Palmer Blevins Blog

Don’t remember exaclty where I heard the conversation, but I’ve been pondering it and recently posed the question on my Facebook page: why is it perfectly legal for an individual, who wants to look younger, pretty and feel better about him/herself, to inject a toxin into his/her body…but in most cases, it is illegal for an individual to inject him/herself with steroids or other “performance enhancement” supplements for the same purpose.

Why is it that someone who uses something naturally occuring to improve him/herself, to feel better about him/herself, etc., is labeled a pariah, a cheater, etc.; but people are far more forgiving towards people who inject a dangerous toxin to do the same?

Neo-Cons, the same ones who brought you such pillars of marital fidelity as Newt Gingrich and Gov. Sanford, are accusing ABC of being biased towards President Obama because they are not airing opposing ads; and Fox News is jumping all over the story.

Of course, no one can ever accuse Fox News of being biased in their “reporting” or commentary, right? The following quote from a conservative blogger on the report is hillarious: “All Americans who are opposed to a major media arm becoming a visible branch of the presidential political machine” should use the marketplace to voice their objection.” So, where was this blogger when a major media arm (Fox News) was a visible branch of the presidential machine (the Bush & Cheney Administration). Pot, meet kettle….your black!

I was so happy when I bought my house four years ago, but that happiness over the years has turned into regret and then by anger. I am a live and let live sort of fellow, I don’t care what my neighbors legally do in the privacy of their own homes and yards; as long as it doesn’t have a negative impact on my property and my life. Pretty simple and straight-forwards.

Two and three houses from me, on my side of the street, are neighbors that I just wish would pack up and move. All day and night long they do nothing but gather, harass people, buy and sell drugs, steal, and make noise until the wee hours of the morning. Their houses are not fit for habitation by even a sewer rat’s standards and yet the city does nothing; which I think is a little unfair considering the property I used to own on the east side. The police are generous in responding to complaints, but there is only so much they can do…and it is not their jobs to babysit burdens on society, thugs and bullies.

So what can be done in regards to these pests? Many of us in the Enos Park area pay our property taxes and do our best to keep our properties looking good, but what is the point when you have neighbors like these?

Blevins Blog will no longer be the main page for my website; the new main url is www.palmerblevins.net, however Blevins Blog is still active and most posts will be reserved for more commentary type posts with readership limited to my Twitter, Facebook and MySpace subscribers.

PPL have e-mailed wondering if I’ve fallen off the face of the earth again. The answer is “no comment at this time.”

The SJ-R has a pretty good article on vacant homes that blight city neighborhoods. But as a former landlord, I think I can give another perspective, other than placing blame on “slum lords.”

Instead, let’s put the blame on scumbag tenants who decide to trash another person’s property when they find out they are being evicted because they have better things to do then pay their rent. Let’s place the blame on the city’s building and zoning department that won’t go after places unfit for habitation by a sewer rat (yet, still houses people), but will waste no time and energy going after property owners who do their best to keep their properties in good shape despite tenants who don’t meet their obligations to pay, and vandalize a property when they do not get their way. Let’s blame a system that tells a landlord that he/she must file a five day notice, then a ten day notice, then a 30 day notice; giving an unruly tenant 30+ days to live rent free before he/she trashes the place in revenge.

For four years I busted my ass to make that property a Mecca in a crappy side of town. The place was an eyesore before I bought it; den of drugs, prostitution and other types of crime.

I did my best to put in good tenants, and got burned each and every time because I have a soft side for a good sob story. And dealing with Building & Zoning was a nightmare; if I had a choice between dealing with B&Z one more time, or getting shot in the crotch with a nail gun every five minutes for an eternity, I would gladly choose the latter.

I have talked to other landlords in the past who have washed their hands of their properties; and tenants, Building & Zoning and the fact that landlords have no rights are high on the list of why they just said to hell with it. And despite the ding to my credit and the fact that in a matter of weeks a property that I sunk over $45,000 in repairs, thousands of dollars in property taxes, mortgage and interest payments, will soon become the eyesore it once was…I have no regrets in turning the property over to the mortgage company, knowing that it will once again become an eyesore and blight. I did all that I could.

The best thing about a nightmare is that eventually you wake up and can go about your day without as much as an afterthought. If the city is so concerned about blight, perhaps it should find a way to treat landlords who have tried to better a property a little better and help them out.

Interesting tidbit that I did not know: President Lincoln and Tom Hanks are 3rd cousins, 4x’s removed. Their common ancestor is John Hanks (1680-1740), Honest Abe’s 2x’s Great Grandfather and Mr. Hank’s 4x’s Great Grandfather.

Also found an interesting site discussing ties between Abraham Lincoln and a John Hanks (1802-1889).

I have been working on a book going on five years now about religious fundamentalism; and if you have been a follower of this site, you know how I am about writing. I must have deleted and re-wrote entire chapters over the course of those five years; and the scary thing is that I was done three years ago, wasn’t satisfied with the “finished” product, and decided to start from scratch. Just the way I am, I’m a perfectionist I guess.

I have found a company I want to publish with, and have picked by best friend Saman Nasir as my agent/publicist. Pretty excited, I’ve self-published things before, but want the feel of legitimacy that goes with being published by a reputable company.

Was watching an old episode of How I Met Your Mother, where Lilly gets her husband to coach her kindergarten class in basektball; but she gets mad when he is really rough on them and tells him that they don’t keep score, that winning isn’t everything, and that everybody gets a trophy.

With all the school shootings that have taken place since 1996, I can’t help but think that this philosophy is part of the problem. It seems that kids are not taught the skills necessary to survival in school: they are babied, led to believe that they are entitled to everything, that failure is fine, and that everyone likes them because they are special, etc. And then the real world sets in.

They realize that life doesn’t look kindly on failure, that mommy was wrong when she said everyone likes you because you’re special, that in life there is competition, that you will suffer heartache and hurt feelings, and not everyone gets a trophy for merely participating. Not being able to cope, they decide to go to school and shoot up what they see as the source of their problems.

Granted, being too hard on kids is not the answer, neither is baby-ing them. There has to be a middle ground. No, winning isn’t everything but the spirit of competition needs to be instilled so a kid knows that when life knocks you on your ass, you pick yourself up, learn from your mistakes and keep playing. A kid needs to know that he/she is special, with certain skills, talents, etc., but that kid also needs to know that there are other kids who will target him/her; thus little Johnnie or Susie needs to learn how to cope. A kid needs to know that there is support out there, but also needs to know that sometimes your friends/family will ditch you for their own selfish reasons and sometimes you need to walk alone. A kid needs to know that there are good things in this world, but it is not all sunshine and lollipops.

I simply adore John Shimkus, the esteemed representative from the nation’s favorite source of political comedy and nimcompoopery. Everyone by now is aware of his recent comments that only God can destroy the world (so, by default, man can pollute and pollute and pollute) and that carbon dioxide is, in reality, plant food.

It’s basic elementary earth science: humans and animals emit carbon dioxide when they exhale. Plants then take-in that carbon dioxide and then emit oxygen for humans and animals to breath. Makes sense. It was kinda funny watching Glenn Beck explain a couple weeks ago on his Faux show that he was polluting the atmosphere by breathing out (he pollutes alot more outside of exhalling, but that is a whole other topic); and I am suprised that neo-Cons haven’t come out with the obvious tie-in that liberals want to kill humans off by capping CO2 emissions. After all, without carbon dioxide, plants will die and wont give off oxygen…which we need to live. Damn murderous socialist fascist liberals!

Though one can’t debate that plants and trees need CO2…too much of a “good” thing can be harmful; especially when there are not many plants and trees in the hearts of major cities to “inhale” the excess and produce oxygen in return. Perhaps if we just taped the mouths of Rush, Sean, Bill Glenn and John shut for a year (and planted a tree near their posteriors), the levels of CO2 and other toxis would drop dramatically and our companies would not have to worry about capping CO2 emissions.