Next month, Charlie Sheen is going to be here in Texas, performing a show at the Verizon Wireless Theater in Houston, and another at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The American Airlines Center was the place I saw Roger Waters doing "The Wall" live. It holds 20,000 people. Now...it's going to host America's biggest loser, Charlie Sheen.
I don't see what this guy could possibly offer to audiences that he doesn't give away for free on all his stupid YouTube videos. 90 minutes of drug-induced ranting? If I want to hear a drug addicted idiot, I can tune in to Rush Limbaugh.
Thankfully, I see that the tickets are selling poorly. It seems most of the tickets were bought up by greedy scalpers hoping to make a profit. I really hate scalpers, and they get what they deserve. The only way I'd go to this show is if someone paid me to go, and I certainly wouldn't drive two hours to see it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rolling Stone Magazine just published a story about a "kill team" in Afghanistan, a squadron of US soldiers that have been going around executing civilians and then desecrating the corpses. Then they take pictures and videos of it and pass it around to anyone who asks. They even had plans to drive around throwing candy at children, and then gun them down (or run them over) when the kids go to retrieve the candy.
If this isn't a sign to get the hell out of Afghanistan, I don't know what is. This wasn't just one or two soldiers going rogue. This was a squadron of killers, with officers covering it up and trying to suppress the evidence. On a message board, I posted that the soldiers involved should either receive life in prison with no parole, or the death penalty. I was bombarded with negative comments about how I should "move to Afghanistan" or that "I've never been on a battlefield and I don't know war."
Ok, yeah, I've never been on a battlefield. Does that mean that once I set foot on a battlefield, I will suddenly start raping women and executing children in cold blood? And should we really give soldiers a pass for committing war crimes just because "it's war"? By this logic, shouldn't we have let all the nazi officers off the hook for killing Jews in WWII? It was war, after all.
The bottom line is, America is supposed to be the country with morals. We're supposed to be better than them. We're supposed to be the country that other countries look up to. Our army is not supposed to be a mob of brutal thugs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kyle's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm kind of worn out with birthday parties. We just went to another one this past Sunday. Sara seems to get invitations to birthday parties every week, and Christy always insists that we go. She thinks it's important to try to make new friends in the community. The thing is, that once I meet these other parents, we rarely have anything in common, other than having kids that go to the same school.
Christy tries to tell me that I'm not like a typical American. I don't really care about football or bar b que or beer or any of that typical stuff most dads seem to be into, so that's why it's hard for us to make new friends. I'm also a bit on the liberal side (in case you couldn't tell from my rants), which doesn't always go over too well in Texas.
Charlie Sheen's problem seems to be his arrogance. Is it drug induced arrogance? Maybe so. I've noticed that drugs seem to slow down the life lesson learning process. I wouldn't pay to see him either. Likely wouldn't go if I got free tickets. If they paid me 50 dollars an hour, from the moment I stepped out of my house, until I got back home, I'd go see him. I guess in that instance, I'd be working cheap. LOL
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for him, but he seems to lack respect for his audience, like the time he talked about people sitting in their little houses watching his show. I never did like that show and do not know what the draw was.
The soldier thing. I was hoping you weren't talking about US soldiers. That is horrible, and there should be a huge scandal over it like there was over the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. Those men should be prosecuted. It stuns me, scares the hell out of me really, that anyone would make excuses for them.
Well, I think there are a lot of people just like you Ken. For instance, Larry. He has no interest whatsoever in sports. He has no opinion on beer, and our barbeque is standing unused for several years. He should put a free sign on it and put it out on the lawn.
Janet
Janet,
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to the article at Rolling Stone:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327
Yes, it was US soldiers. Sorry I didn't clarify that better. I've rewarded my entry so there is no confusion.
When I read that article, I really felt sick. As a parent, I've become a bit more sensitive to stories regarding the murder of children. I can't believe it can be justified by saying "it's war." You'd have to have a pretty disturbed mind before even joining the army to commit acts like this. I think the problem is that the Army is so desperate for volunteers, they are accepting people who clearly don't belong: redneck, criminal, racist, undeducated simpletons who can't wait to fire an M16 at someone.
Unfortunately, my opinion that these soldiers should be severely punished seems to be in the minority.
I would assume they have been doing this for so long that they finally dared to document it.
ReplyDeleteThis is the ultimate terrorism in action, and we complain about evil terrorists. The American Army is full of murderers, fanatics, gangs and plain stupid Joes. They are needed because they can kill and take someone's life. Remember the cliches phrase from the U.S officials when making excuses "few bad apples", if those bad apples are tolerated enough to kill with impunity, then they have done their job and we might as well honor them with medals.
Those innocent poor victims had families, fathers,sisters, and brothers. They deserved a life no matter how destitute.
I wonder, always wonder how many incidents like this has happened over the past few years that we do not know whether covered up from the top or put out of sight by the perpetrators.
I have heard stories of poor Afghans pressured to take bribes in the amount of thousand dollars to forget about their murdered relatives. I have heard about clean up operations right after civilians were murdered, and sometimes weapons were planted near corpses to make them appear armed insurgents.
It is sickening that America claims moral superior military given what we know so far and what allegedly has happened in the past 10 years.
Another point to ponder over is, when these evil murderers in the military are found guilty, which is very rare, they are given terms even car thieves would wish.
The United States is the country that other countries look up to? When did this happen? I think only Americans actually believe that. And maybe Canadians.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest aspects of communicating with total strangers online is their complete lack of self-awareness. Americans will tear apart American leaders with whom they disagree, but if anyone dare criticize the United States against another nation, they are asked why they hate America and told to love it or leave it. Irony is a beautiful thing.
JMF,
ReplyDeleteLike it or not, other countries do look up to the United States. It has been an ongoing thing, despite your feigned surprise. Anyone residing outside of the U.S. who is educated and balanced may not outwardly profess it, but you can be rest assured they feel at least a measure of respect, if not admiration. The feelings of loathing the minority may feel can be distilled into the feeling that is truly bothering them - envy.
A general indication if a total stranger online is self-aware is to look at his writing; such scribblings are full of non sequiturs, cute quips that are silly if scrutinized and/or sounds like a mild case of Tourette's syndrome to the minds' ear.