And the "hits" just keep on coming! "A Chinese diplomat was beaten and injured by Houston police at the Chinese Consulate... last Saturday... HPD to assign three officers to desk duty..." Although the article refers to an investigation involving HPD and the US State Department, it is quite interesting this article doesn't say "alleged"; it says a "diplomat was beaten".
“The officers involved have stated that they were unaware the
building Yu entered was the Chinese Consulate,” Mayor Annise Parker
said. Mayor, what the F'ing difference does that make? Do you approve of HPD beating people as long as they aren't from a consulate???
"Police Chief Charles McClelland has issued a directive that all beat officers receive the addresses of every consulate in the city." Chief, here's my suggested "directive": HPD officers, Stop Beating the F out of HUMANS. Oh, and stop shooting pets while you're at it!
"beat officers" Wow, how appropriate is that term anyway? Oh, well, at this rate all we're going to have very soon is "desk officers"!
Frankly, I’d be good with that. I just got back from running to the store and, on the way home got pulled over by an officer. After the usual pleasantries (insurance and license – yes, officer, I do have to reach into my purse if you actually want to see that darn thing!), she informed me that I’d been pulled over for not having my seatbelt on. I just smiled and said: “Yes, I do.” She was disappointed to discover that, indeed, I did have my seatbelt on.
I HATE the way a shoulder strap cuts into my throat! So, I have a binder clip on my seatbelt to ensure it has some slack in it so I can tuck it under my left arm without it cutting into my armpit either. The seat/shoulder belt is still fully functional as the binder clip will not stop it from engaging in an accident.
I was in a good mood so I kept smiling at the officer and, although she kept trying to put on her serious face, she kept slipping into a smile too. Must say I was very proud of my Shiba who simply reclined on the seat also smiling at the officer. Well, she wished me a good night and off we both went. Now I can rant…
I had a 1966 Chevy when the first mandatory seatbelt law went into effect and that law specified that one had to wear them if the seatbelts/shoulderbelts were functional on the effective date of the law. The seat and shoulder belts were connected at the latch but operated independently. I cut the shoulder belt out entirely before the law went into effect! Never did wear the seatbelt, just dropped it across my lap.
Who the FRAK’S business is it if I wear a frigging seatbelt? For that matter, whose business is it if I disable the stupid airbags? In my truck, the airbags are on their very own fuses. Gee, I wonder why they did that? Not! I know exactly why and, for once, I’ll say THANK YOU to Ford Motor for making that one easy! I’m over 18 and, if I want to hop in the back of a pickup for a ride, that OUGHT to be my, MY, business and nobody else’s too!!!
They say there is more risk to all of these things but that isn’t quite true. Like all things in life, it’s a trading and balancing of risks and, to the extent that I might be taking more risks, that should be MY choice to make. You see, I have permanent back and neck injuries from an accident nearly 20 years ago. If I get hit while wearing a seat/shoulder belt or if the airbags deploy, I’m at increased risk of neck down paralysis. That is NOT a life I want to live and I’d rather risk death than that paralysis and it should be MY choice to make. Why should I have to wear a belt or risk airbag harm because someone else doesn’t want to pay more in damages or feel guilty? Don’t want to pay or feel guilty? Don’t frigging run into my truck!
When my son was a toddler, some jackass blew threw a red light and slammed into my little car just behind the driver’s door. That happened to be where my son’s “safety seat” was located. It was crushed and he would have been as well except I had let him ride in the passenger seat instead. He was actually standing in the seat when we got hit. Poor kid got a single tiny cut on his forehead; about 2 drops of blood managed to ooze out. The mandate that my son be in that safety seat had just gone on the books shortly before that. I remember clearly standing next to my car with the officer, both of us staring at that crushed child safety seat, and being more than a little snide in asking if I’d be getting a ticket for failure to have him buckled into that seat. I didn’t get a ticket for that. In fact, the accident report made no mention of my child AT ALL.
It’s all about trade offs. These safety things CAN and DO save lives but I think I’ll trust my instincts, thank you very much. You see, the neck and back injuries that I walk around with today are from an accident with an 18 wheeler. I was a passenger in someone else’s car so actually had the stupid seat/shoulder belt on. We were hit multiple times by that 18 wheeler bouncing off of the vehicle I was in. The restraint of the belts provided a boomerang effect whipping me back and forth; into the door/window, then back to the max of the belt – back and forth I went about 5 times. Perhaps I would have died or had other injuries if I hadn’t had the belts on but I certainly wouldn’t be living with the injuries I ended up with and the perpetual pain from them if I hadn’t been wearing those stupid belts.
That damned trucking company would simply have written my estate a check for policy limits if I’d died and my son would have been well cared for. Instead, I was in pain, injured and had to do battle with them just to get my nominal medical bills paid and they never did quite cover those. It’s all about trade offs and, while you may not agree with the choices I make, they SHOULD be mine (and yours) to make!