fracas

In the ongoing saga of the Dorky Dad and the dare, the time has come to give Dorky Dad his due, and recognize him for the hero he is.

It went like this.

1. I read where he talked about not being able to pass up a dare.
2. I taunted him that I had a dare in the works.
3. He said to bring it on.
4. I dared him to take a photo wearing a bra.
5. He accepted the dare… but
6. His “wife” posted that a photo was taken but now they weren’t sure they should post it.
7. His readers encouraged him to post it. 
8. Fracas called him a chicken if he didn’t post it
9. Being a true hero, he posted it for the world to see.
10. Fracas announces his new designation as American Hero and Manboob Supporter.

The picture is located at Dorky Dad’s site (for now) and because I am a kind, generous and appreciative soul, I think Dorky Dad should get the benefit of this soon-to-be-famous photo. Please go see it.

I promise you won’t be sorry.

And once again… you may feel free to click over to Humor-Blogs. Not only have I succeeded in getting Dorky Dad’s photo in his underwear his “wife’s” underwear, I’m chasing his butt over at Humor-Blogs. Won’t you help me out by clicking over there?

And seriously? Don’t you have a good time here at fracas? I know I do.

Sometimes all your ducks decide to line up and it makes for a really good day. April 9 was one of those, and the remarkable thing is… it didn’t involve a post about some celebrity sans panties.

Though it didn’t surpass the previous fracas record of 13, 137 views on September 8, 2007, I still consider it a good day.

Thank you all.

I’ll keep trying, if you keep visiting! 

There are all kinds of crack.

There’s the kind of crack that involves sidewalks, and though as kids most of us recited that “step on a crack, break your mother’s back” rhyme because, well… most of us didn’t know any better and it just seemed like harmless fun. We didn’t necessarily believe that if we stepped on a crack we’d break our mothers’ backs. Seriously, how many of us even had a mother who broke their back? And I know I stepped. I admit it. I did.

Cracks in the sidewalk aren’t all that bad anyway. Sometimes we get a little surprise by coming upon one where some opportunistic wildflower has rooted and sprung forth to greet us.

There’s the kind of crack where you’re all tense and you know you need something… so you visit your chiropractor and they crack your back, or your neck… and you feel better. Not me of course, Chiropractors scare me, but I know others who find that a cracked back or neck is just the ticket for them.

Then there’s the bad, drug kind of crack… which fracas encourages everyone to stay away from. Boo. Hiss. Don’t do that. You’ll ruin your life. You’ll hurt the people you love. You might even die, and if you don’t, you’ll want to.

And then there’s the bad, workmanguyperson kind of crack, which fracas also encourages everyone to stay away from.

You know what I mean.

You’ve got them there fixing something that’s broken at your house, and you turn around only to find that your eyes have been burned right from their sockets by the image of some really hairy and wild kind of squishing together of someone’s nethercheeks… a someone you’d preferred to not know quite that well. I know it’s not always within your control, but try stay away from that too. Because I luv you all so much, I’m restraining myself even, from posting a photo of some icky butt crack here. Usually I’d do something like that. You know I would.

I do have a sneaky feeling though, that this last kind of crack is one that some of you will not only hail as good and appealing, but that you’ll even thank me (Daddypapersurfer) for posting it.

I give you then, fraccy readers, the good crack… because I luv you, and I really appreciate that you tolerate how every now and then, I go a little serious in what I post here at the blog that’s supposed to be all fun and games.

This crack’s for you!

[Sadly, I do not have a link for where this photo came to me by. Just as with my storage room in the basement (full of all kinds of craft supplies and little things I hang onto for a rainy day) so too, is my computer full of amusing little things I save as they come to me via email and other sources. I mean no disrespect to the lovely woman in the photo and should the rightful owner of the photo be found, I will happily credit them with it. Heck... some of the fraccy readers might even lobby to have them Knighted (or something).]

[Periwinkle photo: Eric Siegmund]

This is going to make some of you angry… really angry. You might even leave comments telling me what an idiot I am and how I’m not being fair. I understand that some of you may misunderstand my intentions and think I’m here to excuse the atrocious behaviour of the Lakeland teens who beat Victoria Lindsay to the point of unconsciousness and then damage to her hearing and her sight, so I’ll stop you now.  I’m not doing so at all.

I do believe these teens should be treated as adults in the eyes of the law, and I do believe each one of them knew better. What I’m going to add though, will make some of you angry with me, and that is my unwavering opinion that many, many parents these days have failed at the job of being a parent.

Please feel welcome to comment on this post… but do read the rest first.

Oh sure, there are cases where you see a parent who has broken their proverbial back trying to do the right thing with and for their child only to have the child grow older and do everything contrary to how they’ve been raised. There are exceptions to every rule indeed. I’m not talking about those cases. I’m talking about cases like that of Mercades Nichols, one of the Lakeland teens who took part in the attack.

Today, the media has embraced Mercades’ mother as being a bit of a “good guy” for as one report put it, ‘rapping her daughter for the attack’.

Happening upon that article, I was pleased to see a parent apparently standing up for what’s right instead of trying to shield their child from accepting responsibility for their actions, and so I went searching for more.

Over at another site, I found this:

“Nichols’ mother Christina Garcia went onto NBC’s Today Show and said she was in disgust after how her daughter handled the situation. Garcia said Nichols should have called the police immediately.”

Honestly I was pleased. I was almost ready to declare Garcia a Saint and the example for my generation… a generation that sadly, has chosen to place more importance on being their child’s “friend” and the “cool parent” over bringing up their children to be a productive member of the society that will ultimately have to care for my failure of a generation in our old age.

And then I visited YouTube.

As I watched yet another tape that included the beatings, I was astounded to hear the same Garcia quoted as the righteously inclined parent, claim that the victim herself, was responsible for the beatings. You see, according to the video news report available at WSLS10, the beating was in response to comments Victoria made online, comments the other girls apparently decided she deserved to be beaten for. Garcia, in the news report, states,

“I just don’t see why she’d do that, if she didn’t have the nerve to back up what she was saying..”

So it seems that while she did go on the Today show to state that her daugher (Nichols) should’ve called the police, that seems to me, like a mom whose real opinion is that her daughter is blameless, is trying her darndest to make sure public opinion of her and her daughter, is that of the “good folk” in the whole mess.

Listen to Garcia’s statements yourself… they begin at 1:04 seconds into the tape, now available on YouTube.

Over at the Today website, Garcia is further quoted saying, “Mercades, my daughter, warned this girl before she came into the house,” Garcia said. She said her daughter told the victim, “The two girls that you have been running your mouth about and threatening on MySpace are in the house. Please do not go in the house.”

Despite having seen the tape herself, and despite knowing the injuries Lindsay has suffered, Garcia still had the nerve to state that the incident is being overblown by (Sheriff) Judd.

It seems crystal clear that Mercades Nichol knew what would happen to Victoria Lindsay in the house, yet facilitated bringing her to it. In my book, a warning not to go in just doesn’t cut it. Lindsay was staying with Nichols following family differences and Nichols should have realized that her pathetic warning was just not enough. Where should Lindsay have gone then? And why, in the first place, would Nichols invite those very girls to her own grandmother’s house if she wasn’t a willing participant in what would happen next?

Yet, when we see Nichols’ own mother on national television speaking from one side of her mouth, that her daughter is in the wrong while from the other side of the mouth she’s blaming the victim, it’s easy to see where Nichols gets the ability to reason with herself that she, while betraying Lindsay by offering her a place to stay and then bringing to that place, a group of girls she knew would beat her, can simply absolve herself of responsibility by telling her not to go into the house.

Like mother, like daughter.

Christina Garcia. Epitome of a generation far too little concerned with doing what’s really right.

We can do better.

We must.

Please do feel welcome to leave your opinion about the parenting aspect of this issue here, and if you’d like to get in on another great discussion about the teens and our kids, there’s one already this one and this one going on over atlindas.