What They Say and What I See
Sometimes I jot down an idea for a post, and fortunately (or unfortunately) I look up what I was going to write about and find my points are totally invalid.
I was going to do a piece on towns that have proclamations signs at their entry points, such as All American City. When I see those signs I think, “How xenophobic! Do you need to be related to a Daughter of the Revolution in order to live here? “ In fact it is an award to a town for civic involvement. It just sounds stupid.
I’ve also driven through some Crime Stopper Counties. I wondered if they were certified by McGruff the Crime Dog. Do they really think that posting that sign on the Freeway is going to have any effect on criminal activity in their community? What it tells me is that the community has a perceived crime problem and that I’d rather not be a part of it until they get their problem under control.
I don’t feel all that positive toward Police Outreach Programs such as Crime Stoppers and DARE. I think they are the equivalent of having a magnetic support ribbon on your car or a Lance Armstrong bracelet. I mean BFD! If you want results, pay the police directly and stop wasting money of feel-good signs. If you want to pursue real crime, then stop wasting time pulling people over for seatbelt violations.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
9 Comments:
Which reminds me of my thoughts on people who put political signs in their yards. Do they really think that littering their yards with signs bearing their favorite canditates' names will actually cause people to vote for them?
Donna ... I think those signs are for the pollsters. Not that foretelling an election by the number of yard signs is any better indicator than asking "the man on the street", or random phone calls.
But at least the people who put such signs in their yard feel stronger for their candidate, than people who don't. (IMO)
My favorite is "Neighborhood Watch" signs. It tells you the neighbors are nosey. I mean, when was the last time a burglary or assault was prevented by the "Neighborhood Watch"?
Campaign signs are a waste of time. Most recently the Keep Lee signs had no signs from the opposition and he was recalled. If you think signs = % of votes, Cary Johnson out-signed Dirk probably by 3 to one and Cary and lost nearly by that margin.
Political signs are landfill.
I have to give props to Neighborhood Watch at least in our case.
I'm the co-captain for our N.W., and our neighbors have gotten very close just due to breaking the ice enough to have meetings about The Watch.
I live in the city proper, and our street gets a lot of drive-through traffic and with that comes petty crime. Whether the Neighborhood Watch we set up works about the crime or not is hard to tell, but it sure got the neighbors to know each other and created a great little community here.
Also, the police department knows that we're a watch block so responds promptly to calls here because they know we give a sh!t enough to organize and get a bit of training.
Not that is block is any kind of representative sample, but still, it's not all fluff and bluster.
Politics suck.
That's about all I have to say about that.
G, so you don't plan to run for anything ever again?
I have to agree with bpaul on the neighborhood watch. If implemented well, neighbors really do watch out for each other and communicate about mutual problems. I have found it to be a good thing, especially in the city.
Guy, My grandmother would be very offended at the DAR comment implying she is xenophobic. But don't worry, she doesn't have internet, lol. ;)
Bayou, if she is a DAR member, she's probably already pretty offended I didn't come over on the Mayflower.
No. Not ever again. My apathy is pretty deep as of now and by nature, i'm not an apathetic kind of person.
When this chapter of my life finally closes, life will be lived, lessons will have been learned.
And besides that, I'll have something to blog about.
My main focus right now is how to make health care insurance more affordable and combating high fuel prices.
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