Christine the Curmudgeon

What kind of a world are we living in?  Why is it that nearly EVERY time a teen is busted for a serious crime, such as rape or murder, some bleeding heart attorney wants us to feel sorry for them and let them off with a slap on the write?  Christine the Curmudgeon wanted to punch the TV the other day, over this:

Freeles’ defense attorney said his client has no criminal record, except for one prior instance dismissed in juvenile court. “He’s just a frightened kid,” said Steven Sacks. “He just turned 17. He’s a frightened kid.”

Full article here. Yeah. It’s amazing how this kid, who thought he was so tough because he had a gun, is now “a frightened kid”.  I don’t think the family and friends of Mr. Serrano care whether the little thug is frightened or not.  He and his equally useless pal knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they held up that store and shot that clerk.  All they cared about was getting money.  Doesn’t matter what they wanted the money for, they could have wanted it to buy food, booze, drugs, or maybe some extenze…but the point is that they put more value on the money they wanted, than on this man’s life.

I hate it when defense tries to use “but he’s just a KIIIIIID” defense.  If there is any justice at all left in this state, these thugs will be tried as adults, and if convicted, will be sent to Scary Adult Prisons.  For a good, long time.  The way I see it, if they are allowed to get off the hook for this now, who knows what they will do in the future?

Denying them bail is a start.  They’d may as well get used to life behind bars.

Christine the Curmudgeon saw this Dear Margo letter today:

Dear Margo: I’m a 34-year-old wife and mother, with no problem having friends or family casually touch me during conversation. I am normally open to friendly hugs. However, my husband has two friends who insist on touching me, and for some reason they trip my creepy-alarm.

These guys are single, never-married brothers (50 and 52) who live together. They visit at least weekly. If I am cooking, for example, one of them will come up behind me and put his hands on my neck or shoulders. They will insist on a hug even when I back away. Obviously, they have no concept of personal boundaries and do not pick up on body language. I have drawn back and even said, “Please stop.” I may not be the smartest person in the world, but if somebody became rigid every time I touched or hugged them, or told me to quit when I put my hands on them, I would get the message.

My husband is not good with confrontation at all. To top it off, I spoke to my sister-in-law about this, and she said that a few years ago her husband had to speak to them about the same issue because these guys felt free to pat her bottom and such. She said other people in the family have the same issue with these guys being touchy-feely. Do you have any sarcastic, funny or even nice-but-firm comments I could try? — Tired of Feeling Trapped

Dear Tired: Sarcastic or funny will not work with this pair. These bachelor brothers sound like two impervious creeps trying to cop a feel. The confirmation from your s-i-l should tell you your instincts are correct. Because the roaming-hands duo comes over often (and because your husband is clearly not up to making the announcement), tell them the next time that just like (name of s-i-l), you must request that they keep their hands to themselves because you do not appreciate the physical contact they initiate.

You need not be hostage to people who don’t have very good sense. Go as far as necessary to make yourself understood — including slapping their hands or slithering out of their grip and saying, “I am not kidding.” — Margo, defensively

No wonder theses two jerks are single. If this is the way they treat all women, no wonder no one wants to be with them. So they try to cop a feel anywhere they can get it. It’s really pathetic to see middle-aged men acting more like teenagers who still need to take vitamins for acne.

The wife needs to put her foot down, and insist that these two creeps not be welcome in the home.  If hubby wants to see them, he can go visit them at their bachelor pad.  If hubby refuses to cooperate, then there will be no more cooking dinner on the nights when they come over.  In fact, I would go so far as to leave the premises for the evening, have a girls’ night out or something.  Maybe then, hubby will finally get the message.

If leaving the house is not an option, and hubby still won’t listen, this woman has no other choice but to file assault charges against these two losers.  Hubby will be angry, but he should have thought of that before he refused to say anything to them, and do what he should have done to protect his wife.

Here in the New England area, there’s this show called Chronicle.  It’s basically a show about all things New England.  To celebrate the show’s birthday, which was January 25, they asked viewers to send in pictures taken on that date, for POSSIBLE use on the Day in the Life show, which aired last week.

Christine the Curmudgeon emphasizes the word “possible” for a reason.  The reason…because of the whining that ensued because the show could not use every single picture or video sent in.  People wrote into the show, asking why they even bothered to ask for pictures from viewers, if they were not going to use them.  They talked of  “disappointment” over not seeing their pics on TV.

I suspect that most of the whiners were the ones who sent in pictures of their kids, and then told their kids that the pictures would be on TV.  In my opinion, there were already way too many kid pics on that show, and not enough of the REAL New England pictures for my liking.  They can only show so many kid pictures without pissing off viewers.  They also had to show some professionally shot video, as well, to balance it out.

Also, I looked at some of the photos on the website, which did NOT appear on the show, I noticed that many, containing kids or not, were just not very good.

In any case, they got hundreds of submission, no way could they use them all in a half hour show, even if they wanted to.  These whiners need to realize that, shut up, and find a new hobby, such as popping their scalp pimples or something.

You don’t hear me whining when I post something on the WBZ Conversation Nation blog, and it is not read on the air.  Yeah, once in a while, they do read something I said on the air, but not every day.  Yes, they tell viewers that SOME comments will be read on the air, but they don’t promise that ALL comments will be read.  Just as “Chronicle” never promised to show every single damned photo that people sent in on that show!  Sheesh!

So Christine the Curmudgeon as been seeing ads and news stories for this thing called Belle of the Ball (warning – auto-play video)  It’s a program sponsored by some local businesses which collect used prom dresses, this Anton’s place cleans them, and then they are handed out to girls who might not otherwise be able to attend prom.

I thought it was kind of stupid, because sometimes, the cost of the dress is the least of the expenses.  Depending on where you live, tickets can cost as much as $100 per couple.  Then these kids *have* to have professional photographs, pricey corsages, and stretch limo Hummers.  If the ticket doesn’t include dinner, they often go to some very fancy restaurant for dinner.  We’ve seen it.  A few years ago, Mr. Curmudgeon and I went to some nice restaurant for his birthday, and were seated near a table full of prom-goers.  Fortunately, this group was well-behaved, but I have read some nightmarish tales on restaurant server blogs about such groups.  And, of course, when dinner was over, the limo came to the door and picked them up, for everyone to see.  Yes, it was a Hummer.

Also, it’s no longer good enough to get together with friends on the day of the prom and do each other’s hair, makeup, and nails.  Nope, now they need to go to expensive spas and get the full day’s spa treatment.  I don’t even want to know how much that costs.  I suppose I could find out if I ever picked up one of the sixty zillion prom magazines I see at supermarket checkouts.

So, I checked out that Bell of the Ball site, and saw that they were looking for cash donations for some of these non-necessities, such as limos, hair & nail salons, etc.  In this sucky economy, they have a lot of balls to be asking for money from people, where there are so many people who ar in legitimate need.

The cost of prom has become ridiculous since I was that age.  It used to be that most kids could afford to go.  Prom was often held at the school gym back in the day, just decorated a lot fancier than  a normal dance.  There were no pre-prom dinners at pricey restaurants, no fancy venues, no $100 tickets.

Fortunately, there are at least some teens out there with their heads on straight, like this guy and some of his commenters.  As several people pointed out, the dress is only worn once, chances are you’ll gain weight as you get older, and will need some serious quick trim, if you ever wanted to wear it to your tenth reunion or something.

I can see donating the dress, I really can, because, as I just said, what else are you gonna do with them?  But why should these kids be handed gift certificates for limos and crap like that?  What kind of lesson is that?  Are parents such wusses these days, that they are afraid to come right out and say, “we can’t afford it”?  And then these kids get it for free anyway?  What about kids who actually, well, got off their butts and got jobs, and saved up for prom, because their parents couldn’t afford it?  Don’t tell me there are no jobs out there, I see plenty of burger-flipping places that are always hiring.  These jobs suck, but they pay money.  If you want all of this pricey crap bad enough, either work for it or figure out ways to cut back.

Way to go, teaching kids to understand the realities of our economy.  NOT!

Lame crap:   Pediatricians call for a choke-proof hot dog.

Christine the Curmudgeon is seriously sick of all of the *foam-padding* going on in the world today.  If you are too dumb to know that hot dogs cause a choking hazard, yet still do not take a few minutes to cut the damned thing up for the kid, you are too stupid to breed.

Apparently, someone somewhere on TV said something about a square hot dog, I assume it would be a square patty, served on a hamburger bun.  This is so wrong in so many ways.  Even though it may be made from the same ingredients, there’s something psychological about the shape.  Hot dogs have been served at baseball games, probably since the days of Abner Doubleday.  I believe in the tradition of baseball (I’m still kind of torn about the designated-hitter rule), and that tradition says that hot dogs should be shaped the way they are, and always have been.  Shaped any other way, they’ll just taste like a bologna sandwich.  And that, I DO NOT WANT.

Also, won’t all of this redesign crap increase the cost of the hot dogs?  When the government forces people to spend money on change like this, the businesses ALWAYS pass it on to the consumer.  I doubt that there is ever going to be any government grants or stimulus money for a hot dog re-design project.  It’s stupid, and not only do I not want my tax dollars spent this way, but I don’t want to pay almost the cost of a BCBG Max Azria bag for a package of hot dogs. It’s not my problem that some people are too stupid to exist.

I will boycott any hot dog brand that makes re-designed hot dogs, even if they continue to make normal-shaped ones.  I try not to support anything that helps enable stupidity.