Humpday Happenings...
I suppose my curiosity got the best of me last evening when I tuned in to hear our President address Congress. Well, to be honest, I was flipping between THAT and the old COMBAT! reruns on American Family Television.
Yeah, I sort of wanted to hear the "pep talk", but most of all, I wanted to see if I heard anything of SUBSTANCE.
I'm pretty much STILL waiting...
There were a few "moments" of note, though.
I love the "joy buzzer" that MUST have been under Nancy Pelosi's chair, as she appeared to be TAZED OUT OF HER SEAT every few minutes. It reminded me of a Pavlovian effect, but with a slightly higher voltage. I mean she was chompin' at the bit on EVERY word the "prez" had to say. Tell you what...if my head "cheerleader" looked like her, I'd switch high schools REAL fast.
Biden wasn't much better...I guess all that voltage keeps his ticker beating regularly. And aside from acting a bit loopy (normal for Joe), he was pretty sedate
Hillary Clinton looked like she was getting a morphine/Thorazine drip with the way she was giving that "thousand yard stare".
Rangel just looked stoned out the wazoo, but in a GOOD way.
And the President gave a "decent" speech. It was predictable, and full of patriotic rhetoric (which seemed a bit out of place having a DEMOCRAT say it), and in some spots, even made a little sense.
I did like the Republican "rebuttal" given by Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Although his "style" needs some polish, the gist of HIS "mini-speech" made more sense to me, and I'm not fond of either party.
I will give our new leader one thing; he sure knows how to REACH FOR THE MOON.
All we can do is hope his reach doesn't exceed his grasp.
Nothing worse than falling off the economic horse when grabbing for that brass ring on the global carousel, right?
Like I said, if Obama can solve the nation's problems WITHOUT creating any more in the process, more power to him. And if he can do it without losing the future of ourselves, our kids and grand kids, ditto.
Now, on to some more, REAL idiocy...
**The (Fat Tuesday) start of this year's Mardi Gras managed to turn into a REAL fiasco, with SIX people being injured by gunfire, including an infant. No one was killed, and two boys, ages 18 and 20 were taken into custody along with 3 weapons the NOLA police believed were used in the incident. Told you I wouldn't want to be a LEO down there, didn't I?
Yeah, folks...it's still about being "entertained", isn't it?
** ANOTHER S/E side house fire happened yesterday.
Now, is it just ME, or are we seeing an inordinate amount of "suspicious" house fires down here?
I swear, you can turn on the scanner most ANY day, and find SOME house torched on the S/E side.
If I didn't give the benefit of the doubt to some, I'd SWEAR we have either an arsonist in the area, or at least a well-thought out plan by several unknown persons to relieve the city of unwanted properties for an ulterior motive (betcha Detroit had something similar happen years ago). The exception to that train of thought, is that not ALL of these houses are vacant or otherwise unoccupied. People are being made homeless, and for no good reason.
We're certainly not seeing the usual idiots with reckless abandon, or lack of kerosene heater savvy, that's for sure.
We're WAY past that quota for the season.
We also had a fire in the near downtown area on Sinclair St. Fortunately, the residents were not home at the time of the blaze.
And THAT is what really has me wondering about things...
Something is definitely afoot with this. There is simply too MANY fires occurring, and we cannot blame ALL of them on rampant stupidity.
**OK, so you're going to build a new hotel on a piece of land...now what would be one of the FIRST things you do?
If you answered: "Have a geological study done of the land to determine IF it will support the structure", you'd be correct.
Well, that's NOT what happened out by Rt 24 where a new hotel sits, half-complete, and sinking slowly into the earth.
Apparently, someone had a massive BRAIN FART, and it's going to cost $300,000 to demolish a structure that SHOULD have been completed by NOW. The best part is that IF the structure doesn't come down by 27 March, the COUNTY will take bids and pay for it's demolition.
Now THAT'S being "thrifty" in tough economic times, isn't it?
How's about holding the ENGINEER'S or BUILDER'S feet to the fire and make THEM pay for it (well, that's the "plan", Bob).
Yeah, good luck with that one.
**The city's Code Enforcement is tackling the blight caused by businesses as well as residential structures.
A new "bill" was approved to allow NCE to enforce minimum maintenance standards on commercial properties, as well as homes.
(well, I could write a few chapters in the book on why I don't see that being done, but I'll refrain)
There are houses around my neighborhood that have sat BOARDED UP for YEARS. We have houses with MISSING GUTTERS (blown off by winds after being damaged by weight caused by not CLEANING them out) Hell, we still have branches all over the place.
We have houses with peeling paint, broken windows and doors, as well as unkempt properties.
And that's ONLY the OUTSIDE of these properties.
You really don't want to know what the INSIDE is like...(and apparently NCE can't get inside to find out EITHER).
The "landlords" and their "drug-infused" maintenance staff do AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE to get the next renter into a crib, trust me.
Some use garages as storage for appliances for other houses they "repair". Some even become chop-shops.
Some have non-functioning entry doors out back (nice if ever there was a FIRE there), some have taken the interior doors OUT of the houses (must like that "wide-open" look), and the walls and floors are nothing short of pathetic.
But NCE doesn't find out about that. Apparently, they never get into the places to INSPECT them, and whoever DOES go in these houses (between renters) must have been bought and paid for BY these landlords, to "look the other way" when code violations abound.
Personally, I think whatever inspection codes we DO have in place are simply IGNORED.
Minimum housing standards...does that mean that the house is STILL STANDING?
Is THAT what you mean by "minimum"?
Then again, look at the "clientele" you wind up putting INTO those hovels...drug dealers, drug USERS, fraudulent disability usurpers (we have a LOT of them, believe me), lazy-ass welfare baby-mamas (too many of them)...AND their boyfriends (ditto)...and THEIR friends (ditto on the last ditto).
At least Rent-A Center is doing good business, and I suppose that somehow THAT is helping our economy.
In a perversely twisted way, that is.
Hey, if NCE can, in fact manage to ENFORCE the codes (i.e. CITE the mooks), instead of sending letters and wrist-slapping these human turds, more power to them. I just don't see it happening anytime soon, unfortunately.
Then again, That's pretty much the SOP around here for the city.
Ignore the S/E side long enough...and maybe, MAYBE it will all just go away.
Seems to be working SO far...regarding the IGNORANCE factor, that is.
Going "away" is going to be another matter.
It's NOT going away...if anything, it will GROW larger and worse.
(just like our national debt)
Change I can believe in?
Not on your life!
Stay safe out there, America!