the innocent need lawyers, fat food banks, and opening day...

when i first heard about the allegations of rape committed by the duke lacrosse team i knew the inevitable storm of "athletes think they live by different rules and can get away with anything" stories was coming. sure enough, academics began to decry the "favors" that college athletes garner regularly...while i can easily chalk it off childish petty jealousy, it seems most of the country can't. let me set the record straight, 99% of college athletes do not believe they are above the law, do not believe they are entitled to better treatment or anything of the sort. in fact, the vast majority of college athletes are well aware of the fact that their ass is more closely scrutinized than the average student. for instance, recently here in albuquerque what in most cases would have been written off as a domestic dispute that the police would have written up and forgotten turned into serious felony charges simply because the man involved played football. see, as athletes, we are well aware that if we fuck up, we will be examples...there is no breathing room for an athlete, especially the 99.9% of us that are expendable to a university.

now the duke lacrosse players are being lambasted for keeping a tight lip on the events of the night of the alleged rape. my gut reaction was to be pissed at them too...if for no other reason, because they were going to bring out the "privileged athletes" stories...nevermind that it should be stories about privileged rich white schmucks taking advantage of a black woman...but that's a whole different rant. my reasonability has since returned as i have remembered there is this little constitutional thing we like to refer to as the "right to remain silent." remember your crappy cop shows people? (you know, the ones that are ridiculously unrealistic and have crappy attorneys letting their clients confess to anything and everything while they sit there).

well, the spokesman for the police department down there is now making statements to the press that because some of the players lawyered up they must have something to hide...afterall, as everyone knows, if you are innocent you should be wanting to tell everything you know...except, anyone with any experience with the criminal justice system knows that's a load of shit. police interrogations are shady business...even the courts won't let an unsubstantiated confession stand for a conviction (and if you saw the report on nightline last night on false confessions you'll understand why...of course that report didn't come out until it had a connection to guantanimo...funny how the american media doesn't give a shit about prisoner abuse and police misconduct when it is american citizens getting the brunt of it). not many people realize that our system does not really give two shits if you are innocent or not. people get arrested and think because they are innocent, in the end, it will all be taken care of. it doesn't work that way. innocent folks need protections and are entitled to make sure their constitutional rights are protected...and the simple act of retaining a lawyer says nothing more than this person has some sense...to imply that it shows guilt is disgusting and disgraceful. that officer should be ashamed.

i was watching the news hour the other night and there was a spokesperson for the world food bank on...i think it was the world food bank, if not it was some other organization that deals with world hunger. here is the really messed up part...the guy was huge...and i don't mean genetics made him a mountain of a man...i mean too many twinkies made him a mountain of a man. how incredibly ignorant is it to make the face of an organization dealing with world hunger that of an over-fed white, american male? it is so ridiculous it makes you chuckle in horror. seriously, it reminds me of the south park episode where sally struthers is jaba the hut in ethiopia. how can you take yourself seriously talking about the children dying from malnutrition when you yourself are at risk of dying from too much food? another slap the forehead and say "wow" moment.

baseball season opens this weekend. the cubs open the season on monday. and everyone knows what that means...for the first month of the season us cubs fans will tell anyone within earshot that as soon as mark prior and kerry wood are back, this will be our year. of course, by mid may we will be mathematically eliminated and the familiar "wait til next year" refrain will begin. god i love baseball.

tell everyone you're happy and order up another one...