I’ve been debating on whether I should write about this in my blog and I was stalling a little to see if there might be some follow up information to this story. Alas, that is part of the inherent problem! Here’s a link to the story with more holes than Swiss cheese in it if you care to read first: Man shot in Bentley dies
A 25 year old guy name Jose Luis Macias, whose has been listed as a resident of East los Angeles, was driving along a stretch of the 110 freeway, in (here’s the kicker) a silver Bentley Continental, when the car was pierced with multiple gun shots. It’s reported that he has since died as a result of injuries sustained in the shooting.
Here’s the where I’m curious, confused, skeptical, suspicious and critical all at the same time. So, little is known on this Macias kid. I refer affectionately to him as a kid because how many 25 year old people have you ever seen driving around in a Bentley. Sure, I drive through Bev Hills everyday on my commute to and fro work. But the peeps I see driving around in them are presidents of banks and wealthy old Hollywood producers and actors or just really wealthy Persians who made a killing on buying up and historically over inflating the real estate prices in BH (but that’s a whole different Freakonomics blog for a different day).
The only 25 year old I’ve ever seen driving a Bentley was Stephan Marbury when he was a Phoenix Sun a few years back and that’s just because I was new to town and there are an overwhelming number of luxury cars I’d just never seen in the flesh, being a young lass raised in Buffalo NY (for the record; luxury cars don’t do well in places like BUF. And I don’t know anyone wealthy enough in the WNY area to drive a Bentley, with the exception of perhaps a Sabre or Bill or owner of said teams…or maybe the Sorrento family). So, a 25 year old Hispanic male driving a 100K car? These are my people people! We like $3000 cars with $8K worth of accessories on ‘em-think tricked out Honda Civic with DeLorean style doors! We like old 70’s Caddies with White wall tires if we’re talking luxury vehicles (sorry Uncle Pete, we begged you not to drop us off in that beaner mobile for basketball practice daily!). Yeah I said it! And, we can fit our entire family in those things far easier than in a mini van. Plus there’s a nice little cargo hold where immigration can’t see people….it’s called a trunk people! No one’s goin to find long lost cousin Eusebio in the trunk amongst the gallon jugs of Mexican vanilla and blankets we’re taking back through Nogales!
Back to the Bentley. Reports show that the car was recently purchased from Dream Motors Cars in Beverly Hills. The name of the owner is not being released to the public. Nothing is known about the driver – what we can’t even find a myspace or facebook page on this guy? We don’t know why he was driving the car. It’s not likely that someone residing in East LA would own the car (I make this statement solely based on a Freakonomics perspective), since the median income is $28,544 (according to recent census numbers). So, who does the car belong to? Why was he driving it? Why was he in the neighborhood he was in (incidentally East LA is a mile or two from where he was. The more likely neighborhood where a car like that might belong is about 12 miles west of his location; it’s also where the car was purchased)? I have more questions now than before the story ran.
The media hasn’t done its job in gathering facts and back story. Reporters have become lazy. They don’t want to dig. They don’t want to ask the difficult questions. Stories like this drive me crazy. Because it’s likely we’ll see little follow up. Perhaps it’s just my curiosity that leads me to wonder about additional facts of this story however, it’s a great example of lazy journalism. It’s pervasive through out media outlets nationwide. Don’t believe me? Here are a few more examples where there is more missing than present. ANd these are just from today!:
Driver attacked while waiting at Red Light - just plain old laziness – there’s nothing here. This is a non story.
Super Market denies customer service – will not write Adolf Hitler on cake – how come nobody has the cojones to call this jackass anit-Semetic or question him as to why his kids are named what they are?-look at his kids names! ARGH!
Suspect cop is engaged…again – how come nobody bothered to look into snooping around about this poor naïve 23 year old girl and what the hell is her name?
I'm sure I could find some stuff about a hedge fund manager...(but I have a date with a hot one later, so I'm not going ot screw that up until AFTER my dinner at Mastro's - a girl's gotta eat), a stupid hocky player saying something even dumber than teh IQ embroidered on his sweater (yes, people they are called sweaters) , the crazy weather in LA or any other seemingly innocuous topic, but this is all I had time for!
Seriously people. LAZY!!!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Where parental instinct to protect and the law collide - mental health reform vs ineffective legistlation
I’ve read and seen and heard law is reason without passion. While I believe that, it is often that very passion that incites people to practice law. (Well, that and the modicum of security a law degree and a card carrying bar holder have, along with a fairly decent pay check.- Sorry, tangent!) I am the mother of a BEE-YOU-Tee-FUL 4 year old. No, I mean, he's really beautiful. But it's not just that he's beautiful on the outside. More importantly, he's truly a kind little soul, who is sensitive and friendly and open.
Now, the first parts of these statements make me proud, in a narcissistic way. And I'd like to think that we're a pretty attractive lot. It's the second part that scares the hell out of me. It’s the intangible beauty in him. He's open and kind and approachable. This is where, in the worst of predatorial situations, he could become a victim. I know, you are all saying I'm being paranoid and thinking the worst. But the worst is out there:
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/520709.html
I’m torn between the rights of the criminal individual and the rights of sociatally normal people, who are should be able to live in a seemingly safe environment. Currently legislation exists in New York State allowing the state to impose additional confinement on sexual predators beyond the time they serve in a traditional prison environment. Essentially, as it stands, the state is authorized to hold a person on a permanent 5150 hold (I’m sure there’s a more appropriate term for this confinement but it’s simplest and most relatable term I could muster this morning) since these offenders are considered to be an on-going danger to their communities.
IF we’ve determined sex offenders to be a danger to themselves or others, as with any other person with a profound mental illness, institutionalization is expected. That’s the mom in me talking. However, if a person has “paid his debt to society”, it would stand to reason that a person should be released into our communities.
I support rehabilitation, however I question our methods. And can a person, whose brain isn’t chemically wired the way most of us are, be “rehabilitated”? It’s not a matter of law that we should examine but rather an issue of mental health. Sure the law is intended to protect us individually and as a whole. But issues of mental health problems are so prevalent amongst our nation’s criminals that I question whether putting humans into 6x9 cells is truly any kind of rehabilitation.
The Protective maternal instinct in me says hog tie these people and inject them with histamines as punishment for the damage they do, often to our children. (Yeah, yeah, I know, cruel and unusual). The advocate in me says a great deal of reform and approach to mental health care is required for rehab to even be possible, if it is at all. And for now, all we have is the law to help guide us into integrating this people back into whatever we deem societally appropriate for this subset of people.
I look forward to these discussions in the coming few years. And at some point, I may be asked to argue the opposite of the way my heart and gut tell me as a matter of exercise. Just some intense thought born of an article appearing on good ole buffalo.com and the sex offenders in NY.
Now, the first parts of these statements make me proud, in a narcissistic way. And I'd like to think that we're a pretty attractive lot. It's the second part that scares the hell out of me. It’s the intangible beauty in him. He's open and kind and approachable. This is where, in the worst of predatorial situations, he could become a victim. I know, you are all saying I'm being paranoid and thinking the worst. But the worst is out there:
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/520709.html
I’m torn between the rights of the criminal individual and the rights of sociatally normal people, who are should be able to live in a seemingly safe environment. Currently legislation exists in New York State allowing the state to impose additional confinement on sexual predators beyond the time they serve in a traditional prison environment. Essentially, as it stands, the state is authorized to hold a person on a permanent 5150 hold (I’m sure there’s a more appropriate term for this confinement but it’s simplest and most relatable term I could muster this morning) since these offenders are considered to be an on-going danger to their communities.
IF we’ve determined sex offenders to be a danger to themselves or others, as with any other person with a profound mental illness, institutionalization is expected. That’s the mom in me talking. However, if a person has “paid his debt to society”, it would stand to reason that a person should be released into our communities.
I support rehabilitation, however I question our methods. And can a person, whose brain isn’t chemically wired the way most of us are, be “rehabilitated”? It’s not a matter of law that we should examine but rather an issue of mental health. Sure the law is intended to protect us individually and as a whole. But issues of mental health problems are so prevalent amongst our nation’s criminals that I question whether putting humans into 6x9 cells is truly any kind of rehabilitation.
The Protective maternal instinct in me says hog tie these people and inject them with histamines as punishment for the damage they do, often to our children. (Yeah, yeah, I know, cruel and unusual). The advocate in me says a great deal of reform and approach to mental health care is required for rehab to even be possible, if it is at all. And for now, all we have is the law to help guide us into integrating this people back into whatever we deem societally appropriate for this subset of people.
I look forward to these discussions in the coming few years. And at some point, I may be asked to argue the opposite of the way my heart and gut tell me as a matter of exercise. Just some intense thought born of an article appearing on good ole buffalo.com and the sex offenders in NY.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
For Snakebite and anyone else to wax nostalgic
OK here's the deal, when I was in college my friends and I would spend our free time in the TV studio rediscovering the old episodes of Saved By the Bell. If your within 5 years, plus or minus my age, you will know that you either wanted to be Kelly Kapowski, you wanted to sleep with her or you were just really stoned or bored cathing up with the Bayside kids and Mr, Belding in syndication!!
A.C. Slater Facts
We've all heard of the Chuck Norris facts, about how the Chuckster "Does not love Raymond" and how he can "blow bubbles with beef jerky." But no one knows about all the things the Saved by the Bell jock, A.C. Slater can do..... until now.... -
There's only 3 things A.C. Slater likes. 1. Women, 2. Sports, 3. Putting nerds in lockers at
Bayside High.- If you open A.C. Slater's locker at Bayside High you'll find the mummified corpses of over a million nerds, dorks, dweebs, preppies, and teachers.- If there is a sport that Slater isn't any good at, it must not be a sport. And Slater doesn't consider Cheerleading to be a sport. But he does consider cheerleaders to be "Hot Mamas."-
A.C. Slater was never Saved by the Bell, they named the show that because there's only so many nerds that can be thrown into a locker until gym class started.
- You're not allowed to call him A.C. Slater. You can call him Ace, or The Slate.
- Sometimes A.C. Slater plays guitar and calls himself Esteban.
- A.C. Slater invented students having sex with their teachers.
- Slater put the "AC" in "aphrodisiac."
- A.C. Slater doesn't have dimples. Those were dents of anger. If you ever were unfortunate to see those dimples in person, you were quickly and violently thrown in a locker.
- Slater eats live rifle rounds for breakfast.
- Slater once had an opportunity to recieve Spider-Man's alien symbiote suit. Instead, A.C. Slater shoved it in a locker.
- A.C. Slater's heroes consist solely of dead soldiers of WWI, WWII, and 'Nam.
- Mario Lopez is Slater's mild mannered alter ego.
- Super Mario Brothers were created in A.C.'s alter ego's image.
- The reason people never see ninjas is because Slater shoved them all in lockers at Bayside High.
- Someone once took a drop of A.C. Slater's sweat and put it on a tiny blue stone, this was the birth of Viagra.
- Slater always kept a clean shaven face because hair doesn't grow on granite.
- Valley, Bayside's rival school, never really existed except during the first Season of Saved by the Bell. They just mention it so much to cover up the fact that A.C. Slater's dimples killed it.
- Slater put the "AC" in "Ejaculation."
- A.C. Slater's nipples are made of leather.
- Before he went to Bayside High, A.C. Slater work as a stunt double for Hulk Hogan.
- A.C. Slater had a pet chameleon named Artie that died while in Zack's care in the first season. Every Zack Morris segment for the rest of Saved by the Bell's episodes had to have dramatic special effects to make it seem like Zack's face wasn't crushed by a baseball bat.
- Slater calls Zack Morris preppy because he can.
- A.C. Slater's favorite type of porn? Obituaries.
- A.C. Slater's dimples weren't there since birth. Two meteors fell from space hitting A.C. Slater on opposite sides of the face. Those meteors are now stuck in a locker at Bayside High.
- Slater can eat thunder and crap world peace.
- A.C. Slater was the only student in Bayside History to record two A++++++++ grades on his report card. They were for Gym Class and War History.
- Justin Timberlake asked A.C. Slater for advice on how to bring sexy back.
- The makers of the Rambo movie series didn't come up with the idea. They traveled several years into the future and spotted A.C. Slater at Bayside High playing lacrosse. Luckily A.C. Slater liked the movies, if not, Sylvester Stallone would be stuck in a locker at Bayside High.
- A.C. Slater is the number that comes after infinity.
- Jessie Spano did Showgirls because A.C. Slater told her to. After the movie was done filming Slater dumped her for Gina Gershon.
- How did A.C. Slater get his powers? He was bitten by a radio active dimple.
- A.C. Slater took Jesse Spano's virginity... and shoved it in a locker.
- The music band "Gym Class Heroes" are hated by A.C. Slater for making money off Slater's middle name.
- Saved by the Bell was orginally called "Good Morning Miss Bliss" and set in Indiana. Slater didn't like Indiana so he single handedly moved the school to California, changed its name to Bayside high, and fired Miss Bliss.
- A.C. Slater has never won an Academy Award for acting... because he's not acting.
- Many people wonder how A.C. Slater gets that great tan year round. It's simple, Slater goes to his neighbor's fake bake shop every other day to tan on her tanning bed... while it's on fire.
- A.C. Slater's dimples don't have a mind of their own, but, Slater's mind has dimples of its own.
- Before A.C. Slater grew his dimples, he was known as Erik Estrada and starred in porn.
- The Saved by the Bell hangout known as "The Max" used to be called "The Low Intensity." But then A.C. Slater started going there.
- There's a rumor that A.C. Slater will take over as the host of Price is Right after Drew Carey retires. If so, there will be only one game: Shove the dork in the Locker.
- Slater put the "AC" in "Deadly Automobile Accident"
- When A.C. Slater and Zack Morris first met they were battling over Kelly Kapowski. The only reason Kelly went with Zack is because she's allergic to manly...and homosexuals. Maybe not allergic but you get the idea!
A.C. Slater Facts
We've all heard of the Chuck Norris facts, about how the Chuckster "Does not love Raymond" and how he can "blow bubbles with beef jerky." But no one knows about all the things the Saved by the Bell jock, A.C. Slater can do..... until now.... -
There's only 3 things A.C. Slater likes. 1. Women, 2. Sports, 3. Putting nerds in lockers at
Bayside High.- If you open A.C. Slater's locker at Bayside High you'll find the mummified corpses of over a million nerds, dorks, dweebs, preppies, and teachers.- If there is a sport that Slater isn't any good at, it must not be a sport. And Slater doesn't consider Cheerleading to be a sport. But he does consider cheerleaders to be "Hot Mamas."-
A.C. Slater was never Saved by the Bell, they named the show that because there's only so many nerds that can be thrown into a locker until gym class started.
- You're not allowed to call him A.C. Slater. You can call him Ace, or The Slate.
- Sometimes A.C. Slater plays guitar and calls himself Esteban.
- A.C. Slater invented students having sex with their teachers.
- Slater put the "AC" in "aphrodisiac."
- A.C. Slater doesn't have dimples. Those were dents of anger. If you ever were unfortunate to see those dimples in person, you were quickly and violently thrown in a locker.
- Slater eats live rifle rounds for breakfast.
- Slater once had an opportunity to recieve Spider-Man's alien symbiote suit. Instead, A.C. Slater shoved it in a locker.
- A.C. Slater's heroes consist solely of dead soldiers of WWI, WWII, and 'Nam.
- Mario Lopez is Slater's mild mannered alter ego.
- Super Mario Brothers were created in A.C.'s alter ego's image.
- The reason people never see ninjas is because Slater shoved them all in lockers at Bayside High.
- Someone once took a drop of A.C. Slater's sweat and put it on a tiny blue stone, this was the birth of Viagra.
- Slater always kept a clean shaven face because hair doesn't grow on granite.
- Valley, Bayside's rival school, never really existed except during the first Season of Saved by the Bell. They just mention it so much to cover up the fact that A.C. Slater's dimples killed it.
- Slater put the "AC" in "Ejaculation."
- A.C. Slater's nipples are made of leather.
- Before he went to Bayside High, A.C. Slater work as a stunt double for Hulk Hogan.
- A.C. Slater had a pet chameleon named Artie that died while in Zack's care in the first season. Every Zack Morris segment for the rest of Saved by the Bell's episodes had to have dramatic special effects to make it seem like Zack's face wasn't crushed by a baseball bat.
- Slater calls Zack Morris preppy because he can.
- A.C. Slater's favorite type of porn? Obituaries.
- A.C. Slater's dimples weren't there since birth. Two meteors fell from space hitting A.C. Slater on opposite sides of the face. Those meteors are now stuck in a locker at Bayside High.
- Slater can eat thunder and crap world peace.
- A.C. Slater was the only student in Bayside History to record two A++++++++ grades on his report card. They were for Gym Class and War History.
- Justin Timberlake asked A.C. Slater for advice on how to bring sexy back.
- The makers of the Rambo movie series didn't come up with the idea. They traveled several years into the future and spotted A.C. Slater at Bayside High playing lacrosse. Luckily A.C. Slater liked the movies, if not, Sylvester Stallone would be stuck in a locker at Bayside High.
- A.C. Slater is the number that comes after infinity.
- Jessie Spano did Showgirls because A.C. Slater told her to. After the movie was done filming Slater dumped her for Gina Gershon.
- How did A.C. Slater get his powers? He was bitten by a radio active dimple.
- A.C. Slater took Jesse Spano's virginity... and shoved it in a locker.
- The music band "Gym Class Heroes" are hated by A.C. Slater for making money off Slater's middle name.
- Saved by the Bell was orginally called "Good Morning Miss Bliss" and set in Indiana. Slater didn't like Indiana so he single handedly moved the school to California, changed its name to Bayside high, and fired Miss Bliss.
- A.C. Slater has never won an Academy Award for acting... because he's not acting.
- Many people wonder how A.C. Slater gets that great tan year round. It's simple, Slater goes to his neighbor's fake bake shop every other day to tan on her tanning bed... while it's on fire.
- A.C. Slater's dimples don't have a mind of their own, but, Slater's mind has dimples of its own.
- Before A.C. Slater grew his dimples, he was known as Erik Estrada and starred in porn.
- The Saved by the Bell hangout known as "The Max" used to be called "The Low Intensity." But then A.C. Slater started going there.
- There's a rumor that A.C. Slater will take over as the host of Price is Right after Drew Carey retires. If so, there will be only one game: Shove the dork in the Locker.
- Slater put the "AC" in "Deadly Automobile Accident"
- When A.C. Slater and Zack Morris first met they were battling over Kelly Kapowski. The only reason Kelly went with Zack is because she's allergic to manly...and homosexuals. Maybe not allergic but you get the idea!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
What, like it's hard?
SO, I've joined the "blogoshpere". Yeah I know, I'm later than Michelle Duggar's last period. Wait, did the blogosphere even exist 17 children ago? Hmmm...I'll have to look that up. I suppose, as to enitce or incite any further curiosity here is a perview of what to possibly expect from me in the not so near or distant future:
The prospect of moving back to Buffalo is a tough and touchy situation. Looking for a job is becoming comical. I'm thinking of the humiliation and hilarity of the prospect of a college educated white (OK and Hispanic, though I don't look it), formerly gainfully employed person that I am, joining the nearly 50-plus % of Black men of the city of Buffalo, in line at the public assistance offices. Yes, this is a real possibility.
My cross country drive with my gal pal Cari will provide some interesting comedy about the toothless and shoeless of the middle earth area of the country. Stay tuned for that thread.
Here's the big one...at least for now: the differences and likenesses (there are for more htan you realize) of living in big ole LA versus going back to Buffalo. I'm sure Buffalo has the $100+ denim, Ed Hardy donning, Captian Douche Bags (copyright given to Mr Louis Bustamante on this title!) trolling around looking for easy to target college girls to slip some roofies. Maybe just not in as much abundance as LA.
I suppose the Sabres and Bills, and Bulls will become a more active part of my exisitence, though with potential welfare support looming, I'm likely to only encounter the silly boys of winter on Television or if I'm scamming a free drink at Mother's or any drinking establishment deemed cool enough for them to hang out at. Crap, and I used to babysit for some of the old ranks!
My Personal Favorite: I have an penchant for coming up with reidiculous band names, particularly when I've been out to dinner and drinks with my friends, mid sentence, a phrase will likely evolve and be plucked from obscurity to form the next great imaginary Grammy nominated rock band. Shit the Foos and the Goos really exist. Who's to say "Runaway Lipstick" won't be opening for "HandGun Cozies" and "Residual Pussy" anytime soon?
More seriously: I experienced a great deal of legal trouble in the last four years. Courtesy of a Captain Douche Bag-like ex husband (who for the purposes of slander, shall remain nameless for the entirety of this blog). Look for posts on why parental alienation should be considered a criminal act. How the laws of bankruptcy and spousal resposibility should be re-examined for extraordinary circumstances. How sociopathy is one of the most difficult mental defects to idenitify. and a host of other interesting, sometimes intense but at times really laughable things you may find funny/intriguing/disturbing/entertianing/boring or otherwise illicit some kind of internal chemical reaction. Mostly I'm shooting fo rhumour. but iwht humour, a little of the opposite must be expereinced to truly enjoy the humourous.
The prospect of moving back to Buffalo is a tough and touchy situation. Looking for a job is becoming comical. I'm thinking of the humiliation and hilarity of the prospect of a college educated white (OK and Hispanic, though I don't look it), formerly gainfully employed person that I am, joining the nearly 50-plus % of Black men of the city of Buffalo, in line at the public assistance offices. Yes, this is a real possibility.
My cross country drive with my gal pal Cari will provide some interesting comedy about the toothless and shoeless of the middle earth area of the country. Stay tuned for that thread.
Here's the big one...at least for now: the differences and likenesses (there are for more htan you realize) of living in big ole LA versus going back to Buffalo. I'm sure Buffalo has the $100+ denim, Ed Hardy donning, Captian Douche Bags (copyright given to Mr Louis Bustamante on this title!) trolling around looking for easy to target college girls to slip some roofies. Maybe just not in as much abundance as LA.
I suppose the Sabres and Bills, and Bulls will become a more active part of my exisitence, though with potential welfare support looming, I'm likely to only encounter the silly boys of winter on Television or if I'm scamming a free drink at Mother's or any drinking establishment deemed cool enough for them to hang out at. Crap, and I used to babysit for some of the old ranks!
My Personal Favorite: I have an penchant for coming up with reidiculous band names, particularly when I've been out to dinner and drinks with my friends, mid sentence, a phrase will likely evolve and be plucked from obscurity to form the next great imaginary Grammy nominated rock band. Shit the Foos and the Goos really exist. Who's to say "Runaway Lipstick" won't be opening for "HandGun Cozies" and "Residual Pussy" anytime soon?
More seriously: I experienced a great deal of legal trouble in the last four years. Courtesy of a Captain Douche Bag-like ex husband (who for the purposes of slander, shall remain nameless for the entirety of this blog). Look for posts on why parental alienation should be considered a criminal act. How the laws of bankruptcy and spousal resposibility should be re-examined for extraordinary circumstances. How sociopathy is one of the most difficult mental defects to idenitify. and a host of other interesting, sometimes intense but at times really laughable things you may find funny/intriguing/disturbing/entertianing/boring or otherwise illicit some kind of internal chemical reaction. Mostly I'm shooting fo rhumour. but iwht humour, a little of the opposite must be expereinced to truly enjoy the humourous.
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