Leave Santa Be!

Is nothing sacred?  How could anyone spend $200,000 of their own money to self publish their own edited version of The Night Before Christmas in hopes of sparing children and their parents from the ravages of smoking?

Well, a lady from British Columbia felt obligated.  The offending passage, of course,  are the lines, "The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth. And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath." She eliminated them in her version.

One woman's revisionist history of a Christmas classic. She even credited it as being from Santa for the benefit of 21st century kids! She went even further claiming all that smoking business was behind him and that his fur trim was faux out of respect for the animals.  Oh, please. what's next?  His weight?  What a way to ruin a story. Why bother with Santa at all?  Or is that her intent?

It's hard for me to believe two lines in a poem are going to have the kids it's aimed at thinking, wow, smoking is soooo cool.  I think I'll light up!  She claims they don't have the same Santa filters as the rest of us.  Do you suppose it's because they don't need them?  Does anyone?

She claims that three year olds look at him as a real person coming down the chimney and that he's smoking.  A three year old is going to note he's smoking?  I know kids are getting smarter at earlier ages these days, but three?  I don't think so.  If the did, however, they'd probably be thinking about pot rather than pipes.  By the way, I love the smell of a pipe.  My Dad smoked one.  It didn't kill him either.  And I never once thought about trying it myself.

On the other hand, perhaps she knows of what she speaks when she says that's how three year olds think.  She would appear to have about the same mentality.  My apologies to all the three year olds who might happen to read this.

Forget The Handbook!

We have long known of the cultural divide between ourselves and the Afghans.  We've tried for decades to bridge it in our efforts to make the Afghans self sufficient against intruders, including ourselves.  I cannot help but wonder why.

President Karzai is quick to take us to task for our efforts.  I've complained about it for what seems an eternity.  Beyond that we get killed by those we train.  It's blamed on that cultural divide.

So what to do to make us more sensitive?  Produce a handbook for ready reference.  It is in the process of being reviewed for good reason.   The Wall Street Journal suggests there are some problems that should not be swept under the rug.  Never.  Ever.

Sure, I understand the Afghans might resent being considered gutless in combat and basically stupid.  After all, they are an uneducated lot.  I can even understand their resentment for having been found out for having colluded with and formed alliances with the enemies.  Whichever side does the best job of buttering their bread I would guess.

Such must be fairly common between cultures as different as our when being forced to work together when the will isn't there.  But it gets worse.  Far worse.  There is a list of taboo subjects like making disparaging remarks about the Taliban,  criticising  Afghans and just about anything Islam.  That too is to be expected.

But it gets worse.  Far worse.  Nix advocating women's rights.  Check.  Do not mention homosexual conduct.  What?  Do not criticise in any way, shape or form pedophilia.  WHAT?

That our soldiers are often solicited by Afghans for homosexual activity seems a bit off the Islamic path, but I guess you are what you are.  Bold though, don't you think?  What would happen if a GI accepted?

Worse though, is the wide spread practice of pedophilia.  Especially among the Pashtuns of whom Karzai is one.  Is his constant criticism of us an attempt to divert attention from these practices?  Too late.  It's out there.

They have gone so far as to defend it by claiming it's their segregation from women.  Whose fault is that? Their economy is bad and marriage is expensive.  If their President wasn't squirreling away our aid perhaps the economy would be better.  Then there is the romantic Islamic poetry that speaks to their infatuation with young boys.

We put up with an awful lot from the Afghans.  Their treatment of women and girls has garnered most of the headlines.  Now we must include the boys and the despicable  embracing of pedophilia.

I don't agree with President Obama about much.  I do agree with the withdrawal of our troops but it's imperative to bring all of them home.  Don't leave any behind.  Withdraw all financial aid. Let the Afghans fend for themselves and let the chips fall where they may.

We don't tolerate pedophilia among our priests.  We don't tolerate pedophilia by a football coach.  How can we in good conscience tolerate it in an entire culture?  Can we allow ourselves to be that hypocritical all in the name of a cultural divide?

Get A Grip!

Okay.  While I'm being politically incorrect by not sympathizing with the hefty girls in my previous post, I'm going to get myself into hot water again.

This time it's accusing tennis player Caroline Wozniacki of being "racist" because she had some fun with her friend's, Serena Williams, ample physical attributes.

Please.  Even the men have fun with Serena yet no one has accused them of being racist. The two women are friends.  I cannot imagine Ms. Wozniacki even thinking of doing this if they weren't!  White or black! And impersonations are not an uncommon occurrence at exhibition matches of which this was one being played in Brazil.  Ms. Williams even got into the spirit of it by wondering if they made bikinis in Brazil that could accommodate her.

To some, though, because Ms. Williams is black, it must be racist. Feministing , a feminist blog staffed by young women who seem to feel very put upon had this to say,

"Given the history and current day context of racialized standards of beauty and the hypersexualization of people of color, when a white woman makes fun of a black woman's body, especially in a way that hypersexualizes her and draws on the stereotype of black women's big butts, it's racist."

Whoa there.  Give me some time to translate that into understandable English! I can't tell you how many times I've read through it and am still trying to make sense of it.  Who talks like that?  Or thinks like that?  Oh, yeah, why didn't they include her boobs?  Or is it only an issue of butts?

They went on to suggest Ms. Wozniacki read up on one Saartjie Baartman,  a South African woman who bore the characteristics of the Khosians, a major ethnic group in that region. She was duped into traveling to England then with another owner on to France where she was mercilessly exploited.  This was back in the 1700s!

Granted, this woman's story is grim and a good example of man's inhumanity to man.  However, I seriously doubt that any of the touring tennis pros ever heard of her.  Nor do I believe Ms. Wozniacki's spoof had anything to do with exploitation.  It was meant to be fun.  And it was funny.  The entire stadium was laughing.  Why some are bent on making an ugly issue out of anything that involves a person of color is a huge problem in this country and both blacks and whites do it.

I don't have the time nor the inclination to search for such references to try and humiliate anyone of the basis of race.  That, to me is far more racist, than what Ms. Wozniacki did.  Oh, by the way, I am white.  And I too have a rather ample posterior.  I suppose that makes me racist for having a part of my white body mock a person of color.  It makes about as much sense.

Victims Or A Lack Of Personal Responsibility?

This is the time of year when keeping ones weight in check is a constant struggle.  I know.  My metabolism has never been in sync with my appetite, especially when surrounded by delectable aromas.

We also live in an era of weight consciousness that has spread from New York City's ban on large sugary drinks to the First Lady's fight against  less than nutritional foods in schools.

When this story flashed across CNN last evening it caused me to do a double take.  It seems when an employee was entering the check for these ladies into the register he entered "1 guest, 1 fat girl".  Math skills are lacking too since there are three of them.  Never-the-less, the girls were mortified. Enough so that their story made the national news.  How did that happen?  Nothing like sharing your embarrassment with the world!

So what did they have to eat?  Just curious.  Each had a tri tip sandwich with fries, two had Cokes and one had a Sprite.  Not exactly your low cal spread but definitely something I would order on occasion.  Skip the fries though.  I don't particularly like them.

What caused my double take, however, is that they are fat!  That some unthinking young man might choose to take a poke at them doesn't surprise me though you'd think the dining establishment would have had better sensitivity training.

The ladies had 25% knocked off their check and the restaurant is deciding what to do with the young man who erred. But what about those ladies? If they are as sensitive about their weight as they seem to be, there are ways to combat it.  Tri tips and fries isn't one of them.

And too, if they are as sensitive about their weight as they'd like us to believe, why put themselves in front of the entire world.  This is CNN after all.

Yes, the young man did wrong.  He offended the ladies.  But you know what? Looking at the three of them making such a fuss about it in the media is something I find even more offensive.

I don't think this is what is supposed to be meant by "living off the fat of the land".

It's Nothing Personal

Have you ever wondered just how much influence you have in this world?  Based on a scale of one to ten, what do you think?  Is it even important?  To some, apparently very.

I may be delusional when it comes to my politics, but I'm not when it comes to influence.  It's zip, zero, nada.  Maybe at one time with my dog, but even then only when he felt so inclined or wanted something.

Knowing that, Lucy Kellaway's  column in Monday's Financial Times caught my eye.  She was going on about something called Klout and that Justin Bieber had it and she didn't.  Being one of my favorite columnists, I read on.

I must say, this is taking social networking to new heights.  I, along with Ms. Kellaway, am not sure I want anything Justin Beiber might have - unless it's his money.  So I went exploring.

Klout, it would seem, analyzes all the social networking sites to which you belong and gives you a number.  Lucy's was a lowly ten.  I figured I wouldn't even register, but alas I too had a ten.  I guess I belong to enough social networking sites like Facebook, You Tube and LinkedIn to have moved the needle if only slightly.

It's an interesting algorithm because I'm not active on anything but Facebook and there it's minimal. I have less than 100 friends, having unfriended many who I had because of a game and others I unfriended because I wasn't particularly interested in their lives nor interested in having them know about mine.  Actually, my life is pretty mundane. Which is the reason  I read columns like Ms. Kellaway's. I'm transported vicariously to other worlds. Also, the fact that I don't have a Twitter account will probably preclude me from ever advancing.

Okay, these sites are all well and good for what they are.  Most people are learning that indiscretion can be devastating.  We know employers have been know to ask for Facebook passwords and a big oops has been the result.

On that basis I think this has really gone too far.  Since numbers of friends and likes don't seem to matter, what does?  And since your account can be 'Kloutsourced' it doesn't necessarily give a true picture of who you are and why you should be considered as having Klout!

What's troublesome about these faceless and fictitious interactions is that your employability could depend on it.  Ms.  Kellaway found some companies actually check these scores and won't hire anyone unless they have a score over forty.  According to the Harvard Business Review these 'influence quotients' are going to be consulted more and more as an aid in not only hiring, but promoting.  Wow.  I wonder if there's a formula in there for how much the information has been fudged!

I'm sure Ms. Kellaway's score has gone up since she penned her article.  I'm sure Hub doesn't have one and I'm sure mine will never change.  It's just one more unsubstantiated bit of information floating about the web.

But if you're looking for a job, or an employee,  I wish you well.  What you get may be no more than a figment of someones imagination.  You can be sure, I think, it's nothing personal!