That man from Arizona

“To dare is to do”, reads the slogan at Tottenham Hotspur’s football stadium in north London. But a Chinese proverb states that one should “act when it is beneficial to do so, desist if it is not”.

Speaking of daring. In Belgium apparently certain convicts are allowed to leave prison in the morning and they just need to return in the evening. Yeah indeed. Like a hotel. Jailbird Hotel. Better than a hotel because free food, free cable TV, free accommodation, free laundry, free gym, free medical care. Indeed. It’s crazy. It doesn’t really help overcrowding because you still need to give him/her a bed to sleep at night. I’ve heard about alternative sentencing and programs to re-adjust to society (and support most of them), but this is taking it a step too far.

And reality came crushing down. Hard and brutal. A 32-year old inmate (well most of it seems out-mate) went on his regular trip outside his residential-jail in Brussels, committed a robbery and went back to sleep in his cell in the evening. No joke! And on top of this ridiculous situation he killed somebody while committing his new crime. One dead and one seriously wounded. Tell that to the grieving family.
The male convict was sentenced to 9 years in 2005 for 4 armed robberies. Clearly his jail time didn’t make him change his ways. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key forever. And change this stupid prison system before somebody else gets wacked.

Human behaviour! Being flexible and progressive is one thing. Being over the edge is another thing.

Sticking to guns. Middle America has shown its strangeness again. Certain things just don’t change. There are still guarantees in life. President Obama was on one of his “sell my healthcare plan” whistle stops. The convoy halted in Arizona. This US State is apparently one of the “open carrying” States. Meaning, you can carry a gun or rifle openly in public. Yes indeed. It’s a constitutional right apparently. Or some kind of right. Maybe even Devine right. As long as the weapon is openly visible and not concealed it’s all perfectly fine. Indeed. I spotted a photo in a newspaper with one of the locals awaiting Obama’s arrival and he had an assault rifle hanging on his shoulder. One of those soldier type toys they use in Iraq and Afghanistan. So the President is about to arrive and you got those armed locals just hanging around. Interesting, to say the least. Anyway, this Rambo-dude was asked about his fashion statement and he just said “Well, it’s my right”. And legally he is indeed right. Just like I am in my right to call him nuts. What is it with people needing guns to walk around on the streets of their town. Civilisation? Image issues? Manhood troubles? Too much cable TV? Legacy of cowboys vs indians? Still thinking the Russians are about to attack? Or aliens about to land? Those E.T.s from the blockbuster District 9 maybe? I mean. Wow. Get real. Your right, yes. But reasonable attitude? No way. Hello Colombia High. Remember?

And put God in the gunpowder mix and the circle is round. God and guns. The eternal American dream. Road to so called progress. The Bible in one hand and the bullet in the other. Nothing different from the Spanish Conquistadores whom invaded Latin America some centuries ago. The only difference is that the gun replaced the sword.
Human behaviour sometimes remains a mystery, but sometimes it remains very basic, crude, and animalistic.

Prison and guns lead pretty easy to the topic of crime. And when one mentions crime, too often South Africa comes to mind as it is one of the most deadly societies on planet earth. The killing fields of the rainbow nation. Blood stained daily reality.

The South African Criminal System working group reported that every year more than a million of the two million criminal cases that are reported to the cops across South Africa are never solved. That’s crazy, right? As a starter. Two million reported crimes per year in a nation of 50 million people. And we are only talking about reported crimes. That’s already beyond mad. And then more than half of those reported get lost in the system. That’s criminally mad. Somebody said that these lost cases seem to fall between the cracks. Well, fix the cracks then! It seems pretty necessary.

This ridiculous situation leads then, not surprisingly, to a conviction rate of only 10 percent. Kick that. That man in Arizona is probably buying extra ammunition if he reads this. And a tank.

Sticking to South Africa. In fact, it’s about a South African in Germany with an Australian suspicion to it. The global village of athletics. World Championships in Berlin. Medal fest.

South Africa’s Mokgadi Semenya, aka Caster (her nickname apparently), wins the 800 meters final and gets the gold medal around her neck. But Australian media cry foul and say she is a he. Yes, they claim that 18-year old Caster is a man and thus that she doesn’t deserve her golden medal. Now accusations, especially such low ones, coming from Australians are a bit much. They are all descendents of convicts sent down under by her Majesty the Queen or King from the once almighty United Kingdom. The genetics of criminal minds.

Anyway the international athletics federation, or something like that, say they will do some sex tests. But they claim that it will take weeks before the results are known. Weeks? Does it take weeks to check if somebody is a man or a woman? Even with sex operations and steroids available and all that, it should be pretty fast and simple to check if somebody is a he or she. I wonder what the man with the assault rifle in Arizona thinks about that! Semanya’s grandmother in rural South Africa is somewhat confused about the Australian tackle and claims that she knows very well her grandchild is a girl. And has always been a girl. Basta.

The scary thing is that in 1932 a certain Stella Walsh won gold in the 100 meters sprint at LA’s Olympics. There were rumours back then too that she was a he. But no sex tests and thus Stella could stick to her gold. But when she died in 1980, from a stray bullet during a robbery, the post mortem discovered she had male genitals and female chromosomes. She was a he and a she at the same time. Apparently they call that mosaicism. Feels straight out of an episode of CSI. Is the Arizona man loading all weapons for an imminent alien attack?

Anyway, the South African grandma has closed the door on the malicious Australian tabloid spin. Caster is a chick! She might run like man, but she is a lady. And those jealous ones out there, shut up or bring proof to the table. Balls and all. Oeps. Parental advisory.

Throw out. My recent delving into Chris Cornell’s audio history has left me puzzled. Firstly I tuned into Temple Of The Dog’s self titled debut album from 1991. A unique collaboration between Cornell and Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam fame. Amazingly Led Zeppelin-esque. After the one album Vedder went on to form the highly successful Pearl Jam, and Cornell switched between Soundgarden, solo projects, the milestone band Audioslave, and then back solo. In March this year Cornell released “Scream”, a new solo album produced by Timbaland. And that’s a huge mistake. “Scream” sucks. It’s cheap dance tunes with somewhere bits of Cornell’s (magical) voice. What a disaster! Why did Cornell decided to go down this road with Timbaland who knows nothing about rock music? Cornell fans, like me, must feel the deep pain when listening to his latest produce. I just heard it for the first time, and it’s going to go very deep in a box or somewhere on an external hard drive to be left for the next generation (so they can be shocked too). Wow.

C-Ya

collateral – August 2009 is nearing its final breath in history.