Friday Follies...
Well, we managed to survive this week...and the snow. Another two inches here in Fort Wayne, with yet ANOTHER two overnight tonight.
Gotta just LOVE all this global warming.
Of course, those on the EAST coast got hammered with winter weather...AGAIN.
I know Boston got over a foot of snow, and NYC's Central Park saw 15 inches, erasing an 86-year old record for snowfall in January.
Philly got walloped with between 10-14 inches and 6 inches down at BWIA.
In the Metro D.C. area, traffic was at a standstill, roads were icy, and even our President's motorcade took about an hour to get back to the White House (Marine One was grounded due to bad weather).
Officials urged residents in Washington and Maryland to stay off the roads as snow, thunder and lightning pounded the Mid-Atlantic region. In D.C., Metro transit officials pulled buses off the roads as conditions deteriorated. Firefighters warned the heavy snow was bringing down power lines and causing outages.
About 200,000 customers lost power, about half as many as in July, when a powerful line of thunderstorms moved through the area
I suppose we in the "Heartland" got off EASY...
(sounds like most criminals, which reminds me...)
*** Had another excellent installment of Police Women of Cincinnati on TLC last night (9PM).
On the blotter were the usual domestics (he said - she said, he did - I did), and one black male who Officer Colleen Deegan spotted pissing up against a chain link fence in the middle of the day on the damn street (while children played nearby).
Now, I have to preface this by saying this has to be some sort of "territorial marking gig" with a lot of these folk.
Hell, I didn't even see HOMELESS people pissing in public in my ghettohood (they usually use the nearest McD's or Arbys when they stop in to get a cup of water - God bless the employees that have to clean THOSE restrooms up).
But THIS guy is so indicative of what I've seen down here.
Funny thing is, they don't wait until adulthood to begin such practices.
Just last summer, a (black) TODDLER from one of the section 8 (drug) cribs down the block came up to my corner and whizzed against the utility pole...in broad daylight on a residential street! His "sister" tried to stand in front of him (well, that makes it perfectly fine then, right?).
I passed this along to our quadrant captain suggesting that perhaps Child Protective Services needs to be called on this house, "if" the toilet isn't working (which would be my guess as to WHY the pole seemed OK to use as a urinal).
Well, they're ALL still living there, unfortunately. God only knows HOW MANY (total) are crammed into that single floor dwelling, sucking down YOUR tax dollars. But I digress...
Anyway, this other guy on TV last night ALSO had some outstanding warrants for "failure to appear" because of...(you guessed it)...pissing in public.
Guess all these warnings aren't doing much to stimulate that old cerebral cortex, are they?
(Perhaps a wood shampoo to get the scalp tingling?)
Officer Rose Valentino rolled on a call for a man down (shots fired) and when on scene found the victim suffering from three bullet wounds.
While able to speak, the victim gave up little in ANY details as to WHO shot him, WHAT type of vehicle, number of people, COLOR of vehicle, etc...
Officer Valentino expressed her frustration when canvassing the crime scene regarding the LACK of information forthcoming from people that live in neighborhoods such as the one she was in. And I can sympathize with her. That's a common occurrence in places like OUR ghettohood also.
I mentioned here several times, that these "po folk" (rolls eyes...poor my aching ass) have their OWN sub-culture in place.
They have their OWN "language" (if you comprehend ghetto-speak), their OWN mannerisms (like pissing in public, or walking down the middle of any street), their OWN clothing (it's called thug-wear and ho-wear...guys like 'em saggin', and girls like 'em painted on...go figure), their OWN lifestyle (steal what you can from whoever you can as fast as you can...like the government, the other neighbors or even businesses), their OWN brand of "justice" (say nothing to ANYONE, especially the "po-po", unless it helps YOU personally, because snitches get stitches...or just shoot everything and everyone up).
Sad to say, they're allowed many times to operate with impunity.
And society wonders WHY we have problems in the inner city or neighborhoods that should be a lot nicer?
You allow an untrained dog to roam about freely, and never teach it anything like how to behave, don't come crying when anyone that goes near it gets bit.
The same goes when a domestic situation takes place.
Mostly it's both parties did something to both parties, because someone got "dissed" in some skewed fashion. Many times, fists get to flying and someone gets cuffed and stuffed...until it happens again the following week...AGAIN.
They wouldn't know what REAL respect was if they fell the f$ck over it.
And it shows.
Another call on PWOC was for a purple 1972 Cutlass Supreme with a purple ragtop (another eye roll) and those huge God-awful rims.
(obviously, this car was not in "showroom" condition...not by a country mile)
The driver was tossing "something" out the window, so he gets "lit up" and pulled over. Officer Tia Pearson immediately cuffs him when he mouth starts moving before his brain was engaged (too much lip - no respect to a LEO...you get the idea). Driver "says" he was just "fixing his mirror" (my ass).
After a quick rap-check, seems "Mr Purple Rain" also has outstanding warrants for...(big surprise here)...playing LOUD MUSIC (failure to pay).
And to top it all off, the woman he JUST picked up has outstanding warrants for battery (failure to appear), so they BOTH get to "share the ride" (how environmentally-friendly) downtown.
This is another case where these people have NO RESPECT for the law. Better to go to court, argue the case OR pay the damn fine, and get on with life...but no. It's much easier to not do anything about that court appearance.
Trouble with THAT mindset, is that those VIOLATIONS you need to pay become a form of "savings bond" - the longer you hold it, the MORE it "matures".
And sooner or later payment comes due...but not in the way you think.
YOU are the one coughing up the cash (or becoming an orange jumpsuit-clad "guest" of the city or county).
All in all, it was a very entertaining hour of TV...it's over too damn quickly, too.
Reminds me SO much of MY part of the ghettohood...only the names have been changed to protect the guilty...LOL.
Now, I'm certainly NO angel, and I'm a few light years short of perfect, but in all the years I've spent on this rock, I've never been arrested or hauled downtown in ANY city for ANY reason. Got a few verbal warnings while behind the wheel and one ticket a long time ago. (haven't we ALL?)
So, does that make me BETTER than these perps?
Depends on how you define "better".
We all still piss, crap and bleed the same colors.
(some of us DO prefer doing those INDOORS, however)
But MY choices tend to be weighed against any consequences that might follow in the wake Of that decision.
Can't say the same for these other people.
Basically, they HAVE no idea of order, or priorities, or consequences, or respect.
To THEM, these are not concepts of our human condition...they're just words.
And , as is often the case with such people, their ACTIONS are the only language they believe in.
Rather than attempt to talk anything out, it immediately escalates to some form of physical violent behavior.
Maybe, if they paid some ATTENTION in school when they were younger, instead of pursuing all the "things" and "stuff" in their lives, they'd have a better understanding of what it MEANS to be HUMAN...more LAW-ABIDING...willing to FOLLOW THE RULES (for their own safety) and BE HELPFUL to one another, rather than treating others as a commodity to be used up.
But, it's what these kids see AT HOME that causes them to gravitate to such behavior as they mature (notice I did NOT say GROW UP, for they never really do that...they just get older, but never wiser).
The one thing you come away with while watching this show on TLC, is that you have a better appreciation for the way YOU were brought up...and by REAL parents, too, not some gangsta poser or ho-bag that is just older than you and figured out early in life how to have sex and create government tax exemptions.
Hey, we all might not make the BEST choices in life ALL the time, but dammit, we DO TRY, if not only for ourselves, then for our families.
We attempt to set as good an example as we can, because other people are watching, if not our children...and they WILL figure stuff like this out, whether we know it or not. We try to teach by example, because we have learned by the example of others.
It's not a bad way to manage our lives, but some folks can't (or won't) get a handle of THAT either.
That's on THEM...not on us.
We didn't fail these people...they simply failed themselves.
We can do damn near everything known to man to help them, and some of them simply don't "get it".
And that's why we have our police out there.
THEY are there to "remind" those that would thumb their noses at the human aspects of society.
This nation is made up of a LOT of different people, but it has NO room for those who would seek to chase after anarchistic endeavors by their actions.
We are Americans first, and that comes with certain caveats as well as privileges.
It's time that we ALL knew what they are and follow them as a nation.
And we should take to task any and all who simply take from our society and never give back anything.
We are ALL accountable, so we ALL need to become personally responsible.
To do or feel less, would defeat the reason this nation was founded.
Just a little something to think about...
Have yourselves a great weekend...stay warm and pace yourself outside.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and as always...
Stay SAFE out there, America.