Its Cinnamon

RANT ON:

I am a youth minister. I have been one for ten years. And in this tenure I will admit that I have lead some dumb games and "physical challenges" from puke smoothie, saltine challenge, fuzzy bunny, to a peep eating contest. I have even taken and succeeded at the gallon of milk challenge. 

I was scanning the ol' Yahoo news feed this morning and there was actually a story about the dangers of the cinnamon challenge. Now in case you live under a rock, cannot google, or have not watched a talk show in the last three months let me explain the challenge. You take a spoon full of cinnamon (most commonly a tablespoon) and try to swallow it without the aid of water. 

What I am astonished by is the number of people who were shocked when they had adverse medical effects from forcing an irritating spice ground into powder form into their throat and because of violent gag responses into their lungs. I would take this time to cover that cinnamon itself is harmless when consumed, and that any powder sucked into your lungs can lead to inflammation or even suffocation, but the Yahoo article covered that in detail. 

No, what I want to cover today is why people are doing this potentially deadly challenge. Viral video popularity. Apparently the only reason these morons (from NBA players, actors, even a governor) is to boost their views and to appear more popular. Wow... What a great example to show to the youth of America, or the world. Hey kids, it is really important that people are always looking at you so do stuff to grab as much attention as you can. 

I shouldn't be shocked. Celebrities and the like have used everything from "leaked" nude photos to million dollar weddings lasting less than a month to stretch their 15 minutes a little longer. But really who can blame them? I mean it is our society that feeds this vile creature (and yes I am aware that by even bashing it in rant form I am in a way feeding it..). I just hate the idea that today no famous person is using some kind of positive behavior to stay in the lime light. 

I would be blown away if I saw some failing B list celebrity gain some notoriety for devoting a year to feeding the homeless, tutoring children, working with foster children, or building homes for the less fortunate. But who am I kidding our media would never cover that because our masses of depraved mouth breathers wouldn't be interested... Or would they? I mean those people are only entertained by what they are told is entertaining... Which is a rant for a later date.

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I weep for the unborn

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It shames me that I know who "Snooki" is... It pains me even more that she has become a role model for young women (I am subbing in a middle school, its just creepy). But what really gets me is that our media (a once trusted bastion for news and facts) finds anything this "low test score" does as news... I heard it not only on three radio stations, but saw it on the crawl on two news website that snooki might be expecting a child... Not only that Yahoo is still running stories about it on its homepage. How is an unwed, poorly spoken, drunk, classless woman getting knocked up news? It's not. 

What should be news is the steady spiral of the average intelligence of our country and culture... Did you know that this year a new president will be elected? Isn't it also an Olympic year? If you care more about snooki getting knocked up than, well anything on the planet you are part of the problem... Seriously these vapid reality tv stars are like Freddy, if no one thinks about them they can't haunt my nightmares. 

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dance my puppets dance

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Seriously… Penguins?

Dennis Leary did some stand up before he was rescuing people on FX… I have always been a fan of his rants and ire towards the collective following blindly ignorance and selling it as intellectualism (all of his stuff is NSFW, vile, vulgar, and 94% accurate). One bit in particular was him blasting those who boycotted tuna fish back in the day.

“Don’t eat the tuna fish…”

“Why?”

“The dolphins they get caught in the nets and die…”

“Really? What about the Tuna?”

He pointed out a very true fact. If it’s cute its protected if its ugly… well its food. You don’t see but a handful of nutbags marching with signs to protect cows… Why? Because cows are ugly, taste good, and we make useful stuff out of them.

My point, is the premise of the first Happy Feet (which I am ashamed to have had to watch... the price you pay for being a children’s minister) was the evil humans trashing up something and killing cute little penguins. From what I’ve read the second one follows suit with more PC garbage mixed into song for children’s brainwashing… Which I’m sure some oil (or big company) will be the evil that our kids will learn to hate and mistrust… because they keep the penguins from dancing…

What about the cows? What about the chickens? They are cute when they are young? Maybe they want to dance? Do we get to see movies about how they are hauled off to slaughter? No… because we eat them, and brainwashing our kids to hate the food industry wouldn’t serve any political agenda… because we all need food. I mean we all need oil and gas too… But those companies are evil. You know because they sometimes kill animals and ruin the environment (and often spend billions cleaning up there messes). I mean farmers and ranchers only help the environment, I mean cows, chickens and pigs don’t pollute ground water, air, or soil…

Oh wait:

http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/ffarms.asp

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/mammals/methane-cow.htm

http://www.riverlaw.us/realhogfacts.html

If only livestock didn’t taste good and wasn’t necessary for human existence we could have them dancing showing us how evil farming and ranching was and how many little critters don’t get to be happy and gay dancing the days away… I’m going to drive to get a cheese burger, and eat it smiling…  Seriously… Penguins… again…

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a plot of a movie...

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The year 1998 the film The Big Lebowski... A lot of people love the film, and a lot don't like it or understand it. The moral of the story is this. You have two Lebowskis whose lives intersect. The first is a man known as "the Dude" who is only known for abiding. The Dude, is a lovable bum of a man who lives for white Russians, bowling, and some self medication. He has no gainful employment. He contributes nothing to society. He happily lives of the system. He does not hide his nature. He is a shiftless lovable tramp who would never willingly go out of his way to do... well anything. 

The other Lebowski, is an old man who married into money. Who poses as a rich philanthropist, and has a twenty year old trophy wife and a personal assistant (a Smithers to his want to be Monty Burns). As you find out the "Big Lebowski" is a fraud. He is not rich. He is living off the wealth of His deceased wife, and did not work for a single cent he lords over everyone else... You will discover that he is not allowed to manage, invest, or touch any of the money he surrounds himself with. He is given a meager allowance to do as he wishes. 

The basis of the movie is they are both the same people. One just accepts it, and is viewed as the hero. The other poses and is viewed as the villain. Why is this relevant today? 

I bring you to occupy wall street...

You Have a bunch of hipsters, hippies, and mindless drones moaning on about how 1% controls 99% of the wealth and they still get bailed out... Wait... That is something to be a little upset about. But did the hippies focus on the idea that wall street did not write a single check to the people whose money they squandered? Nope. Did the hipsters mention that small businesses were crippled by wall street banks losing their money and recalling their credit, but were not given any of the billions funneled into the banks? Nope. These freaking mouth breathers have the stones to whine about the fact they too are in dept over their head and there is no government bail out for them... 

Wait... What? seriously? A group of people are not outraged that we as a nation have to pick up the tab for poor investing and bad money management, but instead are PO'd because they were not bailed out of their own bad choices and poor money management... 

Don't even get me started when the celebrities try to get in on this... If you feel these idiots need to have their debts paid off Oprah, then write a frigg'n check.  You too Kanye,

Not seeing too many of the celebrities digging into their $4,000 pants fund to bail out a 9 year student of basket weaving, do ya?

"But those evil rich people, they don't deserve a bail out.... We do... Cause we're poor. We uh... Spent all our money on stuff we can't... Uh... Use... or sell... or get rid of... or profit from..." (I hope you read that in your best whiny 8 year old voice)

Occupy wall street was nothing more than a bunch of children raised with the entitlement mentality. We all came to the soccer game... We should all get a trophy... We should all get A's it's only fair... We all should be bailed out for our stupidity its only fair... 

I weep for a nation that doesn't revile this... These people took an opportunity to insist that wall street pay people back, or that the government quit giving them entitlements and crapped all over it. They took something relevant (potentially) and made it about themselves.

The reason great movements in the past have worked is because people were making it NOT ABOUT THEMSELVES BUT ABOUT RIGHTING A WRONG... Wow... I do not applaud pretentiousness, or hypocrisy. So stop filling the streets with you stupidity, get jobs, work off your student loans (What do you mean I can't get a job with a liberal arts degree with a minor in Sanskrit?) or (What do you mean these assets are toxic? What do you mean this money isn't mine? What do you mean we can't fail, it would mean others would take our place... we would have to get real jobs...)

What I would give for someone to stand up and say enough. The government isn't the freaking answer. All that money you are asking for isn't theirs its ours. You are literally taking the money from your neighbor to pay off your debt. Until you kill entitlements (for rich and poor) this cycle will repeat itself, until the few in the middle break.

Rant Off:

Note. I cannot claim to be an expert in this movement. I did go to the website and read about it before they took to the streets. I read interviews from celebrities, and I ignored any media attention given to the event  with the exception of AP. My disdain for the marchers was not influenced by right wing media, it was strait from my brain and my disgust for anyone who feels entitled to something just because its not fair they don't have it... 

Live isn't fair... It rains on the just and unjust alike... Sometimes truth is just hard.

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do you chain hang low

So begins the rant...

Clothes make the man. Well, they say a lot about the man. I like a suit, and I like wearing a suit. Yet, I spend most of my time looking pretty relaxed, t shirt and jeans is standard uniform for me. But I can clean up if I have to. The point is I will probably never be considered best dressed... (my soon to be wife will try though)

I have also heard that people will often dress in the style that reflects the era when they were most confident, especially if they feel stressed or confused... like the guy rocking the members only jacket during his midlife crisis.
What confuses me is the people who still dress in the pants down around there knees, shirt six sizes too big or wife-beater under shirt, hat backwards flat billed. When was that the style? Isn't that a throw back to a prison culture? I understand that certain artists and performers wore this clothing to exemplify a personal growth from a checkered past and toughness that can only be gained from survival on the streets on the fringe of society and becoming influential despite being robbed of self as a convict. So does wearing these clothes not being an artist, say at walmart with your dumpy wife and feral pack of toddlers imply that you would feel more comfortable on the streets dealing drugs or stealing to survive, or in lock up paying off rival gangs with cigarettes to avoid shower rape?
Is a life on an entitlement program with a wife and small children really less appealing than prison? And how can you dress in a way made popular by groups of people who refuse to accept and trust authority (aka the man, government, the police) and still stay on government assistance?
This makes you a poser, and a terribly dressed one... why not attempt to look like someone of wealth and status? Or dress like those artists who achieved success from their craft, dr. Dre wears suits, and jay z, and 50cent... wake up you have kids... you are not a thug, every thug wants to give their kids a better life and stop running the streets, or at least that's what the rap lyrics say...
I guess its way cooler to dream of a step backwards... im going to start dressing like the homeless or like me at 18 (same thing really ).. see you at Walmart, first of the month...

So ends the rant..

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arguing with myself

So beginth the rant:

I don't really care if you are a political person or not... I don't care which side of the debt ceiling argument you lean towards (I'm really guessing that most of you are just tired of career politicians making decisions that effect a private sector they will never be a part of)...

The point I have to make is both sides are broken and wrong... They exist to only stay in power and neither care about you the little guy...

This picture proves that they are actually fighting themselves... 

I mean do all old white guys not look the same to you? I'm not racist, I can say that... I'm white... What does it matter really... Its not racist if you make fun of white people... 

So endith the Rant: