A gorilla named Harambe: his death and what it means for the future of gorillas

A gorilla named Harambe: his death and what it means for the future of gorillas

Powerball fever demonstrates social greed in the USA

Later tonight the country will frantically await for the Powerball numbers to be announced and with it the chance to win an astonishing 1.5 BILLION DOLLARS!  For the past week, the news stations have been talking about the Powerball lottery and when no one won the jackpot this past Saturday night, this will be the biggest national lottery prize ever recorded!

However, despite the frenzy of imagining yourself as a new Billionaire, I cannot help but think about how foolish and greedy the Powerball is making us as a nation look.

For the past eight years, most political debates centered around the haves vs the have nots and the rich vs the poor.  How many times did you have to listen to some commentator talk about taking from the wealthier citizens and “redistribute” to the poorer neighborhoods.  Or another commentator talk about how we, the United States, have become another Welfare State; contributing to people’s sense of entitlements, handouts, and lack of personal responsibility.

These are all serious social issues that cannot be solved overnight.  And the lack of funding for very important social programs that can help people better their lives are disheartening.

But…there is always the Lottery.

Since Sunday, people have been waiting in lines to purchase a $2 piece of paper – and tonight on my way home I will be no different.  But as a result, I couldn’t help but wonder WHAT IF EVERY CITIZEN IN THIS GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS DONATED $2 A WEEK?!

·          We could help feed the hungry.  In a report published in 2013, 1 in 7 children were undernourished or underfeed in the USA.

·          We could expand programs for the elderly such as assisting them with high prescription drug costs

·          We could provide housing to the homeless by fixing up abandoned homes and create more shelters

·          We could create a funding program so that everyone gets an education

·          We could create more animal shelters so that the term “high kill shelter” becomes a thing of the past

·          We could create local infrastructure programs to help build better sidewalks, parks, etc…

These are just some of the things that can be accomplished.  And there would be no bashing of Republicans vs Liberals or Wealthy vs Poor.  Because we, as citizens, will be helping ourselves in our own communities for just a price of $2 a week.  

Or we can just keep playing lotto.

#greed 

#lotto

#powerball

#society

How the Zimmerman acquittal may kill self defense

I am sure many of you were surprised to wake up this morning to learn that George Zimmerman was acquitted on all charges on killing Trayvon Martin.  I really thought the 6 women jury was going to convict Zimmerman on manslaughter.  However, that was not meant to be and he is now considered innocent and a free man.

What upsets me though is the potential ramifications on how the justification of "self defense" may be affected in the years to come.

When I took karate years ago, my instructor told me that as I learned more about the martial arts, I also had to understand the meaning of self defense.  What I've learned is this:

When a person takes a punch at me, I can defend myself by blocking the attack and responding with an equal reaction.  In this case, I can attempt to punch that person back.  However, I could not break the attacker's neck, or rip his throat out, or break his/her back, etc...  In other words, my reaction must be equal.  Now, if the attacker had a knife or gun, then all bets are off and I can defend myself with deadly force because it is reasonable for me to believe that my life is in danger.    This is what I've learned in regard to self defense and as far as I know, it really has not changed.

But here comes the Zimmerman vs Martin case.  From what I've gathered over the weeks of TV coverage, Zimmerman followed Martin because he suspected, based upon his appearance, that Martin was up to no good.  Unfortunately, no one can really say for sure what happened because Martin is no longer on this world.  He was killed from a gunshot wound inflicted by Zimmerman.

Basically, because of Zimmerman following Martin, a street fight broke out resulting in Zimmerman suffering abrasions to the back of the head.  But Martin was not armed with a deadly weapon.  As soon as Zimmerman got attacked, if that is what happened first, he could have yelled for help, he could have walked/ran away.  But that is not what he did.  He took out his gun and shot Martin.

Based upon my knowledge of marital arts, Zimmerman acted beyond the scope of an equal reaction.  However, the current legal system we have still labeled it self defense.  So my problem is this...

Because of this case, there is now a precedent on the books that any dumb-ass throwing a punch at someone can now be potentially shot and killed???

I hope this thought is wrong, for all of our sakes.  Let me know what you think.