Come on. We’re better than this.

Honestly, I wish I knew why some people have such a problem with anyone different than them.  American culture is one of the most heterogenous imaginable.  And yet there are still so many people afraid of “them”, whether it be gays, foreigners, or in this case, Muslims.

A U.S. Army veteran, who served in Iraq and is still in the Army Reserve, was apparently attacked by his fare last week.  And the guy was screaming about terrorists and the Boston bombing and whatnot.

You know, from a certain point of view, the group that has created the overwhelming majority of the problems I have had in my life is angry, bigoted white meathead rednecks.  Does that mean we should start profiling white rednecks?  Or start reporting “suspicious” white rednecks to the police? Does that mean all white rednecks are the same?  No, they aren’t.  It’s absurd.  And so is blaming all 1 billion plus Muslims for the acts of a small minority.  It’s not like Christians have been free of committing horrific violence in the name of their religious views.  So get over yourselves, people.  Try learning a little, opening your mind, maybe cracking open a book or two.  And for God’s sake, turn off the TV and the talk radio.  It’s only making things worse.

-Geoff

Hopefully, things will settle down a bit now

Needless to say, I am thrilled that they found the two suspects and that one of them (apparently the younger brother) has been taken alive, which will hopefully give the investigators the chance to get all the details they need.  I sure hope so.  It will be nice to have a nice, calm week to settle down to a regular routine again.  Admittedly, after this past week, I almost wouldn’t be surprised to have Godzilla march down Commonwealth Avenue.  If that happens, I guarantee that I will not be one of the people who waits to get stepped on.

So yeah, tomorrow I am going to try to do some housecleaning, put up our new HDTV antenna, and do some good Portuguese home cooking.  Maybe I can get a decent night’s sleep tonight too.

Sleep tight, Boston.  Sweet dreams.

-Geoff

“That’s not a knife, THIS is a knife.”

This popped up on Boston.com today and it made me laugh.  As it involves Geoff’s family’s ancestral home of New Bedford, MA I thought it worth posting here.

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This is not the post I was going to write

That post is longer and will be coming up in the next day or two.  But, this caught my attention as I was reading Boston.com and cleaning up my inbox today and I thought I’d share.  Personally, I’m a little disappointed they didn’t get away with it.

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Upper Crust and the political divide

The source of overpriced pizza for a vast swath of yuppies across Massachusetts has filed for Chapter  11 bankruptcy.   I suppose it was just a matter of time.  Now, for those of you with memory as good as mine*, that means that the company Kelly and I don’t like much anyway because of the way they treat their employees** is having yet more problems.

*That is code for my memory is actually pretty bad.  Awful, in fact.

**And their prices.  And their terrible tomato sauce.

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The unstudied aspects of the Civil War

I know that to some people, the idea that there is anything left to study about the Civil War is doubtful.  Estimates are that some 50,000 books have been written about the Civil War.  And yet, much to my own frustration, many topics remain unstudied.   The one that has frustrated me more than any other in recent years is civilian casualties of the war.

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This just breaks my heart, for several reasons

I hate to see historical markers or monuments vandalized.  It’s bad enough that my own ancestor’s monument was vandalized in recent years.   I mentioned the other day that someone had vandalized the Shaw monument on Beacon Street.  It happened while I was working literally down the street.  Well, I had a chance to see the damage for myself.

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