Anybody remember a guy named Abraham Lincoln? Among other things, he made a little speech one day. He made reference to "government of the people, by the people, for the people."
Remember that? Here's a news flash for you, dear reader. YOU ARE THE PEOPLE. All of us together. Can anyone here disagree with my stating that this country, this state, this county, this municipality where you live is a mess? Its a world class clusterfuck. Why is that? How did it get this way? We did it. We caused it. Its our fault, yours and mine, 'cause we sat back on our fat, dumb lazy asses and we did very little to stop it. We did nothing. Another guy said, and I paraphrase, excuse me, its late and I'm not looking it, up something along the lines of it only takes good men to do nothing to allow evil to triumph over good. What's going on now in our "government" is unmitigated evil and again, I say, we did nothing to stop it. All we had to do was spend a few minutes of our day twice a year to go to the polls and vote. Just go and vote.
Now, you say to me, "its too late, the system has been so wrong for so long its beyond hope" and I say to you wrong. Dead wrong, its not too late and the fix is so ridiculously simple. About a third of the population on average elects all of the government and a good portion of THAT third are zealots of either the left or the right and they vote for the people who pander to them. All of that means nothing anymore. We can fix this by doing this: vote them out. Democrat, Republican, Green, Independent, Libertarian means nothing. What ever they are, if they are in office NOW vote them out. ANY incumbent. ANY present office holder. Take a minute next time the election cycle comes around, find out who holds the office now and VOTE THEM OUT. Nothing will get the attention of these professional, career politicians who have stacked the deck so squarely in their own favor by altering district boundaries and election laws quicker than one election that sees a majority of the incumbents, regardless of party affiliation, length of time in office or how good looking they are on TV, nothing will get their attention quicker than realizing that for the first time in history people went to the polls and resoundingly sent a message:
Go back home. You've been here long enough. Take your government pension, your life long health care, take it all, you can have it just GO BACK HOME!
Try it my friends. What have we got to lose? Take the time. Make the effort. Find out who they are and just send them home.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Republicans, Democrats and Tiger Woods
I woke up cranky today. In and of itself that is not news. I wake up cranky most days. Waking up cranky and flipping on the cable news channels to hear of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama is like pouring gasoline on a fire. As is my wont I fired up Facebook and made a few disparaging remarks and then lit up Twitter with a few more gems, especially after I heard the game of golf had been approved as an Olympic event commencing in 2016. More on the Olympics and golf later if I'm not too tired and drunk on Jim Beam and if I really think anyone has hung in and read that far. After a couple of "Tweets" I made some breakfast and took my two pit bulls out for their morning walk and game of dog hockey. Upon returning home and scoping the Blackberry out I found that two people, both total strangers, had found my remarks regarding the president sufficiently incendiary to prompt them to post replies, chastising me for my position and use of language that they felt was offensive when applied to their hero, President Barack Obama, whom I am fond of referring to as "Obamass, because, well, honestly that's what I think he is a good deal of the time. All three of these people, though, made it a point of calling me an "extreme right wing Republican", and frankly folks, that pissed me off. I thought name calling and generalizing was what "extreme right wing Republicans" did, not thoughtful, intelligent and enlightened supporters of our President. Notice that I did not refer to these people as anything other than supporters of the president. I did not make a snap judgement about them and assign them a label and button hole them into a certain group based on a few short statements because I have no freaking idea what or who they are. Do NOT LABEL ME.
For the record. I can't stand George W. Bush. I despise Dick (was there EVER a more aptly named man?)Cheney. I was inclined to support John McCain last year in spite of, not because of, him naming Sarah "NRA Barbie" Palin as his running mate. Full disclosure: As a red blooded American male pig I find Sarah to be incredibly hot! As a politician and the potential holder of the postion "one heartbeat away from the Presidency" I found her to be a joke. I would have actually voted for the Tina Fey version of Palin over the real one. I think Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, the triumverate leading the charge of the neo-cons in modern day DC should be arrested and charged as war criminals, as profiteers, as murderers for the loss of life in our US Armed Forces and for being stupid in public. I don't think there's nearly as much difference between a Republican and a Democrat as people think there is, especially once they have been elected to high state or national office. I pretty much despise ALL of them equally as much as the other. I think the war in Afghanistan was necessary and right. I think the war in Iraq was unnecessary and wrong. I honor, no revere, the service and sacrifice of the men and women in our armed forces who did not question the mission but went forth and did was asked of them regardless of my opinion or anyone else's of the decisions of the men(predominantly) who sent them to either or both theaters of operations. Those of you who know me know that I was a police officer for most of my adult career. I have openly and publicy endorsed the concept of the police shooting more offenders and beating people who truly deserve it while resisting arrest but I insist, no I demand, that the police play by the rules, be held to a higher standard of conduct than other citizens and I vehemently support the Bill of Rights and the concept that what I do in my house is my business and shame on you if you show up without a properly prepared and legitimate search warrant. I am a "law and order" guy so I endorse the death penalty, right? WRONG. I think the death penalty, as it is presently administered in this country is a disgrace. Poor people get executed, not moneyed or connected people. Taking upwards of 10 years to execute an offender is, to me, akin to waiting a month to punish your child after you catch him/her pilfering Chips Ahoy from the cookie jar. I support the broad term "gay rights". Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered is too much to type, so I'll use the generic term. Sue me if you don't like it. If two people are in love and are truly committed to each other I think they should have the right to marry. What the hell do I care? I think they should be able to have a say in legal and health care matters for their partner. I do not EVER want to hear about a GLBT person assaulted or harmed because of his her or ??? sexual orientation but at the same time I refuse to support "hate crime" legislation being expanded to include members of that group. I do not support assigning special victim status to people who manage to pigeon hole themselves into a specific group or class of people because I believe assault is assault and murder is murder. I endorse capitalism. If you can build a better mousetrap, market it, sell it and make a billion dollars I say more power to you but I believe if you do make that billion dollars you should pay at least the same per centage of your earnings in taxes as the guy who gets up every day and goes to work at your mousetrap company. Its not like that now - you know it and I know it. The deck is stacked against you if your are not a big money person. The state legislatures and the Congress have perverted the tax codes and the rules to allow big money, big companies, big business to make more. "It takes money to make money" has NEVER been truer in our country and I guess that's where this is headed.
I don't like Barack Obama. I think the day he was elected was a bad day for America. Is it because he's black? Lately its been popular in the media to say anyone who does not approve of him or questions his judgement or decisions is racist because he's black. I know he has a dark complexion and his hair appears to be similar to that of most persons of African descent but wait a minute. Last I heard Obama was HALF WHITE! So if the people who are against him are racist for doing so are they just half racist? Why is he the first "black president"? Why isn't he the first "dual racial" president? I have yet to hear a black person refer to Obama as so. They seem to want to completely disregard the fact that the man's mother was a white woman and he was raised by his white grandparents. What he is really doesn't count unless you are racist!!! I don't like Obama because I think he is bullshit. I refuse to believe, in my heart of hearts, that Obama is anything but a snake oil selling politician, no better or worse than 99.9 per cent of all the other snake oil selling politicians who have managed to get elected and are now running the country (into the ground). Obama was elected, largely on the strength of overwhelming turnout by younger people and African Americans who admittedly voted for him ONLY FOR THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN. Its a fact, people. Its a fact. Ask an African American. I know the reasons and can accept the reasons but please, just ADMIT IT! Consider this: A person who had reached the legal voting age of 18 by last November's presidential election was 10 years old when George W. was elected. As these young people came of age all they had as a politcal example was W and his ilk. To a young person living through 8 years of W and his bullshit and the war and terrorism and everything else that's gone on ANYBODY but Bush was a good choice, especially when the political process views issues and honesty as "an inconvenient truth" and is able to use spin and TV commercials and Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show as legitimate sources of political information. Michael Moore, who I think is an incredibly intelligent and gifted man, makes movies condemning white middle aged men who have too much money. Just about every bad thing in our lives in the past 25 years or so has been blamed on white middle aged men. We all know that is not true. White middle aged men are only responsible for about 90 per cent of all the bad things in our lives! Michael Moore is a white middle aged man who is a certified multi millionaire! His latest film excoriates the American system of capitalism that Moore has used to make millions and millions of dollars. He owns five houses and a Manhattan condo and when questioned about the hypocrisy says, "I own a house. I have to live somewhere". He is everything he rails against and is being celebrated by liberal people while he deposits another million in his accounts! Come on, people. Open your eyes! I couldn't imagine a person between the ages of 18 and 30 NOT voting for Obama. My problem is that its just like the Wizard Of Oz. Its all smoke and mirrors. Obama may turn out to be the greatest president the country has ever seen, and frankly, I hope it works out that way but when you see younger people interviewed on TV and they say they are so thrilled he was awarded the Nobel Prize because of "his ideas and his personna" and "because he's really smart" and "because he's bringing us the change we need" (these are all actual quotes heard today on both cable and broadcast news programs, folks, I swear its true) and "because he's African American and he understands us" and numerous other senseless, inane, assinine answers that have NOTHING to do with his actual running of the country! For Pete's sake (who the hell is Pete, anyway?) the guy's only been on the job for 9 months, how much can he have accomplished already? My biggest problem with him? The whole government propping up businesses, that, because of the way people running them ran them into the ground and should have been allowed to fail as a consequence and his blatant, bold faced 180 degree about face on the whole situation in Afghanistan and his refusal to take the advice of the people HE assigned to give him the story....while our young people continue to die there. My bottom line is this: No one. NO ONE. Gets elected President Of The United States Of America who has not already sold his soul to the devil by making deals (BOTH parties do it) with the big money interests who pull all the strings behind the scenes. Call it a conspiracy theory, call it what you will, but if you honestly believe there is more than "talking points" that make up the difference between a Republican and a Democrat once he attains high state and then national office I just think you're wrong. Maybe I'm wrong and you're right. Who knows? I just believe, with all my heart, that Barack Obama doesn't give a shivering shit about the plight of the average, every day, middle class American, be they black, white or whatever any more than George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon.....you get my point....did. The only difference is what they say in the TV commercials. "Change We Can Believe In" is the biggest pile of steaming, stinking bullshit sold to the American Sheeple in the past 50 years! If Obama actually does ever manage to change anything for the betterment of the average American I'll be the first to give him his props. But until then I'll continue to call him out when I feel its right, not because he's Dem. or Rep., black or white, left or right, conservative or liberal or what ever!
Golf? In the Olympics? Come on, now, seriously. Several outlets who supposedly have the ability to garner the information needed to make these pronouncements pronounced that Tiger Woods will make over ONE BILLION DOLLARS from playing golf and all the assorted endorsements, winnings and what ever. A billion dollars. In one year, folks. One year. One guy. Probably more than that next year. Phil Mickelson: upwards of half a billion. Hell the poorest guy on the PGA tour last year probably made several million. Although the ladies playing pro golf don't make nearly the money the men do, the top players on the LPGA tour are all multi millionaires. The Olympics lost the whole amateur thing years ago and we've been treated to NBA stars and NHL stars and I suppose its natural the pro tour golfers wanted in on it, but really, come on. They took softball out. Although a few of the ladies who played USA Softball were able to garner some endorsements and such (Jenny Finch, Cat Osterman) most of the competitors in the Olympics are really never going to become household names. They truly do compete for the love of their sport of choice and for the chance to represent their country. Do you honestly, for one milli second, think Tiger Woods or Michelle Wie are going to be out there for the glory of the good old U S of A? How many millions of dollars is it worth for Nike to be "the official golf equipment supplier to the US Olympic Team"? Hmmmm....money. Now there's a familiar theme.
BTW - dog hockey is played by going to the city recreation center on Academy Road and using the outdoor street hockey court. The court is only accessible by two doors which can be closed, allowing the two dogs to run free without worry of them taking a powder to chase a poodle. A pair of "Kong" brand nearly indestructable rubber balls can then be thrown for the aforementioned mutts to chase the balls, and themselves, to their hearts content while I laugh at their antics. Its good exercise for them and they love it!
Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read my ramblings. That's the View From The Mountain! What do you think??
William J. "Mountain Bill (don't you dare label me) Paupst
Full disclosure: I was in no way, shape or form compensated for my endorsement of the KONG brand of dog toys, although Sofie (my beloved mentally challenged shelter rescued pit bull terrier) was given a milk bone by the girl behind the cash register at PetCo when we bought the KONG balls.
For the record. I can't stand George W. Bush. I despise Dick (was there EVER a more aptly named man?)Cheney. I was inclined to support John McCain last year in spite of, not because of, him naming Sarah "NRA Barbie" Palin as his running mate. Full disclosure: As a red blooded American male pig I find Sarah to be incredibly hot! As a politician and the potential holder of the postion "one heartbeat away from the Presidency" I found her to be a joke. I would have actually voted for the Tina Fey version of Palin over the real one. I think Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, the triumverate leading the charge of the neo-cons in modern day DC should be arrested and charged as war criminals, as profiteers, as murderers for the loss of life in our US Armed Forces and for being stupid in public. I don't think there's nearly as much difference between a Republican and a Democrat as people think there is, especially once they have been elected to high state or national office. I pretty much despise ALL of them equally as much as the other. I think the war in Afghanistan was necessary and right. I think the war in Iraq was unnecessary and wrong. I honor, no revere, the service and sacrifice of the men and women in our armed forces who did not question the mission but went forth and did was asked of them regardless of my opinion or anyone else's of the decisions of the men(predominantly) who sent them to either or both theaters of operations. Those of you who know me know that I was a police officer for most of my adult career. I have openly and publicy endorsed the concept of the police shooting more offenders and beating people who truly deserve it while resisting arrest but I insist, no I demand, that the police play by the rules, be held to a higher standard of conduct than other citizens and I vehemently support the Bill of Rights and the concept that what I do in my house is my business and shame on you if you show up without a properly prepared and legitimate search warrant. I am a "law and order" guy so I endorse the death penalty, right? WRONG. I think the death penalty, as it is presently administered in this country is a disgrace. Poor people get executed, not moneyed or connected people. Taking upwards of 10 years to execute an offender is, to me, akin to waiting a month to punish your child after you catch him/her pilfering Chips Ahoy from the cookie jar. I support the broad term "gay rights". Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered is too much to type, so I'll use the generic term. Sue me if you don't like it. If two people are in love and are truly committed to each other I think they should have the right to marry. What the hell do I care? I think they should be able to have a say in legal and health care matters for their partner. I do not EVER want to hear about a GLBT person assaulted or harmed because of his her or ??? sexual orientation but at the same time I refuse to support "hate crime" legislation being expanded to include members of that group. I do not support assigning special victim status to people who manage to pigeon hole themselves into a specific group or class of people because I believe assault is assault and murder is murder. I endorse capitalism. If you can build a better mousetrap, market it, sell it and make a billion dollars I say more power to you but I believe if you do make that billion dollars you should pay at least the same per centage of your earnings in taxes as the guy who gets up every day and goes to work at your mousetrap company. Its not like that now - you know it and I know it. The deck is stacked against you if your are not a big money person. The state legislatures and the Congress have perverted the tax codes and the rules to allow big money, big companies, big business to make more. "It takes money to make money" has NEVER been truer in our country and I guess that's where this is headed.
I don't like Barack Obama. I think the day he was elected was a bad day for America. Is it because he's black? Lately its been popular in the media to say anyone who does not approve of him or questions his judgement or decisions is racist because he's black. I know he has a dark complexion and his hair appears to be similar to that of most persons of African descent but wait a minute. Last I heard Obama was HALF WHITE! So if the people who are against him are racist for doing so are they just half racist? Why is he the first "black president"? Why isn't he the first "dual racial" president? I have yet to hear a black person refer to Obama as so. They seem to want to completely disregard the fact that the man's mother was a white woman and he was raised by his white grandparents. What he is really doesn't count unless you are racist!!! I don't like Obama because I think he is bullshit. I refuse to believe, in my heart of hearts, that Obama is anything but a snake oil selling politician, no better or worse than 99.9 per cent of all the other snake oil selling politicians who have managed to get elected and are now running the country (into the ground). Obama was elected, largely on the strength of overwhelming turnout by younger people and African Americans who admittedly voted for him ONLY FOR THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN. Its a fact, people. Its a fact. Ask an African American. I know the reasons and can accept the reasons but please, just ADMIT IT! Consider this: A person who had reached the legal voting age of 18 by last November's presidential election was 10 years old when George W. was elected. As these young people came of age all they had as a politcal example was W and his ilk. To a young person living through 8 years of W and his bullshit and the war and terrorism and everything else that's gone on ANYBODY but Bush was a good choice, especially when the political process views issues and honesty as "an inconvenient truth" and is able to use spin and TV commercials and Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show as legitimate sources of political information. Michael Moore, who I think is an incredibly intelligent and gifted man, makes movies condemning white middle aged men who have too much money. Just about every bad thing in our lives in the past 25 years or so has been blamed on white middle aged men. We all know that is not true. White middle aged men are only responsible for about 90 per cent of all the bad things in our lives! Michael Moore is a white middle aged man who is a certified multi millionaire! His latest film excoriates the American system of capitalism that Moore has used to make millions and millions of dollars. He owns five houses and a Manhattan condo and when questioned about the hypocrisy says, "I own a house. I have to live somewhere". He is everything he rails against and is being celebrated by liberal people while he deposits another million in his accounts! Come on, people. Open your eyes! I couldn't imagine a person between the ages of 18 and 30 NOT voting for Obama. My problem is that its just like the Wizard Of Oz. Its all smoke and mirrors. Obama may turn out to be the greatest president the country has ever seen, and frankly, I hope it works out that way but when you see younger people interviewed on TV and they say they are so thrilled he was awarded the Nobel Prize because of "his ideas and his personna" and "because he's really smart" and "because he's bringing us the change we need" (these are all actual quotes heard today on both cable and broadcast news programs, folks, I swear its true) and "because he's African American and he understands us" and numerous other senseless, inane, assinine answers that have NOTHING to do with his actual running of the country! For Pete's sake (who the hell is Pete, anyway?) the guy's only been on the job for 9 months, how much can he have accomplished already? My biggest problem with him? The whole government propping up businesses, that, because of the way people running them ran them into the ground and should have been allowed to fail as a consequence and his blatant, bold faced 180 degree about face on the whole situation in Afghanistan and his refusal to take the advice of the people HE assigned to give him the story....while our young people continue to die there. My bottom line is this: No one. NO ONE. Gets elected President Of The United States Of America who has not already sold his soul to the devil by making deals (BOTH parties do it) with the big money interests who pull all the strings behind the scenes. Call it a conspiracy theory, call it what you will, but if you honestly believe there is more than "talking points" that make up the difference between a Republican and a Democrat once he attains high state and then national office I just think you're wrong. Maybe I'm wrong and you're right. Who knows? I just believe, with all my heart, that Barack Obama doesn't give a shivering shit about the plight of the average, every day, middle class American, be they black, white or whatever any more than George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon.....you get my point....did. The only difference is what they say in the TV commercials. "Change We Can Believe In" is the biggest pile of steaming, stinking bullshit sold to the American Sheeple in the past 50 years! If Obama actually does ever manage to change anything for the betterment of the average American I'll be the first to give him his props. But until then I'll continue to call him out when I feel its right, not because he's Dem. or Rep., black or white, left or right, conservative or liberal or what ever!
Golf? In the Olympics? Come on, now, seriously. Several outlets who supposedly have the ability to garner the information needed to make these pronouncements pronounced that Tiger Woods will make over ONE BILLION DOLLARS from playing golf and all the assorted endorsements, winnings and what ever. A billion dollars. In one year, folks. One year. One guy. Probably more than that next year. Phil Mickelson: upwards of half a billion. Hell the poorest guy on the PGA tour last year probably made several million. Although the ladies playing pro golf don't make nearly the money the men do, the top players on the LPGA tour are all multi millionaires. The Olympics lost the whole amateur thing years ago and we've been treated to NBA stars and NHL stars and I suppose its natural the pro tour golfers wanted in on it, but really, come on. They took softball out. Although a few of the ladies who played USA Softball were able to garner some endorsements and such (Jenny Finch, Cat Osterman) most of the competitors in the Olympics are really never going to become household names. They truly do compete for the love of their sport of choice and for the chance to represent their country. Do you honestly, for one milli second, think Tiger Woods or Michelle Wie are going to be out there for the glory of the good old U S of A? How many millions of dollars is it worth for Nike to be "the official golf equipment supplier to the US Olympic Team"? Hmmmm....money. Now there's a familiar theme.
BTW - dog hockey is played by going to the city recreation center on Academy Road and using the outdoor street hockey court. The court is only accessible by two doors which can be closed, allowing the two dogs to run free without worry of them taking a powder to chase a poodle. A pair of "Kong" brand nearly indestructable rubber balls can then be thrown for the aforementioned mutts to chase the balls, and themselves, to their hearts content while I laugh at their antics. Its good exercise for them and they love it!
Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read my ramblings. That's the View From The Mountain! What do you think??
William J. "Mountain Bill (don't you dare label me) Paupst
Full disclosure: I was in no way, shape or form compensated for my endorsement of the KONG brand of dog toys, although Sofie (my beloved mentally challenged shelter rescued pit bull terrier) was given a milk bone by the girl behind the cash register at PetCo when we bought the KONG balls.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wish I Knew
This post, if it ever sees the light of day, is a fairly severe departure from my regular type. Its not a rant, or a complaint, or a call to action or arms. I'm not sure what it is. I sat down with no idea what, if anything, was going to make the trip from my head through my fingers and onto the screen. Normally I have some notion or topic that I want to cover or explore and I go with it. I actually believe, in my twisted mind, that I'm writing something that someone would actually like to read. I just don't know if that's the case here. This is not a rant. I suppose if truth be told its more of a whine. I've been reduced to whining because I just don't know what else to do. I have never, ever, in my life felt so powerless to influence or affect events that have such an impact on my life and the lives of my loved ones. I'm whining because I'm scared shitless that I'm going to get the call telling me my son has been killed in a foreign land by enemies of our country, savages who want nothing else in this world than the deaths of as many American soldiers as they can possibly cause. Animals who kill other humans as casually as we would tread on a spider and who have become so skilled with ways and methods so barbaric and horrific that details and accounts of their deeds are not believed by the rest of us. I can't do anything to stop it. I can't do anything to help him and I can't do anything to influence the people who are running this war and this country to make him or any of them with him any safer. I am not unique. I am no one special. Across this country thousands and thousands of other families deal with this every day and every night and I'm thinking most of them don't whine about it. They suck it up, accept it for what it is and hope for the best. Far too many of them have already had to deal with the nightmare. Right now 9 American families are finalizing funeral arrangements. No spoken or written word can do anything to help those people. I feel ashamed, knowing what these families are going through right now, to say one word about how hard this is for me to deal with. I feel ashamed, knowing what my son's wife goes through every day, to complain. I feel ashamed when I see my four grand children coping with every day life with no Daddy around. Let me tell you folks, it sucks and I only hope that my whining does not diminish his service. Something tells me that even though its wrong to feel this and even worse to express it, if I don't I'm going to explode. Maybe someone will read this, maybe not. Maybe just getting it out of my head and into black and white in front of me will be enough for me to move past it, suck it up and put my "game face" back on. I just don't friggin' know. All I know is I've never seen any other parents of a deployed soldier write anything like this. But I have to wonder if any of them feel or felt the same way.
Many, if not most of you know that my son, Billy, is currently serving a deployment with his Army Engineer Batallion in Afghanistan. He's been there since the first week of this past May and his deployment is scheduled to last until May 2010. We are hoping he will be able to come home for a "R&R" leave right around Christmas time. That's not guaranteed but we're hoping it will come about. Afghanistan is big news right now. I posted a rant a couple of weeks back imploring President Obama to follow the advice of his chosen Army generals to expand the war effort so as to be able to accomplish the mission as he, Obama, laid it out both during his campaign and upon being elected. Since the news broke of the Army's assessment of the situation the entire Afghanistan campaign has become the most hotly contested political argument surpassing even the debate over the health care reform efforts. This week on the CBS Evening News Katie Couric devoted three entire 1/2 hour news casts to the situation in Afghanistan and the debate currently underway in Washington regarding the course to be taken. Its obvious that there are no easy or simple solutions but once again, in true D.C. fashion the whole deal is being boiled down to the same old bullshit Democrat vs. Republican, Us vs. Them, Blue State vs. Red State, Liberal vs. Conservative and any number of other A vs. B scenarios and while all the arguing and posturing and statements and counter statements are going on one thing is constant: American kids are sweating and suffering and dying and, in the immortal words (at least here in the Philadelphia area) of one Ricky Watters, I have to wonder, "for who - for what?"
Ricky made a half hearted attempt to snag a football thrown his way and when chided for the blatantly obvious failure to give the expected "110%" that athletes are supposed to exert in their efforts to entertain us with their blood sport, Ricky responded with the above quote. To Ricky, doing so would have most likely resulted in his taking a pretty severe hit from the defending players, and, in Ricky's estimation, expending the effort required to make the catch would not have resulted in a substantial gain of territory on the field and so we were treated to, "for who - for what?" Ricky didn't care. Pro athletes get paid the same win, lose or draw.
Lately I've been kind of thinking along Ricky's lines when it comes to the goings on in Afghanistan. It just doesn't seem to me like anyone in Washington really wants to win the game. Obviously there's a whole hell of a lot more at stake here then who wins a stupid football game and don't think for one minute that I am trying to compare the war to a game. Its not. People can get hurt playing football but people die in war. The soldiers and marines over in "the Stan" don't think its a game either and they can't understand why the politicians who are running the country and the war think it is. Lately all we've been hearing about is Obama's "strategy" for moving forward, forming a "new strategy". What is wrong with his last strategy? What's changed since he formed the last strategy? I don't know. Do you? Does anyone? Last I heard there were people in Afghanistan who wanted to kill us. All of us. As many of us at one time as they could. Remember 9-11-01? I do. Us going in to Afghanistan was to find and eliminate the people who did that as well as all their friends and relatives who were lined up waiting for their chance to do the same. I suppose all we can do when faced with a situation we have not had to deal with previously is try and relate in some way to something we have dealt with. In my case I think back to a period of time in 1990 when I was assigned a foot beat in one of the most notoriously violent public housing projects in Philadelphia. I walked, with one other officer in and around 3 high rise apartment buildings. At any given time we were outnumbered probably 2000 to 1. Groups of loiterers gathered outside the building entrances in groups as large as 40 to 50 individuals and most of them either had guns on their persons or had them stashed close by and readily available. Our only hope of gaining any measure of respect and maintaining any hope of survival was to convince the locals that we were, A - the two baddest, craziest psycho cops they had ever seen and that, B - ANY effort on their part to challenge our authority or do us harm would be met with swift, sure and deadly retribution. You don't want your police to act that way? Get over it. It goes on every single night of the week and if it didn't there'd be more cop funerals than you could believe. Were it up to me there would not have been only two of us there. There would have been two HUNDRED! And we would have cleaned out the bad guys, locked them up, beat them up or shot the sons of bitches who we couldn't lock up or beat up and make sure they all knew if the decent people who lived in the projects had to live in fear and never come out of their homes then we would be back and we'd do it all over again. Doesn't work that way I guess. Can't be violating the civil rights of criminals lest we have Jesse and Al raising hell. But Afghanistan is not the projects and the animals over there have no civil rights.
War sucks. For the life of me I don't know why we all just can't get along and war over religion....RELIGION....is the most stupid thing I've ever heard of. Stupid. The word doesn't cover it. Asinine. I have no thesaurus handy, but war over religion is as dumb as it gets but we've been doing it since they invented religion and I don't guess its going to change anytime soon. But no matter how stupid the reason, war is war, and if you're going to get into one then you damn sure better make certain you win. Over whelming force, applied mercilessly and swiftly. Eliminate the enemy once and for all. If you're going to send our kids over there and ask them to accept the risk of getting killed they MUST know that their country and their leaders are giving them every thing they need to do the job, do it right, do it with extreme prejudice and then get them the hell out. Maybe if Leisure Suit Larry in Iran sees what happens to the Taliban and bin Laden's buddies he wouldn't be so quick to rattle his saber and that would be one less place we'd have to worry about sending our kids off to next.
So here I sit, in front of a computer, warm and safe in my home, and perfectly able to go to sleep (most likely with the assistance of some pretty gnarly drugs) and rest knowing that there is no one on top of the hill surrounding my house who is devoting every moment of his existence trying to figure out how to kill me. Is my way the answer to the problem? Hell no. I know that. I wish it weren't so but I know. But there's a lot of ground between my way and the way we've been doing things so far and maybe if we moved the operations a little closer to my way, and let the bad people know that we're there to stay and make life miserable for those who oppose us both my son and I could sleep a little better tonight. And I wouldn't feel like I was letting him down by being so worried. Thanks for hanging in and reading this far. 'Preciate it.
Many, if not most of you know that my son, Billy, is currently serving a deployment with his Army Engineer Batallion in Afghanistan. He's been there since the first week of this past May and his deployment is scheduled to last until May 2010. We are hoping he will be able to come home for a "R&R" leave right around Christmas time. That's not guaranteed but we're hoping it will come about. Afghanistan is big news right now. I posted a rant a couple of weeks back imploring President Obama to follow the advice of his chosen Army generals to expand the war effort so as to be able to accomplish the mission as he, Obama, laid it out both during his campaign and upon being elected. Since the news broke of the Army's assessment of the situation the entire Afghanistan campaign has become the most hotly contested political argument surpassing even the debate over the health care reform efforts. This week on the CBS Evening News Katie Couric devoted three entire 1/2 hour news casts to the situation in Afghanistan and the debate currently underway in Washington regarding the course to be taken. Its obvious that there are no easy or simple solutions but once again, in true D.C. fashion the whole deal is being boiled down to the same old bullshit Democrat vs. Republican, Us vs. Them, Blue State vs. Red State, Liberal vs. Conservative and any number of other A vs. B scenarios and while all the arguing and posturing and statements and counter statements are going on one thing is constant: American kids are sweating and suffering and dying and, in the immortal words (at least here in the Philadelphia area) of one Ricky Watters, I have to wonder, "for who - for what?"
Ricky made a half hearted attempt to snag a football thrown his way and when chided for the blatantly obvious failure to give the expected "110%" that athletes are supposed to exert in their efforts to entertain us with their blood sport, Ricky responded with the above quote. To Ricky, doing so would have most likely resulted in his taking a pretty severe hit from the defending players, and, in Ricky's estimation, expending the effort required to make the catch would not have resulted in a substantial gain of territory on the field and so we were treated to, "for who - for what?" Ricky didn't care. Pro athletes get paid the same win, lose or draw.
Lately I've been kind of thinking along Ricky's lines when it comes to the goings on in Afghanistan. It just doesn't seem to me like anyone in Washington really wants to win the game. Obviously there's a whole hell of a lot more at stake here then who wins a stupid football game and don't think for one minute that I am trying to compare the war to a game. Its not. People can get hurt playing football but people die in war. The soldiers and marines over in "the Stan" don't think its a game either and they can't understand why the politicians who are running the country and the war think it is. Lately all we've been hearing about is Obama's "strategy" for moving forward, forming a "new strategy". What is wrong with his last strategy? What's changed since he formed the last strategy? I don't know. Do you? Does anyone? Last I heard there were people in Afghanistan who wanted to kill us. All of us. As many of us at one time as they could. Remember 9-11-01? I do. Us going in to Afghanistan was to find and eliminate the people who did that as well as all their friends and relatives who were lined up waiting for their chance to do the same. I suppose all we can do when faced with a situation we have not had to deal with previously is try and relate in some way to something we have dealt with. In my case I think back to a period of time in 1990 when I was assigned a foot beat in one of the most notoriously violent public housing projects in Philadelphia. I walked, with one other officer in and around 3 high rise apartment buildings. At any given time we were outnumbered probably 2000 to 1. Groups of loiterers gathered outside the building entrances in groups as large as 40 to 50 individuals and most of them either had guns on their persons or had them stashed close by and readily available. Our only hope of gaining any measure of respect and maintaining any hope of survival was to convince the locals that we were, A - the two baddest, craziest psycho cops they had ever seen and that, B - ANY effort on their part to challenge our authority or do us harm would be met with swift, sure and deadly retribution. You don't want your police to act that way? Get over it. It goes on every single night of the week and if it didn't there'd be more cop funerals than you could believe. Were it up to me there would not have been only two of us there. There would have been two HUNDRED! And we would have cleaned out the bad guys, locked them up, beat them up or shot the sons of bitches who we couldn't lock up or beat up and make sure they all knew if the decent people who lived in the projects had to live in fear and never come out of their homes then we would be back and we'd do it all over again. Doesn't work that way I guess. Can't be violating the civil rights of criminals lest we have Jesse and Al raising hell. But Afghanistan is not the projects and the animals over there have no civil rights.
War sucks. For the life of me I don't know why we all just can't get along and war over religion....RELIGION....is the most stupid thing I've ever heard of. Stupid. The word doesn't cover it. Asinine. I have no thesaurus handy, but war over religion is as dumb as it gets but we've been doing it since they invented religion and I don't guess its going to change anytime soon. But no matter how stupid the reason, war is war, and if you're going to get into one then you damn sure better make certain you win. Over whelming force, applied mercilessly and swiftly. Eliminate the enemy once and for all. If you're going to send our kids over there and ask them to accept the risk of getting killed they MUST know that their country and their leaders are giving them every thing they need to do the job, do it right, do it with extreme prejudice and then get them the hell out. Maybe if Leisure Suit Larry in Iran sees what happens to the Taliban and bin Laden's buddies he wouldn't be so quick to rattle his saber and that would be one less place we'd have to worry about sending our kids off to next.
So here I sit, in front of a computer, warm and safe in my home, and perfectly able to go to sleep (most likely with the assistance of some pretty gnarly drugs) and rest knowing that there is no one on top of the hill surrounding my house who is devoting every moment of his existence trying to figure out how to kill me. Is my way the answer to the problem? Hell no. I know that. I wish it weren't so but I know. But there's a lot of ground between my way and the way we've been doing things so far and maybe if we moved the operations a little closer to my way, and let the bad people know that we're there to stay and make life miserable for those who oppose us both my son and I could sleep a little better tonight. And I wouldn't feel like I was letting him down by being so worried. Thanks for hanging in and reading this far. 'Preciate it.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Balls (or the lack thereof)
I've been quiet for a while. Maybe the meds are working. Except for a fairly significant melt down a couple of weeks back I've been maintaining an even keel. I got a rant published in the North East (Philadelphia)Times two weeks ago dealing with the thievery of Philadelphia City Council and the DROP program but nothing lately has really riled me. Until the last couple days.
One of the planks on Barack Obama's political platform as he ran for office last November dealt with the situation in Afghanistan. I agreed with Obama (imagine that!) when he said the United States had a legitimate reason to be fighting there, that we had a job to do that had been neglected by Bush's prosecution of the Iraq war and that the people responsible for the events of 9/11/01 were still there and still plotting terrible things. I also agreed with the President that we could not afford to allow Pakistan to fall to the Islamists and by defeating the Taliban and AlQaeda once and for all we could forestall that happening. For the record I agreed with all of this before my son, a Spec.4 in the US Army was sent to Afghanistan with his Army Engineer Batallion. I continued to agree with it when I learned he was going. I continued to agree with it once he got there, knowing full well the possibility of his not coming home - and I will continue to do so as long as I am convinced that the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE CONGRESS AND THE ARMED FORCES CHIEFS continue to BELIEVE IN THE MISSION.
Right now that belief had been seriously undermined by the events of the past few days. Let's suppose you're driving and not sure of how to reach your destination. You stop and ask directions to Main Street. The good citizen supplying the directions would be justifiably pissed, if, after giving you the directions you argued with him over the route he supplied!
While still a candidate for President Obama stated he would end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home from there. He said all along, however, that he would do what ever was necessary to fulfill the mission in Afghanistan. Upon being elected President he fired the Army General who was in charge of the Afghan theatre. He appointed General McChrystal, a highly regarded and respected general who had come through the Army Special Forces ranks. Again. General McChrystal was Obama's hand picked man for the job. The general was given a mandate to survey the situation, identify what was being done right, what was being done wrong and to make the recommendations for what ever changes needed to be made to assure a positive outcome of the mission there. Again. This was Obama's HAND PICKED MAN. The guy Obama stopped to ask directions of so to speak.
Earlier this week General McChrystal's report to the President, which was supposed to remain secret, was "leaked" to the Washington Post and picked up with lightning speed by media outlets across the country. In a nutshell the general opined that the war in Afghanistan could easily be lost without a significant increase in troop strength and equipment. "Boots on the ground." He stated quite clearly that the mission could very easily become a failure. A failure. The outcome is by no means assured if the level of commitment to the mission remains at its present level. Naturally, President Obama immediately expressed his support for the general's assessment and advised that the nation would bring to bear all of its resources to do what ever was necessary to keep this from happening, right? W R O N G. Well, wouldn't it be easier if I went up to Elm Street and made the left? He asked for direction and now he doesn't like the answer he got. Neither does Senator Levin, Dem. Mich., the chair of the Armed Services Committee. He doesn't want to commit any more troops or money or equipment to the fight. Neither does House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Dem. Calif. She's in the process of doing a major flip flop as well as a whole group of spineless, witless idiots (overwhelmingly Democrat) who are taking serious issue with the findings and recommendations of General McChrystal.
For the record. I don't give a rat's ass about the people or the country of Afghanistan. Its an underdeveloped, backwoods, third world, hell, fourth world, shit hole of a country mostly unfit for human habitation. Soldiers and Marines there have dealt with temperatures as high as 130 degrees to as low as minus 15 degrees. The people who live there, mostly primitive tribesman of cut throats and dope peddlers have known nothing but war and fighting for over a thousand years. If they don't have anyone to fight I doubt that they're happy. If the people supposedly running this country do not have any interest in continuing our mission there, then fine, I don't either, but if that is the case....THEN BRING OUR KIDS HOME RIGHT MOTHERFUCKING NOW!!! RIGHT NOW. Pack them up and get them the fuck out of that stone age shithole as fast as we can load the transports to do so. No more wasted time, money, equipment ......or lives. Right NOW.
That's one choice. The other is take General McChrystal at his word and give him what he says he needs to do the job that you, YOU, President Obama, told him to do. Its one or the other. Anything less is nothing but politics. Playing politics with the lives of thousands of brave men and women who have sacrificed to go there and do what you told them to do, Barack. What YOU told them to do. And now you're turning your back on them. You're telling them that politics is more important than the mission and its more important than their lives. And you're telling the American people that "change we can believe in" is the biggest pile of steaming, stinking bullshit that we've had crammed down our throats in a long time.
You need to grow some balls, Barack. One way or the other you need to show you have what it takes to either get the job done or bring our kids home. You haven't shown me too much lately but I'm still willing to give you the chance. But I'm not going to wait for long and neither are a lot of people like me who have sons and daughters and husbands and brothers and sisters thousands of miles away in a foreign shit hole sweating and hurting and dying because YOU, the President of The United States, has no BALLS.
One of the planks on Barack Obama's political platform as he ran for office last November dealt with the situation in Afghanistan. I agreed with Obama (imagine that!) when he said the United States had a legitimate reason to be fighting there, that we had a job to do that had been neglected by Bush's prosecution of the Iraq war and that the people responsible for the events of 9/11/01 were still there and still plotting terrible things. I also agreed with the President that we could not afford to allow Pakistan to fall to the Islamists and by defeating the Taliban and AlQaeda once and for all we could forestall that happening. For the record I agreed with all of this before my son, a Spec.4 in the US Army was sent to Afghanistan with his Army Engineer Batallion. I continued to agree with it when I learned he was going. I continued to agree with it once he got there, knowing full well the possibility of his not coming home - and I will continue to do so as long as I am convinced that the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE CONGRESS AND THE ARMED FORCES CHIEFS continue to BELIEVE IN THE MISSION.
Right now that belief had been seriously undermined by the events of the past few days. Let's suppose you're driving and not sure of how to reach your destination. You stop and ask directions to Main Street. The good citizen supplying the directions would be justifiably pissed, if, after giving you the directions you argued with him over the route he supplied!
While still a candidate for President Obama stated he would end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home from there. He said all along, however, that he would do what ever was necessary to fulfill the mission in Afghanistan. Upon being elected President he fired the Army General who was in charge of the Afghan theatre. He appointed General McChrystal, a highly regarded and respected general who had come through the Army Special Forces ranks. Again. General McChrystal was Obama's hand picked man for the job. The general was given a mandate to survey the situation, identify what was being done right, what was being done wrong and to make the recommendations for what ever changes needed to be made to assure a positive outcome of the mission there. Again. This was Obama's HAND PICKED MAN. The guy Obama stopped to ask directions of so to speak.
Earlier this week General McChrystal's report to the President, which was supposed to remain secret, was "leaked" to the Washington Post and picked up with lightning speed by media outlets across the country. In a nutshell the general opined that the war in Afghanistan could easily be lost without a significant increase in troop strength and equipment. "Boots on the ground." He stated quite clearly that the mission could very easily become a failure. A failure. The outcome is by no means assured if the level of commitment to the mission remains at its present level. Naturally, President Obama immediately expressed his support for the general's assessment and advised that the nation would bring to bear all of its resources to do what ever was necessary to keep this from happening, right? W R O N G. Well, wouldn't it be easier if I went up to Elm Street and made the left? He asked for direction and now he doesn't like the answer he got. Neither does Senator Levin, Dem. Mich., the chair of the Armed Services Committee. He doesn't want to commit any more troops or money or equipment to the fight. Neither does House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Dem. Calif. She's in the process of doing a major flip flop as well as a whole group of spineless, witless idiots (overwhelmingly Democrat) who are taking serious issue with the findings and recommendations of General McChrystal.
For the record. I don't give a rat's ass about the people or the country of Afghanistan. Its an underdeveloped, backwoods, third world, hell, fourth world, shit hole of a country mostly unfit for human habitation. Soldiers and Marines there have dealt with temperatures as high as 130 degrees to as low as minus 15 degrees. The people who live there, mostly primitive tribesman of cut throats and dope peddlers have known nothing but war and fighting for over a thousand years. If they don't have anyone to fight I doubt that they're happy. If the people supposedly running this country do not have any interest in continuing our mission there, then fine, I don't either, but if that is the case....THEN BRING OUR KIDS HOME RIGHT MOTHERFUCKING NOW!!! RIGHT NOW. Pack them up and get them the fuck out of that stone age shithole as fast as we can load the transports to do so. No more wasted time, money, equipment ......or lives. Right NOW.
That's one choice. The other is take General McChrystal at his word and give him what he says he needs to do the job that you, YOU, President Obama, told him to do. Its one or the other. Anything less is nothing but politics. Playing politics with the lives of thousands of brave men and women who have sacrificed to go there and do what you told them to do, Barack. What YOU told them to do. And now you're turning your back on them. You're telling them that politics is more important than the mission and its more important than their lives. And you're telling the American people that "change we can believe in" is the biggest pile of steaming, stinking bullshit that we've had crammed down our throats in a long time.
You need to grow some balls, Barack. One way or the other you need to show you have what it takes to either get the job done or bring our kids home. You haven't shown me too much lately but I'm still willing to give you the chance. But I'm not going to wait for long and neither are a lot of people like me who have sons and daughters and husbands and brothers and sisters thousands of miles away in a foreign shit hole sweating and hurting and dying because YOU, the President of The United States, has no BALLS.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Vick and the Eagles
You knew I would get here sooner or later, especially if you've seen anything on Facebook I posted regarding this whole mess. I do actually think, however, that I may be able to put a little different "spin" on this if you will. First off, right up front: I believe Michael Vick has paid the debt he was assessed as far as the justice system is concerned. He was tried, convicted and served his time. I also believe he has a right to make a living. He plays football for a living and I believe there is no legal reason to preclude him from doing do.
My whole problem lies in the second chance concept and the timing. I'm all for second chances, for people who truly deserve a second chance. I don't think that Michael Vick has yet demonstrated his qualification for that second chance. I just think its too soon. He hasn't had time to prove he deserves it. If he had completed his incarceration, laid low for a short time and began to show true remorse and contrition and began contributing his time and efforts to the animal rescue and welfare cause away from and out of the spotlight (as much as possible) I would tend to lend more credence to his words and his proclamations. He may very well be sincere. He may very well be humbled and ashamed and changed and truly sorry for the terrible things he did. We just don't know yet. And until we know I don't think he has yet earned that second chance. I think had he been released 4 to 6 months before the beginning of the NFL season or right at the end of last season a lot of the brouhaha would never have occurred. Its the timing. We were still in the middle of training camps and the start of pre season games and the Eagles wanted him here NOW. Its about winning at all costs and money and morality be damned. If morality played any part whatsoever in the staffing and operation of a NFL franchise at least a dozen different players ( a whole bunch of them from the Dallas Cowboys) would have been out of jobs years ago. Draping Michael Vick's signing in the cloak of "second chances" and allowing a man to redeem himself is a classic case of pissing down your neck and telling you its raining.
Now for the fan backlash. For the hard core Eagles fan - you know who you are - the idiots in the parking lot drinking 8 hours before kick-off, the ones who necessitated the opening of a special court room in the stadium, the ones the TV cameras love to show screaming the E A G L E S chant at the top of their lungs while spilling beer all over each other, the knuckleheads whose entire rooms, nay HOMES, are decorated in team paraphernalia, the ones who spend 24 hours a day seven days a week tuned in to 610 WIP, you get my point. They don't care a lick about anything Michael Vick did, didn't do, deserves or doesn't deserve. They want to win, they want to win NOW and anything and everything that Jeffrey Lurie and Andy Reid do is just fine with them, no matter what they may say. These are the people who want to jump off the Walt Whitman bridge the day after a regular season loss.
I fit into a different category and I really do believe there are a lot of people like me and I would like to believe that WE are the ones the Eagles are underestimating. I watch the Eagles. I root for the "home team". I played football as a kid, I coached youth football for a bunch of years and I truly do love the game. Not necessarily the way the pros play it but I always liked the game. That being said, I can live without it. If I watched an Eagles game of course I wanted them to win but if they lost I shrugged my shoulders and went on about my business. Its a freakin' game! Their win or loss has no effect on my or my life what so ever. And that's why its so easy for me to completely write them off. I have no season tickets to give up. I own not a single piece of Eagles merchandise or clothing and they have now assured me that I never will. I feel strongly enough about the Eagles premature signing of this man that I WILL follow through on my boycott of their games, sponsors and anything else that would indicate the slightest chance that I approve or condone of their actions. I think maybe the Eagles don't believe there are that many people who will actually follow through on their threats to abandon the team and I can only wish that at some point during the season they will find out differently. I don't know whether it will be a decrease in TV ratings, a decrease in merchandise and clothing sales or fewer people trying to climb the Walt after a loss. I just hope I'm right and the Eagles can find out somehow that they are just plain wrong.
My whole problem lies in the second chance concept and the timing. I'm all for second chances, for people who truly deserve a second chance. I don't think that Michael Vick has yet demonstrated his qualification for that second chance. I just think its too soon. He hasn't had time to prove he deserves it. If he had completed his incarceration, laid low for a short time and began to show true remorse and contrition and began contributing his time and efforts to the animal rescue and welfare cause away from and out of the spotlight (as much as possible) I would tend to lend more credence to his words and his proclamations. He may very well be sincere. He may very well be humbled and ashamed and changed and truly sorry for the terrible things he did. We just don't know yet. And until we know I don't think he has yet earned that second chance. I think had he been released 4 to 6 months before the beginning of the NFL season or right at the end of last season a lot of the brouhaha would never have occurred. Its the timing. We were still in the middle of training camps and the start of pre season games and the Eagles wanted him here NOW. Its about winning at all costs and money and morality be damned. If morality played any part whatsoever in the staffing and operation of a NFL franchise at least a dozen different players ( a whole bunch of them from the Dallas Cowboys) would have been out of jobs years ago. Draping Michael Vick's signing in the cloak of "second chances" and allowing a man to redeem himself is a classic case of pissing down your neck and telling you its raining.
Now for the fan backlash. For the hard core Eagles fan - you know who you are - the idiots in the parking lot drinking 8 hours before kick-off, the ones who necessitated the opening of a special court room in the stadium, the ones the TV cameras love to show screaming the E A G L E S chant at the top of their lungs while spilling beer all over each other, the knuckleheads whose entire rooms, nay HOMES, are decorated in team paraphernalia, the ones who spend 24 hours a day seven days a week tuned in to 610 WIP, you get my point. They don't care a lick about anything Michael Vick did, didn't do, deserves or doesn't deserve. They want to win, they want to win NOW and anything and everything that Jeffrey Lurie and Andy Reid do is just fine with them, no matter what they may say. These are the people who want to jump off the Walt Whitman bridge the day after a regular season loss.
I fit into a different category and I really do believe there are a lot of people like me and I would like to believe that WE are the ones the Eagles are underestimating. I watch the Eagles. I root for the "home team". I played football as a kid, I coached youth football for a bunch of years and I truly do love the game. Not necessarily the way the pros play it but I always liked the game. That being said, I can live without it. If I watched an Eagles game of course I wanted them to win but if they lost I shrugged my shoulders and went on about my business. Its a freakin' game! Their win or loss has no effect on my or my life what so ever. And that's why its so easy for me to completely write them off. I have no season tickets to give up. I own not a single piece of Eagles merchandise or clothing and they have now assured me that I never will. I feel strongly enough about the Eagles premature signing of this man that I WILL follow through on my boycott of their games, sponsors and anything else that would indicate the slightest chance that I approve or condone of their actions. I think maybe the Eagles don't believe there are that many people who will actually follow through on their threats to abandon the team and I can only wish that at some point during the season they will find out differently. I don't know whether it will be a decrease in TV ratings, a decrease in merchandise and clothing sales or fewer people trying to climb the Walt after a loss. I just hope I'm right and the Eagles can find out somehow that they are just plain wrong.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
D R O P
Folks, this is a long one! My friend, Fefe, who I admire and adore, is pissed and said so in a Facebook post I read a few minutes ago. Now before we go any further I need you to know that this latest rant is in no way, shape or form meant to reflect poorly on her. She is merely the inspiration. My "muse" if I may be so bold!
Fefe is pissed, and rightly so, because the City of Philadelphia, of which I am a resident and she is not, is threatening to cancel an event which has been held for many years here in the city, that being the ABATE (Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education) Toy Run For The Kids. The kids being referenced are young patients being treated for illness and accidents at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. ABATE, (I am old enough to remember way back when I joined ABATE in the 70's when the acronym meant "Alliance of Bikers Against a Totalitarian Establishment"). The organization, like me, has mellowed a bit as the years have passed. I still like the old name. Even though I was a cop for many years I like to think I still harbor a good deal of that "stick it to the man" attitude. Anyway, back to Fefe. The toy run, as well as a motorcycle run conducted by the POW/MIA awareness group Friends Of The Forgotten, are both the victims of the big time budget crunch that allegedly exists here in the City Of Brotherly Love. Fefe and many many others that I know who ride motorcycles for recreation and fun have been regular participants in these events and others like them over the years. Now these events are in danger of being scrapped because the City can not afford to pay the costs that the Mayor, Michael Nutter, claims the City incurs when these events and others like them are held. Its not just motorcycle events. Numerous civic and ethnic groups have been threatened with the cancellation of their festival or parade unless they come up with a big pile of money to reimburse the City for the costs. The whys and whens and hows and ins and outs and the actual numbers involved escape me at the moment (I will conduct further research to ID some specifics) but the bottom line is that the city is no longer able to fund the costs of police and fire and ems services, as well as the streets department who cleans up after the events and all the other city agencies who are involved in one way or the other when an event is held.
I know that the St. Patrick's Day Parade, a big time deal in Philly, was nearly cancelled until a group of corporate sponsors stepped up to provide the funding. Similar appeals were made for donations to allow several other groups to keep their affairs running. Several corporate and civic organizations helped with funding to allow the Gay/Lesbian Pride Fest to go on as planned. The GLBT Fest (please don't slam me if I'm not calling the event or group by its formal name, I'm just trying to make a point) like many others, brings a lot of visitors to the city. They spend money. Hotels, restaurants, taxis, you name it, all benefit from these events. No one group or organization is more important than the other, each and every one is important to the people who organize and attend them and rightly so.
Is there a point here, Bill? Yes! Its hard to take the whining and crying and moaning and hand wringing and the whole Chicken Little the sky is falling act seriously when you look at some of the blatant, bare faced scams and corruption being perpetrated by the people who are elected to govern and administer the City budget and make sure the money that the City does have on hand is being spent wisely. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you DROP. D R O P. Delayed Retirement Option Plan.
Without getting too technical and making your eyes glaze over too much, DROP was designed to offer senior, experienced and valuable employees an incentive to stay on the job for a couple extra years. An employee who was eligible to retire would, from the date he was originally scheduled to do so, remain on the job and all the money he or she would have collected in retirement/pension payments would be placed into his/her "bank". In four years (term could vary) the employee would retire, begin collecting the monthly pension and all the money accumulated in the "bank" would be paid in a lump sum with interest. So in that four years, not only were you still working full time and collecting your regular salary, you were also getting monthly contributions equal to what would have been your pension payments. OK, I've really, REALLY simplified this whole deal in the interest of saving time and space but that's pretty much the deal in a nutshell. Please, dear readers, feel free to offer any additions or corrections or better explanations of the program if you have them.
Now this is the part that pisses me off and should piss you off as well. Several members of our esteemed City Council, long a bastion of crooks, criminals and general scalliwags and ne'er do wells, discovered a loophole, an anomaly, a glitch, in the DROP program. Although the program was never intended to be for ELECTED OFFICIALS, several council persons realized they could get in on the goods. One of them, Joan Krajewski, a long time represenative of the area known as the "River Wards" (Kensington, Bridesburg, Fishtown...ring a bell?) enrolled in DROP, continued to serve on Council collecting the big bucks and perks. Retired. Retired for ONE DAY. UNretired, pocketed over $300K - that's three hundred THOUSAND DOLLARS - and then went back on council, continues collecting a regular council person's salary and benefits and walks around without a care in the world. Several other members of council are already enrolled in DROP, their "bank"is growing every day and they fully intend to do the same thing as Joan when their day comes. Council President Anna Verna stands to pocket well over half a million dollars. How would Dr. Evil say that? Half a m i l l i o nnnnnnnnnnnn dollars. Council members Frank Rizzo jr., Frank DiCicco, Marian Tasco and one or two others (its late folks and I'm writing this off the top of my head) collectively stand to pocket around two and a half million dollars.
The City closed swimming pools in rec centers all over the city. Thousands of inner city kids spent this summer sweltering on the mean streets where they spend all day worried about dodging bullets fired by rival thugs. I believe the average cost to open and operate a swimming pool for the summer is around 60 to 100 thousand dollars. How many pools could be opened with just the money scammed by Joan Krajewski? Mayor Nutter is threatening to lay off police officers, fire fighters, reduce trash collection to twice a month, he's already closed fire stations and reduced the number of paramedics on the street, he wanted to close libraries and the list goes on and on. And now the City wants to charge ABATE thirty thousand dollars to hold the Toy Run. Thirty grand from a NON PROFIT ORG. who charges no fees to attend the event, asking only that participants bring a Christmas present for a kid in the hospital. Where is ABATE going to come up with 30 large? Where was Friends Of The Forgotten supposed to come up with 13 thousand to hold their run?
The DROP money scammed by Joan Krajewski alone could fund TEN toy runs. The DROP money scammed by Joan Krajewski alone could have opened FIVE swimming pools for poor inner city kids. The DROP money already scammed and scheduled to be scammed could do a lot of good things besides line the pockets of greedy, self centered, do nothing, feckless, disgusting pieces of shit taking up space that could be occupied by decent people. Michael Nutter, who campaigned on a promise of "reform", has been out to lunch on this one, folks. A former council member, he lacks the balls to take them on and call them what they are (see above). He is spineless and gutless and a whole lot of people may see a whole lot of good things go away, good things that benefit people that politicians just don't give a fuck about. A whole lot of people who just want to come to the city, ride a motorcycle around and see the sights and maybe....just maybe make the day a little brighter for a sick kid. People like my friend Fefe.
Thanks for getting pissed off, Feefster! I don't know if I got all of the specific facts and figures right. I know I'm damn close. I'm not vouching for spelling, grammar or punctuation either. I don't know if I have any talent as a writer at all. But I do know that I've never written anything before in my little rant space here on The Mountain that I'm as proud of as this one.
Arlo Guthrie, in Alice's Restaurant, (and I'm paraphrasing not quoting) said if one person does it they just think you're crazy...and if two people do it they'll think you're weird ( I know what he really said....its a new time, people) and if more than three people do it then its a movement. Let's start a movement together. Let's drop DROP.
Thanks, Fefe. And thanks, Facebook. That's the View From The Mountain. I beg of you, dear reader (if there are any) PLEASE tell me your thoughts.
Fefe is pissed, and rightly so, because the City of Philadelphia, of which I am a resident and she is not, is threatening to cancel an event which has been held for many years here in the city, that being the ABATE (Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education) Toy Run For The Kids. The kids being referenced are young patients being treated for illness and accidents at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. ABATE, (I am old enough to remember way back when I joined ABATE in the 70's when the acronym meant "Alliance of Bikers Against a Totalitarian Establishment"). The organization, like me, has mellowed a bit as the years have passed. I still like the old name. Even though I was a cop for many years I like to think I still harbor a good deal of that "stick it to the man" attitude. Anyway, back to Fefe. The toy run, as well as a motorcycle run conducted by the POW/MIA awareness group Friends Of The Forgotten, are both the victims of the big time budget crunch that allegedly exists here in the City Of Brotherly Love. Fefe and many many others that I know who ride motorcycles for recreation and fun have been regular participants in these events and others like them over the years. Now these events are in danger of being scrapped because the City can not afford to pay the costs that the Mayor, Michael Nutter, claims the City incurs when these events and others like them are held. Its not just motorcycle events. Numerous civic and ethnic groups have been threatened with the cancellation of their festival or parade unless they come up with a big pile of money to reimburse the City for the costs. The whys and whens and hows and ins and outs and the actual numbers involved escape me at the moment (I will conduct further research to ID some specifics) but the bottom line is that the city is no longer able to fund the costs of police and fire and ems services, as well as the streets department who cleans up after the events and all the other city agencies who are involved in one way or the other when an event is held.
I know that the St. Patrick's Day Parade, a big time deal in Philly, was nearly cancelled until a group of corporate sponsors stepped up to provide the funding. Similar appeals were made for donations to allow several other groups to keep their affairs running. Several corporate and civic organizations helped with funding to allow the Gay/Lesbian Pride Fest to go on as planned. The GLBT Fest (please don't slam me if I'm not calling the event or group by its formal name, I'm just trying to make a point) like many others, brings a lot of visitors to the city. They spend money. Hotels, restaurants, taxis, you name it, all benefit from these events. No one group or organization is more important than the other, each and every one is important to the people who organize and attend them and rightly so.
Is there a point here, Bill? Yes! Its hard to take the whining and crying and moaning and hand wringing and the whole Chicken Little the sky is falling act seriously when you look at some of the blatant, bare faced scams and corruption being perpetrated by the people who are elected to govern and administer the City budget and make sure the money that the City does have on hand is being spent wisely. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you DROP. D R O P. Delayed Retirement Option Plan.
Without getting too technical and making your eyes glaze over too much, DROP was designed to offer senior, experienced and valuable employees an incentive to stay on the job for a couple extra years. An employee who was eligible to retire would, from the date he was originally scheduled to do so, remain on the job and all the money he or she would have collected in retirement/pension payments would be placed into his/her "bank". In four years (term could vary) the employee would retire, begin collecting the monthly pension and all the money accumulated in the "bank" would be paid in a lump sum with interest. So in that four years, not only were you still working full time and collecting your regular salary, you were also getting monthly contributions equal to what would have been your pension payments. OK, I've really, REALLY simplified this whole deal in the interest of saving time and space but that's pretty much the deal in a nutshell. Please, dear readers, feel free to offer any additions or corrections or better explanations of the program if you have them.
Now this is the part that pisses me off and should piss you off as well. Several members of our esteemed City Council, long a bastion of crooks, criminals and general scalliwags and ne'er do wells, discovered a loophole, an anomaly, a glitch, in the DROP program. Although the program was never intended to be for ELECTED OFFICIALS, several council persons realized they could get in on the goods. One of them, Joan Krajewski, a long time represenative of the area known as the "River Wards" (Kensington, Bridesburg, Fishtown...ring a bell?) enrolled in DROP, continued to serve on Council collecting the big bucks and perks. Retired. Retired for ONE DAY. UNretired, pocketed over $300K - that's three hundred THOUSAND DOLLARS - and then went back on council, continues collecting a regular council person's salary and benefits and walks around without a care in the world. Several other members of council are already enrolled in DROP, their "bank"is growing every day and they fully intend to do the same thing as Joan when their day comes. Council President Anna Verna stands to pocket well over half a million dollars. How would Dr. Evil say that? Half a m i l l i o nnnnnnnnnnnn dollars. Council members Frank Rizzo jr., Frank DiCicco, Marian Tasco and one or two others (its late folks and I'm writing this off the top of my head) collectively stand to pocket around two and a half million dollars.
The City closed swimming pools in rec centers all over the city. Thousands of inner city kids spent this summer sweltering on the mean streets where they spend all day worried about dodging bullets fired by rival thugs. I believe the average cost to open and operate a swimming pool for the summer is around 60 to 100 thousand dollars. How many pools could be opened with just the money scammed by Joan Krajewski? Mayor Nutter is threatening to lay off police officers, fire fighters, reduce trash collection to twice a month, he's already closed fire stations and reduced the number of paramedics on the street, he wanted to close libraries and the list goes on and on. And now the City wants to charge ABATE thirty thousand dollars to hold the Toy Run. Thirty grand from a NON PROFIT ORG. who charges no fees to attend the event, asking only that participants bring a Christmas present for a kid in the hospital. Where is ABATE going to come up with 30 large? Where was Friends Of The Forgotten supposed to come up with 13 thousand to hold their run?
The DROP money scammed by Joan Krajewski alone could fund TEN toy runs. The DROP money scammed by Joan Krajewski alone could have opened FIVE swimming pools for poor inner city kids. The DROP money already scammed and scheduled to be scammed could do a lot of good things besides line the pockets of greedy, self centered, do nothing, feckless, disgusting pieces of shit taking up space that could be occupied by decent people. Michael Nutter, who campaigned on a promise of "reform", has been out to lunch on this one, folks. A former council member, he lacks the balls to take them on and call them what they are (see above). He is spineless and gutless and a whole lot of people may see a whole lot of good things go away, good things that benefit people that politicians just don't give a fuck about. A whole lot of people who just want to come to the city, ride a motorcycle around and see the sights and maybe....just maybe make the day a little brighter for a sick kid. People like my friend Fefe.
Thanks for getting pissed off, Feefster! I don't know if I got all of the specific facts and figures right. I know I'm damn close. I'm not vouching for spelling, grammar or punctuation either. I don't know if I have any talent as a writer at all. But I do know that I've never written anything before in my little rant space here on The Mountain that I'm as proud of as this one.
Arlo Guthrie, in Alice's Restaurant, (and I'm paraphrasing not quoting) said if one person does it they just think you're crazy...and if two people do it they'll think you're weird ( I know what he really said....its a new time, people) and if more than three people do it then its a movement. Let's start a movement together. Let's drop DROP.
Thanks, Fefe. And thanks, Facebook. That's the View From The Mountain. I beg of you, dear reader (if there are any) PLEASE tell me your thoughts.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Potheads
First things first. Full disclosure: YES. On more than one occasion in my lifetime I smoked pot. Yes, I inhaled. Did I like it? Not really. All it really did was dry my mouth out and make me hungry and all you need to do is take one look at me and know I don't need any assistance in finding a reason to eat. What were my reasons for smoking it? Peer pressure mostly. I didn't want to be the oddball in the group. I don't care about things like that anymore. Frankly I don't give a shit what you think about what I do or don't do or whether I'm cool or not. I view the whole pot smoking thing to be something you do when you're young and rebellious and worry about things like peer pressure. I thought eventually you grow out of it and move on. Apparently a lot people never grew out of it. Pot is bigger than ever and its not just young folks. I'm actually amazed at how many people my age - boomers - still partake of the weed on a regular basis while they worry about their own kids and grand kids drug use.
I honestly don't know what the lure marijuana is. Its supposedly not addictive yet I find the number of people who don't seem able to give it up utterly astounding. One of the situations that I found to be ironic was the fact that for over 20 years I was a law enforcement officer and was charged with arresting people who broke the drug laws and I never once had to submit to drug testing. Upon retiring from the police and entering the trucking business I was constantly tested.
Go figure. I knew that many other drivers and applicants for driving jobs were regularly testing "hot" for drugs. I had no idea how ridiculous it was until I got into a management position at a trucking company and was responsible for conducting the pre employment drug testing program. On average during my tenure of approximately 18 months between 2 and 3 of every 5 applicants failed the drug screen. A test they KNEW they were going to take. In my time there I terminated the employment of 3 drivers, who after being hired, were caught hot in random tests, again they KNEW they were subject to this testing. How stupid is that? More importantly, how stupid is it that their love or need for weed was stronger than their desire to attain or retain a relatively high paying job with good benefits? Its not a rheortical question. I really want to know. Can someone explain it to me? I'm not a prude or a religious nut or against having fun. I smoke cigars, drink whiskey, ride a motorcycle and am heavily tattooed. I'm not exactly a poster boy for conventional behavior but I really have a problem with the whole pot thing.
The thing is, there's a whole lot more at stake here than just a few knuckleheads losing a truck driving job. Unless you're living under a rock you have to know that violence along the United States/Mexican border is at an all time high. Murders are an every day occurrence. In some areas of northern Mexico many towns and villages are under absolute states of siege with running gun battles, kidnapping and murders at such a rate that Mexican Army troops have been sent in to make some sort of attempt to restore some semblance of order. Its not working. The source of all this violence and mayhem is fighting among the big drug dealers for market share. In the drug business you don't eliminate the competition by building the proverbial better mousetrap or by providing superior customer service. You eliminate the competition. Literally. Secretary of State Hillary (Mrs. Bill I did not inhale) Clinton makes a state visit to Mexico and rather than address the underlying causes of the street wars, accepts American responsibility for the carnage because so many of the weapons being used in the war are being purchased in this country. Its all the fault of the NRA. And the fault of law abiding, non mentally ill gun owners and sportsmen. Like yours truly. I fail to see how further restricting the type, amount or frequency of my firearms purchases is going to do anything to stem the carnage along the border.
Its not my fault, folks. Its yours. By yours I mean all you people who still find it necessary or whatever you find it to purchase and consume marijuana. Unless you're growing and processing it yourselves the weed you're smoking is highly likely to have come into this country by way of, or originated in Mexico and is being grown, processed and imported by the big time drug businesses that are murdering, kidnapping, raping and terrorizing entire areas of Mexico and southern America. You may not feel that the little bit that you consume has anything to do with this but you are wrong. I don't care how much you buy. Unless you can prove to me that your weed was grown and processed domestically by someone you know personally then I submit it was supplied by one of these blood thirsty murderous animals. YOUR pot smoking is financing this war. YOUR pot smoking contributes directly to the bombings and drive by shootings and intimidation and murder. YOUR pot purchase money goes to the drug dealers who use the profits to hire crooked police and soldiers. YOUR pot purchase money goes to the drug dealers who use their profits to hire paid assasins to kill honest police officers, soldiers, prosecutors and judges. Its all a matter of record. I'm not making this up, folks. Its happening every single day.
If they had no customers (YOU) they would have no reason to be in the drug business, and no reason to be trying to eliminate their competition.
Legalize it you say. I say, "no problem". I don't care if its legal. I don't care if you want to use it. I really don't give a shivering shit whether you get so stoned you can't remember your own name as long as it doesn't affect me. Don't do it while driving or working and if its legal I'm on your side. What pisses me off is that so many of the people who do smoke it on a regular basis actually believe that their use is harmless and has no consequences and that is just plain wrong.
Dead wrong for a lot of people. Just go ahead and keep burying your head in the sand. Sign a petition to make gun laws stronger. Do you honestly think that they won't get the guns they want and use if they don't get them from sources in the USA? Do you really think there aren't thousands of arms dealers around the world willing to supply guns for money? Support "common sense" gun legislation; and then abandon all of your common sense when you think that your recreational drug use has no impact on anyone outside your little circle of stoned friends. You're kidding yourself. You're helping to get people killed.
In the eyes of the law if you are only driving the get away car when your partners go into rob a bank and one of them kills someone during the commission of the crime you are just as guilty as murder as the one who pulls the trigger. Even if all you did was help them to plan the crime and never even went to the scene if it can be proven that you were part of the conspiracy you are again just as guilty of murder as the guy who shot the gun.
By buying your little ounce of "harmless, recreational" weed you are directly aiding and abetting the people who are committing the murders.
As far as I'm concerned you should be tried, convicted and put away. Yo, asshole. Don't bogart that joint....pass it over to me.....you murdering motherfucker.
I honestly don't know what the lure marijuana is. Its supposedly not addictive yet I find the number of people who don't seem able to give it up utterly astounding. One of the situations that I found to be ironic was the fact that for over 20 years I was a law enforcement officer and was charged with arresting people who broke the drug laws and I never once had to submit to drug testing. Upon retiring from the police and entering the trucking business I was constantly tested.
Go figure. I knew that many other drivers and applicants for driving jobs were regularly testing "hot" for drugs. I had no idea how ridiculous it was until I got into a management position at a trucking company and was responsible for conducting the pre employment drug testing program. On average during my tenure of approximately 18 months between 2 and 3 of every 5 applicants failed the drug screen. A test they KNEW they were going to take. In my time there I terminated the employment of 3 drivers, who after being hired, were caught hot in random tests, again they KNEW they were subject to this testing. How stupid is that? More importantly, how stupid is it that their love or need for weed was stronger than their desire to attain or retain a relatively high paying job with good benefits? Its not a rheortical question. I really want to know. Can someone explain it to me? I'm not a prude or a religious nut or against having fun. I smoke cigars, drink whiskey, ride a motorcycle and am heavily tattooed. I'm not exactly a poster boy for conventional behavior but I really have a problem with the whole pot thing.
The thing is, there's a whole lot more at stake here than just a few knuckleheads losing a truck driving job. Unless you're living under a rock you have to know that violence along the United States/Mexican border is at an all time high. Murders are an every day occurrence. In some areas of northern Mexico many towns and villages are under absolute states of siege with running gun battles, kidnapping and murders at such a rate that Mexican Army troops have been sent in to make some sort of attempt to restore some semblance of order. Its not working. The source of all this violence and mayhem is fighting among the big drug dealers for market share. In the drug business you don't eliminate the competition by building the proverbial better mousetrap or by providing superior customer service. You eliminate the competition. Literally. Secretary of State Hillary (Mrs. Bill I did not inhale) Clinton makes a state visit to Mexico and rather than address the underlying causes of the street wars, accepts American responsibility for the carnage because so many of the weapons being used in the war are being purchased in this country. Its all the fault of the NRA. And the fault of law abiding, non mentally ill gun owners and sportsmen. Like yours truly. I fail to see how further restricting the type, amount or frequency of my firearms purchases is going to do anything to stem the carnage along the border.
Its not my fault, folks. Its yours. By yours I mean all you people who still find it necessary or whatever you find it to purchase and consume marijuana. Unless you're growing and processing it yourselves the weed you're smoking is highly likely to have come into this country by way of, or originated in Mexico and is being grown, processed and imported by the big time drug businesses that are murdering, kidnapping, raping and terrorizing entire areas of Mexico and southern America. You may not feel that the little bit that you consume has anything to do with this but you are wrong. I don't care how much you buy. Unless you can prove to me that your weed was grown and processed domestically by someone you know personally then I submit it was supplied by one of these blood thirsty murderous animals. YOUR pot smoking is financing this war. YOUR pot smoking contributes directly to the bombings and drive by shootings and intimidation and murder. YOUR pot purchase money goes to the drug dealers who use the profits to hire crooked police and soldiers. YOUR pot purchase money goes to the drug dealers who use their profits to hire paid assasins to kill honest police officers, soldiers, prosecutors and judges. Its all a matter of record. I'm not making this up, folks. Its happening every single day.
If they had no customers (YOU) they would have no reason to be in the drug business, and no reason to be trying to eliminate their competition.
Legalize it you say. I say, "no problem". I don't care if its legal. I don't care if you want to use it. I really don't give a shivering shit whether you get so stoned you can't remember your own name as long as it doesn't affect me. Don't do it while driving or working and if its legal I'm on your side. What pisses me off is that so many of the people who do smoke it on a regular basis actually believe that their use is harmless and has no consequences and that is just plain wrong.
Dead wrong for a lot of people. Just go ahead and keep burying your head in the sand. Sign a petition to make gun laws stronger. Do you honestly think that they won't get the guns they want and use if they don't get them from sources in the USA? Do you really think there aren't thousands of arms dealers around the world willing to supply guns for money? Support "common sense" gun legislation; and then abandon all of your common sense when you think that your recreational drug use has no impact on anyone outside your little circle of stoned friends. You're kidding yourself. You're helping to get people killed.
In the eyes of the law if you are only driving the get away car when your partners go into rob a bank and one of them kills someone during the commission of the crime you are just as guilty as murder as the one who pulls the trigger. Even if all you did was help them to plan the crime and never even went to the scene if it can be proven that you were part of the conspiracy you are again just as guilty of murder as the guy who shot the gun.
By buying your little ounce of "harmless, recreational" weed you are directly aiding and abetting the people who are committing the murders.
As far as I'm concerned you should be tried, convicted and put away. Yo, asshole. Don't bogart that joint....pass it over to me.....you murdering motherfucker.
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