Still Feels Like A Monday...
Another gray morning...off and on rain showers...more days passing without having the roof repaired.
Didn't we just go through this LAST week?
I am always fond of saying that down here in our little corner of the ghettohood, it's far from "boring"...
Damn shame...I could use about a ton and a half of BORING right about now.
*** So, I wound up placing another call into the FWPD for loud music last evening.
This one group of human trash likes to crank up the CAR stereo, using it as their primary "music" source.
Naturally, it's a CADILLAC...nice to see our TAX MONEY isn't being wasted, hmm?
Pretty annoying when the people live down the block, and the thumping can be heard at the other end of your house.
Oh, these people just KNOW what button to push in order to piss you off, that's for sure.
Well, they DO have all that "free time" on their hands to figure all that stuff out, courtesy of the working class taxpayers right?
And if there's anything that cries out "my property is worth less every day", it's (almost daily) having something like a group of meandering bodies constantly wanting to congregate at or around YOUR property.
(they must LIKE you, Bob)
Yeah, that always makes it look just SO damn inviting...
Sure, I want to live THERE.
Sign me up...(not)
*** Speaking of property values...and the lack thereof, you might find THESE articles interesting:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/economy/zillow-see-the-worst-home-prices-drop-since-2008.html
And this one:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-crash-is-getting-worse-2011-05-09?link=MW_latest_news
Now, I used to avoid any type of business news like the plague, but being a homeowner for quite sometime now, I've come to appreciate being informed.
And appreciation is something that OUR HOUSE is not suffering THESE days, thanks to the merchants of mayhem in our fair city.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
Tell 'ya one thing, if you EVER want to have your property taxes DROP markedly (that would be like a lead balloon), then by all means, DO allow a SECTION 8 house on YOUR block.
That will ensure lower taxes for YEARS to come.
There is a caveat, however...
You must also be prepared for drugs, barking dogs, unsupervised kids roaming about, public intoxication, loud music, loud cars, prostituion, welfare fraud, EMS visits, police sirens, drugs, public urination, disrespect for you and your property, robberies, vandalism, burglaries, rapes, domestic quarrels, fights, public drunkenness, gunfire, speeding, and litter out the wazoo.
But...your property taxes WILL be lower, so see...it's not so bad after all.
Helluva trade-off, hmm?
Curiously enough, some of the areas with the HIGHEST RATE of devalued property are Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, and Miami Beach.
(can Fort Wayne be that far behind?)
Now, I wonder what all those OTHER FOUR areas have "in common"?
Well, it's probably NOT a large contingent of MINORITIES and HUD housing...can't possibly be THAT, right?
(I know and you know otherwise)
*** We had a minor ant infestation last evening as well...those really small ones, and only on one part of the corner of the kitchen counter.
After getting the area totally spotless (clean enough to perform surgery on) and dosing it with a LOT of killer bug juice, it appears we got the majority of them.
Now where they came from, I have NO idea, but no one's going home to invite the rest of the "family", that's for sure..
The kitchen is the one place that I'm really fussy about...it's the whole food thing, you know.
And every container that might have anything sweet enough to attract them is always tightly sealed.
But the ants did not get INTO any cabinets that I could see (and that big, honking spotlight does a nice job of letting me see).
So, we shall see what happens.
In any event, there are a lot of orphans in the "ant world" this morning as a result of my "blitzkrieg" tactics.
I think Seal team Six would approve...lol.
*** Been doing some cogitating about this whole jury duty gig, and while I have not wavered in my personal feelings about it one damn bit (which by itself SHOULD have washed me out of it in the first place), I do believe I have found a marvelous method by which I can "assist" those that keep calling me downtown to refrain from doing so in the future...
It's a little document known as the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION...!
(...pause for thunderous cheers and applause....)
Who knew, right?
Well, within this document is something called the THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT, which states:
" Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."
Here's the *411* on this from WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Text
Now, you might be wondering "WTF?" Bob...how is ANY of that pertinent to jury duty?
Good question.
Look at those words INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE...carefully.
Now think about what constitutes jury duty itself...
-Is it VOLUNTARY?
-Are you being compelled, coerced or otherwise "forced" to partake in it?
-Is jury duty selection comparable to conscription?
If you answered "YES" to any or all of these questions...give yourself a GOLD STAR.
Here's a link to what one professor of economics stated in an article written for the CATO Institute back in 2006:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6546
Abolish the jury "draft", and make it like our military...ALL VOLUNTEER.
Sounds reasonable enough. Let those who CAN be a lot more impartial sit on a jury.
It's replacing the "threat of coercion with the consent of the governed"...
Now HOW FAIR is that in a free society?
This is another take on it...a bit more gritty:
http://www.spectacle.org/0600/lizard.html
Funny, that I wasn't kicked off the list after expressing my feelings, but then again, "slaves" really DON'T have feelings as such, do (we) they?
(pretty convincing so far, huh?)
Then there's that "U.S. v Kozminski" - (US 931 - 1988) where the Supreme Court ruled that the Thirteenth Amendment did not prohibit compulsion of servitude through psychological coercion.
Kozminski limited involuntary servitude to those situations when the master subjects the servant to:
1-threatened or actual physical force,
2-threatened or actual state-imposed legal coercion or
3-fraud or deceit where the servant is a minor, an immigrant or mentally incompetent.
I'm especially intrigued by that whole "state-imposed legal coercion"...which would be a summons with FEAR of a fine and/or bench warrant for contempt.
My plan is to call to question the "coercive" aspect of jury duty during voir dire, if I even get that far.
I might call the court clerk and belabor this point...see what shakes from that. And I think it's a good plan, at least one that is based in the freedom and liberty bestowed by our founding document.
We shall see, won't we?
There are those wanting to abolish MANDATORY jury duty based on just that, so I think I have a shot.
Yeah, sometimes the legal system is too busy getting criminals out on plea deals, that they don't bother to read the REAL LAW of the land.
Gotta love that.
Now who was it that said that "a little bit of knowledge is dangerous"?
Folks, at this point, I plan to be DEADLY as all get out.
Letting them have it with both barrels, figuratively-speaking that is...lol.
Hey, I might have only ONE year of formal college, but I think I manage to glean a few pearls of wisdom along the rest of my time here.
In any event, if it comes down to being in the court room and being asked questions by the attorneys, it will prove most interesting, that much is certain.
Then again, sometimes it's OK to toss boredom to the curb.
In this instance, it's pretty much required...don'cha think?
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.