Dumb criminals and the people who make a living sending them to jail
Ok, so it appears it’s a bad idea to fly transcontinental in the wheel well of a jumbojet.
But that’s national news.
Here, things continue to grind slowly towards armageddon in a sort of painful, unending way. Local slob on trial for child pornography, some made with his son, some with his son’s friends. Now, we all know prosecutors put on an impartial face with dealing with human fungus like this. However, like the rest of us humans who came complete with forebrains, they think there is a special place in hell for these people. Take, for instance this quote from a local assistant DA on prosecuting this guy: “He’s a sick, twisted sack of shit, but that’s all off the record.” At least it was an easy conviction, after all, the police had plenty of video tape evidence to work with.
Then there are our politicians, many of whome are not much brighter than our criminals … of course, some of these guys are criminals themselves, so, go figure.
This one is from a county commissioner: “There are ways to raise taxes without putting the burden on taxpayers.”
Then there is these two:
“You can have some of mine.”
–White councilman to a black councilman who was bitching about the minority population of ward two being down to 75 percent after redistricting.
So goes the rest of the state, especially where this is necessary:
“The term ‘bona fide coin-operated amusement machine’ does not include the following:
a. Coin-operated washing machines or dryers.
b. Vending machines which for payment of money dispense products or services.
c. Gas and electric meters.
d. Pay telephones.
e. Cigarette vending machines.
f. Coin-operated scales.
g. Coin-operated gumball machines.
h. Coin-operated parking meters.
i. Coin-operated television sets which provide cable or network programming.
j. Machines which are not legally permitted to be operated in Alabama.
–Attorney General’s opinion dealing with video gambling machines. If someone there thinks the public needs help understanding that the above items are not primarily for amusement, I would imagine they need to get out a little more.
That is in response to court rulings that just about anything you put coins into that money might come out of is a gambling machine and illegal in Alabama. The only gambling allowed here is bingo, usually sponsored by a church, which are staunchly against gambling. Especially evident by the Christian Coalition taking money from out-of-state gambling interests to lobby against gambling here.
Well folks, that’s all the fun for today.
Chalk one up for the good guys
Been kind of a slow news week, as far as dumb criminals are concerned. My heart is still brimming over with warmth that they caught the young ladies who ran down that waitress for a miniscule meal tab.
Also, with regards to my least favorite brand of criminal — one I advocate feeding into a wood chipper upon conviction — is sexual predators. The recidivism (sp?) rate with these things is way to high for them to ever be allowed to roam free. That said, I also realize that we need to make some distinctions between, say a serial child rapist and someone who is 17 and has sex with his (or her) 15-year-old girlfriend.
I bring this topic up here for discussion because we nailed another one of these bastards this week. A local teacher — married with kids — had been having sex with one of his students who was below the age of consent. The prosecution got a clean conviction this week. Boo creapy teachers — hooray beer.
The scary thing is, though, that this is the latest in several cases, both concluded and still pending, involving teachers in the region having relationships with underage students. Hmmm, sounds like it is time for stricter screening rules.
On another note, one of the reasons I have been away from the blog for a bit is we have seen something of a success at Art Life Collective. One of our t-shirt designers hit on something that is widely popular, the Juggernaut, Bitch video that has been circulating around the net. Good deal. That one shirt set record sales since the business opened and has been keeping us busy. Tip for artists out there looking to spin commercial art: Find these underground phenomenons and capitalize on them. It’s a great way to draw attention to your other work (and make some money in the process)
We have also been lucky to have street artist olive47 join Art Life Collective. I figure her Snakes on a Plane shirt will be a big seller. If you go to her personal site, not only can you view her art, you can join her “cult.” I did. Got the membership card to prove it. I carry it in my wallet for sheer shock value here in Alabama if I am ever pasted in a wreck and they have to go through my personal effects to ID me.
Just because you are dead does not mean you can’t rock the boat and broaden some social horizions. Besides, I feel it is my life’s mission to make everyone else’s just a bit more post modern.
Peace
Some criminals are evil
Dammit all to hell. People often ask me why so many journalists are cynical – even mysanthropic – well there is a fantastic reason for this. So often — though we also see the opposite side of humanity too — we are dealing day in and day out with the dregs of humanity.
I know I often make light of some of our stupid criminals here. In fact, it’s a huge reason I created this blog. As a journalist, when I write, I am trained to be objective about my subject, regardless of my own feelings on the matter. However, it is a common public falacy that reporters, editors and the like don’t have feelings or strong opinions. To the contrary, we tend to be the most opinionated people on the planet — we are just trained to be objective in our work and save personal views for the editorial page.
Back to the point, as funny as our stupid criminals are — and there is no shortage of them, here or anywhere else — that stupidity sometimes gets other people hurt or killed. This past weekend, two women tried to skip out on a cheap dinner tab at a local Chinese buffet. When the waitress walked out to the parking lot, they ran her down in their car. As of now, I don’t know if the young woman who is always so nice to her customers is even still alive — they took her to the hospital by Lifesaver Helicopter.
So, for these two less-than-worthless human beings, the price of a couple of plates of sweet-and-sour chicken was worth killing someone for. Just to kick the stupidity level up a notch, there were plenty of witnesses and the two suspects were driving a car with personalized tags. I will let you know tomorrow if the police have caught them yet.
OK, venting over. Still, it’s no wonder so many of the people who work in the media become cynics.
In some positive news, I just read in National Geographic — still one of the finest operations in my business — where a company building a shopping center in Florida paid more that $100,000 to have a 120-year-old oak tree relocated. Maybe there is hope for the human race yet. If you ever want to see true dedication to preserving natural resources, even in a densly populated nation, go to Japan some time. What they do to protect their forrests is truely amazing – $100,000 per tree per year in some forrests.
On another note, from Art Life Collective, my brother Blair, aka Disco Super Chocolate, has added Web radio to the list of projects. Custom t-shirts are still the focus, but this is just another creative outlet for us.
Jules has the update on our forum:
“Our man with the plan, ALC President Blair Hadley a.k.a. DJ Disco Super Chocolate, streaming the freshest of tunes to the internet airwaves ’cause he’s just that f*ing cool.
Featuring a wide variety of music that will make you sing, move, remember, sigh, gasp and *sometimes* wish you were deaf.
Where else but Radio ALC can one listen to New York Dolls, Massive Attack, Paul Simon and the theme song from The Love Boat all in one day? No where.
He’s so multi-talented it will make you sick.
Radio ALC can be found streaming though WINAMP on your SHOUTcast radio dial.
Search: WALC
If you are using itunes or another mp3 program, you can listen to the stream by pacing the url, “www.blairsworld.mine.nu:8000” in the field where you select radio stations. For example, on itunes, it is under the “advanced” tab at the top. Click “advanced” then “open stream” then paste the above referenced web address into the field.
This ain’t no Cafepress corporate marketplace, baby.
Welcome to the Underground.“
So check it out, though I do have to admit, it is a bit disconcerting when “Power in the Blood” by A3 fades into the theme from “Dallas”
Peace
