Ya know... I really love this song!
I mean... great tune... rhythm... mainly cute lyrics...
(*SIGH*)
"Mainly..." Yep... that's the problem.
Why do they have to throw the "F" word in? Is it just because they're animals...???
And what's with "We walk these streets like we don't care, our middle fingers in the air..."?
(*SHRUG*)
Have you ever heard of Hannah Arendt? If not, don't sweat it, chances are you're familiar with the celebrated phrase she coined - "The Banality of Evil."
Is crassness evil? No. Am I the guy you'd expect to wag a finger at young Mr. McCoy for glorifying "partying?"
(*GUFFAW*)
* Remember, though, kids... say YES to alcohol... NO to drugs...!!!
So... back to my "critique" of a song I actually love bopping to...
Am I just becoming a crotchety old man...? I mean... let's face it... I went through a "Dead Kennedys" phase when I was young! (And certainly a number of my favorite "Irish tunes" feature variations on "The F Word" of one sort or another...
(*SHRUG*)
Is it the tattoos...??? (I'm not a tattoo fan...!)
Could it be race...???
Hmm...
Nope. Replay the video. It's not "race;" it's generation... it's the "scene" - the "club scene" vibe. Style over substance? Perhaps. I just don't "connect" with any of the people in the video... which brings us back to the odds being I'm simply becoming a crotchety old man!
But, no.... it's not just that... it's not just that equating "toast it up" with "getting drunk" offends my double standard of "yes to alcohol, no to drugs"... it's not just the tats... it's not just the clothes or the apparent lack of personal hygiene...
(*PURSED LIPS*)
I suppose what it gets to me is my perception of the attitude. I look at the crew on the video and I think to myself, "geezus... this is our country's present... our future... these friggin' waste cases...?!?!"
I know... I know... it's a music video! Why am I deconstructing it?!
Answer: Because I'm living in the Age of Obama.
In "my" America we played hard... but we worked hard. If we stayed up all night partying come morning we still attended school... reported to work... we did what we had to do.
The message I get from the McCoy video is nothing matters but "play." The message I'd rather see is that "play" is the reward for work.
Anyway... a bit of rambling from yours truly; me talking to myself out loud!
Any thoughts from any of you? Do any of you feel the same... react in a similar fashion?
I'm not sure how well I've articulated my thoughts here, but that's ok.
(*WINK*)
Just... umm... letting it all hang out!
5 comments:
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/06/05/dept-of-homeland-security-laptops-phones-can-be-searched-based-on-hunches/
U.S. border agents should continue to be allowed to search a traveler’s laptop, cellphone or other electronic device and keep copies of any data on them based on no more than a hunch, according to an internal Homeland Security Department study.
* AMERIKA...
* FOLKS... DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS HAPPENING... THAT THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON...??? (I DIDN'T!)
The 23-page report, obtained by The Associated Press and the American Civil Liberties Union under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, provides a rare glimpse of the Obama administration’s thinking on the long-standing but controversial practice of border agents and immigration officers searching and in some cases holding for weeks or months the digital devices of anyone trying to enter the U.S.
* NOPE... I'VE ALRADY READ AHEAD... THEY'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT FOREIGNERS - THEY'RE TALKING "ANYONE" - INCLUDING U.S. CITIZENS RETURNING HOME FROM TRIPS ABROAD.
Since his election, President Barack Obama has taken an expansive view of legal authorities in the name of national security, asserting that he can order the deaths of U.S. citizens abroad who are suspected of terrorism without involvement by courts, investigate reporters as criminals and — in this case — read and copy the contents of computers carried by U.S. travelers without a good reason to suspect wrongdoing.
* RE-READ THAT PARAGRAPH UP ABOVE... RE-READ IT A FEW TIMES...
The DHS study, dated December 2011, said the border searches do not violate the First or Fourth amendments, which prohibit restrictions on speech and unreasonable searches and seizures.
* THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA - I OPPOSED ITS CREATION IN THE FIRST PLACE. I PROPOSE DHS BE DISMANTLED... DONE AWAY WITH.
The Homeland Security report was prepared by its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
* CAN YOU SPELL I*R*O*N*Y...???
The U.S. government has always maintained that anything a person carries across the border — a backpack, a laptop, or anything hidden in a person’s body — is fair game to be searched as a means of keeping drugs, child pornography and other dangerous goods out of the country, and to enforce import laws. But as more Americans enter the U.S. with sophisticated computers, thumb drives, smart-phones, cameras and other electronic devices that hold vast amounts of information about who they are and how they conduct business, privacy rights advocates have pressed for more checks on such authority, particularly if digital files are copied and shared with other federal agencies, such as the FBI.
* IT'S A BRIDGE TOO FAR! OBVIOUSLY! AT LEAST OBVIOUSLY TO ANYONE WHO CARES TO LIVE IN AMERICA vs. "AMERIKA."
Since the 2011 report, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has objected to searching electronic devices without reasonable suspicion.
* I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ALLIED WITH THE 9TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS ON THIS... BUT I AM!
“A person’s digital life ought not be hijacked simply by crossing a border,” Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote for the appeals court majority in March.
(*NOD*)
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/leon-panetta-seal-leak-92263.html
Former CIA Director Leon Panetta revealed the name of the Navy SEAL unit that carried out the Osama bin Laden raid and named the unit’s ground commander at a 2011 ceremony attended by “Zero Dark Thirty” filmmaker Mark Boal, according to a draft Pentagon inspector general’s report obtained by a watchdog group.
* GEEZUS...
Panetta also disclosed classified information designated as “top secret” and “secret” during his presentation at the CIA awards ceremony, says the draft IG report published Wednesday by the Project on Government Oversight.
* FOLKS... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
The report does not make clear whether Panetta was aware that Boal was present at the ceremony, held under a tent at the CIA complex on June 24, 2011. “Approximately 1,300” people from the military and the intelligence community were on hand for the event, according to a CIA press release issued the following week.
* WHO THE FUCK CARES IF HE KNEW IT OR NOT...?!?! UNLESS HE KNEW EVERY PERSON IN EARSHOT HAD THE APPROPRIATE SECURITY CLEARANCE THE ONUS WAS ON HIM TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT!
The disclosure of the IG report could complicate the Obama administration’s claims that senior officials have not leaked classified information.
* COMPLICATE...?! COMPLICATE...?!?!
The release of the findings in the draft report also raises questions about why the findings have been under wraps for so long and which of the document’s conclusions were known to White House officials prior to last November’s election.
* FOLKS... COM'ON... OBAMA PROBABLY KNEW FROM DAY FUCKING ONE!
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who requested the inspector general’s review, said he was disturbed by the report’s findings and by the delays in its official release. “It does raise issues about a lack of security at the CIA and at DoD,” King told POLITICO on Wednesday. “The most important issue right now is why this report was held back for so long. Inspectors general are supposed to be independent. It’s the integrity of the process. … It’s important to know where that pressure [to withhold it] was coming from.”
* NOT THAT ANYONE NEEDS ANY LESSONS IN INTEGRITY FROM PETER FUCKING KING... BUT IN THIS CASE HE'S ABSOPOSITIVELY RIGHT...
King said he still had no official notification about the report but heard that it had been completed some time ago. “I’ve been hearing at least since January that this report was final and that it could affect some high-ranking people, some high-ranking officials,” he said.
* FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... WE'VE TOTALLY LOST CONTROL OF THIS COUNTRY. THERE IS NO EFFECTIVE RESTRAINT UPON THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH.
A spokeswoman for the inspector general’s office did not provide a reason for the delay.
(*SMIRK*)
DoD has been without a confirmed inspector general since December 2011.
* SINCE DECEMBER 2012...???
* AS IN OVER 15 MONTHS...?!?!
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/06/house-talks-on-immigration-reform-near-collapse/
Bipartisan meetings in the House of Representatives on a comprehensive immigration reform bill have failed, and the congressmen will meet for the last time today without reaching an agreement on a House bill, ABC News has learned.
The stumbling block is GOP insistence that newly legalized workers now working in the shadows have no access to government-sponsored health care during their 15-year pathway to citizenship, according to two sources with access to the secret house “Gang of 8″ meetings.
* AGAIN, FOLKS, REGARDLESS OF WHAT ONE THINKS OF THE REPUBLICAN POSITION... THE COURTS WOULD NEVER ALLOW A TWO-TIER SYSTEM POST-AMNESTY. (I'M TELLING YA...!)
Democrats say that since these newly legalized immigrants would be paying taxes they should be eligible for benefits.
* AND OF COURSE THEIR TAXES PAID WOULD COME NOWHERE CLOSE TO MATCHING GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES GOING TO THEM IN DIRECT AID AND SUBSIDIES! (THE DEMS SIMPLY DON'T CARE...)
The stalemate is not expected to be solved and any immigration legislation from the House would likely proceed in piecemeal fashion.
This latest development represents a huge blow to immigration reform advocates because the House is likely to pass several smaller bills that address immigration reform, but would not include a pathway to citizenship. It creates a much longer and arduous legislative road to a bill President Obama would be willing to sign.
* FOLKS... AS USUAL THE NEWS MEDIA HAS IT EXACTLY WRONG. THE GOAL SHOULD BE A SERIES OF BILLS WHICH ALL OF US COULD UNDERSTAND FOR OURSELVES - NEVER MIND OUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS UNDERSTANDING THEM BEFORE THEY VOTE YEA OR NAY!
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/sarah-murnaghan-lung-transplant-ruling-kathleen-sebelius-92299.html
A federal judge has ordered HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to allow Sarah Murnaghan, a 10 year old in Pennsylvania dying of cystic fibrosis, to be moved to the adult lung transplant list.
* UNDER WHAT AUTHORITY...??? THIS IS INSANE! THIS IS NAKED ABUSE OF POWER! AS FAR AS I KNOW, NO ONE HAS CHALLENGED THE LOGIC OF THE TRANSPLANT RULE. UNTIL SOMEONE DOES... THE SYSTEM SHOULD REMAIN AS IS.
* FOLKS... I'M NOT SAYING THE SYSTEM IS PERFECT... I'M SIMPLY SAYING THAT NO SINGLE JUDGE SHOULD HAVE THE POWER TO INTERFERE BASING HIS RULING SOLELY UPON AN INDIVIDUAL CASE PRESENTLY IN THE HEADLINES.
Normally federal policy prevents children younger than 12 from receiving donated adult lungs, but Sebelius has been under pressure to change the policy.
* AND AGAIN... AS FAR AS I KNOW... THERE ARE DAMN GOOD REASONS WHY FEDERAL POLICY PREVENTS CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN 12 FROM RECEIVING DONATED ADULT LUNGS!
The parents of the girl asked the judge on Wednesday to order Sebelius to alter organ donation rules so that the dying child has a better chance of receiving new lungs. They say she is running out of time. U.S.District Judge Michael Baylson granted a temporary restraining order to exempt Murnaghan from the current policy, and there will be a hearing on June 14.
Sebelius has come under intense pressure in this case, which is receiving media and online attention. Some medical ethicists, however, say that while the organ allocation policy may well need to be reviewed and changed, they worry about making case-by-case decisions based in part on emotional media attention.
* EXACTLY!
Some GOP congressmen have also joined the fray, quite literally “begging” Sebelius to intervene and save the girl’s life.
* HOW SOON THESE MORONS FORGET... (*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)... TWO WORDS: TERRI SCHIAVO.
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Both Pennsylvania senators — a Democrat and a Republican — have also written on the child’s behalf.
* AND WHAT OF THE PERSON WHO GETS BUMPED OFF THE LIST BY MURNAGHAN...???
“I’m begging you,” Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) told Sebelius at a House hearing this week, asking her to suspend the transplant rules until they can be revisited. “Sarah has three to five weeks to live. Time is running out.” The child has cystic fibrosis.
* AND HOW MANY TIMES PRIOR TO THIS HAS BARLETTA VOICED TO "REVISIST" TRANSPLANT RULES...? HMM...???
At the hearing, Sebelius called the situation “agonizing” and said she had talked to the girl’s mother. She has ordered a review of the policy, which she acknowledged would take too long to have any impact on this girl’s situation but said it wasn’t her place to pick and choose transplant recipients.
* AND... SHE'S... RIGHT...! (GOD HELP ME... BUT SHE'S RIGHT...!!!)
“I can’t imagine anything worse than one individual getting to pick who lives and who dies,” she said. Sebelius said putting Sarah next in line would disadvantage other young people who have also been waiting for transplants — including three in the same area. Helping one child could possibly hurt another.
Some experts agree that the lung allocation policy may need to be revisited; the policy for kidney and liver transplants has been. But they say no snap decisions should be made because of the media glare.
(*NOD*)
“Should Sebelius step in and do something? No. She doesn’t have all the facts,” said New York University bioethicist Arthur Caplan. Acting under pressure from a media savvy family “or the noisiest person in line” is bad policy, he added.
* YEP... (*PURSED LIPS*)
Transplant policy in the U.S. is made and administered by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network working with the United Network for Organ Sharing under contract with HHS. The issue is inherently charged and complex because there aren’t enough organs for everyone who needs them, and people do die waiting.
While Sebelius can certainly order a policy review, as she did in a May 31 letter to the procurement network, her authority to intervene in a specific case is unclear.
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) told Sebelius that “[i]t simply takes your signature” to help this child.
* WITH ALL DUE RESPECT... SHOW ME THE LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE BACKING UP YOUR CONTENTION, CONGRESSMAN.
Setting transplant policy is complicated. OPTN has expert committees that draft proposals and submit them for public comment. Approved policies are subject to the secretary’s discretion of enforcement or reconsideration, according to a summary of the regulations by OPTN.
* OK... SO MAYBE PRICE IS RIGHT...
The policy that the Murnaghans and their advocates are questioning is one that puts children younger than 12 at the bottom of the waiting list for lungs from adult donors. Young children would be first in line for lungs donated by kids of similar age. But far fewer of those are available.
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