Sunday, November 21, 2010

The Call of Duty Myth

There is not a solider inside us all. Period! There are a very select group of brave men and woman who can claim they have what it takes to be a solider, and I thank each and every one of them from the bottom of my heart.  To make a claim that there is a solider inside us all is not only insulting to those men and women who risk their life to protect our freedom everyday, it is flat out wrong.  So who made this claim that there is a solider inside us all?  The new Call of Duty video game commercial.  Which, if I may add, has a scene with a young girl firing a shot gun and smiling about it after.  This commercial sickens me.  Don't get me wrong, I think the video game is fun to play.  I should also note that I am not one of those people who believes violent video games produce violent children (if parents took responsibly, it would be a non-issue, but we will save that for another time). I don't know how they got off making a commercial that mocks a war zone, with everyday people and show them smiling about it!

How about this, let us send a bunch of "regular" people into an actual combat situation.  Force them to kill someone and then watch their friend die next to them.  Let us see if they are smiling then.  Activision, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Don't Let Cancer Win


Do you know what "Movember" is?  If you don't, I encourage you to do some quick research.  In order to raise awareness and research funding men around the country are growing mustaches right now.  Their aim?  Prostate Caner.  Prostate Cancer is a deadly disease, affecting an astronomical amount of men each year.  How do we fight it?  We fund the research that goes into finding a cure.

If you like my friend's mustache seen here, and are willing to be selfless and save lives, I would encourage you to donate a small amount of money to a worthy cause.  Follow this link to donate:  http://us.movember.com/mospace/1184576/


Don't let cancer win.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

DRUNK DRIVING = NOT COOL

I was sitting in a Starbucks a few days ago having coffee with my wonderful girlfriend.  We were having a conversation about her grad school applications.  Unfortunately, I was being distracted.  The distraction was a teenage boy trying to talk to a teenage girl.  We all know how this goes; he was trying to act really "cool."  "Cool" is in quotation marks for a reason.  "Cool" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and I respect most of its uses.  This example of "cool" however, was completely unacceptable.  The kid, for 20 minutes, talked about how "cool" is was to be drunk all the time.  He even bragged about this one time when him and his friends got black out drunk and drove around the city doing stupid things.  Now, I am not a violent person, but if it wasn't for my girlfriend I probably would have punched him out.  There is absolutely no need for a person like him to be a part of a civilized society.  THIS IS HOW PEOPLE DIE!  AND IT IS FUN? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

The girl he was talking to, couldn't help herself.  She was eating it up, giggling, playing with her hair, smiling.  She thought it was "cool."  There is no place for someone like her in a civilized society either.  She is just as guilty, because she is what I like to call an enabler.  I understand they are teenagers, and most of them have a messed up view of the world anyways, but come on!  You know who else I blame, his and her parents.  If only they got their heads out of their asses and raised their children in an acceptable manner.

This topic fires me up, if you can't tell.  I ask one thing of anyone who reads this post.  Please, for the love of humanity, do not enable people like these two I have discussed.  Punching someone out over this is not the answer, but if you are an adult and you are hearing a teenager talk like this, could you please remind them that they are being ridiculous and won't be laughing when they kill themselves, or worse... someone else.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

National Day of Conversation

Today I had the privilege of taking part in a great conversation, I mean, it is the National Day of Conversation after all.  The topic: What is the most important work newly elected officials can address in your community?  I sat at a table with about 15 or so strangers and discussed everything from inevitable political redistricting (and how it will ultimately be unfair) to how we could better utilize Cleveland's waterfront.  This situation was a brand new experience for myself, and it was very eye opening.  It was good to break out of my current circle of conversations and bust into a new one.  I would encourage everyone to try something like this, who knows what you might learn or who you might meet.  Better yet, your conversation might lead to some sort of action.  The type of action that may encourage your elected officials to go through fair redistricting or a brand new commercial development on Cleveland's beautiful waterfront...

Monday, November 1, 2010

We the Ignorant

Explain to me how a politician can cut taxes and decrease the deficit and never reduce funding to current government backed programs (Social Security, The National Endowment for the Arts, etc).  Anyone? Anyone at all?  O wait, here comes a politician to tell me that it can be done... but, funny thing is, he/she cannot tell me how!!!  Do you want to know why they can't tell me?  Not because they are trying to be vague, but because it cannot be done!  Yet millions of Americans are fooled by this, and continually none-the-less.  Why are we fooled?  Say the phrase "cut taxes" and everyone loves you.  It is what it takes to be elected in this country.  God forbid a political candidate says he wants to do the sensible thing to ensure our children's future and cut spending, in a real way, to help balance the budget.  Not increase taxes, but decrease funding.  Because he will upset the elderly person, or the artist, or the rich guy or whoever else will have to take a tiny step back in order to ensure a prosperous future for our country.  Didn't a famous man once say "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."  Do people even know what that means anymore?

I don't blame the politicians, for it is the game they have to play in order to get elected.  Shame on us for allowing the game to be played this way.