Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Put your hands down, go home, and change your shirt protesters

Lately the subject of cops and brutality/excessive force have been in the news a lot.  We have all seen the news clips of people ransacking their towns, setting cars and buildings on fire, stopping freeways, and laying in the middle of the street.  Some people protest in a non violent silent way, and some people are nothing short of wild animals.  Seeing a new demonstration every day made me really wonder if half these people even know what the hell they are doing, and if they really feel that the way they are doing it is going to change ANYTHING?  I answered my own question by honestly believing that no, most of them probably are jumping on a bandwagon faster than new Seahawk "fans" after their Super Bowl win last year.

The claims of police brutality and excessive force is nothing new.  However, it was thrown front line and center into the news after the appalling "witness" accounts of the death of Michael Brown.  Initial reports from "witnesses" claimed that a young black man was confronted by a white police officer, promptly put his hands up and without warrant was shot in the back multiple times while his hands were in the air.  OK fine, these were people who actually witnessed the event right?  So they MUST be telling the truth, right?  Based on their accounts, and policy of reviewing every officer involved shooting, and investigation was launched.  Finally, many months after the event, it was announced that the officer involved in the shooting, Darren Wilson, would not face murder charges.  This of course set people and the town (literally) on fire.  People started ransacking their OWN community like a bunch of idiots.  Robbing their own stores, setting their own buildings on fire, shooting into the air, screaming and yelling that black peoples lives don't matter.  Was that the truth?  In this case NOPE

Backing up a little if these people had dared to stop and listen to the FACTS they would have realized that this poor innocent guy, had just robbed a liquor store, been violent with the store owner, was then confronted by Officer Wilson, and then decided to attack the Officer in his car.  This chain of events is based on FACTS, video proof, autopsy proof, audio proof, ballistics proof, gun residue proof, etc.  Did that matter? NOPE.  What was the one FACT that these people needed to run around like animals?  The suspect was black and the cop was white. Period. End of story.

Do I agree that excessive force is used by cops sometimes? YES.  Do I believe that some cops may abuse their power sometimes? YES. Do I think that black people are profiled sometimes? YES.  Do I believe that in this situation protesters chose to ignore the facts and focus on race? YEP.  Do I believe that some of those same protesters had heard the evidence, knew he wasn't going to be indited, and showed up just to cause panic and get some free shit? YEP SURE DO, and you should believe that too.  Stop and think what would have happened had he been indited, or if he was EXPECTED to be indited.  Would all of those news vans been there?  Would there have been hundred of people waiting?  NOPE.  These people KNEW Michael Brown was in the wrong and chose to ignore it so they could have some fun, plain and simple.  His death was used as nothing more than an excuse to act like a bunch of assholes, and most of us fell for it by being glued to our TVs, because even WE knew that they were going to lose their minds, when the right decision was announced.  That is the power of the media.

I will say this, I'm tired of police getting a bad rap, I really am.  These people CHOOSE to go out there everyday, all day, on holidays, in turn missing their kids birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, etc. to protect us, and respond to your occasional bullshit calls.  When did we stop viewing police officers as people?  People that have families, and kids just like you?  People that watch Walking Dead and football, just like you?  People that play tea party, watch cartoons, and tuck their children into bed, just like you?  For people who "hate the police" maybe you should shut up and take a step back.  Shame on you for ridiculing them for doing a job you know nothing about, and don't have the balls to do yourself.  Stop doing stupid shit and you wont get arrested anymore, or pulled over, or searched, or whatever.  You don't like the police?  Fine, don't, but shut up and go home.  WE DON'T CARE ANYMORE.

And for the record, looting, setting things on fire, stopping traffic on freeways, lying in the middle of streets, coming out of the inflatable NFL tunnel with your hands up, and wearing T-Shirts, is not going to stop an officer from shooting someone threatening his chances of going home to his family.  So put your hands down, go home, and change your shirt already

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

My kids said "Mommy" 67 times yesterday

There always seems to be a competition among mothers that stay home versus moms that go to work.  Who does more, whats harder, whats better for the kids, blah blah blah.  This isn't about that, this is for the people who wonder just what stay at home moms do (when we aren't watching soaps and vegging out on the couch....of course).

I tell my husband every day that i swear I hear "mommy" over 100 times a day, and also feel that I repeat myself constantly.  I am also bombarded with strange questions that I'm not even sure how to answer, on top of multiple daily meltdowns.  I thought it would be interesting to see just how often my kids said the same thing, how often I said the same thing, and just what my day is really like, so I kept a log.  I didn't log the happy stuff, because, well that's just not as fun!

While I'm not going to sit here and write about every minute of my day, I thought the results of my log would be enjoyable to others, so here you go. 

Between my 3 kids the amount of times they said the following:

"Mommy":67
"Can we have a snack?: 15
"I'm thirsty": 7
"I want chocolate": 4
"I don't want that snack": 4 (see above for answer)
"I need help": 11
"NO! I GOT IT!": 6
"I'm trying!": 5
"What are we having for lunch?":4
"When are we having lunch?": 4
"When are we having dinner?": 5
"Whats for dinner?: 7
"Stop it!": 13
"Mine!": 15
"I don't want to share!": 11
"Gimme that!": 6
"I don't want to!": 6

I was also asked if the rain is the way people who live in the forest shower, and if I have ever heard of a singer named Weird Owl


Now this is the number of times I said the following:

"What/Yeah?": 67
"Don't touch the tree!":17
"Will you stop?": 10
"Enough": 7
"Stop": 14
"No": 22
"Be Nice": 14
"Guys please I'm on the phone": 4
"Stop screaming": 16
"Share": 11
"I said share": 11
"Don't go in my room": 3
"Get out of my room": 3
"Its not lunch time": 4
"Don't stand on that":3
"Pick up the Legos": 7
"I said pick up the Legos": 7
"Sit down": 13
"Don't run": 8
"Leave him alone": 6
"Leave her alone": 9
"Don't touch that": 8
"Get that out of your mouth": 5



Oh and there were also a total of 4 throw myself on the ground, slam my door, "Its not fair", screaming, crying tantrums.

5 if you count me

So if anyone ever asks you what you do all day, you can share this or keep your own log and watch their reaction