i heard this CRAZY story on fresh air today about a book called free lunch by a pulitzer prize -winning journalist david cay johnston. it's about the rich getting richer and the government doing all it can to keep it this way. there's this INSANE connection between alarm companies and the police. essentially, alarms are bogus ways to keep police in the $ while diverting them from doing things police actually SHOULD do. it's pretty insane, actually -
so the public gets sold alarm systems to keep them safe. there are these terrifying ads where the POLICE show up and save the day. the cops get $50 dollars every time you call them, which is all your alarm system does. 99%of alarm calls are false, these systems don't work - and even if there WERE a crime, the average police response time is 30 minutes, where crimes don't take more than 5 minutes and RARELY do police ever arrest anyone on these calls. it's total bullshit. 80% of people (tax payers) are paying for the police servicing 20% (people who own alarm systems) of the population. not to mention that 1/8 of all police calls are alarm calls, so 1/8 of the police force is away doing nothing all the time. that just isn't cool. it's an industry that preys on fear (local news stories???) to drain money from regular people.
brandon and i watched cops the other night. it was actually REALLY interesting, and some of it was REALLY sad. give it a chance.
hearing people cry on the radio is really intense. i admire such naked displays of emotion. it's always women who do it though. hmmm.
while i'm really excited about the results of the iowa caucus, i'm fucking pissed about this situation in michigan. i really wonder if this cockamamy scheme is going to work, michigan. michigan who is spending $12 million dollars on a bullshit election that the democratic party doesn't even recognize? come on. 30,500 people left michigan last year. i'm planning on doing it soon, and so are most of the people i know. gosh. juuust gosh.
