself, I know what goes through the mind of a victium. If I got pregant, I would share the rights with the father or push very hard to prove the father was unfit to be a parent.
Let me ask you about domestic violence. Should a person male or female that beats, abused and treats a love one violently be allowed to have their partental rights? Can that person be helped? And if helped, should they be allowed to have their family back.
If a strange man rapes a woman and that woman becomes pregnant, should the man be allowed to have rights to the child. I don’t know the answer to that for everyone but thinking about the child and that child wanting to be loved by both parents. Does it seem right to keep the child from the father because the father hurt the mother as in domestic violence cases? Rape and pregnacy becomes a domestic violence as well as a sexual assutl event, the child componds the issue. But the child is innocent from the events that caused it. It is a tricky thing for all involved and we should all bless our lives that we are not in that cycle of grief, violence and fear. Kudos to women who see the child as an innocent and damn the world we live in for such events.
Liz Doyle
August 31, 2012 at 10:29 am
If drug dealers do not get to keep the luxury goods they buy with dirty money, it seems to follow that a person should not get to keep a child created via a crime (nor force the woman to bear that child) . I am wondering what constitutes parental rights? Does this include requiring the child to be brought to the cell block where the convicted felon is lodging? By the time said rapist would be released back into general society, child should have reached the age where s/he does know that the sperm “donor” is not a good role model (donor comes from Latin donus which means gift ).
Barbara
September 11, 2012 at 6:01 am