Random Ruminations... 
I wonder if you noticed that my recent posts have been a tad "late"?
Well, there's a good reason for it, and it's NOT me...
Seems BLOGGER has a screwed up editor, as in it likes to double-space everything, as well as toss a paragraph in where none is wanted.
That makes for some SERIOUS HTML "amendments" to the initial post. And I detest using HTML...it's SO damn slow and all the type seems to run together after a short while. (one of the "benefits" of older eyesight no doubt...oh, joy) The weird thing is that there is no PROPER "help-desk" to contact either BLOGGER or GOOGLE to bitch a fit at...lovely.
I'm wondering if any of YOU out there have had similar issues? (probably not - they're just picking on me...again) Anyway, it's just another burr under my saddle these days (gonna need a bigger saddle at this rate).
I was telling the Missus this morning, that "If you want to be left alone, THIS CITY (Fort Wayne) is the place that's the FARTHEST from that concept". This is no longer your grandma's Midwest...that's for sure. In some (less than congenial) ways, it's more "big city" THAN a big city....just a bit smaller. I've always believed that ANYTHING IN LIFE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS IT'S WORST ATTRIBUTE. That goes for vehicles, houses, pets, people, and especially CITIES! I live in a nice neighborhood. The "lay of the land" is rather good, and the architecture, although largely post-WW2, is unique in that are rarely any TWO houses completely alike. THAT is where the "niceness" ends, however. It's the PEOPLE that have brought this area to the precipice of Dante's 7th circle of hell. 
And while Fort Wayne LOVES to blow it's own horn as to how "great" it is as a smaller city in the Midwest, I have to take exception to that.
Fort Wayne is ONLY as good as it's WORST neighborhoods...and it's WORST residents. Which, by normal standards, means that this city needs an enema!
Fort Wayne is ONLY as good as it's WORST neighborhoods...and it's WORST residents. Which, by normal standards, means that this city needs an enema!
Fort Wayne thrives (seemingly) on DOUBLE STANDARDS, although you will never hear that from anyone in any authority. (because it happens to be TRUE) The other day, I was doing a search for the LOUDEST CITIES in America, and while I pretty much KNEW who would be in "the top ten", I did not expect to see FORT WAYNE on the list...but there it was, nestled in at # 42. An interactive map from 2009 can be found HERE: http://www.menshealth.com/metrogrades/may09/noisy-cities.php
Now, the WORST city was DETROIT (with 100), and considering that most of the place looks like a damn GHOST TOWN (even at rush-hour) that makes you think WHAT is the cause for all the damn noise...
Well, don't need to be a damn genius to figure THAT one out...
Well, don't need to be a damn genius to figure THAT one out...
It's not industry.
It's not construction.
It's URBAN BLIGHT...plain and simple.
And that is why Fort Wayne made the damn list...and that was THREE years ago (we've "worked" on that since then, obviously). Like I say, if you want to left the hell ALONE, this surely ain't the place to make that happen.
But, it's NOT just noise intrusion alone...
It's something else that I (personally) find repulsive.
And that's....drum roll please......
And that's....drum roll please......
JURY DUTY!
There, I said it...so there.
"But that's an OBLIGATION to your country, Bob", most would say.
"No, an OBLIGATION to one's country is going to some God-forsaken OTHER country and fighting for freedom and liberty THERE", would be my reply.
An OBLIGATION would be UPHOLDING the LAWS on the filth-ridden streets OF this country.
An OBLIGATION would be running into a burning building and saving a child or two, because what passes for a parent left food burning on the damn stove and torched the whole house.
Maybe, if you asked me about serving on a jury say...THIRTY YEARS AGO, my take would be different, but not today.
Maybe, if you asked me about serving on a jury say...THIRTY YEARS AGO, my take would be different, but not today.
I say this, because yesterday, I received my 4TH "questionnaire" for becoming a "prospective juror" for the County of Allen in Indiana.
( *rolls eyes* )
Here we go AGAIN...four times in a dozen years. Guess NOT being a felon (here) DOES have it's DISADVANTAGES.
( *rolls eyes* )
Here we go AGAIN...four times in a dozen years. Guess NOT being a felon (here) DOES have it's DISADVANTAGES.
Now, I HAVE known people involved in civil as well as criminal cases, and was a victim of vandalism (and a break-in at Willow "Crack" Crossing apartments), and know a LOT of LEOs in several cities, so that SHOULD wash me out from the running.
I AM VERY BIASED when it comes to those anachronistic aspects of our society like JUSTICE, PUNISHMENT, and something we USED to call LAW AND ORDER.
I AM VERY BIASED when it comes to those anachronistic aspects of our society like JUSTICE, PUNISHMENT, and something we USED to call LAW AND ORDER.
I suppose that not having been THROUGH the judicial system in 58 years tainted my perspective a bit...'ya think?
My Dad always said:
"If you keep YOUR nose clean, you won't wind up in jail."
(sage advice...and it WORKS, unlike the human flotsam in my ghettohood who NEVER work at all).
Nevertheless, I am "obliged" to return the questionnaire, so "they" can waste MY time, burn MY fuel, and spend MY money parking JUST to dismiss me yet again from jury duty. I have to admit that the LAST time I had to go down, it was "interesting".
We were called on a child abuse case (minority participants), and as the attorney was describing the "set-up" to us, I sat there in the jury box and shook my head. THAT will get you "noticed" quickly enough. The attorney asked me why I felt the way I did by my actions.
We were called on a child abuse case (minority participants), and as the attorney was describing the "set-up" to us, I sat there in the jury box and shook my head. THAT will get you "noticed" quickly enough. The attorney asked me why I felt the way I did by my actions.
No sweat, that I can do.
(buckle up gang, this is going to be truthful as all hell)
"I'm sorry, counsellor, but when it comes to ANY adult beating on ANY infant, toddler or child to the degree that you have described, I don't take kindly to that one bit.There is a vast difference between discipline and outright abuse," was my reply.
Now THAT drew stares from everyone in the courtroom, especially the OTHER JURORS. This could be one of those times where you wish you could shrink the hell away and crawl under the door.
Instead, I sat up STRAIGHTER, and held my head up. I said what the hell I felt, and what I KNEW to be TRUE.
Didn't take long for the attorney to dismiss me from the juror pool...!
(mission accomplished...AGAIN)
Now, I don't know HOW MANY TIMES I have to "splain" myself to these folks, but if they pulled my PRIOR questionnaires and saw the "excuse or ineligible" marks THEY have to place on them, and the reason WHY...they'd not bother sending along ANOTHER damn questionnaire to fill out all over again.
My position has NOT changed, wavered, or deviated from my initial position. You UPHOLD THE LAW...PUNISH those that need it, and DO NOT EVER turn the judicial system into some sideshow, replete with the usual freaks, clowns, and peanut venders...simple as that.
My position has NOT changed, wavered, or deviated from my initial position. You UPHOLD THE LAW...PUNISH those that need it, and DO NOT EVER turn the judicial system into some sideshow, replete with the usual freaks, clowns, and peanut venders...simple as that.
Then again, if some people RESPECTED and FOLLOWED THE LAW, had a bit of MORALITY and CIVILITY in that thick skull of theirs, and were something OTHER than the abhorrent piece of human trash they obviously are, they wouldn't even BE in court in the first damn place, would they?
I'm just sayin'...
I used to follow the doctrine that believes that all men are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. Notice I said USED to.
I used to follow the doctrine that believes that all men are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. Notice I said USED to.
Nowadays, it's more like GUILTY until proven INNOCENT. For when someone is CAUGHT (in the act) with a bloody knife in their hand, standing over a dead man who has been repeatedly stabbed within the last 5 minutes, because these two men had just commenced to arguing over something really stupid, and one of them decided to "up the ante", it doesn't scream INNOCENT to me.
Not one damn bit.
Add to that all the loopholes and plea bargains DESIGNED to get guilty people off the hook, as well as incompetence within the prosecutory system itself, and it's no wonder I feel the way I do these days.
And I sure a lot of YOU feel likewise...fair should BE just that...FAIR.
Not rigged,not gamed, not played like some cheap-ass fiddle, but fair to ALL...not just to some, or a few.
To me, this whole thing is no longer a conundrum...it's fact.
I'm on the side of the LAW...as in it being OBEYED and FOLLOWED.
I'm NOT on the side of the system, simply because it's broke...and pretty badly.
I admit there are many times when being able to break a law here and there was tempting...REAL tempting. But something my PARENTS (and others) taught me about those nasty CONSEQUENCES always came back to haunt me. And rightly so.
Everything we do...every choice we make has results...consequences to whatever action we choose to take. Even if we sit back and do NOTHING, that is a choice, and it has it's own results...sometimes good, sometimes not so good. If someone wants us to help them rob someone else, and we do nothing...that's GOOD. If someone is injured or the victim of a crime and we do nothing...that's NOT so good.
See how it works?
I cannot sit in judgment of an individual that has taken it upon themselves to IGNORE or otherwise BREAK the law with intent and with willingness. In MY eyes, guilt has been assessed. And If our places were reversed, I would expect no LESS from that person as they viewed me, because of what I CHOSE to do. There are few things in life that have those "shades of gray" we hear about. The laws we hire people to write and enforce should not be given THAT much latitude where those laws become ineffectual, or ignored.
And if that makes me a cynic... I'm "guilty as charged".
But at least I can still sleep at night (as long as the lawbreakers out there shut the hell up).
Some people can still BE that impartial...and God bless them.
They have NOT been jaded by the seamier side of society.
They have not seen the levels of depravity humans are capable of.
In many ways, they still have that iota of innocence many of us have long locked away.
Let THEM be the jurors.
Let THEM be the jurors.
Take that $17 from jury duty and give it to someone who can put it to better use. I know who the guilty are already...I see them every day.
Well, guess I've said my piece, then.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and... Stay safe out there, America.
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4 comments:
Bob G.,
I think my eyes are getting old. I could only read your bright blue print. Missed out on your post because I am blind...:(
I do hope you have a great day. And from what I read...I agree with parents and consequences and laws and rules are supposed to be obeyed. That's whay they are there.
As for guilty until proven innocent. I don't know...it's just the way most of us think. Even in the cop world and to our own. It's sad. Maybe because it was my mother who said trouble always follows the troubled. Well, I disagree with her..but mostly think like that. How is that for effed up? LOL
Momma Fargo:
I changed the color of the text, in case the whole blog looks "brown" (which it should NOT).
And I got a few more years on MY eyes, hon...I worry about hitting targets...LOL.
I think you Mom was half/right.
Trouble follows US ALL!
How "WE" deal with it (or even choose to ifnore it sometimes) makes ALL the difference.
You either face trouble head on and take it out, or you can go along with it...and become that "troubled person" you Mom spoke about.
It's always about CHOICE, though.
And you are FAR from "effed up"...leastwise, that's just my opinion.
And I tend to be correct a LOT more than I'm wrong (praise God for THAT, anyway)...!
Thanks a lot for stopping on by today.
Roll safe out there.
Bob G:
As soon as I read "jury duty" I thought, "Well, he'll never make it past vox dur ." And I see that I was correct. I made it once to that point but it was a child abuse case and as I have taken care of kids as a nurse person, the defense (I wager) wanted no part of me.
I like the blog's new look! It certainly was getting hard to read black type on dark brown background. ;-) I know it's a big thing to change your blog's underlying look. I wait for the day that Blogger decides not to support my template anymore. As to HTML, the only HTML I know is the tags I use here in comments.
I hope Spring weather is about in Fort Wayne and you get a chance to enjoy it!
The Observer
T.O.:
THANK YOU!
VOX DUR - I couldn't recall what that LATIN phrase was (and I married a Latin teacher...go figure...LOL)
I'm glad you like the "new" look.
I'm thinking on painting the master BEDROOM in these colors now...ROFL!'
I:m at that PASTEL stage of life...well that and CAMO!
(Renoir I ain't...heh.)
Sunday will be warmer but rainy here...gonna LOVE it!
Got more critter pics to put up next week, so stay tuned.
Thanks for coming on by and commenting.
Always a pleasure.
Stay safe out there.
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