Regarding George Zimmerman's Innocence

George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, or did he? Elsewhere on the internets a character who calls himself Dale Gribble Rusty Shackelford said, "I think this is going to flush out very similar to the Duke case".

Rusty is referring to the 2006 investigation into rape allegations made against three members of the men's lacrosse team at Duke University in Durham NC by a young black woman. The allegations turned out to be false and the players were cleared.

So, in making this comparison, Rusty must mean that George Zimmerman will be cleared. That is, George Zimmerman did NOT shoot Trayvon Martin. So, who did shoot him? My guess would be that Trayvon shot himself accidentally in the scuffle. A scuffle that ensued after Trayvon followed Zimmerman back to his truck and decked him.

Yes, Zimmerman may have followed Trayvon first, but, if you listen to the 911 tape, you'll find that Zimmerman complied when the operator said "we don't need you to do that" (follow the suspicious black male). Zimmerman said, "OK" and headed back to his truck. It was there he was confronted by Trayvon, who punched him, got on top of him and began pounding his head against the concrete, and finally shot himself accidentally when he went for Zimmerman's gun.

If not for this unfortunate fortunate accident, it would be the shooting death of George Zimmerman we would be discussing. And Trayvon would be in jail awaiting trial for murder.

I'm surprised Rusty did not compare this incident to the Joe Horn case. On 11/14/2007, in Pasadena TX, local resident Joe Horn shot and killed two men burglarizing his neighbor's home. Joe Horn, seeking to prevent the two thieves from getting away with property stolen from Joe's neighbor's home, ignored the 9-11 operator's advice and went outside to confront the two men. After shouting "move, you're dead!", Horn gunned down both men in cold blood self-defense. A grand jury later cleared Mr. Horn.

The lesson to be learned from these incidents is that Conservatives must stand their ground, and, when confronted by law-breaking minorities they should shoot to kill. Because regardless of whether Zimmerman shot Trayvon, or Trayvon shot himself, Trayvon got what was coming to him.

Or, that's the impression you might be left with after reading some Conservative takes on what went down. Personally I think George Zimmerman may be guilty of murder, although I believe a courtroom is the proper place to determine that. I only hope this doesn't end with a miscarriage of justice similar to the miscarriage of justice we saw in the Joe Horn case.

PPP #15. See also SWTD #112.

Black On Black Racism?

Can an African American individual be racist against another African American individual? My opinion is... possibly. If the individual were someone who wished he were white (if such a African American even exists, and suggesting he or she does might be found offensive by the African American community), or, perhaps a lighter skinned African American who finds a darker-skinned African American inferior? (But then that individual would also be classified as self-hating, because they hate the black in themselves and prefer the white).

So... possibly, but the individual would definitely have to be self-hating. And that, in my opinion, is definitely not the case regarding comments made by an individual who goes by the name Touré. In an 10/20/2012 article Touré asked the question, "Is Herman Cain the Most Unctuous Black Man Alive?". Concerning this article, a commenter on another blog made the claim that Touré bashed Herman Cain for being black, and that said bashing meant that Touré is a racist.

Now, Touré is black himself (and not at all self-hating), so, to me, this comment makes absolutely no sense. Also, if you read the article, you'll find that Touré was bashing Cain for his "foot-in-mouth moments mostly involve insulting the black community". These are the insults you hear coming from black Conservatives regarding how Democrats trick African Americans into dependency by offering them free stuff they didn't earn (think the Santorum comment about him not wanting to "make black people's lives better by giving them other people's money").

In my opinion Touré put forth a reasoned Leftwing criticism of Herman Cain which was in no way racist. In fact, I find the suggestion ludicrous. According to Dictionary.com racism is, "a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others".

Now, if Touré (who isn't self-hating) were a racist he would view his race as superior (as per the definition I just quoted) and would therefore NOT bash another black man for being black. That would be contrary to the definition. You can't "bash" someone for being that which is superior.

In response this individual (the idiot I have been arguing with on this topic) said, "I know, it is silly and stupid for someone to be racist against their own race, but it happens. Not that there's any racism that isn't silly and stupid".

So, can someone be racist against their own race? Unless they are self-hating I say "no". I made this point to the disagreeing idiot, and he said, "You bring this up again and again. Yet, it does not matter at all. I don't know if he is, have never given any thought to it, and don't care. Regardless of what his self esteem issues are, this nut-job has no problem heaping hate upon another African-American for reason that include that person's skin color".

So, the idiot ignores a valid point because it interferes with the nonsensical argument he is making, which is that a "racist" black man bashed another black man for being black. Even though, if he were racist he'd see being black as superior... and how can you bash another person for being superior?

Clearly it cannot be done. But try telling the idiot that.

Video1: Touré says Herman Cain gives comfort to racists. Video posted to YouTube on 11/3/2011 (1:02).

Video2: Rick Santorum won't help "blah people". Video posted to YouTube on 1/10/2015 (1:10).

PPP #14. See also SWTD #131.

On The Trayvon Martin Murder

My personal opinion is that it was murder. However, I'm also with those who believe that there should be a trial, and that convicting the murderer in the court of public opinion (or via the Media) isn't the thing to do. Naturally I believe that I should not (if it were in anyway conceivable that I would be asked, which it isn't) be on the Zimmerman jury.

On the other hand, how is it that they're able to find enough ignorant people to serve on juries that haven't heard about national/prominent stories like this and already formed an opinion?

They (the people they find for these juries) must all be Independent centrists who are able to keep an open mind and not form opinions until all the facts are in.

Video: ADDED 6/6/2015. As we know now, George Zimmerman got away with murdering Trayvon Martin. In the clip below, Juror B29 (AKA "Maddy") agreed with the idea when posed to her. He got away with it, although he'll still have to answer to God. Video posted to YouTube on 7/25/2013 (1:02).

PPP #12. See also SWTD #176.

The Bald Frog And The Ugly Smelly Wig: A Tale In Excess of 400 Characters

The Set up

Updated my profile today, deciding, on a lark to, as I often do on my political centered blog, ramble on as much as possible. Although on that blog the rambling is not deliberate, it just happens. Anyway, the "about me" section allows for 1200 characters. I typed as much as I decided I could without really saying anything, and, without knowing how many characters I had, saved my profile. Obviously less than 1200 characters, as the profile save was successful.

Next, although I had never done so before, I decided to answer the "random question", which was, "The children are waiting! Please tell them the story about the bald frog with the wig". Because there was no noted character limit, I assumed that there wasn't one. So I proceeded to enter my story. When finished I clicked "save"... and was informed that there was an problem.

My profile could not be saved because I had exceeded the 400 character limit with my answer to the random question. The 400-character limit was displayed in red, and had not been there before. Turns out I exceeded it by a significant number of characters. After cutting and pasting my story into Word, I clicked on "tools" and then "word count". The count was more than 10 times the allowable number. Instead of letting my story go to waste, I decided to turn it into a post for my blog. Given the fact that this blog gets very few visitors, and given the fact that my goal with this story was to ramble on for as long as possible, I doubt anyone will read the story. Oh well, we shall see.

The Story

The bald frog did not know that all frogs were bald, and so, to cover his embarrassment, he wore a wig. The other frogs laughed at the wig-wearing frog, causing him even greater embarrassment than being bald did. Even so, he decided to continue wearing the wig, because his head was cold, and he didn't have a hat. Frogs have no money, so a trip to the hat store was out of the question. The wig-wearing frog cried himself to sleep every night, cursing his baldness and lack of a hat. Why me? he often wondered, sometimes thinking that he should just end it all.

One day, after a particularly nasty group of young punk frogs surrounded him and jeered him relentlessly, he decided to do just that. He considered leaving a note for anyone who might find his lifeless body to read, but realized that, most likely nobody would be interested in "why", but that they would, if they cared in the least, probably be glad that the world was minus one loser. The next thing to consider was how to do it. That is, how would he put an end to his miserable existence? The wig wearing frog considered hopping onto the nearest freeway and allowing a fast moving vehicle to smoosh him flat, but decided that was far to horrific to even think about.

Guts squirted everywhere, and vile flies landing, and pooping on his pancaked road kill corpse was a vision that haunted him for several days. He couldn't come up with another method to off himself; he couldn't even think seriously about it. Because so much of his time was taken up with thoughts about how awful being road kill would be, or how awful the moment just prior to becoming road kill might be. And, avoiding other frogs and their taunts regarding his wig was also time consuming.

A visit to the location where the most delicious flying insects were meant the possibility of an encounter with another frog. And so he just lay in bed and did nothing all day. Not going out meant not encountering any other frogs who might make fun of his bald head or wig. The wig-wearing frog was more miserable than he had ever been in his life. He didn't have the nerve to seek the sweet relief he craved, although he was completely convinced that there was no other answer. Every day he grew continually weaker, due to a lack of food and exercise to keep his muscles from wasting away. He wasn't even sure he wanted to eat any more of those insects, realizing now that eating them whole meant that he was also eating their feces.

This was an idea that entered his head when he first imagined the nasty bugs defecating on his flattened carcass, and decided then and there he would never consume another. After that decision it did not take long before the wig-wearing frog was so weak from hunger that he could no longer rise from his bed. The end is near now, the wig-wearing frog reflected one evening. He had, a long time ago, had some "friends" over for a visit, but that ended when the so-called friends criticized his (then) newly found wig. It was a casual get-together during which he had expected them all to be impressed with his now covered head. Instead they laughed, at first thinking he was pranking them. When they realized he was not, they laughed and called him names.

Looking back now, that was when the trouble began. If he could go back and do it all over, he would never have picked the wig out of the muck where he found it. But, as much as he hated the wig, he hated his bald head more. The wig-wearing frog drifted off, dreaming of the life that might have been if only he had found a stylish hat instead of the ugly smelly wig.

PPP #5. See also SWTD #77.