Gonna Be a Busy Week

This week will be pretty nutty- I am working a graveyard shift now (Monday morning) and will be traveling to Brooklyn for a Secret Science Club lecture (this one is really up my alley, so I am looking forward to it). I plan on driving down to Virginia to spend (American) Thanksgiving with my mom, and my sister, her husband, and my two eldest nephews. I plan on leaving the Old Dominion at the crack of dawn on Friday, and driving straight to work. Yeah, it'll be a hell of a week, but family is paramount.

I'll be putting up scheduled posts for the week. I have some quiet hours to do some writing. Unfortunately, my responses to any comments will be sporadic at best, but I'll take some time to respond to posts when things return to a semblance of normality. Now, gotta crank out some posts.

Follow Up on Yesterday's Post

I've been thinking about the Penn State scandal (who the hell in the States hasn't), and I'm still astounded and appalled that it could have gone on for so long, and to have victimized so many children. I don't know what sort of mindset would allow such a series of occurrences to take place, but I'd guess that it the corrupting influence of money takes center stage. The Penn State football program is a multimillion dollar enterprise, which may explain why nobody wanted to rock the boat skippered by Joe Paterno. "Hey, the kids who were victimized were disadvantaged, and Sandusky delivers the goods on the gridiron... why jeopardize Lions football?" Of course, this is merely a symptom of a whole culture poisoned by greed, authoritarianism, and unaccountability.

Another thing which has had me scratching my bald pate in puzzlement is the "Don't talk to strangers!" injunction. All too often, abusers are trusted individuals- clergymen, close friends or family members, authority figures all. Often, it takes an outsider's perspective to suss out that abuse is occurring. The abusers are able to cloak themselves in the mantle of respectability, so other members of the community are unable to call their actions or intentions into question. Hell, in the Penn State case, one has to wonder whether Jerry Sandusky founded his charity largely as a "spiderweb" to entrap vulnerable children. How does one educate one's children to be skeptical enough of authority to never kowtow to the predator's "classic" veiled threat: "Don't tell anybody! Who would believe you anyway?" How does one convince a kid not to be afraid to shine a spotlight on a "trusted" member of the community who is doing evil under the noses of the populace? I know the schools typically don't teach kids to question authority, but I'd tell any parent that it's crucial to do so.

Responding to the Penn State Horror

Last week, the horrific Penn State sexual abuse scandal dominated the U.S. news cycle. This week, a similar scandal broke on the Syracuse University campus. Who the hell knows what other scandals will come to light as additional victims, emboldened by these revelations, decide to come forward? Part of me fears that these scandals are not confined to these two institutions.

Shortly after graduating from college, I started volunteering as a coach for a children's athletic program. The program is a multi-sport endeavor, the kids participate in a variety of athletic activities. In all my years of involvement in the program, there hasn't been the faintest hint of any inappropriate behavior on the part of any of the coaches or administrators. That being said, the director of the program came around to all of the coaches and informed us that, because of the heinousness of the Penn State crimes, that we would be taking measures to minimize any chance that anything like it would happen with us. In a strictly CYA move, all of the coaches in the program would be subject to a background check. I've got no problem with this- hell, I had to submit to a background check last year, when I worked for the Census Bureau. Of course, a background check would only reveal a problem if an individual happened to be caught, but it's still something demanded in the interest of due diligence.

In all of my years coaching, I've always abided by the simple rule: "Don't be alone in a room with a kid, unless it's your kid." I'd add the corollary: "Don't allow anybody else to be in a room with a kid, unless it's their kid." In our particular system, the kids are grouped according to age, and each group is shepherded around by two or three counselors, high school kids- former participants who have come up "through the ranks" and garnered the job (the counselors are the only paid staff members) through good attendance and dedication over the years. Two of our current counselors have stayed with us while in college, and some of the counselors have passed into the ranks of the coaches over the years. If a kid needs to go to a locker room to get something, there's no need for an adult to accompany them- the counselors are there to act as chaperones. Kid needs to go to the bathroom? Have a counselor escort the kid to the pissoir. No need for an adult to be involved. Hell, I couldn't even begin to fathom why an adult with honorable intentions would seek to be alone with someone else's kid.

Nothing untoward has occurred in the course of our program, but we're still feeling ripples from the Penn State horror. We're going to take steps to minimize the chances of a similar occurrence occurring under our roof, but I'd be lying if I said that things haven't changed.

Yoga for Right-Wingers

In the comment thread at Roy's Place, commenter Zuzu wrote on an NPR piece about an Ayn Rand quote on a Lululemon yoga store shopping bag:

Speaking of John Galt, I heard this story on NPR yesterday and was just gobsmacked. The yoga apparel retailer Lululemon, whose shopping bags are carried around by its customers like totems, recently pissed off its customer base by printing the phrase, "Who is John Galt?" on those bags.

The owner of the company, Chip Wilson, apparently read Atlas Shrugged at 18 and never grew out of it.

Of course, the reason why "Who is John Galt?" was printed on the bags is because "Who is Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya?" wouldn't fit on them.

I wonder if this new shopping bag slogan will lead libertarians to practice yoga. Now I am imagining what Libertarian yoga would be like, so help me out. Ya got Ron Paul in yoga pants, now what kinda "poses" is he going through? So far, I've got:

Downward Dagny

Freedom Eagle Pose

Looter's Position

I took the easy ones, people...

Representing the other, God-bothering wing of the American Right, washed-up-actress-turned-right-wing-fundamentalist loon Janine Turner decided that yoga was too pagan for God-fearing heartlanders, so she decided to file off those Hindu serial numbers and present, I shit you not, Christoga:





What the hell is with these people? They genuinely think that demons lurk everywhere, waiting to spring upon the unwary. Practice yoga? You'll be possessed by a demon. Read a "Harry Potter" book? You'll be possessed by a demon. I wonder how the hell they could eat Chinese food without this guy going after their asses.

Personally, I think the yoga thing is a fad, and that the next exercise craze rooted in the traditions of the Indian subcontinent will hit these shores any day now.

Just Keep It Off the Money!

It's been a busy day at work for me, so this'll be a quick follow-up to yesterday's post. Serial crier/serial liar Glenn Beck has referred to Rick Santorum as the next George Washington. What the??? All I know is that I don't want Santorum on any one dollar bills, nor on any quarters. Uh, a "fistful of Santorum" is wrong, wrong, wrong! Even the Obamas, with their purported predilection for unconventional erotic activities, would want to avoid such a thing! Fistful of Santorum? I think I'd rather be a pauper!

Yeah, you'll need brain-bleach to scrub that image from your minds, so how about one of my all-time favorite Ennio Morricone pieces?





Of course, Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, which is even more badass:





This post is somewhat rushed, I'll try to clean it up tomorrow- embed some links, and all that shit santorum.

Postscript: Santorum on the quarters would single-handedly kill off the drinking game based on the quarter's ability to bounce a short distance.

Wave of Santorum About to Hit Iowa!

Ordinarily, I don't link to HuffPo, because of a preponderance of anti-vaxxer lunacy, and celebrity I-really-don't-give-a-shit (plus allegations that they stiff their staff), but it's the only place where I can find anything about Santorum's ambitions in Iowa. Even the headline is hilarious:

Rick Santorum Waits His Turn To Ride The GOP Primary Carousel

Protip: If you're the next candidate on the carousel after Santorum, wipe the "horsie" off well... use bleach!

Damn, the LULZ0RZ are strong in this article:

Craig Robinson, a former state GOP official who now writes a political blog, wrote that Laudner -- a former chief of staff to influential Rep. Steve King, who is also connected to all of the significant camps within Iowa's universe of social conservatives –- "will now travel all across the state in an effort to activate his network for Santorum."

I've seen signs saying "will work for food", but "will activate network for Santorum" is a new one. Pretty damn disgusting if you ask me.

Even the bit of charming down-home whackaloonery in this article is hilarious:

The only Republican presidential candidate yet to have his moment in the spotlight could not tear away from an elderly woman on Wednesday who was advising him about home therapies for common illnesses, such as "onion juice."

Is "onion juice" a common illness? Oh, now that I re-read this awkward sentence, I see that "onion juice" is a home therapy... maybe it can be used to prevent an... uh... embarassing problem "down there", if you know what I mean, and I think that you do! Too bad onion juice can't fix a Google problem.

You may not believe it, butt (sic) a huge wave of Santorum is going to sweep over Iowa... it's anyone's guess, though, how the hell the 55 gallon drums of lube are going to end up in the manure lagoons.

Preoccupy Bloomberg

The big story in the local media has been the eviction of the "Occupy Wall Street" protestors from Zuccotti Park around 1AM. Before I go any further, does anything noble or prideworthy happen in the wee hours of the morning under a media blackout? Didn't think so...

I first heard of the eviction on the Mark Riley's WWRL morning show, followed by an interview with City Council member Jumaane Williams, who indicated that his colleague Ydanis Rodriguez had been arrested (after apparently being injured during the raid). Yeah, it's pretty much a goddamn mess.

Bloomberg gave a press conference in which he claims that the eviction was for the good of the protestors. Damn, Bloomberg really came across as the worst sort of concern troll. He's actually something worse, he's an ogreish oligarch wearing a concern troll's mask... a veritable Napoleon in Nordstrom's. Here's the transcript of Bloomberg's statement. This particular section struck me:


No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities. The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out – but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others – nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law. There is no ambiguity in the law here – the First Amendment protects speech – it does not protect the use of tents and sleeping bags to take over a public space.


Bloomberg's appeal to the rule of law is particularly galling because he connived to overturn the term limits law he once supported and again supports during his third term. This is the very definition of privilege. Your laws? They do not apply to weasel Mike Bloomberg, the poster boy for the one percent.

Of course, the eviction is bound to backfire. The movement is more galvanized and more fluid. Cast from its moorings in Liberty Plaza (some irony there), the movement can go mobile. On Thursday, the plan is to literally occupy Wall Street, then clog up the transit system for much of the day. If he thought the occupation of his girlfriend's little fiefdom was bad, shit's about to get real. Damn, Bloomberg needs to be hounded continuously by protestors- his preoccupation with the Occupy Wall Street movement needs to be moved from the existential realm to the real world.