Disappointed every time

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Friday July 15, 2011 · 4:37 AM PDT

2011/07/15 · 04:37

I'm disappointed every time I think of the way crime is handled in the country I was born in. Having spent my childhood in the US and adulthood (to now) in Germany, I look back once or twice a year at local papers not far from where I used to live. What I expect or hope to read is something about the Red River Revel, Peach Cobbler, the State Fair (where I took my first date in high school), or even pictures of long-lost friends. Instead, I get plastered with pictures of young people's mug shots. I don't want this diary to take up the matter of reflecting official statistics and absolutely depressing trends- in particulary, that your chances of going to jail sometime in your life for something in the "Land of the Free" is greater than anywhere else in the world. Instead, I just want to give a quick overview of my thoughts looking at the "Bossier Bookings" a few paragraphs down under "local news" (see above link).

FudgeFighter

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Friday August 27, 2010 · 3:23 PM PDT

2010/08/27 · 15:23

US expat here living in Germany. Two days ago I was riding my bike to the bank when a car pulled out right in front of me and I hit the brakes, flying over my handle bars and landing with my face right into the front side of the car. Since I was riding my bike in a lane only for bikes, it was immediately clear that I wasn't at fault. I distinctly remember what I was thinking in those first few tenths of a second, perhaps even before I'd hit the ground... it was: "Please, neck, please don't break". It didn't... and for that reason I was really lucky. On the other hand, of all the many thousands of people that driver could have hit that day she hit me so I guess luck is a matter of perspective.

People gathered around very quickly to help but there was one man in particular who called the ambulance and rubbed my scalp the entire time, asking me questions and stuff to keep me awake. I never passed out but I do remember getting sleepy and thinking to myself for a moment "Well, this wouldn't be such a bad place to take a nap"- which is funny when you consider I was lying flat on my back in the driveway of an ALDI grocery store :)

FudgeFighter

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Monday November 30, 2009 · 8:12 AM PST

2009/11/30 · 08:12

Dear FudgeFighter,

Please do not disappoint me. I, I mean you, have difficult decisions to make. Last year, when you first got Trusted User Status on DKos, I did everthing I could to support that. Now, I see you don't write diaries as often... and I am beginning to question that support.

I also notice you sometimes working bit too much instead of spending time with your family. Just look outside that window- great weather, huh? Put on your jogging shoes and go!

FudgeFighter

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Tuesday October 13, 2009 · 1:50 PM PDT

2009/10/13 · 13:50

There are a few interesting facts out today.

From the BBC

Restricting the availability of legal abortion does not appear to reduce the number of women trying to end unwanted pregnancies, a major report suggests.

That is certainly an interesting read. Get that crazy Repubs? Roe vs. Wade or no Roe vs. Wade- the number of abortions in the US should hover around the same value if global trends are anything to go by.

FudgeFighter

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Thursday September 10, 2009 · 3:51 AM PDT

2009/09/10 · 03:51

Now if someone's gut reaction to spotting a diary entitled "Thank you, Mr. President for Giving Us Change We Can Believe In!" were to immediately troll rate it into oblivion (regardless of whether the author actually is a "troll"), I think the noteworthy part of such an action would be that it probably says more about the person giving the donut rating's feelings (conscious or otherwise) towards the President, for ex., that he has not delivered satisfactorily on a few important promises made and thus can't see why anyone would ever give a diary such a title unless...

Therefore, with the above in mind, I ask dear readers to examine what follows and try to see how far YOU get before having second thoughts about recommending this diary.

Finally: don't click on any of the links until after you've read the diary to the end. That would spoil the fun.

Poll

6 votes Show Results

Idea Stolen from Sesame Street: One of these headlines does not belong. Can you guess? (stories taken from real headlines at one of the above links)

6 votes Vote Now!

Idea Stolen from Sesame Street: One of these headlines does not belong. Can you guess? (stories taken from real headlines at one of the above links)

Sweden allows same-sex marriage

0 votes

California backs gay marriage ban

2 votes

Greece sees first gay "marriage"

0 votes

Gay marriage around the globe

4 votes

I have no problem with not respecting a President

FudgeFighter

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Tuesday September 08, 2009 · 2:28 AM PDT

2009/09/08 · 02:28

In a dkos I-P diary, it was pointed out that it's much easier for Palestinians to accept that Israel can (and will continue) to exist as a nation than it is for them to admit that, all along, they had a legal right to exist which included and includes the right to evict them from their homelands. You can make someone tolerate you, for example by the use of force, but you can't necessarily make someone respect you.

Shock and awe is not respect. Note to Donald Rumsfeld: the "shock" at getting your eardrums blown out by a bomb landing in your neighbors front yard is not not a form of "respect", unless you equate fear with it, in which case you might as well just use the word "fear". This applies as much to the above as it does to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, seen through the eyes of the citizens of both countries.

In another recent diary on the reclist, we are told to respect the President. In that diary I wrote

I told my parents at the very start of the Iraq war that if Bush were to knock on my door, I'd tell him to get off my lawn. I don't have to respect a person just because he's the President.

Nevertheless, I see your point.

FudgeFighter

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Wednesday September 02, 2009 · 12:31 PM PDT

2009/09/02 · 12:31

I'm from the Deep South. When I was a kid, I had the craziest aunt who graduated from a Bible college and was constantly talking in "tongues" around me, my brother and my cousins. When our parents were off running errands, she would sit us on her lap, place her hand on our forehead and begin trying to cast the demons out us little tikes.

One trip I will always remember was when she took us to the movies to watch Gremlins (thinking it was some kind of Muppet show) and then had a parking lot conniption fit afterwards about how "evil" it was. It's a wonder she was still able to drive us home. Note: Apparently, my aunt wasn't the only one surprised by the movie: no one sums up the way people reacted to Gremlins better than the James Rolfe in his review.)

Now, I'm an atheist- have been ever since I was 17. It was a gradual process:

Poll

343 votes Show Results

I am an atheist/agnostic and was "converted" to atheism

343 votes Vote Now!

I am an atheist/agnostic and was "converted" to atheism

by listening to rational arguments put forward by other atheists, ex. Richard Dawkins

21 votes

by overly religious people and/or hypocrits in my own family / circle of friends / those I looked up to

70 votes

by listening to so-called "atheist music" (Marilyn Manson, etc.)

4 votes

by no one- it was me all along.

221 votes

pie

27 votes

Playground of War in Afghanistan: What are our Goals There?

FudgeFighter

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Tuesday August 25, 2009 · 6:57 AM PDT

2009/08/25 · 06:57

The people of Afghanistan grew up on a playground of war. You might be inclined to view the last sentence as a metaphor, however, considering that children will always try to play no matter what conditions prevail, it can just as easily be taken literally.

Now that that’s been said, let’s ask:

What exactly are the strategic objectives of the war in Afghanistan?

...to eliminate a group of people widely supported among large portions of the population? It can’t be done.
...to dominate a group of people? This is perhaps much easier but only in the short term and only while taking in high casualties.

... to stop a group of people from hating the West?

This can be done and we should be stating this as our one real goal- not endless war.

FudgeFighter

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Monday July 06, 2009 · 4:10 AM PDT

2009/07/06 · 04:10

I propose that, over time, only those versions of the Bible which were best suited for their environment at the time actually survived.

First there is the Sinaiticusan Age (note the date on the BBC article is from today), which contains the earliest fossil records of the Bible. The complete genetic Codex has now been put online thanks to a 165-year joint effort by countries Egypt, Russia, Germany and Britain!

This early ancestor of modern Bibles actually had two extra bones (Hermas and Barnabas) that are no longer in use today. No doubt, the anti-Semitic Barnabas bone apparently lost its usefulness over time and was replaced in function

Quoting from the last link (which was actually a link inside the first article).

Firstly, the Codex contains two extra books in the New Testament.

One is the little-known Shepherd of Hermas, written in Rome in the 2nd Century - the other, the Epistle of Barnabas. This goes out of its way to claim that it was the Jews, not the Romans, who killed Jesus, and is full of anti-Semitic kindling ready to be lit. "His blood be upon us," Barnabas has the Jews cry.

FudgeFighter

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Friday May 29, 2009 · 4:27 AM PDT

2009/05/29 · 04:27

By a large majority in the German Bundestag, the German government has voted to legalize the controlled administration of Diamorphine (an artificial form of Heroin) to anyone addicted to Heroin for more than five years.

Votes in favor: 348
Votes against: 198

In effect, the parliamentary groups consisting of the Social Democratic Party, the "Greens" (who are, in general, much more represented in parts of Europe than in the US) and the Linkspartei (party of the left) joined forces against the CDU (Christian Democratic Party to which Chancellor Merkel belongs).

Translating from Tagesschau.de

Es geht darum, Schwerstheroinabhängigen mit massiven Gesundheitsproblemen wieder eine Perspektive zu eröffnen", warb die SPD-Gesundheitsexpertin Carola Reimann für den Vorschlag

"What this all comes down to is re-opening perspectives for those with the worst addictions and massive health problems", the Social Democratic Party health expert Carola Reimann said in promoting the bill.

FudgeFighter

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Wednesday April 22, 2009 · 1:12 PM PDT

2009/04/22 · 13:12

Stem cell research / Assisted Suicide / Abortion / Legalized drugs ... the list goes on and on.

These issues are often approached and debated along moral and religious lines.

Religious: there is a God/ are gods and we should check to make sure what we do is coherent with certain teachings. Another variant is that our conscience is in fact God messaging to us.

Moral, "stronger" version: there are good and evil forces permeating the universe. In many cases, these entities are at war with one another. Note that this does not necessarily include the religious case above. For example, many people believe in Karma, etc.

Moral, "weaker" version: there is good and there is bad (and the ugly). We should strive to do what our conscience tells us primarily because we feel it is an integral part of us and is there for a reason. Put bluntly, if humans aren't humane, who will be?

FudgeFighter

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Thursday January 22, 2009 · 10:43 AM PST

2009/01/22 · 10:43

Apologies for the brevity of this diary and sorry if this has been diared before (I did a search of recent diaries). I found a BBC video of Moazzam Begg and a former guard sitting together talking quite rationally about their feelings on Guantanamo hard to believe.

Here's the link

It wasn't just that they were sitting together talking that was difficult to believe- it was also that they were, essentially, both in agreement. Three of the main points were:

It will be seen by many as "too little too late".

(Question: Do you think Guantanamo has radicalized them?) These people are just tired, they want to go home to their families and to children who they have in some cases never seen...

They had to pay the ultimate price because of a war that appears to have no aims or objectives.

I recommend watching the video if you haven't seen it yet.

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Disappointed every time

Socialist Medicine

An Open Letter to FudgeFighter from FudgeFighter

Marijuana, Abortion and Prison

Thank you, Mr. President!

I have no problem with not respecting a President

Calling All Atheists: Take the Poll

Playground of War in Afghanistan: What are our Goals There?

Evolution of the Bible

Germany's Drug Laws Just Changed

Why isn't this being debated right now?

Incredible Sight: Former Guantanamo Guard and Prisoner Speaking Together