View from the cop: Crime & punishment
View from the Cop is moving to a new site on Wordpress. Blogger Steve Rose of the Sandy Springs Police Department gives his take on crime, offers safety tips and give his weekly picks from the police blotter. Follow Steve Rose to the new blog site.
AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2008 > July > 28 > Entry
Where’s the good “breaking news”?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How did we ever manage to call ourselves informed before all this news that we now receive via anything? Satellites, beaming thousands of “jigowatts” through hyperspace can take us anywhere in a moment’s time.
Great! Now we can be paranoid 24/7 instead of 6 and 11.
With so much news, what are we doing with it? Do we need to know all of the news? Like anything else, if you give someone so much of something that they hit the saturation point, they won’t get quite as excited over it, quite as often.
Here’s another problem. It used to be when you saw “Breaking News,” it meant something very serious like an earthquake, Tsunami, or the new Zamboni previews.
Now, thanks to 24-hour news, “Breaking News” is everywhere, all the time. Used to be when I saw the “Breaking News” across the screen, I got that bad feeling in my stomach signaling that either something really, really bad had happened or my trip to “Miguel’s House of the Spicy Burrito” was about to come back on me.
In 1979, “Breaking News” was the Iranian hostage crisis. In 2008, it’s about a 73-year old Dutch man who unwittingly cultivated marijuana plants among his begonias. Here was the “Breaking News”:
Amsterdam cops found the marijuana in the man’s doorstep begonia plants but didn’t get too upset because the man was in his “advanced” years.
The man, who answered the door in his tie-dye AARP shirt, said he was very surprised. “I thought that the plants were my beloved begonias. Honest.”
Cops later found several burnt begonia joints which they originally deemed “suspicious” however once the man explained their medicinal benefit, being their aphrodisiac effect, they seemed satisfied he was on the level.
The man said he was minding his own business, making begonia brownies, munching on some Doritos, and watching a Three Stooges video when the cops came a knockin’. Reporters later questioned cops about the man’s claim about the “medicinal aphrodisiac” effect of begonias.
A police spokesman responded: “Dude, its Amsterdam. Besides, we called his doctor and told him to notify us if he calls in four hours so we can confirm his story.”
Breaking news needs to be breaking news that will stop us in our tracks. The competition for news is getting out of control. We get enough bad news during the day. We don’t need more bad news delivered as “Breaking News.”
How about “Good Breaking News?” How about the tearful story about the 5-year old boy who left the day care center in Denton Texas? That started out as bad news. They found him at Hooters. That’s equates to good news. That kid’s five and he gets it—you know, great wings, breaded and all.
How about the all-green police vehicle in the UK? It goes 30 mph. (Oh yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you?)
How about the NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell who says aliens are real and NASA knows it! Or the courts in New Zealand who finally had enough of weird parents naming their kids weird names. They officially made 9-year-old “Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii” a ward of the court and had her renamed something with much less syllables.
New Zealand Registration officials blocked some other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, said Judge Rob Mirfitt. But others were allowed, including Number 16 Bus Shelter, Moon Unit, and Dweezeil, he said.
I guess the moral of the story is it’s probably a good habit not to get too excited over “Breaking News” unless you know it has something to do with murder, death, grief, and sorrow. Bad news will come soon enough and remember, you don’t need technology to tell you that something really, really bad is going to happen. Just keep an eye on your pets.
Animals know when bad things area about to happen before we do. If your poodle is backed into a corner, smoking a cigarette and doing shots of Cuervo—well, better turn on the TV.
Comments
By Jeff
July 28, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
Dr. Mitchell’s whistleblowing is GOOD news. ‘Right Stuff’ astronaut, the late Gordon Cooper made similar statements in 2004 before his death. That was reported by CNN.
It’s good news that extraterrestrials are real because many a police officer have taken heat and suffered at the hands of brothers in blue for reporting their UFO sightings. All one has to do is a Web search for UFO police sightings. There’s an entire web site devoted to our trusted police and their experiences.
You can read about it at UFO Evidence dot Org, too.
Good news, indeed.
By Natalie
July 28, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
LMAO! Laughing my a$$ off! Dude!
By Natalie
July 28, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
LMAO! Laughing my a$$ off! Dude!
By Natalie
July 28, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this
LMAO! Laughing my a$$ off! Dude!
By Natalie
July 28, 2008 9:29 AM | Link to this
LMAO! Laughing my a$$ off! Dude!
By Token Gringo
July 28, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this
Not only has the public become de-sensitized to constant “news”, it has made the media into a laughing stock because everyone knows they are simply trying to oversell completely normal everyday stories as news. Maybe the reporters should get out of downtown and get some real perspective on life.
By BJ
July 28, 2008 12:30 PM | Link to this
And then there is my mother, who calls and says OMG did you see such and such on the news? That sort of thing never happened in my day; what is the world coming too? And I say sure it did Mom; it just wasn’t on the news then. Mmm, maybe because there was no tv back in Mom’s day.
By Dixie
July 28, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this
All we have to do is read Lt. Steve’s column. You can get all the fruit basket surprise, Parrothead, pants falling down bandit info that you need. Along with advise that actually DOES fit in the common sense catagory.
By Ty Cobb
July 28, 2008 2:32 PM | Link to this
Great stuff, Officer Rose!
By Frank
July 28, 2008 8:30 PM | Link to this
I see that they are planning a 24/7 Brittany,Lindsay and Paris channel just to keep us up to date on that important front.
By Beano
July 29, 2008 7:44 AM | Link to this
Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk!
By Cubby
July 29, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this
As a young Marine originally from Illinois and stationed in California I learned to ignore the news really quick. Illinois does not have car chases on the five o’clock news that last for the entire 30 minute show.
I said this a long time ago, you’ve seen one car chase you’ve seen them all.
So turn off the boob tube and go outside and play with your kids. Someday they might become the news and you don’t want to be watching if that happens.
Right Barbie parents?
By The Love Hack
July 29, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this
I think they should market a Burka Barbie, who wears the full burka outfit thingie with the veil and scarf. Burka Barbie should come complete with moustache and suicide vest. We need to instill that all muslim women are terrorists into all our young girls to ensure that we will destroy ourselves in pointless wars motivated by stereotypes and perpetual myths about Islamic people.
If God didn’t want us to fight armeggedon, he wouldn’t have invented Pat Robertson.
Iraq is a pointless war. Try to define the mission of US troops in Iraq. Go head, make my day.
By Elmo
July 30, 2008 5:54 AM | Link to this
I like the fact that I can access a wide variety of information and sort through it to come to some kind of view of the World. Of course - it is overdone - I will take that in stride. I remember how it was in those good old days when News was “Filtered “. It is still to some extent - but not like it was. You read the Paper, TIME, and watched the News Hour back then. The Internet has liberated this boy.
By Sue Jenkins
July 30, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
I get more intelligent U.S. and world news by reading English language newspapers on-line. The U.S. news programs spend about 70% of the program talking about show business performers which is about as interesting as watching the grass grow. And the constant repeating just drives me NUTS!
By Sue Jenkins
July 30, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this
I get more intelligent U.S. and world news by reading English language newspapers on-line. The U.S. news programs spend about 70% of the program talking about show business performers which is about as interesting as watching the grass grow. And the constant repeating just drives me NUTS!
By Sue Jenkins
July 30, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
I get more intelligent U.S. and world news by reading English language newspapers on-line. The U.S. news programs spend about 70% of the program talking about show business performers which is about as interesting as watching the grass grow. And the constant repeating just drives me NUTS!
By Sue Jenkins
July 30, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
I get more intelligent U.S. and world news by reading English language newspapers on-line. The U.S. news programs spend about 70% of the program talking about show business performers which is about as interesting as watching the grass grow. And the constant repeating just drives me NUTS!
By Bill
July 30, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
I’m still trying to figure out why the reporter has to go stand outside the courthouse(or wherever) to tell us what is happening inside. Couldn’t they tell us from anywhere and save the gas ? Just flash a picture of the courthouse on the screen and we’ll get it.
By Grading Wooten
July 30, 2008 5:07 PM | Link to this
think they should market a Burka Barbie, who wears the full burka outfit thingie with the veil and scarf. Burka Barbie should come complete with moustache and suicide vest. We need to instill that all muslim women are terrorists into all our young girls to ensure that we will destroy ourselves in pointless wars motivated by stereotypes and perpetual myths about Islamic people.
If God didn’t want us to fight armeggedon, he wouldn’t have invented Pat Robertson.
Iraq is a pointless war. Try to define the mission of US troops in Iraq. Go head, make my day.
By kia
July 31, 2008 4:21 PM | Link to this
Lt. Steve—You should do a piece on the NJ police that were attacked by bedbugs so ferocious that they had to call in reinforcements! Yankees! They’d call out the National Guard if they ever came face to face with a Palmetto bug. (I’d like to but the rest of my household vetoes me! “Nothing we can’t handle with Daddy’s size 15 shoe!”)
By kia
July 31, 2008 4:26 PM | Link to this
Lt. Steve—You should do a piece on the NJ police that were attacked by bedbugs so ferocious that they had to call in reinforcements! Yankees! They’d call out the National Guard if they ever came face to face with a Palmetto bug. (I’d like to but the rest of my household vetoes me! “Nothing we can’t handle with Daddy’s size 15 shoe!”)
By Lt. Steve
July 31, 2008 9:59 PM | Link to this
Yuk. Bedbugs? I did a search warrant once in an apartment and was attacked by fleas.
By The Real News
August 1, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
‘Are we fighting a war on terror or aren’t we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?
Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from our nation’s capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania ?
Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn’t they?
And I’m supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was ‘desecrated’ when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?…Well, I don’t. I don’t care at all.
I’ll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.
I’ll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia
I’ll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for chopping off Nick Berg’s head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.
I’ll care when the cowardly so-called ‘insurgents’ in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.
I’ll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide .
I’ll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don’t care.
When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don’t care.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don’t care..
When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed ‘special’ food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being ‘mishandled,’ you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don’t care.
And oh, by the way, I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s spelled ‘Koran’ and other times ‘Quran.’ Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and-you guessed it-I don’t care !!
‘Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don’t have that problem’ — Ronald Reagan
‘If we ever forget that we’re One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.’ Also by.. Ronald Reagan
One last thought for the day:
In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the Anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England ‘s Prime Minister Tony Blair’s words during a recent interview. When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America , he said: ‘A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.’
The last thing, by the way, that we should do is to elect a muslim as President of the United States, someone who claims to love America yet, WILL NOT salute the flag, WILL NOT pledge allegience to our flag, and sat in a church listening to a ‘pastor’ that HATES America! Are you Freakin’ kidding me?
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you: 1. Jesus Christ 2. The American G. I.
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
By Blogfather
August 1, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
Real News, you should have thought of that before Iraq had nothing to do with 911, moron.
By Kat
August 1, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this
Real News: take a deep breath and count to one million. Back to the topic, I call the 6 & 11 news the “crash and burn news”. All they cover is where the car crashes were and what caught fire. And seriously, what genius makes the reporters stand outside in the dark where absolutely nothing is going on , because some kind of news happened ON THAT SPOT hours ago?
By The New Rugby
August 2, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this
Campaign Ad idea for Obama: Show McRove dancing, and Bush voodoo-masking in africa on stage, remember that? I’m still too embarrassed to visit africa.
Then intersperse that with footage of Cheney saying “we know saddam met with al queda”. But here’s the genius part, show cheney saying each word of that quote in a different setting over the three years he said that. Each word from say, meet the press, face the nation, this week, 60 minutes, dateline, and 20/20. Get it? He said that quote on all those shows over three years. Show each word from a different show, and intersperse that with the dancing mugging shots of rove and bush.
That’s what belongs in a time capsule to explain what happened to freedom and democracy and a great country to archeologists from the future. ( or send it into outerspace as a weak excuse to aliens for our civilization)
this campaign is stupid.
By Stone
August 4, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
Sue Jenkins Sue Jenkins Sue Jenkins some things never change, change, change.
By islander
August 5, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this
to: The Real News - AMEN !!- where are the real American’s ? you know know the that don’t whine, cry and blame everybody/anybody for their mistakes. I’d rather have a great leader than a great speaker anyday - to bad so, so many people are just brain washed into believing we are the bad guys - just breaks my heart.
By GWINNETTMOM
August 7, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
Remember the Saturday morning show on TBS called “Good News?” That was a great show that Ted Turner came up with! Now, on Saturday mornings you can watch Paid Programming on almost all the network channels. And Breaking News? Get real WSB! A traffic jam in downtown Atlanta (or anywhere along the perimeter) is NOT breaking news - it’s an everyday occurence. BRING BACK “GOOD NEWS” TO TELEVISION!!!!!