I feel the need to comment on the massacre on the Virginia Tech campus. I write this from the prospectus of someone who knows people who would do this. As complicated as it seems, it is really easy for me to understand. I see these behaviors everyday, and to put a difficult situation in very easy to understand terms, it is simply this, evil people do evil things. I know that really sounds simple, and almost disrespectful, but it is true. You see, evil people do evil things because it fulfils a self need. Evil people need to see evil. They need to see suffering, pain and all the emotions associated with it. It is our non-evil society that as to struggle with these things. As a person who doesn't enjoy seeing evil things, as I see it 40+ hours a week, I can not understand the need for our country to show all the evil in the world. It really does add fuel to an already burning fire.
The young man who did all the shooting on the VT campus that day wanted to create a situation filled with emotion and distress. His actions have become constant conversation in all media's. He has been able to broadcast his "message" for all to see, for all to examine. The sad thing about our instant information age is that there are other evil people out there, who given the opportunity, would have to figure out a way to do better.
Many will talk about what went wrong, who did or didn't act accordingly, why, his mental health, the police's role, the college's participation, and so on and so on. It may never stop. But I know these people, the one who bites off her own child penis just to watch the young boy bleed to death, or the mother upset at the father, so she kills, butchers and cooks the flesh and feeds the young man to the father. To anyone who may stumble across this, please remember that evil people do evil things, and they are to blame, period.
To the families of the dead and victimized, I wish you a speedy recovery in your healing. I hope that your life will not be defined by this event, but I can understand if it is. This is an unpreventable event. There is no answer to why, or why my child, or what could I have done. There are hundreds of millions of Americans, who are good and kind citizens, but the actions of one doesn't diminish what is good in us all. There will always be evil in the world, and it is that evil that will create these events. We can only keep doing what we do, being good and kind citizen, and know that evil people do evil things, no matter what we do.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Men are from Venus, Women are from Who Knows!
Sitting in my office looking out my window at the inmate’s recreation yard, I am troubled by the current state of affairs in the department. I spent the first four years of my career working with the states most dangerous felons. Before we had Pelican Bay, we had Corcoran. At that time the most dangerous prison in the state, and assuredly one of the most dangerous in the nation. Corcoran is where I cut my teeth, were I made my bones. Well that was when gas was $1.00 a gallon, and Bush Sr. was running things.
Jump forward to today. I no longer have such a lengthy commute (60 minutes one way), but I have spent the last 13+ years working with the women. I have moved up the food chain to rank of Lieutenant, which with .50 cents will get you a USA Today. I have supervised the Death Row, the Substance Abuse building, AIDS building and that states only prison within the prison, the Security Housing Unit (SHU). And once again, we are about to embark on another departmental exercise. This one is called Gender Responsive Training. Apparently, the Governator (Arnold) and the Department as bought off into a study by a Sociologist from the University of Cincinnati that indicates female felons are different from male felons. By the reaction of the department, you’d think this is earth shattering news of course! The problem is, the state will not amend current law pertaining to the mandatory rules of detention, what we call the California Code of Regulations, Title 15, or CCR. Without this change, there is no real solution. You see, we are bound by the law (CCR) which has been established by our legislators. This law directs our missions, and the due process rights afforded every inmate in our custodial care. That said, the “new” direction regarding the females raises some serious concerns. Early indication suggests that we are to look deeply into the reasoning for the various crimes. We are to try and understand the needs of the female felon, their backgrounds, past abuses and so and so and so. This is all well and good until there is a problem. A problem like, her behavior was so bad we must place her in segregation, however she has acted out like this in the past do to her lifetime use of cocaine. As you can see, we “guards” are put into a cross. On one hand we have the black and white written law, but on the other, we are to take into account the needs and reasoning behind the behavior. What are we to do? The department has a very long history of doing so dirty work. Here is the history. We are handed documents (training) to review and sign for. This training is in the form of a memo with the explanation of “here sign this”. Do to program requirements, we are not given time to actually train. So you sign the form and continue on with you duties. Well, Mr. Murphy steps in, and something goes wrong. If you take action, and it is different from the “training”, the department will pull out the document and say, “Here, you have been formally trained.”, so you violated policy and enjoy your 30 day non-paid vacation. If you ask to be formally trained, then you’ll here, “Just sign it, we don’t have time to shut down the program.” So you see the cross we are placed in on a daily basis. As I say, WTF! PRISON
Jump forward to today. I no longer have such a lengthy commute (60 minutes one way), but I have spent the last 13+ years working with the women. I have moved up the food chain to rank of Lieutenant, which with .50 cents will get you a USA Today. I have supervised the Death Row, the Substance Abuse building, AIDS building and that states only prison within the prison, the Security Housing Unit (SHU). And once again, we are about to embark on another departmental exercise. This one is called Gender Responsive Training. Apparently, the Governator (Arnold) and the Department as bought off into a study by a Sociologist from the University of Cincinnati that indicates female felons are different from male felons. By the reaction of the department, you’d think this is earth shattering news of course! The problem is, the state will not amend current law pertaining to the mandatory rules of detention, what we call the California Code of Regulations, Title 15, or CCR. Without this change, there is no real solution. You see, we are bound by the law (CCR) which has been established by our legislators. This law directs our missions, and the due process rights afforded every inmate in our custodial care. That said, the “new” direction regarding the females raises some serious concerns. Early indication suggests that we are to look deeply into the reasoning for the various crimes. We are to try and understand the needs of the female felon, their backgrounds, past abuses and so and so and so. This is all well and good until there is a problem. A problem like, her behavior was so bad we must place her in segregation, however she has acted out like this in the past do to her lifetime use of cocaine. As you can see, we “guards” are put into a cross. On one hand we have the black and white written law, but on the other, we are to take into account the needs and reasoning behind the behavior. What are we to do? The department has a very long history of doing so dirty work. Here is the history. We are handed documents (training) to review and sign for. This training is in the form of a memo with the explanation of “here sign this”. Do to program requirements, we are not given time to actually train. So you sign the form and continue on with you duties. Well, Mr. Murphy steps in, and something goes wrong. If you take action, and it is different from the “training”, the department will pull out the document and say, “Here, you have been formally trained.”, so you violated policy and enjoy your 30 day non-paid vacation. If you ask to be formally trained, then you’ll here, “Just sign it, we don’t have time to shut down the program.” So you see the cross we are placed in on a daily basis. As I say, WTF! PRISON
Saturday, April 7, 2007
The Limp, Flop Floating Maniac
I finally had a good session this morning. I was up 5 buy-ins, but that doesn’t get me in green yet. It seems this damn poker is hard for me. I read an article on the CR Forums on how to play a maniac. Not the typical maniac that play 35/29/7, but the new weak maniac who plays 73/6/1. This guy is too much as he just gets under the skin. I have run into a couple of these players in my late night session. I am playing on FTP so I really don’t know where they are from. In a nutshell, the article speaks to the limp in, and flop floating that most of these players employee. It seems I have a strong understanding of this approach and the article is very well presented. So here I am with one of these guys to my right. His stats are 71/25/1.80. So I am in a good position with the maniac. The article indicates that you play your strong hands very strong as these maniacs will call with any 2. The article indicates it is the turn which establishes the true strength of their hands. The article went on to say that you should take your strong hands to the river for a showdown. Well I am ready to employee this newly discovered strategy. I catch AKs in the BB and re-raise the maniac who is in the SB. Well one stack later his AA has me beaten. Not 10 minutes later the same event, however I have JJ and lose my second stack to his KK. What really sent me to Tiltsville was my comment in the chat box of, “The JJ is the biggest pair I have seen in 2 hours”. Well the villain response is, “I know how you feel”. I mean WTF! You catch AA and KK and you know how I feel! To me there is no more disrespect then a condescending asshole. So I was down 4 buy-ins, but rallied back to finish down 1. In the morning session, before I went to the pen, I won a huge pot when my AA stood up to a all-in AQ and a all-in QQ. Poker is a really easy game if you catch the cards. Today I caught cards! I flopped 2 boats, made 2 nut straights, one nut flush and quad 5’s. 4 of these hand I was able to get it all-in. I did take one bad beat for a stack when my AK vs. AQ on a A69 rainbow board when the villain spike a Q on the river. What was funny about that hand is the way the villain praised himself, right before he ran off. The old hit and run trick, so common online. POKER!
Friday, April 6, 2007
Cat Fight!
There are times while in the pen you have to look at a poetic justice. I am sitting in the chair of the Watch Commander, so for today, I am The Man! Well, we have a cat fight on the Main Yard, in the crapper of all places. To broads to get it going, why? Who cares? One broad is here for Cruelty to Elders Causing Death or Great Bodily Injury and she got in to with another from Riverside County. The Riverside girl is here for Murder 2nd and Cruelty to Child. So as you could see, it is 2 model citizen's involved. When you see this kind of thing, you really have to laugh. I mean really, do the citizen’s of the great state of California really care about these two individuals? The one who beats the old is forty-eight herself. Talk about irony. The 48 year pulls a much younger inmate into the crapper and get in about 8 strong blows, but after enough connects to constitute a Battery, the young one suddenly “defends” herself and mops the floor with her older rival. That is the poetic justice. The one who beats the old, ends up the beaten by the young. And the one, who beats her child to death, continues to beat those in prison. Something just seems wrong, but something seems right also. To make a long story longer, they both end up with a face full of Pepper Spray, and the 48 year old gets a free ride to Administrative Segregation to lick her wounds in solitary confinement. PRISON!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
R.O.O.P
I have decided to really step up and become accountable for my play. I have developed 10 rules to guide my play. Every week I will post my Poker Tracker stats. For those who choose to follow the ConvictKeeper, please comment.
Here are the Rules:
RULES OF ON-LINE POKER
(R.O.O.P)
1. Always play your “A” game.
2. Fold when you “feel” beat.
3. Think before your bet, analyze the situation.
4. Always play to win. Folding my mean winning.
5. Never tilt! Bad beats happen to every player.
6. Never play while tired, uninterested or intoxicated.
7. Never play more than 45 minutes without taking a break.
8. Always play with selective aggression.
9. Never play outside of your current bankroll.
10. Review every session. (Wining & losing hand and R.O.O.P).
(R.O.O.P)
1. Always play your “A” game.
2. Fold when you “feel” beat.
3. Think before your bet, analyze the situation.
4. Always play to win. Folding my mean winning.
5. Never tilt! Bad beats happen to every player.
6. Never play while tired, uninterested or intoxicated.
7. Never play more than 45 minutes without taking a break.
8. Always play with selective aggression.
9. Never play outside of your current bankroll.
10. Review every session. (Wining & losing hand and R.O.O.P).
Here are the Stats:
VPIP: 15.49
PFR: 12.68
$ WON: 10.05
BB/100: 14.15
TOTAL AF: 19.0
W$SD: 50.0
TOTAL HANDS: 142
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