Washington Examiner - 'Gun prosecutions under Obama down more than 45 percent'

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The calls from Liberals for more Gun Control keep growing. Lets forget that basically none of the new proposals would have prevented the last gun crimes. Instead keep in mind that the Government is not even taking violations of existing gun laws very seriously. With that comes the news that 'Gun prosecutions under Obama down more than 45 percent'. From the Washington Examiner:

Despite his calls for greater gun control, including a new assault weapons ban that extends to handguns, President Obama's administration has turned away from enforcing gun laws, cutting weapons prosecutions some 40 percent since a high of about 11,000 under former President Bush.
"If you are not going to enforce the laws on the books, then don't start talking about a whole new wave of new laws," said a gun rights advocate. - Washington Examiner

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Government is barely going after any criminals who violate gun purchasing laws. It's almost as if they want criminals to be out and about committing crime. Unfortunately, all this means is that the Government creates more victims. It seems that the best defense is having a gun and shooting criminals yourself as it appears more and more that the Government is no longer in the business of punishing criminals, other than those who cheat on their taxes and other economic criminals. Take this from 'Project Exile' which was intended to go after gun criminals by using Federal gun laws:

From the left, Project Exile was condemned, as racist, by Families Against Mandatory Minimums, and opposed by several members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the grounds that in targeting its enforcement at inner city communities such as in Richmond and Atlanta, and the disproportionate effects the federal gun laws' "prohibited possessor" categories have on African-Americans. - Wiki

Of course these laws would have a disproportionate effect on African Americans but you can bet that African Americans are also disproportionately effected by gun crimes and end up as victims at a disproportionate rate. And when you look at it that way, it is proportionate. However, since the criminals happen to be black, going after them is racist, so we can't do it. And it is the greater black community that mostly pays for voting soft on crime Democrats into Congress.-------------------- --------------------

Crazy - "40 percent of deadly Illinois crashes involve drivers who don't have a license"

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This is what happens when you do not fairly enforce the laws of our country. First you ignore the immigration laws. They you are forced to abandon enforcing driver licensing laws as well as drunk driving checkpoints, as special interest groups will accuse you of 'unfairly' targeting illegal aliens.

Lawmakers believe there are as many as 250,000 undocumented immigrants on Illinois roads and that more than 40 percent of deadly Illinois crashes involve drivers who don't have a license. - NBC Chicago

You can surely bet that a majority of those drivers did not have insurance either, not that is going to help any dead people. However, just how many accidents overall involve illegal aliens? 
Keep in mind that this is a group that generally has 'broken no laws' except our immigration laws, and driver laws,  and employment laws and taxation laws, and identity theft laws. It's not their fault, really. If you stupid Americans would just give them a little more..... they'll demand something else.
In the case of Illinois, they are going to give illegals drivers licenses. So that that the illegal aliens can be just like you and me, and the 9/11 hijackers.-------------------- --------------------

Mayor Bloomberg - 'Let Them Eat Pain!'

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Now lets keep in mind that State and Federal Governments have already been putting restrictions on these types of medicines, some of which need to be accounted for pill-by-pill. But since drug addicts are still finding ways to obtain these drugs, the Mayor's next plan to fight this kind of drug abuse is to take the drugs away from those who will legitimately benefit from them. This is not really a surprise given that this is the same solution he has for combating gun crime, basically targeting those who legally own and would like to legally own weapons.
Mayor Bloomberg's latest rant is that he is going to restrict the availability of painkillers to people who need them at NY area hospitals. His reasoning is that there are people in New York City who are addicted to them. This however will do nothing but punish responsible people who do not abuse these medications, leaving some in pain.

“Number one, there’s no evidence of that. Number two, supposing it is really true, so you didn’t get enough painkillers and you did have to suffer a little bit. The other side of the coin is people are dying and there’s nothing perfect … There’s nothing that you can possibly do where somebody isn’t going to suffer, and it’s always the same group [claiming], ‘Everybody is heartless.’ Come on, this is a very big problem.” - Politicker

So because people are dying from prescription medicine abuse, abuse that I have no control over, the Mayor's logic is that I must have less or even no pain killers because people who don't need it, are consuming too much. 

As for Mayor Bloomberg's comment that some people are just going to have to suffer a little bit, this is the same guy who can't suffer for a minute and wait for his car to cool down on a hot summer day and has his car cooled down by a custom-made air conditioner system. All this from the same guy who puts strict anti-idling laws in place and then breaks them.
Enough with the politicians who think they are better than the rest of us. If we are going to start openly treating people as part of distinct social classes, then lets do it all the way. This way we can stop treating the majority of the population like crap because of a tiny minority. Lets single out this tiny minority and give them the fair treatment that they have earned.

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At Caiola's: Party of One

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Back when I was waiting tables, which seems like a lifetime ago at this point, I’d often hang out at bars, by myself for two reasons: 1) I got free meals at work and was too lazy to cook the rest myself, and 2) What is at one moment a quiet, thoughtful afternoon of solitude can become an afternoon filled with bemusing stories of camaraderie. 100% of the time if I’m dining alone I will take a seat at the bar instead of a table for one. It’s so much more entertaining. Which is part of the reason why this woman dining alone at Caiola’s was so fascinating to me. Her back to the room, facing the window, she almost mocked me and my need for togetherness.

I took Mandy out to Caoila’s for her birthday. She’d never been, and I decided I’d rather spend an evening enjoying outstanding food and drink rather than take a chance on a gift that she’d feign excitement over and consign a respectable 12 months later. We had an amazing time! The food was decadent and complex, but not so complex that I couldn’t understand the menu, if you get my drift.

It was a Wednesday night, and we were in the back room, through the kitchen. Being the sous chef that has to stand near that door must be the worst. There was a group of three respectable upper-middle-aged guys in the corner to my left, one had a Southern accent and I heard them talking about Marketing, television, and the Bangor Daily News. (Hmmm). Behind Mandy was a younger couple who left shortly after we arrived. Then a woman, about 62ish, waltzed in and sat at a two top against the wall diagonal from us, facing the window. The waitress only put down a single place setting, water glass and menu. Table for one.

I knew almost immediately that I wanted to be her. She had a black cardigan, a simple canary-red blouse underneath, with a mid-calf ivory colored a-line skirt that had, like, ribbing or piping instead of stripes throughout. It was a beautiful skirt- hip, yet age appropriate. Her ballet flats, undoubtedly leather, matched her blouse as though they came together. Perhaps they were in fact ordered from the J.Crew catalogue at the same time. Dark framed reading (?) glasses hung low on her face, probably Michael Kors or Kate Spade or some designer brand. My favorite part about her was the bag she carried. It was my dream bag. A caramel leather tote whose sides slouched in around the handles the same way my canvas bags do. It was my dream bag. I think if Diane from Cheers was a real person and lived to be 62, this woman is what she would be like.

Out of the bag she pulled a pristine hardcover book, and inevitably tuned out everyone except for the waitress, who was forced to break into her line of vision when she brought yet another Grey Goose martini with a twist. Or maybe this woman opted into the Buy Local movement and ordered a Cold River martini. I liked that she didn’t like it dirty. I tried a dirty martini once, it was like salty... salty... it was like drinking the ocean if the ocean was made out of olives.

Occasionally she’d pull out a legal sized pad and take notes. On what, I’m not sure. By the way, I wasn’t trying to stare. She was directly in my line of vision.

I imagine after her iceburg salad, steak or bacon wrapped scallops and three martinis she probably pulled out of the parking lot in her 1992 Volvo Station wagon. Although her 3,000 square foot home with its commercial-grade kitchen was only 1/6 of a mile away, you know she didn’t drive because you never see fancy women like that just walking around the West End. Her youngest daughter usually uses the Volvo but she’s WOOFing in France now. It had better visibility than the Mercedes anyway, plus she liked the sentimental value of driving it. Yeah, she was a little tipsy but it was a very short drive if cops are going to venture into the West End, they don’t make it past Brackett, Spring, and the hospital respectively.

One thousand feet later, she pulled into the secret road between Carroll and Vaughn Streets in the West End that connects all of the garage/back entrance/guest houses and settled in for one more cognac in her fucking jacuzzi tub.

Or maybe she was just too exhausted from running her law firm all day to prepare herself a meal. Maybe she didn’t want to sit at the bar because she wanted some peace and quiet for a change. Maybe she was supposed to meet up with the Oshers and they’re still in San Francisco, or the Hagges, but they were at a fundraising dinner and this was her back up plan. All I know is while she was sitting alone at that table, with the dim lighting, Amelie soundtrack and blowing $65 before tip on a meal for one person, I wanted to be her. Minus her imagined kids.

Hi, I'm here. Remember me?

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This post started a few months ago as a farewell letter. I was about to retire this blog, and for that, I apologize. 


Last week two of my blogger friends inspired me to come back here. 1) Ally over at Broke207 was kind of like, "Hey guys, I've been really bummed out lately and haven't written here in a couple of months. Sorry!" But in doing so, she made me laugh out loud with a quip about skeevy internet people and their intentions. She helped me realize that although I don't feel like I have anything to write about sometimes that's okay. Back in 2009, I only posted like 4 times. That was the year that I was REALLY unhappy at my job and knocking boots with all sorts of inappropriate people. Maybe I'm just in a little bit of a creative rut. What's it to ya?

I also got an email invitation to meet up for blogger happy hour. One of my favorite things is when internet friends transition to in-person friends. Yes, it can be awkward at first (but it can also be awkward when you see a friend from real life for the first time in over a year and they know exactly what's been going on in your life.) The happy hour was I think around May or June? I met two nice ladies Samantha and Greta, among others, and I had a great time hanging out. The problem is though, in good conscious how can I go to a blogger happy hour knowing I'm thisclose to abandoning this thing. This is our paraphrased conversation  Me: "Kate. I'm like a loser who never blogs anymore. Can I still come?" Other cool blogger: "Yes! And start blogging again, dummy"

Now probably more than ever, I spend my time listening to podcasts and cooking. Or... watching Hart of Dixie. I'm not afraid to admit that I love that show! Rachel Bilson had me hooked when her character fell for comic book loving Seth in the OC. Actually, Seth from the OC My new favorite callers at work are the ones from rural areas with thick accents who can’t find our products anywhere. Because I imagine them living in someplace like Bluebell. Oh, did you just yawn? Me too. I’m sleepy despite the fact that I've literally done nothing all day.

So where do I stand now? I don’t know. I’m in a happy, reasonably healthy relationship, working at a job that has plenty for me to write about, but I can’t because it is a real job. (Meet me for a drink off the record and maybe I'll give you an anecdote or two.) I have no major life plans on the horizon and although I know that there may be shenanigans to write about, it's difficult to say what my immediate or intermediate future may hold, and what will be good fodder for the blog. My cat is still crazy and I still run into ex-lovers at unexpected times and places.  But sometimes you just run into exes, high school classmates, random people who you're like, "You look so familiar."  

I'm applying for an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Creative Writing. Since procrastination is my forte (can't fail at something you don't finish! Ha! Except... there was that SIXTY FIVE dollar application fee...), you can probably credit this post as the final procrastination straw. If I'm accepted into the program, get ready for a whole lot of creativity up in this bitch. In the meantime, I think I'll take up a practice from my days of more frequent posts- keep a list of blog ideas. There might even be a few on deck at the moment, but it's difficult to be certain.

Consumed during this post: 3 or 4 'servings' of Simply Naked multigrain pita chips, 1-2 servings of zesty spice and garlic hummus, this cocktail but with blackberries instead of mango (my mango went soft.)

Brain Drain And Xenophobia

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Local jobs for local people. This mindset fuels xenophobia. Matthew Yglesias making a false distinction between fear of immigrants and fear of outsiders:

When people hear about a town that's attracting many new residents, they say it's "booming" not that the newcomers are poaching a fixed supply of jobs. Nobody in Texas seems to have proposed trying to close the state to migrants from the Northeast and Midwest; rather, they see the state's attraction to migrants as one of its strengths. The "foreign-ness" of newcomers from other countries distracts people from fundamental dynamics that they understand in other contexts. 

Domestic xenophobia, from Okies to Hillbillies, is alive and well.





You were born here. Used our hospitals and schools. Once graduated, you will toil and pay taxes. Talent, we (i.e. the community) own you:

When Mr. Szabo, 24, graduates soon from law school, he will be free to go wherever in the world he wants. But Mr. Birtalan, 18, was required to sign a contract at the beginning of his first year as a sociology major because of a new rule introduced in September. As a beneficiary of the state-funded university system, he will be obliged to work for two years in Hungary for every year of his subsidized studies. ...

... The Hungarian government sees the contracts as necessary means to combat “brain drain,” said Zoltan Balog, the government minister in charge of human resources, referring to graduates’ choosing to work abroad.

“How can it be that we are training several hundreds of doctors every year — which costs the taxpayers a whole lot of money — who after graduation immediately go to Norway, to Sweden, to England?” Mr. Balog said in an interview.

“I don’t want to enslave them,” he said of Hungarian students. “I want to have a balance between the individual interest and the national interest. This country is investing in higher education, so whoever graduates should also use their knowledge to further the interest of the country.”

I've heard it all before, ad nauseum. Wait a second ... How did I get from fear of Hillbillies taking over Chicago to the connection between talent retention slavery and xenophobia? Local jobs for local people.

Three people apply for a position. One is foreign born. Number two is from out of state. The last is born and raised in Middleamericaville. Who should be hired?

I say the company should be able to hire whomever it sees fit to hire. Who cares where they were born? If you worry about brain drain, then you care. You are a xenophobe. Such xenophobia informs ridiculous policies such as the one in Hungary.

By hook or crook, carrot or stick, trying to stop brain drain is wrong. Helping someone through school doesn't give you a claim on what that graduate does. Restricting geographic mobility does a world of harm. Promoting geographic mobility unleashes economic growth.

Those who seek to plug the brain drain are no better than the folks chanting anti-immigrant slogans.

Ethnic Social Hall Revival

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Rust Belt suburban brats are moving back home to ironic locations. Instead resettling in neighborhoods like the ones where they grew up, they seek out the places their parents or grandparents worked so hard to leave. Rust Belt culture is not working class culture. The ghettos and Pittsburgh potties are relics that stoke the fires of nostalgia and pride. Being Polish and from Cleveland is authentic. It's cool. It's Rust Belt Chic:

And while many ethnic social halls sadly are dying off, some are being reborn. Rick Semersky, the new owner of Sterle’s, has reinvigorated the decades-old restaurant by adding craft beers and bringing in music that appeals to a younger clientele. As "Rust Belt Chic" gains popularity, so too it seems does the polka revival.

The unlikely comeback couldn’t occur at a better time, says Andrew Votaw of the radio show Polka Changed My Life Today, which airs weekly on WRUW 91.1. Many of Cleveland’s once-ubiquitous ethnic social halls now struggle with attendance. Votow hopes the revitalized polka scene will inspire more young people to take an interest.

“The challenge is to get the younger crowd to show up at an actual polka dance at an ethnic dance hall," says Votaw. "Usually, I’m the youngest person at the event. There’s a polka event going on most nights of the week here -- you just have to search for it.”

Votaw, who was recruited as co-host when he began calling in as "Andrew the Mailman" (he’s an actual mail carrier in Lakewood), says his own greatest regret is not celebrating polka music with his grandparents before they passed away. “They spoke Slovak,” he recalls. “They always had polka music blasting in their house.”

A Rust Belt Chic venue is where the eldest and youngest generation of adults come together and party. Hit up the Cadieux Cafe in Detroit. Mingle with the two martini lunch crowd and University of Minnesota art students at Al Nye's Polanaise. Boogie down at the Pittsburgh Banjo Club.

With all due respect to the above, Bat Shit Crazy Cleveland is king. If you like Richard Florida urbanism, he's building a Creative Class theme park in Miami so he can chest bump nightly with Akron's Lebron James. Many of us from the Rust Belt prefer the budding scene at ethnic social halls over Brooklyn boutique. This is where the next great innovations will occur and why President Obama is touting Youngstown, Ohio in his State of the Union address. Na zdravie!