Thursday, August 25, 2011

Morality? It's Open Season!

In recent history, New York made gay marriage legal. This prompted much conversation in the Facebook realm, with sides taken and arguments for and against made.

For me, I was on the side that disagreed with New York's move. Not necessarily from a legal standpoint, though I disagree with the way it was done, but more from a moral standpoint.

My argument was that if you openly acknowledge specific immorality as "normal", logically, you open up the floodgates to permit all immorality as "normal". That point was fought with various points, but it didn't deter my argument. But why not? If you say homosexuality is normal, why not things like pedophilia, or wining and dining Rover with hopes for some romp at the end of the night?

Ted Turner is famous for stating that all you have to do is push the line, and after awhile it becomes the new normal. You push the line again and THAT becomes the new normal. Remember when the word "damn" was not permitted on television because it was considered vulgar? Heck, I remember when commercials would whisper "toilet paper" . . . Yeah, I'm showing my age . . .

One point that was made to me was that children and Rover are not willing participants and therefore victims. There is not victimization with homosexuality. There are plenty of victims in homosexuality, but this article is not a treatise on that. This article is to state that I was right! Yup. I'm tooting my own horn here folks! My Humble But Accurate Opinion was heavy on the Accurate! And here is my reason why:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/after-hhs-says-children-are-sexual-beings-psychologists-push-to-decriminalize-pedophilia/

In case the link stops working (which is why I rarely use them in my blog), I am quoting the article in it's entirety:
In a push that seeks to sexualize young children while condoning homosexual “experimentation” among teens, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is offering up pearls of wisdom to parents on the sexuality of children.  But if that were not disturbing enough, this comes at a time when a group of psychologists are allegedly pushing for the decriminalization of pedophilia.

The HHS information, located on a “Questions and Answers About Sex” link on the “Quick Guide to Healthy Living” section of the government website even describes children and infants as “sexual beings.”

The site also includes information on sexual experimentation, including homosexuality.

Under the section “When Do Kids Start Becoming Curious About Sex?” the answer notes that infants and toddlers are curious about their own bodies. CNSNews adds:
“Children are human beings and therefore sexual beings,” the Q&A Web page says. “It’s hard for parents to acknowledge this, just as it’s hard for kids to think of their parents as sexually active. But even infants have curiosity about their own bodies, which is healthy and normal.”

As for masturbation and “what sort of ‘sexual’ behavior do young kids exhibit?” the page says, “Parents should only be concerned about masturbation if a child seems preoccupied with it to the exclusion of other activities. Victims of sexual abuse sometimes become preoccupied with self-stimulation.”

A link at the bottom of the Q&A page, entitled “Sexual Attraction and Orientation,” includes information on sexual experimentation, including homosexuality.

“Thinking sexually about both the same sex and the opposite sex is quite common as teens sort through their emerging sexual feelings,” the page says. “This type of imagining about people of the same or opposite sex doesn’t necessarily mean that a person fits into a particular type of sexual orientation.”

“Some teens may also experiment with sexual experiences, including those with members of the same sex, during the years they are exploring their own sexuality,” the page reads. “These experiences, by themselves, do not necessarily mean that a teen is gay or straight.” 
While much of the information provided does raise questions about HHS’ motivation, Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow for policy studies at the conservative Family Research Council, pointed out HHS did clarify that abstinence is the best way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

While he considers the promotion of abstinence to be a good thing, Sprigg also believes the federal government has no place weighing in on the sexuality of infants and young children:
“The idea that ‘children are human beings and therefore sexual beings’ is one of the most destructive myths of the sexual revolution,” Sprigg told CNSNews.com. “To a large extent, this myth may be traced to the ‘research’ conducted by Alfred Kinsey, including the infamous ‘Children of Table 34’ experiments, which involved the deliberate sexual abuse of children as young as 6 months old under ‘experimental’ conditions.”

“The fact that young children are aware that their bodies include genitalia hardly makes them ‘sexual beings,’ and it is improper (and potentially dangerous) to treat them as such before puberty,” he said.
 Which makes the following Fox News report all the more troubling. According to Shannon Bream, a group of mental health professionals, dubbed “B4U-ACT,” are arguing that pedophiles are simply misunderstood and therefore, should not be criminalized.

A partial statement by the group reads:
“Stigmatizing and stereotyping minor-attracted people inflames the fears of minor-attracted people, mental health professionals and the public, without contributing to an understanding of minor-attracted people of the issue of child sexual abuse.” 
B4U-ACT’s aim is allegedly to create “tolerance” for people who are sexually attracted to children. Are members of the psychiatric community now attempting to treat pedophilia in the same way they would alcoholism or depression? If so, this could likely increase the danger pedophiles present to children across the country.
This means the floodgates have been opened as predicted. It's open season on morality. If you argue one form of immorality is normal, you CANNOT discriminate against any other form. And this is just one example. I guarantee you there will be more! And if you are in prison for child pornography, don't worry! You will soon have a legal argument for false imprisonment. You can't punish someone for what is "normal".

And before you comment that homosexuality doesn't fit this argument, remember that at one time it was defined as a mental illness by the psychiatric community. The very psychiatric community that wants to now decriminalize pedophilia.

Stick that in your diversity pipe and smoke it!

© Emittravel 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Stuff My Brain Says #19

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake stuck Washington D.C. today. As tragic as that may sound, Congress and the White House were reportedly pleased: at least the earth did not open up and swallow them whole!

© Emittravel 2011

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Just for Laughs

There's been many a morning where I could have used a set of those:

 
 
© Emittravel 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Is There An App For That?

The war between the tablets has been raging fiercely for months now, with newcomers finding it difficult to get a foothold in the market. One of the key talking points for one tablet over another is the number of available apps.

I find the whole app argument laughable. Oh, I know: who wants to buy a tablet with a limited number of apps when there are literally hundreds of thousands of apps available if you chose (name) over (name)? But let's get real here. Does the number of apps REALLY matter all that much?

I took my iPod Touch and did a quick search in the app store (or is it "App Store"? Where DOES that copy write fall?) for the word "flashlight". The results? I got to 400 before I lost count. Now tell me, who cares how many apps one has if there are that many duplicates of (c'mon, really) useless apps?

Me? I like productivity in my tools. I am currently using an HP TouchSmart tx2 TABLET that runs on Windows Vista Home Premium (I purchased it pre-Windows 7 launch). It has a touch screen (resistive - not capacitative) and allows me to do things like read e-books, keep up on RSS feeds, listen to music, edit movies and photos, AND more productive things like take notes during meetings (OneNote) and not have to use multiple apps for my calendar, email, and tasks (Outlook).

Oh, I can hear the argument now: That's not a tablet! It's a laptop with a touch screen. Yup. What is a tablet? It is a non-productive touch screen without a useful keyboard (I'm refusing to count the on-screen keyboard a keyboard. My TouchSmart has one too, but I have difficulty typing on something I can't feel. It's okay for short things like typing things in a search bar, but for things like this blog? Forget it!)

My wife has an iPad that I've played with a bit, but it really hasn't captured my attention. 

I'm holding out for Windows 8 and whatever Microsoft's creative team can come up with in their RE-introduction to the tablet market (they DID create the first tablets, after all). Not saying I'm buying one, but I'm hoping that the form-factor will be conducive to productivity (I know the OS will be) and portability. The best form-factor I've seen so far was my first tablet: an HP/Compaq TC1100. The tablet was the computer and the keyboard was removable. The screen size was perfect for writing (stylus) and reading. If you're reading this Microsoft, "HINT, HINT!"

So, next time you find a cool tablet that is being dissed for a lack of apps, try looking up something like "flashlight". It'll change your perspective.

Oh, and one more thing: Before you start writing that comment about me being nothing but a Microsoft "fan-boy", I refer you to the third paragraph where I mention owning an iPod Touch. Get over your bad self!

© Emittravel 2011

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Stuff My Brain Says #18

I'm no member, but I do like the Tea Party movement. Why? Anything that the media and politicians hate so much HAS to be a good thing.

Sort of reminds me of an episode of Hogan's Heroes: There was a bomb that fell in the compound that did not detonate. In the scene Hogan has to choose between two colored wires to cut. He asks Klink, "Which would you cut?" and Klink replies with one of the colors. At that point Hogan cuts the other wire. When questioned he responds, "I wasn't sure which was the right one, but I was certain you'd pick the wrong one."

Again, anything the media and politicians hate so much HAS to be a good thing.

© Emittravel 2011

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Oh Man, Not Another Poetry Lesson!

One type of writing I post on this blog is poetry. I know that many people don’t give a turkey’s quill feather about poetry, but I’m okay with that. I post them because they are about My Humble But Accurate Opinion. But instead of the musings of my mind, my poetry runs the spectrum of emotion. Starting in December of 1984, and running through the present, I’ve attempted to capture the issues of life as I experienced them.

The first poem, “Dreaming of You”, was written during some major changes in my life. I had gotten into the U.S. Navy a few months prior; the first time to be truly away from home and on my own. I was in love with a girl back home and missing her terribly. So, for the first time I put my feelings into writing. Truly one of my favorite poems.

After that I used that creative outlet to express myself. The way most of these came about was that I felt a deep desire to write, driven by an emotion strongly felt in my heart. Usually, the only way to describe that emotion was to start writing. I compare the experience to “giving birth”. Not that it’s something I’ve ever truly experienced, mind you, but the cycle seemed the same. It was laborious to do. Sometimes I didn’t like the challenge of picking up the pen, because I knew what I was getting myself into. Not until I knew the poem was complete would that emotion subside, and the “baby” was born.

Not all of my poetry came about in that fashion. Some simply were the results of exposure. Being a sailor, the life of strip bars and pornography was a usual part of the life, and effected my outlooks and me.

I guess the most important thing to notice as you read is my hunger for God. When I had turned eighteen, I had abandoned my roots as a Catholic to look for God on my own. I had become greatly disillusioned with what I grew up believing, and felt that there had to be something more. You will see in the writings my hunger for Him, and my eventual coming to know Him through a relationship with His son Jesus.

All in all, these writings came from within me. They were attempts to express my opinions and myself. Not all of them will strike you, but they don’t have to. But rest assured, at one time in my life they struck me – that’s why they were written.

I wish I could share some of the more recent works, but nothing has come out in awhile. Who knows? Maybe I'll be "struck" again and write more.

I post them with their original dates for a reason – they are a reflection of who I was at that time in my life. I hope that through them you may find some of yourself as well, or at least give you reflection on that person you used to be.

© Emittravel 2011

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Forgotten Dolls

My oldest niece turned sixteen this past month. Couldn't believe it. I remember her at her first birthday taking her first steps from Grandpa to me and back. As part of her birthday gifts I gave her a copy of a poem that I wrote for her mother at HER sixteenth birthday while I was away in the Navy. Enjoy.

P.S. - Picture at the bottom is of my sister's original Raggedy Ann doll. -j.p.


They sit in the corner of the room,
collecting dust.
No longer do small hands caress and hold them.
Clothes and tea parties,
houses and carriages,
forgotten memories worn deep in parting seems.

The cradle is covered,
no longer in use,
sitting in the attic;
just waiting for love and someone to hold.
In passing days and endless ways,
tiny feet and tear stained pillow;
generation lost and gained.

Child grown.
Too old for dolls.
Companionship and love,
be new toys for growing mind and heart.
Pretty dresses turn faded jeans.
Shoes with heels replace booties of pink.
Talcum set aside for rouge and eye shadow.

Growing pains and loving gains,
with goals of heart and challenges of spirit,
come day by day,
and each birthday past.

Through the layers of dust,
that has settled since then,
a single tear falls down worn cheek.
Cutting a path through the grime
of memories long gone.
Moments lost for eternity’s sake.
A single tear.
On a timeless,
smiling face.
Shed for a girl who has grown up and on.


J.P. Wiegand
© Emittravel 1986

 
© Emittravel 2011

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Time to Stop Compromising

(Time for a good rant:)

Now is a really good time to stop compromising. You heard me Washington: stop compromising. Stand for something! Don't do what is politically expedient. Who cares if you lose votes. Do what is RIGHT! Even if it turns out to be wrong, do it anyway.

Everyone knows the old saying: "When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall." Everyone knows that, except our so-called leaders in Washington. Congratulations. You raised the debt ceiling. Do you know what that means? It is a breather to give us time. Time for what? Time to fix it, for crying out loud. But do you know what will happen instead? They will outspend that ceiling as well. Guarantee it. As sure as politicians are unable to tell the truth, it will happen.

Do what will probably cost you votes: cut spending. We all know that those "evil" rich people need to be punished for succeeding. But if you take ALL of the net worth of all of those "evil" rich people (according to our leaders, that is any couple earning over $250k/yr) and apply it to the non-existent budget (thank you Democrat-led Senate), it wouldn't even dent it. It's not a supply-side issue. It's an expense-side issue.

And don't cut future spending. Cut current spending. And when all of those living with their hands out start whining, buck up and tell them it's your fault! If you wouldn't have tried to give everyone a free lunch, we wouldn't be starving ourselves now. Tell them you really wanted to make a socialist utopia here in America, but mathematically it just doesn't work, and now its time to stop the gravy train before it derails (or more likely, runs out of track).

We do know that the socialist dream will eventually arrive in full here in America. It’s a given. A shot won't be fired. A war will not be fought. We will simply be OWNED by China. Funny thing is, if it wasn't for capitalist policies implemented in China over the last twenty years or so, China wouldn't be the power it is. Like I said, mathematically socialism/communism/Marxism NEVER works.

So get off your compromising butts and do what is right. We are waiting.

© Emittravel 2011