Our Lawmakers Are Just Brilliant

So the state is having a hard time finding places to house sex offenders released from prison.

It seems no one wants a building full of criminal rapists and perverts next door.

The other day, a guy who had been in prison for sexually assaulting a child allegedly decided to go into a woman's house, shoot her and abduct her friend, whose body was later found.

He allegedly needed cash and a car, but. because the women saw his face as they offered him money and a car, he figured he had to kill them.

Allegedly.

Can I just note here -- when I need cash and a car, I get a job. Although, I guess it is easier just to steal someone else's.

Anyway, so the state is looking for ways to house these guys once they serve their terms, and here's a great quote from state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee:

"If he was in a supervised, staffed, secure residential transitional (facility)
... he would not be out roaming around, breaking into people’s houses in New
Britain," said Lawlor.

Are you serious? This guy is an elected official?

Here's a quick answer for Lawlor: They have a place pretty close to that, it's called prison.

Why am I supposed to have any sympathy for criminal perverts? I don't care if they "did their time" or not -- as far as I'm concerned, it's hardwired. Just because they "do the time" doesn't change what they are.

So that's it, Mikey -- a jail cell or a coffin would be as secure as anything. Now if you and the rest of your liberal peers would stop treating criminals like citizens and citizens like nothing more than sources of money, maybe we could get something going here.

Feeling Human - Part I

I do not know if I am a good person. I know I'm not a bad person, but I think I spend more time thinking about doing good deeds than actually doing them.

It's as if I stop at the simple act of thinking of the "good" thing to do, and then back off an do nothing.

So, while I don't help, I don't harm. ... Unless not helping causes harm, then I guess I'm just screwed.

Here's one of those moments:

I bought an AP Stylebook on eBay. I won the auction (99 cents plus shipping!), paid my tab and waited for the book.

After two weeks went by with no sign of the book, I contacted the seller and they gave me shipping details and told me to check back if it didn't show in a couple days.

Two or three weeks later, there was still no book, and no more replies from the seller to any of my e-mails.

I got burned.

So as I'm filing all the necessary forms through the payment site to try to get a refund of my dough, I notice on eBay that 38 other people were in the same boat as me. A previously good seller had suddenly burned 38 out of the last 42 people who bought something from him/her. In the comment section, people were cursing the seller, saying all sorts of mean things, and I'm thinking the same things -- he didn't like how little the item sold for, he's a fraud who just took everybody's money and ran -- and I'm just thoroughly disgusted.

Rotten jerk fraud ripoff piece of crap took my money.

But then I realized how awful that was -- it's not like they called and said, "Ha ha, I took your cash." Maybe something happened to them. Did anyone think to call them and see?

I'm filing these claims, like thirty-something other people were, and eBay was organizing the forms and working on refunds and blah blah blah, all around this guy -- but had anyone actually tried calling him? Had he already been found dead by the local authorities and put in the ground, and we're all up here bitching about this rotten jerk ripoff artist while it's actually some 70-year-old guy that fell and died, probably while packing things up for eBay, and was just dead on his floor for like days while we all cursed him? And now he's dead and rotting and his family is crying and his grandkids are wondering why Pop-pop isn't giving them candy or quarters anymore, and I'm just sitting here hoping to God that I can get my $4.55 back?

See what I mean? Awful.

So, I've decided that I'm going to find out if they're OK, rather than just think hateful thoughts and go through the administrative motions to get my cash back. I got their contact information through eBay, and I'll give them a call at a more appropriate hour and find out what's up.

The sad part is, after that little After School Special there, that there's a really, really good chance that it's just going to be some jerk who decided to rip people off, you know?

Because people are rotten. But if I'm rotten, too, then it just makes things worse.

Call it a very late New Year's Resolution, but I'm going to give this "human" thing a shot and see what happens.

Some Interesting Stories for Today

Here are some quick stories for the morning:

Apple sued again: A customer is suing Apple over what she says are misleading claims by the company regarding the number of colors the new 20-inch Apple iMac can display. I found it interesting because many of today's high-tech items are so advanced that many users wouldn't know if the "features" touted by the manufacturers are really accurate, so when a company gets caught (allegedly) giving customers a load of bull, especially Apple, which is supposed to be the big customer-friendly company, I get a kick out of it. Read the end of the article to see some other lawsuits Apple has already settled.

Defending your religion: As the protests over a Dutch lawmakers film about Islam continue, I find interesting the differences between what happens when someone criticizes Islam vs. what happens when someone criticizes, say, Christianity. I've written about this before; when an "artist" covered a picture of the Virgin Mary with elephant dung and pornographic photos, Christians got mad and protested, but many people just basically told them to shut up and started "discussion" about how Christians want to control everyone's lives ... but when Muslims protest, for some reason those same people suddenly start talking about the need to be sensitive to people's religious beliefs. Why is it OK to mock some religions and not others? Is it because Christians protest peacefully, while Muslims burn things and make death threats?

Is your cell phone going to kill you? Some people say that using cell phones increases your risk for a brain tumor. Others say it's bunk. But have you ever wondered how some things really will affect people when those things haven't been around long enough to really know for certain? The little Bluetooth headsets people wear in their ear, for example -- how does anyone know what 10 years of that thing stuck in your ear will do, when they haven't been used for 10 years yet? Do you stand in front of your microwave oven when you use it?

Mmmm. An $81 burger: As a loyal carnivore, this burger sounds fantastic, but I don't know if I would shell out $81 for it. ... Actually, I do know -- I'd never spend $81 on a burger unless I was filthy, filthy rich. Still sounds great, though.

Enjoy!