From the Sun RE: The Bus beating
“This incident was deplorable. I will not tolerate intimidation or violence anywhere in our city,”
Uh, Ms. Mayor…Have You BEEN to East Baltimore, Edmonson, Cherry Hill lately? That’s just naming a few.
DUUUUH.
Short Round turns 13 on Wednesday.
Remember when you were a teenager? Awkward feelings, conflicts on identity. yeah—I’m right there with you. I wouldn’t revisit that time of my life if you paid me a million bucks, either. But, seriously—remember? It was hell. Now I am facing the uncharted territory of parenting a teenager myself. Paybacks can be a real bitch—I hear that a lot. I think that’s a big fat lie. Paybacks are a bitch if you let them happen in the first place.
Morgey over at Tres Bizzare started a conversation about teens and the appropriate age for dating. She tells us of her own experience while a teen:
My love life was severely limited by my parental units when I was 14 (because before then boys weren’t interested in me, even though I was definitely interested in them, but due to crippling shyness, extreme awkwardness, and general weirdness I was never successful in obtaining a boyfriend prior to 14). Once I did get the guy, I, of course, chose a boy with a mowhawk, a weird name, and a penchant for shocking all adults within earshot, so it didn’t take long for them to ban me from seeing him. In turn, I made sure I saw him every sneaky chance I got.
Classic example of what I call the Romeo & Juliet effect: If it’s forbidden, it’s WAYY AWESOME, THRILLING AND FEELS GREAT! I knew a lot of girls who were banned from various things and they all did it anyway. Lesson learned. Banning doesn’t work.
However, lets examine my trainwreck. I wasn’t banned from seeing the weird/idiotic guy that I dated at age 18. (no guy was interested in me until then.) My parents couldn’t really tell me that I couldn’t see him. I was 18 and could legally see him whenever I wanted and they knew it. So, instead of banning me, they figured I get it out of my system, dump him and move on.
Oh were they so wrong. If they didn’t ban me from him, how could they allow me to go as far as I did with the idiot?
Dating as an adult is complex, we all know that from our own past experiences. Dating as a teenager is a strange world of learning about our sexuality, testing our limits and creating those needed boundaries. Without a decent guide, teens are lost. The problem isn’t that we aren’t decent parents, it’s how we approach the situation and effectively allow them to experience dating while learning to make the right choices about all those weird feelings they are experiencing. To make matter worse, we have to do this without being intruding, overbearing bags of dorkiness. Therein lies the challenge!
We all look back at our teen age mistakes and wonder what we need to do to make sure a generational repeat is minimal. We pick apart our past decisions and try and pinpoint that moment when all went downhill and how our parents could have prevented it. The truth is, they may have not been able to prevent it entirely, but they might have been able to minimize the effects.
I know now that a lot of my decisions regarding the generous donator of Sperm wasn’t because of rebellion. It was because I had a very LOW self esteem. It was a result of a number of forces that could have been discussed before I started dating him. I know that if I were to have learned about these things before I got in too deep with him, I would have known the warning signs. Would I have dumped him like they thought? probably not, but I might have been able to get rid of him earlier then I did. I would have had a clue that hitting wasn’t what boyfriends did to their girlfriends.
By dissecting my past, I think I might have a bit of an insight into what advice I will send Short Round into the world with. It will be advice I don’t expect her to follow all of, but I can only hope that I send her fourth with a basic knowledge of what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t. She will probably fall in mean green love with some dashing boy who will flip her mind out. I can only hope that I am able to have done my job with teaching her about thinking logically when something doesn’t seem right.
The Following is EXACTLY what happens in our home on ANY given morning.
I’m paraphrasing. But HELL—The Judge pretty much said JUST THAT.
The victim was assaulted in broad daylight, at an Exxon station while a cop witnessed it. From the Sun:
The officer testified in court that she was 25 feet from the car at the time of the incident.
“I witnessed him use his right hand, not in a fist, but in, I guess, an open hand, and push the female’s face. … As I saw him grabbing her hair … and trying to pull her out, that’s when I called it on the radio,” the officer said, according to a recording of the hearing.
The woman told the officer that Webb had attempted to pull her out of the vehicle, causing her hairpiece to fall off, and that he hit her in the face, though she characterized it as “more of a tap than a punch.” The woman had no visible injuries, police said.
Alrighty then. So, the Judge says in response to this:
But when the alleged victim didn’t show up in court, Circuit Court Judge Paul Harris said it didn’t matter what the officer saw.
“The state is stepping into the shoes of the victim when she obviously doesn’t care,” the judge said Oct. 3 before acquitting Michael Antonio Webb of second-degree assault. “It’s that big brother mentality of the state. I know it’s your policy (to bring domestic abuse cases without victims), and I appreciate that and I’m not faulting it, but I have to decide the case on what I have. I think a crucial element is missing.”
The judge said without the victim’s testimony, he couldn’t be sure she didn’t want to be beaten.
“You have very rare cases. Sadomasochists sometimes like to be beat up,” he said.
Sadomasochists.
Yes, My friends. Victims of Domestic Violence who are terrified of their attackers and refuse to testify in court against the abuse because they fear the repercussions can now be classified as sadomasichists.
What. The. Fuck?
I’ll be honest. I was TERRIFIED to bring charges against my ex husband. He threatened to kill my cats. He threatened to take my daughter away. He said that if I left him, he would sue me for all the money I made (he didn’t work) and tell the courts I was a bad mom. He held knives to my throat and said that he would push deeper if I called the cops. I escaped under the cover of darkness and only after I knew he wasn’t home. This was in 1996. I didn’t bring charges against him until 2003.(for abuse related to my daughter and threats made to myself) That’s…Hmm.. SEVEN YEARS LATER! I remember his attorney questioning my attorney on why I “wanted to do this now.” My attorney replied, “When you have someone standing behind you ensuring your safety, confrontation isn’t as scary.” She was referring to my current husband, who, at 6 ft and roughly 250lbs, could pound my 160 lb ex into pulp if he went near his girls. Believe me, he wanted to. However, my husband has self control and conducts himself like a real man. Meaning? Violence is never the answer. It’s the last resort of self defense.
I suspect the victim in this case is terrified as well. I bet her attacker made similar threats to her if she talked. I suspect that even though he is in jail, she believes he could make parole without her knowing and come after her for disobeying him. I know her fear all too well.
Judge Harris, the judge who put the victim on trial instead of the attacker, doesn’t give a flying fuck. Especially if he is seriously labling the girl a “sadomasochist.”
AT$T has decided to update it’s terms of service with some seriously ambiguous language. Quoth the corporation:
AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.
So, what does that mean, exactly? If I were a customer and I complained about their service on Consumerist.com, could they cancel my service? If I wrote something negative about the company on my blog while using their tubes, could they shut my off?
The good thing is, I am NOT an AT$T customer. I suspect, however, that if I write shit about Comcast, all bets are off, though.
Whatever happened to that whole free wifi idea? Killed by large corporations who make killings on ISP service?
Imagine paying your mortgage on time, doing everything right, only to find out that your house is being sold at a Tax Sale auction for a bad payment receieved.
This is a nightmare for a lot of homeowners and yet, due to the mortgage mess that Alan Greenspan encouraged, it is happening. Apparently, checks sent out by American Home Mortgage to various Maryland Municipalities have been bouncing.
What makes this really REALLY shitty is the fact tha Homeowners who have paid their taxes into Escrow still, no matter what—get fucked. This is what Sheila “Fuck the poor!” Dixon has to say about that:
Anthony McCarthy, a spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon, said the city does not plan to notify the affected homeowners. They will get a notice in November along with all other delinquent taxpayers if the problem isn’t resolved by then.
Now, I’m sure if a major company or developer was to default on a tax payment due to a mishap, They’d get a bit of a reprieve. Oh…wait…..businesses hardly pay any taxes in Baltimore city! The city drains its RESIDENTS for it’s revenue. So, it’s no wonder that Ms. Dixon wants her money. It doesn’t come from anyone else.
Good people who are paying their mortgages ON TIME are now starting to feel the effects of the mortgage industry implode. This isn’t about poor saps who took on huge loans without proper income anymore. These good people who were making payments took it on good faith that the companies would be able to pay. How could a company expose themselves to that much risk by allowing such tricky loan products to simply anyone?
I was given a task by my boss yesterday. It wasn’t a usual on my task list, but let me tell you, it’s Effin HILARIOUS to accomplish. It has to do with a George Michael video, some footage from Sen. Craig’s press conference and some funny photoshopped pics. I promise to share the finished product with the rest of the world.
Anyway, The whole Larry Craig thing is laughable. Since I work with a lot of people who have either worked or are still working on the Hill, I came to find out that his homosexuality was known, just not spoken of. In fact, it was often rumored that he trolled for sex in Union Station here in the district. The fact that I am there every single day makes me snicker, but thats beside the point. Several of my friends laughed when the story broke and said, “It took this long for him to fuck up and out himself..” Business as usual within the beltway. I swear, DC is a different planet sometimes.
I did learn something new this scandal, though. Although I had already known that illicit bathroom sex was a part of the gay subculture, I thought it had died with the advent of the AIDS crisis. I was very suprised to find out that it indeed still happens, and the foot tapping is a very widely understood signal for sex in a bathroom. My gay friend laughed while I said, “I had no idea that you tap your foot!”
Anyhow, I am loving this whole video editing thing. It makes for a great time dumper.
Have a great weekend folks.
That the killing fields and work or “re education camps” actually happened in Vietnam? Because that happened, we can’t leave Iraq or the same thing might happen again!
Funny, I remember the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia being responsible for that whole Killing fields thing. I also remember learning that Vietnam actually overthrew the horrid regime. Maybe my history books weren’t the same as the ones that Chimpy McFlysuit had learned from. Or maybe he was just confused. or stupid.
I’ll buy the stupid part. But it makes you wonder—how long before some wingnut edits the wiki?
Early this AM, as I watched WBAL through eyes half shut, I noticed a story they were doing on a “State of the Art” combination Middle/High School. This new school will be equipped with the latest and greatest in technology, such as:
The school has a television studio, a mass communications lab with a radio station and a graphics and visual communications lab. School officials said they hope to use the new technology to teach a growing student population.
The new state of the art school is located in the town of Emmerton in Harford County. The project was designed to alleviate overcrowded schools and to prepare for the Base Realignment and Closure set to relocate thousands to the Baltimore metro area. The project cost a cool $59 million for the school alone.
The entire FY 2008 budget for repairs to ailing schools in Baltimore’s inner city? $67,609 for the entire school system. (pg 291 .pdf BCPPS) 2006-2007 had an allocated budget of 21 million but it wasn’t actually approved by then Governor Ehrlich. Gov. Ehrlich and the State Board of Education approved the building of the Patterson Mill school in 2005.
Lets take a look at some demographics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, The city of Baltimore had a median household income of $29,792 in 2004. 64% of the city is African American. Home Ownership rates in the city are only at 50%. Jobs paying a living wage? hahahahahahahahahaha! Why do you think *I* Commute to DC every friken day?!?!?!?!?
Harford County, on the other hand had a median income of $64,000 in 2004. Only 6% of people living in Harford County are African American. Home ownership is at 78%. Jobs that pay a living wage? Well, BRAC has been bringing in some seriously high profile government contractors who provide some competitive wages. Hmmm….
When the SCOTUS ruled in favor of disallowing schools to use race to diversify, I wrote that the impact will be along economic lines. I also discussed the problems that inner city schools face, continuing to fail under No Child Left Behind simply because they lack the budget to even operate with the proper resources such as textbooks and working computers. Never mind the schools are in such disrepair that some are in desperate need of MOLD ABATEMENT from leaky roofs and windows. Separate but equal, right?
While the well funded county schools enjoy the perks of larger Government grants under NCLB, the inner city schools are under a constant threat of being taken over by the state, which could hand them over to a private corporation. If that were to happen, I believe private corporations would move to start charing fees to parents for their services. Onward to an ownership society, right? If you own the means to pay, you can send your child to school. If not, there is the little “public” school down the street, you know, the one with the outhouse?
It’s a no brainer that more money for supplies and needed resources give students a better opportunity to excel. Areas concentrated in higher median incomes demand better schools or they will move their money elsewhere. Since many cities and counties depend on the property taxes to provide funding for needed infrastructure, they are willing to make their counties more attractive to live in, even if that means spending lavishly on schools to keep the parents happy.
Access to quality education is a long term soultion to poverty. The more educated a child is, the better informed they are and can go fourth and make positive changes for themselves and their community. Being smart no longer becomes a liability, it becomes something worth pursuing and they become cool among their peers. Although this would take time to change, better funding for inner city schools can make a huge difference. Imagine if the inner city students had access to the state of the art technology and equipment the Harford County school has? I bet some young minds would be better inspired to create things the world has yet to see. It’s a damn shame no one will give them the chance.
I’ve been a member of the “These low interest rates don’t look very good” club since about 2004, when the real estate market was spinning out of control. Bubble talk and everything. In 2006, my husband and I streamlined our 1/1 ARM loan into a 30 year fixed, collectively breathing a sigh of reliefe. He got a better paying job and we started to save. I decided to take my yearly bonus and pack it away tightly into a CD as a part of our 6 months worth of home expenses. I was weary about “investing” it in a volatile stock market. Let it sit there until the fever broke.
We have no CC debt. We save into a slush fund. My 401K is mainly invested in international funds. I am making what most call an ultra conservative choice with our cash on hand. I said yes. I forsee a financial nightmare.
Credit Standards have been tightened after the collapse of the subprime market. Investors who were banking on flipping a home for an inflated price with a “No Doc” is now in a position for default. Families sold “McMansions” that were vastly overpriced are starting to feel the crunch of their ARMs as they adjust. People relying on the HELOCs to fund their daughters lavish weddings, make needless upgrades on homes in the hopes to flip them for profit and those wishing to consolidate debt are now in a position that will crunch their wallets. Since personal savings is at a negative rate in this country, I only see retail sales slowing to a near crawl. people are overexteended. Welcome to 1929…..er, I mean 2007.
Are the financial markets in a panic? Well, if pumping 35 billion to offset the lack of liquidity for the Mortgage market, I’d say something is amiss. This is happening all over the world as investment funds backed by defaulting subprime mortgages are failing one by one—like dominoes falling.
I don’t give advice. But I will say that I myself have decided that putting away cash and living a bit more frugal has it’s advantages. Storing cash away and staying away from the stock market sounds like a damn good idea until we weed out all the damn Greenspan worshippers.
