Sue the Dogs

Maybe I'm cruel and inhuman, or perhaps I will never understand some things about this country. Today's paper has an article about the three boys who were found dead in an abandoned car's trunk last month. For those of you not familiar with the story, this past June three New Jersey kids were reported missing from the yard where they were last seen. The families called police after three hours of fruitless searching, and a massive search which included 150 officers was launched within a few hours.
It turns out the kids had been playing in the front yard of the house where two of them were visiting and the other one lived. They climbed into the trunk of an abandoned car and it accidentally locked itself behind them, and they suffocated before anyone was able to find them. Sad story.
Now, this is where things begin to sound pretty stupid: The lawyer of one of the families claims that the kids could have lived for up to 33 hours before suffocating in the trunk, and the family wants to sue the police for negligence.

Let me tell you that again: Parents left their children unattended for -they claim- thirty minutes. Once they realized they were missing, they searched for three hours before calling the police. The police deployed 150 officers, several search dogs, and mobilized volunteers to help on the week long search, concentrating on a nearby river, the place where it was most likely that the kids would have gone missing and possibly drowned. They didn't find them. Yet a few days later, the father of one of the kids decided to check the trunk of the car parked right outside the house where they were last seen playing and made the grim discovery. Now they want to sue the police, and possibly Toyota (yes, the car was a Toyota)

Why did the parents failed to check this apparently "obvious" place in the three hours prior to calling for help? Why did they leave their children unnatended for ANY period of time, be it five or thirty minutes or three hours? Why did they wait for three hours to report the children missing? Why the fuck do they blame the police for their irresponsibility as parents and their incompetence? Why are they trying to find blame where there is none other than their own for not taking care of their children? Are they -just out of curiosity- asking for money? They want to sue Toyota? Why don't they sue the government of Japan for importing cars to the US? Maybe they can sue the US government for allowing the imports? How about suing the dogs the police used on the search for failing to pick up the scent where the kids were last seen?

What is wrong with these people? Seriously, what is wrong with these people? The independent reports and investigations imply "incompetence" on the part of the police department. Where were they supposed to look for the kids? Were they supposed to open the trunk of every car parked within a mile radius from the house where the real incompetents live? Were they expected to look under the beds of the same house? (which I bet they did) Wasn't it obvious to search in the nearby river? What were the parents doing when the kids dissapeared? If it was so obvious that they could have been in the car, why didn't they check it themselves? Who are they calling negligent? Why does anyone even consider a lawsuit on this issue?

I think the dogs did it. They thought the trunk of the car was too easy and not as exciting as going downriver searching for a scent. I think they should sue the dogs, and maybe the judge who accepts the case might actually appoint a couple of lawyers for the irresponsible canines. They could be paid for with tax payer dollars! The same dollars that paid for the massive search caused because of the irresponsibility of those kids' parents. Yeah, I thik so. Sue the dogs.

As you can tell, I'm grouchy today. Good Night.

So Much Going On

My last day at work is less than a month away and for some reason my time off is begining to fill up very quickly. Next week hasn't even began yet and I already have plans for almost every day! I also need to find time to take a 6 hour Defensive Driving course to dismiss a stupid speeding ticket I got on my way back from San Antonio a while ago -you would not believe how fast 90 days go by! I have slacked off and now the deadline to send the certificate to the court is approaching dangerously- That means an extra $25 for overnight delivery of the certificate. You would think after all this years I would know better than to wait until the last minute.

The documents for my apartment lease should come in shortly, and also the application for the student loan. This promises to be an eventful week (and I mean that in a very positive way), I will be seeing old friends and new ones as well, and I am looking forward to both. Let's hope my car doesn't give up on me, since the check engine light has been on for a couple of days and I have had no time to take it to the shop. I also need a haircut badly. No really, I need a haircut. My sister already told me I look like a professional Colombian soccer player (you see, yo'd have to be Colombian to get the joke).

Funny how mundane tasks and cultivating friendships can take up all your time without even knowing it, especially when some weeks are particularly dead and no friends are anywhere to be seen. I can't complain, obviously the summer is here and things have began to pick up; there is something going on almost every night. If that wasn't enough, I have began to realize that there are a million things I would like to do in Houston before I leave and I will barely have time to do them all! I started to catch up yesterday by riding the light rail into downtown one more time and then going to the Astros' ball game. It was fun!

No Title, and the Star Spangled Banner

Some days I just have to force myself to write. I am in a bit of a dylemma since I actually have things I would like to comment on, but I know that it might hurt some people's feelings. While I figure out what to do I can update my last post by saying that my grandfather is, once again, back home. This time he was not so victorious over his illnesses. He actually has a full time nurse and a doctor's visit on a daily basis. But we talked today and he seemed in very good spirits, which makes me very happy.

Oh! there is something I have had mixed feelings about. This 4th of July I went to an outdoor theatre to celebrate independence day, and I surprised myself by instinctively reaching for my heart when the Houston Symphony began playing the Star Spangled Banner. It's odd, but as days and years go by I feel that I belong more and more in this country than I do in Colombia. I got goosebumps when the anthem began playing, I stood up, as I would have always done out of respect, but this time I actually felt part of the celebration. I felt American. I don'k know what my friends and family back home might think when they read this, and I must say that I have been wondering about the implications of it myself. I had a great evening, watched the fireworks, listened to the symphony and felt very much at home.