Here is a good example of a well developed piece from the Boston Globe. Great lede.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/26/26rakanart/?page=1
Sunday, September 28, 2008
A Preschooler’s Constitutional Right to Bear Arms
Yesterday, when I was checking my son into his preschool class, I was informed by his teacher that my son was put into “time out” 4 times because he was “shooting” a pretend “finger gun” and he and the other children were playing a “good guy/bad guy” chase game. The teacher was obviously disgruntled by my son’s behavior for she felt the need to ostracize him and lecture me about “guns”. She also stated that one of the other mother’s complained about their child returning home from school and “shooting” a pretend “finger gun” shouting “bang, bang” as they ran about the house; all of course, attributed to my son’s behavior.
My response to the teacher was that we do not keep weapons in the home, nor does my son have any toy guns. I felt that her tone was accusatory, so I adamantly defended my claim to assure her that this “outrage” was not promoted within the confines of MY HOME!!! As I left the classroom, I immediately began trying to “rationalize” this “irrational” behavior. How could my sweet 3 year old boy take on this persona—that of an imaginary arms wielding bandit?!! Should I consult with legal counsel, for my son has presumably been marked as the next member of the “trench coat mafia”? The answers to these questions ate at me for the remainder of the day.
Where to begin? First of all, I tried to think of ways my son may have been exposed to GUNS. Well, there’s the old “blame it on the media” defense followed by the “pawn it off on society” plea. But what if the Media was Disney and society was some of the best men and women I have known, namely police officers and military personnel. Then what? Am I to condemn “Woody, the cowboy” a beloved character from the Movie Toy Story, or am I to demean the careers of police officers in the eyes of my little boy. How do I justify punishing my preschooler for imitating the actions of the “good guys”?
Good guys protect the innocent and in most movies, they carry weapons to do so. Dating back to the time of my grandfather, little boys have been fixated with “cowboy”, “soldier” and “cops and robbers” themed games. (My grandfather still enjoys a good cowboy film and please DO NOT try to change the channel if John Wayne is on!) I do not think that generations of little boys have taken up this pastime with some immoral agenda, nor do I believe that my grandfather’s youthful “cowboy days” rendered him a criminal.
When I returned home later that day, I began investigating by rummaging through my son’s toys, games, and movies. The climax of my witch hunt brought me upon my son’s beloved shelf of DVDs. They appeared so innocent on the shelves, but there they were, the promoters of the perverse behaviors exhibited by my son and his cronies! The titles read like an NRA’s “who’s who”—Toy Story, Star Wars, Madagascar, Open Season, The Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, and that no good rat—Ratatouille. All of them, ALL…agents of the Devil and inciting my son to do Diablo’s bidding!
As my eyes scanned past the shelf, I noticed the framed photographs next to the movies. It became apparent that Disney World and Universal Studios were in on this conspiracy. The rides that we had enjoyed on vacation this summer have contributed to the delinquency of my beloved minor! The Buzz Lightyear and Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney, and the E.T. and Jaws rides at Universal were the first to come to mind; all of which my young son enjoyed immensely, but unfortunately have firepower embedded in their motif!
With my thoughts stuck on the recent vacation, I could not help to reflect upon the actual “travel” involved and the security personnel and police officers my son “introduced” himself to at the airport; one particular officer that my son was taken with had a German shepherd and as you may have guessed, a gun. The young officer catered to my son’s star struck enthusiasm by explaining the police department’s role in airport and homeland security. The officer was friendly and sincere, qualities that registered in my son’s eyes as a “good guy”; now how do I back track and explain to my preschooler that this peace keeping “good guy” is really “bad” because he has a gun? When did we start defining the right to bear arms as a fiendish activity reserved solely for criminals? Are we sending mixed messages to our kids?
In the United States, Americans have the right to bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, even the smallest and youngest of men will be guaranteed that right upon maturity. By placing my son in “time out” for emulating what he perceives to be “good guys” actions, are we devaluing the role of peace keeping public servants and teaching my boy to show contempt for his constitutional rights? Many good men have died protecting those rights...and they carried guns.
As a mother, I plan to educate my son on the issues concerning guns and the opportunities in which he may encounter them. I will teach my son that a gun does not make a man “bad” or cause him to do evil, but rather man himself is the catalyst. I will also have to encourage him and his colleagues to reserve their StarWars action scenes for a “galaxy, far, far, away” and not their preschool classroom.
My response to the teacher was that we do not keep weapons in the home, nor does my son have any toy guns. I felt that her tone was accusatory, so I adamantly defended my claim to assure her that this “outrage” was not promoted within the confines of MY HOME!!! As I left the classroom, I immediately began trying to “rationalize” this “irrational” behavior. How could my sweet 3 year old boy take on this persona—that of an imaginary arms wielding bandit?!! Should I consult with legal counsel, for my son has presumably been marked as the next member of the “trench coat mafia”? The answers to these questions ate at me for the remainder of the day.
Where to begin? First of all, I tried to think of ways my son may have been exposed to GUNS. Well, there’s the old “blame it on the media” defense followed by the “pawn it off on society” plea. But what if the Media was Disney and society was some of the best men and women I have known, namely police officers and military personnel. Then what? Am I to condemn “Woody, the cowboy” a beloved character from the Movie Toy Story, or am I to demean the careers of police officers in the eyes of my little boy. How do I justify punishing my preschooler for imitating the actions of the “good guys”?
Good guys protect the innocent and in most movies, they carry weapons to do so. Dating back to the time of my grandfather, little boys have been fixated with “cowboy”, “soldier” and “cops and robbers” themed games. (My grandfather still enjoys a good cowboy film and please DO NOT try to change the channel if John Wayne is on!) I do not think that generations of little boys have taken up this pastime with some immoral agenda, nor do I believe that my grandfather’s youthful “cowboy days” rendered him a criminal.
When I returned home later that day, I began investigating by rummaging through my son’s toys, games, and movies. The climax of my witch hunt brought me upon my son’s beloved shelf of DVDs. They appeared so innocent on the shelves, but there they were, the promoters of the perverse behaviors exhibited by my son and his cronies! The titles read like an NRA’s “who’s who”—Toy Story, Star Wars, Madagascar, Open Season, The Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan, and that no good rat—Ratatouille. All of them, ALL…agents of the Devil and inciting my son to do Diablo’s bidding!
As my eyes scanned past the shelf, I noticed the framed photographs next to the movies. It became apparent that Disney World and Universal Studios were in on this conspiracy. The rides that we had enjoyed on vacation this summer have contributed to the delinquency of my beloved minor! The Buzz Lightyear and Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney, and the E.T. and Jaws rides at Universal were the first to come to mind; all of which my young son enjoyed immensely, but unfortunately have firepower embedded in their motif!
With my thoughts stuck on the recent vacation, I could not help to reflect upon the actual “travel” involved and the security personnel and police officers my son “introduced” himself to at the airport; one particular officer that my son was taken with had a German shepherd and as you may have guessed, a gun. The young officer catered to my son’s star struck enthusiasm by explaining the police department’s role in airport and homeland security. The officer was friendly and sincere, qualities that registered in my son’s eyes as a “good guy”; now how do I back track and explain to my preschooler that this peace keeping “good guy” is really “bad” because he has a gun? When did we start defining the right to bear arms as a fiendish activity reserved solely for criminals? Are we sending mixed messages to our kids?
In the United States, Americans have the right to bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, even the smallest and youngest of men will be guaranteed that right upon maturity. By placing my son in “time out” for emulating what he perceives to be “good guys” actions, are we devaluing the role of peace keeping public servants and teaching my boy to show contempt for his constitutional rights? Many good men have died protecting those rights...and they carried guns.
As a mother, I plan to educate my son on the issues concerning guns and the opportunities in which he may encounter them. I will teach my son that a gun does not make a man “bad” or cause him to do evil, but rather man himself is the catalyst. I will also have to encourage him and his colleagues to reserve their StarWars action scenes for a “galaxy, far, far, away” and not their preschool classroom.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Welfare Should NOT Be an Aphrodisiac
Representative John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, addressed the pink elephant in the room Tuesday by announcing that he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their fallopian tubes tied.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/labruzzo_sterilization_plan_fi.html
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/25/tubal.ligations.for.poor.cnn?iref=24hours
As I read the LaBruzzo article this morning, I could not help but think back to those Susan Powter late night infomercials, the ones that pitched the catch phrase “Stop the Insanity!” Finally, a voice of reason emerges from the altruistic appeasing masses and announces that welfare recipients should not be procreating; if a person does not have the finances to feed and nurture a child, then DO NOT have a child. This sounds like common sense, but if that were a given then why does the U.S. have so many third and fourth generation welfare families? The answer is simple, as a country we are fostering the weak and bridling the strong; a recipe for evolutionary digression. LaBruzzo’s plan would attack this crisis at the core, reducing the numbers of the overpopulating poor. America was founded on the principles of capitalism, not philanthropy; I am a fan of man and his achievements, but investing in men that have no ambition to better themselves nor contribute to the advancement of American society, is just bad business. LaBruzzo’s plan is an alarm; the sleepwalk must come to an end and the American people must reconcile that no good can come of a third or fourth generation welfare investment.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/labruzzo_sterilization_plan_fi.html
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/25/tubal.ligations.for.poor.cnn?iref=24hours
As I read the LaBruzzo article this morning, I could not help but think back to those Susan Powter late night infomercials, the ones that pitched the catch phrase “Stop the Insanity!” Finally, a voice of reason emerges from the altruistic appeasing masses and announces that welfare recipients should not be procreating; if a person does not have the finances to feed and nurture a child, then DO NOT have a child. This sounds like common sense, but if that were a given then why does the U.S. have so many third and fourth generation welfare families? The answer is simple, as a country we are fostering the weak and bridling the strong; a recipe for evolutionary digression. LaBruzzo’s plan would attack this crisis at the core, reducing the numbers of the overpopulating poor. America was founded on the principles of capitalism, not philanthropy; I am a fan of man and his achievements, but investing in men that have no ambition to better themselves nor contribute to the advancement of American society, is just bad business. LaBruzzo’s plan is an alarm; the sleepwalk must come to an end and the American people must reconcile that no good can come of a third or fourth generation welfare investment.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Is Bristol Palin's Pregnancy Newsworthy or Should it be Off Limits?
Sarah Palin’s daughter embodies a growing trend of media publicized teenage pregnancies, Bristol Palin’s Pregnancy is definitely a story, and unfortunately it is a story that is all too common. The media coverage of Palin’s pregnancy has been predictable, and depending on which outlet you view determines how the story is spun; whether a feel good piece or a hell-fire-and-brimstone damnation one thing is certain, as governor of Alaska, Palin would have received considerably less media coverage and scrutiny over this delicate situation, however her Vice Presidential candidacy has transformed delicate into inopportune.
When Sarah Palin assumes the role of Vice President, she will be representing the American People at both national and international ceremonies and engagements, she will be entertaining foreign dignitaries with the jocularity only a 44 year old breastfeeding grandmother can provide, all while serving as President of a senate she has never held membership in. Palin is one stroke shy or two heart attacks away from being sworn in as Commander-in-chief, though I doubt her moose hunting days have adequately prepared her for such military ranking. I the person am a member of “We the people”, and I am entitled to Sarah Palin’s full résumé, both public and private, so long as she seeks employment as my representative. Palin’s responsibilities as a wife, mother, and grandmother attribute to her character and the finesse with which she shall handle her role as second in command and ambassador to the world.
When Sarah Palin assumes the role of Vice President, she will be representing the American People at both national and international ceremonies and engagements, she will be entertaining foreign dignitaries with the jocularity only a 44 year old breastfeeding grandmother can provide, all while serving as President of a senate she has never held membership in. Palin is one stroke shy or two heart attacks away from being sworn in as Commander-in-chief, though I doubt her moose hunting days have adequately prepared her for such military ranking. I the person am a member of “We the people”, and I am entitled to Sarah Palin’s full résumé, both public and private, so long as she seeks employment as my representative. Palin’s responsibilities as a wife, mother, and grandmother attribute to her character and the finesse with which she shall handle her role as second in command and ambassador to the world.
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