Three Hots and a Cot

Yesterday, there was a known criminal who holed himself up in a neighbors house, shot three police officers and 9 hours later gave himself up to police. This person was a parolee at large and had only been out about two weeks. I am forever going to be a people watcher and I usually get more out of the comments on newsfeeds than I do the original postings. This person's statement is what triggered me to think: "Now this a** gets free meals, free healthcare, free everything. And we all have to pay for that. With our tax money. For the next no one knows how many years. Fantastic." I get it, when someone goes to jail, they have a lot of rights, actually in some cases, MORE rights than 'non-incarcerated individuals'. Wait a minute, do they REALLY? Lets take apart the quote...'free meals, healthcare,everthing and we have to pay for that with tax money, for how many years'....How is that any different than our current United States of America, home of the free? Ahah, this is my dilema. Right now, we are in the midst of a changeover for healthcare in our country, if you cannot afford it, it WILL be free. If you do not have a job, there is cash aid and foodstamps. If you get fired, there are up to 99 weeks of unemployment, free money.How is this any different than our incarcerated people? How is it that people make this connection to where our tax money goes, and NOT the same connection for socialistic governmental laws? I see a disconnect here. The final part of this diatribe, are we TRULY free? We are required to have a passport to even visit our own neighbors now,a government statute and government issued identification. We cannot travel freely around our OWN country, without identification of some sort, yet again another governmental statute and issued identification? We cannot leave and we cannot move about freely. Things are free, if we choose not to put in the hard work. Sounds a lot like EVERYONE is incarcerated in some way or another.

Common sense and decency, not so common

I have lived in my current apartment for more than three and a half years. In that time, I have had 13 sets of new neighbors. The demographics have been from 20 year old roommates, an elderly couple, and I am going to guess about 5 different ethnicities. I am a natural people watcher and have noticed an unfortunate trend. Common sense and decency has been slowly declining. I realize, this is communal living, but there are some unwritten social values and rules that people should abide by. Some examples: Trash and refuse; throw your trash away, don't drop it anywhere you are standing, if you throw your garbage into the dumpster and you miss, pick it up, don't let it blow all over, pick up your DOG POOP! Don't store baby diapers, animal feces and litter boxes on your patios or front porches; we CAN smell them. Respect natural flora and fauna; don't beat the crap out of trees and bushes, lawns, dig up mud and throw onto the sidewalk,don't chase after ducks, cats etc. Noise; I understand that there is some noise factor from stereos, televised games, parties, pets etc; but sitting on your patio or balcony and laughing so loud you wake your neighbors at all hours of the night, unacceptable. Marijuana/drugs; I don't want to smell it. Smoke that crap indoors, if YOU don't like the smell in your house, why are you inflicting ME with the smell too? If you want to be a drug dealer and have hundreds of people coming and going, go rent a house or duplex (since you make a shitload of money, you should be able to afford it, right?). I don't want to see you standing around for hours at a time, sitting on the steps, so I have to walk around you, and again, I don't want to smell your 'selling sample'. By the way, I CAN SMELL YOU GROWING IT! Parking; there are unwritten rules, if a spot is numbered or under a cover, its ASSIGNED; just because I am not currently parked there, does not give you carte blance permission to park there. I pay for this spot, it is MINE. Children; there is an acceptable level of noise, I understand this, but allowing your children to throw a tantrum in a shared hallway at the top of her lungs for more than 5 minutes is unacceptable (and reportable to authorities in some places). Allowing your children to 'go play until dark' without supervision is unacceptable, and also another reportable item. I do not want to be your babysitter, snack bar or otherwise made to feel guilty because you are lacking in parental skills. Community areas; while I like a multitude of ethnicities, I take issue with your 5-8 hour party on the grass in the courtyard outside my windows (often with bounce-house and blasting music). I live here too, and pay rent, I have a stressful job and want to be able to enjoy my peace and quiet, the beauty of our complex and what should be mutual respect. Don't get me wrong, I know I have listed a lot of 'rants', and have been known to be 'the bitch on the block', but none of these things are extravagant. These are social mores that seems to have been forgotten, or never learned. People I have REAL issues, know my feelings :) It just seems, that common sense and decency are waning in this world.