You All Disgust Me

From BostonHerald.com:

A 37-year-old Quincy dad won’t be winning any father-of-the-year awards after he allegedly took his three terrified kids on a high-speed late-night gun battle in an SUV reeking of pot and loaded with a high-powered weapon and an open 12-pack of beer, police said.

Roland Reese, an asbestos removal worker, pleaded not guilty yesterday to three counts of child neglect, unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm and failing to stop for police – as his 13-year-old son, a developmentally disabled boy with an amputated right leg, wept openly in Dorchester District Court.

“If not for the officers’ rapid response, these children could have been seriously injured or much worse,” said Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

“This defendant’s cavalier concern for his children’s safety should shock the conscience of every parent,” the outraged D.A. added.

Cops found the teen, his 3-year-old brother and 5-year-old sister “crying, shaking, screaming and trembling” in their father’s silver Ford Expedition Saturday at about 9:30 p.m. in Dorchester, according to a police report. The vehicle, whose back window had been shot out, contained a loaded large-capacity firearm, 31 rounds and an open half-case of Heineken, cops said.

Police said they smelled “the pungent odor of unburnt marijuana emanating from the vehicle,” but found no drugs.

Reese claimed he was shot at while driving from a 10-year-old’s birthday party on Maxwell Street. Cops were alerted to the blasts on Capen Street by the Hub’s electronic shot-spotter.

Witnesses told cops they saw a man jump into a silver SUV and take off. Cops quickly located Reese’s vehicle but say he refused to stop, leading them on a wild chase down Selden Street that ended on Maxwell Street.

Suffolk County prosecutor Rilwan Adeduntan argued that “there’s reason to believe shots were emanating from (Reese’s) vehicle,” based on the testing that revealed the gun was still hot, Reese’s shot-out back window and bullet holes in two nearby vehicles. The drivers of the cars have not been charged.

Reese’s lawyer, Shannon McAuliffe, said her client was unlawfully searched, adding: “He was scared, he was confused – he thought his kids were in danger.”

Reese was held on $35,000 bail.

Alison Goodwin, spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, said the state has no prior history with the family and is investigating the incident.

In court, the mother of the three children, who refused to give her name, said she are Reese are married and cried as she maintained his innocence.

“He was shot at,” she told the Herald. “He’s a victim. It’s just because he’s a big black man.”

Drunk. High. Armed. In a car. Driving. I really don’t have a problem with any of these things individually. But when you start to mix any of them together, chances are, bad things are afoot. Especially when you have your goddam kids in the car!

I wish stupidity were painful, I swear to god. Both of these “parents” need to be tortured within an inch of their lives and then shoved 3 more feet. The gene pool would get a little cleaner, the collective IQ of the species would go up just a little bit, and maybe – just MAYBE – the kids would have a chance at a healthy upbringing.

Driving through the city today, I saw a couple things that reminded me of some other things that suddenly made me say “My God, you people are a bunch of fucking idiots!”

First, let me list off some (seemingly) random points:

• A playground
• A back yard
• A sandbox
• The FLDS
• The “child obesity problem” in the US

While driving through the city today, I went down a road that I usually don’t take. At one intersection, while waiting for the light to change, I glanced around and saw a tiny little playground with about a dozen children. It was nothing more than a corner of a parking lot that had a slide, one of those primary-colored playsets, and a miniature climbing wall. It was the climbing wall that caught my attention. In the few seconds I had to look, I saw 3 kids climbing the plastic rocks while their parents stood on the other side of the chain-link fence and chatted.

When the scene registered in my mind, I was quite surprised at what I was seeing. The wall looked to be about 8 feet tall, and there were no safety harnesses or other “precautions” in place. It was just a big thing for kids to climb on.

After my trip to the comic book store, I was driving through a residential neighborhood. One of the corner houses I passed was situated facing the cross street, so the back yard was fully visible from the main street I was on. A small section of the yard was sectioned off with chain-link fence and filled with toys for small children. Instead of grass (like the rest of the yard) this area was covered with wood chips.

This was the point where things suddenly clicked together.

A couple weeks ago I drove past the primary school in town to see the flowers the kids had planted. As I drove past, I noticed the old sand box on “Third Terrace”. The school is built on a hill, and the play areas are divided into 3 “terraces”. First and Second Terrace are paved playgrounds with the usual gear–swing sets, slides, a funnel-ball set, marked areas for kick ball, and basketball hoops for half-court games. Third Terrace was (when I was in primary school) the Mecca. It’s a grassy, wooded area with nothing on it other than trees, stones, and the Sand Box. The Sand Box deserves to be capitalized because of it’s size and imposing nature. It’s about 20 feet in diameter and made of castle-like stones 2 cubic feet in volume. This is a sand box that could easily fit 20 or more kids and still have plenty of room to play.

How do these things tie together?

Well… Last weekend I went up to Third Terrace to scout it out as a location for a photo shoot. When I got there, I discovered that the Sand Box…. isn’t. For some reason that entirely escapes my comprehension, they have removed all of the sand and filled the Sand Box with concrete. They even took out a section of stone, breaking the circle, so that kids can walk in and out without having to climb up 2 feet. They even put a “sidewalk” around the outside of the Sand Box.

Can someone please tell me what the fuck is so horrible about a sand box that they had to destroy it??

When I saw the climbing wall today, my first thought was “wow… They actually allow that? Aren’t they afraid of lawsuits?” Then I drove past that house and everything clicked into place. People are removing the grass from their own yards, fencing off that section with security fences, covering the ground with wood chips, and locking their kids in there to play so that kids don’t get hurt.

In a strange tangent, the Texas authorities were accusing the FLDS of child abuse because a certain percentage of young boys under their care showed evidence of broken bones–at a rate well below the national average.

Oh. And we have “an epidemic” of obese children.

Let’s take a look at this, shall we?

We have removed all of the playground equipment that actually takes effort to use (monkey bars, merry-go-rounds, etc.). We have conditioned our children to always “play safe”. Running “recklessly”, “rough-housing”, or–God forbid–climbing on things, has become cause for punishment. Somehow, even a fucking sand box has been deemed to be “unacceptable”. Falling out of a tree and breaking an arm is now seen as so radical that it’s not accepted at face value; obviously it’s just an excuse to hide violent abuse of the children.

And we wonder why our kids are fat and lazy??

First, we sit them in front of the TV because we can’t be bothered to actually pay attention to them. Then we prevent them from playing at games that require actual physical effort because they might “get an owie”. Later on, we discourage them from excelling at any athletics (or academics, or anything else, for that matter) because “it might hurt the feelings of those who don’t do as well”.

And we wonder why the kids are fat, lazy, and worthless?

I’m just glad this parental attitude didn’t happen 70 years ago. Because if it had, we’d all be speaking German now–or maybe Japanese–and we’d be praising the glory of the Emperor of the Master Race.

If I ever have the (mis)fortune to have children, they will play on grass and dirt, not wood chips. They will be encouraged to climb trees, and will proudly show off any bruises, scars, or broken bones as badges of honor, hard-won. If a bully tries to push them around, I’ll be exceptionally proud of them if the pulverize the fucker. And for every pansy that says “Violence never solved anything”, I’ll look them right in the eye and reply “Tell that to the survivors of Auschwitz.” Or perhaps “Yeah… That’s what Neville Chamberlain thought.” Of course, that would require the expectation that those people actually knew anything about history.

You want to know why our kids are fat and lazy? It’s because their pansy-ass parents have trained them to be that way. Seriously… when did we stop being the “Land of the free and the home of the brave” and start being the “Land of the wishy-washy and the home of the perpetually paranoid”?

I honestly believe that the best hope for this country lies in the poor kids and the inner cities. These are the kids who aren’t afraid to get dirty. They’re not afraid of skinned knees and scraped knuckles. They understand that rewards only come from hard work and pain. They know that some people are better than others, and pretending that everyone is good at everything just sets kids up for a really big slap in the face later on.

And when some other country decides that the USA is looking like a fatted calf, ripe for the slaughter? It’s going to be those kids to put their lives on the line to save your sorry asses.

Go drink a fucking latte and continue training your little brat to be a whiny milk-toast. Just don’t complain to me when he comes home bruised and humiliated and missing his lunch money. After all…. he’s just being the pathetic victim you trained him to be.

Black Jack, Did It Again:

“The town of Black Jack, Missouri has denied a ‘residency permit’ to a family who bought a house in the town, because said family didn’t conform to the town council’s definition of ‘family.’

This would be the second time the town has told a family they aren’t allowed to live on their own property.”

(Via The Agitator)

After the first couple filed a federal lawsuit to have the ordinance overturned, it was adapted to “allow” unmarried couples provided the children are related to both. In this case, none of the kids are related to the husband.

How is this even legal? If I remember correctly (and I probably don’t), occupancy permits are denied whenever the house is unsafe: faulty wiring, unsound structure, that sort of thing. I don’t see how “outdated Puritanical bullshit” falls under that.

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family, lawsuit

SI.com is reporting that St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock’s father–Dean Hancock of Tupelo, MS–has filed suit against a restaurant, a tow truck company and various individuals, citing their “role” in the April 29th death of Josh Hancock.

Here are the facts: After a game against the Chicago Cubs, 29 year-old Josh sauntered into Mike Shannon’s (think pub/restaurant), where he was a regular, and proceeded to drink for 3 and 1/2 hours. When Hancock left, he was intoxicated, and proceeded to crash into a tow truck helping a stranded driver, which resulted in Hancock’s death.

Tragic? Certainly. It sucks anytime someone wrecks a perfectly good car.

See, I have ZERO sympathy for drunk drivers who get their comeuppance. Considering the fact that I have lost 3 friends at various times who were victims struck by drunk drivers, and that my grandmother was in a 9-month coma when I was 11 because she also was struck by a drunk driver, asking me to sympathize with this LOSER is like asking me to sympathize with a strung-out coke addict who gets shot while trying to rob a bank (I knew one of those, too). And don’t get all “benefit of the doubt” and tell me that Josh Hancock was a good kid who made a bad choice. Because you might be right. But that one bad choice is enough to make him a loser.

So who do we have to thank for this young man’s view of personal responsibility? Obviously his father, who sees fit to blame the restaurant for serving him the drinks.

While I think that’s a lot like blaming tobacco companies for lung cancer, but fine, I’ll roll with that. Maybe they should’ve cut him off or called him a cab, even though they’re not his keeper, and he’s supposed to be a grown adult capable of making his own decisions.

But then Hancock Senior proceeds to show his lack of class by suing the tow truck companies whose truck his son HIT because he was driving DRUNK. Imagine being this tow truck driver just trying to help a poor, broken-down motorist (who, by the by, is ALSO named in the suit, as if it’s somehow his fault), and suddenly your rig gets struck by a drunk driver, putting your life and the life of your client in danger. And what happens? The drunk driver’s dad SUES YOU!

Now, granted, the lawsuit claims that the tow truck driver wasn’t speedy enough in removing the stalled vehicle from the road. But here’s the rub: the broken-down motorist and the tow truck driver have a RIGHT to be on the road and use it in a reasonable manner to remove said derelict vehicle. But Josh Hancock had NO RIGHT to be driving while intoxicated. NONE. And for this one reason alone, this whole suit needs to be thrown out.

Hancock’s dad needs to go spend some time grieving for his son and campaigning for M.A.D.D. instead of blaming everyone else for his son’s blatant disregard for his own life, and the lives of others.

And if Mr. Hancock’s motivation in this is purely financial, well, then he’s just as much an irresponsible loser as his corpse of a kid.

Still think I’m being too harsh? Here’s a clip worth getting disgusted over:

Authorities said the 29-year pitcher had a blood content of nearly twice the legal limit for alcohol in his system when he crashed into the back of the tow truck. He was also speeding, using a cell phone and wasn’t wearing a seat belt, Police Chief Joe Mokwa said after the accident. Marijuana also was found in the SUV.

Papa Hancock should be so proud.

There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch…. or, in this case, a free Learning.

I don’t know what it’s like in other states, but in Wisconsin, there’s a law that says school districts can’t raise property taxes. Their spending limits are capped by law. That sounds like a good thing, right? Just one problem. Another law says that teachers must be be given raises to, at least, match the cost of living increase. The problem? The allowed increase in spending is less than the allowed requirement for spending. Doesn’t quite add up, does it?

So, every year, the Madison Metropolitan School district has to look at trimming a minimum of $8 million from their budget. And yet, they’re expected to provide the same quality of service to the students and the community. And here’s where the disgust starts.

Every year, the taxpayers refuse to give extra money to the schools. They want their taxes to stay low. And every year, those same tax payers bitch that their little Timmy is going to miss out on violin lessons because the strings program is cut, and little Suzie will have to pay extra fees to participate in Volleyball, and little Xiang won’t have and ESL teacher to help him learn English, and little Levon won’t have a Gifted & Talented program to attend…. etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Pure selfishness.

The solution is simple. The constituency tells the state Congress and the Governor–in no uncertain terms–that they want the schools to be funded adequately. ‘Your job, people, depends on you changing the laws’. But no. Instead, people bitch and whine that their precious little child isn’t going to get all the special treatment he deserves, while, on the other hand, refusing to put up a fair share of the cost.

Under these laws, entire school districts have shut down. Kids are sitting on buses for 2 hours or longer–each way!–to get to school districts that can still keep their heads above water.

These are the same people that bitch about the fact that kids today aren’t learning anything. And they’re the same people who will pay $300 billion to send young men and women off to die in a foreign country for a hopeless cause. $1,000 to send PFC Bubba halfway around the world so he can get blown up? Hell yeah! Put it on my tab! $100 to make sure that the kid that’ll be fixing your furnace can read the instructions? Are you crazy? That’s outrageous!

Yeah…. Read the blog title, folx. I’m talking to you.