Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Confession Time: Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men?
OK, the previous editions of "Confession Time" have been fairly light-hearted and fun. The rules were simple:
Confess to a guilty pleasure you have within that topic, and explain why it makes you feel guilty.
But I'm going to be serious this time. Because I am angry. Very angry.
I don't get angry often. Oh, I get ticked about this or that, annoyed at someone's behaviour (including my own), sometimes really pissed off. And on those occasions I can be a grump, muttering about what I would like to see happen to the thing/individual/world that has gotten my ire. But true anger - the sort of thing that makes me sit down, shut up, and coldly start planning what I am going to do next - that's very, very rare.
Without getting into a lot of details, last night we and our neighbors got screwed over in a Planning & Zoning dispute. We had facts, logic, and history on our side. But the other side had money. Now, good left-libertarian that I am, I believe in property rights. People should have the right to do with their property as they see fit, within the law. But when the law is perverted to benefit one party at the expense of the others (because our property rights matter as well), that's wrong. It wasn't as bad as the gratuitous greed of some of the recent eminent domain cases but it is going that way.
Anyway, we got screwed. Hard. We fought the good fight, and some of our City Council members agreed with us. But not enough. And it's not so much losing that bothers me. It was the naked lies and deception used, even mouthed by other members of the Council.
So, last night I had to resist the inclination to regress to my childhood, and the lessons learned there. Oh, by way of explanation - I grew up in St. Louis, in blue collar neighborhoods that were seeing some hard times. "Fair play" meant "not getting caught". If someone screwed you over, you dealt with it directly. Let's put it this way: during one very minor labor dispute, our neighbor went against the wishes of the other members of her union. The first night, they shot up her car. But we knew they weren't too serious about things - just sending a message - because the Molotov cocktail was set burning on her front porch, rather than thrown through her picture window. Didn't even make the local news. We were only annoyed by the whole thing because one of the bullets fired missed her car and went through the side of our house, missing me by a few inches.
But that was 35 years ago. I am very far removed from who I was then, and I've learned, evolved. So, why am I telling you this?
Because I *did* consider what steps would be just retribution, and fair play under the guidelines of my youth. Now telling you this is a measure of my efforts to step away from those solutions. I may still find other ways to channel this cold fury I feel, but they will likely be along the lines of either correcting the political situation which allowed this transgression to occur, or making the guilty parties involved pay a political/business price. Maybe both. It is too soon to say. But for a while - longer than I would care to admit - less civil solutions spun out in my head.
That's my confession, as raw and honest as it is. What's yours?
Jim Downey
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The little guy can win
Here in San Clemente, CA we had a situation where a developer bought a local private golf course that existed on land that the city general plan designated as open space. The city had allowed the course on the open space since it did maintain the general idea of having open space.
Not long after this developer bought the course he started working with the city planners behind the scenes to turn a good chunk of it into homes. Once the plan was worked out he declared bankruptcy and went before the city council to ask to have the land rezoned. After two revisions to the plans the city acquiesced.
A number of locals got together and were able to get 8500 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot. This was done even with the developer hiring out of town "blockers" to spread disinformation and try to get people to not sign. All the while the developer was taking out ads in the local papers.
After failing to stop the petition the developer got the city to agree to take $67,000 from him so that the referendum would go on the primary ballot rather than the later general election. This was more costly, which is why they offered the money, but more importantly there is a much smaller turnout for the primary which would give the developer an edge.
During the run up to the election the developer sent 15-20 glossy flyers out to all the city residents whose content went from simple lies, to big lies, to attacks on their opponents (us). They also paid for half a dozen "push poll" calls to made to all the registered voters that spread even more lies.
In the end we won with nearly 70% of the vote. The developer dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into this fight because he was looking at a $100 million windfall should the project go through.
I thought you might like to know that it is possible for the little guy to win sometimes. In this case it was a matter of getting people people off their butts and out to vote.
Political Battles
I won (helped win) a couple of developer battles the same way. In one of them, there was a parking lot on the developer's property that he convinced the town to buy for $10 million, in order to build a parking garage ... for his project. Essentially, the town was going to give him $10M, and this was in a town of 5,000 people. One fun detail of the thing was the town appraiser appraised the lot as valuable commercial property to make it look like the town was getting a deal, but the lot, way out on the edge of town in a residential area, was actually virtually useless for anything except what the guy already intended to do with it.
Another interesting thing was that the $10M was hidden in the document that town council passed. There was a formula involved where the town would pay A-amount under certain conditions, B-amount under other conditions, and then C-amount under still other conditions. The trick was, the A and B conditions were impossible as practical matters, so C ($10M) was going to be the way things worked out. But you could only know that if you were aware of the political and business situation in town, and actually read the document all the way through.
Oh, man, you would not believe the lies and crap that happened. I was threatened with arrest at one point, and a handful of local attorneys, all taxpayers, volunteered to represent me for free. The bad guys harassed our petition collectors, lied in the newspapers and on the radio, called us names in editorials (they owned the local newspaper and radio station), and it got to where we had our planning meetings with the shades drawn, for fear that someone in the construction trades might drive by and take a shot at us.
I acquired a nickname for my statements regarding what the purchase would do to town finances. The developers took to calling me "the Dwarf of Doom."
I still treasure the win. I'm glad to have saved the taxpayers, my fellow townspeople, the $10M, but there's also more than a little pleasure in knowing that I cost the lying asshole who dreamed the thing up that same $10M.
One of my Wise Old Sayings I Just Made Up is "Lies are both camouflage for predators and protective coloration for the weak." In any democracy, the predators MUST lie to get what they want from the prey, so they're actually in a disadvantaged position. But they're good at lying, they work with platoons of other liars, and they never stop.
Yes, you can beat them. But it's a lot of work, and they don't stay beat forever. The Good Fight is an ongoing campaign.
Doomed Dwarves
Huh? *confused look*
You mean it's not always wrapped up in under two hours, in a neatly-tied package, with the hero kissing the girl, right before the end credits roll?
Fuck. Hollywood lied to me?
Hey ...
One word: sequel.
Juvenile Tactics
I was about to say that I've usually been pretty easy going, it take quite a bit of work to get me angry, but there was one time when I was tempted. No one did physical harm to my family, at least not directly. Its a long story, which I've written about a few times, but I can't find the good rant... OH well.
The short version is that my father started with nothing and with sheer willpower was able to build a successful business. He had started in the union, didn't like seeing the guy next to him work half as hard and get paid the same so when he started his own business it was non-union. It thrived for around 12 years when the unions decided they needed there cut and sued him. I won't get into the details but it was nasty, and it never would have happened if there was a jury.
Anyway, more than a few thoughts circled around my head as to things I would have liked to have done. I wanted to destroy their business, I didn't care if it was by burning it to the ground or suing them they way they had, but I knew that the courts were stacked in their favor so my legal options were limited.
As for guilty pleasures... I drink to heavily sometimes, which tends to lead to doing other stupid things, or people.
I don't generally get angry enough to kill someone
But I know I can do it, and I know enough about how I behave in competition (sports in gym class) to know I've got a little berserker in me that really doesn't distinguish friend from foe (or even human from grass) in the same way it distinguishes who has the ball from who doesn't have the ball.
But shit kicking mad? You have to do something pretty bad to annoy me that much.
Lets see, what have I done for revenge? None of it's terribly evil.
One time in high school these guys who were always bullying me were tossing a quarter at me as we were walking from one class room to another. After getting hit a few times with this quarter I decided I'd had enough and stepped on the thing before bending over to pick it up. When they demanded the quarter back I gave them the "this quarter? I found it on the floor so it can't possibly be yours now can it?" routine.
Then later in a different class one of them was trying to keep me from getting with my assigned group by holding down the only available desk. I was so mad I picked it up one handed and yanked it out of his hands. Then I carried it over (still in one hand) and put it down. They stopped bothering me after that.
Then in college a guy was trying to call me to get me to describe what I was wearing. I told him what my video game character was wearing, and then told him it was a guy.
Small-time idiots are easy enough to deal with once you figure out what button to push. Like the study recently that showed that the guys who object most to gay marriage are also the ones that respond most to homo-erotic stimuli.
Better Off Dead
Really angry? As in, "You just made my better off dead list" angry?
Shit. It's tough to make me that angry. I don't remember being that white-hot, damn-the-consequences angry since I was a teenager - and that was probably more due to hormones than to any righteous anger.
However, if my wife, or any of my kids were deliberately hurt by someone - raped, murdered, etc. - I know for a fact that I wouldn't have a problem going to prison in order to take out the garbage.
On the other hand, it is my opinion that it is infinitely better to not allow it to get to that point in the first place. I know that sometimes shit happens, and there's really nothing you can do to prepare for a true accident or a random murderous wackjob, but I have done as much as I can by preparing myself and my loved ones to navigate the treacherous waters of human social interaction, and to recognize and avoid situations where these types of things could happen.
I've also taught them about firearms. How to shoot, when to shoot, etc. The next step is concealed-carry licenses for the older (over 18) kids and for Mrs. inscrutable.
(I know this doesn't really apply in your particular situation Jim. Kudos to you for reigning it back in, and I hope that you and your neighbors are able to salvage something from the mess.)
Yeah . . .
No, I wasn't really tempted by the "better off dead" thing, but there is a lot of, um, 'anti-social' behaviour which could be employed short of that.
I was explaining to a friend that my anger is calibrated, and while this was bad, no one died. There are things I would be willing to go to prison for, both loved ones and principles. But I have also seen the other side of what revenge tempts: remember, my father was murdered. As I have written before, our culture is steeped in the motif of a son avenging his father's death. I had to learn to live with my anger, to understand, control, and sometimes use it.
Yeah, it is better to avoid things getting past a certain point, and like you I long ago embarked on knowing how to diffuse, avoid, and cope with potential problems. Because it is *my* responsibility to do so, if it is at all possible - I cannot trust the other idiot to make such a decision.
(Thanks for the well-wishes, also. I'm currently communicating with a couple of the Council members about possible long-term efforts to mitigate the worst.)
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
I know I have the potential
Every time my wife and I go on a vacation that requires driving on Interstates, I have to go through a litany of "I will remain calm" before we leave. I don't care as much about people driving too slow in the left lane (though it does piss me off), but my blood really boils when some dick-less (or clit-less) wonder does something that puts us physically in danger (cutting us off, for instance, or aggressively tail-gating). Truck drivers in particular make me see red.
Seriously, the only reason I don't retaliate against some of these people is because I don't want to get into trouble. It's not just wanting to avoid being punished; I don't want the embarrassment of hurting someone over what would be portrayed as "a simple mistake" or a "minor incident". I especially have to be careful when I'm in my company car, because it's got my name and number all over it. If someone nearly kills me, I have to grit my teeth and try to avoid going all road-rage on them because I don't know which of my clients may see the whole confrontation. It only takes one incident of beating up some idiot, Yankee college kid to lose clients.
The only thing that ever truly makes me mad enough to want to retaliate violently is when me and mine are threatened in a significant way. I've already resigned myself to going to prison if someone hurts my wife or the members of my family that I care about (it's a long story.) I'll try to get away with it, but that will be secondary to the actual act.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
Guilty Pleasures
Jim
It seems there are two topics here; guilty pleasures and things that make you mad enough to contemplate bad behavior. I don't consider the second one a pleasure.
In the first category:
Pro Wrestling - guilty because it is so cheezy and lowbrow, but I like it anyhow.
In the second: I can't think of anything that made me that angry in a long time, though I'm a type B personality, so it takes a lot to get me angry. My wife once worked for an abusive manager at a jewelry store who would regularly browbeat, belittle and generally go off on the women sales staff. She came home from work all wound up on many occasions, and once or twice in tears.
I did contemplate a parking lot confrontation with the slug, though my wife convinced me it would only make her problem worse. She was able, along with the other sales staff, to complain enough to the regional vp to get the bastard relieved of his position and transferred to another location.
Revenge...
The last time I felt the urge to use juvenile tactics was not too long ago.
I have a WWII veteran grandfather in his 90s and his mind is starting to go. He is starting to have a difficult time recognizing people. To make a long story short, a group of 20 something girls (and one guy) had "befriended" him and began harassing him for money. He acquiesced once or twice, and it got to the point where he started getting multiple phone calls a day from them pressuring him into giving them more. One went so far as to steal his credit card, took it on a spending spree and then secretly returned the card to his wallet.
Pretty much the only reason nothing has happened to any of them is because there was a police investigation ongoing because of the card theft.
Nobody fucks with my grandfather...!
What makes me angry enough
What makes me angry enough to want to bring physical harm to a person or their property? Well, the last time I felt that angry was after leaving the grocery store all bruised up from 40-something-year-old women who kept "accidentally" ramming me with their carts. After about 5 trips of being the victim of the resentful soccer moms and other middle-aged women who weren't happy with where they were in their lives, I decided that I wasn't grocery shopping anymore.
Now my husband does the routine shopping on his way home, and I have found ethnic grocery stores that are very pleasant to be in. I can leave those stores with a few bags of food and not feel the urge to throw a rock through the window of soccer mom's SUV on the way to my car.
Laws
My activist group went before a judge one time, attempting to get him to stop the illegal actions of a developer, secure that the law itself, our simple honesty and good intentions would win him over. Brzzt! Lies, big money and a fast-talking lawyer took the win.
The attorney tried to shake my hand afterwards.
The old line:
"Just how much justice can you afford?" isn't just an old line.
I'm not actively hostile towards attorneys as a group. Almost went that way, myself. Two of my longest and closest friends are both attorneys, so I know that the profession has good people in it.
But yeah, money wins. Always.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Address the Criteria
I can imagine your feelings (BTW - Hi! I know I've been away for a while...)
I have to deal with local Planning and Zoning staff and boards almost daily. By profession I am a Civil Engineer often working for small-time land developers, from the single-lot builder through small subdivisions (up to 50 lots).
I have found two common threads:
1. Planners (the professional staff) are almost always "Big Government" types. They are intellectual elites who know better than the "Common Man" what they need (and are allowed to do).
2. Board members are almost always "Normal People" who rely on the professional staff to lead them to their conclusions. Most "Normals" will reach the predetermined conclusions of the "Professionals" through very ordinary and reasonable thinking, considering that they have to operate within well-defined rules.
The only way to beat them (and I have seen it done) is to know, understand and become VERY FAMILIAR with the specific criteria and standards that the Planners are applying. Then STICK TO THE CRITERIA. If there is a legal standard that is not being met, or is inadequately addressed (such as a traffic impact study, geotech report, wetland setback or what-have-you) hit that point hard. Aesthetic arguments, passion, opinion, simple reasoning, etc. do little to sway those people as much as a statement like "The minimum setback in the Code is 20' and this project has only 5', and they have not asked for a Variance". A statement like that sticks to a specific requirement of the Code.
I vividly remember one Planning Commission member asking "If they meet all the rules, do we HAVE TO vote for approval?", to which the chairman answered "Yes." So, if you want to beat something back, you have to find some code that is not being met.
I know that it often seems that the big-money types always win, but that is not true. It is the best-prepared.
Rich G.
"I believe in preaching to the converted; for I have generally found that the converted do not understand their own religion." -G.K. Chesterton
Good advice, G'Kar.
First off, welcome back, Rich.
That really is good advice. But not applicable in this case. Or, more accurately, I should say "redundant". In our neighborhood association, we have former Council members, a Civil Engineer who is the City Engineer for a nearby city, a member of the City Board of Adjustment (our Appeals board for dealing with variances, et cetera), professors of urban planning, and so forth. We did know the criteria, and the ins and outs of what could be challenged and how. This simply came down to "small neighborhood of individuals" versus "development". And the money (developers, Chamber of Commerce) won, in spite of the City going against their own long-term planning and stated use of zoning changes. It was legal - the City Council has the right to make these decisions, even if contrary to established procedures, precedent, and criteria - it just was unethical.
Sorry, I really didn't mean to get into details. My main point was that I got screwed over, I got really angry in response, and for a while I was tempted to resort to juvenile tactics in response. That was my confession: that I was "tempted".
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
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