Casey Anthony is Not Guilty

Casey Anthony

On Tuesday, July 5th, Casey Anthony was judged by a jury of her peers, as the U.S. Constitution calls for, and she was determined to be not guilty, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Full story here.

This is another case of me being disappointed in humanity, but not for the reasons you are guessing.

First of all, this woman is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, so the mass surprise of everyone is kind of ridiculous. In the mind of the public she should have never been viewed as anything but innocent until the jury decided otherwise. 

I understand people are going to take sides, so I really wouldn't expect anyone to be able to pull this one off.

Sign Seen After the Verdict Was Handed Down

But, second of all, and this one is what disappoints me, is the amount of people still harassing Casey Anthony after she was declared not guilty. From the TV talking heads acting surprised that she was  to the people that stalked her to the restaurant across the street from the court house to harass her, that is not their place in this. The pundits on TV have no right to attempt to instill doubt about the verdict into the public. They should have only reported that she was not guilty, and the facts based around that verdict. 

As far as the people harassing her, they couldn't be more wrong. Everyone harassing her should know they can't do anything about it, she cannot be tried again for her alleged crime.

My argument is very simple and very black and white. Guilty, or not guilty. She was determined to be not guilty, and she should be treated as such. Let's not Scarlet Letter this poor woman into exile, she had a fair trial, and was fairly deemed not guilty.

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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Conversations With a Soldier Part Deux

When I first started talking to my brother, Kris, about his experiences as a soldier in Afghanistan I promised him that I would not blog about it. He said that I could blog if I wished, but I could not make the blog political. So here I am, blogging about Afghanistan in a non-political way, trying to be as objective as possible and probably failing because Kris, my brother, is at war. This is part two of a series of discussions with my brother about his time in Afghanistan, part one can be found here.

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Feeling established with Kristofer from part one, this time around the questions and conversation came much easier. I had just watched Restrepo, a documentary about a group of soldiers in Afghanistan, and that helped me come up with some more questions relevant to his activities on the ground. 

So for this part in the series we jump right in. The first question I directed at my brother was how he and his company manage to communicate with the locals. He told me that all of the communication is done through a translator, and informed me that they don't really speak Arabic, and that there are two different tribal languages in the area he is in.  

I asked him if interaction with the locals is frustrating, knowing that it must be due to the cultural and linguistic barriers. Shortly, he answered "Always...they will only tell you what you want to hear." Going on to explain that effective communication is possible as long as you have an interpreter, and that most of the time they do have one. As a side note I mentioned that I thought communication would be damn near impossible without a interpreter, and humorously he responded saying "Everyone speaks .50 Cal."

I then asked him if he ever has to deal with violent locals, clarifying that I was not referring to the ones with guns, obviously those are the people we are fighting, but that I was referring more so to disorderly people, and I found his answer quite surprising. "Not so much. I honestly can't think of one time..." I expressed my surprise and attempted to broach the subject more, attempting to clarify by asking if everyone was amiable, if not cooperative. Kristofer said, "The biggest thing is... You never really know who you are dealing with. You might be talking to a person that is completely cooperative at the time, but little do you know he shot an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) at you last week."

I went on to ask him how his relationship with his fellow soldiers is, curious about how they interacted and on what level. He responded summarily, stating that "These men and women out here are my brothers and sisters...they are all I have." 

In Restrepo they built an Observation Post, alternating between firefights and digging into the mountain, so I decided to ask my brother if he had ever been a part of building such a thing since he has been over there. H responded, "Funny you should ask...yes my platoon did build a COP (Combat Outpost) from ground zero."

  

To this point Kristofer had been surprisingly revealing about their operations over in Afghanistan, so I decided to push the envelope and asked him what his missions usually consist of. He responded much like I imagined he would saying with hesitation, "Uhhh...I can't give you too much on that one. We do a lot of different things...that is all I can give you for now."

Attempting a more general question, I asked him what his days normally consist of, mentioning observing from mountaintops and patrolling villages. He said "Both. Everything I do...I do it a lot."

Recently I had gotten word from my mother, who talks to Kristofer more than I do, that he would be opting out of coming to Louisiana for his last nine months of service so that he could stay over there and finish out his time. Suffice to say, I was upset about this revelation, and the next few questions revolved around that.

I mentioned what mom had told me about his plans, and simply asked why he would volunteer to stay in Afghanistan rather than coming out to Louisiana to finish out his time. My brother responded, "Kameron...there is nothing that will make you feel more alive than death lingering over you with every step you take."

My Brother, Kristofer

Now, this response didn't surprise me, my brother has always been a bit of an adrenaline junky. Enjoying fights and playing football, dangerous activities have always been in the forefront of his day to day life. So I mentioned that, asking if it was like a high for him. I didn't mean to oversimplify or devalue it, but I couldn't understand. 

"Its more than adrenaline...it's... hard to explain. It's momentarily losing total control and then picking your nuts up off of the ground and, for lack of better words, embracing the chaos...Its like this... I know that the people around me are better off because I am around. I am completely confident (not cocky) that there is nobody that can do my job as well as me. Knowing this, I would stay because I am the best man for the job."

Curious about what would lead him to believe that he is the best man for the job, I asked him about the amount of praise he receives from his superiors. He told me about how he is in the running for solider of the month. This was news to me, I was not aware that the military had any such thing, so I inquired further about that. Kris responded, . I'm also going to a promotion board next month (your leaders have to submit you for both of these things)...so I would say that they trust in all of my abilities."

Curious about my brother's interactions with his superiors, I asked him if they get inspirational speeches a lot or something (in Restrepo there were a surprising amount). He said, "If there are I don't notice them. When we get new soldiers (we have gotten 4 since I have been out here) I try to instill them with fear. Fear will keep you alive. Fear is an emotion that will give men wings. Men have done absolutely incredible things, not because they were brave, but because they were scared shitless." 

To wrap up this series of questions, I decided to ask what his favorite part of being in the Army is. He said "Without question its the camaraderie."

And, finally, I asked you guys to submit questions for me to ask my brother. Sadly, I only got one, and at first I wasn't going to ask him but I decided it would be fair to see if he would like to respond. 

Anonymous asked "Does he feel we should be over there?"

Kristofer wanted to avoid a political discussion, and he wanted me to make it clear that he would only answer a question like this one time. 

He said, "I feel like most Americans suffer from ADD. How can people so easily just discredit the fact that our country was attacked by terrorists? When you where a kid and someone said that your mother was a whore didn't you punch them in the mouth? If not you should have. True Americans are fighters, we are bred that way. We fight for our rights, we fight for our loved ones, we fight for our country, and, hell, we even fight for fun. Our country was founded by people willing to bleed for the freedoms that people now hide behind freedom of press and freedom of speech being two big ones. Now, at this point it is imperative that we fight to reform Afghanistan to prevent further attacks on American soil. Just in case the anyone feels like I didn't answer the question already...yes I feel like it is of utmost importance that we are over here.

...I will never answer a question like that again."

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If any of you guys have a question for my brother, PLEASE feel free to post it in the comments or e-mail me at thecynicalreport@gmail.com and I would love to ask him for you the next time I get a chance, and it may be used in a post like this one.

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
If you wish you can contact me at thecynicalreport@gmail.com, and please like/share my blog on Facebook and Twitter using the links on the side!

Stephen McDow and the Stupidity of the IRS

Stephen McDow

A man by the name of Stephen McDow was arrested after the IRS mistakenly deposited $110,000 into his back account, reports The Huffington Post. The money was a tax return meant for an elderly lady. Stephen was taken to jail with a bail of $110,000 and faces up to four years in prison after spending $60,000 of it on student loans and his home mortgage.

When The Huffington Post linked their article on Facebook, they had included a status that said "Fair?"

Now I really love The Huffington Post, but this was really a stupid question. Of course it is fair.

In this case, he knew the money wasn't his. If you go to the bank, and you have $110,000 that you didn't earn, don't spend it. I can only imagine the temptation one would feel in the case of this man, but with a sum of money that large, someone is looking for it, and they are going to find it. To be honest, this man lucked out that it was a Government mistake and not some criminal mistake, because he would probably have to worry for his life if that was the case. It was just an all around bad decision to spend a dime of that money, there was no way it was going to end well.

I do not think he should spend four years in prison though, because it is important to remember that the IRS did make a mistake here, it doesn't all fall to him. He should have to pay the money back through some sort of payment system, but there is no way this man should lose four years of his life because of the combined stupidity of himself and the IRS. That would not be fair.

We have too many people caught up in our penal system for ridiculous things anyway, let's not add Stephen to the list.

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Politicians, Please Stop Using the Work Computers for Porn

Lulz Security Logo

Update: As of around 6 o'clock on June 15th The Huffington Post is reporting that Lulz Security hacked into the CIA's website. I think they may actually be doing us a favor, maybe our Nation's vital infrastructure will get it's shit together so we can prevent more serious cyber attacks in the future.

Reading headlines this morning, I stumbled upon a news story that involved our US Federal Government being hacked by a group called Lulz Security (that story can be read here). Now, the attack didn't put any of our information at risk, but it got me thinking. 

I remembered to a few years back when China's Government successfully hacked into the Pentagon (to jog your memory) and I decided to find out how often these kind of hacks into our vital Governmental systems actually take place.

What I found was pretty shocking. All according to the Office of Management and Budget, there are more than one hundred cyber attacks against Federal agencies everyday. In 2009 there were about 30,000 cyber attacks against us, and in 2010 Federal agencies reported 41,776 cyber incidents. That represents a 39% increase in cyber attacks going from '09 to '10. 

The worst part is, most of the attacks came from instances of phishing, also known as filling out that e-mail form for your free trial of Viagra. The fact that the people that run our country are constantly falling for fake forms to fill out and clicking dirty links is frightening to me. These people should have to go through some classes or something on how to protect US interests.

Just knowing that the US Government has the Office of Management and Budget on the case for cyber attacks tells me that we are obviously not prepared to handle an attack, we should have a specialized Office of Cyber Attacks or something, these things are pretty serious. I really don't want a group of Government hired accountants in charge of keeping our information safe, I don't even want them to be the ones keeping track of how often we are attacked.

Two pieces of advice for the US Government. One, helping that Nigerian Prince isn't going to help US foreign relations, and sure as hell isn't going to get us any more oil (hint: he isn't really a Nigerian Prince).

And two, get an external hard drive for all that porn you are downloading.
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If you enjoyed this post please hit the +1 button at the bottom, it helps get the blog noticed, and as always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
 
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Tracy Morgan Does What Comedians Do

Tracy Morgan has been under fire for his most recent tirade about the gay and lesbian community, continuing a history of doing so. This time he is in trouble time for claiming things such as "...gay is a choice...God don't make no mistakes." Tracy also informed a crowd that if his son ever came out to him as gay, Tracy would stab him to death. Clearly comments like these are outrageous and unacceptable, but I have one problem with the public's outcry. 

All of this was said in a comedy club.

Now let me be sure to assure everyone that I do not dislike the gay community in anyway, I have a surprising amount of gay relatives and I think anyone who has a problem with gay rights or any such thing is an extremely bigoted person.

But as long as I have been alive, the comedy stage has been the epitome of free speech. Up there, a comedian can choose to shock a crowd into laughter using highly offensive humor, or he/she can stand there and make jokes. Tracy Morgan has done the former for many years, so this type of thing shouldn't even be news. 

The real problem here is that a bunch of people who know him from the hit comedy TV show "30 Rock" went to see their favorite (and clean) character Tracy Jordan, and what they got was an uncensored and uncut Tracy Morgan.

It's easy to get sucked into the Tracy Morgan hate in all of this, because his comments were despicable and the media does a great job of sensationalizing everything, but it is important to remember that everything he said was within the confines of a comedy club. Tracy Morgan isn't roaming the streets gay bashing, he simply made jokes he normally would have, to an audience that wasn't targeted well for his type of comedy.

If you enjoyed this post please hit the +1 button at the bottom, it helps get the blog noticed, and as always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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Conversations With a Soldier

When I first started talking to my brother, Kris, about his experiences as a soldier in Afghanistan I promised him that I would not blog about it. He said that I could blog if I wished, but I could not make the blog political. So here I am, blogging about Afghanistan in a non-political way, trying to be as objective as possible and probably failing because Kris, my brother, is at war.

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Initially, I felt timid and very hesitant to broach any of the many serious subjects one can inquire about when talking to a soldier, so I started simple. I asked him if it is hot or cold over in Afghanistan. Now, this is a stupid question, but I give him credit for answering it without being too much of a smart ass. Kris responded as wryly as he could muster using text by saying "It's hot during the summer and cold in the winter... but always cold at night." 

Seeing that I would have to step up my game to keep us both engaged in this conversation, I  decided to pick it up and ask some real questions. With a slight bit more confidence I followed up by asking what the atmosphere around camp was like when they are not on a mission. This was only the second time Kristofer and I had spoken since he shipped to Afghanistan so I didn't really expect much from him in this conversation, but he gave a more detailed response than I had bargained for. "You have to constantly be on your toes... even if you are in a 'safe' place there's always the chance that they will try to overrun you... or mortar you. But you are able to joke around a little during that time, too. You have to have a pretty morbid sense of humor."

My next question was about the atmosphere when on a mission, and whether or not they run day and night, because I only think of things happening during the day. I informed him that every time I imagine him in a fight out there I always see it as a movie. "We run missions day and night," he wrote. "It doesn't matter. Sometimes we step light and sometimes we don't (mission depending). I suppose it would be like a movie if you were on the outside looking in, but when you're in a firefight there is nothing Hollywood about it."

Kristofer Wedekind

 Really feeling my oats now I asked him how often shots are fired. This is a question that I only partly wanted to hear the answer to, and being ever so intuitive I think he got a sense of that, telling me all I need to know in his answer by responding "Often...once a week maybe, give or take. Wanting only to cautiously prod this topic, I asked if every firefight has a fatality, or if there are more surrenders than I imagine. "It ends when one side is dead, they surrender, or they run away. Someone always gets fucked up in a firefight, them or us."

A few moments later Kris asked, "Do you know what its like to be in a firefight?"

Feeling I may have hit a nerve, I wrote that I had no idea what it is like. In an attempt to relate to me the unrelatable, Kristofer wrote "Its Hell... Imagine the most terrified you have ever been and times that by a million. Imagine watching your friend die. Then imagine digging deep, pushing forward, and killing ones that would harm you and others you love."

Sensing that it would probably be a good idea to switch to a more pedestrian question, I asked how often he gets to sleep, and if he has ever hallucinated due to sleep deprivation. He responded, "I've been up for days at a time...no hallucinations here. There is a saying in the army 'Stay alert, stay alive'. You have to live by it! The second you let your guard down you die. My brother next to me depends on me staying alert and not being complacent. If I let him down he could die."

My last question was how often he got to partake in any type of entertainment. Television, movies, boardgames, sports, music, etc. "Lol," he wrote, "every chance I get... not often...I watched a little bit of tombstone on my buddies laptop earlier...with no sound. no games really... uh ping pong sometimes...cards blackjack poker dominoes spades...that's about it."

After answering this question Kris informed me that he had to go get some sleep before his next day, and presumably, mission. Disappointed that our talk was over for now, I accepted that he had to go to sleep so that he would be better prepared for the next day, and we said our goodbyes for the evening.

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Depending on reader response, I hope that Conversations With a Soldier becomes part of a series. Given the nature of Kris' and I's correspondence the chances of that happening are very hit or miss, so we will see. If any of you guys have a question for my brother, feel free to post it in the comments and I would love to ask him for you the next time I get a chance, and it may be used in a post like this one.

I hope you had a happy Memorial Day, and God bless our troops, past and present.

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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Tiki Barber Compares Himself to Anne Frank

Tiki Barber

Tiki Barber, the former New York Giants running back and future Hall of Famer had this to say about a recent situation he was in. "Lep's Jewish. And it was like a reverse Anne Frank thing." "Lep" is his agent who's full name is Mark Lepselter. 

So what horrific situation could Barber have been in to feel like he could compare himself to Anne Frank?

Lepselter allowed Barber to stay in his attic after he broke up with his pregnant wife and ran away with his girlfriend, Tracy Lynn Johnson.

Anne Frank

Now, I am not typically oversensitive to this type of thing, and I would normally come to the defense of someone saying something like this, but I know a joke when I see one, and this was not a joke. At least, if it was a joke, it wasn't really funny at all, it was simply him comparing his experience of living in an attic to that of Anne Frank's.

I am not going to read any sort of antisemitism into his statements. He clearly does not not have anything against the Jewish people given his past history in which Tiki was a guest of President Shimon Peres in Israel five years ago, but his statement does have a sting of insensitivity. 

I simply cannot buy that a man who runs away from his commitment and responsibility to his wife and child is comparable to Anne Frank's struggle and her family's escape from an army of brainwashed murderers. 

While I am sure his pregnant wife may have seemed like a Nazi when he left her high and dry, I can assure him that no such comparison need be made.

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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An Apology and While I Was Away

First off, allow me to apologize for my absence the last seventeen days. I had intended to make a post letting everyone know I would be gone for a while to attend my two best friend's wedding in Dallas, but I had computer problems before I departed, and never got a chance to let everyone know in advance, I hope you all will forgive this. I plan on picking up the once a week movie reflection next week, but for now let's go over something that really caught my attention while I was on vacation.

Deyan Valentinov Deyanov

One of the most shocking things to come out in the last couple weeks, and probably in my life, was the stabbing and beheading that took place in the Canary Islands. This is of course relatively old news at this point, but a Bulgarian man by the name of Deyan Valentinov Deyanov beheaded a woman in the Canary Islands. Homeless, and reportedly having gone through a recent break-up, Deyanov followed Jennifer Mills-Westley, a grandmother of five, into a supermarket, stabbed her fourteen times, and then proceeded to cut her head off as he proclaimed he was a "prophet of God." He then took the head with him and was walking along the sidewalk with it before being detained. He is currently being held in a psychiatric unit, and no motive has been identified for the killing. More information can be found here.

Jennifer Mills-Westley

 Hearing this news story blew my mind. I can't believe we live in a world where a 60 year old grandmother can be beheaded in the middle of a supermarket with screaming onlookers. Jennifer Mills-Westley had told security guards that this man was stalking and threatening her life, and all they did was shoo him away and send Jennifer off. Also, he managed to steal the knife he used in the assault from the supermarket in which he killed her.

But what blows my mind the most is the weapon with which he managed to behead this poor woman. He had a knife. Now, I have not cut off many heads in my life (that tally is currently at zero) but, having a basic knowledge of anatomy, I believe I can safely claim that it is not an easy feat. There is a lot of stuff in the neck to cut through, not the least of which is bone. The fact that he used a simple knife to cut this woman's head off causes another case of deep disappointment in the human race within me. This tells me that he managed to stab this woman fourteen times with a knife, AND saw her head off, with people looking on. I understand that the witnesses may have not been able to stop the stabbing, I imagine that could have very well happened in the blink of an eye, but cutting off this woman's head with a knife had to take a little bit of time in which people were simply watching him. 

I know the shock of seeing something like that must have been extreme, just reading about it was quite shocking, but I don't want to believe that people were not able to stop the severe mutilation of Jennifer's body, the prospect of doing so is just too sad to me. 

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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Osama's Body

First off, allow me to wish everyone a happy Star Wars day. May the fourth be with you :)

Today, I want to address the outcry for pictures of Osama Bin Laden's dead body to be released into the public domain. Many people are demanding the release of these photos, ranging from conspiracy theorists to families of victims of 9/11. 

First off, I want to call out the conspiracy theorists on this one. I will be the first to admit that I entertain conspiracy theories from time to time, but in this case why would the Obama administration claim to have photos knowing it would incense everyone into wanting to see them, and then refuse to release the pictures when they could have just as easily claimed to never have any photos. It does not make sense for them to lie just so they would have to lie again to prevent the public from seeing non-existent photos. Furthermore, even if pictures were released, most conspiracy theorists would simply claim that they were altered. Conspiracy theorists are relentless, and generally will not accept any proof contrary to their initial opinion.

Moving on from that, I feel like the Obama administration is making the right call on this one. Osama's dead body is not a trophy, and it should not be released to the public as such. Doing so would cause international unrest, and lead to more danger for our soldiers overseas. Imagine if the terrorists killed one of our leaders, and then released a gruesome photo of his dead body. I, for one, would be infuriated, as would the general public. If a photo of Bin Laden's dead body was to be released, it would be seen as a slap in the face to the terrorists, and other countries would also view it as distasteful. One thing we do not need is for other countries to hate us more.

And, finally, it is good to remember the circumstances of Osama's death. He was shot in the head, right above his left eye, and in the chest. Both at close range. These pictures would not be a pretty sight, and I imagine that, with the exception of his beard, he would be unrecognizable to the general public. I believe that if there is something our society doesn't need, it is to be further desensitized. Slathering the news with photos of this gruesome spectacle would surely do that, if nothing else.

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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Osama Bin Laden Is Dead

I debated actually posting on this subject last night and decided to sleep on it. This morning I did the normal routine. Got up, handled the dental hygiene, and got on Facebook to see what everyone is talking about as I always do. I expected everyone to be discussing Osama to an extent, but it appeared that all those discussions ended at about 3 am last night (showing that us as a society has quite an ADD problem, but that is besides the point of this post). However, in the time that it was the topic of the moment for U.S citizens, some interesting questions were raised that I feel need to be explored.

Does his death actually mean anything? Are we celebrating revenge? Is it just bringing us together? And what does that mean for us as a society?

Does his death actually mean a damn thing in the "War on Terror"? No it does not. The "War on Terror" is a war against an ideology. Osama is nothing but a personification of that ideology. Someone will take his place. Al-Qaeda is a criminal organization, Osama had a right hand man, and his right hand man has a right hand man. It does not end, and it never will. So as far as that goes, we really do not have anything to celebrate, but we are.

Are we celebrating revenge? To an extent, I believe so. If you look at the core of the situation, everyone is simply celebrating the death of a human being. Now expand it a bit, bring in some roles, and we are victims of a terrorist celebrating said terrorist's death. In this capacity, I do understand the celebratory nature of the occasion by those families that were directly effected by any deaths that may have been caused by his attacks. But that is not an argument for justification that anyone else should attempt to invoke.

There are a ton of people that say "Its bringing us together!" and this statement would be supported by the flood of Facebook pages dedicated to the liking of "Osama is dead!" and "The guy who killed Osama" I personally found the sudden flood of fair weather patriots to be rather nauseating especially since all of those pages were probably started by people who just want to get a lot of likes on a page they started and care much less about any meaning, symbolic or otherwise, that his death may carry. But I desperately hope for all of us that we do not need death to bring us together as a Nation. In these times when not even our own government can get anything done, where we entered the 11th hour of a complete government shut down, and I did not see even a quarter of the togetherness as citizens that I saw in Osama's death. I simply cannot accept, because it truly would bring me great sadness, that only in death can this great country be brought together, even for a night on Facebook.

What does it mean to me? When I got the news, my honest to goodness first thoughts were "Maybe this means my brother can come home now." Him being a soldier in Afghanistan, I know this is a false hope, but it was my reaction to the news, and I thought I would share it.

I want to leave you with something my best friend said that I feels sums up my feelings, and I hope it touches you like it did me. Regardless of religious affiliation, it carries all the meaning in the world.

"Stop rejoicing over another human's death. He's only a symbol. Pray for peace."

As always I fully encourage any criticism, advice, suggestions, or general discussion in the comment area.
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