First of all: making fun of someone and bullying them are two very different things. We’ve all been picked on, sometimes rather cruelly. But that sort of “abuse” is not the same as the more serious kind that comes from bullying, when it’s constant and often inescapable.

The most ridiculous claim I’ve heard lately is that “bullying is a bigger problem than ever.” No, it is not. Bullying has always been a problem, but unfortunately, it’s part of growing up in human society. I’m not saying it’s right, and I’m certainly not saying nothing should be done when it comes to serious abuse, but making it out to be some huge insidious threat does nothing but hamper those who are trying to deal with it.

Another spanner in the works now is that a new tool has been added into the mix: the Internet. Anyone who’s read the comments on a YouTube video knows just how nasty and mean Internet denizens can be, as they safely hide behind their digital anonymity.

Often, officials take things way too far when dealing with bullies. How many news stories have we read where a student is suspended (or expelled!) because they made a not-so-nice comment about a girl’s outfit or whatever on a peer’s Facebook wall? Like I said before, that is not bullying. When you get a torrent of racist, homophobic, or other kinds of incendiary posts, that is a problem (especially since it’s sometimes illegal, and often against many Internet sites’ terms of service). Kids picking on each other is not.

I was bullied and made fun of as a child. A lot. My folks did what they could to help; they told me that I shouldn’t let the bullies get to me, that I should report them to teachers, and to defend myself if attacked. This is of course very hard when you’re a child, but it was still the right choice. Did my parents blame the school administration? Or town officials? Or the state legislature? Or other parents? Or the media scapegoat du jour? Of course not.

When we get into those rare circumstances where bullies severely beat or otherwise seriously abuse a fellow student, by all means, prosecute the little fuckers and throw them in the slammer. But overreacting to minor infractions only makes people oversensitive and unprepared for the real world.

People need to stop calling these people “birthers,” and label them with the proper and accurate term instead:

Racists.

That’s all this is about, and all it has ever been about. Claiming otherwise is simply a delusion. Some folks, I’m sorry to say, just can’t wrap their brains around the concept of a President who isn’t 100% whitebread. It’s disgusting and embarrassing.

Obama is the President. Disagreement with his policies is perfectly acceptable, but this racist bullshit? He was born in America. Get over it. It’s high time that all pundits and journalists alike started calling birthers racists out appropriately.

Seriously…how the hell did this happen?! It’s flagrant stupidity on a level I can barely understand. Why would you ever want to shit on improving one’s mind, and instead reward the opposite, which is idiocy?

Most of the complaints I’ve seen don’t focus on public schools, as for the most part, it’s required by law for children to attend them. The exception is homeschooling, but even though that’s been slightly on the rise, it’s not as widespread as the anti-college sentiment. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense; there’s boatloads of conservative pundits and politicians who have had excellent educations, yet they turn around and bash the very system that taught them.

Another part of these anti-education views is the increasing role of fundamentalist religion in the United States. Just look at how politicians and religious groups have tried to ramrod complete nonsense like intelligent design into taxpayer-funded public school programs! It never fails to amaze and anger me that people want to supplant rational thought and factual information with superstition, and that’s the very antithesis of a proper education. To return to the subject of homeschooling, there’s a lot of parents out there who feel that public schools are “too secular” at best and “evil” at worst. Thus, they homeschool their children according their religious beliefs, and this is another level of insanity. How can you expect a child to function in the real world when you’re consistently decrying the facts at home?

My theory is one shared by many others: conservatives and über-religious folks hate the educational system because it teaches people to think for themselves, and that may lead them to question these same politics and religions. As well it should! You should question and learn about everything, be it right or left, god or godless. The whole point of a good education is that you can make your own well-informed decisions borne out by facts, not hearsay.

Do you need a college education or higher learning experience to succeed in life? Not necessarily. But dismissing education out of hand is idiotic, no matter which side of the political fence you sit on.

Lame commercials are nothing new, but as we’re rapidly approaching election season, an overwhelming majority of the ads are for political campaigns. Specifically, we’ve got our state primaries coming up very soon, so the candidates for governor, Senate, and Congressional positions are making their final pushes to sway voters and secure their parties’ nominations. Why does this bother me? Because the ads are nothing but attacks, hit pieces, and smear campaigns.

Ads aired earlier in the spring and summer did indeed discuss critical issues. Those are what’s really important, so why not just stick with that tactic instead of this lowbrow mudslinging garbage? The candidates are all behaving like children.

Instead of talking about important issues at hand, such as the state economy, unemployment, infrastructure, et cetera, the candidates would much rather smear one another. Usually, this is done by pointing out “lies” in one campaign, and claiming that the opponent would never do such a thing. (Guess what: that’s probably a lie, too.) I understand that candidates can and should defend themselves from false claims, but doing so by viciously counterattacking is just sinking to their opponents’ scummy levels. It’s a sad indicator of just how low political discourse in this country has fallen.

Just in case any of my readers decide to run for political office, here’s some friendly advice. I’m one of those rare voters that casts their ballot based on multiple issues that are of critical importance to my state and country, rather than single issue, special interest nonsense (like gun rights). The serious issues are of utmost importance. However, personal conduct does carry some weight. If the centerpiece of your campaign is to smear your opponent rather than discuss the critical stuff, then it’s unlikely I’m going to vote for you. I’ll take a beleaguered underdog who can actually help my state over a shifty blowhard any day of the week.

I get angry when I hear yet another story about parents suing school systems for the most inane reasons, such as playing competitive games like tag, or exclusionary games like dodge ball. Just because your kid may not be as good as the others on the playground doesn’t mean the school district owes you money. Nobody’s perfect; if your kid doesn’t excel on the baseball field, I’m sure they excel elsewhere. How would you like it if other parents sued you because your kid surpassed their own in mathematics, for example?

What really drives me into a rage is when someone is tragically killed..and the family sues for millions. That’s disgusting, as they’re literally trying to profit off of their loved one’s death!

You have the right to sue anyone for anything, but the problem is that too many people take extreme advantage of that right just to get rich quick. I think this practice needs to end, or at least be severely lessened. Believe it or not, there’s a very simple way for people to fight back.

It goes like this: say someone falls on your sidewalk because you forgot to shovel the snow off of it, and they sue you for $4 million. That’s obviously way more than what’s necessary to cover medical bills and recovery time, so it’s clear that the plaintiff is just a greedy scumbag. So…don’t give them a dime. Ignore the lawsuit. The cops come to arrest you? Let them. A judge wants to throw you in jail over it? Fine. You’ll end up in a minimum security prison, and likely only have to serve a fraction of your sentence, anyway. The end result is what’s important: the greedy bastard who sued you won’t get one cent, and they’ll have likely lost a ton of their own money filing the lawsuit in the process! They’ll think twice before trying that shit again, now won’t they?

Now, the prospect of jail time will naturally put most people off. But if enough principled individuals stood up against this frivolous nonsense, the rest of the population would take notice. Civil disobedience can be a very powerful tool, and people might start to rethink wasting taxpayers’ time and money in order to further their own foolish greed.

First, the usual history. I was baptized and raised Roman Catholic, and as a child, I had no choice but to attend church services with the rest of my family each and every Sunday. I attended public school, but was also put through the requisite years of after-school CCD. Now, when you’re a kid, you can’t make informed decisions about such weighty matters, so I don’t really consider all of that stuff a big deal in retrospect. (At the time, I was more annoyed that the stuff took time away from toys or television.)

What did bother me was that I still wasn’t given any choice in the matter through my teenage years. I was still forced to attend Mass every Sunday, even though at this point my intellect had developed to the point where I had serious reservations about Christian teachings, and the Bible’s contradictions of historical facts. I wasn’t comfortable receiving the sacrament of Confirmation, but again, I had no choice in the matter. (Ironic, as that particular sacrament is one that’s supposed to be 100% voluntary.)

Once I turned eighteen, though, the yoke lifted. I obviously couldn’t be forced into church if I was away at college, and I was free to exercise my own beliefs (or lack thereof) at this point. I had the opportunity to study many world religions in college; I wasn’t searching for one to fit me, but it’s important to have a well-rounded education, and learning about the widely varying belief systems found around our planet is fascinating. At this point, I had pretty much settled on the fact that I had become an agnostic, and I’ve remained that way to this day.

Put simply, I don’t actively believe in God or any other deities, but I accept the possibility that there might be some kind of “higher power” out there. What could that being or beings be? Who knows. A god, a group of aliens, technologically advanced human beings from the future, mutant termites…all of them are plausible. But, until I see some evidence or other form of proof, they’re not possible. In the meantime, I’m not going to run my life based on ancient, outdated texts written by man in the guise of gods. This is especially important since said texts often run contrary to modern sociological development!

Now, I do think that there’s some sort of afterlife. I don’t know it’s what’s commonly referred to as “heaven,” but there has to be some place that human consciousness goes after our bodies go the way of all flesh. Consciousness is unique and important, and I think it’s a form of energy. As we know from physics, energy is neither created nor destroyed. I’m sure we end up somewhere, in some form…but, as with the theory of a higher power, I just don’t know what.

Most of my friends and family may not share my specific views on religion, but their own beliefs range across the spectrum. I’ve got friends in the clergy, and others who are atheists. I have no problem respecting the beliefs of any religious or non-religious person. The only time I get angry is when they try to force those beliefs upon others, especially when it comes to government and society as a whole, and this sadly happens far too often. This is an incredibly dangerous practice, as said beliefs are almost always in flagrant violation of the facts.

For example, I’m vehemently opposed to creationism and its thinly-veiled swordpoint, “intelligent design.” The fact that so many religious organizations want to ramrod this stuff into public school science classes makes me want to projectile vomit. That stuff has no basis in scientific fact whatsover: it’s not science, period. It’s religion, and as such, it does not belong in science classes. It belongs in religious, philosophy, or mythology classes. There’s zero evidence of creationism, and plenty of evidence supporting evolution and the history of the Earth. Creationism and intelligent design are mythology, not facts. It’s quite simple. (The same applies to religious opposition to scientific research. Since religion is not science, it should have no bearing on said research. Fundamentalist protesters really need to stop hampering human progress.)

Then, of course, there’s the excessive amount of violence that comes about as a direct result of religious beliefs. Nothing in human history has caused more death, destruction, and misery than people acting in the name of their god or gods. That in and of itself is more than enough to turn me off to deity worship, and the modern politicians and pundits that continue to promote such divinely-inspired violence and tyranny to this day are the last straw.

On the flipside, I do take issue with some militant atheists. Publicly fighting back against outdated religious doctrine is perfectly acceptable and often warranted, given the millennia of persecution that nonbelievers have had to endure. But when you cross the line into just being nasty and personally insulting, then you’re undermining your own message. Joking around is one things, but know your limits.

I’ve had my share of turmoil in my life, and I’ve also experienced things I’d have a hard time explaining rationally. However, that doesn’t automatically push me into one camp or another. I enjoy being free to make my own choices based on individual events that I come across; there’s no “one-religion-fits-all,” in my mind. If you’re committed to a rigid belief system, things are going to clash with it. Some people can “go with the flow” and adapt to the circumstances when this happens, but too many others are apt to just ignore the facts in favor of their beliefs. This disconnection from reality is not healthy!

Naturally, I’ve been scorned for my stance on religious matters. I even had classmates in high school and college who told me right to my face that I was going to Hell…because I was not a born-again Christian. That’s bigotry at best, and vitriolic hatred at worst! Of course, I really don’t give a shit; if they want to believe that I’m a horrible person simply because I don’t follow their strict ruleset, it’s not my problem. For every person that’s demonized me for my lack of belief, there’s ten or more who support it, even if they don’t subscribe to it themselves.

I’m comfortable with my agnosticism personally, and at the end of the day, that’s all that should matter. Choose your own path, whatever it may be, and leave everyone else free to choose theirs. That’ll make the world a much more peaceful place, now won’t it?

Let me make things very simple for everyone: we need reform. There’s millions of uninsured people and children in this country, and it’s absolutely inexcusable that a country that calls itself the most powerful on the planet can’t take care of its citizens with free basic medical care. Yes, I know there’s people that would abuse it, but the cost in lives overrules that complaint.

The Republicans and the right-wing pundits blast any attempt at reform as “socialized medicine,” and lately, they’ve sunk to the new low of having their followers disrupt town hall discussions with violent protests. I’m all for peaceful protests, and even civil disobedience, but this is nothing but organized chaos along the lines of the Fox News Tea Parties. You’ve got misinformed and ignorant Americans, driven by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, shouting down any opposition to their views. I’m confident that most of these Republicans, pundits, and their listeners don’t even know what the word “socialized” means. Nor do they have any trouble with our other socialized programs, such as police departments, fire departments, or libraries. Their opposition to healthcare reform boils down to one thing, and one thing only: money.

There’s a lot of money to be made in the medical, pharmaceutical, and insurance industries, and any publicly-funded healthcare program would cut into the bottom line. In other words, the Republican opposition to healthcare reform is nothing but putting profits over human lives. Standard operating procedure for the right wing, I’m afraid.

I think we need to do less.

Before you start shouting, hear me out. This isn’t some big middle finger to the rest of the world; far from it. My belief is this: who are we to decide what form of government is best for other countries? We’ve tried forcing our views on others countless times in the past, and it’s rarely worked out for the best. While the Iranian situation is deplorable, it’s their problem. The Iranian people need to work it out on their own, without our interference.

Furthermore, the United States has a boatload of internal problems right now. We need to fix our own country before we could even think of advising others on how to run theirs! Our economy’s in the shitter, our educational system is a joke, healthcare is a contradiction in terms, and billions of Americans are obscenely fat and appallingly stupid. (Don’t believe me on that latter point? Look at people’s obsession with celebrities and reality television.)

I’m all for other nations trying to better themselves through the will of the populace. We just need to back off and let them handle it.

Hell, just the other day, Chuck Norris appeared on the Fox News talk show The Glenn Beck Program, joining the host in mercilessly bashing the president and his politics, and of course blaming Obama for policies enacted during the previous administration. I don’t care how cool all of those stupid Internet memes make Norris sound; he’s a fucking douchebag. This is the same clown who actually advocated the secession of Texas from the rest of the United States! Last time I checked, secession was high treason, making it extremely illegal. As to Norris’ talk of “thousands of cell groups”…aren’t those the same words we use to describe terrorists? Again, can you imagine if a liberal pundit was talking like this? They’d be dead by now!

I’m all for free speech; Norris and crew have every right to say whatever they wish. It’s the double standard that gets me.

While that certainly sounds good on paper, it covers up the real problem. Aside from the previously mentioned overkill (the Israeli Defense Forces have killed far more civilians than Hamas has at this point), the humanitarian disaster is even worse. Gaza’s almost completely cut off, with the populace hiding in terror from the IDF. Water, electricity, food, and basic medicine are scarce. As this confrontation goes on, the death toll is going to skyrocket due to these humanitarian problems alone, not just bombs and bullets.

It’s appalling that world governments aren’t doing a damn thing about it. We all know the United States approves of anything and everything Israel does; that’s always been the status quo. Israel could randomly fire a nuclear missile into Tehran, and the US would firmly support it. Plenty of other nations have expressed disgust over Israel’s actions (while condemning Hamas at the same time, mind you), but they don’t have the balls to step up to the plate and do anything about it. Trying to pass a resolution through the United Nations Security Council is obviously a pointless measure, as the US will veto it. General Assembly resolutions would pass, but they’re non-binding, and therefore equally pointless. So why not cut off diplomatic relations, trade, and so forth? Until they can behave like civilized human beings and quit blowing each other to smithereens, we should just cut them off from the rest of the world.

The other thing that pisses me off about the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is that you can’t criticize any Israeli actions without being called anti-Semitic. You shouldn’t even joke about that shit. Look, we all know how horrible the Holocaust was; it’s a giant black mark on human history. That does not, however, give you carte blanche to do whatever you want! Hamas and their ilk are horrible excuses for human beings, but killing hundreds more people than they have in retaliation doesn’t make you any better. It makes you worse, and the last thing you want to do is sink to a lower level than your enemy.