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(I have a total of two rants. Other will be posted later)

Why can't we spend even $2 on a homeless person? Is it because we don't have time? Because they probably are lying and want drugs? Is it because we just can't afford it? Well I'd like to call bullshit. Today I was driving my brother to Buffalo Wild Wings and I got some food to go. One my way back, there was this homeless couple and a dog on the side of the road, with nothing but clothes on their back and a small sign that said "Have a nice day." I was parked at a red light and I just got to thinking about how Jesus would react if he saw these couple, and if you aren't religious, how any decent person would act. I immediately pulled to the side of the road and rolled down my window and asked these guys what they want. They were so great and just said "We'll take anything. We don't care."

So I drove over to Fry's and bought them a 6 piece chicken, two sub sandwiches, and 4 cold waters. Total $17.64. I went back and parked in a spot and brought it to them. The faces they made were so great and so awestruck that a 17 year old cared about them. I sat down in the dirt and just chatted for a few minutes, while Kasha, the female bulldog was licking me

We can do a lot in this world. We can spend time with homeless people, spend money, anything. People are too caught up in their own lives to slow down and realise what is happening around them. It's sad. Just talking to these two made them feel so much better (that's what they said). Why can't we do that? What's wrong with us?

It does not matter their background. It does not matter what drugs they do or don't do. It's up to us, I'm speaking mainly to my generation, but this applies to ALL, to fix this. I almost can't bear it.

Sorry this is a bit delayed, but congratulations Denth!! That's awesome!

Dave, that's a really nice story. Honestly most human beings simply cannot or don't have the effort or will to overpower their basic human instinct to be selfish. It's all hardwired into every one of us, and it makes sense in nature. I only hope that as civilization becomes more developed, we will get there in time.

Until then, well, it's the reality.

Anyway, I am back in Switzerland with a whole ton of American food and actually not-too-bad jet lag.

Sorry to hear about the car, Amalya. Misrepresentation happens a lot when people are selling things...=/

Anyway, looking forward to a quiet weekend...last night was awesome...cake, ice cream, chatting, having fun. I should relax like that more often.

People fucking suck.

Didn't end up getting the Lynx, it was heavily misrepresented

Can you pursue legal action?

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Alright, second rant.

United States Peace Officers.

The role of the police force is to protect the citizens and the rights of said citizens correct? Correct. These peace officers are given, and trained to use a variety of arms, including pepper spray, taser, a firearm, baton, and others. Training for peace officers include basic history of law enforcement, to the statutes of which state they're in, to talking down suicidal persons.

There has been a lot of publicity lately about how peace officers are abusing their power, shooting unarmed people, and other problems. And honestly I wish you all would shut up.

Peace officers are specifically trained and know what to do when a situation occurs. EVERY officer must go through a very extensive training. Now training times vary from state to sate, for example California is roughy 4-5 weeks of academy training, whereas Pennsylvania State Trooper academy training is 13-15 weeks.

A peace officer is trained to protect the lives of citizens. That is their sole duty. If any officer is caught in a hostage situation, the rule is to save the civilians before the officer if possible.

Now I'm not saying every single thing an officer does is justified. There are mistakes where an officer can be mistaken and it happens to end with the loss of a life. It's tragic, but the officer's interpretation was that the individual(s) were a harm to others, and so they took action. And yes sometimes officers are complete jerks and they beat up a minority figure. They don't deserve to wear the badge and hopefully the courts can sort it out.

Without any sort of police force, what state would the nation be in? Chaos. Anarchy. Anyone could do anything. They only other way would be to militarise everything, and then America becomes a police state.

Should officers be required to perform longer training periods? Maybe. Should all officers be required to wear cameras as they do in CA? Maybe. But getting rid of the police force? Hating officers for no reason? Really America? Yeah. Sure.


(Note: As a potential future PA State Trooper, this is basically one sided)


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A counter-point, David...
The issues you're talking about are much much more complicated than you might think... I do believe that most cops are good. It is not a pleasant job and few would find it worth the pay so most who go in are going in because they genuinely do see it as a way to help and assist people. But here's the issue... The big stickler... When you give people anonymity (a uniform), you give them power (You are a physical representation of an ethereal force), and you give them people who are weaker than them (people who are not physical representations of The Law) they turn quite quite bad... Or rather they have a higher chance to... And without intensely difficult rewriting this kind of thing keeps happening... There've been a lot of excellent scientific studies that show that when you give people things like that they quickly get out of hand... Good nice people start committing truly awful acts... The problem DOES NOT lie with the cops themselves, in my opinion, but more with the system that the cops have been put into.
This idea has been talked about a lot, of course... And it's been around for a little while... If you really want to get a better grasp on what I'm trying to talk about look up the work of sociologist Phillip Zimbardo... He's a highly influential and interesting man and he talks a lot/proved much of what I'm talking about.

I kinda agree with Reon on this one >.<

Alright, second rant.

United States Peace Officers.

The role of the police force is to protect the citizens and the rights of said citizens correct? Correct. These peace officers are given, and trained to use a variety of arms, including pepper spray, taser, a firearm, baton, and others. Training for peace officers include basic history of law enforcement, to the statutes of which state they're in, to talking down suicidal persons.

There has been a lot of publicity lately about how peace officers are abusing their power, shooting unarmed people, and other problems. And honestly I wish you all would shut up.

Peace officers are specifically trained and know what to do when a situation occurs. EVERY officer must go through a very extensive training. Now training times vary from state to sate, for example California is roughy 4-5 weeks of academy training, whereas Pennsylvania State Trooper academy training is 13-15 weeks.

A peace officer is trained to protect the lives of citizens. That is their sole duty. If any officer is caught in a hostage situation, the rule is to save the civilians before the officer if possible.

Now I'm not saying every single thing an officer does is justified. There are mistakes where an officer can be mistaken and it happens to end with the loss of a life. It's tragic, but the officer's interpretation was that the individual(s) were a harm to others, and so they took action. And yes sometimes officers are complete jerks and they beat up a minority figure. They don't deserve to wear the badge and hopefully the courts can sort it out.

Without any sort of police force, what state would the nation be in? Chaos. Anarchy. Anyone could do anything. They only other way would be to militarise everything, and then America becomes a police state.

Should officers be required to perform longer training periods? Maybe. Should all officers be required to wear cameras as they do in CA? Maybe. But getting rid of the police force? Hating officers for no reason? Really America? Yeah. Sure.


(Note: As a potential future PA State Trooper, this is basically one sided)


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The role of the police is to enforce the law and uphold order.  They are not obligated, constitutionally, to protect you.

The Supreme Court has ruled this in a old Maryland domestic abuse case sometime in 2003.

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Settled on a Contour as a replacement car, pretty happy with it. Now I'm eagerly awaiting this Friday as tickets for UFC fight night go on sale and I'll be buying floor tickets!

Yay!  Hopefully it was cheaper and less shady than the Lynx?

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Biggest understatement of the year haha. This thing is mint comparatively.

Pics?

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I'm glad the car situation worked out for you, Amalya!

So the dreadful summer work schedule is now over, and starting tomorrow I'll be going in an hour later than I was during the summer. The extra five hours of sleep every work week should be absolutely blissful.

Gah lucky Moot! Meanwhile, I get to start SCHOOL! Hooray!