Dumb Idea: putting kid's name on their clothes

One of the dumbest and most dangerous and rapidly spreading trends right now is plastering your kid's name on every article of their clothing. Can you possibly make it any easier for child molesters to grab your kid than to broadcast their name to everyone? "Johnny! Johnny Smith! Come with me now!"

It's just about as dumb as putting everyone's name on stickers and putting them in the car window. "Hi, we're the really stupid family from this town that you can look up in the phone book or the Internets any time you want."

Imagine the fun. Here's the family traveling in another town and a quick phone call to someone in their town: "Just spotted a place to break into. Their sticker says we're the Morons from Idiotville and they list mom and dad's name as Fred and Wilma, so should be easy to find."

The same with putting a dog's name on their doggie shirt. "Hello little girl. Your beloved pet whose name is Fluffy is hurt and needs you right now!"

What got me going on this was seeing all the customized Halloween shirts at Cafepress. It's bad enough to display family and pet names on your car windshields, but it's downright stupid to send your kid out among strangers saying "My name is your future little victim because you know my name now."

Before people get all excited and tell me I'm being paranoid, get on that internets thing and do a search for level three sex offenders within a mile of your home www.familywatchdog.us/ and then tell me you're comfortable letting your kids wander around branded with their names.

Instead of making it easy for predators, send your kids out wearing this and train them that their names are private and available only to a privileged few. It may very well save their lives some day.

Dumb Idea: putting kid's name on their clothes

Getting Scared Stupid

I've written a lot on fear and how Bushco uses it to keep the sheeple huddled in the pasture, but I have a difficult time accepting how people give themselves up so easily. Understanding is not the same as accepting. That's why I can see the manipulation of fearmongering when it appears as primary color terror alerts that make it simple to stay in the right stage of fear, and it's why I can take apart tactics and see that making people dump out their liquids in the airport line is training them to stand in stupid lines like herds of obedient cattle without asking too many questions or demanding too many rights. But it doesn't explain why people allow themselves to be subjected and manipulated in such a way.

Sure you say, and how do I get on a plane without being a stupid ass sheep? I don't. I haven't flown for three years. I drive everywhere. Yes, it takes me longer to drive than fly, but then I haven't really needed to go anywhere that I couldn't get to in two or three days of driving. It helps that I love traveling by car. I love stopping in small new places and going for walks and getting to know people. I don't know yet what I'll do when I have to fly somewhere because I won't have the required amount of time to drive. Maybe I'll take a train. Maybe I'll join up with one or more people who feel like I do and we can drive in shifts. I just don't know because I'm not in that situation yet. I used to fly two or three times a month for my job. I've managed to still do my job and turn the required traveling that I used to dread, into a series of mini-vacations. I feel a personal sense of victory in denying the airlines my cash for the last three years. They've lost thousands of my dollars and I've kept my sense of self intact.

I also know there are some especially distasteful reasons that people sell out and many times it is because they want something in return for that. I think of people in positions of power who could have come forward and said what they knew about Bush and his lies before all these people died. But they held their nose because it meant a promotion, an opportunity to make money, a chance to meet someone influential, an in to some situation of exclusivity they might otherwise be denied. These are the people with blood on their hands, and they will eventually wake in the night trying to wash it off and discovering that it is burned into their souls.

But the ones I pity are the poor fools who huddle in that pasture and live in such fear because they have no self to lose. They don't even know they have such a thing. And if they accidently stumble on it, if they suddenly against all odds wake up one day and discover they have a mind and it was meant to think for itself, well...I don't want to be around to see that. It's not pretty when someone realizes they've been played for a fool, especially when it's Bushco that took their religious faith and played it as it were nothing more than a shiny toy they would later discard when it outlived its usefulness. Just like Gays, any people of faith who vote for more of the same will have only themselves to blame when the door on the pasture slams shut and they can no longer leave it standing up.

---

Design from Ursine Logic where getting scared for Halloween is a good thing.

Getting Scared Stupid

Halloween Horror Stories

I was going to write something cheerful and informative about Halloween as it is one of my favorite holidays. But the events of the last few days with the GOP revealing themselves even more as the party of liars, cheats, warmongers, war profiteers, and now perverts, has left me disgusted with the state of our poor country. How did we let this country sink so low to put these creeps in charge of our lives? My heart aches for all of us. So instead of writing, I'm going to invite you to visit my Halloween store and try and remember what it was like to be a kid and not have to worry that your elected representatives were going to come after you for bad and evil things. Happy escaping. And please remember to vote. Voting these disgusting excuses for human beings out of office in November is our only hope to restoring dignity and honor to our country.

---

My Halloween Shop

Halloween Horror Stories