Christmas 2014

We had Christmas visitors yesterday. Isn’t it fun when Holiday guests show up uninvited? Yee-haw! It sure is. Yep, that’s how our Christmas went… The Germ Family stopped in on the Johnson’s unannounced, and they didn’t even wipe their feet before they came in the door and made themselves at home. We had just opened a few gifts when Cousin Queasy joined me on the couch. Then I walked around the house with Uncle Dizzy for a while before going to lay down with Cousin Q… I know, that sounds creepy doesn’t it? Anyway, Jeannie watched a Christmas movie with Sister Sneeze and Sister Sniffles, and later their half-sisters Hack & Cough piled on the couch with ‘em.

But it was still a good day. I mean it was Christmas for Christ’s sake… not a day to complain about. After I rejoined the gang in the living room we got out a couple coins and scratched all the shiny silver stuff off of the WA. State Lottery scratch tickets that were in our stockings. Woo-hoo! After scratching about $50.00 worth of silver shavings into our laps we won $4.00. We celebrated with a couple cups of hot tea, and watched another Christmas movie. The party broke up on the early side. I turned off the Christmas lights and we bid the Germ Family good night… But I must have forgotten to lock the door because Hack & Cough jumped into Jeannie’s side of the bed an hour or two later and partied till almost 3:00am.

This morning things seem to be back to normal though. No sign of the Germ Family, and when I peeked out the window their van was gone. We locked the door anyway just to be on the safe side, and took our vitamins.

A Few Thoughts About Us vs. Them (cops, civilians, and race relations)

As I continue to read comments from people condemning and defending cops, and from people condemning and defending protestors I have to wonder… Should we really be pointing fingers at each other? We all know what it’s like to watch a football game (or other sport) where the officials seem to be cheating for the other side… Right? Well do we blame the other side or do we blame the officials?  What I’m trying to say is that maybe we’re wrongly pointing fingers at each other… Maybe it’s the referees, or even the rules of the game that we should be questioning.

Every time a prosecutor fails to hold a bad cop accountable they put every good cop in danger. Cops hold more power than the public, but the public vastly outnumber the cops so we're sitting on a powder keg, with people on both sides are throwing matches… with the most dangerous match throwers being white supremacists who continue to fantasize about starting a race war. I don't blame the cops or the protestors (though there are bad actors on both sides). I blame a prosecutorial system that has failed miserably. When prosecutors who vigorously prosecute civilian criminals hesitate to treat uniformed criminals the same way there’s going to be a problem. Conflict of interest inherently creates lack of trust, and our current system undoubtedly creates a conflict of interest in these cases.

Instead of using our voices against each other... because lets face it folks, we need cops, and most of them are great men and women... Instead of using our voices against each other, why don't we join our voices and change the system? Just a thought.