You know, Amy, there are people MY AGE (late 20's-early 30's) who write like that. It really is pathetic. There were people in my freshman writing class at the U that did not know how to write a complete sentence. (I think it's annoying enough that people TEXT in shorthand.)

My neighbors turned their front yard into an, ahem, "winter wonderland" last Christmas. I have to admit that I entertained the idea of smashing the glowing snowman and pulling up all of the wooden candy canes in the middle of the night...

I IM'ed you years ago, and you were busy, but very professional and polite in the way you responded. I was impressed rather than annoyed. It was also during saner hours.

One nice part about doing the science gig, is that I only get bombarded by requests for attention in the latter half of the school year, and those are mostly High School kids doing science fair projects. Those are fun and involve little to no drama. That, and I don't get IM'ed, since no mad-science request would require the level of immediacy of a potential suicide.

Hmmm, seems like a lot of little red flags in this story. First, vandalism? This is at the shallow end of that. Imagine slashing all your tires or spraypainting racial slurs on your garage door. That might be worth worrying about as more of a crime. For ripping up the pink bunny? you put a basic infrared security cam, or deer cam in the front window of the house, unobtrusively, and catch the punks in the act, and get 'em before a judge. The same way as any other delinquent. The religion card? Last I heard it, neither snowmen nor easter bunnies are part of Christianity, so I haven't a clue what she is talking about there. The most important thing she can do is reach out to neighbors... and find some community inclusion there. Not by throwing the minority card of any kind, but by insisting that this is a basic attack on the whole community that she is a part of. It might stop surprinsingly soon, because there is a high potential that it is a neighbor's kid doing this.

About the actual article:

I think it's entirely too trendy to cry victim these days. I think the main reason is that people see others getting an audience and sympathy and - in some cases - compensation. So when it's their turn, they're quick to find an excuse to cry.

Seems like the greater access people have to an audience, and the better off they actually ARE, the more they end up complaining. Those in the truly bad situations aren't trying to get press attention and public sympathy, they're focused on survival.

The Easter Bunny is a pagan symbol, not Catholic, so obviously the vandals are Papist agents intent on intimidating her back into the fold of the Holy Roman Church.

The snowman doesn't represent anything. It was probably vandalized to confuse the investigators.

I explain all of this in my new book "Yes, They Really Do Hate Your Religion, It Has Nothing To Do With Your Inflatable Lawn Trash Decorating Nightmare That Demeans The Entire Neighborhood".

"we thought it would be funny to move it down a couple lawns" Yeah I can buy that. If the ornament is unique (especially if it's really big) moving a few houses down would be a prank I would have pulled back in the day. As far as the slashing, those inflatable rip very clean. Unless so it would look like a knife cut.

"apparently -- and this is what we got for our money" Without spell check I'm not sure how much better my writing would be. Not being able to spell (especially if you grew up with spell check) doesn't indicate shit except that you can't spell. Unless your an editor or insist on using a type writer it really makes no difference.

"And, as I've written before about hate crimes, you really can't know what's in somebody's head. "

That's the fatal flaw in the way these laws are written. There is some validity to the notion of the hate crime, the effect it has on the targeted group, but instead of writing the law in a way so as to make it in effect a mild form of terrorism, these laws are written to target the supposed mental state of the perpetrators. It's moralism written into law. Mens rea is one thing, but this is a thought crime.

I say let these boys off -- scott free! Her lawn was the bigger crime.

God, I hate these Christmas display contests. The stupid fucking mentality that you have to outdo your neighbors -- bigger, brighter, noiser and as garish as possible. Whatever happened to a little tasteful trim?

Every fucking Christmas, the stupid ass news media does a story about some asshole whose house can be seen from the Thruway or something because of all the damned lights. That while they simultaneously implore us to conserve energy. And don't you know, they say with a grin, it's caused some brown-outs in the neighborhood but, by golly, gee-whiz, don't these folks have the holiday spirit? Bet they wouldn't think it so damned cute if it was their next door neighbor.

What I'm taking the long way of saying is these boys were performing a fucking public service.

And who's the true hater? Them or the one who has a compulsive need to shove her holiday down her neighbors' throats?

TG:

There's no law against consuming insane amounts of electricity, nor having excessive and obnoxious lawn ornamentation. Maybe that's a bad thing (in this case), but there it is.

There are laws against destruction of private property, trespassing, and vandalism. Maybe that's a bad thing (in this case), but there it is.

Set them free? No. But I figure they should be treated like the punk-ass delinquents they are, rather than the newest recruits of the Neo Nazis.

Actually, the perp who wrote that letter has a good grasp of grammar and rhetoric. As first a grad student and then as a teacher, I read a whole lot of Middle English, written down before conventions of consistent spelling and punctuation developed. So the kid's failure to follow contemporary writting conventions, though bothersome, doesn't obscure the fact that his subjects and predicates match up and his modifiers have clear referents. He argues his case in a logical order and provides helpful transitions.

The fact that school failed to persuade him to adopt standard writing conventions suggests that it did not teach him to think coherently, either. He learned that on his own: the grammar of English by hearing it spoken and the rhetoric of argument by shooting the bull with his peers, exactly the way members of our species did before we invented writing.

I taught in college, not elementary or high school, so I have no idea how to persuade kids early on that they need to learn the conventions, but if this teen thought so, he seems smart enough to pick them up in short order. Any psychologists or educators out there have thoughts on this?

No duh, Jamie. I -- rather tongue in cheek -- was implying there should be. When people get so obnoxious with them that they're causing brown-outs or keeping their neighbors up with lights and/or noise, perhaps it's time to make up some rules about limitations.

Yes, I realize that would be a free speech limitation. Same as loud radios are.

As for how much these kids should be punished, c'mon, get real. Jail time? They did minimal property damage. They didn't spray paint the garage door or break anyone's window. It was, in the great scheme of things, fairly harmless. Fined, yes. Maybe probation. But jail for this? You've got to be kidding me.

I love tacky decorations at Christmas. They're so fun! I briefly lived in a rather boring neighborhood... but at Christmas they went nuts with the decorations. It was very amusing. It was great.

I figured it was tongue in cheek. Hence why I kept adding "Maybe that's a bad thing (in this case), but there it is."

Like, "no duh" TG.

Personally I'd be fine with seeing a few cases of "creating a public nuisance" against some of these people. Especially in cases where their display is so bright that people next door feel like spotlights are aimed at their windows. I wouldn't think that most houses should be even ALLOWED to pull enough current (and still be up to code) to cause a brown-out. That's more a public safety issue, innit?

As for the punk-ass delinquents, the more typical (and saner) punishment might be fines and public service. I didn't think "jail time" came into it until they starting labeling it as a hate crime. Now, if these kids were repeat offenders, then I'd have no problem with escalation to juvie.

But as it was, Gonzalez, 57, and her husband were wide awake early Sunday and sitting around the kitchen table with family when vandals punctured the 5-foot tall inflatable pink Easter bunny that adorned her lawn.

Maybe it's just me but any tacky, inflatable five-foot-something lawn ornament is a magnet for troublesome teenagers. Let's think teen here: you are full of piss and vinegar while being on a revolt against the universe and then you see that huge inflated PINK bunny just standing there. Of course, the inflated bunny is not asking for it but neither the lawn negro made of plaster and holding a lamp.

Up to there, calling it a "Hate Crime", there's a huge margin.

Sorry not juvie since at least their first suspect is 18, not a minor. Maybe overnight in county lockup - but only if they were repeat offenders. The "bias crime" (gee, even that's PC) bit is excessive and stupid.

But if the local laws for destruction of private property (minus the "bias crime" bit) is jail time, then it should be up to the judge to decide. If the punishment is excessive, then appeals should take care of that.

Remember Michael Fay? I was okay with what happened to him. It was the law of the land, right? He chose to break that law, and that's the consequences.

Random observation: I just found the Easter Bunny online... it's $32.00. If I called the cops in Austin about a $32 inflatable bunny, they'd laugh at me.

Is toilet papering someone's house a hate crime now, too?

If I ever had a jackass neihbor with xmas light issues I'd get a few high intensity halogen work lamps from home depot and shine them in their windows

I didn't read anything in your post (or the linked article) that indicated they felt persecuted because they were Christians, Amy. To the contrary; she felt it was possibly because they were Hispanic.

Believe me - we get it already: anyone with an ounce of faith is an idiot Biblehead. You manage to work that angle into every post possible, even when the story is completely unrelated to religion.

What was it this time? The Easter Bunny? It must have been; snowmen and glass garden decorations, at least to most of us, don't scream 'Jesus Freak!'.

Just sayin'.

"This was the latest in a series of attacks that has Gonzalez feeling targeted and wondering whether her ethnicity or her religion is the reason."

That's where religion is mentioned in the article. Amy did not just make it up. I assumed Gonzalez was referring to being Catholic, not merely Christian.

Of course it could just be that she's looking for a way to cash in on that sweet, sweet victim status.

Bitch needs to deal. Kids do stupid shit. Her house is conveniently located. Get over it.

You know, I'm nearly 30 and I have never once heard anyone explain to me exacly how a rabit shitting multi colored hard boiled eggs has anything to do with the ressuerction

You know, I'm nearly 30 and I have never once heard anyone explain to me exacly how a rabit shitting multi colored hard boiled eggs has anything to do with the ressuerction

IT'S NOT ABOUT BABY JESUS - IT'S ALL ABOUT THE EGGS!!

I'm sure somebody would be crying for the vandals if Gonzales had shot them, but it wouldn't be me. It's still a semi-free country and it was their property purchased with their money that the young adults destroyed.

Next, we give the vandals who color the ads on the buses and streetcars a pass, right? Then it's OK to obliterate bumper stickers you disapprove of. That keyed car, that's still a no no. Not a very workable system, is it? If it's not yours, leave it alone.

I'm against hate crime laws, period. A crime is a crime. Even if it is one you approve of, or don't care much about. Because next time it's you, or me.

Mark I'm all for using deadly force on people entering your house or assulting your person.

But as much as I'm in favor of drastically reducing humanities herd, I cant justify shooting to defend a plastic incarnation of any idol worshiped by morons

This item has had the intended effect: You have been distracted from your Congressman's malfeasance of office in handling public finance issues with a fluff piece.

When my Dad was a boy, two kids dynamited an outhouse in his town. A national alert and a lockdown of the county was not required. The neighbors were not in any way terrorized. The miscreants were forced to repair it.

But nowadays, you've been taught to squeal with fear, and squeal with fear you will.

I'm sorry, Jamie. I guess I took you too seriously.

You kidding me, Mark! Some punishment, yes. But are you seriously recommending the death penalty for teenage pranks. Make them pay for the decos and some slight punishment (in proportion to the slight crime, they did not even break into the house, for cripe's sake) but shoot them for popping an inflated ornament? Christ, I hope I never live near you. If I step on your lawn by mistake, you'll shoot to kill for trespassing most likely.

Radwaste has it. The overreaction these days is ridiculous.

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