Over the weekend, hundreds gathered at the raising of the memorial totem pole in honor John T. Williams. The family said it’s supposed to be a symbol or calm and healing.
For those who don’t know, John T. Williams was the woodcarver who was shot by a Seattle police officer two years ago. The officer saw Williams crossing the street with a knife, ordered him to put it down, and then shot him when he didn’t comply.
Since then, the shooting was deemed unnecessary and promises to change the way police officers are trained have been made.
I like the idea of the totem pole being a symbol of calm and healing because this is surely what everyone wants, but he was a street person who needed mental help. I’m more upset at the government for not identifying his problem and doing something to make sure he wasn’t a danger to anyone or himself.
Many people have taken to the internet about the topic, and not all are too thrilled about William’s memorial because he has had over 100 convictions.
I do think it’s embarrassing to immortalize someone who didn’t really do anything himself to contribute to make this world a better place.
No one deserves to die unjustly but no one deserves a memory for being a mess. This is the “participation trophy” to the max! It’s sad to see Williams get a memorial when there have been many more who actually put their lives on the line for us, and don’t get anything to show for it when they’re gone.
Yesterday during Headlines and Sports, Steve talked about a very disturbing story that happened in Bremerton.
An 8-year-old girl was shot in her third-grade class at Armin Jahr Elementary School when the gun hidden in a fellow classmate’s backpack accidently went off, hitting her arm and abdomen.
The girl, Amina Kocer-Bowman, was quickly rushed by helicopter to the hospital where she underwent surgery. According to reports, she still remains in critical condition and will likely face more surgeries.
Authorities believe the 9-year-old boy, (whose name has not been released) got possession of the gun during visitation with his mother over the weekend yet the documents released say that five days ago, the boy told a classmate that he was going to bring his “dad’s gun” to school and run away.
The boy has been charged with third-degree assault, unlawful firearm possession and possession of a firearm on school property, but I think he’s not the only one who should be punished in this situation.
This is the one time that I really wish and hope for the pro gun advocates and the NRA to come down hard on people who allows this happened.
I think this is what needs to be done if you want to show that there is responsible gun ownership in this country and we punish those who are not responsible.
It’s the same thing with religionists; if you have one person running around being a jerk…then other religious people should step up and show that this jerk isn’t a good representation of what they are all about. For example, many Christians have done this with the Westbro Baptist Church.
I want to see the NRA and pro gun control advocates to come down hard and make an example out of the person responsible for letting a 9-year-old bring a loaded gun to school.
It is reprehensible for an adult to be that irresponsible with something so dangerous.
Yesterday we talked about a fellow Rock-A-holic who has gotten in trouble because of what he tweeted. Actor Rainn Wilson from The Office and the movie Super, (who is also a Pacific North Westerner), had to make an apology after tweeting a joke about date rape.
Rainn has a very biting, acidic sense of humor, borderline dark and unfortunately people don’t understand it and that is why he had to apologize.
Here is the joke:
“If I were ever date-raped, I would want it to be to ‘Whole Lotta Love’ by Led Zeppelin,” the comedian wrote Monday.”
He wasn’t making the joke towards anyone who has been date raped, he was talking about himself!
Here is his apology:
“Apparently my poorly conceived date-rape tweet upset a lot of folks,” he wrote after removing the initial tweet. “Not a good topic to joke about. Sorry and won’t do that again.”
I’ve said this before about comedy; comedy is what we do in order to balance out the misery of this existence.
That’s why I don’t get so mad when people joke about darker issues whether in a comedy club or on Twitter to their followers because they are just telling a joke to a select audience! They don’t mean that they want a person who has had something bad has happened to them, trivialized. They are just doing their job, which is to be funny, to tell jokes.
It’s the dumbest thing that has to be done in the country; a comedian has to apologize for doing their job!
If you don’t have the same sense of humor as someone, don’t follow them on twitter and don’t go to their shows! It’s as simple as that!
Jokes are jokes…if you don’t like them that’s fine, but don’t demonize someone who’s just doing his/her job.
Yesterday on the show, we talked about how Chris Brown is in a Twitter war with WWE’s CM Punk but what I was more interested in is what has been going on with Chris Brown and his ex Rihanna.
Apparently, the duet the two have been working on has been leaked; Rihanna’s vocals appeared on a remix of Chris’s song “Turn Up The Music” and Chris made a vocal experience on a new remix of her song “Birthday Cake.”
For those who don’t remember, Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna three years ago and is still currently on probation for it.
What is even more disturbing is that Chris’s first lyrics in Rihanna’s song “Birthday Cake”:
“Girl, I wanna f--- you right now (right now)
Been a long time, I've been missing your body”
Actually Chris, you didn’t really miss her body when you hit her body and caused her harm.
When I first mentioned they were doing a duet together, Steve made the joke “Are they covering Hit Me with Your Best Shot” which may sound horrible, but here’s the thing, if Rihanna is stupid enough to get back together with this jerk and do anything with him, then we are allowed to joke about what happened.
She is doing more to hurt the cause of preventing domestic violence by just being in contact with him. Is this how far low she has to stoop Rihanna to keep her fame and to make more money?
If this doesn’t degrade the entire music industry, what does?
Last Friday we talked about how Seattle may be getting a new arena and new basketball and hockey league.
It’s exciting to hear that Mayor McGinn and Dow Constantine want this to happen because it could really help Seattle become a true sports city.
Steve pointed out though that there are many people complaining about the traffic and the increased number of people a new arena would bring. These are the people who just don’t like sports but have no problem spending who knows how much extra money putting little salmon on overpasses or paying for art that is only visible while on a plane. They are also the people who wanted the design of Century Link Field to be artistic with fancy touches.
Those people want to spend ridiculous amounts of money on “art” for the city because they think it adds to the beauty of the city and brings a cultural experience to the Seattle. Well guess what? Sports do the same thing!
People who are not sports fans, (and are usually the white collar workers) don’t care to bring new teams in; it’s the blue collar workers who are the true fans and without them, you white collar workers wouldn’t be able to do your jobs, so let’s give them the sports teams they deserve.
Not only would a new arena bring two sports teams, but imagine the new restaurants and bars that would open up and the jobs from the construction that would be available!
I don’t know why a city this size doesn’t understand that.
Noelle emailed us with a problem involving her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s cousin.
She’s been dating her boyfriend for a year and a half and feels like they might one day get married. Her boyfriend and his cousin are really close friends and all three of them hang out often.
The problem is when Noelle’s boyfriend runs out to do something and leaves her alone with his cousin, the cousin starts hitting on her. She has already asked him to stop but he acts like he was joking every time she brings it up.
Noelle wanted to tell her boyfriend but was afraid of her boyfriend not believing her and thus breaking up with her.
This is a very uncomfortable situation; I wish this is something we could all teach our children; when you are so afraid of losing something that you’ll do anything to serve those fears, then maybe you shouldn’t have it in the first place. Nothing should have such a strong hold of you like that.
If Noelle thinks there is a chance he might not believe her, then that is not the person she should be with. What kind of a guy would he be if he wouldn’t be open enough to entertain the idea that his cousin might be a jerk?
If you’re with an unreasonable person…don’t be afraid to leave. If you let fear rule you, in the long run it will keep you from being really content.
Yesterday during Group Therapy, we read an email from a Rock-A-Holic named Alyssa.
She wrote the email at 12:30am about her disappointing Valentine’s Day.
Alyssa has been dating her guy for seven months now and they had planned over a month ago to spend Valentine’s Day together. Her guy texted her right before dinner telling her that he had a project due that he needed to finish. Alyssa goes on to explained that she spent the whole Valentine’s night alone until her man showed up at midnight looking for a booty call, but was empty handed with a Valentine’s Day gift. Alyssa promptly sent him home then began writing in to our show, asking if she should break up with the guy or not.
This right here illustrates the difference between men and women; I don’t think Alyssa’s guy thinks he did anything wrong since her let her know about everything going on yet on the other side I can see Alyssa getting mad at him.
Granted I think a call would have been better then a text but I understand; Alyssa said herself in the email that her guy is going to school and working a job.
Alyssa wanting to break up with him over this is something most women do; they make decisions “in the moment” because of being emotional with what happened. She may want to break up with him now, but this “now” experience is not the place to make life decisions from.
Everyone talks about the “power of now,” but in this case, the “power of then and when” would best serve Alyssa. If she waits, then ponders her future (with or without him) while reflecting on this incident…she’ll make a better decision.
Yesterday I read a story that really disturbed and upset me.
Singer Chris Brown won at the Grammy’s earlier this week and many women tweeted about how they would like to get beaten by him.
For those who don’t remember, he assaulted his then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 after an argument.
Here are some of the tweets:
“Dude, Chris Brown can punch me in the face as much as he wants to, just as long as he kisses it. (:”
“I don’t know why Rihanna complained. Chris Brown could beat m e anytime he wanted to.”
“Not gonna lie…I think I’d let Chris Brown beat me #sosexy #lovehim #awkwardtweet #dontevencare”
If these were men making these comments, you can believe there would be a huge public outcry.
Men in this country have been vilified for domestic violence (even though studies show that it’s a 50/50 split between the genders) and we have been trained that it’s not a laughing matter.
This really sends a mixed message to men because we know we are not supposed to hurt women yet there are women who may or may not be joking about it.
I’m just worried for men out there who might get into a situation with a girl who claims she likes this kind of thing but then turns it aroud
As you’re all probably aware of, singer Whitney Houston passed away on Saturday at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Officials say that she was underwater in her hotel bathtub and unconscious.
The results of her toxicology report have not come in yet, but there are many reports saying there were drugs and alcohol in her room when she died, implying she was under the influence.
I have to agree with many people that it is sad that Whitney passed away but I feel like she could have prevented it.
Whitney, as well as many other celebrities who have passed away due to their addictions, could have and should have spent their money on having a drug coach by their side 24-7. A drug addiction coach could have helped motivate her to stay on the right path and to make sure she didn’t have any way to come in contact with her substance(s) of choice.
It’s just hard to feel bad for someone who had the money and resources to get better, but didn’t do it.
Last week, we played audio of what one father did to teach his daughter a lesson and while many people applauded him, I didn’t share their opinion.
Tommy Jordan of North Carolina posted a video of himself on YouTube called titled "Facebook Parenting: for the troubled teen" where he fires 9 shots from a .45 gun into his 15-year-old daughter’s laptop.
Why did Tommy do this? He did it because he was mad that his daughter posted on her Facebook complaining about the chores her parents are making her do and about the newest gadgets she doesn’t own.
Here is the video:
The video currently has over 21,400,000 views so far!
Now, I would never defend a dumb kid behaving badly and I believe Tommy’s daughter was not behaving badly.
She was doing what any other person does when they are feeling stressed or upset…they vent.
Before social networking sites, teenagers would rant, vent, and let everything out in their own private journal but now a days, they use Facebook and Twitter. Granted, it’s not always the best method because whatever you write is out there for everyone to see, but if you can let it out and be done with it, then there is nothing wrong with it.
I don’t think I would have been as upset if he would have done this to a son instead of his daughter because, like I’ve said before, boys and girls learn differently.
Boys learn through tough love whether it’s through corporal punishment or a harsh lesson while girls need to be talked to.
If you have a good enough relationship with your child, you shouldn’t feel like you have to go to the extreme of shooting their laptop, you should be able to talk to them one on one.
Yesterday on the show, I read a survey that made me even more wary of doctors.
According to the new survey published in the journal Health Affairs, one in 10 doctors has deliberately lied to a patient.
Of the 1,900 doctors surveyed, more then have had “described a patient’s prognosis in a more positive manner than warranted” which means that they were more positive about a patient’s results then they should have been.
The survey also found that nearly 20 percent of doctors admitted to not disclosing a medical mistake due to fear of a malpractice lawsuit and around 40 percent of them said they hadn’t fully disclosed financial ties to drug or device companies.
It is ridiculous to me that some of the people who are supposed to be taking care of us are only interested in benefiting themselves!
Whether it’s trying to push drugs on us we don’t really need just so they can get extra cash or a free vacation from a drug company or lying to our faces about the mistakes they made that could possibly really hurt us!
Whatever happened to doctors’ bedside manner? I swear they are so socially awkward, they don’t even know how to talk to people anymore so there is no real connection. The relationship between a doctor and a patient needs to be reestablished because the way things are now…makes me sick!
Yesterday on the show, I read an article talking about “helicopter parents.” We’ve all seen parents like this; these are the parents who are overly involved, overbearing, who call their kid’s schools and coaches about everything and hover over everything their children do.
You would think once the kids grew up, the parents would let them make their own choices and mistakes, but this is not the case. There are parents now who hover over their kids in the work place to the point where they are sending out resumes for them (sometimes without the kid knowing) and calling their kid’s bosses.
My generation and generations since are very much like this and I myself have worked hard to not become a helicopter parent. We were just trained to do this; “Don’t let your kids go outside or places alone.” We were brow beaten into being overly involved in our kid’s lives.
At some point, kids need to figure it out and they can’t do that if we’re always giving them the answers and solutions to their life problems.
For example, my two kids are both going their own way in life and I’m trying my best not helicopter over them. Even when they ask for help and expect me to do things for them, I might tell them a “white lie” about being unable to help because I want them to achieve their own successes and failures.
If you are a helicopter parent and are calling up your kid’s possible employers, telling them to hire your child, it will hurt their chances. They need to be able to show leadership skills and when “mommy” or “daddy” do everything for them, it shows a complete lack of those skills.
Yesterday we read a survey done by OK Magazine saying that 63% of men would say “yes” if their girlfriends proposed. I couldn’t believe it; that's almost two-thirds!
The survey also found that only 70% of women say they'd say "yes" if their boyfriend proposed right now and that women are 12% more likely than men to say yes to a proposal in the first year of a relationship.
Is this really what we’ve become as men? We don’t get anything in a relationship anymore! The wedding, how the home gets decorated, and even the whole birthing process of our children is completely up to the women. We get very little to no say or power anymore in anything; and on top of that all, it’s the women are the ones who are dropping to one knee and presenting a ring?
If we are going to throw every tradition out the window, let’s just throw the tradition of monogamy out as well! Trust me, once monogamy is no longer a tradition or if prostitution became legal, you will see we will see that the behavior of wives and girlfriends change.
If men can just pay someone to do everything for him like cook, clean, and then find someone to have sex with him, the behavior of women everywhere will change to be more loving and accommodating to their men.
Last Friday during Listeners on the Loose, we received a call from a guy named Shane who really made me upset.
For those who don’t know, Listeners on the Loose is a segment we do every Friday from 8am – 10am where the Rock-A-Holics can pick the topics they want us to discuss.
Shane called in to complain about how ridiculous tickets have gotten. He was recently pulled over in his girlfriend’s car and had to pay $800 for three tickets.
I saw right through him right away; what kind of person gets three tickets at once?
He was mad that he received these tickets at all and blamed the cops for being overzealous, trying to meet their quotas but Shane had no right to complain!
His first ticket was for not having the titled transferred to the car; the second was for not having the car registered, and the third, and most important one of all, he was driving with a suspended license!
He later admitted that he’s gotten over 50 tickets while driving and has been pulled over more than that total!
This is sadly another example of the self entitled, unaccountable society we have today. People think they’re too “special” to have to follow the same rules as the rest of the world and starting whining the second they get what they deserve.
Shane was in the wrong but still wanted to blame the police officers for doing their jobs…which is to keep the rest of us safe from people like him.
Last week I read a study from the University of Guelph in Canada that found out that women in heterosexual relationships lose interest in sex the longer they are with their man while men stay the same.
They found that the longer a woman stays with the same partner, her level of sexual desire gets lowered by 1% every month and male sexual desire remained steady which is in line with the evolutionary theory of being “wired to spread their seed.”
This is not positive news for woman. It seems to me that America tries to avoid putting out anything that may shed a bad light on women.
I really love Canada because they seem to put out a lot of sex/relationship surveys and studies about men’s hormones and how we should be given a bit of a pass for our biology being the way it is.
America seems to only seems to care about women; we research the hell out of women’s biology so they can be better understood, which I don’t have a problem with, but they should also take into consideration men and our biology.
It’s the year 2012 and we’ve been told we have to be equal yet, men still get beat down in this country and the truth about gender hormone bias continues to get buried.
A few days ago, I wrote a blog about the horrible thing that happened to television writer Jason Elia.
Jason had said that he had planned to propose to his girlfriend at the Super Bowl but shortly before he found out he had bladder cancer.
His girlfriend supposedly broke up with him once she heard he had cancer but tried to get the Super Bowl tickets from him once she heard of his plans.
Instead of giving her the tickets, he said he would give them away to the person who could get him the most Twitter followers.
When Jason told his story, it spread like crazy all over the internet and during a radio interview he said that his ex’s name was Sokhon Sen.
Since it’s been virally spread around, Sokhon found out and spoke up to clear her name.
She said there was no demand for Superbowl tickets and more importantly she says that there wasn’t even a break up because they were never dating!
She said, “I wouldn't call Jason someone I dated. More like some creepy person now that I met once in my whole life. I have no idea what this whole Super Bowl thing is nor did I know about it.”
If this is true, this was a low move on Jason’s part all for more attention. It’s sad that you have to pull stupid and/or mean stunts to be successful.
To be successful you have to be well known and to be well known, you have to find away to draw attention to yourself. It’s the Kim Kardashian effect- people who have no talent or notable skills get famous for doing nothing of any merit, at all.
Monday morning a burglar broke into 20-year-old Colton Vaughn’s apartment in Federal Way. What the burglar didn’t know is that Colton has been a boxer for 7 years.
When Colton had gotten up in the middle of the night for some water, he noticed that it was strangely cold inside. That’s when he looked over and saw a man wearing a ski mask and gloves coming at him.
Colton then punched the burglar in the face multiple times, yelling for his brother Kirk when Colton’s brother finally came out of his room with a pistol.
Then, Colton picked up the guy by the collar and threw him off the third story balcony. The police are still looking for the burglar.
I wish they would have big penalties for home invaders. If we had harsher penalties for the criminals who do this, then Americans wouldn’t have to worry about it so much anymore.
Cat burglars used to break into homes to steal when no one was home, but it seems like more and more people are doing it regardless if the house is occupied or not.
These are the people who are wacked out on drugs and will bust into anyone’s homes, occupied or not, just to steal whatever they can to then trade it in for drugs. They just don’t care!
A Rock-A-Holic named Les called in and said he lives 300 feet away from this incident and said that he’s had his car stolen 3 times and broken into 27 times because that area is so bad.
When I hear stories like this, I can’t see why anyone would want America to be anti-gun, especially when our own lawmakers don’t do enough to protect us. There should be super strict laws about this! Here’s how I think it should go: The first time you bust into someone’s home, you get a minimum one year in jail. You do it a second time, you get sent to jail automatically for five years, and if you do it a third time, well I’m sorry but that was your third strike and you’re locked up for life, druggie loser!
