A Little List of Naughty People who Deserve Coal & Ashes

I thought I did but I'm using my nomination for the barbarians.

Horrid people youth these days.

The constant references to barbarians has recalled to my mind a skit in the early days of Saturday Night Live. It showed a Roman Legionary camp--the Vandals had "t=peed" the place. I know, it's not to be compared to the hooligans you've dealt with Noddy--it's just something which occurred to me.

Craven, Setanta--

Not to worry. I have lots of coal and ashes and I'd be willing to add a cubic mile of second hand smoke.

All barbarians are eligible, not just the creeps on my mountain.

Of course, if you are overwhelmed by the giving, sharing and loving aspects of the holiday season.....

Not at all, Boss, maybe we could share some of that up the backsides of your local barbarians . . .

I live constantly in coal and ashes - why did you asked :wink:

George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, All decision and policy makers in the health care insurance business, and the person who keyed my business van.

All the guys that bash Harry Potter and homosexuality just to piss me off. They don't get what it means to respect other beliefs because they have never had to... stupid conservative christain homeschoolers

This one guy, Josh, for saying it didn't mattr what was happening in Africa with the AIDs problems because they deserve it. Coal and Ashes for you this year, kid.

The Australian Federal government - for its policy of detaining asylum seekers who have entered the country illegally - including children - in prison-like compounds - sometimes for years.

And for going to war in Iraq without UN sanction.

And whoever is killing the dolphins in the Port River...

I'm scared of Josh.

innie, Your post reminded me of a poem my nephew recently wrote, and since it Xmas time of year, here it is.

"A Merry AIDS-Mas"

jing a ling a ling a ling
Those god damn bells are everywhere
If you give them money, they still ring them
They're everywhere, no escaping

There's no escaping any of it
Those damn poinsettas, the christmas trees
That fat bastard in the red and white suit
It's impossible, it's everywehere, even in paradise

But worse of all, it's those memories
No, not of bad christmas' past
But the good ones, you can never have again
It's the memories of your friends and family

It couldn't happen to us, we all said
Those damn bells, the poinsettas, all reminders of
christmas' past
No one is immune to this disease

You may not have it, but someone you know will
You may not die from it, but someone you know will
We are all in denial, saying it could never happen
But it can and does happen

Schools don't teach about it, because of the religious
freaks
It's to punish the gays they say
That's a funny thing, heterosexuals get it too
Blacks, Asians, Mexicans, Whites, it sees no colour

The memories of friends and family blow cold
The cut to the hearts of those who have lost loved
ones
Memories of christmas' past with them
Gone, but never forgotten, for the cold winds of
December, blow year around.

Coal to the Despoilers, the dismantlers, in high places.

Brand X, wow! that poem really touched me! it's so sad/true... thank you for sharing, it's quite a poem!

Noddy
Noddy, last year some teenagers went on a rampage on the West Side of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. They smashed car windows and house windows, about 50 in all. My home was one of the unlucky ones; my front windows were broken. The force was so strong the window frame as well as the glass was broken. It took some time and inconvenience in addition to money to replace the window as it had to be ordered from Oregon.

The three culprits (two 16 and one 19) were discovered, arrested and were referred to arbitration. I was invited to participate in the arbitration, which I would have done if I had not injured my back at the time and was unable to attend. I had several years of experience as an American Arbitration Association arbitrator-mediator, specializing in the juvenial justice diversion system. Forcing juveniles to face the people they have harmed and having to listen to the consequences of their acts sometimes has a profound effect on these brainless kids in time to change their behavior---and that of their parents, too, who share responsibility. Not always for those already amoral, but often enough to make trying to change their behavior worth while.

BBB

BBB--

I'd be a bit comforted if I were sure that my Barbarians were teenagers. Unfortunately, this neck of the woods is populated by a number of Aimless Young Men with no jobs or poorly paying jobs.

They know their vandalism is inconvenient. They resent incomers. Here I'm guilty--we've only lived here for 14 years. Many of the incomers are much more recent--New Yorker's inspired by 9/11 to get out of the Big Apple and into Real Country where their kids will be "safe". They build McMansions and commute.

Meanwhile the kids call their new home "The Green Penitentary". Here again, the vandalism they perpetuate is designed to cause adults--any adults--maximum inconvenience. Vandalism is self expression. I think these brats are sure it is guaranteed under the First Amendment.

Law Enforcement in these parts is provided by the PA State Police who are spread very thin over the rural parts of this county and several other counties. Investigating "minor" vandalism is necessarily a low priority.

Coal and ashes. Coal and ashes.

Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, who will be able to share their coal and ashes as they double date with Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant. They were all kind enough, though, to let O. J. Simpson and Anna Nicole Smith off the hook this year. Gotta give 'em that.

noddy-we must have the same vandals. I finally placed a very heavy plate mailbox on a stainless post. Those kids you speak of, have taken to harrassing the amish buggies in salisbury Township. the local magistrate had thrown the book(as much as he could lift0 at them and , in appeal, their parents had fought to have the decisions overturned. theres a good lesson to give our kids.
'Be a total self-centered bully and mommie and daddie will bail you out'
well, coal and ashes for the parents too.

I hate these people whom you have mentioned so far; why oh why do they have to do what they do? What causes people to mindlessly vandalize? Boredom?

My nomination for the list of people who deserve coal and ashes includes the people whom I saw on Thursday. I was on the bus, going from town to a friend's house, and this kid, about eleven years old, got off the bus with his bike. Three youths started beating him up for the bike. I brought attention to it, and told the rest of the people on the bus; there were big men on the bus, but they just turned away. Most people turned away, a few said 'that's disgusting,' but did nothing. People put their interests first. I would have done something, were it not for the fact that, if I did, they might try something with me and beat the kid up twice as hard. People could have stopped it.

I think the first vandal on record--even if the record is mythical--is the lout who burned the library at Alexandria so that generations to come would know his name.

Vandals do not create--they destroy--and they generally aim for monumental destruction of property. The notion that property represents money and time for the owners is alien to them.

Usually the owners of the property are not personally known to the vandals. The owners are members of the amorphous "Them" who persecute high spirited youth or get to drive prestige cars or "think they're smart because".

Us "Thems" have money and power and "we're asking for it". The generation gap and the differences between the "haves" and the "have-nots" have interacted with the mobile American lifestyle to produce communities of strangers.

A hundred years ago, before mass production, everyone had fewer possessions and everyone (including the families of the vandals) was more aware of the value of both time and money.

Teenagers are not adults. Some teenagers sow wild oats. Some teenagers sow wild oats with parental approval--even parental permission.

Several years ago there was a letter to the local newspaper after a spree of mailbox smashing that pointed out that mailbox smashing was practically a rite of passage in some circles. After all, the writer had smashed mailboxes as a teenager and he turned into a responsible citizen. (Note that he focused on his character development rather than on the inconvenience that he caused to others).

If I saw the vandals who did in my mailbox, I probably wouldn't be able to identify them. They might live a quarter mile away--they might live five miles away. They would not know who I was.

They are focused on having changed the face of the local landscape--an evening of "fun". I'm feeling that the world is becoming a more hostile place.

Suppose through happenstance the State Police are able to arrest the barbarians that did in my mailbox. Yes, I would press charges. Perhaps I'm influenced by the "sue" mentality but my time and inconvenience deserve compensation.

Suppose I had the power to insist that my wrecked mailbox became a part of a public criminal record that might influence an individual's chances of a getting in a "good" college or getting a "good" job?

I'd want to know more about the vandals than I know now--but I'd consider blackening a minor's name if the offenses were many and the minor (and his parents) showed no remorse and made no effort to right the wrong that had been done.

One of the sickening parts of pointless vandalism is that the victim loses compassion for misguided youth.

Noddy
Noddy, I stumbled across this avatar; thought you might enjoy it.

BBB

http://ocgamers.net/site/modules/Forums/images/avatars/425af86a3f38b61ec8336.gif