Buildings and Property can be Replaced…

The question I have is what is the end game of all this madness? I keep hearing this mantra from people I know, the media, celebrities and political figures say, ” Buildings and property and can be replaced, but lives cannot.” As I watched so many cities, local and across the nation, being destroyed, the depravity is unconscionable and feels beyond counterproductive to what this is all about. None of it makes sense.

For the first time in my lifetime, I saw a nation completely come together and condemn a heinous act of police officers towards another human being, a citizen, a black man. There was no debate. It was crystal clear the evil that is happening. The conversation of change was gaining momentum by leaps and bounds. People of all walks of life went out to support change through peaceful protesting. The leaders of communities even gave latitude to vent. Then it turned dark. All the momentum of unity was snuffed out and the narrative changed to this insane mantra of supporting the destruction of our communities in the name of protesting.

In just a matter of days we are back screaming at each other, afraid of each other and hating each other. I don’t agree with the idea that destroying a city or a community drives a point and will avenge a heinous history of unfair treatment of our citizens of color. It has not been productive and effective in the past, in fact it made things worse. It incites something so far from where this started. We are still in throws of a community economic nightmare of a pandemic and now our communities look like a war zone by the hands of our own citizens. These buildings and property were jobs, livelihoods, dreams and security. These action could be the final KO to so many.

So I ask those that keep saying that buildings and property can be rebuilt, what is the goal? Is it to completely bring the US to our knees with the hope when the smoke clears, all racism and hate is gone? Is it about making citizens pay for injustice or feel the pain of what people of color feel? What is the justification and support for this? Because before this happened we were on the track towards waking up and wiping the sleep of complacency from our eyes. There was a second of hope. There was this moment of thought that even though we could not bring back George Floyd, we could make his name be something powerfully good for our country and start the real healing. Now, I fear that moment has gone and I am not sure what our future brings.

 

*Apparently it took a pandemic and the US being destroyed due to racial injustice to bring me back to the Pie Hole.  Glad to be back writing, sad on the reasons. 

Things that Make You Go Hmmm. . . A Pie Hole Series: Casey Anthony vs. Scott Petterson’ s Case and Jury

     

VS. 

I am going to go there and question what the heck the Casey Anthony jury were doing while days of damaging testimony and evidence was presented to them?  Before you boo and hiss me, please hear the Pie Hole out. 

I keep hearing the jury tell in interviews that they “kept to the facts” when making the final decision.   There were a few pieces of key evidence that were pretty factual that somehow they seem to not take those as facts.   I have been doing some serious thinking on both of the Casey Anthony case  and the Scott Peterson case.  Even though the cases were different in nature, the evidence and crime seem to have a lot in common,  and yet the verdicts were polar opposites. How is that possible?    Here are some observations I came up with.

Cadaver Dogs:

Anthony: Cadaver dogs hitting on the trunk of the car after three separate people at three separate times reported to authorities that the trunk smelled of death.  They also hit on areas within the Anthony’s backyard.  

Peterson:  Cadaver dogs did a mild hit on the boat.

Hair Samples:

Anthony: One hair sample was found in the trunk of the car.

Peterson: One hair sample was found on a pair of needle nose plies in the boat.

Lying:

Anthony:  Lied to everyone including authorities and allowed a huge search to go underway costing organizations nd the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Peterson:  Lied to everyone including authorities and allowed a huge search to go underway costing organization and the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Behavior Post Crime:

Anthony: Partying, tattoo, stealing checks from friends, lying shopping,  having lots of sex and texting or calling anyone and everyone she knew.  Hard evidence shows that behavior.

Peterson: Maintaining relationship with mistress, Amber Frey – even called  Amber from a vigil service saying he was in Paris.

Ditching Cars:

Anthony: Ditched her car.

Peterson: Sold his car.

Recovered Bodies:

Anthony:  Found months after the crime . Could not pinpoint time of death or cause of death in an area Casey could be linked to.

Peterson:  Found months after the crime. Could not pinpoint time of death or cause of death in an area Peterson could be linked to.

Reporting the “Kidnapping”

Anthony: Not reporting your kid missing for 31 days and having hard evidence to proof she was parting like a wild banchie during that time.

Peterson: Scott Patterson reported it right away when he got home from his fishing trip.

Motive:

Anthony: Feeling  trapped in her life. Wanted to do her own thing – behaviors screamed this!

Peterson: Felling trapped in his life. Wanted to do his own thing – behaviors screamed this!

Additional “facts” of the Casey Anthony case that is strong circumstantial evidence:

• The FBI testifying that traces of chloroform were found in the trunk post the evidence that there were 87 searches on chloroform and neck breaking.
• Grandma Cindy LYING on the stand saying that she did the searches and was busted a few days later.
• The opening statements from Jose Baez, that George and Lee Anthony sexually abused her starting at the age of 8 when this was the first time in 3 years anyone heard that accusation AND there is jailhouse video of Casey telling her dad that, “He will always be her buddy and the she loved him”. 
• The baby found wrapped in her blanket from home, in plastic bags with duck tape (that matched the same tape recovered from the home) in an area where the Anthony family has buried their family pets only a 2 minute walk from their house.
• Sending the authorities on wild goose chases that would be completely debunked in five minutes.
• Accusing some random stranger of kidnapping your kid.

Jury:

Anthony: From a state that does not know how to count votes or have a problem with capital punishment.

Peterson: From a state that just does not know how to vote and does not like capital punishment.

Bottom line is, this was one of the most insane  saddest verdicts (outside of OJ – which I think this state learned from) I have ever heard.  The “justifications” the jury gives the press and American people, can’t convince me otherwise.   I hold them accountable for her walking free and for them NOT giving at least a  child abuse and manslaughter charge.  When they went into deliberate two jury members wanted capital and half wanted manslaughter.  No one asked for additional evidence to review  and they only deliberated for 11 hours.   Some member or members of the jury were as convincing as Jose Baez in that deliberation room . . .

Top Ten Things I Wish Politicans Would Say!

http://goodmenproject.com/good-feed-blog/study-of-the-day-political-disagreement-and-income-inequality-are-friends/

As you all know it is gearing up to be another doozy of a campaign year.  This is the inspiration for my Top Ten Tuesday!

10. Heck yeah I inhaled and then I followed up with one of the best munchy binges I ever had!

9.   Look Mr. John King, I get you are tying to showcase us as “hip – not in the dark ages” GOP presidential candidates, but with what is going on in this country and the world right now, I think my take on pop culture is a bunch of (bleep)!

8.   Of course I am going to raise your taxes.

7.  Everything I say during my campaign is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

6.  I may not know how many states there are in the Union, but I am only really counting the ones that matter to my campaign or political party.

5.  To be honest with you, I have no idea what is like to be poor or middle class, but I am going to legislate like I do.

4.  Constitution-smonstituion!  Who really reads that old rag anyway?

3.  You bet I had sexual relations with that woman.  It is just one of the many perks of being the leader of the free world.

2.  Attention Media: No matter how many times or ways you ask me a question I will never answer it. And another thing, take this to your breaking news desk . . .(bleep) off!

1. Yes, that was my Oscar Mayer all over the internet.  You got a problem with that?

Soap Box Sunday: Whatever Just Happend to Reading ,Writing and Arithmetic?

The other day I was listening to the news while driving my kids to the doctor’s office.  Let’s not forget to mention that I was spiking a fever of over 101 and had not had a full night sleep in nearly a week and I had two sick kids in the car. I thought I was hallucinating what I was hearing until later that night I saw the same coverage. 

A school district in Oakland, California has just launched its first teaching curriculum of  “gender diversity” as early as Kindergarten.  I went online and reviewed the curriculum.  It was a bit puzzling the comparison of the animal kingdom (fish and reptiles) they used to make the point about “gender diversity”; none of it made sense to me.  The reason those species change gender and/or transgender  is to keep the species in existence.  I don’t see how teaching that concept really reinforces pro-tolerance and ” human gender diversity”.  That is like comparing apples to oranges.   The reason people are gay or transgender has nothing to do with saving a species.  

However, this segment is not about pro or against gender diversity; this is about our schools doing the jobs of what should be done at home and since it is not being done at home (by a very small minority),they are taking on the responsibility.  The problem is that not only are they doing a poor job at taking on the job, they are losing sight that the Chinese are passing us by in the science and math department.  So while they are going to space and forming new ground breaking patents we will be well versed in the ill-informed information on hermaphrodite amphibians.  

 Is spending the VERY limited resources we have on education, teaching “gender diversity” in the  early elementary years really going to solve our problem of bullying, lack of tolerance and hate?  The sad thing is we will never be able to eradicate that from the human race.  Is this in the early classroom really going to set up our kids for success in competing with the dog eat dog socio-economic world? 

As you know I am not a fan of the Chinese government, they are not the beacon of good will and humanity towards mankind, but the one thing they understand is that knowledge and discipline is power. We have such a cutting  edge on true balance of both discipline with good boundaries and good education, but we fail to no longer combine them and that is to our losing race to countries like China.

Kids no longer have a healthy respect and sovereign fear of their educators.  Not because the educators have grown soft, but the educators are govern by out of touch legislation and administration that no longer allow the educator to hold true and meaningful consequences. 

I have several friends that teach, and the number one complaint they all have is that they have a few in the class that are just rotten kids that make educating challenging and downright impossible. The good kids suffer, the bad kids win in ruling the classroom.   The administration does not back them to get those few bad apples out of the mix, hold those parents responsible and get on with teaching the core subjects.  Instead they throw a new “teaching curriculum” at them to try to intercept the ill-behavior of a few.

I will be teaching my children “gender diversity” when it is appropriate and I will be using a realistic approach instead of felt boards filled with hermaphrodite amphibians and reptiles to pled my case.   I know that 99.9% of my friends and circle of influence will be doing the same.  Early elementary years is not the place or forum.  I expect my kids to be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic and be in a setting that reinforces respect for authority figures. 

It appears my choice to be sending my kids to Catholic school (even if it means I have to work two jobs to do it) will be in the cards for our family and we are not even Catholic.   It is known the Catholic school system knows how to produce competing test scores, reinforce respect and moral code, and demand parent involvement on a budget grossly less than what the public schools require.

Come on America, let’s get involved on the future of our kid’s education and support the educators do what they went to school to do; teach these kids how to achieve academic greatness! Especially since we are paying for it greatly in both tax dollars and competing with the rest of the world for economic security.

D-Day is Around the Corner, You Better Not Blow It!

So Mother’s Day is right around the corner, if this was your first indication of that, you are in a pretty sticky situation.   I have always wondered why if you forget Mother’s Day it is far worse of a crime, almost unforgivable, than forgetting Father’s Day.  Maybe it is because we, mothers, carry you nine long months, all the while puking our brains out, and having our bodies turn into the close replica of the local “Holiday Inn”.   Then we have the pleasure of either having to push out or reenact the infamous Alien scene in birthing an 8 pound bowling ball. 

Then there are the endless nights of the lack of sleep, diapers, and vomit flu fests.  Let’s not forget to mention being the sucker that drew the shortest straw and now has to drive you and four of your troglodyte peers to and from practice for the season and then has the joys of having to fill in as the “team laundry” mom since the coach wants to save money. 

These said hardships are only the tip of the iceberg of what moms endure for the sake of loving her kids.  Most of  us never complain, unless we have a blog to carry that burden, and we take our job seriously.  So, if you forgot that special mom, get your butt in gear and go take care of business in doing something that shows her that you appreciate her and the role that she had in your life.  Buying a card isn’t going to cut it. 

If you are still stumped, you can go on over to my recent cold hard cash published piece for a few ideas (yes, I am tooting my horn… TOOT, TOOT!) that is on the new and updated Blissfully Domestic  web-based magizine. 

Good luck and may I only hear of wonderful “Mama is happy” stories come Monday!

The U.S. Gets a Bad Mark on Humanitarian Acts – A Soap Box Sunday Post

As I was sitting in typical Southern California traffic I was listening to the news and the story was that was being covered made me spit out my latte out of laughter.  It was in regards to the grades the nations can give other nations regarding humanitarian acts.  Apparently, the US got a “needs an improvement” or essentially a D in needing to improve our humanitarian efforts in the department of prisoner treatment (they did not elaborate, but I assume it is GITMO they are referring to). 

Now, this is where the funny comes in to this. . . our grading peer were the likes of Libya, Iran and Venezuela. 

Getting a grade from the likes of those countries that kill, rape, mutilate the female gender, on their own citizens, including children, would be the equivalent of Ted Bundy coming to me and telling me that I need to get my house in order.

The US does have some bad apples in the military prison system, heck we have bad apples in the public prison system and even society.  But getting “schooled’ by the likes of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, and Wacky Qaddafi is not only laughable, but outrageous that it was even taken seriously.

It’s Foodie Friday!

Since I took off last week from my “Foodie Friday” post I am going to grace all your palates with two recipes and one will include chocolate and peanut butter cups!  Yes, I thought that would get your attention!

Pie’s What Do You Do With the Leftover Grill Night Chili

When Camp Pie Hole decides to grill we throw a good-sized tri tip or hearty steaks on the ‘ol grill and end up with leftovers.  I take those leftovers and vacuum seal them and pop them in the freezer and when I am wanting to place a little hearty fire on our menu I pull it out and make a quick and easy chili that tastes like you have been cooking all day!

 In a dutch oven/cast iron pot (large soup pot if you don’t have either) add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and heat.  Once heated add 2 gloves of diced garlic, 1/2 white onion diced, 1 cup of frozen diced bell peppers and 1 cup of frozen corn.  Add 1/2 tbsp  of salt and pepper.  Saute until thawed and onions are transparent. * You can use fresh veggies instead of frozen.  I just prep fresh veggies and freeze them for making recipes quicker.

Cut and dice 2 large jalapeno.  You can either seed them or for extra heat keep the seeds.  I like the heat so I seed one and keep the seeds in the other.  Place in chili mixture

Cube grilled red meat (in this recipe I used left over Tri-Tip) About 2-3 cups and add to vegetable mixture and brown.  * We tend to make our meat medium rare so when adding this meat to the chili stock allows the meat to cook without getting over done and adds more flavor.

Cook until meat is browning and warmed through 

Add drained and rinsed canned beans.  2 cans of pinto beans, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of red kidney beans and 1 can of garbanzo beans.  I usually just place in a strainer and rinse one can at a time.  Mix together.

 

Add 1 can of diced tomatoes,  2 cans of tomato sauce, 2 tbsp of chili powder,  1 tbsp of garlic powder, additional salt and pepper to personal taste ( The beans tomato sauce and tomatoes have added sodium. BE CAREFUL TO NOT OVER SEASON)  Mix together well and add water to meet a consistence of a spoon being able to stand in it independently.  Cover on low- medium low  heat  (a nice slow simmer) for about 40 -45 minutes.

Top with cheese, sour cream and fresh cilantro and onions and serve with corn bread or tortillas.  Left overs make great chili dogs!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp of vegetable oil

1/2 white onion

2 cloves garlic

1 1/2 tbsp of salt (use soft hand and taste tests before using full amounts)

1 1/2 tbsp of pepper

1 cup sliced/diced bell peppers (red, green, yellow) frozen or fresh

1 cup of corn frozen or fresh

2 large fresh  jalapeno

2-3 cups diced grilled red meat (tri-tip, steaks, brisket)

2 cans of pinto beans

1 can of black beans

1 can of red kidney beans

1 can of garbanzo beans

1 can of diced tomatoes

2 cans of tomato sauce

2 tbsp of chili powder

1 tbsp of garlic powder

1/2 – 1 cup water

Yields 8-10 servings

Total time (including prep): 1 hour 30 minutes

Prep time: 30 minutes

 

Pie’s  Creamy Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

 

Being a home cook comes with its challenges and one of the challenges I have is I am not a baker.  I have to work at coming up with successful recipes that I don’t flop miserably when it comes to the baking department.  There is a lot of “R&D” that happens in Camp Pie Hole’s kitchen and when I finally get it right, I get it right!  This is a quick and easy way to get away from the “boxed brownie mixes” and produce brownies that people will be talking about well after they are gone.  Hey, who does not love cream cheese, peanut butter and chocolate!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl add 2 eggs, 3/4 cups sugar, 1 tbsp of vanilla, 1/2 cup of soften cubed cream cheese, 1/2 cup melted butter (cool to warm so you don’t scramble your eggs – usually takes a few minutes to cool).  Mix well.  It is ok if the cream cheese gets lumpy.

Add 3/4 cups of good quality sweet ground chocolate and cocoa mixture (Ghirardelli has a good product).  If you can’t find that.  Grind 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate with 1/4 cup cocoa in a food processor for the 3/4 cups.  2/3 cups flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt (if use unsalted butter). Hand mix well.  Should be a thick consistency.

Chop up around 10-15 peanut butter cups (I tend to use Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups)

Fold in chopped peanut butter cups.

Spread into a greased 8″-9″ pan/dish (I prefer glass).  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 

Ingredients:

2 eggs

3/4 cups sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

1/2 cup of melted butter (cooled to “warm”)

1/2 cup of cream cheese soften to room temperature

3/4 cup of good quality Sweet ground Chocolate and Cocoa (Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa) If you can’t find product see above directions for substitute.

2/3 cup flour

1/4 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt (if used unsalted butter)

10 miniature peanut butter cups

Yields: 16- 20 brownies

Time: 40- 50 minutes (includes 20 minute prep time)

For Our Friends in Japan

Last night I was watching the news with the hubs and the breaking news hit that a 8.9 quake hit.  I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, not that I was afraid of the tsunami that is to hit our coast this morning, but because I was glued to what was happening to our friends and worried about a family friend that lives and works in Tokyo (we still have not heard from her).  As I was watching the initial tsunami hit the farmland I was just dumbfounded and sick to my stomach.  I am overwhelmed. 

This does hit  close to home emotionally, because I live in Southern California and they have been predicting the Big One for 25 years.  I have experienced the Northridge quake of 1994 and that was scary and I can’t even wrap my mind around this magnitude of a quake and the devstation that has followed with the tsunamis.  They are having after-shocks the size of the Northridge quake.

I am going to go dark for a few days to just show my personal respect and reverence for our friends in Japan.  I can’t find humor in life right now and what I have to say is so insignificant compared to what has just happened. 

Being Accountable: Where Does the Line Start or End?

This morning my neighbor and I went on our walk and the subject of NPR’s big brouhaha of management shake down came up.  To bring up to speed about the current event, NPR fired contributing journalist Juan Williams for saying he was uncomfortable boarding a plane with a Muslim on it, when he was on FOX news.  James O’Keefe, a conservative activist, recently did an undercover sting on one of the execs, Schiller, no relation to the CEO Vivian Schiller,  said that the tea party are racists Christian fanatics and that NPR does not really need the federal funding it gets from the feds.  Vivian Schiller stepped down because the board pretty much told her either she was fired or she had to resign and executive Ron Schiller was fired. 

First off did they not  fire Juan Williams for “racist” comments on another network?   Isn’t it what is good for the goose is good for the gander?  I really don’t care what was said about the tea party or Juan’s issue with getting on a plane with Muslims.  What I care about, and what I think NPR cared about, was Ron Schiller getting caught with his pants down on tape saying that NPR does not need federal funding.   He is one of the faces of NPR and even if he believes that, he is accountable to the board of directors and those that sign his paycheck to have and edit button on his pie hole, he just had a huge wake up call.  I feel NPR did the right thing.

Now, let’s get real here.  Anyone that listens to NPR on a daily basis, knows that NPR leans more to the social left so being targeted by a conservative activists because it is funded by the tax payers on where they really stand on issues is not suprising and they should know that as well.

I don’t like shady operations, I like everything out on the table and seeing everyone’s cards.  However we live in a society where both sides of the political spectrum do pretty outrageous things to prove or make a point and the conservative activist group found their golden nugget of opportunity and now we are dealing with the emotional fall out of that act.

 I see that many are outraged that NPR fired these two executives and a journalist for saying and doing things that are not “socially/politically correct”.  I say good for NPR.  These people were representatives for NPR and getting paid very well to be that face of NPR and there should be consequences to be in that role stating extreme opinions and speaking off the record about financial standings of that company.  Luckily for NPR President Obama is going to protect its funding despite this hiccup of diarrhea of the executive pie hole.  Yet, I do ask the question if NPR can really afford to be on the air without the federal dollars, then why are we not taking the money back and applying it to other areas of need?  Just a thought to ponder on.

The question I have for you fellow bloggers is the what was asked me today.  Where is the line crossed when you are accountable of what you say and do even if it is off the record and in a casual environment? 

My answer is that if you have a level of authority or a face of a “thing” you are accountable for everything you say and do on and off the record.   You are being compensated accordingly to be that face and it is a 24 hour job.  If you don’t want that responsibility, then step down.  I think the consequences that NPR handed out were fair.

This Tiger Mother is Done with the Tiger Blood!

Soapbox Sundays! Better Late than Never!

Yes, I am the Chinese sign of the Tiger and I actually loved the book ,Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  I am not saying that I am for not allowing  my kids to attend sleep overs or make them practice the piano a million hours a day.  I just like the fundamentals of the book and the author is hilarious and laughing all the way to the bank because she has roused up a whole sect of “soccer moms”.  I digress . . .   What my Soapbox Sunday is about is good ‘ol Charlie Sheen and his “tiger blood” syndrome.

 I am going to own that I am going to be guilty of doing exactly what I am on my soapbox about, but maybe if I can get enough of you to agree with me, words like Charlie Sheen and tiger blood will fade away as quickly as it  ignited.

I get that for some sick and strange reason America loves to watch train wrecks of humanity Hollywood.  No one really wants to face the reality that the world is in economic crisis, the Middle East is in civil distress, the Mid-West is in civil unrest, we are going to be bellying up to the pump at $5.00 a gallon soon  and there are only three episodes left of Big Love.   I get watching some “fictious” character of Hollywood on his crash and burn tour to either Promises Rehab Facility or to something far worse with only a True Hollywood Story episode to be remembered by, seems to be a good way to fill up the days of our pathetic lives. 

Unfortunately, Charlie is not a fictious character. He has people who actually love him and hates seeing this happening.  You have the mothers of his children trying to shelter them from them seeing their dad self destruct and a family that just don’t know what to do, so they are just bracing themselves for his rock bottom moment, ready to pick up the broken pieces, if there is any left to pick up.

This is a man who is not fueled by “Tiger Blood”, even thought my Sirius Radio has a whole station dedicated to “Charlie Sheen’s Tiger Blood Radio”, like it is something real.   What he is fueled by is all the attention he is getting out of this.  He is an addict and this is classic text-book addict behavior, I should know I grew up with addicts my whole life.

The media, the fans or non-fans need to leave him alone; he should be hearing a million crickets, not a million tweets. No one should be adding fuel to this train wreck.  

He is losing everything tangible and in his surreal false reality he is thinking he IS gaining everything and has an edge on the market of life.  A life that is troubled, disturbed, and wounded.   Please America, can we please stop with the tiger blood and get back to True Blood.  At least that is fiction and not someone’s true reality.