Justice System 101 and Mobility

The justice system in the United States "works" with about 50/50 odds for those who are rich and can afford zealous representation. The rest of us are screwed. Especially the poor.

I'm going to court today for a traffic ticket for speeding. Yesterday as I was driving and thinking about this, I recalled an incident when I was about 13 years old. My best friend at the time came from arguably the richest family in town. We took a trip to Seattle, where her mother drove between 80-90 miles an hour most of the way. She had a radar that was hidden which beeped whenever we were near a patrol car. She drove a top-of-the-line Mercedes, which, really, I am not one for cars, but it was a work of art. The radar in her car went off several times, and she would slow down until we passed and then she was up to high speeds again.

Aside from the liklihood that Ms. M was ever the target of racial or "junk car" profiling, she had the money for an illegal device that saved her and her family, over the years, a ton of money and insurance costs. In this very small example, it is easy to see how the rich become richer. Because of the accessibility to high tech devices which they could buy, they saved themselves money, and time too.

This family is almost entirely employed by the U.S. government. The kids are now working for various government offices, and receive bids for large business contracts.

Even if they did not have a radar, paying a ticket would be no big deal. Contrast this with Washington state's new law that an unpaid traffic ticket will result in immediate suspension of a driver's license. This law does not affect the rich, who pay their tickets readily and never end up in collections with a strike on their credit score. It discriminates against the poor and the state is only concerned with getting their money. Nevermind public transportation, because in the state of Washington, unless you live in Seattle or Spokane, there is, in practical terms, no such thing. Transit stops are few and far between and buses do not come regularly. In my particular town of Wenatchee, I have never seen so many Hummers, Suburbans, large SUVs and trucks (except in perhaps Washington D.C. where no one is ever "off-roading" with their waxed gas guzzler).

I suppose the state believes if someone cannot afford to pay their traffic ticket, they should not have the "privilege" of driving and can take a bus.

I will probably take the bus a few times for novelty for my son, who would enjoy the excursion, but it's impractical now to take a bus on a regular basis and it's a time-waster.

Regarding mobility, Bear is now running full speed, without falling much. He can even run downhill and did so yesterday. Two days ago he began going up on tip-toe, without holding onto anything. He'll stand and lower himself up and down on tip-toe and does this in front of a mirror watching himself as he's taller and shorter. He's almost doing sommersaults on his own. He gets on all fours, puts his head down and has tried to roll himself a few times after I helped him to do a sommersault.

I am going to design an outdoor obstacle course for him. With tires and rope swings, ramps, tunnels, and maybe in the future, a slide.

I put a bunch of play ideas on my fridge where I can see them. I keep Bear's toys where HE can see them. If they're behind closed doors or boxes, it's more out of mind.

Last night we were doing laundry in a front loading machine, which he LOVES to watch. He has been babysat by a woman a few times who has said he spends a half hour watching the machine. His concentration for things that interest him is pretty advanced for his age. So, last night I wanted to go upstairs and leave the machine and he threw a fit. I said, "Do you want to go upstairs or do you want to watch that?" I pointed to the machine. He ran over to the machine and patted it, looking over his shoulder at me and said, "Watch THAT! Watch THAT!" When I said okay, he relaxed. He pretty much understands whatever I say to him. The other day he was crying because I was trying to give him a different kind of milk because his usual kind (good raw milk from an organic dairy) was thawing. He was too upset to understand but when I brought the frozen milk to him, and explained it was frozen and hard and had to thaw, and he touched it, he stopped crying and seemed to "get it".

This morning for breakfast we had homemade chicken soup.