It’s not shocking that the once-famous R&B singer Bobby Brown got busted for having cocaine.

What is shocking is that anyone, a judge no less, would think Bobby’s got something to teach kids about the dangers of drugs.

Brown was court-ordered last week to be a mentor to teenagers as “punishment” for possession. Reports say that’s the judgment he “wanted” anyway.

This case is proof that the patients are running the asylum.

Not only does Brown escape punishment, but the court puts him on a pedestal as someone people, kids, should look up to. Exactly what he was hoping for! (What better way to reinforce negative behavior than by letting it go unpunished and giving it a seal of approval).

So what if he used to be a celebrity? The question is: What positive message can he send to teenagers about drug use? That, apparently, we don’t have to held accountable for our actions. And that before we’ve even proven we can overcome our addictions, we – if we had a few hit singles almost 20 years ago – get a free pass to be the voice of sobriety.

If the courts want to let celebrities skate the law, then just let them. Let them go free and don’t even give a reason. But don’t add insult to injury. Don’t make them mentors!

What’s next? Will Joe Francis, the creator of “Girls Gone Wild,” start teaching seminars on the importance of morality in order to skirt his legal troubles.

Kids are smart. They can see right through BS, better than most adults. If we keep giving them role models that aren’t credible, they’ll keep following our lead.

If you want to make an example out of Bobby Brown, about the consequences of drug use, send him to jail.

Have you ever behind a car that started to shoot flames out the back of it?
Have you ever been driving behind a car that is on fire with your husband in it with a full five gallon gas can sitting beside him.

Sound scary. Guess what….It was!

You see, my husband and I each have a sports car, like the kind that only four people fit in. With a family five we decided we needed something we ALL could fit into. We bought a van, it broke, my mother-in law wanted it, bought it, fixed it, we bought it back and then it caught fire.

Never a dull moment in the Kraft household!

So we get the van back and it is loud and needs a muffler. We ignore that for a few months and in doing so, the beast started smoking.
“We better get that looked at” we say and decide to drive it the 30 minutes to the mechanics house in Pittfield.

The kids and I are behind Daddy in the beast and then I see flames. Of course my husband can’t hear me over the muffler and my lights don’t blink so well in the middle of the day so I speed up and wave out my window. He pulls over gets out and yup…no more fire. So of course my hubby thinks I am over reacting and ignores my pleas for him to give me the gas can because his vehicle is on fire. “Relax honey, its ok, there really is no gas in it, it probably sparks” he tells me. HA! He didn’t see what I did. “Don’t look now kids daddy is on fire” that’s all I could imagine.
So three more times flames shoot out of the back of the vehicle meanwhile my hubby drives along not realizing how bad its getting. I throw on my 4-ways every time I see flames but he still peddles along ….On fire.

We get about 200 feet from the mechanic, stop for a stop sign and yup you guessed it……The fire gets worse, we pull down the driveway and Nick gets out of the van. Meanwhile I scream at him because as he turned off the engine the fire continued to worsen! He turns around..”SH&*, it really is on fire” he says.. UMMMMM YEAH!

So long story short, the van burned until I could get to his parents next door and get a fire extinguisher, the tires burned along with everything else underneath the beast and will now get towed to the junk yard! We have no luck with used vehicles…I honestly could write a book about the luck we simply do not have when it comes to used cars! It seems every time we get one we end up stranded in a town in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday an hour from our destination at the only exit with a payphone and half a gas station with a bunch of people who have no teeth, are holding pitch forks and just so happen are not so fond of the northerners.

I will have to agree that was the most nerve racking day of my life. Thank goodness my husband is a cheap skate and decided he would only put the bare min. of gas in the van in case it dies along the way! Since the gas tank was also on fire!

So what did you do for fun this weekend?

In my column in the print edition last week, I lamented the foolishness of siting a Walgreens drug store (again, purely speculation on my part) at an intersection which already had two. 

Apparently, much like Rite-Aid seemed to make a habit of tearing down historic structures to build new stores (the Green House wasn’t the only victim), it seems Walgreens has got a thing for planting stores next to the competition.

Witness this little interesting tidbit a reader sent me from the Times-Union in Albany:

Walgreens proposes store close to rival

Plan for Schenectady highlights issue of clustering pharmacies

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer 

First published: Friday, February 22, 2008

SCHENECTADY — A new Walgreens has been proposed at Brandywine Avenue and State Street, across the street from a Rite Aid and an empty Eckerd building.

Such clusters are happening across the Capital Region as drugstore chains expand, often locating next to each other.

It’s unknown whether Walgreens would be interested in, or would consider, taking the corner occupied by the empty Eckerd. A representative from the Deerfield, Ill.-based company couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.

Many Eckerd stores were closed after the company was bought last year by Rite Aid.

“It seems like overkill to me. One drugstore is plenty right in that neighborhood,” said Catherine Greene, president of the Vale Community Organization.

Walgreens is asking for a special use permit to allow a drive-through at the location, 1101-1115 State St. The zoning board will consider the request on March 5. The vacant property is zoned for business use. However, a new zoning code expected to win approval in March might mean greater restrictions on footprint size and design for that site, said zoning officer Steve Strichman.

City Council member Barbara Blanchard said any business can locate in the city if it meets city standards and the zoning code. But she said it’s unfortunate that the proposal involves another chain drugstore.

“It’s too bad we can’t attract more unique businesses,” Blanchard said.

Controversy has swirled around other drugstore sites recently. An online petition asks Troy officials to reject a plan for a new Rite Aid on Hoosick Street. Delaware Avenue residents in Albany have sued to prevent a Walgreens from moving to a vacant lot on Holland Avenue.

The Brandywine Avenue and State Street Walgreens would be the company’s first store in Schenectady. The company has said it wants to add 550 stores, mostly in California and the Northeast, by year’s end.

Amen, Barbara!

Walking my dog downtown around Christmas, I noticed a sign in the Chinese restaurant window announcing they were “on vacation.” 

At first glance, I did not think twice about it. Three weeks later, when I walked by again and the same sign hung from the door, I got the hint and realized what they were actually saying. 

Like another local business not so long back which had a “on vacation” sign hanging, they too were not vacationing in the Caribbean – they were vacationing in the unemployment line.

While I admit seeing businesses come and go is no laughing matter, I will have to say that the way they come and go can be hysterical.

Unless you are the “Vacation” store in downtown Norwich or you are applying sunscreen to yourself on a sandy beach right now, just put a “going out of business” sign up instead.

People seem to have a real problem when people get “fired” around here. Not so much that they care if the person lost their job, they just do not like referring to it as “fired”. Well the euphemisms such as you “got let go,” “involuntary separated from employment” or you were  simply “on vacation” don’t cut it. Some say when a business goes out of business, it is not like being fired.

Well get over it. The community obviously did not like the establishment well enough to patronize it, essentially the community FIRED it. People who can not handle the reality of certain words try to protect themselves by using different words that sound prettier and happier when really they’re not.

Why is the word “fire” so bad anyway? If the person got fired, they got fired, they obviously were not performing at their job like they were hired for or other circumstances arose and certain people were fired.

When George Carlin  spoke of the term “shell shocked,” what is known today as post traumatic stress disorder, he was 100 percent correct. People add a couple syllables and some fancy wording and the blunt force the word implies, is lessened. “Fired” sounds shorter and meaner than “involuntarily separated from employment,” so when people see FIRED, they get nervous and worked up – but wasn’t that what happened?

“We are sorry to inform you Jill we have to involuntary remove you from employment.”

“You are firing me?”

“No we are involuntarily letting you go.”

“Letting me go where?”

“Home.”

“But I am working, I don’t need to go home.”

“You need to leave to premises before we have you involuntarily removed from the building. (or in real terms.. .before we have you kicked out!)

And then Jill gets moved to the basement wonders why she has not received a paycheck in three months.

Get the point?

So the reason these people say they are going “on vacation” …

1. It sounds like they are making enough money from their business to take a trip

2. They want to leave without anyone giving them grief or asking any questions

3. They got involuntarily displaced from employment and separated from making money, therefore they had to displace their income and had to, not shut down their business, but they chose to let it go.

Really I don’t know the reason, but I just wish people would be honest and use real words, not hide behind ones that mean the exact same thing and simply add insult to injury of both parties.

There you have it, Jill’s  weekly rant …

Don’t feel bad if you forgot my birthday.

I didn’t remember it either. Not until I got to work this morning and a co-worker reminded me.

Nice.

Can’t say how or why I’d forget such a milestone. Birthday’s used to mean so much.

Maybe I’m too busy. Career driven and working long hours, it’s easy to forget about the things that matter most.

Maybe it’s because I’m at that age – 26 – where my mind and body are starting to go through certain “changes.” For example: Mentally, I don’t feel a day older than 15. Physically, I don’t feel a a day younger than 40. My actual age is closer to the average of the two. Just doesn’t feel right. It has my internal clock all spun around (the hot flashes haven’t come yet, but they’re not far behind).

Or maybe I’ve just gotten old and crotchety in my ways. I’ve already caught myself watching daytime episodes of “JAG” and yelling at kids who ride their bikes on the sidewalk out front after dark.

Maybe my memory’s starting to go. Sometimes I’ll dial the phone and when someone answers I have no idea who I called. It’s happening more frequently.

Or maybe I’m just an idiot who can’t remember anything unless it involves free Pabst and inner tubing.

Who knows?

After a particularly harrowing day of work, it’s always nice to have that one defining moment that serves as an exclamation point on the entire day. 

I experienced that moment after work Monday, as I stopped by the P&C to pick up something I could un-freeze for dinner. Stepping up to the automatic doors, a gentleman (and I use that term loosely) breezed past me carrying a 12-pack of Bud Lite in one hand, and a copy of Monday’s Evening Sun in the other.

Seems just about right.

As he saw it, Bob Conway dropped the ball Friday night in B-G’s final MAC league game of the season. Conway called himself (insert expletive) afterward, and some others closely associated with Conway may have shared a similar opinion.
In the late stages of a tightly contested, intense basketball game with Oxford last Friday, Conway ’s niece, Dani Conway, moved past the 1,000-point mark for her career. Coach Conway was aware at the start that she needed 20 points to reach the milestone, but did not have his usual scorer on hand at the head table to start the contest, and most of all, he was making every effort to win his “team” a basketball game.
Conway beat himself up for not recognizing Dani’s significant individual accomplishment, but let’s not forget, basketball is the perfect example of a team sport in which all of the cogs need to work cohesively to achieve success. Conway said his team was playing awful at the start, and in the midst of trying to win a game – and finish a perfect division record – Dani’s 1,000th point was not in the forefront of his mind.
Conway reached her milestone at a point where the outcome was still in doubt. It wasn’t until the final minute that B-G salted the game away, at which point Dani had already fouled out and was no longer on the floor.
Immediately following the game, Conway recognized his oversight, and felt terrible. But let’s be fair here. There is a time and place to stop a basketball game and go through a brief ceremony recognizing an individual player’s record or accomplishment. This was not an appropriate time. As we noted above, it was an extremely competitive game between two longtime rivals. Oxford was trying to add the one and only blemish to a perfect team’s league record, so to stop the flow and momentum of a close game would be totally unfair to the Blackhawks club.
Had this happened in the first half or in a blowout situation later in the game, by all means, go ahead and stop the game. To take umbrage with a coach thinking about winning a game first before an individual’s personal accomplishment is selfish thinking. To reiterate a familar adage: “No player is above the team.”
There is a time and a place for that type of recognition. In hindsight, Coach Conway could have notified the crowd in a post-game speech about Dani’s scoring mark, however, that is Monday morning quarterbacking on my part, and in the moment, we do not always think quickly on our feet.
Yes, Dani should get her due recognition, and she will before the Bobcats’ next home game. Dani is a terrific player who will add significantly to her points total over the remainder of this season, and next season. To those familiar with the B-G basketball program, in their opinion, Coach Conway made an egregious mistake. I, on the other hand, am willing to cut him some slack. In nearly 25 years of coaching, Conway has rarely missed on anything relating to his team, and his 385 career wins have earned him some extra rope.

Finding a person who understands all of the intricacies of the voting system in the United States is like trying to find a winged unicorn that can sing, dance and grant wishes. It’s nearly impossible, and I have to wonder if the reasons for the intricacies aren’t a little out dated and frankly, ridiculous.

This year I will have the chance to vote in my second presidential election, and since that critical first vote, I’ve picked up a lot of little tidbits about primaries, caucuses, delegates, super delegates and the electoral college system. Do I understand why it works the way it does? Not a chance.

When you write a newspaper article, your always encouraged to remember your audience and write so people can figure out what you’re talking about. I don’t understand why politics doesn’t have the same guidelines.

Instead of having primaries and caucuses months apart all over the country, why can’t we designate one day (or week or month) and schedule all the races for that day. (I know it would cut down on all the campaign stops and heart to hearts in each area, but it would also cut down on some of the money that is thrown away on campaign ads and mud slinging and foolishness.)

Why can’t both parties take that first step toward bipartisan relations by agreeing to the same rules. (Does a primary winner take all of a state’s delegates or a proportion based on the percent of the votes they received? Are primaries open or restricted by parties.) I don’t think the world would end if Democrats and Republicans agreed on the basic rules that run the system.

Would it destroy Democracy if we were to have a system that made sense to the average person? Would it really be so bad if it didn’t require 3-D pie charts, touch screen computers and eight hours for the anchors on MSNBC to explain why a candidate is in the lead?

I know there are a lot of reasons for the way things are done. I know the system is meant to protect smaller states from being looked over during election season, but there has to be an easier way.

“Tom Petty is the greatest singer, guitar player and song writer in the history of this Universe or any other, and he forever will be. Just listen to the delicate, yet complex integration of chord progressions and lyrical mastery in songs like ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More,’ ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ and ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels.’ It’s like seeing two people fall in love to the sounds of a symphony only they can hear.”

That’s what someone told me once when I said I didn’t like Tom Petty.

Okay, I lied. That’s not what they said.

But they did call me a jerk.

That’s not the only time, either. I’ve lost friends, nearly family, because I don’t like his music…his music.

I didn’t say I didn’t like him. He’s probably a great guy and fun to be around. I just think his songs are too simple for my taste and that a lot of them sound too much alike.

“Then you’re are an idiot!” – I can already hear you saying it.

It’s okay, let it out.

“You don’t know crap about music!” “You’re tone deaf!” “You’re ugly!”

Keep them coming. I know I’m evil. I change the station when I here “Free Fallin” or “You don’t have to live like a refugee” – how dare I! It’s okay. I’ve learned to accept who I am.

And if I’m in a situation where I’m unable to change the station or the stereo, I start singing (I can sound just like Tom Petty) really loud, only I change the words to make the song’s lyrics really awful.

For example: “Free Fallin” becomes “Free Ballin.” You can only imagine how it goes.

That one’s made people cry.

Now Tom Petty is the performer during half-time of Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix. Can’t say I’m as thrilled as everyone else.

I believe my direct quote was, “I’d rather watch Steven Tyler and Justin Timberlake sing ‘Walk this Way’ and toss microphones back and forth to each other in hell before I’ll watch this year’s half-time show.”

But it’s clear I’m alone on this one. In fact, I’m not going to say that everyone else in the world claims to be Tom Petty’s biggest fan, but I’m not going to say they don’t, either.

That said; if I’m the only jerk on the planet that won’t defend the greatness of “Last Dance with Mary Jane” to the death, than even I have to admit Tom Petty must be doing something right.

Who cares if Hillary and Bill and Barack  went to a day spa, got a pedicure and a facial together, who cares if Barack said he didn’t like the color of Hillary’s lipstick and Bill decided to put an end to the shameless attacks Hillary’ has had to endure. He for one should definitely be the one to stick up for his faithful wife in the public eye, after all he would never want to cause her embarrassment.

Well guess what foreign policy issues get raised, what economical standpoints these candidates have or what they plan to do about the war in Iraq.

What really matters is what color toothpaste each of the brush with, if the candidates dress properly and know how to match their shirts and socks and overall who would look better on the cover of People magazine, political edition.

Being as naive to say only the political matters and who knows more about running a country are the biggest issues on the table right now  is wrong.

The media likes conflict, conflict sells papers and makes hundreds of thousands tune in for the heated debated that ultimately get nothing accomplished. If the headlines were Hillary swears at McDonald’s worker or Hillary manages to get the economy stable again which one would you choose?

Now maybe my ideas are a little unconventional but maybe we should choose a candidate for the political aspects instead of the name brand shows they wear.

Money can not make the candidate do a better job. Being a smoker does not make a candidate stupid nor ignorant, being female does not mean the voting policies and morale or voters should change, neither does the fact the skin color of a candidate is a little darker than others. Why do these issues matter? An age old question that I for one have yet to understand.

Having a colored person on the ballot should make  colored  people want to vote. No needing good leadership should make them want to vote. I did not see the number of middle aged white men spike throughout the last elections.

How and why media outlets portray the person is where the issues remain and for that people should be ashamed when they pull down the lever for a candidate they have no idea as to why they are running or who they could impact the country.