Hoodies Really ARE Menacing

Contrary to what you may think, no, this is not a rant about the recent Trevon Martin case.

I work at a small, family restaurant as my day-job. My job requirements REQUIRE me to periodically make food deliveries in all kinds of weather, sh*** & otherwise.

Recently between 940-945p, I had to make one such delivery. It was dark, it was miserably rainy, & of course it was hard to see the numbers on the actual houses. At one point, I saw someone on her porch smoking a cigarette in the general vicinity of my delivery. So I parked & go out & asked her if she knew where (my house number) was.

While I was talking to her, some guy in a car starts bitching at me about the rudeness of shining a flashlight in peoples face. I questioned why he thought that, there was only one person out before he spoke up (the cigarette lady), & informed him I was making a delivery & needed to find the house. He kept bitching at me so I simply choose to ignore him & continued talking w/ the lady on the porch.

Holy sh**! The guy freaked the eff out. He gets out of the car (much to the protestations of [presumably] his wife) demanding that I apologize, all the while getting in my face. I outright refused because I had NOTHING to apologize for. He then continues lecturing me about the virtues on not shining a flashlight in peoples faces, all the while pointing his finger against my chest (assault?).

At one point, he demands I get off his property & leave the area. I have no clue if I was but made sure I was standing on the sidewalk & pointed that fact out to him. He demands I leave the (bleepin') area & demands to know my name & where I worked. Like hell, I'm telling this pedestrian road-rager my name & place of employment. For all I know, he could fire-bomb my workplace in anger & then I'm out of a job. When I refused, he got mad & slapped my hand, sending my flashlight flying to the ground. By sheer instinct, I gave him a nice, hard shove.

As soon as I did that, I'm like "Oh, sh**! Just my luck, this guy will blow a gasket & I'll end up in the hospital." I ran to get my flashlight that's still on the ground, bolted back to the car, to get the food I'm supposed to deliver, the ticket that accompanies it, & jetted over to the opposite side of the street in a seemingly fruitless attempt to find my missing house.

The lady whom I'm supposed to deliver the food to, eventually flagged me down & we were kinda talking about it because they could hear most of the exchange w/ the guy from across the street. It was that loud.

Anyway, I tell my "war" story to the guys back at the restaurant. They got a big kick out of it because its just one of those absurd things.

If only it ended there...

When I get home, I come to find out that the household was visited by the cops. They were asking all sorts of questions, "Did I have any friends in (that) neighborhood?" "Does he drive a (insert the make & model of the car)?" "Do you know what he was doing over there?" This is all the while the family dog's barking up a storm.

At some point, the cops figured out I was over in that end of town because I was making a food delivery. (Well ya, that's what I told the pedestrian road-rager a couple different times!)

While I'm telling the cops my side of the story afterwards, they were like "Well, that's funny. He didn't tell us about (the finger-pointing & the hand slap)." In my head, I'm like "You think he'd admit that he assaulted a complete stranger?" The cop continues & tells me that the guy was concerned because there'd been a string of incidents in that neighborhood (he didn't elaborate) & he saw a guy in a hoodie, shining a flashlight (nevermind where the flashlight was actually shining), & he overreacted. Like that was a newsflash.

So there you have it, my own personal experience how simply wearing a hooded sweatshirt DOES INDEED cause a person to becomes 100x more menacing.

(rolls eyes)


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This is Kira.



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Gold and Police Cars

I noticed something that raised my eyebrows.

My local paper on 11 April reported about a case where the Warren County Sheriff's office (along w/ the Feds) seized over $2 million as part of a illegal drug plea deal. The article is below:

http://poststar.com/news/local/million-in-gold-bars-unearthed-in-queensbury-as-part-of/article_86388450-8414-11e1-ab40-001a4bcf887a.html

Not even 48 hours later, that same daily is reporting how that same sheriff's department is reporting a "crisis" over a lack of available patrol cars. That article is below:

http://poststar.com/news/local/lack-of-available-sheriff-s-cars-called-a-crisis/article_7c4c0cfc-85a7-11e1-b2a0-0019bb2963f4.html

I find it funny (or maybe sad) how the Sheriff's department is just now reporting they're in desperate need of more patrol vehicles at the EXACT moment, they're expecting to receive a financial windfall.

Ok, maybe that doesn't surprise me.

Yet in an era of enhanced concern over public expenditures, I'm outraged that the department (& the board that approves such expenditures) is willing to go spend that money before they even receive it.


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This is Burgandy, a helluva muralist in her own right. The Art Studio major in me is VERY jealous that she's able to have her craft pay her bills. But at the same time, I know that isn't for me. I jokingly attribute that to my the ornery Marine in me & my inability to blow smoke up people's rear when they solicit my opinion. =)

At the time this was shot, I had zero clue how this would turn out. The extreme lights & the extreme darks forced me to completely wing it. I'm pleased w/ how it all turned out.



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Tiny Court System in NYS

After an acquiantance of mine was bitched out in open court because she dared to file a routine appeal, I feel obligated to recall attention to the ongoing problems w/n the small court system here in New York state.

To put in simplistic terms, those presiding (judges) have no requirement to actually have a law degree. Nor is there a requirement for them to know what they're doing. Nor is there a requirement in (at least pretending) to be impartial. Nor is there any real oversight pertaining to how such proceedings are held or conducted.

I would go further but the New York Times did an investigative series & their findings were considerably more detailed. Therefore I'm providing its link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/25/nyregion/25courts.html?pagewanted=all


The paper also examined how previous attempts (going as far back as 1926) have all failed for different reasons. That article can be read here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/27/nyregion/27courts.html?pagewanted=all

This is an issue that effects ALL North Country residents.

Do you really want to be that battered wife (or brother of that wife) & have the judge tell that person, "Every woman needs a good pounding every now and then." Or does it inspire confidence in the system when a judge proclaims, "I just follow my own common sense & the hell with the law."

I think not.


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This is Shiloh, basking in a patch of late afternoon patch of light.



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Post-Obamacare Motivation

This week the US Supreme Court listened to oral arguments surrounding "Obamacare." Let's assume for argument's sake that it completely strikes it down as being unconstitutional.

What other policy points does the GOP have?

"Obamacare"'s defeat has been a huge fundraising source & rallying point for them. Its dominated the public discussion so much (especially during the primaries) that it makes me wonder if they have any other policy points they want changed.

What are they gonna do talk about contraception for the next seven months?

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This here is Stashi, doing her quirky thing.



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Wasn't There a Better Way

In late January, the Komen Foundation (one of the biggest nonprofits promoting Breast Cancer Awareness) took the controversial step of publicly revoking its donational support to Planned Parenthood, the reason being PP is an abortion provider & Komen doesn't support abortions. Because the uproar was fueled by member outrage on social media, Komen not only quickly backtracked but their Vice President, Mollie Williams (who is perceived to have led the anti-abortion charge) quickly resigned.

I also stumbled upon this GMA interview of former Victoria Secrets model Kylie Bisutti. (Link is below):

http://gma.yahoo.com/video/fashionbeauty-26594250/lingerie-model-discusses-shocking-exit-off-runway-28244133.html

She entered the public conscience when she won an open competition held by the company, beating out over 10,000 prospective models. She's making news now because she's giving up Victoria Secrets gig & aiming for something more wholesome.

The question I'm asking is, couldn't there have been a better way?

Why am I bringing up these two seperate incidents? Allow me to digress.

Realizing the extent of the public outrage, Komen quickly reversed their descion. They could have acheived their objections in distancing themselves from an abortion provider by quietly withdrawing their donations. But instead, they had to make a splash & make it public thus insuring outrage but also making it a POLITICAL statement.

What did they get out of it? They're still paying PP for cancer screening (money which would not have gone to abortions because of the terms of those donations). But in the process, they lose their credibility. The Foundation can't claim to be the preeminent nonprofit interested in only promoting breast cancer awareness if they contract their elligibility pool. Nor was their founder's performance in explaining their rationale whe she appeared on Andrea Mitchell's program (the interview link is below)

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/02/10303379-andrea-mitchell-interviews-susan-g-komens-nancy-brinker

As for Kylie Bisutti, I'm still scratching my head. If a person changes their mind, that's their business. But her justification that "(her) body is only for her husband" left me wincing. What is this like 1955? Don't even get me started that she's also doing it to "honor God". She certainly had no quams about showing off her body when she beat out her competitors (even going so far as saying "I want this, and I'll do what it takes to get it."). Nor did she have quams taking such gigs when it accompanied a big fat modeling contract. She could have easily shifted to more wholesome stuff & no one would have cared. But by making a big splash, it didn't become about her or her husband or her religious beliefs. It became about her ego. Last time I checked the Bible, hubris was a pretty big sin.


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This is one of my muses (its not a term I use lightly).

She earned that name by how she found me. Back during my undergrad, I posted a series of flyers "Seeking a Muse" citing the various benefits. "Eternal glory" was one of the perks. I did it more as a lark than anything else. Anyway, she found & responded to the flyer & we worked together MANY times before she transferred.



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Jim Crow is Alive and Well

The following article was brought to my attention by a family friend:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/12/3004849/music-directors-marriage-leads.html

...the guy is his Godfather, an important symbolic position w/n the Christian community.

Some things bother me about this case. The choir director was OPENLY GAY when they hired him & had remained at his post for over 10 years doing an exemplary job. He went out of his way to give his bosses a headsup that he was getting married to his partner, so as not to blindside them. They still kept him on the job. Yet the moment he got married, he all of a sudden wasn’t qualified & thus was fired.

But y'know, if church spent even 1/4 of the time cleaning up their own ranks from pedophiles as they DO spend rolling back women's reproductive rights (same goes for gay marriage), their congregation ranks might be more inclined to adhere what they have to say as well as to attend mass.

The biggest question in my mind, if that church's principles were so important WHY DID YOU HIRE THE GUY IN THE FIRST PLACE?! They sure can't claim they "didn't know".

Granted he'd probably lose because the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Jan 2012 in the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case that religious schools can legally fire their teachers for nonreligious reasons but I hope the choir director slaps them with a Federal Job Discrimination lawsuit or something just for shits & giggles.

Its sad that Jim Crow is alive & well in America & the law passes it off as "religious freedom".


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This is Morgan. Shot during a break on that day's storm.



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Religion and Abortion and Birth Control

I'm amused at how vehement & hypocritical the Religious Right can be.

I give you two separate instances that occurred recently; the revocation of Komen Foundation's breast cancer screening donations to Planned Parenthood because that organization is an abortion provider & the uproar over the Obama Administration requiring religious institutions to provide birth control as part of their health insurance coverage to their employees.

You'd think the church would WANT to provide free/low-cost birth control because it'd reduce unwanted pregnancies & thus (presumably) less "killings of the unborn". To say nothing about how a drain those unwanted babies are on the state coffers (another concern of the Religious Right).

But I guess that strand of logic is inconsequential.

It should also be noted that religious institutions have already been providing birth control as part of their insurance for the last TEN YEARS. Strange how this fauxtroversy is only coming to light now. Don't believe me, read this link.

I'm guessing this outrage is happening because its an even numbered year (meaning elections). Funny how that works.


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This is Doria, circa 2006. I always liked her creative spunk.



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