What's Happening Here?!?!

Ok, folks. Stuff like http://hotair.com/archives/2012/03/14/u-s-troops-asked-to-lay-down-weapons-before-meeting-panetta-at-afgh is starting to stick in my craw. Our military is entitled to its own level of respect, regardless whether Panetta is there. What does this suggest to the world? That we're no better, nor more honorable, than them? Guess what! Next gradbaby, due toward the end of July, is officially a boy! If you're up to it, I'll share THE definitive ultrasound. I'm posting this from the iPad. Let's see how (if!) the link comes out.

The U.N and International Women's Celebration -- I Think They Misunderstood the Basic Concept

As Chicks on the Right say, "GAWD."

I mean, seriously.

Seriously?

Feed the Children?

First authorized in 2010 by President Barack Obama, financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and administered by the Louisiana Department of Education, a new program has been initiated in New Orleans that provides evening meals to local school children from low-income families. The balanced meals are prepared by Second Harvest and served at seven sites, including three after-school programs, in "at risk" areas at a cost of $2.72 per meal.  A recent article in the Times-Picayune describes the program which hopes to serve 1,200 children by the end of the school year.

The article also recounts a few troubling things, some of which concern me a little bit, too.

Don't get me wrong -- I have no problem contributing to the nutrition of children and families in need.  The private sector does a pretty good job of addressing the problem -- Second Harvest is among that number, and we have regularly contributed to help it stay afloat.  We did the same for Potluck while living in Little Rock.  Public schools have done fairly well with breakfast and lunch programs, too, with glaring exceptions such as the recent North Carolina Nazi Food Police, and the ketchup-as-vegetable debacle, among other things. And, I understand and recognize that there is genuine hunger out there, even in these United States.  But . . . .

But.  One of the children featured in the article, 9 year-old Lawrence, is said to have a full belly at 6:00 when his mother picks him up now from his after-school program instead of a growling one.  An active 9 year-old boy could be hungry at 6:00 in the evening?  Well, duh!

Did Lawrence's family not have enough money to buy food and prepare it at home?  The article suggests that the family was perfectly capable of feeding itself:

Sometimes his dad would be cooking a pot of something at home.  If his father was working late at Lowe's, they might grab fast food.

But, now there's no nightly rush to feed Lawrence.  Between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m., he and the 50 other children at the North Rampart Community Center sit down and eat a healthy meal, complete with fresh fruit.

There's no need to tend to one's child's needs.  The government will see to that.  And, the government will determine what, where, and when the children will eat.

And, what about the impact of this program on families?  Even a principal at one of the schools was concerned about detracting from family time around the dinner table engendered by the program.  She abandoned that concern, however, when she realized that few families at her school actually shared evening meals at home together, "recounting overheard conversations between students and parents, debating whether to stop at McDonald's or Burger King on the way home."

What?!? They couldn't sit down together at a fast food joint and have a family meal?  Or take the fast food home and share it along with conversation about their day?  Fast food every day isn't the best way to eat, but it's certainly a way when time is short.

So, it appears that the overarching concern here is not actual, debilitating hunger, or the significance of the nuclear family -- it  appears to be all about what goes into the family's mouth.  And government needs to make that decision.  And the taxpayer needs to foot the bill.

Not only does the government have an aching need to tell us what to eat, this program also models to children that they can rely on the government to tend to their "needs," wherever.  That same concerned principal who was won over to the feeding program noticed that at least one-third of the students take the meals home.  There is speculation that maybe the meal is taken home to eat with the family, or to give to Grandma, or for Dad's lunch at work the next day. 

Huh?!?

The meals are intended for children, to help them be better prepared to learn by not suffering from the effects of poor nutrition.  And those children see those meals going to adults elsewhere?  What does this teach them?  How are they being conditioned to rely on the government as they age?

What does it teach them about following rules?  Or about gaming the system.

Another well-intentioned Progressive plan gone awry.

I'm beyond angry -- I'm afraid. I'm just afraid.

Bad Defense! Bad Bounty Scheme!

Yeah.  I'm just a big ol' sucker, too.

And, if the management doesn't want to see a total fan rebellion on their hands, they had better get off the pot and sign Drew Brees because even an adorable, hang-dog expression won't be able to save them if they let him go.

Got that, Saints management?!?!

If You Meet a Guy Named John Connor . . .

So, this weird new Posting screen appeared today.  I think the machines are taking over -- be on the lookout for Skynet. 

I'm going to try to ignore it.

Moogie 1, Thieves 0!

Ah ha!!!  Victory over the thugs is mine!!

Remember when we discovered the theft of our lawn mower (and other stuff) from our garage after Thanksgiving?  Remember how I bought padlocks and heavy chains to reinforce the gate closures?

They worked!

Since Pepper has been out of town for a few days, the Bouie-poop-walk duty has fallen to me.  As we rounded the corner and approached the gate on the side street this morning, I noticed the gate to the back courtyard looked a little whoppy-jawed (translation for those not fluent in Southern: misaligned; crooked; off-center).  Sure enough, upon closer observation, I found the tongue was out of its little slot, meaning that someone had tried to unlatch the gate, to-wit:

And, this time the miscreant thief couldn't simply reach over to unlatch the clasp!  The padlock held! 

Ah, the smell of victory over reprobates is sweet indeed!  But, it's also a little creepy to know that someone was trying to gain access to the yard while Pepper was gone and I was here alone.  Fortunately, I am armed with both weapons and a large black dog who loves me.  He loves to squish plants in the sun, too. 

Nonetheless, I'm glad Pepper comes home tonight.

This has been the strangest winter -- it never got cold enough, for long enough, to kill my potted jalapeno plant, and now it has set five flowers!  And last year's petunia just went a little dormant and has now exploded in purple blossoms!  It was just too mild to kill the annuals, I suppose, except for the basil, whose remains you see beside the pepper plant.

Or, maybe I've become a magical gardener.  Yeah -- I'll go with that.  I'm magical. 

You'd best beware Moogie the Magical, thieving scum, or I'll transform you into the literal slime that you are and deliver you up to Obama's algae-based energy experiments!  At least there you'll be among your own kind, and potentially productive, instead of just another leeching wart on the nose of society.

There.  I feel better.  Can you tell I overdosed on Harry Potter movies this weekend?
          

Random Saturday Thoughts

It's a blustery, chilly day here in New Orleans.  Yesterday my ensemble included capri pants and flipflops while today it features a sweatshirt and Uggs!  Pepper's out of town doing a speaking engagement, so I figure this is a pretty good time to be worthless, catch up on my blogstalking, and maybe curl up on the couch with Bouie and a good movie.  I can be productive another day.

But, before I sink into a luxurious, hedonistic stupor punctuated with cocktails and barbecued ribs, I'd like to share a few things that have caught my eye lately.

New Orleans experienced an officer-involved shooting following a routine traffic stop a few days ago.  Two cops suffered critical gunshot wounds, the driver of the stopped car (a Mr. Sipps) was injured, and his passenger (also his younger brother) was killed by returned fire.  An internal investigation is, of course, underway with the assistance of federal agents.  The NAACP is demanding that an independent investigation be conducted by federal authorities with no connection to the region.  This might not be such a bad idea, considering the NOPD's poor showing of internal housekeeping since Katrina.  Anyway, in today's Times-Picayune, an attorney for one of the officers was sort of quoted, one would assume to pre-rebut an allegation of racial animus as a motivation for the stop/shooting, as follows (there are no quotation marks, and I'm not really sure what that means in today's journalism -- is it a direct quote, or is it something the "staff writer" would have liked the speaker to have said?):

[Officer] Giroir also wasn't aware of the Sipps' race -- they are black -- because he couldn't see them in the darkness of the early morning hour, he said.

Huh?  Wha. . . ??  Does anyone else think that perhaps Officer Giroir's attorney kinda stepped in it there?  *sigh*

Then, there is this take on racism and presidential wordsmithing:

And there is this:

I'm getting a bad feeling about this election.  And the future.  Maybe the Mayans were right.

Sorry.  Doom and gloom, Part Deux, is over now.

On to the couch!