Thought about Trials

Last night a jury of 6 women found George Zimmerman not guilty of murder or manslaughter in the death of 17 year old Treyvon Martin. This was an explosive case only because it was made to be by politicians/???.

The shooter is Hispanic and the deceased is black. The media kept referring to Zimmerman as "self-styled" Hispanic. My gosh, look at the man. He is clearly Hispanic. Okay. Past that point. I saw twitter and fb explode with outrage. I really wanted to respond but who follows a 57 year old white mom. However, people do follow and listen to "celebrities and people they admire. Those people that I also admire let me down.

Yes, it is a tragedy that a 17 year old young man is dead. Yes, Zimmerman should have done things differently. Now, look at the bigger picture. Both prosecution and the defense has their say. 6 women, 5 of them Moms, based their decision on what was presented and THE LAW. They were not allowed to be inflamed by the press and anyone else with an opinion. They were sequestered. We, the viewing public were not. We had more information but a lot of it was not relevant in a court of law.

By writing this, you think you know my opinion on this case? You're wrong. I don't have an opinion because, it's slanted by everyone else's opinion. Am I outraged by the death of a 17 year old young man? YES. I'm also outraged that Mr. Zimmerman had his day in court, was found not guilty, and now has to stay in hiding with his family. We're better than that.

The only ones that have handled themselves with grace and dignity are the Martin family, the Zimmerman family and the 6 women on the jury. Even the lawyers had to get in front of the cameras and retry their cases.

I guess what I'm saying is we are a country of laws. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Outrage is allowed. Think about what you say and do before you say or do it. You could be the next Treyvon Martin or George Zimmerman.

ThInking of My Mom

Today is bittersweet. My Mom and Dad would have been married 61 years. Even though my Dad remarried 3 1/2 years after my Mom passed, he loves and misses my Mom to this day. It's a sad situation. Well, that's all I can say about that.

Book Blog - Just Talking Books

I've separated this blog from my book blogging. My new book blogging site is called Just Talking Books and here is the address: http://www.justtalkingbooks.com/index.html

I hope you will take the time to check it out. I wanted a stress free site that is just about books. No blog tours and specialty things,just book talk and recommendations. I'll have links up for some of the book sites I enjoy.

My youngest son was nice enough to help me set it up. I'm still learning and the site is still being refined so have patience with me.

Have a great weekend!

Family

We've had had our oldest son home for the last 7 weeks and it's been a mixed bag. I've enjoyed having him here but he was also studying for his Doctoral Candidate qualifying exam in Math. So we had to make sure he got the study time he needed. I really don't know who is more nervous. Well, yes, I do. He is. It will be over tomorrow around noon. My stomach is so very upset. I know he is prepared, so it's up to The Lord and Bryan at this point.

Our youngest son and his fiancée got here Saturday for a one week visit. We only get to see them twice a year and occasionally a spare three day weekend if hubs and I can manage our time right. Our daughter-to-be is in the last year of veterinarian school. Also one of the most stressful. She's doing her rotations through all the specialties. Long hours. Our son, who is a high school art teacher, has a little more time during the summer. He is the assistant coach for the girls soccer team and at least stays busy.

We also have a new family member. A two year old black lab, KatieBug. She is a rescue dog. Such a sweet loving girl. We're still learning each other. We've had her about three weeks. She is has some training and we're just supplementing that.

My nephew is home on R & R from Afghanistan. So proud of this young man.

And that's my family thoughts for the summer. We missed a trip to see my 93 year old Aunt Dolly. There was some family health matters at her end and we didn't want to impose ourselves and add any stress to anyone. I was so looking forward to the time with her and my cousin and also, the time with my hubs away from all his work stressors.

Hope you all are doing well and having a great summer!

Careless Words

I've noticed since I started blogging and following both authors and bloggers what a few careless words can do. Who ever thought there could be so much "drama" in books. I mean, a differing opinion can always cause heated exchanges, but in the book world, anything can set off word battles galore.

Authors taking exception with reviews/reviewers, reviewers taking exception with reviews/authors, authors taking exception with other author's articles, bloggers plagiarizing another blog, bloggers retaliating by posting bad reviews. It's a screaming mess.

When I originally started this blog and then started doing reviews for Pure Textuality, I just wanted to share with others my love of books. Maybe share my recommendations for books they might like. Of course my opinion is just that; my thoughts. While some people love books/reading, not all readers like the same type of books or even the same books in a genre. I love Urban Fantasy as a whole but I don't necessarily like each book I read in that category. Everyone has their favorite authors and again not everyone likes the same ones. The best you can do is explain why you liked/disliked a book; hopefully without being needlessly cruel. Or you don't have to explain, you can just read and enjoy your reading in solitude.

See, humans aren't really solitary creatures. We like being around other people, mostly, and a part of being in close proximity is interactions. So, we "talk" to each other. We share are thoughts and our feelings. What the weather is doing, what's going one in the news and the books we're reading. In the course of the talking, debate might break out. Here's the thing, when you're debating in person, there is usually a basic civility, the Internet, smart phones and computers as a whole have changed that. It is so much easier to share your thoughts and the anonymity allows you to share more than maybe you should. Your social filters are disabled.

Yes, I'm taking the long way round to say something. Two things happened recently that has me rethinking a big Internet presence or actually sharing my "opinion" as much as I do. Ms Charlaine Harris wrote the final novel in her Southern Vampire Series starring Sookie Stackhouse. The Internet was extremely busy logging everyone's differing opinions. And that's what they are, opinions. You may or may not like the book or you may be indifferent. In the rush of sharing their thoughts on the novel, there were some outrageous reviews calling Ms Harris' writing ability into question and other not so nice things. Of course, she has her champions. The champions in some instances attacked the wicked reviewers or the wicked reviewers called out the champions. It was and is a mess. The other thing that happened was an author, Kendall Grey, posted an article supposedly about "selling" out. I started reading her article but never finished. Then the next day or so, another author took exception to Ms Grey's comments in the article. Another broo-haha ensued with much name calling, individuals riding their high horses, others throwing obstacles in the horses path. Champions and "the Wicked". There was not much middle ground in either case. I read the other author's blog concerning Ms Grey's article and thought she made some good points. (I'm curious and will try to follow situations to their conclusion if there is one. I checked a tweet that indicated a response from Ms Kendall to being taken to task for her article. She wrote a blog post and one of the commenters called her out on her previous article. Needless to say, the comment was off topic but Ms Grey responded and quite graciously in my opinion. She shed light on her article and made me ask this question. What would have happened if the author who took exception had contacted Ms Grey with her concerns instead of doing a rant on the article?

I am in no way taking sides in either case, as I have no horse in the races. I was just thinking how words spoken cannot be taken back. Words hurt. Words make you think. Words soothe and words give entertainment. Maybe we need to remember the last two. Do we take offense too easily? Do we judge too harshly? We shouldn't keep our opinions to ourselves, it's not our nature. Can we share them without ripping each other apart?

Just my thoughts

Family Visits

The time has passed so quickly. I'm looking forward to my next visit to Totz, Kentucky to visit my Aunt Dolly and her daughter, Teresa. We talk family, cooking and just enjoy each others company. Aunt Dolly and Teresa are the closest I can get to my Mom since she's passed. It also gives me a different perspective of my Mom. She shared things with them that she and I didn't always talk about; especially when her cancer came back. I'm sure she was trying to spare her immediate family and we were sometimes in denial about her condition.
My husband is an angel for taking me last year and this year. You have to realize there is absolutely nothing to do in Totz. It was a coal mining town and most of the homes are former coal company homes or trailers. A very simple life. I loved living there for the 18 months my Dad was in Turkey when I was 7. Anyway, Hubs sits on the porch and counts coal trucks or takes naps. Thankfully for him, we only stay 3 days. This year he is taking a portable DVD player and his backlist of movies. My Aunt Dolly is 93 years old. Since I've been grown, I've not had the time to visit. Hubs and my leave time were spent with my parents or his. Now that I can no longer work and Hubs has vacation time, we try to visit those we couldn't previously.
Well, off make my list of "must bring things".

Politically Correct

I have friends and family who all have their own views on many different things. From legalizing pot, immigration reform, the President, etc. So many times I don't say anything because it's their right to say whatever they want to say. I have to bite my tongue because I want to say something so badly.

I try not to force my opinion on anyone. People are passionate about their opinions. All that being said, I don't want their views rubbed in my face. I try to stay away from hot button issues on social media but I do get tired off others who don't.

After all this here are my views on some things if you're interested.

Pro-choice (God will make the judgements). When men can actually birth a child, then they will have the right to an opinion on this matter.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. The past few days bear this out. Do we ban pressure cookers? Or the people that make them into bombs?

Gay marriage. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman BUT, I have nothing against gay marriage. Be with who makes you happy.

Pot. Their are worse things out there than pot.

Immigration. We have laws for immigration. Enforce them! We shouldn't reward law breakers. Why is a person an American citizen just because their mother crossed the border illegally to birth them on American soil. Others follow the rules for immigration, why not everyone?

Universal healthcare. This is a nightmare we've only seen the beginning of. America was not founded on socialism.

You receive benefits for anything, you take drug tests. You receive benefits for your children, you shouldn't be able to use those benefits to buy cigarettes, lottery tickets etc. use them for what they are intended. Mainly, food and clothing. We should take care of the poor and needy, not add to them with handouts that can be manipulated.

That's enough for today. I'm getting all upset just talking about it.

Have a great day every body and be considerate of your fellow Americans.