Do You Really Want Me As A Juror?

 
Today is the date that I was told to report and like any other day during the work week I woke up early, grabbed my stuff and got in the car. Last month I went to pick up the mail and as I flipped through the envelopes one stood out to me. Crap! I got called for jury duty. While many might try to feed you the lines of ‘serving the community’ or ‘supporting the legal system’ I firmly believe that it is a complete waste of time and I shouldn’t be required to burn one of my vacation days to simply fill a seat. Plus I have to drive to Norristown and supposedly park in a temporary lot while the juror parking garage is under construction. This is sounding like it is going to be so much fun!

 

Hopefully some of my displeasure came across in my answers to the questionnaire that I filled out last week (they should pay me for the time it took to fill out that list of crap). And that was even after I waited and had accepted my fate before filling it out. The interesting thing about most of the questions that they ask is that if you think about them long enough you can honestly answer them yes or no. Here are just a couple of the yes or no questions that can be found on the form:

 

Do you have any religious, moral, or ethical beliefs that might prevent you from serving as a juror?

 

When you first read it you think that as a moral, ethical, and grounded person you should check yes but if you put some thought into your response, as I did, I had no choice but to honestly answer no. As a proud Jew (Israeli actually), if someone were to go on trial who is proven to have any kind of tenuous affiliation with a terrorist organization (i.e. Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, etc.) or white supremacist group, regardless of whether or not it has anything to do with the crime, I would immediately assume them to be guilty. Right or wrong that is honestly how I would react. Plus I have a huge gripe with the extreme liberals and hippies in this country so the same type of scenario could play out that way too. Don’t be offended regular non hippie liberals that is not directed at all of you.

 

In general, would you have any problem following and applying the judge’s instruction on the law?

 

Well… in general, using the Supreme Court as a means of measurement, I am certain that I would completely disagree with a judge’s instruction on the law about half the time in a number of different kinds of cases. If this were specified as a means of applying the letter of the law to a case I would say no. However, this is specifying the generality of the situation so that I have no other option than to respond with yes. While I am obviously by no means a legal scholar, I have my views and there are numerous laws that I disagree with which could, albeit not guaranteed, influence my ability to serve and follow said instruction. Therefore, in general, I might take issue with certain instructions. Also see the previous question and response because there is the potential that one of the instructions could be to ignore such affiliations that are not pertinent to the case at hand.

 

While it could have been simply a lack of cases there is a good possibility that my honesty on the questionnaire is why I was not required to report. Instead, I got to go to work and earn the money that gets taxed to hell so that we can have these overburdened and sometimes broken systems in place. But at least I didn’t have to burn a vacation day!

 

Hippies, Earth Day, PETA... This Isn't Good!

 

So, today is Earth Day. Yeah, can’t say that the day is really one to take notice of. While I do enjoy nature and I appreciate many of the beautiful things that it has to offer, I have other priorities in my life at the moment that take precedence over the natural world. While some people will certainly be appalled by that statement, the truth of the matter is that Earth Day is a celebration for those that have the time, money, or skewed priorities. Some even embody the whole trifecta.

When you go on the Earth Day website you can see that this day was created to take advantage of the people already protesting and the work of a bestselling author. By combining the two and telling those people what to think, what they consider ‘what is really going on’, you have a brand new day and the rapid growth of a movement that now judges the world and condemns people and companies if they offer the slightest doubt as to their conclusions.

To be exact, here is what is posted on earthday.org:

Each year, Earth Day -- April 22 -- marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

The height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.  Although mainstream America remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson's New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962.  The book represented a watershed moment for the modern environmental movement, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and, up until that moment, more than any other person, Ms. Carson raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health.

Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center. 

While the people who originally started this whole movement may have fully embraced the utopian ideals and honestly encouraged those to be conscious of their actions and the repercussions on the environment, that sense of purpose is all but lost. Environmentalism is now nothing more than a business venture with dictatorship ideals. And now, if you don’t fully subscribe to the theory of climate change and support all of the policies, regulations, and legislation that furthers the cause of environmentalism that translates to the simple fact that you are a racist. That is the extreme that now exists and is largely thriving.

While I believe that there is much that we don’t know when it comes to the environment and the exact impact that we are having on the planet, I firmly believe that we should be cognizant of our actions and use that mythical thing called common sense. We cannot completely reverse our way of producing and living in this world overnight but we can make incremental progress. However, overregulation and EPA power grabs are stunting the progress that could be made by forcing people and companies into rushed compliance which not only has the long term negative environmental impact but also the immediate economic impact of overleveraged entities and reductions in the labor force. Additionally, prices for things like gas, electric, and basic industrial commodities spike and cheaper alternatives are shipped in from overseas where production isn’t as highly regulated.

But, I guess these environmental evangelicals could be worse… they could work/volunteer for PETA. Then again, environmentalists probably support PETA because, if anything, they prove that the Dodo isn’t extinct after all. Okay, rant over, time to go hug a tree.

Today From The WTF Files: “Silent Cheer Day”

Don't snore! It could be too loud and you might offend someone.

A big part of sports is the cheering, booing, and everything in between. This aspect of athletics only becomes more prominent as we get older and we can’t be the ones in the competition. Just go to any baseball, football, hockey, or basketball game and you know exactly what I am talking about. For those outside the U.S. think rugby or soccer.

When I was younger I can remember my parents on the cold uncomfortable metal bleachers just beyond the dugout cheering on the rare occasion when I actually showed some semblance of athletic ability. Albeit a rare occurrence I had a few moments. Most people know that feeling of those moments (some more some less) when they can hear the cheers of their team mates and family ringing in their ears. It is a part of growing up and it motivates you to try and get better.

On the flip side, we all know that feeling when we let our team down. I remember many long hits given up when I could see hear the cheers against me and see the faces of my team mates as they did whatever they could to minimize the damage. Even those moments can prove to be formative ones as you bear down, move on, and focus on turning things around. Learning how to deal with a little adversity is a great thing growing up. In many respects it is a better learning tool than the moments of glory.

In both of these instances the roar of the crowd for or against is the fuel that is needed to succeed the next time around. But what if there weren’t any cheers? What if parents were penalized for cheering? I know, that is just crazy talk and things would never become so screwy that something like that would ever happen. Right?

Think again. The notion of “Silent Cheer Day” has been around for probably 20 years in one incarnation or another and every once in a while a story pops up to remind us all of the quality ideas coming out of California. I know, it sounds like something from the stoner Olympics (Denver 2018). This year, Idaho is in the news for implementing this mellow means of ‘you’re all special’ kind of athletics. Funny, I was certain it would have been Colorado this year. From The Coeur d' Alene Press:

“Silent Cheer Day” focused on sportsmanship and encouragement without spectators yelling negative or even positive remarks at the players or referees.

“Coaches said the kids played a little better because there was less noise,” said Post Falls recreation coordinator Justin Brown.

Brown got the notion for the silent cheer at a seminar he recently attended at the National Alliance for Youth Sports in San Diego. The goal is for parents and spectators to find less distracting ways to communicate their support for their kids, such as applause and signage, and eliminate some of the negativity that can come out during a game. If they were loud during Saturday’s games, they were given a red penalty card and sent to the penalty area for one minute.

I repeat, hearing cheers either for or against you are a means of motivation (especially when they use your name or position). Incurring such penalties, even for a day, is a ridiculous waste of time and energy. And what is it really teaching these kids? It’s not your fault if you don’t succeed, the crowd was too noisy. Give me a freaking break.

Oh, wait, I forgot. It’s a California idea. That means we can’t hold people accountable for their own actions. We can only blame those around them or some other circumstance that was out of their control. We might as well start them off early and teach them while they are young that there is always something or someone else you can blame for anything that goes wrong.

I just wish that they would start silent bitching day. Instead of forcing the rest of us to participate in this crap, how about you miss and moan silently to yourself and leave the rest of us out of it. That is a day that I will be happy to stand behind.