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Rose Rock, mother of comedian Chris Rock, is suing Cracker Barrel (a restaurant chain) for discrimination because she and her daughter were seated and received no service for half an hour. When it was brought to the attention of the manager, he offered them a free meal. You can read the story at CNN.

Now, here are my feelings on the story. About a month ago, my dad and I went to IHOP (another restaurant chain) for lunch. We were ignored for 20 minutes, at which time I brought it to the attention of the manager. She apologized and gave us one of our meals free, just as the manager in the above story offered to do. I'm white, so I'm pretty sure it was incompetence rather than discrimination that led to our not being served. And I wouldn't doubt that Rose Rock experienced the same thing.

Here's where I might have to duck because you all may begin throwing rotten tomatoes at me. I wish people would stop pulling the discrimination card all the time. It's kind of like the boy who cried wolf. Soon, it stops sounding credible and starts sounding like a ploy to get attention or money. If you are a victim of a hate crime, you should absolutely come forward. But if you just think that you were discriminated against and there is no real proof, do what the rest of us do: shrug it off. I've been called a fat b***h more times than I care to remember, but I deal with it.

Feel free to comment, throw tomatoes, whatever, or post a news story that catches your interest.

A UK team has been given permission to carry out what would be the world's first full face transplant.
Now that's interesting. They're in the process of finding suitable candidates.

In a related story, a man here in Colorado was just sentenced to 48 years for shooting his girlfriend in the face with a shotgun. If the above surgery is successful, it could be great news for victims of crimes like this as well as for victims of animal attacks and other accidents.

Well, Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) really screwed up. He was being heckled during his standup routine by a table of blacks and hispanics and starting yelling, "Get him out of here! He's a n****r!" It was caught on video, and they've been showing it on the news stations since yesterday. I haven't seen the heckling that led up to it, though. I'm not saying that it might have been justified. I'm just saying that we all say stupid crap when we get angry.

The shooting was really tragic but what annyos me is that for about a week after such an event, gun control and safety become the biggest topics on the news and then dissappear, replaced by news of Anna Nicole's baby and such. It's really frustrating because people always cry about what could have been done and what should have been done but nobody really does anything. If they did, we wouldn't be having so many school shootings happen so regularly after Columbine. I mean, how many more people have to die before they realize they need to focus on one thing? The number of dead will only keep escalating if nothing is done to ensure both safety and precautionary measures such as more restrictions on gun sales. It is seriously too easy for people to buy guns. If guns weren't so easy to buy, you wouldn't need them for "protection."
I hate that people complain about not doing enough and then complain about how their rights are being taken away.
Just...some sacrifices need to be made to provide us with a safer nation.

On the other hand, you have the argument that stricter laws with regards to the purchasing of guns will have the same effect that prohibition did.

I don't know...I can't really explain my point of view...

I had a talk with my boss yesterday about the Virginia Tech incident. My boss could be considered a gun nut, but he's very much concerned about safety and about using them only as a last resort when protecting himself or others. Even he feels that the gun laws need to be strengthened and standardized. I don't think that we should take guns away entirely, because I don't think it would work. If we did that, only "bad guys" would be able to get a hold of them. I find it comforting that my boss has a gun down in his car and would defend my life if at all possible. I think people should have to go through mental evaluations (or at least take prior hospitalizations into account) and gun safety classes before being allowed to purchase a gun.

And on the Michael Richards thing, I agree that he handled the aftermath badly. But I kind of feel sorry for celebrities. Alec Baldwin chewed out his daughter on the phone, and that became national news, too. What parent hasn't yelled at their kid or even threatened bodily harm? It's one of those in-the-heat-of-the-moment things that you regret 2 seconds after you say it, but by then, it's too late to stuff the words back in your mouth. We normal people usually get away with it, but celebrities have to issue public apologies and hope the public will still go see their next project.

Sorry I killed the thread. D:

I haven't heard anything on the news about it though I don't usually watch the news.
It's still hard to believe someone could do that to such young kids. I mean, it's just so much horror. I can't imagine it...
That's true, but apparently they were trying to get him in protective custody, which I don't think is fair but I suppose that's everyone's right. I hope the judge didn't allow it because he really does deserve punishment as quickly as possible.

Oh my God.

That is just so disturbing and just...oh my God.

How could anyone do that to any living thing?
It's disgusting.
If you want to kill someone why would you choose to do it in such a horrific manner?
My God.