A Shot Too Far

Ok, seriously, what the hell is wrong with kids these days?

If they aren't shooting and killing each other and teachers, they are getting got taking weapons into school, where they could have been shooting and killing each other.

Here's the scoop for those that have no idea what I'm ranting about.

Last week, a 12 year-old boy took his parents hand gun and then proceeded to shoot at his class mates, kill a teacher, and then ultimately shoot himself after he realized what he had done.

Reports say that the teacher, Michael Landsberry was a Marine, who was trying to get the kid to put down the gun and shield the other children.

But really, what could bring a kid to this conclusion?  Some may say violence in the media, but I call bull on that one.  We've been shooting and killing each other long before movies and video games even existed.  Some may say the attention the media gives to these events, which I can sort of agree with.  After this happened, every station was picking it up and covering it, because it was news.  Ever since Sandy Hook, school shootings would definitely get more attention.

Another recent event, this time in Massachusetts, involves a student killing his teacher in the bathroom with a box cutter.  Guns didn't play a part in this tragedy, but a student still killed a teacher.

The Bigger Question

Why did it get to violence?

For those that were popular or generally accepted, just know that school can be hell for the rest of us.  Believe me, there were many days growing up that I wished some of my class mates dead, but I would never pull the trigger, and I would never take it out on a teacher.  So what drove this two boys to murder is still the big question.

In the Massachussettes case, no one knows why Chism killed his teacher.  They said he was normal, but quiet.  I guess it truly is the quiet ones we need to watch out for.

As for the Nevada shooting, the reasons might be a little more obvious.  Some commetned that had seen an anti-bullying video where the victim finally brought a gun onto the bus, in an attempt to threaten her attackers into leaving her alone.  This is the wrong response, apparently.  Some say that the shooter had ben teased and bullied, which may have driven him to this extreme.

Proper ways of dealing with bullying include going to a teacher, but this ultimately has no effect.  Every day, the victim will still have to sit right beside the bully and continue being picked on.  Bullying is a major issue, and needs to be rethought and how to handle it.  Bullies only respond to signs of aggression.  So either let us punch them out, or physically remove them from the environment, or we'll probably see more scenes like this in the future.
-R

Do You Like Your Miltank Medium Rare or Well Done?

Everytime a Pokemon game comes out now, PETA feels it has to make a statement.  And it has, once again, with its parody game of Pokemon Red, White, & Blue.

This isn't the first time PETA has accused Nintendo and Pokemon of promoting animal violence.  Back when Pokemon Black and White 2 launched, PETA made this flash game.

Apparently, someone at PETA has no idea what Pokemon is actually about.  It's about befriending animals, not enslaving them or eating them.  Rarely, if ever, in the Pokemon universe do players and viewers see meat products, and when they do, they notice it and question it.  Most of them time in the anime, the characters are surviving off of rice cakes anyways.

But no, PETA thinks Pokemon is about abusing and enslaving animals.  Yes, trainers battle their Pokemon against each other, and that's how trainers catch new ones as well.  However, once a Pokemon is captured, the training and Pokemon work to form close bonds and friendships, and Pokemon that are abused and subjected to torture refuse to listen to their trainers.

No, the real villians in the Pokemon universe are Team Rocket.  Spoiler alert, but in the Pokemon Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow, there was a Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town haunted by the ghost of a Marowak that had been killed by Team Rocket.  How they accomplished this is anyone's guess, because normally Pokemon faint and can be revived and healed at a Pokemon Center.  But I digress.

The Point

The point is, this is what PETA is doing with all of their funds.  They are attacking digital animals, not saving real ones.  Some Pokemon aren't based on real animals, either.  Some of them are based off of piles of sludge or bags of garbage.  Really, PETA, stop attacking Pokemon like this.  This isn't parody.  This is libel and defamation, and Nintendo and now McDonalds should consider taking action.

PETA, there are real animals out there right now that are being killed, tortured, and abused, and they need your help.  Don't attack the game that teaches kids to befriend animals and foil the plans of animal poachers, because that is what Team Rocket does.  They steal and poach Pokemon for profit, while the trainers befriend animals and foil their plans.  Because that is what Pokemon is all about.

I hope I can stop hearing PETA and Pokemon in the same sentence after this.  I really don't like having to associate the two together.

-R

Benefit Blockage

The Electronic Benefit Transfer program (EBT, Foodstamps) came to a screeching halt yesterday.

Any person who entered a store and expected to pay with an EBT card was stunned to find out that their cards didn't work.  Their cards weren't coming up saying there was nothing on the balance; instead, the message came up saying that the whole program was uanavaible.

Local grocery stores were quick to start making calls, to find out if it was a local issue or if it was statewide.  Soon, the stores discovered that the problem encompassed the entirety of Pennsylvania, along with several other states.  Then, the stores realized that the problem was nationwide.

Soon, ever store and business that accepted EBT had signs plastered everywhere, asking customers to be patient but not gather groceries until the problem was resolved.  As of late yesterday, the problem still hadn't been sorted out.

These stores became close to deserted during the day, as employees realized just how many of their customers use these EBT cards everyday.  Business picked up later, after about 5:00 when most people get off work.

By Sunday, the problem seemed to be sorted out, as Pennsylvania's Access cards were working again.  People continued to call into the stores, to verify if they were working again before venturing out.

You can read the real report here.

But here's the real question:

What happened?

When stores called up their various numbers to get a hold of someone, they were told that it was a networking error and that everything would be back up in at hour.  That was about at 1:00. By 8:00, everything was still shutdown with no end in sight.  Could it have been part of the shutdown?

Many people thought that the Electronic Benefits program was supposed to be put on hold during the shutdown, so could that have just been catching up? Why not warn everyone on the program that there could have been a sudden stop during their upgrade, if that's what caused it?

You see, this isn't the first time this has happened.  A couple months ago, the EBT program went down again, out of nowhere.  Walmart alone reported losses in the millions, and local stores struggled to get everything put back.

So, when it happened this time, employees simply rolled their eyes and said, "Not again."  This caused customers that expected to pay with EBT to become very unruly, and apparently turned them to theft in several Walmarts.  You can see more here.

The Impact

It is simply astounding to see how much of an impact this error had.  People were near rioting, and I experienced this happening first hand.  I was working customer service, and I had to try to keep the people calm.  They outraged and fumed, furious that their welfare wouldn't be paying for their food that day.  I felt worse for the children that wouldn't be getting their dinner that day, because of this glitch.  I was also amazed at the bulging carts that lay abandoned everywhere, as people left them when they couldn't pay.

Thankfully, my store didn't suffer any losses, at least food wise.  We moved quickly and got all of the cold items back in their coolers before they went bad.  I'm sure some stores suffered losses as the mass exodus of people left hundreds of dollars of items just laying around.  Hopefully, we won't have another glitch like this in the near future.  Twice a year is more than enough.

Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?

Our government has been shut down.

Yes, our federal government has shut down, because they couldn't come to an agreement on the spending bill.

But really, is the answer that simple?  Of course not, nothing is ever that simple.  The answer goes deeper that that, and it comes back to our political parties.

George Washington is credited with saying that political parties would destroy the United States.  Perhaps he was right, because now we are so divided, we have shut down our government because neither party is getting its way.

Perhaps it's further than even that.  These people that our making of our legal decisions have to enact it's parties beliefs.  Otherwise, they don't get reelected.  Therefore, the Republican members cannot lot Obamacare be enacted, and the Democrats have to ensure that it does.  Whichever side fails faces the reality of not being reelected.

This shutdown has led to a landslide of funny memes, such as the ones posted above and below, but there have been serious consequences as well.  Rumors throughout Facebook are claiming things, such as the Amber Alert page being shutdown or the WIC and Food Stamp offices being shut down may or may not be true.  I can verify that people still got their Food Stamps on time, and WIC checks are still able to be used.  The Amber Alert page still seems to be intact, as well.  It's good to know these programs still carry on, despite the government shutdown, as many people rely on these services to feed their families or reclaim their missing children.

Maybe some good can come out of this shutdown.  Maybe the government can comeback, work out their differences, and focus on solving issues, rather than just bickering back and forth.

Maybe.  Then again, maybe not.

Maybe we can educate ourselves, and pick members of our government that plan to discuss the actual issues, and fix this nation.  Maybe we can select members that aren't so extreme that our Congress can't openly discuss and enact anything.  Maybe we start strengthening the other political parties that do in fact exist.  Maybe we need other voices in our government, to finally agree and discuss our policies and stop moving in on people's freedoms.

If you want someone to blame for all of the problems that exist in our government, you need only look in a mirror.  We voted them in, so it is in fact our fault.  But remember, that means they need us to reelect them.  Think on that.

-R