by Tom Blair
Columnist
The trial is over, the jury has spoken, and so has the justice system. We move on; well, some of us do. Remember the multi-million dollar riots over one of those “race card” trials years ago when there were a dozen or so deaths?
When O.J. Simpson was found innocent, white folks didn’t go bonkers, protest and destroy things. We thought it was a sad miscarriage of justice, but that’s sometimes what the American justice system is like. I hope things stay calm.
But remember this: if you walk up to someone and hit him, that’s a simple assault. You might get 30 days. How hard you hit him determines what type of assault it is. But if you say, “I don’t like Jews, blacks, or homosexuals” or anything like that just prior to hitting him, it becomes a “hate crime,” and then you may get years in prison and a healthy lawsuit against you. I really don’t understand it – people will always hate something.
Do you have to be a minority, have a certain color of skin, sex urge or what? I hate child molesters, and they are certainly a minority and they claim children are their sexual orientation. I hate ‘em – so if I knock one on his butt, is that a hate crime? It’s America, isn’t it? I have the right to like or dislike whomever or whatever I want. Of course I realize I don’t have the right to hurt them.
We are probably getting closer to mind control in this country, but we are not quite there yet, so it is not unlawful to have a dislike for someone else, or even have a hatred of certain religious organizations that like to kill innocent women and children.
Speaking of moving on, we got to Mesa, Arizona, a few days ago, just in time to feel what triple-digit heat and low humidity are like, and most of all, we now know what it’s like in a mobile home when the central air goes out on the weekend when the temperature is 107 degrees and you have to wait till Monday for a repairman. All the fans in the world don’t get the bedroom under 94 degrees during the night.
Why did we decide to go to Arizona at this time of the year? It’s simple – we wanted to see what it was like, and besides, we have a place there; we might just as well use it, huh?
It’s supposed to reach 109 today and there is a possibility of rain. Rain doesn’t bring the temperature down much, it just brings up the humidity and blood pressure, but life goes on. People still work and play, they just dress differently and drink a LOT of water.
Tom “Road” Blair
Website: www.tomroadblair.com