And now the couple is being charged with manslaughter.  The assumption being that had they delivered the baby in a hospital or with modern medicine in general, the baby would have survived.  Despite what members of that faith healing church believe, I believe that yes, the baby would have survived.  My brother was born about 12 weeks early as was my sister’s baby, and both are very healthy now.  Is it still possible that the boy would of died even with modern medicine?  Of course.  But, looking at the statistics of infant mortality today versus say 100 years ago, or probably even 50 years ago, its not even close.  Worldwide, in the 1950′s, it was about 150 deaths for every 1,000 births.  Today?  About 43 for every 1,000.  I’m pretty sure its a lot higher than 150 deaths in the 1800′s.

Now, I don’t begrudge anyone their beliefs, religious or otherwise.  I personally think that religion only exists because we as a race/society fear death, and that if we were immortal, we would be a lot less religious as a society.  But we are not and unfortunately, I think most religious people no longer think or have their own thoughts.  They just listen to and believe whatever their religion tells them, similar to how the sheep believe whatever their political party tells them to believe.  But, whatever, that’s just what I think right or wrong as it may be.  That being said, I totally support the government charging this couple with manslaughter.  Having your own beliefs is one thing.  Forcing those beliefs on others, to the detriment of their health, well-being, and even life in this case, is a another thing.  I’m not saying that the government knows how to raise your children better than you do.  But, looking at the infant mortality stats I stated earlier, they have the evidence on their side in this instance.  And I think therein lies the problem.  Stats are about logic, science, deduction.  Religion, however, is based on faith.  All the statistics in the world don’t matter one bit because they believe, they have faith.

So, who is right and who is wrong?  Well, obviously if I said I sided with what the government was doing, I think the parents are in the wrong.  Generally speaking I want the government to stay out of our lives as much as possible, but there has to be some limits.  Subjecting your own health, life, and well being to your beliefs is one thing.  But, forcing it on another, whether it be your kid or your friend or a stranger, is quite another.  Its not like they said believe in our God and you will get a job, and thus only perhaps your economic well being was on the line.  They put a human life on the line.  You want to withhold medical treatment for yourself?  I’m all for it.  To force that on another, especially a very dependent infant?  I hope the government convicts and you spend some time in jail, though I guarantee it will do no good because they will just be even more resolved in their brainwashing…urrrrrr, beliefs and have another kid in the same means.

Over the last year, we have known that she was losing her sight as her eye was becoming more and more cloudy with age.  However, she was still able to see out of it, just not as well.  She already a bit hard of hearing.  Her smell, I’m not sure is all too great either, but I’m not too sure of that.  However, she still got quite excited whenever she saw the leash and thus knew a walk was coming, or when someone rang the doorbell and came home.  And then this past weekend.  Her eye discharged a lot of stuff and was a bit swollen, and I was sure that the glaucoma finally caught up with the other eye.  However, that was not the case, but the end result is the same, she can no longer see.  The vet said she is not in any pain, and that we have to keep putting the meds in because if she does get glaucoma in her eye, it will be painful for her.

So now, I watch my little baby walk around the house bumping into things left and right.  She actually is quite a bit more active now than she was before this weekend, when all she pretty much did all day was sleep.  I don’t know if she is trying to get used to her loss of sight or what, but she is always walking around now, maybe exploring her surroundings?  She is always also spinning in circles, which she used to only do when she was about to poop.  We put her bowl of water and food in the kitchen, and when she is hungry or thirsty she does manage to find it.  Except for the first day that it happened, when I suppose she was probably in shock and just slept all day, she still has quite an appetite, which I suppose is a good sign.  We used to open the door to the backyard and she would go out, go to the bathroom, then come back.  However, now we carry her to the grass, she knows to do her business, and then we carry her back inside and let her roam around.

I took her for a walk also the past couple days.  The first time, she did not want to go more than a few feet as I suspect she was quite scared and not sure where she was going.  The 2nd day I led her more forcefully with the leash and we went up and down the street along the sidewalk.  Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I do know that when she had her sight, she loved going for walks.  Maybe she will again if she gets used to her blindness?

When this all first happened, I honestly thought she was dying as she was not eating and not moving much.  The next day she was better and eating, and then every day since then she has been up and walking all about, though bumping into things here and there.  For each of those days, I probably just stared and watched her for at least 10 minutes at a time.  It was quite sad at first, and then after that, quite cute and funny watching her try to get about.  Still sad though.  I know the end is definitely close, and that makes me quite sad.  It makes me have to ask questions of when is it enough.  The vet said she is not in any pain at all, and she is still quite energetic, and eats a lot, and he did not make any recommendations of the sort.  Its all quite sad, and although she has brought so much love and joy all these past 15 years, it makes me ponder sometimes if its worth having pets because all you do is fall in love with them, and its always so painful because most of the time you outlive them.  In the end, I think all the memories, good times, and companionship make it all worth it in spite of the always difficult ending.  This little one has gone through a lot, not just this past weekend but through the years, and she is still going strong.  I’m hoping that will continue for a lot longer, though I’m sadly realizing that is just wishful thinking….

However, all that is so very different than now.  I don’t know when the change finally occurred, or if it slowly transitioned to how it is now.  But, now, it hurts so very much having to set up my payments online to mail out or to write a check to pay some utility.  That is my hard earned money leaving my already low checking account.  I had to work hard to get that money and with the click of a mouse or a stroke of the pen, gone!  I will admit that when I sent my very first mortgage payment, there was a hint/gleam of that excitement.  My very first payment in owning my own home!!  But, I just paid payment #2, and let me say that the excitement for #2 was no where near existent!  It was more like an Ouch!  My account just dropped by that much????

I’m hoping that over time, when I can slowly save more more money and pay back the people I borrowed money from to fix up my home (which I freaking haven’t moved into yet) that these bills will be, if not exciting, at least less painful and just a chore more than a gasp.

I somewhat might understand the draw for competition shows like American Idol or even The Amazing Race, which is kind of like an outdoors around the world game show (from what I’ve read about it at least as I’ve never watched it).  So, I kinda get that as game shows have been part of American television almost since the beginning.  But, the hell do you care to watch the Kardashians, Paris Hilton, Tori Spelling, Terrell Owens, those Real Housewives shows, or any other of that stuff?  Is there someone out there who can actually explain the appeal of these shows?  I watched about 10 minutes of that Terrell Owens show about a month ago as I did not have control of the remote.  The whole time I’m watching it, I’m thinking, this is a piece of crap.  His home is worth more money than I will ever make in a lifetime.  The “writing” was awful, as they tried to dramatize any of the crap that went on in front of the camera, even though I bet all of it was staged anyway.  Why?  Cuz its not freaking reality, its practically scripted crap.  You might as watch wrestling, as that is somewhat scripted as well, and the wrestlers just ad lib out there from an outline.  I sometimes wonder if in these “reality” shows they go through a scene, the camera guy goes hold up,  I didn’t get a good shot of that scene and asks them to replay that scene again, and I bet they do!

Can I ask all of you to stop watching this crap so that they can stop producing this stuff?  If not, for the life of me, please explain to me why in the hell you watch this stuff.

And therein lies one of the biggest problems with American Capitalism in general.  Not only is it always about the money, but its also never enough.  If you make $100 million one year it might be great, but if you make $100 million the next year its terrible because not only did you have 0% growth, you actually made less money because every year we have inflation, which makes the value of that $100 million less.  Whether it be because the American government prints too much money or what, inflation is pretty much ever present almost every year.  Does anyone else remember when a whopper, a Big Mac, a Famous Star, or a gallon of gas could all be bought for less than $1?

And so every year NFL teams raise the price of their tickets, parking, concession stands.  But, we are currently in the midst of a down economy and so those increases are not enough and thus comes the increasing of the 16 game schedule.  Of course the owners all support this.  They pretty much have no risks and only have money to gain.  There is no one regulating their rules so they can do whatever they want, with NFL Players Association “approval”.  But we all know they will approve.  Owners will throw a couple million at them, let them risk injuries, then keep millions more to themselves.  Just because the players approve it doesn’t mean it is right.  If parent’s and kids approved, would it be okay to hire child laborers and pay them peanuts?  Nope.  And with this extra revenue from 2 extra games, do you think any owners will lower ticket prices?  Hell no.  They’ll just pocket it, wait for the next economic downturn, then try to throw some other gimmick out there.  My prediction?  Let more teams into the playoffs so they can have more playoff games and thus, you guessed it, earn more money.

I got the #2 pick in the draft.  With my first pick, I chose the RB Maurice Jones-Drew.  Why?  No real reason.  I read an article that you couldn’t go wrong with him or Adrian Peterson, and Chris Johnson who I had last year was taken #1.  So, I went with the Bruin.  UCLA baby!!  Rest of the draft pretty much just chose people that seemed to have a high Yahoo ranking, or filled the positions that I needed.  Do I have a good team?  No clue.  But, will go through the season like last year, talking trash when winning and mysteriously disappearing when losing.  Last year I had the most points of every single team, but still did not make the playoffs!!  So goes the way of a head to head league.  Oh well.  Hopefully I score the same amount of points as last year, but the head to head matchups are more in my favor!

Anyway, our food finally comes and you can add sweet or dell relish, onions, sauerkraut, like 8 different kinds of mustard, normal ketchup, and other stuff that I can’t remember.  Added my condiments and was set to go.  Bit into it, and I thought it was pretty good.  I like adding Italian sausage to my spaghetti when I make it, so not used to really eating in in sandwich form.  It was tasty.  I liked it better than the girlfriend’s Kobe beef one.  If you like sausages then this is a decent place to go to if you want to get lunch or something.  However, for those that like to fill themselves up when they eat, one dog will not be enough for you as these sausages are not all that big.  I thought it was good as did LK, but she likes Jerry’s Woodfried Dogs better.  When we were close to finishing, the owner asked us if we liked and we told her it was good.  She then asked us if we wanted the hot links one on the house to try out, and who are we to turn down free food!  When that finished, we ate.  It was too hot for LK so she gave me her half and I finished it all.  I really liked it, better than the Italian one I had.  Although, when my dad or brother make hot links on the grill, I think it tastes just as good if not better.  But, bottomline, it was still good and I probably will go back at some point to try out some other of the 15 different dogs on the menu, especially since that place is close to my home, is not very expensive, and I am a lazy ass when it comes to cooking my own food.

Firstly, this was my first time at the Verizon Amphitheater, and we got the lawn tickets.  That is, we got to sit anywhere we could find a seat on the grass in the back.  We ended up in the very back corner, put our blanket down, and sat down the whole night.  From where we sat, the performers on stage were very small, so I pretty much watched the big screen TVs most of the time.  It was a beautiful night out that night, not too hot, not too cold, and perfect for an outdoors performance of any kind.  We just sat on our blanket and enjoyed the performance like everyone else. For the most part, everyone on the lawn sat down and did not stand, so everyone was able to see.  The venue is a pretty nice place to watch a performance.  The last concert I went to was at the Forum for Coldplay.  I think the acoustics at the Forum was much better, at least compared to where we were sitting, which was at least a hundred or more feet from the nearest speaker.  However the outdoor setting was much more enjoyable to the cold confines of the old Lakers stadium.

Secondly, my ignorance of the Dave Matthews Band was proven after the concert ended as I had never heard of any of the songs that were performed.  They were nice and fun, but I just had never heard of them.  After watching the performance, will I start listening to their music more?  Probably not as like I am not a huge music fan in general so I will never pay for music.  So, unless they are on the radio (which I don’t listen to very often anyway, choosing sports talk if I ever do choose to do so) I probably will continue not to hear their music.

And finally, after the performance ended (following a 2 song encore from the band) it was a very long process flowing out.  There is only one way in and out to the theater, so everyone had to walk it.  Tons of people, narrow walkway means slow getting out.  On the other side, getting out of the parking lot, while still crowded and filled with traffic, was much better than leaving the concert at Coldplay at the Forum.

Overall, fun night.  I would watch Dave Matthews Band again if I won tickets or they were cheap, and I would go to the Verizon Amphitheater again if there was some type of performance that I was interested in watching.

As for the actual controversy itself?  Like I said, I can see both sides of the argument.  On one side, I want to ask of New Yorkers and anybody else who disagrees with President Obama, if the people who were responsible for the 9/11 attacks were Catholic, would you be against the building of a Cathedral at Ground Zero?  Somehow I doubt it.  So I kind of wonder why its so easy to blame all Muslims for the attack or why its so insensitive for them to build a place of worship.  I believe that Timothy McVeigh was Catholic.  I don’t think the people in Oklahoma City blamed Catholicism for the attack, but rather blamed him.  Yes 9/11 was much bigger, and more tragic.  Are the people who actually did the attack too easy to blame and so it must be the fault of a whole religion?

On the other side, a lot of people died in the attacks, and so I understand how emotions can sway our decisions and thus I do see how people can be against it all.  Fair or unfair, legal or not legal, sometimes something just doesn’t feel right to people and when that’s the case, you just gotta go with it as there is nothing anybody can say that will change your gut feelings.  Just because something is legal doesn’t necessarily make it right.  The symbolism can be too strong, and feel too real.

I don’t think there really is a right or wrong answer to this as both sides have strong opinions either way.  So, here’s to hoping it all gets resolved without the entire Muslim religion being seen as bad guys.

Have you ever seen some of these “hot” actresses in those pics of them without make up?  Oh trust me you can see a difference and many times its safe to say if you saw those same women on the streets like that you would not look twice.  Have you ever seen how people look on a soap opera vs. a prime time show?  The lighting and cameras on soaps are not as good, and you can really tell the difference.  And you do realize that most of the models and actresses you see on TV have had plastic surgery of some sort as well?  Put that all together and you see “hot” people on TV and pictures all the time.  Sorry to burst your bubble if you didn’t realize all this.  Hope that you just like the fantasy that these people represent and not the reality you may perceive them to be.