Scott's Case Files

My Office Space Life

Quoted from Office Space.  Welcome to the last few days for me:

Peter Gibbons: And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?
Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.
Bob Slydell: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it.

The only things that have kept me sane are the few Emails that I was able to exchange with my buddies, brainstorming future guys weekends, and knowing that my buddy Sasha is slowly feeling better.  Seriously.

Dark Dungeons

Wow.  All I can say (okay, not really) is...wow!

I ran across these "tracts" several years ago.  I was riding the bus and one was sitting on a seat, so I picked it up.  They're small pamphlets with cartoon-like drawings in them that purport to teach Christian values to those who are unknowingly following Satan.  What they amount to is a messed up propaganda that poses as Christian but is anything but.  I think it actually is an insult to the real Christians I know (those who follow the faith in a try your best to be a good person and love thy neighbor kind of way) and is in actuality just another hate rag.

I actually mentioned these a while ago in a Halloween post, but I'll bring it up again here.  I tripped upon this one completely by chance.  It's called Dark Dungeons (these things are put out by Chick Publications).  It is not only an insult to good Christians, but an insult to role-players (RPGers), Wiccans, and (I kid you not) anyone who loves rock n' roll.

Click on the continuation to read on about this tract...

Westboro Bastards

I was going to post this on my other blog, but this issue is really not about religion and all about mother fucking asshole pieces of shit.  Bear with me here...

The Westboro Baptist Church.  In the '90s they went to the funerals of AIDS victims and picketed.  Now they like to picket military funerals with signs and insults.  "Thank God for IEDs" (Improvised Explosive Device aka homemade bomb) is just one of their colorful signs.

The daughter of the church's leader, Fred Phelps, is quoted in THIS article as saying:

“The scriptures are crystal clear that when God sets out to punish a nation, it is with the sword. An IED is just a broken-up sword,” Phelps-Roper said. “Since that is his weapon of choice, our forum of choice has got to be a dead soldier’s funeral.”

A car is really a big kind of sword, so maybe they should picket deaths by car accident too?  (Please, note my utter sarcasm)

Kids In Cages - Follow-up

My intrepid readers may remember a post that I made a while back about an incident wherein it was discovered that a foster family was keeping their 11 children in wooden cages every night "to protect them from themselves and each other."  See that post HERE.

Well, they're back in the news as their hearing nears.  As of January 18th, there is the possibility that they can get custody of those children back with restrictions.  Add onto that they have not yet been charged criminally, though that's potentially on the horizon.  The full article is HERE.

Am I in frikkin' Bizarro World where nobody gets that these "parents" are screwed up, need to be put away in jail or committed, and that the children need to grow up in more able hands?  Am I the only one that sees that you aren't fit to be a parent if you take care of your kids by locking them in small wooden cages?  Does nobody else get it???  Are the authorities hooked on crack or something??

And, again, let me reiterate that if you feel that the only way to care for your kids IS to lock them in a cage, it's time to give custody of those children to people or agencies more able to deal with their situations.

I just don't get it...

Kids In Cages

Check out THIS sick story.  The summary is basically that a couple, the Gravelles, had a total of eleven children (most or all adopted) and nine of those were found by sheriffs confined to cages at night.  No blankets, no pillows, just a 3x3x3 wooden cage built into the wall for each of the kids ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old.  Alarms were affixed to each cage that would go off if any of the children tried to escape.  Each child is apparently "disabled" (the ambiguous term used in the article) and the parents saw nothing wrong with their treatment.  On the contrary, due to their disabilities, the cages were the only thing that would keep them safe from each other according to the parents.  I use the term "parents" in the purely legal sense as these sick, twisted fucking sadists aren't parents in any other form.

Here's the kicker: "The Gravelles have not been arrested."

Being PC Means No Halloween

Man, am I getting tired of Political Correctness. It's now even intruding on Halloween (and Halloween is my theme for this month after all) and it's just not right. Check out THIS article about a Washington State school that is cancelling their Halloween festivities because it may offend real witches.

Holy...crap.

Must This Happen EVERY Halloween??

Ya know, I'm REALLY sick and tired of hearing the righteous Christian outcry every Halloween. Really. Really. Tired. Guess what? It's not about Satan-worship or Druidic sacrifice. It's about kids of all ages having some fun, putting on a costume for a day, getting some goodies door-to-door, and maybe attending a cool party that may or may not include horror movie screenings. That's it. Realize that I'm not talking to the entire Christian community, just the fraction that puts out the utter crap that you'll read if you go into the continuation.

If you're going to read the continuation, as is usual for my real rants, get a tasty drink and a snack and settle in - it's a long one.

SOE Is Evil

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) along with Lucas Arts is the creator of the online MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) Star Wars Galaxies. Over a year ago now I bought the game with the intention of FINALLY getting immersed in the Star Wars universe along with players the world over. I soon found that I didn't like the way that Sony ran things and I got out of that game - they no longer get my twelve bucks a month.

I am not a business expert, but as a consumer there are some things that I know and recognize. I know when I'm being manipulated and screwed. The incident that occured recently due to a credit "duping" exploit pushed my opinion of SOE over the edge and into the deep, dark chasm below...

My Favorite Troop In Harm's Way

Just a few days ago, the local news reported that a female soldier with the Army National Guard in Iraq was killed just four days before leave. They also stated the city her family lived in, so I knew it wasn't My Favorite Troop. Still, it hit close to home. I then found out how close my friend had actually come - this soldier that had died was on her way to relieve my friend when she was killed. My friend had been a step away from death this time.

Even knowing this, I still stick to my opinion that overthrowing the Iraqi government was a good thing for their people and for the world. Some evil shit went on there and the change, though painful, is for the better. American military troops know that they serve with the possibility of death and in the end they realize that they could die serving the greater good. Some of our forces will die...but many more lives will be saved and will be allowed to prosper. As fucked up as it may be to say, even if my friend died I would not change my opinion about the good that will come of our military's presence there.

There is some screwed up stuff happening with her that ticks me off to no end!! Let me elaborate...

KKK Reforms...But Still Just Racists In Different Sheets

I just got done reading this article that I found on Fark.com and found it both amusing and infuriating. I'm looking to start off in a more standard fashion and then trip into a rant...we'll see.

First the amusing part. For years it's been my joke that you'd think after 150 years or so of existence that the KKK would come up with better PR. If you see them on any show or even a picture in an article, it's always of an overweight hillbilly with missing teeth in a sheet spewing some ignorant and baseless racist propaganda. How do these people expect to be taken seriously in today's society? That same act might have worked in the post Civil War era but today it's simply laughable. I mean, if I were to see a KKK Grand Wizard wearing a three-piece suit or even a skinhead done up in something nice and speaking in coherent sentences, the philosopher in me would at least sit down and listen to what they had to say. Apparently, according to the article, they've taken my advice and are going for the PR upgrade.

Now the infuriating part. They're still just racists looking to spread a message of "white power" which debases anyone of a different ethnic background as less than human...or less than "perfect" to be more accurate. The sad thing, as I've stated above, is that they may be learning to spread their message more effectively. It sounds pretty comical to hear that they want to use titles such as CEO instead of Grand Wizard, amongst others, but it really is about image. The article mentions that in recent times there are by far more protesters to their rallies than there are KKK members participating in rallies. Now they're actually offering charity/non-profit services. How do you protest someone who runs a soup kitchen that you've seen the destitute go into? Is it as easy to protest the KKK crossing guard volunteer who protects your kid's life on the way to school? I don't know. I mean, personally, I think that if I had kids I'd have the same feelings letting anyone in the KKK hierarchy have anything to do with them as I would a child-molester - nowhere nearby at all. But we gloss over Phillip-Morris for selling the cigarettes that cause cancer in uncountable numbers every year because they do alot on the positive side of things too. Is the "kinder gentler KKK" any different?