Local, State, National

LOCAL

It is sad yet somehow fitting that my first Local News comments for LSN should take me outside the borders of Cincinnati and back to a place where I spent my growing up.

I find the story of the six children involved in the home fire simply heartrending. All of the names and locations are close and familiar.

I attended Harrison Elementary School in Hamilton, Ohio where the children also went. I once lived in the Neilan Park Apartments where the fire took place. Hamilton, like many small towns, has only so many family last names in the phone book. I may not know this branch of the family, but I grew up with many Reed's, Moss's, and Singletary's. The faces in the photos are all familiar, but I see in their young faces traces of remembered older cousins and aunts and uncles. It wasn't long after I saw the story break on the news that my phone rang.

"Girrrrll? Did you hear about NayNay's cousins?" and then I was be able to connect the family and friend ties that bind. My mother, who taught in and retired from Hamilton City Schools after 31 years (including a 13 year stint at Harrison Elementary) received a similar call from a fellow retired co-worker. "You remember that little girl...yes, her children. Uhn. That's a shame. Lord yes, we'll have to send something. When they make the arrangements, just let me know. We'll go."

So we'll pray for the four children that perished and we'll pray for the two who survived. We'll send something and attend any services that may be held. And my mother won't even think about donating to some "charity". She'll do the homework and send it straight to the family's home with a card and her own condolence note. Definitely money and flowers, and maybe even a friend or myself with food delivered to the door. I'll follow suit because Mama trained me well and her book of etiquette is precise and drilled into me as deep as her everlasting love.

But if you are so inclined. Please donate to the Neediest Kids of All to help the two surving children. https://secure.cincinnati.com/nkoa/nkoa_emergency_fund.html

Blessed be the ties that bind.


STATE

This has bothered me ever since I first heard about it, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it's a stupid, stupid penalty.

In our lovely state of Ohio, Somebody, Somewhere, thought it was a good idea to suspend driver's licenses for people who don't pay child support. Just like Someone, Somewhere thought it was a good idea to put parents in jail when they're hard headed kids don't go to school.

On the other hand, I do think it's a good idea, for someone who steals gas, to have their driver's license suspended.

If you're gonna steal gasoline, more than likely, you wouldn't be so conspicuous as to walk up to the pump with a gas can and then stroll casually away. Stealing gasoline is a fairly artless crime, like the dine and dash. You pull up in a car, act like you're a paying customer but you find a convenient time to get away without actually doing the paying part. Since there are a ton of cameras, you're likely to get caught sooner or later, but catch an off camera and a busy time of day, and it's possible to get away with a tankful of stolen hootch.

Now, assuming you did get caught, and your driver's license gets suspended as a result of your crime and you actually take your punishment seriously, you won't be driving for a while and more than likely you won't be stealing gasoline unless.

Obviously, driving and stealing gas have a co-relation.

Now, please explaining to me how some cash poor person who didn't have the money for child support is going to WORK for a living without a car in order to get the money to pay the child support? Likewise, what is a parent to do if they drop little Johnny off at the school door, head to work to support little Johnny but hard-headed Johnny goes out the back door while Mom and Dad have done the best they can? Wouldn't it make sense to punish Little Johnny, not Mom & Dad? Will we next suspend driver's licenses for parents of truant children? Why are we making things so hard for working parents. As a hard working parent, I really want to know?

Metro doesn't get you everywhere and if you've ever taken a taxi over two miles in this city, you know even a bootleg is a $5 minimum trip. $7 since gas prices went up. I just don't think the punishment fits the crime. It smacks of a legal, Ha Ha. You're poor and we've already got you, let's put ANOTHER legal roadblock in your path to keep you from meeting your responsibilites.

Anyway, I am in wholehearted agreement with the group in the article who wants this part of the penalty repealed.



NATIONAL

Since this is my first National Comments post, I don't think I'll dig up one particular article. I'd like to just do an overall commentary on what I feel are the most pressing items of the minute.

Operation Iraqui Freedom
Yes, I think we should pull out. If the Iraquis can hold off the entire American & British army then they can damn well run their own country.

Yes, I think they all lied. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowizt, Rice. We should impeach the entire cabinet and the enitire line of succession right on down through Michael Chertoff. Bush Sr. and W deserve a especial condemnation. The former for getting another term to promote his war-mongering ideals through his son; the latter for being so weak and maleable that he will live in infamy for having stood by while thousands of his citizens died crying out for help while he stood by helpless and flew over on a plane.


The War on Terror
IMHO, this is simply a war on the American People. Much like the border fence that supposedly keeps illegals out, but only serves to keep us in, So the War On Terror, the Patriot Act and the current controls on the Media serve to keep Americans terrorized more than any terrorist or plane falling out of the sky ever could. I believe the media is more than culpable for their refusal to stand up to our government and for perpetuating the War on Terror.

Anyone who's ever read a Tom Clancy novel knows that we've given terrorists justification as soldiers and martyrs when they needed to remain merely criminals. The Global War on Terror is unwinable against the terrorists, but is very effetive in monitoring, controlling and abusing law abiding citizens.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)
I'm all for people getting paid for their work or "intellectual property" as it's called these day. However, I am also for corporations learing to work with current technology instead of buying legislation to get their own way and criminalize what they can't control. Last I checked, bullying people with power and spyware to pay overinflated prices was extortion.

Racism
Most people think racism doesn't exist anymore and has been placed by classism. I believe that racism and bigotry are more rampant today than in the 1950's. It's just hidden better and the denial is stronger. I also belive that racism does more than any terrorist in destroying our Nation and hiding our common values.

Children
Americans and our elected officls pay a lot of lip service to "helping the children" but history and the facts prove, we do not put our money where our mouth is. America has the highest infant mortality rate of any Western Nation. We take money from Head Start and public schools to fund the war. We do not give teachers the respect and pay they deserve. We take working parents to task for payhing more attention to their families than to their careers, and deny them healthcare for themselves and their kids. Yet somehow we claim that we will leave "No Child Left Behind".

Accountability
I'm tired of our Nation's Leaders blaming anythign and everyone for their failures, misteps, deceptions and outright lies. I'm tired of complaining people who don't vote. I'm tired of waiting for change and singing "We Shall Overcome".

What's more, I'm tired of blaming everything and everyone else for not standing up for me when I have a voice of my own. And with it comes a pledge to be more involved; to love and listen to my family; to be a voice in my neighborhood and community; to not only be aware but to actively particpate as a fortunate citizen of my city, state and country.

So that's why I started this blog.