Essie's Bucket List

I started this blog more than six years ago. Since that time, I have written approximately 2,170 posts. I've had a lot of fun and vented a lot of frustration while fulfilling my need to put my words down on paper (or computer screen).

I have many other things on my bucket list, and Essie's no spring chicken anymore! There's so much out there that I want to do and so I'm rearranging and reprioritizing my time. One of the items I've chosen to let go is "Have you seen the news today?"

I'll still have opinions, and I'll probably still verbalize them to anyone who will listen. But I won't be sharing them here anymore.

Even though this blog has actually been more for me than anyone else, I appreciate those of you who have been faithful followers. Who knows? One day I'll probably reprioritize again and I may reappear on Blogspot. Until then -- keep watching the news for the absurd, the zany, the unjust, the biased, and the unbelievably stupid!

They're smarter than we are on this one.

I can't find too many positive things to say about muslim countries, but I do have to say that the United Arab Emirates has more sense than we do on this one. Have you ever heard of Rolf Buchholz? Here's a photo of old Rolf:

 

Yes, those are horns he had surgically implanted on his head. And, yes, those are all holes in his head. You can't see his "ink" in this photo, so compared to some other pics I've seen of him, this one looks quite normal.

 

At any rate, the United Arab Emirates has denied him entry for an appearance at a nightclub in Dubai. They have more smarts than we do on this one!

 

"That hurts: Dubai turns away entertainer." The Dallas Morning News; August 18, 2014; p. 8A.



Is this how our system works?

The press persists in calling the lawless rioters/looters/arsonists/thieves in Ferguson, Missouri, demonstrators. They say that the demonstrators are demanding justice for Michael Brown. From what I've seen and read, Michael Brown received justice about two weeks ago.

At any rate, their definition of justice is "Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson is charged and convicted for the shooting." I don't think that's how our system works. In the first place, we don't know that Officer Wilson is guilty of any crime. The evidence may show that he was justified in what he did. In the second place, it's up to a jury, not a mob, to decide whether justice entails a conviction.

If they're so concerned about justice, what about justice for Officer Wilson? What if Officer Wilson is guilty of nothing but defending himself? Is justice served if he is convicted of a non-existent crime? Let's reverse the races. What if Officer Wilson were black and Michael Brown were white? What would their definition of justice be then?

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Do you want to know why strong-arm robber Michael Brown had no respect for authority? Here's his mom and dad.

 

 

It appears to me that they're inciting riot more than they're calling for justice. If they really want to know who bears the blame for their "baby" being dead, perhaps they should get a good mirror.



The Penalty Is Death

I feel so sorry for Max Soffar. Max is in prison for killing three people at a bowling alley and seriously wounding a fourth. He's been sentenced to death, but what with one appeal for this and another for that, he's been awaiting execution for 33 years.

Max has liver cancer. He wants a compassionate release. I don't believe the sentence said, "You are condemned to death unless you get sick." I don't believe the sentence said, "If you get sick, you get a get out of jail free card."

And remember the Lockerbie bomber? His death was imminent. But he lived a pretty full life for two years after they let him go. And you know how we traded five terrorists for deserter Bergdahl because his death was close? He looks pretty healthy to me.

So if Max's death is that close, it really shouldn't matter to him where he is when it happens. In fact, the prison should feel a lot more like home than any home on the outside. After all, he's spent over half his life there.

"Attorneys: Free inmate; he's dying anyway." The Dallas Morning News; Aug. 14, 2014; p. 4A.

What a Family Outing!

There was a photo in the newspaper the other day of Janelle Pittman. She had her 6-year-old daughter on her hip. She was in Ferguson, Missouri -- confronting a line of riot-geared police officers. She had the little girl holding her hands up like those idiot rioters have been doing.

Family outings have certainly changed since I was a child. We went on a picnic or went to the park to the wading pool or saw a movie or played putt-putt and went to the ice cream store. I can't recall my mother ever saying, "I know what we can do today! Let's go to a riot!"

"Answers sought in shooting." The Dallas Morning News; August 14, 2014; p. 1A.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time -- or pay the fine.

In the state of Texas, there are certain traffic offenses that garner the offender a surcharge in addition to the fine. Notices are sent when that money is owed -- I believe it's generally $250 a year for three years. As you can imagine, this does not apply to the person who is stopped every now and again for speeding or the person who accidentally runs a stop sign or a red light or doesn't notice that his registration or inspection has expired. This charge applies to repeat offenders, those who are driving on suspended licenses or with no insurance, and various other habitual behavior.

But, according to Steve Blow and other bleeding hearts, this is just a way for the big bad state to keep people impoverished. He says it unfairly targets low-income workers. Well, duh! It doesn't if they obey the traffic laws. And even if that were not the case, there is a program available that will adjust the surcharge in accordance with the offender's income.

But Steve holds up for our admiration a fine upstanding citizen named Devin Mitchell. Devin says she feels like a criminal. Perhaps that's because she is one. I looked up her record, and it's not by any means pristine. She says she fears leaving her house because she might end up in jail. Unfortunately, that's the price one pays for living outside the law.

She says all she wanted to do was work and take care of her own (tell that to her probation officer). But she said this desire keeps her from being a "viable member of society." What a stretch that is!

This all started, Devin claims, when she drove her deceased sister's car not knowing that it was not insured. Mistake number one, Devin, is not taking care of business. She knows insurance is required in Texas. Steve Blow says it's that "small transgression" that continues to plague her.

She says she paid the ticket, but no one told her about the surcharge. She says the first she knew of it was when her boss at Pizza Hut told her that her driver's license was suspended. So she switched from being a delivery driver to working inside the restaurant and set up a payment plan to pay off the surcharge.

But she "still had to drive to work with a suspended license." She said, "It's not like I had a choice. I had to work. And I had to drive to get there." No, she didn't. She did have a choice. If she couldn't get her live-in boyfriend to take her to work or catch a ride with a neighbor or ride a bike, she could have walked. I checked, and it's only two miles from her house in Cleburne to the Pizza Hut where she works. I used to walk home from school that far carrying an armload of books (I'm so old, that only nerds carried book satchels back then). 

And guess what? She got caught driving without a license and received another ticket. Since she didn't have a license, she didn't have insurance, either. And without insurance, you can't get a car inspected. So there's two more tickets with accompanying surcharges. Then she got a letter about an amnesty program. So what does she do? She hops in her uninspected, uninsured vehicle with no driver's license and drives to the DMV. And she was stopped again and ticketed again -- no inspection, driving on a suspended license. No insurance.

She tried to explain, she says, that she was going to get amnesty. It just doesn't seem to occur to her that amnesty is usually extended to those who are trying to mend their ways -- not to those who openly and defiantly and repeatedly break the same laws over and over again.

So Devin's solution is to just not pay anything. And now she has warrants out for her arrest. And it's all everybody else's fault. She quit her job and she and her boyfriend and their 7-year-old "scrape by" on his income. What would you like to bet that she's "scraping by" with a little help from food stamps, Section 8, etc., etc.?

Steve Blow says it's just terrible - $3.2 billion in surcharges have been assessed in what he calls the "Poverty Preservation Program." He says this translates into financial misery for low-income families. We'll see if he feels the same way when an uninsured motorist driving on a suspended license totals his car and causes injury to him and his family.

"Low-income workers driven to misery by state program." The Dallas Morning News; August 13, 2014; p. 1B.