Jack's Fathers Day

I’m thankful in this life to be the proud father of five beautiful baby girls. Ages go from 19 all the way down to 6 years old. Every single one of them is a blessing bestowed on this humble servant of life. We see far too much of dead beat dads and yet we don’t go out of the way for the guys that just do what is right for their babies. We need to change that scenario around. We need to break the cycle of the kids without dads as best we can and in any way that we can.

I grew up as the baby boy of a family of seven kids. We were by far not rich, affluent, or even had a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. One thing we did have growing up was a dad that loved his children to no end, would give his life for them, sacrificed for them everything he could. All of my years growing up, dad worked hard in the trucking industry, eventually becoming a manager on the night shift. Every single payday he would drop his check on the kitchen table for mom to cash or deposit to pay the household bills. It actually got to the point where the bank only recognized my mothers forgery of his signature at the bank. All he asked for was a few dollars to go to the Irish Club with her on Saturday night for a few drinks and some dancing. As I became old enough to partake in adult beverages I used to love to see them dance on air together. It was almost as if they were magical in one another’s arms as they moved with the ease of a well tuned timepiece. Two people moving to the music and yet they were one.

My mother used to take a ton of crap from her sisters that married well because she managed the families finances. My mother came from a very well off and society connected family. Mom used to be able to smack them down because her husband never hit her and theirs did. Mom was the equivalent of the Catholic confessional in her small little home that attracted her sisters and brothers to no end as to how to deal with the relationship disasters they had to live with.

Dad wanted to beat the crap out of his brother in laws many a time but he differed to his wife’s wishes not to do so. One of my sisters was involved with a religious cult, to much LSD or whatever she was on before that point in her life, he stood by my mother as she dived into the bible to counteract the version of truth she was dictated for several years. Mind you, my sister disappeared off the face of the earth for two years and nobody knew where she was. We were all terrified. Dad finally had enough and was taking his baby girl back. He went to the house she was in when she finally came back to the city and was promptly placed in a police cruiser as his daughter looked the other way. The police let him go and told him to just go home. He cried at the kitchen table as mom tried to console him back at the house.

When my oldest brother was kicked out by his wife down in Florida, 1,500 miles from home, and when the call came my mother panicked. There was no such thing as credit cards in those days. There was no money to pay for a plane ticket back home to Massachusetts. That week they had used up all of the available cash to repair a broken septic system. Dad came out with an envelope of money he had been saving in his bedroom for a vacation trip for the family. My brother was home a few days later.

What I’m getting at is that I am living my life in the footsteps of the man I admire most life. Jack was an amazing father, an amazing husband, and most of all my friend. Was he a bastard at times, hell YA! Was he a hero, hell YA! Most of my siblings don’t recognize all that he did for his children but I do. He sacrificed more than anyone will ever know and yet he will never know how much I love the man for all that he did for his family. Jack was a class act that I can only dream of being able to follow in his footsteps. He was my mentor and my hero, most of all he was my friend till the day he died in 2003.

Love ya and miss ya Dad! Happy Fathers Day.

Mat aka Papamoka

"Happy" New Year? If only ...

This post is from a blogging friend of mine that is such an amazing writer. Her site is called Vim and Vinegar, you’ll have to ask her the who, the why and the what for on the name. I highly recommend her as a daily read to everyone. She wrote this for a first of the year post so I’m a little late on stealing it. Thank you S for letting me do this. I’m sure people will come away with the same impression that I did.

"Happy" New Year? If only ...

It is January 1st, 2008 and my family is intact. My health is good (or seems to be); I have all the creature comforts and then some; I will cook my version of the traditional southern New Year's Day meal for whomever is here to eat it; and, God willing, I will go to sleep safely in my own warm bed tonight knowing my loved ones are also safe.

I am lucky.

Others are not so lucky. The linked article is a rather abbreviated report about a suicide bomber killing 30 mourners at a funeral in Baghdad and wounding more than 30 more. I suppose the report is abbreviated because how much more is there to say? Those naked facts indicate a level of motivation or emotion that is so craven and unthinkable and hateful and, one must suppose, desperate that it is difficult to process, let alone analyze. Equally horrific is this story out of Kenya which details how a church filled with some 400 people, who were seeking refuge from the continuing violence resulting from the recent (and dubious) presidential elections there, was burned. At least 25 children died, according to the report. What manner of person burns a church full of people? There is no sanctuary. There is no refuge from that kind of violence because it is the kind of violence that is unrelenting, and fueled by a rage not many of us have experienced. It wants only one thing: destruction. Its human host is no more.

So writing this is a struggle. Not merely because these stories make me cry; not just because the more I pay attention to the world, the more my breath comes in short anxious bursts rather than in the long, deep draughts of one who knows peace; not simply because we have a vacuum of leadership in our own country. The struggle is captured in this question I ask myself: How dare I? When I consider all my many blessings and the serendipity of my whole life (not that there haven't been tremendous difficulties, but that those difficulties did not destroy me), How dare I be anything but happy! Simultaneously, when I consider the daily difficulties of most of humanity, of my neighbors even, How dare I be happy! The more troubling version of the question, though, when I think about my child, my niece and nephews, your children and children everywhere, is this version: How dare I hope?

These are indeed dark times when mourning the loss of a loved one is interrupted by pre-meditated intentional murder, and when not even a Holy house is regarded as sacrosanct enough to offer physical protection. These are dark times when one must pluck up one's courage merely to hope. But I do hope. Rather than wish you a "happy" new year, therefore, I will wish you a Hope-filled New Year because I believe that is where we must begin. And begin we must.

Peace.

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Oil Speculation

Picture courtesy of NYC Insider

In the middle and lower class homes of many families is the up and coming battle of the winter heating budget. Raise your hands if you live in the north of the nation and still have not set the heat permanently on your single setting thermostat at 68 degrees? Raise your hands if the thickness of blankets on your bed is greater than the measurement of your waste line? Is your favorite phrase’s “We do not turn the heat on till after Thanks Giving” or “Put another sweater on“ ringing any bells?

Well bust my buttons if the cost of the lower class to heat the four walls is not the latest joke for those with funds to live high off the hog to enjoy. When people laugh at the suffering of their fellow man and yet gain from their sorrows from investments then they are over speculating in the market for the sake of dollars and in doing so have lost their own humanity. Stuffing a five dollar bill into the Salvation Army kettle does not absolve you from sin.

Granted that market speculation is needed in a free market but is the market actually free or running away without control. I tend to believe that the market is over speculating futures and that in turn is driving the price up without support. The bubble will only burst when the support for a continued struggle in the middle east involving American Military and Government support end. Till that time comes or a total regime change in Washington happens you had better put on yet another sweater and buckle down for a very expensive cold winter. Billions more can be squeezed out of the cold and poor economy of America, Bush is counting on it for his mega mansion Presidential Library. In Iraq they used to call them Presidential palaces but I digress to this piece in the New York Times…

Oil Price Up Again Ahead of Fed Meeting

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Published: October 29, 2007

Oil prices rose 1.8 percent today, adding to the 3.7 percent increase last week and raising the specter of inflation one day before the Federal Reserve governors meet to consider whether to adjust interest rates.

Crude oil futures rose above the $93 mark in overnight trading and were up to $93.53 a barrel at the close of exchange trading today, up $1.67 from Friday.

The price is a record in actual dollar terms and some analysts said the commodity is on a steady march toward toppling the inflation-adjusted high of $101.70 it set in April 1980.
“It’s an incredible run,” said Antoine Halff, head of energy research at Fimat in New York. “At this stage you’re kind of grappling for the signal that would start a reversal and it’s just not out there in the market.” - New York Times

A very good friend recently reminded me that all President’s take an oath on attaining the office to defend the Constitution. I’m wondering if the power brokers that be had had a higher goal to pledge allegiance too? Oil is not what our nation was built on. Far greater men have served in the office of President, I wonder if the next occupant will have the guts to chuck the bird at Wall Street and fight for the American people first over personal gain down the road. Yes I said PERSONAL GAIN! Check out Mr. Cheney’s net worth before being Vice President and now. No bid contracts have served him very well and he will not be worrying about the temperature setting in his house in Wyoming. Home is now a summer home for him and the Cheney family as long as the stock prices hold up.

Our nation was built on the principal that you could be anything they want to be. Pray and raise your children free from oppression. We raise our children to look for what is best in America and in many cases as a parent we walk them to the airplane or bus that will take them off to serve in our military. God bless them for serving but we need to look back at home once in a while instead of who bloodied who’s nose ten thousand miles from home.

Back to reality, my five girls are bunked down with blankets and comforters and whatever magical stuffed animals that helps them sleep. My thermostat is set at 65 because it is only October. Gas heat is following oil speculation, millions are being made off of that speculation in the markets and Hugo Chavez is waving his flag of cheap oil for northern states. Camelot is dead and it has been replaced by none other than a Wall Street broker calling out for higher prices while the child he passes on the street spent the night in a bed with the air temperature at just above freezing. This is only October.

What ever happened to being an American first over a capitalist? Watching the latest and greatest news does not bide well for the lower classes of America. Then again, heat is a relative thought if you have a home in the warmer climates and come back for the summers in the north. Isn’t that ironic.

Papamoka

Extreme Child Abuse in Mass

Picture courtesy of Boston Herald

I can not picture in my mind the horror of the child in this Boston Herald story. Put yourself in the mind of this child that is having her mind and body brutally abused by not her father but a boyfriend of her own mother. Then her mother does not report the abuse immediately on her own baby girl? That fact in the mind of this child must have screamed at the darkest part of the human psyche. Multiply it by one hundred in the mind of a child at the hands of an abusive monster that is her mothers boyfriend. Where was this child’s safe place during a time in her life that I am sure was a non stop abuse by this animal? Abuse does not go from zero to sixty to biting a child’s face off. That fact alone makes me wonder if their was a history in this case that the mother did not report as well?

This monster treated this child with such a disgusting act of aggression by biting off her entire upper lip that it was purely animal instinct by him. There is no reason on this earth that would justify such an act by an adult man against a child or any other human being. As an animal that he is I have no problem putting him down like they do dogs that harm people with the same aggressive behavior.

Doctor says bitten 3-year old essentially missing her top lip
By Associated Press
Wednesday, July 11, 2007 - Updated: 06:36 PM EST

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - A 3-year-old girl who was allegedly repeatedly bitten by her mother’s boyfriend is permanently disfigured and may have hearing loss, a doctor testified Wednesday.

Dr. Alice Newton, the medical director of the child protection team at Children’s Hospital in Boston, contacted child welfare officials after she examined the girl in May and found bite wounds. She said plastic surgery won’t be enough to make the girl’s lip look normal.

"She is essentially missing her top lip," Newton said during a dangerousness hearing Wednesday in New Bedford District Court. "I’ve never seen a child who is missing her upper lip. - Boston Herald

Vigilante justice is not the way to go but I think people need to know that scumbags like this animal are out there. Your neighbors kids may be at the hands of animals like this and I find it very hard to believe that friends and family never saw the fear in this child’s eyes around this man.

Would you rather drop a dime to the local social services agency to investigate suspected abuse or attend the funeral of a young baby at the hands of an animal like this creep? I would hope that people choose the former and drop a dime.

I can only pray for this child going forward as her life will be marked forever with the loss of her upper lip. Surgery is in this child’s future and hopefully the pain in her eyes and heart will fade over time. Her memory may fade but the abuse will never be forgotten in her mind.

Bryan James should get a life sentence, no other punishment is acceptable in my mind.

Papamoka

MySpace Vs ThemPerv’s

Educate your kids by clicking here Kids.gov

As the father of five very young daughters I first let out a cheer upon reading this piece that was in the Houston Chronicle today. If there is one type of American that I have no tolerance for it is sexual predators of our children. This kind of crime against children makes me sick to my stomach because most of the time the crime committed against the child is committed by someone that the child is related to or knows very closely.

Contrary to my mostly liberal mentality I firmly believe that castration or imprisonment for life is the only cure for this sick behavior on our nation’s children. You can call me a bad liberal but all it would take is one of these perverts to touch even one of my girls and I would be the parent in the courtroom going nuts when the guy walks away with a two year sentence for destroying my daughter’s life forever. Film at eleven and all the networks would cover it.
Here is what the Houston Chronicle had to say on this…

May 14, 2007, 12:40PM
MySpace asked to reveal sex offender information
By SAMUEL SPIES
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — Top law enforcement officers from seven states issued a letter to MySpace.com today, asking the social networking site to turn over the names of registered sex offenders who use the service.

The letter asks MySpace to provide information on how many registered sex offenders are using the site, and where they live. Attorneys general from North Carolina, Connecticut, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania signed the letter.

Law enforcement agencies have identified more than 200 cases nationwide of children "lured out of their home by predators they met on MySpace," North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said a written statement Monday.

In their letter, the attorneys general also asked that MySpace describe the steps it has taken to warn users about sex offenders and remove their profiles.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called the site a "virtual playground" for predators.

"That combination of sex offenders and children is a recipe for tragedy," Blumenthal said. -Houston Chronicle

I’ve had some time to think about the article and had a few thoughts as to where this also could lead. What avenues of interpretation does this type of request open up that can be abused by our internet providers at the request of so called defenders of the people from our government leaders? What is the Constitutional basis that would throw the request out of court? Is it your personal privacy that is being invaded if you have a MySpace account? How is MySpace to know who is a pervert and who is just a kid other than the “honesty” policy of reporting your age that is required by the site?

It makes me sick to say it but this is ultimately an invasion of personal privacy that can lead to further actions that will eventually lead to abuse of all internet users to make sure that everyone is a good worker bee. Credit rating to risky, banned from site x, y, and z. Employment history not up to snuff, banned from sites A, B, and C. Filed bankruptcy in the last ten years and you could possibly be banned from L, M, N, O and P web sites. If you have ever been charged with shop lifting then you can forget about buying jack on Amazon or Best Buy or any online vendor.

This whole scenario could be solved by parents knowing that the twelve year old in the house has a MySpace account and the parents have full access to it. One item that was lacking in the story in the Houston Chronicle was the question of where the hell were the parents of these 200 kids when they were lured out of their homes. MySpace needs parental control for children under the age of eighteen and the kids need to have their parent’s permission to have the right to log onto it. Knowing that Mom or Dad will be monitoring it and aware of contact to their children’s account with a simple automatic email to Mom or Dad’s personal email is just one fix.
The world of information is changing so fast and so many avenues open up every single day that our children can be abused or singled out as pray for a sick deviant and we need to make the system accountable in a logical way other than setting a precedent that will uphold in a court of law that can be sighted for more big brother watching over our shoulders. MySpace needs to clean up its own act to protect the kids using their software and parents need to be actively responsive to what programs their children are using on the family or personal computer.

As for perverts and pedophiles I’m still however in favor of Castration. That form of treatment seems logical and sends a message that is loud and clear to perverts and deviants everywhere. Pass a law saying that that will happen to convicted people concerning sexual crimes against children and the percentage of sexual crimes against children will drop over night!

Papamoka

This piece is cross posted at Bring It ON!

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