Overpaid Chumps

Andrew Bogut, the #1 NBA draft pick got ejected from a summer league game today. His response, "I needed the rest anyway".

What a prick. Pay me a guaranteed $3 million per year and that entitles me to be a complete beyotch.

Well, that's not exactly the response you would expect from the #1 prick...I mean pick. He was drafted a few months ago and after signing on with the Bucks he said,

"This is a dream come true for me,” said Bogut. “I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point and I’m honored to be a member of the Milwaukee Bucks organization. I’d like to thank my family for all their support, Senator Kohl and Larry Harris for the exciting opportunity and the great fans of Milwaukee for the enthusiastic reception I’ve received. I look forward to a successful NBA career with the Bucks."

Yeah, nice way to start your career.

Police Shootings

I saw a story on the news yesterday about a family burying their little girl who was killed in a police standoff in LA the other day.

Here's the link to the story.


The father was wrong to:
1) Shoot at cops (especially ones in LA)
2) Use your baby as a human shield

The cops were wrong to:
1) Not find an alternative way to resolve the situation

Is it necessary to fire off 90 rounds against one guy (especially when he's holding a baby)? I wouldn't think so, but I'm no cop. Could the SWAT team and cops been more patient, let the guys alcohol and coke buzz wear off? Maybe.

I'm just trying to figure out how cops decide in which cases the use of deadly force is OK. If the guy was alone shooting at cops, then yeah. But when a small child is involved, then I would hope that it wouldn't be the same (but in LA, I guess so).

Would the police handled the situation differently if the mayor was shooting at cops and holding his/her kid next to them? Maybe. I wonder if cops decide to respond to a situation based on who is involved.

Here's a bit of text from the article:
The death of a child in a police shooting is extremely rare. Bratton said the fatal shooting was only the second time a hostage had been killed since the department formed its SWAT team in 1967. In that time, SWAT officers have responded to 3,800 calls involving hostages or people barricaded inside buildings.

That's a pretty good record, but why did this case have to have a different ending.

In the end, it's the poor mother who has lost her child. What can she do now?

Texas Minutemen

Guess who's coming to town...the Texas arm of the Minutemen. I'm sure most everyone has heard about them. Call them vigilantes or call them patriots...call them what you will.

Here's what they want to do here in Houston. They want to crack down on illegal workers at day labor facilities. They want to take pictures of the illegal workers and those that hire them. What they will do with the pictures is beyond me (submit it to the INS, government, etc). Whatever.

Here's my two cents (more like a buck-fifty).

Here we have Mexican workers who have travelled several hundred miles north of their country to find work. Some apply at places of business (getting paid under the table) and some go to day labor sites, waiting to get a job. What is wrong with this?

There are two sides of the fence and I'm kinda on both sides. Sure jobs are being taken away by cheap labor, but how many people would do some of the menial, mundane work that these day laborers do? I think that Deborah Norville or one of those other overpaid newscasters did a report about day laborers harvesting fruit or tomatoes in California. She didn't have such a great time with it. Pay was bad, work environment wasn't air conditioned, etc.

How many people do you know that would do these kind of activities? Would you want to be the one to build houses in the Houston summer heat? Not me. I made my choice to get my degree and work indoors. They have made theirs.

All they want to do is make some money. Why? They have families that they need to feed to. Same as me. I can respect that. Why else would you want to do day labor? First you have to wait outside for someone to pick you up...if anyone actually does. Then you have to go to some unknown place to work. There have been instances where the person hiring the day laborer didn't even pay them or drop them off in an entirely different location after the work is done.

I guess my rant is that I can respect a person that is willing to do whatever it takes to support their family. If the only way to pay the rent and put food on the table is to wash dishes, mow lawns, build houses, pick fruit, etc, then you do what you gotta do. At least they are not robbing people and taking what is not theirs. They work to support theirs. I have more respect for them than I do for some white guy on a corner begging for money. The day laborer is trying to work for their money, while be begger is expecting a handout.

OK, that's my rant. But here's one thing to ponder. Aren't most of us (native Americans aside) somewhere down our lineage foreign to this country? Think about it. Also think about this, what would you do to support your family? To what means or extremes would you be willing to take it?

Until next time...

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. Here I'll discuss what I think is wrong with the world today. These are my opinions and maybe shared by others, but probably not. I'm just a late twenty-something, that grew up in the 80's. Now, I'm married, father of three, college graduate, and part of the American work force.

Life is decent, not too bad, not that great, pretty much in the middle. I'm not dirt poor, but I do qualify for some assistance (so much for that college degree). So that's pretty much it. Just an "average" guy trying to get by. Don't want to have any trouble, and I don't want to start any.

Just like everyone else, I just want to have a decent time while I'm alive, raise my children right, and all that good stuff before it's time for me to go. I guess my perspective on life may be a bit ambivalent (you know same shit, different day), so that may be the perspective on how my blogs are written. You never know.