Chutzpah to the Extreme

There is Chutzpah and then there is CHUTZPAH.

This guy, Al- Fatar King, owns a couple of Philadelphia Newsstands. He obviously didn't like competition, or his competitors locations, or just his competitors.

So he hired a crane to move those offending newsstands to other parts of the city. When the folks showed up for work, their place of employment was gone.

I bet every business owner wishes they could just move their competition to somewhere else!

Mr. King is a jerk. And he is also an idiot (he gave his real name to the crane company, who promptly point to Mr. King when the cops showed up). But, Damn!

Creepy, beyond all belief

I would seem that in Oklahoma, a 45 year old man is advertising for a bride. And he is willing to pay $1,000. Tacky, but creepy? Wait, it gets worse.

The "woman" in question is to be a virgin between the ages of 12-24.

--12? You ask? That must be a typo.

No, I answer. It is not a typo. Here is the story.

What kind of 45 year old would want a 12 year old wife? Michael Thelemann of Bray, OK, that's who. Neighbors think he is a pedophile, and I tend to agree. Mr. Thelemann doesn't understand, he said:

I'm just somebody who is getting up there in years, and I'm looking for a born-again, God-fearing virgin between the ages of 12 and 24 who can bear me children," said Thelemann, who was divorced in 1989. "What's the problem? I just think I have some wicked neighbors."

Google this creepaziod and you'll find over 120 news stories, but what concerns me is that no one is objecting to him "buying" a wife.

To him, a wife is nothing more than a commodity. From the ages, he is not looking for a partner, he is looking for a subordinate.

And what if he found this virginal, child bride? Who would get the money? I doubt she would! Wouldn't that be like paying the money to himself (as the head of his family)? I have a feeling he is looking to pay a parent. A parent who would sell their child in marriage.

And it is this attitude that upsets me. This is why we live in a rape culture. Biting Beaver has a great post on that subject, and I'm not going to repeat it. Follow the link and read it, if you care. I must warn, she is prone to hyperbole and doesn't have a shade of grey anywhere on her blog. I don't believe everything in that post is true all of the time, but I know all of it is true some of the time.

But whether you believe the rape culture surrounds us, or is just a small, insanely sick portion of society, the roots of this behavior is the belief that women can be bought and sold, or taken.

Doesn't matter if the man is paying a grand, buying dinner, or just the belief that being a man makes him in control of any woman he desires, it doesn't matter. It is attitudes like Mr. Thelemann's that it so damn dangerous for women.

I love bumper stickers

I'll admit it. I like to read bumper stickers. I like the fact that people put their opinions on their cars and drive around.

I like the funny ones.


I like the ones that make you think.











I like the ones that are just silly.








I like the ones that have good advice.
I have driven out of my way to follow a car, just so I could read the bumper sticker.




And I just found a new one that I love!

Oh yeah, she'll be annoyed

But what is a mother's job, if not to embarrass her child?

This year's skating pics:














Yeah, she will be seriously pissed at this.

Easter is the time for eggs, and eggs is the time for Easter

Easter, in our house at least, was a pleasant holiday. We went to my sister's house (which is also where my mother lives) in Ocean City, NJ. We got there Friday morning, and could not have planned for better weather. We walked the boardwalk and the beach, the kids went in the ocean (see my blog post about the kids and swimming out of season).

No hunting eggs, no dying eggs, the kids are too grown for that.

As sad as that seems, it was a relief for the adults. Even though I miss the holiday traditions with my daughter, we are forging new ones (swimming on Easter) and we keep some of the old ones (blowing up peeps in the microwave).

In the evening, we sat on the front porch and watched the sun set into the bay.

This was one of the best holidays I've had since becoming an adult.

Sick Days

This is what happens to my desk when I'm out sick:
















In case you can't see, that is 26 laptops for me to fix!

Like having the flu/bronchitis wasn't bad enough, I have to come back to 26 broken laptops.

Also, someone took the charger for my cell phone and the USB for my palm pilot. I guess I'm lucky my flat screen didn't walk.

Luckily, I could tell who was using my PC and what they downloaded (new wallpaper, a couple of joke programs that run on boot-up and a bunch of music that I don't like). Just wait for their vacations. Of course, that doesn't work for our assistants, because they don't have desks or cubicles.

I would complain to my boss, but he won't do anything. In fact, I think this is part of his attendance plan. Allow the monkeys to raid our cubes, then we think twice before taking off.