14 August 2014

Thoughts For Thursday...
The week is winding down, but some things are ramping up around the globe, and I will be taking at least one of those items to task this day.
But before we start that ball rolling, let's take a gander at our Hooiserland weather.
Today will be a replay of yesterday, with temps into the mid-70s.
And tonight, expect temps to fall into the upper FORTIES.
(great sleeping weather)
So, we've a very nice day ahead of us (until someone comes along and screws it all up), so let's grab that cup of our favorite morning beverage and we see what is going on everywhere else.
*** First out of the storage bin is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world."
This was spoken by the recently late Robin Williams, and I thought it only proper to use this quote, as it is all too appropriate in today's world.
Here's his WIKI again, in case you missed it yesterday:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams
Nice to know that through his words and ideas, the world of comedy was made better.
Moving on...
*** And we're not getting away scot-free without our "What the hell happened today, Bob?" Salute to events and people celebrating birthdays.
AUGUST 14:
"Out, out...damn stain"
1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.
1885 – Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
Now we have another source we can "borrow" from...
1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, creating a government pension system for the retired.
1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.
1941 – World War II: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.
1947 – Pakistan gains Independence from the British Empire and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
When football WAS football.
1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.
Let's do the TIME WARP...AGAINnnnn
1975 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running release in film history, opens at the USA Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles, California.
One man CAN make a difference.
1980 – Lech Wałęsa leads strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.
1994 – Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal," is captured.
2003 – A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada.
Notable Birthdays:
1642 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
Good with a shotgun, too.
1851 – Doc Holliday, American dentist (d. 1887)
1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist
1941 – David Crosby, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and CPR)
One wild and CRAZY guy!
1945 – Steve Martin, American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Antonio Fargas, American actor
1946 – Susan Saint James, American actress
1947 – Danielle Steel, American author
1950 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist
1951 – Carl Lumbly, American actor
1953 – James Horner, American composer and conductor
1956 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
1960 – Sarah Brightman, English singer-songwriter and actress
1966 – Halle Berry, American model, actress, and producer, Miss World United States 1986
1968 – Catherine Bell, American actress
1983 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian-American actress
And...it's PRAMUKA DAY in Indonesia (scouting organization - translated as "young people willing to work"...so, get your Pramuka on, y'all.
So, now you know a lot more than the person delivering your mail.
*** Next up, there was this "editorial" in today's J-G, which we got around 4AM, when I heard the carrier's car stereo thumping us awake at out "Fortress" (which will precipitate a nasty-gram to the paper later to have this intrusive behavior halted...or the carrier dismissed...either way).
And the chaos continues...
And this ties in with the ongoing rioting in Ferguson, Missouri.
Hers is the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140814/EDIT05/308149988/0/SEARCH
Now, professor (of sociology) Elijah Anderson (from Yale), who is a leading urban "ethnographer" (love the titles) takes to task the whole method of policing not only in Ferguson, MO, but around the nation.
The source column can be found in the Washington (com)Post
Now, I would expect MORE from someone with a higher level of education than I, but alas, he misses the target by a country mile (and I'm from the city).
Anderson TRIES to take apart the "Broken Window Theory", and seems to fail wonderfully.
He cites that Ferguson suffered from "white flight" for some time, but what he doesn't say is that MANY neighborhoods in lo, those many towns are at the mercy of th Department of Health and Human Services, various "housing authorities",and naturally HUD, who, through the (un) Fair Housing Act, are permitted to place dubious people any damn place they want to, and THAT is usually the first step in blighting a neighborhood.
Drive through a nice area and then a blighted one and tell me JUST what the VISUAL difference are.
Welcome to DETROIT...coming to a city near you?
There is very little "overlap" between those two areas, and it comes down to one simple premise:
Some people give a damn (because they have a vested interest in the area and want to KEEP it nice) while others don't give a flying damn (because it's not theirs so why bother).
It's like the difference between driving YOUR car and a RENTAL one...lol.
(the tendency is to be a little more LEAD-FOOTED with the rental)
Another case the professor fails to make is that because someone is in poverty, it doesn't necessarily make them STUPID beyond belief.
There are plenty of rich dumbasses out there, too..trust me!
Anderson equates (falsely) the "BWT" of policing with harassment of blacks (and Latinos), and I would counter by asking "Where is the Broken Window Theory most often practiced?" 
It's in BLIGHTED AREAS, which are replete with all the crime you can handle, and WHO lives in such areas, hmm?
Used to be a NICE house...pre-HUD.
If you say predominantly MINORITIES (usually of the entitlement mindset) then give yourself a GOLD STAR.
You have to know the "nuts and bolts" of all this before you make broad statements, professor. You have to SEE how it works (and quite effectively) in areas that suffer higher crime rates than other parts of a given city.
If all those HUDders would NOT come along and trash properties, but rather take a modicum of PRIDE in being allowed to have a nice house or apartment in a nice part of town while keeping it looking LIVABLE (instead of the pig-sty they fast become), we wouldn't even be having this conversation, would we?
Love your ghetto.
And it's not "Whitey": doing any of this...it's YOUR OWN people, professor.
The whole premise behind the Broken Window Theory (as I've explained here many times) is simple...police the small sh*t, so it doesn't become the BIG sh*t...like HOMICIDES, RAPES, etc.
The SAME standards for EVERYONE...not "double standards" for some, kapeesh?
Maybe  it's TOO simple for a Yale professor's mind to handle?
Blacks are not being harassed anymore than anyone else...unless they do something that alerts the police to suspicious activity - that's LEO Academy 101 basics, people.
Anderson says that minorities are stopped more frequently than others...well, WHO the hell LIVES in the blighted areas anyway?
MINORITIES, that's who...well, DUH!
And that's the law of averages at work there...no other explanation.
Anderson DOES make SOME sense in his column...when he speaks to millenials being more detached from ANY form pf authority.
Sadly, that is NOT a good thing to hear, because that paves the way for anarchy.
When people stop policing themselves, and then, stop obeying those appointed to police the populace, there is chaos.
Face it...the ONLY reason we even HAVE laws...is for the LAW-LESS, right?
So, it's little wonder we see such things happen in Ferguson, when they shouldn't have to occur.
One other factor is the black male persona...and professor Anderson mentions that black men are wishing to protect their "pride" by toughening up and becoming antagonistic against the police...we call that being a bad-ass, because you CHOOSE to not have anything ELSE going for you.
So, if we permit these males to "feel good" about themselves, they will ALL suddenly STOP their bad behaviors, obey all the laws, and become pillars of society, even if they don't work, choose to sire children by multiple females, and are permitted to do whatever they want because of their "blackness"?
Yeah, I can see that working out just fine...NOT!!!
You just don't bop over to the Sparky-Mart and grab a pound of PRIDE...you have to DEVELOP IT. And that means be willing to WORK at it.
Many sadly...do not.
You embrace ETHICAL behavior...something these mooks wouldn't know about if it bit them in the ass.
The good professor needs to get off his haughty educational horse and spend some time "in the trenches", as it were. And I would say the same to ANY city leader, official or politician.
The Broken Window Theory WORKS...for ALL races, and the sooner these liberals wake up to that fact, the SAFER the neighborhoods like those in Ferguson might become...for everyone.
*** Last back to the wigwam today...I love to hear those spout off about things they THINK they know a lot about, simple because they have some sort of "degree" in a specified field of endeavor. Thing is, most times, the knowledge is there, but the WISDOM to adequately APPLY that knowledge is missing.
That's what we call COMMON SENSE.
And the LACK of common sense often gets people in deep sh*t...really fast.
But, there are those in our country who seem to be suffering from a lack of many things these days - lack of obedience to authority (which leads to more authority and eventually authoritarianism), lack of common sense, lack of morality, lack of ethics, lack of education, lack of values, lack of principles...
And that's only the personal aspects. I didn't mention a lack of clothing sense, lack of driving ability, lack of financial responsibility, lack of parenting, and so on...yes, the list DOES become long and tedious, does it not?
Now, when God wanted to get my "attention" to do the right thing, he always applied the "spiritual 2x4 principle"...across the back of my thick head.
And believe me, that works...lol.
It's almost as though we've reaching a tipping point in humanity (here) and a societal paradigm shift needs to take place before things REALLY change for the better...or at least head back to where they used to be when more people did the simple stuff like obeying the laws, and keeping their primate noses clean.
There is no magic bullet that will turn society back around (and the lead ones only diminish humanity), but there has to be a serious change in the pattern of behavior for the millennials, and THAT will take at least TWO generations to accomplish...if we're fortunate and if the rest of us survive the insanity.
We can but hope...and pray.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there,America.

4 comments:

Fred said...

Dr. John Holliday, possibly the most famous of all dentists, who used unique extraction methods.

Bob G. said...

Fred:
First off, welcome...good to see a new "face".

Considering Holliday suffered from TB, and had to be in close proximity to other people while performing his dental "work", I'm surprised he was allowed to practice at all.
No doubt his methods were "different".

However, he'd be a good first choice to have at a shootout...at say some CORRAL, hmm?

Thanks for taking time to stop by today and comment.

CWMartin said...

You forget, Robert. Once one becomes a professor- particularly a TENURED one- you are no longer required to involve facts in your opinions, because they BECOME facts sheerly through the fact that they are YOUR opinions. Glad I was here to help out on that.

Bob G. said...

Chris:
Ah, yes...that clears everything up.

So, that would mean the ACTUAL facts are left to folks like US...the REAL "truth-merchants".

I like that premise.

Thanks for a nice dose of reasoning...how very refreshing.
And thanks for taking time to drop by and comment today.

Stay safe up there, brother.