Dostoyevsky’s Milieu
A few weeks ago a couple of shoplifters in Alabama were forced to carry out their sentences of wearing sandwich-board signs for four hours on successive Saturdays outside of the store they tried to steal from bearing the message ‘I Am A Thief’. Some onlookers were heard to say that this punishment was ‘cruel’. Now, silly me, but one of the thieves was a 46-year-old woman who carried out the sentence to avoid a prison stint. Most notably, though, she was 46 years old!!! What the hell did she think should happen, and what of that bystander declaring the punishment cruel? One would think that by the age of 46 most reasonable people would have figured out that stealing is wrong and that doing so will result in what we in the thinking sector of the world like to call consequences. And, on the latter, what exactly should punishment be?
These days kids, it seems that the punishment doesn’t always fit the crime, does it? I’ve seen stories on news programs that would make your skin crawl and more often than not, the culprit lives his or her days out in a maximum security prison camp, with three squares a day and while either earning their degree or signing a lucrative book deal with some shyster trying to capitalize on the deaths of innocents.
I’ve got my own take, go figure, on just how fitting a punishment should be. First, I suppose, we should clarify the meanings of both crime and punishment. According to Wikipedia, a crime is an act that violates a political, religious, or moral command considered important in protecting the interests of the State or the welfare of its citizens or subjects. Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant or aversive on a person or animal in response to an unwanted or disobedient behavior.
So if we follow the accepted definition of punishment, its supposed to be unpleasant and since some of these bastards barely rise far enough above the food chain in many instances to qualify as a person I think it should be equitable to the amount of suffering imposed on their victims. An example of this would be that if some piece of shit rapes and desecrates a young woman or worse a child, I’m thinking that the punishment would involve razor blades, salt and this scumbag’s penis, be creative.
So while We are painting ourselves into the proverbial corner with our humanity and civilized behavior. Punishment should not be as civilized as, more often than not, the crime for which the punishment is designed. And unfortunately the criminals we’re dealing with these days don’t follow any of the rules either of civility or of humanity.
We’ve created exuses for their behavior with the endless psychobabble spewed forth from the mouths of well-meaning psychiatrists and trying too hard to understand that for which there is no explanation. If some nutsack goes into a house and kills everyone that’s there, we give them an out with ‘The abuse this person suffered in their childhood has facilitated a behavior that is in direct contrast with what is considered acceptable to general societal norms’. We then send them to a psychiatric ward where they are given optimal care and then released when they are found to be ‘cured’ only to be surprised and appalled when they repeat the same offense for which they were originally incarcerated. Must have slipped back into lunacy.
I hearken back to the days of posses and frontier justice, well, maybe not that far back. Somewhere there is a happy medium between what should be considered equitable and what should be considered cruel and unusual, cruel anyway. The judge that sentenced shoplifters to what can readily be called unusual but that could surely be considered equitable.
Earlier on I alluded to stories that would make your skin crawl; one such story goes as such:
A man kidnapped a young girl and held her in a remote location for several days, repeatedly raping her and forcing her to perform certain acts on him. When he had his fill, he killed her with his bare hands, drenched her in gasoline and set her demeaned and lifeless corpse on fire in a banal attempt to conceal the evidence. As I recall, the man was eventually captured and was given the death penalty. Death, was too civilized a punishment.
With a little imagination and a little less civility, I’m pretty sure I could have come up with something a bit more fitting.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
His Royal Highness--King Todd
The following is a letter I wrote in to a large metropolitan newspaper last week but that was not published, there are similarities to an editorial in said newspaper published today that are eerily familiar though, hmmmm . . .
It’s Not Easy Being King
Poor, poor President Stroger, the lesser. He’s had a tough road lately. Ever since taking the trouble to wrangle the nomination for County Board President from those more qualified he has had a tough road to hoe. He’s had to ensure that all of his family and friends have high paying County jobs. He’s had to begin the biggest layoff that the County has seen in more than 20 years. He’s had to give up his elevator and he’s had to answer for his actions. And now he’s trying to downplay the importance of the mess over at the hospital that was named for his father. It must be bad enough skating into a position that shouldn’t have been yours to begin with, but then being expected to clarify the reasons for your actions, well, that must be unbearable.
It’s a funny thing when you decide you want to be in charge of a government system whose budget is larger than the budget of many Fortune 500 companies, you become what we in the rest of the world like to call accountable. And to blame the press for your own inadequacy, well that’s just silly. Some of us take exception as well with the insults handed out to both the press and the commissioners. It is the job of the press, nay their responsibility, to scrutinize our public officials. And to imply that the commissioners lack the ability to think for themselves, well that’s just the inane rumblings of the disenchanted.
I’m going to try to make this as easy to understand as possible Mr. President. We have what is called a system of checks and balances in government here in the United States. The framers of the Constitution, that means the guys who wrote and planned our government, decided that it would not be a good idea to not give too much power to any one branch of the government. Many local governments agreed and put similar systems in place. That way, if say the president decided he wanted to spend a bunch of money that belonged to the people without telling anyone, another branch would question him and ensure thereby that said government remained a democracy instead of a autocracy.
Stop whining chief. No one is making your job hard but you. You got yourself elected, something we’re all still trying to figure out. You made back room deals to get your budget passed, again something we’re all still trying to figure out. For some reason we still haven’t seen this mystery budget that is paid for by the taxpayers of Cook County for their benefit, not yours. At this point it would seem to the general public that nearly everyone in your family and personal circle has a great job within the County, quite frankly we wouldn’t be surprised to find out that you have a four-year-old niece in charge of the County day care system at $85,000 a year.
Sorry but you don’t get to complain about being scrutinized, it comes with the territory and you volunteered for this particular assignment. Now I don’t fault you for taking advantage of one of the last refuges for nepotism in the free world because it’s not just you taking from the kitty, but the time has come to pony up and take some responsibility for your own actions. Nobody ever said it was easy being king, but it’s a hell of a lot harder when you realize that your subjects are willing to take exception with the way you rule. So don’t fret too much because from here on out, it’s only going to get harder.
It’s Not Easy Being King
Poor, poor President Stroger, the lesser. He’s had a tough road lately. Ever since taking the trouble to wrangle the nomination for County Board President from those more qualified he has had a tough road to hoe. He’s had to ensure that all of his family and friends have high paying County jobs. He’s had to begin the biggest layoff that the County has seen in more than 20 years. He’s had to give up his elevator and he’s had to answer for his actions. And now he’s trying to downplay the importance of the mess over at the hospital that was named for his father. It must be bad enough skating into a position that shouldn’t have been yours to begin with, but then being expected to clarify the reasons for your actions, well, that must be unbearable.
It’s a funny thing when you decide you want to be in charge of a government system whose budget is larger than the budget of many Fortune 500 companies, you become what we in the rest of the world like to call accountable. And to blame the press for your own inadequacy, well that’s just silly. Some of us take exception as well with the insults handed out to both the press and the commissioners. It is the job of the press, nay their responsibility, to scrutinize our public officials. And to imply that the commissioners lack the ability to think for themselves, well that’s just the inane rumblings of the disenchanted.
I’m going to try to make this as easy to understand as possible Mr. President. We have what is called a system of checks and balances in government here in the United States. The framers of the Constitution, that means the guys who wrote and planned our government, decided that it would not be a good idea to not give too much power to any one branch of the government. Many local governments agreed and put similar systems in place. That way, if say the president decided he wanted to spend a bunch of money that belonged to the people without telling anyone, another branch would question him and ensure thereby that said government remained a democracy instead of a autocracy.
Stop whining chief. No one is making your job hard but you. You got yourself elected, something we’re all still trying to figure out. You made back room deals to get your budget passed, again something we’re all still trying to figure out. For some reason we still haven’t seen this mystery budget that is paid for by the taxpayers of Cook County for their benefit, not yours. At this point it would seem to the general public that nearly everyone in your family and personal circle has a great job within the County, quite frankly we wouldn’t be surprised to find out that you have a four-year-old niece in charge of the County day care system at $85,000 a year.
Sorry but you don’t get to complain about being scrutinized, it comes with the territory and you volunteered for this particular assignment. Now I don’t fault you for taking advantage of one of the last refuges for nepotism in the free world because it’s not just you taking from the kitty, but the time has come to pony up and take some responsibility for your own actions. Nobody ever said it was easy being king, but it’s a hell of a lot harder when you realize that your subjects are willing to take exception with the way you rule. So don’t fret too much because from here on out, it’s only going to get harder.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Charity Begins at Home
Darfur, is that near Cleveland?
Once again the Hollywood community has chosen its cause of the week and this week’s winner is Darfur, which I believe is somewhere near Cleveland. Now before we all get testy let’s be sure to clarify that Hollywood does do a lot of charity work. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, that community stepped up and raised a lot of money for the victims and families of those injured or killed. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf coast, again Hollywood stepped up and raised money for those devastated by nature’s fury. And, when the list of b-list actors and has-beens grew too large, they created Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Fit Club so these folks would have an outlet for their talents.
So now we are to send our overtaxed, hard earned dollars to the Darfur region that is experiencing atrocities unmentioned. I’m taking this as an affirmation that there are no more problems facing the people of the United States. Apparently there are no more children here who go to bed hungry. I’m assuming that every citizen has health insurance. I surmise that the homeless all found homes, all domestic diseases have been cured and that each of us has a full tank of gas.
Millions of dollars were raised last week when a benefit for the region of Darfur was held last week in Chicago by the new ‘brat pack’. Fat cats happily shelled out hundreds of thousands for a chance to view a movie and have a ‘meet and greet’ with the stars of Oceans Thirteen. Now, from the viewpoint of a middle-class Midwestern boy this is tantamount to holding a benefit for hair plugs for singer/actresses that decide to shave their heads in a moment of supreme drug or alcohol induced idiocy.
I don’t mean to seem insensitive and I’m sure that the problems facing this region are indeed staggering, to say the least, but the fact is that the affluent and infamous of American society, who get affluent and infamous wholly, if not completely, on American dollars, always seem to find causes outside the United States to devote their time and efforts to. And while they do, they continue to collect exorbitant amounts of American money for dressing up and pretending to be someone they’re not or by stripping the public of their money and dignity.
Last time I checked a random microcosm of American society did not closely resemble fuckin’ Mayberry, the greatest threat to our safety was not a drunk named Otis, and we did not all have an Aunt Bee sending us a gingham lined picnic basket full of fried chicken and homemade Apple Pie for our lunches while we sat around our offices with the Bass family singing and strumming our guitars. We have crime and disease and poverty and politicians; all indicators that we still have our own problems to deal with.
So while Hollywood sits around this week and takes a vote on which cause they want to focus on next week, let’s all remember that charity begins at home. We still have people living in the streets, we still have people dying without proper healthcare, and now we have people standing on busy corners holding signs that read, “WILL WORK FOR GAS MONEY”. Until that day comes that there is indeed a chicken in every pot here in the USA, let’s focus on causes at home rather than abroad. Or then again maybe I am wrong and Darfur really is near Cleveland.
Once again the Hollywood community has chosen its cause of the week and this week’s winner is Darfur, which I believe is somewhere near Cleveland. Now before we all get testy let’s be sure to clarify that Hollywood does do a lot of charity work. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, that community stepped up and raised a lot of money for the victims and families of those injured or killed. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf coast, again Hollywood stepped up and raised money for those devastated by nature’s fury. And, when the list of b-list actors and has-beens grew too large, they created Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Fit Club so these folks would have an outlet for their talents.
So now we are to send our overtaxed, hard earned dollars to the Darfur region that is experiencing atrocities unmentioned. I’m taking this as an affirmation that there are no more problems facing the people of the United States. Apparently there are no more children here who go to bed hungry. I’m assuming that every citizen has health insurance. I surmise that the homeless all found homes, all domestic diseases have been cured and that each of us has a full tank of gas.
Millions of dollars were raised last week when a benefit for the region of Darfur was held last week in Chicago by the new ‘brat pack’. Fat cats happily shelled out hundreds of thousands for a chance to view a movie and have a ‘meet and greet’ with the stars of Oceans Thirteen. Now, from the viewpoint of a middle-class Midwestern boy this is tantamount to holding a benefit for hair plugs for singer/actresses that decide to shave their heads in a moment of supreme drug or alcohol induced idiocy.
I don’t mean to seem insensitive and I’m sure that the problems facing this region are indeed staggering, to say the least, but the fact is that the affluent and infamous of American society, who get affluent and infamous wholly, if not completely, on American dollars, always seem to find causes outside the United States to devote their time and efforts to. And while they do, they continue to collect exorbitant amounts of American money for dressing up and pretending to be someone they’re not or by stripping the public of their money and dignity.
Last time I checked a random microcosm of American society did not closely resemble fuckin’ Mayberry, the greatest threat to our safety was not a drunk named Otis, and we did not all have an Aunt Bee sending us a gingham lined picnic basket full of fried chicken and homemade Apple Pie for our lunches while we sat around our offices with the Bass family singing and strumming our guitars. We have crime and disease and poverty and politicians; all indicators that we still have our own problems to deal with.
So while Hollywood sits around this week and takes a vote on which cause they want to focus on next week, let’s all remember that charity begins at home. We still have people living in the streets, we still have people dying without proper healthcare, and now we have people standing on busy corners holding signs that read, “WILL WORK FOR GAS MONEY”. Until that day comes that there is indeed a chicken in every pot here in the USA, let’s focus on causes at home rather than abroad. Or then again maybe I am wrong and Darfur really is near Cleveland.
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