Stupid People

I was reading the news and came across two stories that back my claim that stupidity should be the test for procreating.

A woman was pulled from the lake in the early morning hours by fishermen when the group she was partying with on a boat decided to ALL jump off the boat at 1:30 am to go for a swim. Apparently the boat floated away and it looks like 2 of the four drowned. First of all, drinking and boating REALLY don't mix any more then drinking and driving. Second of all, I thought it was basic common boating sense to either a) anchor the boat before ALL jumping off or b) leaving one idiot behind to rescue the others or at least call for help.

A man, fleeing the scene of an accident, blew a stop sign and crashed into.........wait for it..........a police car. The cop has his police lights activated at the time. The man was charged with aggravated DUI, reckless driving, etc. It doesn't say what time the accident happened, but it is my guess, it was after 10:00 pm. Which reminds me of another story.

A young high school student was killed by a drunk driver as he pedaled home from a convenience store. The student was a good kid, well liked and apparently doing well in school. He was struck and killed around 1:30 am.

Every single time I read the papers about someone getting robbed, shot, mugged, etc., the first thing I do is note the time of the crime. Almost EVERY SINGLE TIME the incident occurs after 10:00 pm (more like after midnight) and before 6:00 am. What is it with stupid people and being out after dark? Does the darkness beget stupidity or merely attract it?

All of these incidents are tragic, but tragically, they were all avoidable. Who the hell goes out boating on a lake at 11:30 pm? REALLY?

This just in: Two teens were shot over the weekend after a confrontation between two groups in downtown Evanston, police said. The teens, 16 and 17, were discovered at about 11:42 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Benson Avenue and Davis Street, said Evanston Police Commander James Pickett.

I REST MY CASE!

Potential Clients

First of all, I have to say I was thrilled to death to have an old friend come to time and spend time catching up. I miss my NM friends and can't wait to see all of them. Apparently the Catie Blythe memorial guest room may be occupied so I will call ahead and see what is up when I am free to roam about the country. My passport is still being held hostage by the state of Hell.

Last night I attended my first fireworks off the pier by my house. It was wonderful being able to walk there and back and not deal with huge crowds or public transportation. Now to the potential clients part. When I was doing criminal defense work, I found myself muttering, like a mantra, "Stupid people pay my rent. Stupid people pay my rent." It was my experience that criminal clients were not evil, awful, sociopaths, but they were just average people who tended to be really stupid or who did reallllllly stupid things. One of the first things that comes to mind is driving on a suspended license. Unless you are really living in a bubble and it was suspended for something like failing to get your emissions done (this happens all the time and most people honestly did not realize it would happen), when you KNOW you have 25 unpaid tickets or you KNOW you were arrested for DUI, you KNOW your license is suspended and you have no excuses for being caught driving. My favorite "excuse" is that they didn't know that being suspended meant they could not drive at all. Really?

So, stupid people. Last night at the beach there were at least two groups of folks shooting off what appeared to be professional grade fireworks. We were actually quite impressed and it even appeared that one group knew what it was doing and was doing it behind a fenced in area. The rest were questionable at best. One group seemed to manage to launch all their fireworks on a horizontal plane over the lake. Not a problem if there had not been quite a few people in the water swimming at the time. Then there were the idiots who held on to sparking tubes that apparently were supposed to launch missile like projectiles. More then one of them almost got burned when the flame started to travel down the tube they were holding towards their hand. Parents will all tell you not to play with fireworks because you will blow off your hand or shoot your eye out. So, even though there were still some pretty impressive amateur fireworks going off, we chose to leave so that someone else would not shoot our eyes out.

A number of the other attorneys at work got offended when I referred to my criminal clients as "stupid people." However, the one guy who had previously worked as a public defender had to agree that for the most part, the clients were stupid.

The old and the new

Having been to court today, I was reminded in no uncertain terms that stupid people keep criminal defense attorneys employed. I don't like to deal with them, but I have to thank them for their existence.

Last night I was surprised to receive a text from Ian. He was sitting in St. Louis and just wanted to say hi. Kaz quickly informed me that Fort Leonard Wood was still another 3 hours south of St. Louis so Ian was in for a long bus ride. My only advice for him was to SLEEP every single available second he had because as soon as his feet hit the ground he could count on being severely sleep deprived for the next 9 weeks. Poor kid, he said it was too cold to sleep on the bus.

I have now had custody of Michael's old cold for over a week. I am no longer convinced I am dying, or begging for the relief death would offer, but I am still thinking it sucks to be me every time I cough.

BP is still f'ing up the clean-up and trying to pretend it isn't really all that bad. As Bill Maher said, it was all just a conspiracy by pelicans to get a free bath.

There isn't really anything new to report, but the title was catchy.