Blogcritics Author: DaLilah

Life Sucks No More! 2008 is Your New Beginning

DaLilah — Wed, 2 Jan 2008 14:09:11 EST

How to get to life's gooey center with fewer licks.
Okay, cut the crap! No more sob stories. No more pity parties. No more bouts of depression. Proclaim that 2008 is your year. Your season. Your light at the end of the tunnel. Your raisin in the sun moment. All you have hoped, dreamed and imagined will manifest this year. In 2008, there will be no excuses, only strategies. This is the year you...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Hypocrigration: America -- Home of the Free, the Brave, and the Hypocritical

DaLilah — Tue, 2 May 2006 13:42:19 EDT

The hypocrisy in this country over immigration has gone haywire! I am insanely furious over the "have my cake and eat it too" craze concerning the viability of Guest Worker legislation in this country. I live in Atlanta where, just over a month ago, I had the privilege (or not) of facing off with a local talk show host on the topic. He began his biased, mindless banter by urging employers to fire illegal immigrant workers who missed work to participate in any rally, boycott, or protest march. He continued his senselessness for about 90 minutes before I could get through to question his position. When I finally got on air, I wasted three segments trying to get him to answer what should happen to employers who hire and underpay illegal workers. My question was never answered. So I ask you, what should happen to companies and individuals who not only commission painting, cleaning, landscaping, and other professional services from illegal immigrants, but also pay them illegally? America is swimming with polar hypocrites, riding both sides of the fence in this country's illegal immigrant legislation battle.If you live in a community or subdivision built by illegal immigrants and you're now pressing for their deportation, you are a hypocrite! At any point in your life, if you not only hired, but also paid an illegal immigrant under the table to clean your home or business, landscape your yard, or paint your house, you are a hypocrite! If you frequent restaurants or patronize companies who employ illegal immigrants in their kitchens, factories, and fields, you too, are a hypocrite!Spare me the hogwash about the overwhelming number of illegal immigrants who come to this country to commit crimes or already having committed one. The reality is, the vast majority of immigrants come to this country for financial and economic gain, statistically proven by the reported billion of dollars wired back to their respective countries just in 2005 alone.In recent weeks, all over this country, businesses have been nearly paralyzed during immigrant protests and economic boycotts, especially construction companies. Such days of production paralysis has cost companies tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars. And for you outright hypocrites who babble and complain about how many Americans have lost their jobs and companies to the influx of immigrant workers, let me be the first to tell you, you are full of baby diaper stuff! Any serious business model in the world is based largely upon an entity's ability to supply a demand in the most profitable manner possible. If Jose Martinez can offer a community of homeowners the same (if not better) landscaping or painting services at a more affordable price than John Smith, God bless him! If Lupe Sanchez will gladly clean a house for less than Jane Smith, more power to her!I firmly support and urge fair treatment of illegal immigrant workers who have labored relentlessly in this country's factories, fields, restaurants, and construction sites -- when able-bodied Americans did not or would not. Never forget: willing, paying Americans created the inundation of illegal workers in this county. After all, you can't have illegal workers if there's no illegal hiring. Now, the same people who contribute to this vast workplace for immigrant workers want to deport and/or severely tax them! The same hypocrites who have had their homes built, painted, cleaned, and landscaped by illegals are now self-righteous, law abiding, boarder-control crazed "Great Americans." Please!This is such repulsive, sickening hypocrisy; it is beyond disgust or logic. Every time I hear the hypocritical debates over the feasibility of a guest worker program, I liken people's double standard to so-called vegetarians who eat bacon bits. They won't outright eat a steak or pork chop, but they'll bowl you over to eat vegetables cooked in smoked turkey or a cup of soup made from real chicken stock. For those of us who live among the sane, we know true vegetarians don't eat meat, meat by-products, or anything that has touched or been cooked in meat. No eggs, no cheese, no milk, and no soup broths made from meat! If you ever want to see a real vegetarian go berserk, serve 'em a meal that breaks one of these rules.So if you're a "bacon bit" immigration hypocrite who wants to be taken seriously, might I suggest you become a true vegetarian? Don't live in communities built by illegal immigrants! Don't eat in restaurants that employ illegal immigrants! Don't buy food harvested from illegal immigrant-picked crops! Don't wear clothes sewn by illegal immigrant factory workers! Don't hire illegal immigrants to paint, landscape, or clean your house! And if this particular "don't" is too tempting, at least give 'em a W-2. A real vegetarian wouldn't pay an immigrant (illegal or legal) under the table!And for the record, I do not advocate any card blanch legislation that gives anyone a free pass to break the law. I believe America's immigration laws were originally designed to give people all over the world a shot at achieving the "American Dream." So, while I'm not sure if I'll ever favor complete amnesty, I can definitively tell you I'll never favor any law or standard that treats living, breathing human beings like disposable trash. It seems America is now telling its illegal immigrants (who have labored so vigilantly in this county), "Ok, ok, enough already! Thanks for the cheap labor, now go back home." Shame on you, America!

A Problem Group: Men Who've Had "Too Much Breast Milk"

DaLilah — Mon, 7 Nov 2005 07:49:05 EST

"Too Much Breast Milk "is a phrase I coined referring to the disposition of over-parented, underutilized adult men. This analysis is not intended for branding, bashing or discounting men, but to study and discuss the anomaly that occurs when men are raised by women who relate to them more like wives (less the sex of course :-) than mothers. I find the topic truly fascinating and want to hear more stories and feedback from men and women who recognize or have experienced the detriment brought on by such rearing. It seems we now live in a society where several generations of women have been raised to "run and manage households", while men have been coddled and protected in a skewed effort to protect their manhood and ego. I know countless men who are products of this type of rearing - a rearing where in the majority of cases, the custodial parent, dominant parent or primary disciplinarian in the household was the mother. These were strong, resilient, hard-working mothers - who often times were single-handedly raising multiple children. These mothers subconsciously reared their daughters to be clones of themselves (self-sufficient, hardworking, ambitious and determined) and simultaneously raised their sons to be more reliant and expectant than dependent.My own rearing is a prime case study of the subject matter. The same mother and father parented my sister, brother and me. While my sister and I are only 18 months apart, our younger brother is 8 years our junior. Our father left the home when my brother was a mere infant. Thus, our growth and managing the household became the sole responsibility of my mother. She insisted my sister and I were present for her monthly task of writing checks to pay bills, balancing her checkbook, preparing grocery lists and ANY other duties relevant to running the household. I have very vivid memories of her NO NONSENSE APPROACH to raising us "...you better be home from school by this hour...off the telephone by this hour...meet your curfew by this hour..." Her rules and standards of perfection were a never-ending scroll, that is...until my brother became the subject matter. My sister and I witnessed in awe, as she did more acrobatic bending of the rules for him, than the opening act at Cirque Du Soleil! She was a totally different parent in rearing our younger brother! When I share my story with others, the most common argument is the almost 10-year age difference between my brother and my sister and I. It has been debated that our age spread allowed mother time to mature and mellow out; eventually recognizing her Nazi-like tactics were no longer feasible or effective in raising her son. I always beg to differ, as I witnessed this sequence repeatedly in the community where I grew up. More telling, as a 36-year-old woman, I now see it more brilliantly in my family, my community, my place of employment...AND YES...EVEN MY OWN MARRIAGE.My concerns are greater than what the surface reveals. I wonder...how does this type of rearing impacts the self-esteem and resilience of men? Can men raised like this effectively run households? Can men who are raised in this manner raise "real" men? Do men of this elk contribute to women becoming overbearing, dominant, irreverent wives and/or mothers. How does this quandary affect male leadership in our country? How do we (as men and women) repair or reset the cycle?How can adult, breast-feeding men be weaned off the milk and experience the joys of solid food?