Bombs bursting in air- why I hate the 4th of July
I live in little Afghanistan.
Starting a few days ago- and for the next week- I’ll have to listen to fools setting off fireworks, shooting guns, and generally being jerks. The fact that fireworks are sold around here when the closest state where they are legal is Missouri is still a mystery.
The police do nothing. My dogs are miserable. Unfortunately, Darwin isn’t solving the problem- because for the last 26 years- we continue to have the same wild west show. Yet, if I drive over to Oakwood, all is peaceful and quiet.
Would someone remind me why we pay taxes in Dayton? Why are laws so easy to ignore here?
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David,
I couldn’t agree with you more! Go to Oakwood, it’s like a sanctuary. However, my new dog, Bella the Fearless, loves to bark at fireworks! I allow every available barking moment for her to go outside and vocally challenge the firework side-show freaks that inhabit every neighborhood in this county. i have no qualms allowing her to bark at the top of her Newfoundland lungs at the ignorance perpetuated yearly to declare our ability to annoy the living crap out of people who would respectfully wait until the 4th of July to celebrate the holiday.
My dog ROCKS.
Cheers,
Jen
@ Jen…
We have two dogs, one could care less about fireworks, either that or she has lost her hearing, while the other one barks and runs around the house or yard scared half to death. He reacts too thunder in the same fashion, and sits in our laps shaking and is in complete and total fear. I would no more allow my dog to go outside and howl and bark at the noise, then I would turn the sound up on our stereo to bug my neighbors. Shall we say that my mother brought me up to respect others, as I would expect them to treat me? I think that is commonly referred to as being civilized, and remain reflective of your personality, or is that being a grown up?
Hi Larry,
The underlying assumption to your comment is that my mother did not bring me up to respect others. My civilized nature, as that of many of my fellow Americans, has allowed for sexism, racism, ageism, and a plethora of other -isms that do not jibe with civilized discourse. Yup, my parents brought me up to challenge the status quo, to question authority, to take in the down-trodden and to bug my neighbors until the REAL issue has been addressed.
Kudos to you for allowing your fire-working-neighbors to challenge the law, disobey safety precautions and disrupt the working class. Rock on! You have totally missed the point of my post. Carry on, firecracker.
Cheers,
Jen
Hang out in Oakwood long enough, you will hear that the noise is here as well. Sorry to burst your stereotype, David, but the Dome ain’t paradise on earth, despite official hype to the contrary!
We certainly should care about how dogs react to fireworks, but on a more relevant note, how about veterans? Many of our vets who suffer PTSD find the 4th of July week agonizing. All those pyrotechnic explosions give them psychological agony.
Then there’s the fact that fireworks burn heavy metals and other toxic materials. The city of Dayton display last night polluted the very waterways that many of our civic leaders think are key to development.
There are many who say that fireworks are traditional. I say that tradition is a weak argument; if it causes harm then we need to come up with new traditions. I’d like to see our Independence Day celebrations marked with something American, not Chinese, in origin. How about a nice laser show (or did the laser system fall into disrepair as well)?
@Truddick- I couldn’t agree more. As a veteran- who doesn’t suffer from PTSD, I still react to gunfire- 25 years later. I know we only account for about 2% of the population these days- but, I can do without things that go boom.
The Riverscape Lasers were sold off as scrap a few years ago- another great “investment” in “economic development” that was worthless.
Although I never saw combat in World War II, I was shot at a couple of times by Tito’s army. When I came home, and was walking through Times Square in a starched uniform, a backfire made me hit the dirt, getting the uniform filthy.
Of all the problems in Dayton I would think illegal fireworks would be the last thing you are worried about! Will a few days of fireworks or the city of Dayton commission and unionized teachers have a more negative effect on the quality of life for residents of Dayton including veterans with PTSD? Oakwood is not a sanctuary anymore. The county dumped plenty of democrat plantation people that ruined Dayton into free rent apartments on Shroyer road. Naturally crime and eyesore issues are up and property values are down in that area. We may not have problems with fireworks but we have problems with social parasites now. I fear the City of Dayton “cancer” will spread to the entire county.
Well, Dude, maybe you weren’t around when, maybe 10 years ago, several Dayton homes were damaged when some alley denizens ignited a garage with bottle rockets? Maybe you’re not aware of the hundreds of millions in property damage that totals from amateur fireworks every year? I’ve seen businesses destroyed by illegal fireworks, I’ve had my own property damaged. And in my time as a hospital employee, I saw first-hand the kinds of damage that those things do–often to children who were innocent bystanders.
Just because Dayton–and I agree–has more crucial problems does not mean that this one deserves turning a blind eye. And blind, incidentally, is the result of thousands of fireworks injuries annually across this great, flawed nation.
I love fireworks! I think local law enforcement takes it easy, because it is a tradition. Most people that light fireworks do it 1 week a year. We would basically be making criminals out of everyday people who like to participate in independence day. Every boom to me is a happy reminder that someone kicked ass so I could be a more free individual.
Maybe I will sneak into Oakwood with a brick of black cats later this week and even the neighborhoods out.
hahaha…. Oh Oakwood Dude… er Democrat Classic… er Reality Doug…. different name… same racist views… same guy me thinks.
As both a combat veteran and a dog owner you guys are just being party poopers. John Adams wrote Abigail when the Declaration was signed and said that this day should be celebrated with much pomp and circumstance for all of posterity.
There are two types of people in Dayton around the 4th of July, those who set off fireworks and those that bitch about them!
I only deal with facts and logic. Calling someone a racist is a tactic used by leftist oppressors to bully people and silence factual arguments you don’t like. Please define what a racist is. Is a black person that attended Wright’s church for 20 years a racist and if so why? What are the implications if that does make that person a racist? Does it mean people that vote for that person are also racists? Is a person that thinks it’s ok to hate and discriminate against other people of the same race a racist? Didn’t the Nazis hate people that were the same skin color? Are people that hate other people of the same race worse than racists? I would light off fireworks all day long in Oakwood if police would let me just for the record. Also, far more property damage has been done in Dayton by democrats in housing projects than by fireworks.
I enjoy fireworks, but not late at night or when it’s pissing people off. The south park mutants (we all know which houses they’re in) seem to enjoy letting these off at all hours. Particularly maddening is on weeknights when people are trying to sleep. I blew up bags and bags of low-grade explosives when I was a kid, but my neighbors house wasn’t 2 feet away either. And it wasn’t midnight.
It’s tolerable a week or so a year, but even then it’s annoying when it’s late.
“Oakwood is not a sanctuary anymore.”… erm you mean white right?
“democrat plantation people”… erm you mean black people right?
yessir… you are a racist… and that’s not considering all of the other garbage you’ve said under different names. If you’re so proud of your “facts,” “logic” and other boloney you keep kidding yourself with to hide from the fact that you’re just some angry sad white dude, then why do you keep posting under different names?
also… a lot of your questions above could be answered with a simple dictionary definition of the term racist and some critical thinking skills.
If Oakwood Dude… er Democrat Classic… er Reality Doug2 really wanted to learn about racism (which of course he doesn’t), a blog post that might be of use to him is one entitled “Why Black People Can’t be Racist (at Least Not Against Whites)“:
One important point from that post is this:
Another important point is:
Oakwood Democrat Doug 2 won’t understand these statements or agree with them nor will he care how privilege affects racism, and it would be like pissing in the wind to waste much time trying to get him to care or understand. So my posting this really isn’t for him — he can comment about what an idiot I am if he’d like — but others viewing this thread might be interested.
Ok- reminder to folks- you get one screen name- and yes:
BOE Updater
Reality Doug
Democrat Classic
Oakwood Dude
Seems to be the same person. Unfortunately- they don’t have a real e-mail address either- so- we get to decide which screen name to reassign-
This is the way it is on my site- and I don’t make you build profiles, or verify- so, please abide by the rules.
Which name fits? Or should I give him a new name? suggestions welcome.
Also- sorry about the spam- I’m doing my best to keep it to a minimum.
DL: Interesting article. I think the author simply tries to define racism in his own light. He only wants to discuss it on a macro level of institutional racism. By his logic, any law that were to come into existence, seizing wealth from whites, would NOT be racist until Blacks had the same wealth. At which point, if the law were not immediately removed, then Blacks would be racist and Whites would profoundly be incapable of racism at that point.
None of his discussion is about the individual or small racial and/or racist interactions. He is only speaking to institutional racism. The idea that affirmative action can never be racist, that utilizing race as means to procure wealth and or position is not racist, so long as it is done ONLY for all but whites.
Where is the individual in this? There does exist, poor, downtrodden of every race, and to give purposeful precedence of favoritism on the basis of race for all races except whites, diminishes the means, the liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of whites from the same social strata. But, the author implies that this is ok.
It seems to me, the author does not even consider the individual. That the oppression of individuals is OK if done to perpetuate institutional racial equality. For this, I strongly disagree with the author and his lack of consideration for the individual.
Morons and fireworks don’t mix. Watch and learn as a PSA: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D5jI92Ht99Y
Happy 4th!
Fireworks and knuckleheads…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5jI92Ht99Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Hm, so many people live where the fireworks amateurs only break the law one week per year! I’ve experienced fireworks way outside of Fourth of July, in one case my apartment was nearly bombarded on Easter Sunday.
Zero tolerance enforcement is a successful law enforcement strategy, and in Dayton mere possession of fireworks is illegal. If people are going to be allowed to flout the laws in this way, then I demand my opportunity to choose my own personal mode of lawlessness. I think I’ll choose to ignore parking meters–a crime that, let’s face it, never burned down a house or left a child deaf.
Robert – I see what you’re getting at, but I think when you’re dealing with hatred on an individual level, then it becomes something else. It becomes bigotry or prejudice. Racism involves groups… even if it’s one sided such as an individual expressing disdain for a group… like Mr. Oakwood was. Individual racist interactions still involve the generalization of an entire group, even if you’re only addressing one person. Of course there are poor and downtrodden of all human groups, the problem is that the percentage of poor / disenfranchised goes up dramatically for those groups that aren’t white… and that it is because many white people have spent the majority of this country’s existence making sure that structure and hierarchy is maintained (only a little over 50 years since Jim Crow ended)… and those who haven’t have still taken advantage of the privileges of being white the system has afforded them. Government has attempted to correct these wrongs by breaking down this system through things like Affirmative Action… and it’s had some success… but it’s hard not look at Dayton, one of the most disgustingly segregated cities I’ve ever been in (and I’ve been around) and not recognize the need for more work. Racism is very alive and well here and elsewhere.
I’d like to remind people as well that “race” is an entirely human construct… many scientists, academics, people of respectable intelligences have proven that the notion behind what people believe race actually is, inherent genetic differences between cultural and national groups of humans, does not exist at all. When you examine the data the genetic differences are so minoot that they barely exist. Of course the hatred that exists over these perceived differences is very real… so while “race” might be imaginary, racism is not.
… also I was very happy to hear only a few explosions last night that ended by 10. Have fun, celebrate, but be respectful of neighbors.
I strongly disagree with the author (of the theory that blacks cannot be racist against caucasians) and his lack of consideration for the individual. (Robert Vigh)
…well Robert, at least you could understand the argument enough to disagree with it. When the Old Bandito attempted to untwist the author’s pretzel logic, his acute allergy to psycho-babble kicked in requiring smelling salts and a 12 hour stay at Miami Valley’s ER. Do take notice, Mr. Vigh, that David Lauri did not list other psychological vices from which minorities are exempt. Cynics might look at such examples as the Zebra Killers or Long Island Railroad shooter Colin Ferguson as examples of black mass murderers who, by their own admissions, targeted caucasians as evidence that this theory should be used as fertilizer. But to quote Groucho Marx, “who are gonna’ believe, me or your lyin’ eyes”…
Ice… you misunderstand what racism is, lots of whities do who yell racism against minorities. Blacks don’t have the power, institutional or otherwise, hence no racism. Blacks can certainly be prejudiced against and hate white people for sure, but it’s not racism. This isn’t some theory, it’s racism defined (the accepted definition) and examined.
Blacks don’t have the power, institutional or otherwise, hence no racism…(Dan)
…yeah, you’re right Dan. Blacks don’t hold the mayoral or council majorities in major metro…er, well, they lack the punch of chiefs of pol…duh…well they are denied the power and prestige of the executive branch of the…doh..never mind…
you miss the point… you’re talking about individuals, not the group or the “race.” Yeah, the president is black and yes he has some power, that power has not translated into black people on the whole a group that holds a lot of power. Despite some African American groups and individuals holding some power the numbers and statistics tell a very different story. It tells the story of a group of people still struggling to overcome hundreds of years of injustice and marginalization. When you address racism you always need to understand you’re talking about the group, not individuals… it is the main point of the the article David Lauri posted, and true when assessing racism in the USA.
Ice’s attempt at wit—well they are denied the power and prestige of the executive branch of the…doh..never mind…—reflects an argument that many people have tried to make: we’ve got a black president so racism in America must be all gone. The playing field is all level, there’s no more white privilege, etc., etc.
Of course that also ignores so much of the shit directed at our president (the ongoing claims that “he’s not a citizen,” etc.) that’s directed at him in large part because so many people can’t stand having a black president. That and because so many people are stupid.
David, I post under different names depending on what I have to post. I work for the county and when I hear stuff about the BOE (tax funded affairs, stolen voting machines, trips to get toupee’s using county vans) I post it under boe updater. I used to live in Oakwood and I posted under Oakwood dude relating to fireworks in Dayton. I will try and come up with one name moving forward.
Regarding white privilege. White privilege is a disgusting racist anti-white, anti-male and anti-Christian slogan created by self-hating white leftists and their racist black friends. How about female privilege, black privilege, Jew privilege and gay privilege? Like when you are black and so stupid you get a 55% on the police exam and the democrats discriminate against far more qualified white people and hire the substandard black guy. Or when Barry Obama makes horrible racist comments like his grandmother being “a typical white person” or “white people clinging to guns and religion” and getting a free pass from abc, nbc and cbs. Someday I will become mayor of Dayton and make comments about “typical black people” and how they “cling to chicken and watermelon” then there will be a truly even playing field etc. I will make similar comments about gays, women and Jews just to make sure everything is evened out.
Liberalism is a racist hate filled government approved religion. If they can’t teach children in public schools and the campus bigotry of white people, men, Christians, the military, the police and bankers etc there is no reason for the existence of the democrat party or the liberal religion that fuels it.
Oakwood Dude… How can you type crap like that and not know you are racist as all hell?
Dan, If a Dayton Mayor did make comments like I mentioned they would be no more racist than our president. If it is ok for the president it should be ok for everyone else. The left has been brainwashing people with their racist anti-white religion since I have been alive. They give microphones to racist, race hustling black people like Jackson and Sharpton and call white people racist to silence them when they try and speak up. The white people that run the democrat plantation in the democratic party are “useful idiots” that convince social parasites they are victims and deserve free stuff, special privileges and that it is ok to hate. That is how they continue to keep black people dependent on them/government for everything.
…Hey David Lauri, the Old Bandito has just gotta’ know; where does one apply for their white privilege benefit? The Old Bandito’s relationship with the government has been as a draftee (a year majoring in ground pounding at the University of Tay Ninh) and the recipient of taxes, regulations and overall abuse. In other words, not the treatment that the privileged should have to endure. So if there is a Bureau of White Privilege we would sure like to know before the benefit period expires…
Ice, the thing about privilege is that one doesn’t apply for it, one gets it automatically, without doing anything special to earn it. Born straight, white and male? You’re playing the game of life on its lowest difficulty setting. Although you can recognize that (or although you could instead choose to claim that nope, life doesn’t come with any difficulty settings), you can’t easily change your difficult setting (for example, refusing to use any family connections to get jobs, asking white police officers to pull you over instead of giving you a break when you speed a few MPH, asking to take a special SAT geared towards a different demographic, etc.). “Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is” is a great blog post that tries to explain privilege to people who just hate the idea that they have privilege: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is. This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get. … You can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting. The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on. The player who plays on the “Gay Minority Female” setting? Hardcore. But you’d rather claim that being white in 2012 is just the same as being black and that being male is just the same as being female and that being straight is just the same as being gay. Level playing field, just one difficulty setting for all groups, or just random difficulty settings that have nothing whatsoever to do with one’s race or gender or sexual orientation. No such thing as privilege for… Read more »
You may think “straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is” until your “straight white male” tries to make application to a quality college or university in this country.
Don’t kid yourself, DL. Reverse discrimination is alive and well.
No, no, no Diane, it’s not “reverse discimination”, it’s “affirmative action” and that’s (supposed to be) a good thing ;-)
And “straight white male” needs changed to “white male”. You can’t look at a person and determine “straight”.
“You may think “straight white male is the lowest difficulty setting there is” until your “straight white male” tries to make application to a quality college or university in this country.”
Getting into an ivy league or private school has always been competitive… even when all they accepted where white males, no doubt the competition has increased with the diversification of the type of students they have to accept. I myself (straight, white and male) had no issues getting into a good school (state university though) that had an extremely diverse student body from all over the world.
Hall… you obviously haven’t heard of “gaydar”
Funny, even when I was trying desperately to hide my sexual orientation back in high school, people seemed to know. They didn’t yell “Hey, fag” in the locker room at everyone.
And you seem to forget the privileges that go along with being straight — everyone presumes you’re straight, you don’t have to come out as straight, you get the rights that go along with civil marriage, you don’t have churches preaching that you’re evil and going to hell and should change.
No, sorry, we’re not changing “straight white male” to just “white male.” Straight white males do indeed play the game of life at an easier setting than do gay white males.
From an image making the rounds on Facebook, that compares the Obamas’ college experience to the Romneys’:
From a Pew Research Center report, “Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics“:
David, you ask why laws are so easy to ignore here and say the police do nothing. Well, on late night July 3 they were too busy throwing a group of drunk girls into a cruiser (and probably the drunk tank afterwards) for throwing napkins at Trolley Stop. Yes, throwing paper napkins. With such limited police in the Downtown area you would think they could get their priorities straight, especially during the week of non stop illegal fireworks in our neighborhoods. At least we know our beloved paper products are safe in this town. ‘Merica.
The author is not stating for a removal of race impeding laws. Not calling for an act of some legislation that is currently causing detriment to minority races, he is actually supporting the viewpoint of affirmative action and other actions similar to it. As a means to give race, not ability, precedence in certain situations. It is NOT a call out for equality. It is not seeking to enact laws in which everyone can look at and be unable to discern racial favoritism. It is actually asking for racial favoritism and giving supporting reasons as to why he believes this is Just.
Culturally, do you not think that creating new elements amongst a society in which race is a deciding factor is embellishing the idea that race is indeed a deciding factor?
Being a Libertarian/anarchist White, straight male is harder than being a Liberal, white straight male. So, yeah, my difficulty rating went up. Everyone just assumes I am ok with paying for their shit.
The reason we have affirmative action Robert, and why the author believes in it as a positive action to remedy centuries of wrong doing, is because many employers (and hey, lets face it most employers are white) would choose not to hire a minority regardless of his qualifications… even in 2012. This was especially true in 1965 shortly after Civil Rights took place and Affirmative Action was enacted. Some would say it’s been over 50 years… time to repeal, time to move on. But then you take a look around a severely racist city like Dayton (and its suburbs especially) and then look at the figures and statistics and recognize that the world still has quite a ways to go before people (employers in this case) can themselves be trusted to not operate with racial favoritism. Truth is it’ll probably take a couple hundred more years of enlightenment before the stupidity that is “race” acknowledgement vanishes and we all look gray in each others eyes.
Last I checked you don’t have to check a political affiliation box on a resume Robert… so sorry I don’t buy that.
Dan, I get that. I just think the author is wrong, and you as well. Primarily for the reasons pointed out in my original post. Setting up detriments to individual freedom to right the wrong of detriments to individual freedom utilizing the same coercive governmental body just seems a bit like, more of a bad idea.
We certainly have to live through the situation created by ancestors (living and dead) and integration will have to happen on its own. We need to stand vigilante for equality, not promote the idea of more inequality, of more race based decisions. You can tell the majority of whites all day long the logic of affirmative action and how requiring through our legal system that more wealth be shifted to minorities, not on the basis of hard work, ability or perseverance, rather on the basis of race, but I have a feeling most are not going to agree. Myself included, because I believe this to be damaging to individual freedom and equality.
I hired someone recently. Not a single persons resume notated their political affiliation. Nor their sex. Nor their sexual preferences. Nor their race. But, what do you not get? All i said was it is harder to be a libertarian/anarchist than a liberal.
Here’s something fun to bring this hijacked racist thread to the next level. Ted Nugent, recently famous for saying “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” writes in the Washington Times in an article bemoaning “Turncoat Roberts“:
And to many people, Ted is a hero. A racist delusional bigoted hateful treasonous crazy hero for people who aspire to be just like him.
The Pew Research Center report (shared by David Lauri): “Moreover, about a third of black (35%) and Hispanic (31%) had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of white households.
The U.S. population in 2009 was 309 mlllion.
Thirty five percent of African Americans was 15,141,000.
Fifteen percent of white househols was 25,152,600.
Everyone on the bottom suffers.
Back to the original topic–
Today, your tax dollars paid for firefighters to quench a grass fire caused by juveniles with fireworks. Fortunately, this time it didn’t spread to involve several homes.
It’s not patriotism, it’s “I do whatever I please.”
Hmmm, WHIO is reporting “the cause of the fire is unknown”
bobby, how much net worth do Jewish people have compared to the Irish? How much do Asians have compared to Mormons? This is the type of stuff that was discussed in the 20’s and 30’s in Germany but it was of course how much more do Jews have than non-Jews. Affirmative action and “integration” policies here are just as racist and oppressive as what the Germans did for decades. Teaching hatred of and a government forcing the discrimination against (affirmative action) an entire race of people for alleged grievances committed by people based on same skin color, gender or religion is something both the Nazis and the current Democratic party here have in common.
Everyone on the bottom suffers. (bobby)
…and just where is all this suffering taking place? With such programs as food stamps, rent subsidies and a proliferation of health programs, the underclass in this country has perfect teeth, a roof over their heads and booties so wide they are worthy of their own area codes. All this and such new entitlements as cell phones. Uncle Sugar’s largesse is financed of course by a bullying and confiscatory tax apparatchik that Robin Hood and his Merry Men would give a standing “O” to. And the same folk that advocate punishing the industrious to subsidize the unlucky and dysfunctional also wonder aloud why we have a decreasing number of the former and an abundance of the latter. Perhaps, bobby, those who forgo education, suck on crack pipes or have their sixth child before their 20th birthday should endure a certain amount of suffering. No, bobby, we don’t need a bigger or richr Uncle Sam, we need a 21th century Sheriff of Nottingham…
Ice, would you like to come volunteer at my church’s food pantry? Our food pantry is called Feeding Friends, and it’s open the third Saturday of every month. We ask volunteers to come starting at 7:00 a.m., and it’s open to clients from 7:30 to 9:00.
Come talk to some of our clients. See their “perfect teeth,” talk to them about their “proliferation of health programs,” learn about the great apartments they have because of their “rent subsidies,” ask them why with the great programs such as “food stamps” they still need to come to get food from us.
I double-dog dare you to come, Ice. It’s oh-so-easy to have an idea of how people live without having met them. It’s also really easy to ignore the basic tenets of Christianity and to demonize your neighbors (even in warm and cheerful Centerville people who need food pantries are our neighbors) if you don’t meet them and talk to them.
Will you come, Ice, even once to help?
D.L. hit it on the head. Ice, your assessment is not based on reality at all… but then again perhaps you’d prefer people suffer in the ways they did in the Dark Ages by actually starving to death… simply because they are not as smart as you or I and perhaps mentally ill. Is that the suffering you’d like to see?