So last night

Around 1:30 this morning, actually, just up the street, a bunch of stupid assholes got into a fight at a park.

The argument apparently drifted across the street to Shithole Acres, the nearby ghetto apartment complex. A couple of guys got shot. Last I heard, they're going to survive.

It was the lead story on the morning news. One of the breathless plastic people was reporting LIVE!!!! from the scene.

Visible behind her were several police cars, and yellow crime scene tape, cordoning off the area. Five officers, two in uniform, were standing behind their cars, sipping coffee and chatting.

Our intrepid reporter started off with, "And you can see that this is a very active investigation!"

Um. Honey. Did you happen to look behind you before you started this report? Because a bunch of guys standing around and talking requires a different adjective. Active just doesn't quite cut it.

And now, at 7:33 a.m., a full six hours after the incident, (You know... after the victims are gone, the tape is down and everyone has gone home...) a swarm of helicopters is circling over the area. Over and over and over.

How the hell does this help?

In a related story, the night before last a man was found dead in his apartment in a different area of town. Late yesterday afternoon, they released his identity and showed his photo on the news. The photo was a recent police mug shot of one scary looking scumbag.

Am I the only person out there who doesn't feel too terrible when another criminal is taken off the streets? I mean, I think death without a trial is a little drastic as a crime-stopping measure, but I can't find it in my heart to cry over it.

And in Ohio this morning, a criminal with Oregon connections was executed. He killed two people here in Oregon, as well as killing people in Ohio and Alaska. From KGW's website:

His Ohio defense attorney, Dennis Sipe, had argued that the state should pay a neuropsychologist to examine Fautenberry, whose last mental exam was 13 years ago. Sipe contended that Fautenberry should not be executed because he has brain damage from a childhood accident and from an injury while serving in the U.S. Navy.

Brain damage. Okay. If you say so. Haven't we heard stuff like that before? "Oh poor Marvin, he had a bad childhood/brain damage/post-traumatic stress so he can't help that he likes to cook and eat his victims. We shouldn't put him to death, we should try to understand him. Help him.

Sorry. If John Fautenberry was a danger to society (and he is.. or rather was), then how would psychological exams at our expense have protected us from him? I'm pretty sure that he'll never again shoot anyone in the head. I'm very much okay with that.

I'm probably not a very nice person.