Apologies....
 

When I 1st came back here, I was VERY angry over what had happened to me, & wrote a thread-full of hate , bitterness, & hyperbole It apparently-RIGHTFULLY so-caused many of you to complain to the mod staff. After cooling off a bit I read thru it again & deleted the whole sorry mess. REALLY wouldn't kill anyone, ever over anything-Well, maybe if someone was about to kill my wife, or me..Anyhow, its gone, & I think there is a pretty good chance I may be, too. Yeah, it was THAT bad. What is the overall opinion of you folks ? If y'all say I need to go, I'll say "Sayonara", & we'll part company. I'll never bother this august group again. If you think I deserve a 2nd chance, maybe I'll stay. I haven't made up my mind-Yet. A LOT depends on how you guys feel. This whole thing is rather difficult, I foolishly let my bile & vitriol get the better of me. This apology is not an excuse, but maybe a feeble attempt at an explanation. By the bye, Even my wife gave me a pretty good "Chewing" over what I did/said, & is even madder than normal at me. "You run yr damn mouth AGAIN didn't you ? Told you not to, but you wouldn't listen." Sometimes, it ain't easy/fun being me....

As far as I'm concerned they deserved the bad mouthing they got... folks that Rob a family who's charity they were living off of are scum... there's other scummy aspects I could comment on but I rather not catch the same crap you probably did.

Sandy, you're fine and more than welcome to stay. All is forgiven.

For some background, the comment in question raised the ire of more than one member. Tim received the complaints, and then decided to hand the issue off to me as he felt I could better separate the wheat from the chaff.

As a general rule, I don't give a damn what someone's beliefs are regarding, well, anything. In fact, I had read through the thread initially and, having missed the one offending comment, didn't think there was anything particularly wrong with it.

There has to be a line drawn in the sand somewhere though, and the "pieces and parts" remark crossed it. I understand that you were upset, and I get that you tend toward hyperbole in general, but it still couldn't be left. I genuinely believe you to be a good person who let his anger get the best of him. It's probably one of the top ten universal problems of humanity, and one that nobody is immune to, myself included.

I would tend to agree... to a point. Attack the content of their character, which is clearly ATROCIOUS given that they would rob Sandy blind, not some other aspect of their lifestyle that is, quite frankly, irrelevant to the robbery. In any case, making suggestions about open murder, be they in jest, hyperbolic, etc, is still beyond the pale. This forum is hardly over-moderated; I think setting a line in the sand at "Thou shalt not kill" (or suggesting to do just that) is about as reasonable as one can get without letting a forum go completely off the rails.

Any other "scummy aspects" you wish to complain about should be directed to Tim.

Danke Schoen, all y'all. Yeah, this AIN'T the 1st time my big yap has got me in Dutch, & it likely won't be the last. I guess the thing that ticks me the worst is that they will never have to pay in any way, shape or form for screwing w/me. The police ? I may as well have opened a window & shouted outside. I couldn't PROVE they did an effin' thing. One of 'em told my wife that I had TOLD him he could "Help himself" to whatever he wanted in my basement. This was when they 1st came here, & had nothing. I DID tell him he could sell off some trinkets from the basement to help himself & his boyfriend to get back on their feet, but taking a Model 500 S&W revolver, & a US type set full of rare & expensive coins was NOT exactly what I meant. They also threatened to go to the cops when the one kid's mother "Broke" into this house where they had been living "Off the grid", that they really had no right to be in. The house had had NOBODY living in it, hadn't had for 10 years, the lights & water were off, & I think it had been sacked several times by other lowlifes. But that kid had lived his entire life similarly, given a pass for every eff up he'd done, & NEVER having had to answer for anything. Looking back on it, I need to have had MY arse kicked for ever having let these 2 around in the 1st place. But me & my wife took pity on them, not knowing what incredibly GREAT manipulators we'd stumbled onto. They stole from her a bunch of Coach purses & stuff she'd collected to be given out as Xmas presents. I now have a strong disrespect & distrust for gays, which is likely unwarranted, but "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on ME..." But screw all this, lets get back to talking about old TVs & radios, which are 10K times more interesting than this is, anyhow...

We waited how long for you to come back! No one blames you to be really angry.
What was that saying, " The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Hey, we all get angry sometimes. But a wise man can say "I was wrong here" and move on :)

PS: Nice user title :D

-J

Yeah, & MINE is never a quiet country backroad, its a 6 lane motorway, filled w/Trabants buzzing along happily at 45 MPH in all lanes... I'm in a V12 S-class, trying to get from Stuttgart to Berlin in 45 minutes....

I can even understand the disrespect and distrust now; it's a natural reaction to anger.

I had an individual actually get into my vehicle and threaten me while I was stopped at a stop sign between McNichols and Gratiot along Gunston. I was on the way back home from planting flowers on my grandparents graves in Mt. Olivet cemetery.

Later in the same month, my home was broken into and I not only had a considerable number of items stolen, but a large number of items smashed and destroyed and then left.

Both perpetrators were members of a particular group, though I'll decline to get into that aspect. Needless to say, I was distrustful and disillusioned for a time. That said, at the end of the day we must ultimately make a decision to either continue to hold onto our anger, distrust, disrespect, etc, or forgive them for our own sake, move on, and try not to hold onto negative feelings toward people with no involvement whatsoever. I will say that is easier said than done, and I don't begrudge anyone that can't or won't do so.

I ought to print this.. people always make fun of me and accuse me of being xenophobic for locking the doors and putting the windows up whenever I venture into a "sketchy" area.

There are some people I will never trust or want to be around... Unlike Sandy I'm past the point of being fooled once or twice... the people I'm talking bout used up turning the other cheek and the "maybe I just met a bad example" argument and then some... I don't hate em I just prefer to have as little to do with them as feasible...I bet we all know some people who we'd like to see go colonize Mars and leave us alone on Earth. :D

It's all good, STAY!!!

I usually do the same, and I live in the city of Detroit itself, so basically all the time. It was a nice day though, mid-morning, and I honestly didn't think anything would happen. I got too comfortable and it very easily could have turned into a carjacking and/or murder. In retrospect, I'm surprised it didn't.

Well, these guys, Boys, actually, they were/are in their early/mid 20s & I am 62, I rather doubt they had strong father types in their lives-And THAT makes all the difference. The one kid, Jess, his father basically has the morals of a jackrabbit, is well known for plying VERY underage girls, we're talking 12, 13, 14 here w/whatever booze/drugs they want, & due to our lax klaw enforcement, he ALWAYS skates, as far as I know. But he's just another "Good Ol' Boy", what's the harm in him diddlin' a few widdle grrrls anyhoo, right ?!?. The other kid, Ray-Ray-the one who helped himself to my computer & changed all my passwords & stuff, I don't know his backstory, but little surprises me much anymore. Those 2 numbnuts are LOWLIFES, pure & simple. If Jess's father had been a MAN, & planted his foot up Jess's posterior when Jess 1st started going astray, things might have turned out for the better. The only thing I know about ol' Ray-Ray was he came toolin' in w/a nearly new4X3, a Lexus, I think, that he had to do some fast squirming to keep from getting tossed in the hoosegow because of some trouble w/the title. My wife was working second/graveyard at the VA, it fell on me to take care of/feed these 2 jokers, which I did. I took 'em to places I liked to eat at, always hoping/praying I'd NOT meet up w/anyone I knew, 'cause these 2 were VERY "Flamboyant", to put it mildly. They NEVER offered to pay for anything, yet they always apparently hd plenty of dinero. I just kinda let it all run off my back. Jeez, was I bein' played for the biggest "Patsy" in the world, or what ?!? They had the biggest set ever in the world between them, imagine the cheek of ripping somebody off to a fare-thee-well, & then expecting him to feed you your supper.... What unbridled nerve. What unadulterated cheek.... But I have to bow down to them in one sense, 'cause they were true masters of pure & simple "Arseholery". In a million years, I could not conceive of treating someone that dirty, I would say more, but I've promised to be a Good Boy, & not let my dark side shine thru again... But I gotta admit, its TOUGH to do right now....

Interesting. Is the urban decay as widespread as the media would have us believe, or is it isolated to specific parts of the city?