Dealing With Police Officers "The Ticket And The Beast" Part 2

    Some of you might think this post weird, you might be asking "Why is he talking about cop etiquette instead of talking about America and the 4th of July?", well the answer is simple, the amount of atrocities that occur every year between people and police officers during this day are astounding, thus the importance of this post. This is a great day where we celebrate our liberties, our freedom, our pride of being Americans but it is also the day many get drunk and cause accidents, where people do really dumb things with fireworks and basically the 4th has become to some a "green light" day to do whatever craziness they can think up, which can backfire two ways, the first is that you might get arrested and that if you are one of the people not being crazy, you might get in trouble just because police officers are on edge. This will be part 2 of 3 posts on this topic, dealing with the proverbial ticket and jerk police officers, I hope this might be informative. 

   The Ticket

 Sometimes regardless of what happened, regardless of what steps you took, of how much you cried, of how much you pleaded, you will get the proverbial ticket. There is no way to hide from it, we all get one, at least one, the amount of drivers out there that have never gotten a ticket is very small, the amount that has never been pulled over is even smaller, so prepare yourself for both. Remember that the police officer is not your enemy, he isn't, he is there to protect the people and so even though you are mad at him he has to do his job, if you break the law he can choose to look the other way but the right thing is for people to get what they deserve. Next time you get a ticket remember that it is better for the law to be upheld then for all cops to just look the other way.

   I'm not saying that getting a ticket doesn't stink, oh it does, but in the end of the day you can't really be angry at the officer for doing their job, that's just unfair, it's like looking at a doctor after surgery and being like "why did you heal me? why? how dare you do your job!". I also understand that this scenario only works if we are talking about good police officers, the ones that actually take being an officer as a big deal, as a responsibility to keeping the peace and being awesome. The scenario changes if we are talking about bad cops, which brings us to our next topic, the eventual pain in the rear cop.

  The Bad Cop

     When reading this post understand that I'm attempting not to curse, when "bad" is said the vulgar word for "rear" is being used, now that the picture is painted let us begin. There will be times where you won't do anything wrong, or when your infraction will be so small that getting a ticket will annoy you to the core. These times are generally heightened by the fact that there is a "bad" cop going through the motions with you, except instead of just going through the regular motions he treats you horribly, like you're the worst person in the world, he'll egg you on and try to get you to lose your temper, he'll push you to the limit till you are full to bursting, here is the key element to dealing with these cops, don't buy into their game, keep calm and bite your tongue. 

Think "Training Day" Denzel "bad"

    These are the cops that will make your life a living hell, all they want is for you to have a panic attack and retaliate, this will be the point where they will pull you out of the car and manhandle you, even to the point of handcuffing you and placing you on the curb. Your infraction could have been minuscule, but this guy doesn't care, he just loves to abuse his power, he loves pushing you down and elevating himself, so don't be that poor soul on the curb and bite your tongue, calm yourself, dealing with this "bad" as "by the book" as possible, trust, this is the best response.  Even during the worst of it, just keep calm, there is no talking to these type of cops, so the best response is silence and respect.

   On Friday we'll be talking about what to do in case you are ever arrested, we'll be talking about the worst case scenarios and true stories of people that just weren't wise with how they handled themselves and the disastrous consequences of following their example. Hope you all have a fantastic 4th of July, enjoy yourselves and watch "Independence Day" while you are at it, definitely my favorite 4th of July movie. And please, please be safe, be smart and don't drink and drive, never a wise decision.

 Love from your humble blogger,

Patriotic Movies We Love

    Fourth of July just left us this past Monday, in all it's glory and majesty, this day is a day to be celebrated above all others and will forever be in the heart of Americans in the generations to come.
    One of the ritual things some of us have within the 4th is to watch a patriotic movie which raises all kinds of emotional responses and gets us ready for some fireworks action.
    I've recently taken a poll and found a list of basically the most watched movies during the 4th of July and most patriotic movies of all time, here we go:

Forrest Gump

       
        Here's a movie about the simple everyday causal American, it's a story that shows the life of one man and his involvement within American history. It gives us a clear picture of what the American dream looks like, the idea that no matter who you are or what limitations you might have, that you can still succeed in life. In America the land of opportunity.

Rocky IV

     
            This movie puts us in the middle of the Cold War, with Stallone representing the American dream that will be fighting against Russia. It's a fantastic movie, there's a sense of pride that wells up in any American that watches this movie, a sense of "we must win" when Rocky is going through the toughest fight in his career yet. Of course only to have him leave the arena with the American flag raised, a nice touch in the end.

Independence Day

      So this one is my personal favorite, it encompasses all we love about America. Us going and kicking some Alien taint and saving the world, women working in the white house (not true in many countries), freedom of religion, it hurts our pride when the aliens destroy all our great American monuments, but our pride is reformed with the presidential speech, it's filled with American Dream icons from beginning to end. And honestly I don't care who you are, after you finished watching the presidential speech in this movie you can't help but want to join in and kick some alien taint.

Air Force One

     
          Harrison Ford is the president of the United States, he's on Air Force One and terrorists attack taking over the flight. What does the president do? He fights, of course, taking down the whole terrorist unit by himself, cause our presidents are amazing and awesome and can do anything. It's probably one of the 'brashest' movies in the list, specially when Harrison Ford looks at the head terrorist and says the epic cheesy line, while projecting a perfect man voice, "Get off my plane!". It's so ridiculous that it becomes awesome.

Any Alien, Monster, World Threat Movie

     
         For some reason when tragedy strikes it does so in the United States, and of course we retaliate back and destroy the threat, or lead the world in being able to destroy the threat. Think of any alien, monster or world threat movie that is not in America, where America does not save the day, yeah, I know, it doesn't exist. America is just that awesome, at least according to Hollywood (and they would never steer us the wrong way of course), regardless of semantics these movies are all a great 4th of July pick, anything that raises your American spirit will do I guess. And don't forget the coming movie Captain American which shows us what a real hero looks like in all its patriotic glory.

The Patriot (or other American War movies)

    
        There's something to be said about Mel Gibson with a tomahawk killing some Brits in the name of justice. A fantastic film that raises our American pride to the max, with a complete cast of amazing actors, which includes the late Heath Ledger, the movie is sure to blow you away. From beginning to end it screams patriotism, and will forever have a place on this list for years to come.

      So go and grab some popcorn, put on your America shirt or pajamas and go watch some good ol' American cinema, where the good triumph over the bad, the weak against the strong, all while raising that flag we love, in the land of the free and home of the brave.

     We hope you had a fantastic 4th of July and a great week,

  Love from your humble blogger,