Child abuse if I’ve ever seen it. Video, not for those with social skills.

I enjoy reading bumper stickers on cars, they really do say a lot about the person driving the car, and sometimes they can be quite profound, and sometimes profane.

Saw this one today:

Stand for something… or fall for anything!

This is a saying my son came up with… it should be on a bumper sticker:

There ain’t no stop, drop and roll in HELL.

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It is important to keep things in perspective, and there has been much ado about the Franklin Graham Festival this weekend in Knoxville and the fact that some folks have gone out to schools promoting the event.

Seems folks don’t like the fact that someone supporting a religious activity spoke with public school students about the event.  These folks toss around the phrase “Separation of Church and State”.  Well guess what, the phrase DOES NOT appear in the Constitution of the United States of America.  It is a principle, an idea if you will that was born the  First Amendment.

This from Wikipedia:

“The separation of church and state is a legal and political principle derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .” The phrase “separation of church and state”, which does not appear in the Constitution itself…” read more

I guess in our wisdom we have interpreted the First Amendment to the Constitution to mean that anything that receives public funds (yeah right), should be void of any sort of religious overtones.  I responded to some of this thought last night on the Knoxville Talks blog.

Come on people, let’s use our heads a little.

It seems that I have MAY have offended a couple of people when reporting about Gentlemen’s Top Cuts.  Of course the News Sentinel has reported about GTC more than once and I haven’t seen any negative comments in regards to their reporting efforts.  I suppose that is because they are NEWS agency and they report the facts. 

Never mind that I report the facts from my perspective, and my perspective is quite simply this:

GTC is a place catering to men, where men can go for a little pampering and attention without having to worry about who they are.  Simply put, a man can go to this place, drink a beer, watch some sports, get a haircut and not leave the fact that he is a man at the door. 

As a matter of fact the last time I was there, when the last video was shot, I spent more time talking to other guys.  Imagine that.  Yes, the general conversation topic was the fact that GTC was now open and what that means, but as this place becomes more established I can see going in there, and talking to guys about sports and politics while waiting to get my hair cut.

Despite the fact that there are attractive women in this establishment GTC fills a need that for reasons which I fail to understand has presented itself in modern day society. 

Men need places where they can congregate and be men.  Back in the day, that was the barbershop, and I am hard pressed today to find a barbershop that caters to men. 

You know the kind of barbershop I’m talking about.  The proprietor of the shop is the one most likely going to be cutting your hair.  You walk in and you can smell powder and menthol in the air.  One thing I really miss is the hot shaving cream and straight razor shave around the neck and ears.  Even GTC doesn’t do this.  And in these barbershops you don’t meet strangers, everyone there is willing to talk about the weather, kids, or politics.

No, these barbershops are not a fictional thing of years gone by.  I remember my father taking me to these places. It was one of my first chances to observe men interact which is one of the ways men learn to be men.
I don’t expect women to understand how important this is because we have a whole generation now where men are told that is not okay, in an ever so subtle way that is not okay to be a man.  You have to go to Wal-Mart or a Salon and have your hair cut by a hair stylist.

Damn, I’m starting to get a little misty eyed thinking about it.

One of my last experiences at a “real” barbershop was in at a place I walked into (nope I had never been there before in my life) in Louisiana, there was a “David Duke” for president sign in the window.  Now that ought to tell you something.  No I don’t support David Duke, never have, but I knew, I just knew I could go in there get a haircut and discuss some politics if I so chose.  Actually, I chose to keep my mouth shut cuz this dude was going to have a straight razor round my neck.

When you think about it what these barbershops offered was a known entity.  Though there was no concerted effort on the part of these establishments, they offered essentially what McDonalds does, consistency.  You knew what you were going to get when you went in there.

Really? Wal-Mart is limiting the purchase of rice??? 

And a fuel shortage, while idiots that think they’re athletes burn gas driving in circles. I wonder how much gas NASCAR uses in a year…

Think I’ll go stock up on Soylent Green.

I had no doubt I would enjoy a “real” visit to Gentlemen’s Top Cuts but today, they fianlly opened. Okay they are still working out a few kinks but I spent a couple hours there today and got a great hair cut!

While waiting for my hair cut, I got a little entertainment as well.