I’m sure that your opinion is probably shaped by your overall view of the police, so I’ll admit that my view is pretty negative. I don’t think that police officers need to repeatedly punch a handcuffed suspect that weighs 70 pounds less than they do in order to gain control of a situation. I think that the real problem is that police work tends to attract bullies and those who were bullied, and that results in this kind of police brutality.

Personally, I don’t care for the attitude exhibited by most of the cops I’ve had to deal with. I’m also offended by the notion that some Roscoe who barely passed high school Government thinks he can give me a lecture about the law. Yeah, I was speeding. Who gives a shit where I’m going? Just give me the ticket.

I’ve talked to at least one person who believes that if you evade arrest, the cops can do whatever they want. Really? That seems fair to you? I steal some Peeps from the mini-mart and take off on my scooter, and it’s open season on me?

I don’t care what this guy did. Yes, it was bad, and he should be punished. But he should be dealt with within the legal system, not by a couple of cops who are pissed off that they had to chase him around when they could have been out there writing me a speeding ticket.

Growing up in the country, we usually had 3 to 5 dogs at any given time. And I have wonderful memories from our adventures together. But one of the things I learned growing up around animals large and small, is that different people have drastically different ideas about what constitutes humane treatment.

For example, I knew a man that did not want his dog to sleep directly outside the back door. To correct this undesired behavior, the dog was kicked in the ribcage. You see, the dog should have known better than to lie in front of the door. And a kick to the ribcage is a fair punishment. Right? I mean, only a liberal crybaby like yours truly would describe that behavior as cruel or brutal.

I find that stories about animal cruelty are particularly horrible. Which is why I was horrified to read in the paper this week that a public works supervisor in Jourdanton, Texas ordered several of his employees to drown six stray dogs at the city sewer plant. To save money.

The workers took the dogs to the sewer plant, and simply dropped their cages into the water. And as much as I’d prefer not to think about it, I can imagine the dogs thrashing around terrified, unable to breathe or to understand what was happening.

Adding insult to injury, the Jourdanton City Manager dealt with the supervisor and workers by requiring that they attend classes with animal control. And that appeared to be the end of it, until angry local citizens demanded a town hall meeting to discuss the “disciplinary action” taken by the City Manager.

You’ll have to forgive me for recommending that their punishment include a cage and the sewer plant. After all, they were only animals. I mean, we eat animals, don’t we? I don’t think too many pigs are making it to the Golden Pork retirement home. But I don’t care. Drowning dogs in cages is a crime against decency.

Watching the local news last night, I discovered that the new wave sweeping the Texas hunting community is online, real time hunting. You see, some genius (redneck) thought up the brilliant idea to put a rifle in a deer blind on a private lease somewhere, and hook it up to a computer so that people could kill from the privacy of their own homes. Their website says “Disabled and handicapped hunters, as well as others who would like to try this type of hunting, will be able to use our system”. Apparently handicapped and disabled hunters lie in bed at night with an itchy trigger finger waiting to get back into the game of “killin’ stuff”.

Save all the comments about my own hypocrisy. I’ll freely admit that I’m not a vegetarian. I love meat. I like it when my steak bleeds a little on the plate. I enjoy making Nicole laugh with my “mooo, the steak is moving” routine. I don’t have a problem with eating animals. They taste good.

My problem is the needless killing of so called “game animals” for sport. Killing is NOT a sport, and in this new modern society of ours, Billy Bob can take his happy ass down to the local grocery store and stock up on dead animals at LOW LOW prices. Yeah, I know it’s not the same as standing over a dying mammal and exchanging grins with your buddies as you finish off your cans of Miller Lite, but nobody said that life was fair.

For the townie, SXSW mostly means more traffic and an even longer wait at restaurants in the Central part of town. Well, it WOULD mean a longer wait, if we hadn’t decided to avoid the entire area like the plague. The increase in commentary around the web seems to come mostly from people who haven’t ventured outside of the downtown area. What’s important to know? Well, like most cities in Texas, Austin is really spread out. New York goes up, we go out. The people who post wondering why there isn’t a so and so, or a such and such, should realize that it’s just not downtown. Central Austin is probably the smallest region of the city.

The Interactive festival seems to attract many of the biggest names in the blogosphere and web design community. While the panels I’ve read about seem interesting enough for someone in the local area, I’m not sure they would be worth traveling from long distances, as many seem to have done. Of course, the argument has been made elsewhere that the real value of the festival is in the hallway discussions.

That notwithstanding, I probably wouldn’t attend anyway. I consider my skills to be similar to those of a mechanic. Not in the sense that I screw over women and old people, but rather it’s that I’m not really interested in getting together with a bunch of other mechanics and talking about being a mechanic, the best way to be a mechanic, and the future of auto repair. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy reading about new ideas and keeping up with innovation, only that I have greater passion for other interests. And beyond that, the Interactive festival seemed to be more about design, and less about code. I don’t really know jack about either, but I can at least fake the code part.

What also occurs every year is that there are flood related deaths resulting from motorists who make the incredibly unwise decision to drive through low water crossings. You might think that the water flowing over the road would be a fair warning. I might suggest that if you cannot see the road, it’s not safe to drive on it. That would seem reasonable. In most cases, drivers are not required to make judgments about road conditions or the safety of flowing water. Instead, the city is nice enough to put out highly visible roadblocks. Sometimes they even have flashing orange lights! But, does that do the job? Uh, no. Many drivers simply maneuver around the roadblocks and other warning signs, and attempt to cross anyway. Surely it couldn’t be as bad as those signs say. My SUV weighs five tons after all. Water may have carved out the Grand Canyon, but it won’t budge my Land Rover.

It’s worth noting that Texas also leads the nation in vehicle-train collisions. There seems to be a widening gulf between the knee jerk “I can make it” style of driving and plain old common sense. It’s a shame really. In light of recent national events, common sense was already having a rough year.

The bad news is that these idiots are multiplying. It may seem like a slow creep now, but the idiots are having more kids than the non-idiots, and they’re taking over. I see them at the grocery store, and at the gas station, when I leave work, and again when I wake up. It’s way scarier than seeing a few dead people.

It might seem reasonable to expect that a guy could run to Whataburger and back during halftime of the Oklahoma-Texas game, but not in this town. The idiots can make routine trips take twice as long and be twice the hassle. During what should have been a twenty minute burger run, I fell victim to at least four of the Ten Stupid Things Idiot Drivers Do In Austin.

I’m providing the full list for posterity. Feel free to add your own items.

Ten Stupid Things Idiot Drivers Do In Austin

1. They refuse to turn right at a red light.
2. They speed ahead of you to get in the right (turn) lane at a stop light in order to be first in line, even though they aren’t turning and you are.
3. They don’t realize when the highway merge lane is their OWN LANE.
4. They pump the brake pedal repeatedly when there isn’t anybody within a half mile of their vehicle.
5. They pass you on the highway, move in front of you, and then slow way down.
6. They go the exact same speed as the guy next to them on a two lane highway.
7. They slam on their brakes the minute the light turns greenish-yellow.
8. They change lanes because you were behind them even though you’re already in the other lane trying to pass them.
9. They drive down the shoulder of the road to get ahead of traffic and then wedge into the smallest opening available. (Okay, I’ve done that before, but only in protest.)
10. They use their car as a weapon, but speed away at the next stop light when you start to get out of your car in order to beat the hell out of them.