Jul 23

If you do not know about this story already then you have been under a rock for the last few days. I am not sure I am in full light of the story but I have to say, either way, both parties involved took step that were way out of line. The story as I know it is simple:

Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr was trying to get into his upscale house but was having problems with the door. Unable to get in, he tried the back door and forced his way in. A neighbor, called the police because they thought this guys house was being broken into. The cops went to the house and demanded the occupant come out so he could be interviewed and asked for his ID.

Now here is where it gets sketchy and nobody seems to know what really happened. But as I have read it the Professor refused to leave his house, but did provide evidence that it was in fact his house. The police then demanded he go outside the house so he could be interviewed, and at this point the Professor reportedly started in that he was being harassed because he was black, and the cop is white. Stories vary that the cops harassed the Professor and forced their position, in which the Professor got pissed and gave it back to them, and vice versa where the Professor was was at fault.

The question really becomes why is this a Presidential issue? Because Gates happens to be black, and a friend of the president? Was racial profiling involved? Could this have been handled better? I see this scenario:

  • Neighbor calls cop
  • Cops show up
  • Cop asks man to step outside and show proof he lives there
  • Man steps outside, says “Thank you Officer for responding to the call! Here is my license, I had a problem with my door and all is fine.”
  • Cop looks over the id, examines the picture. Cop goes back to his squad car, does a background search on the drivers license and makes sure the guy is who he says he is
  • Cop returns to man, says everything checks out and asks if he needs any further assistance
  • Everyone shakes hands and the cop returns to duty
  • Man thanks neighbor for looking out for his well being.
  • Why is this scenario so outlandish? Why does it always have to be black and white. Clearly both parties handled it bad and I think the Professor and cops should be ashamed of themselves, and Obama should stay the hell out of it and mind his own business. Since he did get involved, instead of backing his friend, he should have backed the COP and reprimanded the friend for over-reacting.

    5 Stars2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
    Loading ... Loading ...
    Tagged with:
    Jun 24

    When Eli was younger we enrolled him in a Daddy/Mommy and me swimming class. Our goal was simple, to have Eli comfortable in and around the water at the earliest age possible. At the time, Eli did not hesitate to swim and bounce around with his mother or myself but that changed when he was between the ages of two and three. Eli’s idea of being in the water was limited to taking a bath.

    As frustrated parents, we tried last year to make swimming fun, but we were always faced with a screaming, miserable child when going into the water followed up by a shivering miserable child getting out. We needed this to be a happy outlet for Eli, not because it is summer time, but because we love the water and need Eli to be safe and able to swim.

    Deciding that maybe having Jodi or I bring him into the pool, we figured going to a class would be best, and we have not been disappointed yet. Eli took his first lesson the other day and it was a great success. He did EVERYTHING he was asked to do, and even got his head wet and jumped into the pool a few times. It was an instant success and Eli is already talking about wanting to go back and do it again. We hope that the future classes will build on his excitement and skill level and maybe, if we are lucky, he will be swimming on his own by the end of the summer!

    5 Stars2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
    Loading ... Loading ...
    Tagged with:
    Jun 13

    levitron_globe

    So this morning the people who attacked the website last week were at it again, and this time I was armed with a ton more information than before. So after scanning the raw logs I discovered the attacks were coming from North Korea. Not only are they trying to build Nuke weapons, but they are fond of attacking parenting blogs. Interesting how some people spend their time. But alas, the attacks were not coming just from North Korea, they were also coming from a few of Russian republics.

    With all the info I had, I decided to just block certain countries from being able to access the site. I can do this at the host level. So being the guy I am, I decided to just start blocking countries I felt didn’t deserve to have the honor or reading my blog. So, the list contains but is not limited to:

    Both North and South Korea
    Iraq
    Iran
    The entire Russian Federation and various other old Soviet Union “places”

    I figure most of the traffic I want to get is from North America anyway so I went completely nuts just blocking any country I couldn’t spell. Some might thing this is a horrible thing to do. But I guess when your parenting site turns into a porn site you have to take the gloves off and fight back.

    5 Stars2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
    Loading ... Loading ...
    Tagged with:
    preload preload preload