Spare the Rod...Spoil The Child?

I started burping and wiping poop at the age of 15. Years of hands-on experience with my beautiful nieces and nephews...as well as filling in as mommy dearest to two beautiful godchildren from a previous relationship; taught me a thing or two about kids.  Rule of thumb: All kids are not created equal! LOL. There are the reserved and amiable to the loud, boisterous and mischievous and some of every variation in-between.   

This morning, I read a friend's blog post "To Smack or Not to Smack".  He is a loving, single father Raising Amelie - a toddler girl.  The post is riddled with guilt as he contemplates his actions as a parent.  Honestly, I think he was a bit hard on himself but that is to be expected.  Having a life in your hands is an incredible responsibility and at times overwhelming.  As responsible parents/guardians and caregivers we often check-in with ourselves and  wonder if we're measuring up to these important roles; like he, many are struggle with the old adage, "Spare the rod, spoil the child"...  

American Rouge

Second street. I ate minute meat to save time and money but still hungry.  From my car window is the buzz of life. It's on every street corner.  Americana. It's the "bees knees!" Like honeycombs hanging cater-corner inside doorways. I reckon the bittersweet concept of estranged neighbors. Yet, we all weave around tree-line to city skyline...black and yellow, black and yellow. Streets full. Cabs buzzing, people hustling and bustling. Rainbows of bodies like them blue collars busting backs in the lower east side, white collar corpses, to little green men in eco-friendly matchboxes on the upper.  We tolerate each other for freedom's sake; like confederate flags waving off the beaten path but I wasn't in Kansas anymore.Somewhere between the countryside, wall street and Russia were two lively Lithuanian women drunk off Sauvignon and the arts. I stood in the present as they offered wine and cheese.  One dressed in exotic Saree sat Indian-style strumming on an old accordion. Soon lost in tantric tunes we sang out into the night air from the corner.  Nibbling on Wisconsin cheese, I sipped on festival wine as the waft of soul food tickled my nose. It took me to the Motherland. A block a way Mama Musa used the salt of the earth to cook up down home meals in the melting pot.  

What tha Deuce?!

UPDATE:  

According to a CBS 6 News update, the mysterious unidentified flying objects in Richmond, VA have been identified as wedding wish lanterns!  Talk about wishful thinking.  False alarm everyone... false alarm! LOL

OK. This time the joke is us. Us as in me and everyone who suspected it to have been yet another alien visitation.  If you read by blog [by he way thanks!] you know that I study esoterica and believe in life outside of planet Earth.  Let me be clear that I realize not every UFO is alien but admittedly jumped to that conclusion here; lumping it into similar events that occurred just prior in New York and El Paso. Even so, I should have been more discerning.  So, that's the lesson in that. Moving right along...  I agree that most likely this particular incident was caused by those goofy wish lanterns. However, they didn't have to make a mockery of the situation as if it's unfathomable. However, the reporter clearly stated the concept is, "..ridiculous [in his opinion]."  I'm probably in danger of being labeled another illogical, conspiracy theorist for even studying esoteric knowledge and believing in life outside of our planet but I'm having too much fun!  

Sivion - Do Not Disturb

Butterfly Sessions beats by Dert

Love, love, love... listening to da real... Hip Hop ... eyes closed gum pop & bop into a daydream by a busy Chicago coffee shop groovin' on a lazy Saturday; like uhhh... natural high on them sudden butterfliez in ya tummy. He so bum yummy but I'm incog~negro so he goes, "Why, she keeps on passing me by..." but I'm in my Slum Village & Common daze. 


For more good music see Sivion Bandcamp

Gunz & Roses

  Cops shoot father who killed 2 teenage sons

The horrible tragedy of the Pennsauken, NJ father who fatally shot his youngest and eldest son while wounding the middle has once again awakened an old dragon (see CNN article).  The gun control debate is notorious and riddled with about as many value judgments and personal right issues as does freedom of religion.  However, gun control in-and-of-itself is not the issue but the way it is enforced that fuels the debate.   Fundamentally,  it is viewed in black and white terms: regulation (all) or ban (nothing).   And everyone from gun control lobbyists to the N.R.A and their respective supporters argue over its policies.  Some say firearms should just be banned all together meanwhile others say no; banning is both unconstitutional and would solve nothing...

In my opinion it seems we need a sobering dose of objectivity.  In order to think clearly upon the issue we have to be logical and suppress our individual biases not excluding "My Four Fathers told me so".  It is not meaning to undermine or disregard The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution but rather an attempt to see the gun control monster for what it really is.  Therefore, it isn't necessary to factor in belief systems, laws, and ideals that inhibit objectivity by veiling the bottom line.  I figure if we are to be truly honest with ourselves we must fully understand the raw nature of guns [and people for that matter] -- meaning, the concept behind guns and there functional purpose by definition as well the human psychology in relation to weapons.  Once that happens it's easy to deduce the MOST logical solution to gun violence.

The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose.

--James Earl Jones

During my prior military career I worked in Ammunition Supply and therefore understand a thing or two about basic gunnery. The bottom line folks a firearm IS a weapon AND weapons ARE specifically designed to inflict injury; in worst case scenarios the result is death. If firearms came with a Surgeon General warning it would read as follows, "Product causes certain injury or death". Period, point, blank. Again, [all missile launchers from cap guns to Nagasaki] the sole purpose & design behind manufactured weapons is to explode a bullet/missile from its chamber and impact an intended target. The cliche, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" crystallizes the argument that the end user is to blame AND NOT the device--- so, where does one end (shooter) and the other begin (weapon)? Think about it.  Perhaps it simply boils down to survival of the fittest. To quote James Earl Jones, "The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose." Fact is gun control policy is indeed black and white: all or nothing. If all citizens have access to firearms or some do and others don't, the end result is still the same: violence, injury and death. On the contrary, [and I admit this is wishful thinking] if none possessed firearms then no one on would have the ability to shoot or be shot. In reality firearms and all manner of weaponry are likely to hang around until the end of civilization and mankind will continue to live by the gun and die by it as well. No matter the variables involved with the end user whether malicious, self defense, by proxy, law enforcement or gaming... the end result will be exact. A projectile is exploded from a chamber out a shaft and into said target in order to disable or kill. Logically, it makes the most sense to ban as oppose to regulate. Take the firearm out the equation rather than the man; for as long as firearms and the like remain in the picture men will be 'taken out' of it.  RELATED INFO: Just Facts: A Resource for Independent Thinkers