Since it's been almost a week, I checked in with the victim of last week's race-related beating in Polish Hill.
Surely, I thought, with a license plate number from the suspects' vehicle & the telephone number of one of the 6 suspects, there had been an arrest by now.
Not so. The young man was informed that there was no record of an incident report for that day, time or location. Even though he was tended by Pittsburgh police officers & rushed to Mercy Hospital by city ambulance service, no police report has yet been filed.
Where is the outrage, Pittsburgh?
If this was a young black man beaten in the streets by white strangers, there would be marches & candlelight vigils & community groups would be demanding an audience with every politician.
There would be complaints to the Citizens Police Review Board & the federal DOJ, questioning the conduct of the responding officers & charges of racism & favoritism by police.
Every paper & local news station would be jockeying to tell you the facts over & over, beating a dead horse into the ground until you had memorized every insignificant detail to the point that you could recite it in your sleep.
But I guess a violent beating at the hands of racists with black skin is nothing compared to some white kid driving around with a flag.
What a sad, horrible world this has become for all of us.
Disillusioned idealist needs a place to rant. Complaints welcome but only if accompanied by intelligent suggestions for potential solutions.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Hate Crimes Don't Count
Apparently the local news in Pittsburgh only cares about hate crimes when a minority is allegedly victimized. Even a perceived slight garners spotlight if there's so much as a remote possibility that a caucasian may have done something that might possibly be construed as discriminatory.
But when white people are targeted, the media doesn't even mention it. Think of a quiet neighborhood that’s about 100% residential & offers no attractions of any kind. There are 3 neighborhood bars but one of them is frequented by senior citizens & usually closes in the early evening. The neighborhood doesn’t have any stores at all, not even a convenience store. There are no restaurants, laundromats or any other businesses at all anymore except a funeral home.
The neighborhood is more than half white but is racially mixed & everyone gets along. It’s quiet, safe & residents venture outside of it for necessities & entertainment in all forms.
Now think about youths from other neighborhoods venturing in just to cause trouble. They vandalize the homes & vehicles. They throw bricks through the windows of these sad little bars & rob them on a regular basis. They go into these quiet neighborhood bars where everyone knows each other & start fights with strangers for no reason. They beat up people walking down the street. They steal cars, bikes, break into homes & equipment sheds, mug residents & more.
If white kids were regularly going into non-white residential neighborhoods to destroy property, vandalize, steal, rob & beat up people walking down the street, it would garner media attention. But if they were only targeting property owned by non-whites, it would be all over the news.
And if those white youths were singling out minority men & violently beating them six to one, the local media would be overwhelmed with public outrage.
But when 6 black men cause trouble in a white-owned bar in a neighborhood where they don't live, then go outside & beat up an innocent white resident, then vandalize the bar, that's not even newsworthy. Where is the outrage about the racial motivation of the attack?
Yesterday a young man in Polish Hill was walking down the street just blocks from his own home & was brutally beaten for no reason by 6 men. After the vicious attack, the cowards capped their performance by breaking windows of the quaint neighborhood bar they had just exited.
Sidebar: If they were trying to show how "tough" they are, they did a piss poor job by beating him 6 to 1.
The victim spent the night in the ER & went home after sunrise with about 20 stitches, only to be rushed back late this morning. As his face continues to swell, the stitches in his mouth tore his wounds & spewed a fountain of blood.
The owner of the bar has had so much trouble lately with minority patrons instigating violence in his establishment that he's giving up & trying to sell the place. The former owner of the bar had the same problems. Every few Saturdays, a group of gangbangers from the nearby Hill would come in with shotguns & hold up the bar. It stopped for a while but all of the old problems are starting up again.
There's a van that drives around the neighborhood periodically. It stops, non-resident blacks get out & they grab everything they can carry from nearby homes. Planters, windowboxes, flags, mailboxes & anything else that residents might have outside of their home. Then they all get back in the van & take off with everyone else's belongings.
Residents are seeing an increase in stolen & vandalized cars, lawnmowers, sports equipment, bicycles, locks cut off of equipment sheds, trespassering & vandalism of all kinds.
Black youths are traveling to neighborhoods where they don't live or know anyone specifically to commit violent & criminal acts. If it's not racially motivated, why aren't they beating up random black people? The area is racially mixed but they are specifically targeting whites only.
Case-in-point: How many times did we have to hear the saga of white Baldwin students driving through Brashear's campus flying rebel flags? It was seen as offensive, insensitive & by some, even criminal. The students were threatened with being banned from their own high school graduation for something they did outside of school.
No matter how offensive you find their actions, the truth of the matter is that this is America & everyone is entitled to free speech. Their actions had nothing to do with the fact that they had successfully completed high school, thus making them eligble to be at the ceremony.
Yet somehow that right can be taken from them by an entity that doesn't have any authority over them outside of school?
As a nation, we bend over backwards to right imagined "wrongs" yet regularly turn a blind eye to true injustice.
In today's culture of political correctness, we manage to punish white offenders above & beyond the actual scope of our authority. When will we implement the same standards for everyone else? Shouldn't equality span all aspects of our society?
But when white people are targeted, the media doesn't even mention it. Think of a quiet neighborhood that’s about 100% residential & offers no attractions of any kind. There are 3 neighborhood bars but one of them is frequented by senior citizens & usually closes in the early evening. The neighborhood doesn’t have any stores at all, not even a convenience store. There are no restaurants, laundromats or any other businesses at all anymore except a funeral home.
The neighborhood is more than half white but is racially mixed & everyone gets along. It’s quiet, safe & residents venture outside of it for necessities & entertainment in all forms.
Now think about youths from other neighborhoods venturing in just to cause trouble. They vandalize the homes & vehicles. They throw bricks through the windows of these sad little bars & rob them on a regular basis. They go into these quiet neighborhood bars where everyone knows each other & start fights with strangers for no reason. They beat up people walking down the street. They steal cars, bikes, break into homes & equipment sheds, mug residents & more.
If white kids were regularly going into non-white residential neighborhoods to destroy property, vandalize, steal, rob & beat up people walking down the street, it would garner media attention. But if they were only targeting property owned by non-whites, it would be all over the news.
And if those white youths were singling out minority men & violently beating them six to one, the local media would be overwhelmed with public outrage.
But when 6 black men cause trouble in a white-owned bar in a neighborhood where they don't live, then go outside & beat up an innocent white resident, then vandalize the bar, that's not even newsworthy. Where is the outrage about the racial motivation of the attack?
Yesterday a young man in Polish Hill was walking down the street just blocks from his own home & was brutally beaten for no reason by 6 men. After the vicious attack, the cowards capped their performance by breaking windows of the quaint neighborhood bar they had just exited.
Sidebar: If they were trying to show how "tough" they are, they did a piss poor job by beating him 6 to 1.
The victim spent the night in the ER & went home after sunrise with about 20 stitches, only to be rushed back late this morning. As his face continues to swell, the stitches in his mouth tore his wounds & spewed a fountain of blood.
The owner of the bar has had so much trouble lately with minority patrons instigating violence in his establishment that he's giving up & trying to sell the place. The former owner of the bar had the same problems. Every few Saturdays, a group of gangbangers from the nearby Hill would come in with shotguns & hold up the bar. It stopped for a while but all of the old problems are starting up again.
There's a van that drives around the neighborhood periodically. It stops, non-resident blacks get out & they grab everything they can carry from nearby homes. Planters, windowboxes, flags, mailboxes & anything else that residents might have outside of their home. Then they all get back in the van & take off with everyone else's belongings.
Residents are seeing an increase in stolen & vandalized cars, lawnmowers, sports equipment, bicycles, locks cut off of equipment sheds, trespassering & vandalism of all kinds.
Black youths are traveling to neighborhoods where they don't live or know anyone specifically to commit violent & criminal acts. If it's not racially motivated, why aren't they beating up random black people? The area is racially mixed but they are specifically targeting whites only.
Case-in-point: How many times did we have to hear the saga of white Baldwin students driving through Brashear's campus flying rebel flags? It was seen as offensive, insensitive & by some, even criminal. The students were threatened with being banned from their own high school graduation for something they did outside of school.
No matter how offensive you find their actions, the truth of the matter is that this is America & everyone is entitled to free speech. Their actions had nothing to do with the fact that they had successfully completed high school, thus making them eligble to be at the ceremony.
Yet somehow that right can be taken from them by an entity that doesn't have any authority over them outside of school?
As a nation, we bend over backwards to right imagined "wrongs" yet regularly turn a blind eye to true injustice.
In today's culture of political correctness, we manage to punish white offenders above & beyond the actual scope of our authority. When will we implement the same standards for everyone else? Shouldn't equality span all aspects of our society?
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
PA Gaming Comission a Joke
By now we've all noted the lurid details of yet another PA gaming board officials public folly. Where do they find these people? My initial assumption was that the entire board is comprised of recently released prisoners being offered a second chance by the state. While disturbing, this premise is inaccurate & the facts may be even more disheartening.
According to a recent letter to the editor in the Trib, the state police do a background check on these "highly recommended" employees. Ha! Let me state for the record that I briefly had a part-time job at a fast-food chicken place in high school & they screened employees with psychological tests.
Basically, the test is designed to investigate your temperment & personality to ensure that you won't suddenly whack at customers with a cleaver or throw hot creamed spinach on a coworker.
Why can't the state institute something similar to stop the flood of degenerate psychos that has inundated public service as of late? According to the whiny letter from the board's chairmen, there are 170 employees of this debacle. Since a lowly press aide was receiving a $64,000 salary & a car at taxpayer's expense, I can only imagine the gross overcompensation of the other 169 "employees".
And this particular guy had worked previously as a background checker for the DOD. While I can't boast any former employers of that ilk, I do have considerably more administrative & managerial experience than the 26 year old nutcase who was fired. The pay & perks definitely exceed the compensation for a lowly purchasing manager in the private sector.
I only hope that they'll advertise this newly vacant position. There are many of us non-criminal, not crazy, hardworking & better qualified Pennsylvanians who would love to be so handsomely compensated for doing what we already do every day: working hard, doing our jobs properly & never ever embarassing our employers.
The people of PA deserve more discretion from our leaders, both fiscally & administratively. Since that will never happen, the least they can do is cut out the nepotism & give the rest of us a chance to work for the state. The workers of PA deserve the chance to be coddled & overcompensated too, since it's our tax dollars footing the bill.
According to a recent letter to the editor in the Trib, the state police do a background check on these "highly recommended" employees. Ha! Let me state for the record that I briefly had a part-time job at a fast-food chicken place in high school & they screened employees with psychological tests.
Basically, the test is designed to investigate your temperment & personality to ensure that you won't suddenly whack at customers with a cleaver or throw hot creamed spinach on a coworker.
Why can't the state institute something similar to stop the flood of degenerate psychos that has inundated public service as of late? According to the whiny letter from the board's chairmen, there are 170 employees of this debacle. Since a lowly press aide was receiving a $64,000 salary & a car at taxpayer's expense, I can only imagine the gross overcompensation of the other 169 "employees".
And this particular guy had worked previously as a background checker for the DOD. While I can't boast any former employers of that ilk, I do have considerably more administrative & managerial experience than the 26 year old nutcase who was fired. The pay & perks definitely exceed the compensation for a lowly purchasing manager in the private sector.
I only hope that they'll advertise this newly vacant position. There are many of us non-criminal, not crazy, hardworking & better qualified Pennsylvanians who would love to be so handsomely compensated for doing what we already do every day: working hard, doing our jobs properly & never ever embarassing our employers.
The people of PA deserve more discretion from our leaders, both fiscally & administratively. Since that will never happen, the least they can do is cut out the nepotism & give the rest of us a chance to work for the state. The workers of PA deserve the chance to be coddled & overcompensated too, since it's our tax dollars footing the bill.
Monday, June 12, 2006
More Idiots in Charge
As our state wrestles with a crumbling infrastructure, property tax insanity & a myriad of other pressing topics, our overpaid & generally useless state legislature is diligently at work drafting legislation about paintball.
Those of you familiar with our leaders are probably aghast that I used the word diligently. But don't worry, it's sarcasm. A recent letter to the editor in the PG pretty much sums it up & I couldn't say it any better myself.
The writer points out one of my favorite facts, which is the role of natural selection in our lives. I feel that survival of the fittest broadly encompasses what we could also term "death to the stupid" or "damn, that guy is lucky".
As a nation, we're constantly working against this natural process by attempting to protect the grotesquely stupid from themselves. No! No! No! Let nature takes its course!
There are certain things in life you simply should not have to be told. Surely you've seen the list of "actual" product warning labels making it's way around the net for years. While I hope this is an urban legend I've avoided researching it because frankly, I'm afraid it's not.
If you require warnings such as "do not attempt to iron clothes while wearing them" or "hey, this coffee is really hot so don't drive around with it wedged in your crotch" than you are really dumb. If you iron yourself to death or maim your genitals to the extent that you are now unable to reproduce, this is just nature's way of stopping your genetic line.
And to nature I say, "Thank you." To the rest of the world I say, "Leave nature alone, let it do the job for the benefit of us all."
Those of you familiar with our leaders are probably aghast that I used the word diligently. But don't worry, it's sarcasm. A recent letter to the editor in the PG pretty much sums it up & I couldn't say it any better myself.
The writer points out one of my favorite facts, which is the role of natural selection in our lives. I feel that survival of the fittest broadly encompasses what we could also term "death to the stupid" or "damn, that guy is lucky".
As a nation, we're constantly working against this natural process by attempting to protect the grotesquely stupid from themselves. No! No! No! Let nature takes its course!
There are certain things in life you simply should not have to be told. Surely you've seen the list of "actual" product warning labels making it's way around the net for years. While I hope this is an urban legend I've avoided researching it because frankly, I'm afraid it's not.
If you require warnings such as "do not attempt to iron clothes while wearing them" or "hey, this coffee is really hot so don't drive around with it wedged in your crotch" than you are really dumb. If you iron yourself to death or maim your genitals to the extent that you are now unable to reproduce, this is just nature's way of stopping your genetic line.
And to nature I say, "Thank you." To the rest of the world I say, "Leave nature alone, let it do the job for the benefit of us all."
Thursday, June 8, 2006
Stupid People in Charge
Since I work in the construction industry, I can't say I'm surprised by this:
The URA has just learned they drastically underestimated the Hot Metal Bridge pedestrian/trail project. According to an article in yesterday's PG, the estimated cost of the project was $6.5 million but the bids ranged from $9.2 to almost $12 million.
I don't know about you, but if I was 40% + off on an estimate, I'd probably start looking for a new job right away.
Since 2003, we've seen drastic increases in the price of domestic steel mainly due to a shortage of raw materials & also because foreign is much cheaper. This has just been completely ignored by our government planners.
There are many potential solutions & relief could be had by combining multiples measures to varying degrees: Utilize higher performance products that cost more initially but save millions over the life of a structure. Relax the domestic requirements to some degree. Redesign it.
Bottom line: The people in charge of these decisions are so out of touch with reality it's frightening. Next time you make a major purchase, stop for a moment & think about your budget, then imagine that the item you want costs 40% more than you can afford.
At that point, wouldn't any intelligent person relinquish their purchasing/planning duties in good conscience? Or would you just not buy a house, car, etc. until you could afford the exact one that you wanted, regardless of how inept & impractical your plan?
The URA has just learned they drastically underestimated the Hot Metal Bridge pedestrian/trail project. According to an article in yesterday's PG, the estimated cost of the project was $6.5 million but the bids ranged from $9.2 to almost $12 million.
I don't know about you, but if I was 40% + off on an estimate, I'd probably start looking for a new job right away.
Since 2003, we've seen drastic increases in the price of domestic steel mainly due to a shortage of raw materials & also because foreign is much cheaper. This has just been completely ignored by our government planners.
There are many potential solutions & relief could be had by combining multiples measures to varying degrees: Utilize higher performance products that cost more initially but save millions over the life of a structure. Relax the domestic requirements to some degree. Redesign it.
Bottom line: The people in charge of these decisions are so out of touch with reality it's frightening. Next time you make a major purchase, stop for a moment & think about your budget, then imagine that the item you want costs 40% more than you can afford.
At that point, wouldn't any intelligent person relinquish their purchasing/planning duties in good conscience? Or would you just not buy a house, car, etc. until you could afford the exact one that you wanted, regardless of how inept & impractical your plan?
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