They're Just Kids

Today I found this article on msnbc.com and it just made me shake my head. Kids being diagnosed with mental illness is nothing new, but a 4-year old being diagnose with ADHD and bipolar disorder is just absurd, and eventually lead to her death.
The Riley's over-medicated their child and eventually killed her. Now, the medicine was all prescribed, but instead of being used to treat her "illness," it was used to control her so that the parents wouldn't have to deal with her.
First off I want to address the fact that a 4-year old girl was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disease. How can you think for even a second that it's fair to make a diagnosis of a child that age a) from a family history given by parents, b) accounts of behavior given by parents, and c) of a damned child! I'm not saying that she didn't necessarily have these diseases, but having been around children that age enough, it's hard to say that they're ADHD or bipolar and not just rambunctious toddlers with the normal mood swings that one usually attributes to small children.
This sad death probably wouldn't have happened if we hadn't become a society that wants to have a cause outside of kids being kids for our inability to control our children. From what I can discern, this child was nothing more than a healthy 4-year old that may or may not have had ADHD...not something I would get too worried about as a parent. This is another case of what happens when uneducated people are allowed to breed.
Damn I hate people.

George R Perry

Charity Starts At Home

This week, Angelina Jolie adopted another child from a foreign country. Now, normally I would applaud this, because it's a noble thing to do and as she has the resources to give these children a better life, and is doing so, she's doing some good in the world. But. Jolie now has 5 children, 3 adopted from other countries and one she actually gave birth to. I recently saw a billboard asking when Jolie was going to adopt an American child and it made me think; why are all of these celebrities adopting foreign children when there are plenty of children right here that don't have families and need to be loved.
Again, I'm not saying that she's doing something wrong, but it would be nice to see one of these celebrities remember that there are plenty of children right here in the US that need their help as well. Just remember...charity starts at home.

George R Perry

Boys Club

Normally I don't pay too much attention to politics until it's time to go to the voting booth and pull the lever. It's not that I don't think it effects my life, or that it isn't important, but over the last 6 years, it's been nothing but bullshit anyways, and the last month has done nothing to change my view on that.
With the firings of several US Attorneys by the Justice Department, supposedly because of poor reviews, but really because they weren't loyal "Bushies" (an abhorrent term to be sure). In light of this, our newly Democratic Congress has been questioning those involved. That's where it gets really good.
According to emails, those that were doing their jobs, but weren't loyal Bushies were fired. Those that were terrible at their jobs, but were part of the Bushie camp, got to keep their jobs. See the flaw in that reasoning? Congress is trying to subpoena members of the Justice Department to have them testify under oath, but our "President" (of a frat) is trying to block that. One would wonder why he wouldn't want them questioned under oath, since he's claiming to have nothing to do with the firings. Could it be that he did in fact have something to do with it?
Congress has already revoked the Justice Departments ability to name attorney's without Congressional approval, essentially taking back a power that the Patriot Act gave them. While it's too late to help those that lost their jobs, hopefully these hearings and the potential firing of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez will make everybody realize what the White House really is...a frat house for Bush's friends.

George R Perry

Hmmmm....

Ok, now I usually try to be pretty understanding of people's quirks and personality traits, because God knows I have plenty of my own, but yesterday something happened that sorta just made me shake my head. As the three of you that read this blog know, I took a job as a copywriter in Chesapeake right at a month ago. While this was tricky since my current apartment is in Richmond, April and I had decided to reach an adult compromise and move to Williamsburg, which is about half way between both of our jobs. While we were working out the details on this, I was staying with some family friends in Yorktown.
The Scullys are my parents friends, specifically, Donna Scully is my mother's friend. The last few weeks of staying with them during the week and going home to Richmond on the weekends had been working out ok, but this past week they took a cruise. Donna and I had discussed the situation, and she had asked me if I was planning on having anybody over while they were gone, which, at the time, I wasn't. This changed, and I called and left her a message before she got on the boat, asking her if it would be ok if April came down for a few days, and to call me back if this would be a problem. I never got a call back.
The weekend went by quite nicely, April came down and were able to do some exploring of the area we would soon be living in, spent a fairly nice St. Patrick's Day together, and then went to the aquarium in Virginia Beach on Sunday. While at the aquarium Donna called me, reminding me that Matt would be getting back that day and wanted to know when I would be back at the house. I told her that April and I were already in VA Beach at the aquarium and that we would probably be back around 5. Now Donna didn't say anything to me at that point, as I made it clear that April had indeed been down for a few days, as I had stated in my message to her before she ever left.
A few hours later I get a call from my mother. Donna is pissed that I had a guest her in house while she was gone and wants me out. Now, this brings up a few points. First of all, if Donna was so pissed, she should have told me herself instead of calling my mom. I don't answer to my parents anymore, and haven't for quite a few years. Secondly, Donna knows April, knows her parents, and seemed more than willing to welcome her down for a weekend when they got back. Thirdly, my mom informed me that I needed to apologize to Donna. Yeah, that's not going to happen either. If Donna wants her apology, she can call me like a grown up and voice her issues to me, and then after I use reason on her drugged out, boozed out brain, she can apologize to me for making my life more difficult.
I try to be understanding and just go with the flow on most things, but the fact that this woman that my family has put up with on more than one occasion would get so much of an attitude over something so trifling is beyond reason. I'm under the impression that Donna and Matt will be at my brother's wedding in two weeks, so it should be fun to see what she has to say for herself then. Leave it to Psycho Donna to nearly ruin what was such a wonderful weekend up until that point. Bitch.

George R Perry

Hooray for Hypocrisy

Newt, Newt, Newt. For anybody that missed it, Newt Gingrich was having an affair during the same time that he was attacking Pres. Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinski. Now, I'm not saying this is the pot calling the kettle black, but Newt is sorta round shaped.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm by no means advocating what Gingrich did, but if you're going to attack a sitting President for something that you're doing, only you're not getting caught, then you've really got to re-evaluate your moral compass, because I'm guessing that it's not pointing North.
So Newt, you get the Hypocrite of the Decade Award, because you helped to impeach a President for the first time in 100 years....and then went and banged your mistress. Go you.

George R Perry (not a hypocrite)

It's A.....

Boy. My brother just called me to let me know that they just found out that his and Sarah's child will be a boy. Matthew Conrad Perry is due in August, and while the Matthew comes from my father, and possibly her side too, I have no idea where the Conrad comes from. Still, it gets my brother out of the woods, because another woman in his life would have been the death of his since Sarah's first child, Emma, already has him wrapped around her little finger.
Still, I'm happy for him and Sarah and I can't wait to be an uncle....at least now I know I can start buying them "boy" things for the little monster.

George R Perry

Spare Kidney?

Now, my criminal justice might be a bit rusty, but I'm pretty sure that the purpose of serving time in prison is to repay your debt to society for haven broken a crime. The reason I bring this up is that there is currently a bill up for vote in South Carolina that would allow prisoners there to donate organs to people that need them in return for time off of their sentence...up to 180 days off.
I bring this up because lots of people are protesting this proposed bill as unethical. They say that the idea of the Organ Donor Program is to obtain organs without coercion or the promise of reward. Now, I understand that offering somebody 180 days off their sentence is a bit of a reward, but when you take into account that nearly 100,000 people are awaiting organ transplant surgery, and that nearly 6.800 die every year because they don't get those transplants they need to save their lives, wouldn't offering inmates a bit of incentive to donate organs be in the best service of the society they're supposed to be paying a debt to anyways.
I'm not saying that the bill is without its flaws. Diseases are rampant in prisons, and not all of these diseases can be tested for with 100% accuracy, but really, the good outweighs the bad. Given that the prison population is larger than the number of people that need organs by a huge margin (about 2 million prisoners to the 100,000 that need organs), it seems reasonable to assume that you could find enough safe donors to make up for some of the risk.
As for the health risk to the donor...well, they're in prison, and that's not exactly good for your health either. I know that if I was in prison, and I could save somebodies life by giving up a kidney or part of my liver, I would be more than willing to. Of course, that's easy for me to say since I'm not in prison, but I'd be interested to see what a survey of prisoners would tell. I'll be they'd agree with me.

George R Perry

Build a Bridge

So, "supermodel" Naomi Campbell has been sentenced to scrubbing floors in NYC for throwing her phone at her housekeeper. Campbell tried to blame her temper on lingering resentment towards her fathers abandonment of her as a child. Seriously? Campbell, now 36, is trying to blame acting like a spoiled child on something that happened close to 30 years ago.
Now, I'm not saying that childhood traumas can't linger, but unless her father regularly beat and molested her, it's time for her to get over her abandonment issues. This is just a case of somebody with far too much money for doing far too little trying to blame her inability to control herself and act like a normal human being on something other than herself.
Campbell is being allowed to serve her community service indoors since Boy George drew a throng when serving a similar sentence. I say she should have to do the service outdoors. If more celebrities were forced into menial tasks for their stupidity in a public setting then I have a feeling fewer of them would act like complete asses.
So, Naomi, sweetie, quit blaming Daddy for your temper and try to act like you don' t have any money or fame. If you act like the rest of us manage to do every day, you might not be in trouble quite so much. Or is this just a cry for attention since your modeling career is essentially over. Oops.

Why Aren't You Reading?

The new issue of subter.com has been posted. Why aren't you reading it? Quit looking at my page and go to subter! NOW!

George R Perry

Way to go John

Just when we thought that Tom Cruise was the biggest douche-bag follower of Scientology, John Travolta steps up to the plate. While promoting his new movie, "Wild Hogs" (which is sure to suck, even with William H. Macy in it), Travolta said that he believed Scientology could have saved Anna Nicole Smith's life.
Yes, Travolta, who apparently worked with Anna Nicole in the movie "Be Cool," claimed that the former pin-up would be alive today if she had taken Narconon treatment, a detox treatment inspired by the writings of L. Ron Hubbard.
I'm not saying the media swirl surrounding Anna Nicole's death isn't crazy enough, but was it really necessary for Travolta to add his two cents? John, buddy, listen to me. NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU THINK! Just promote your movie, cash your absurdly large check, and smile when the cameras flash. That's really all we want from our celebrities.

George R Perry