| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 04/21/2010 6:06:01 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Locked. |
Posted on 01/27/2005 12:50:51 PM PST by Dashing Dasher
Kelly Namowicz has a plan for the rest of her life.
"I want to go the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco," she says. "I want to be a professional chef."
But until now, there were 14 things standing in her way: tattoos that once almost covered her hands and arms, forcing her to wear long sleeves to job interviews to avoid being stigmatized.
"People judge you," Namowicz says. "People don't want to admit it, but it happens."
Now, the tattoos are almost gone, thanks to a city program called Clean Slate. It pays for laser treatments that erase the tattoos, and help wipe away the past. Namowicz says her kids helped her decide to do it.
"I want to be that positive role model for them," she says.
Now in its tenth year, Clean Slate is targeted at helping young people turn their lives around.
"You've got to be 14 to 25, live in San Jose, and you have to have gang-related tattoos in the exposed parts of the body," said project coordinator Juan Avila. "That's hands, neck, wrist, face, arms."
That made Victor Guizar a prime candidate. Just 24 years old, Victor has been incarcerated for a third of his life -- beginning at age 13. He has tattoos on his arms, chest, neck, and head. He even shows us some in his mouth. Most of his tattoos he got behind bars, and almost all are gang related. But he's leaving that life behind because most of his friends are drug addicts, in prison, or dead.
"I told my homies, 'My life is going to be different now,'" he says. "They said, 'We've been waiting for that.'"
The procedure just takes a few minutes. It stings, and leaves a mark like a sunburn that eventually wears off. But people like Victor Guizar say it's a small price to pay for starting over.
> What if someone has bad teeth or body odor?
Those can be fixed far more easily than a tattoo.
"It pays for laser treatments that erase the tattoos, and help wipe away the past. Namowicz says her kids helped her decide to do it."
If it is that important, get a second job or a credit card and pay for it yourself.
IIRC, a Kali female kongresskritter managed to pork up a federal program for [gang] tattoo removal a
year or two ago.
Yes, it's great if it allows people to get real jobs. But I do have a problem with the shafting everybody else.
I'd be more congenial to the program if tattooees were required to pay a "use and removal" tax before
getting tattooed to fund the program.
Self/friend/prison tattoos? SOL.
"I want to go the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco," she says. "I want to be a professional chef."
I suppose the taxpayers will be picking up the cost for this too.
Bad teeth? LOL!
"Those can be fixed far more easily than a tattoo."
So then, make a gubmint program.
Class of '99, We'll Pass the Torch to You --- When We Find It. by Dave Barry
Members of the graduating Class of 1999:
When I gaze out upon you, so young and proud in your caps and gowns, the thought that goes through my mind, as your Commencement speaker today, is: Where did you get those caps? The House of Dorks?
What's the point of getting all this education if you don't have enough sense to say "no" when the authorities tell you to attend your commencement ceremony wearing what appears to be a pizza box?
What if the authorities told you to attend your commencement with a live duck strapped on your head? Would you do that? I would! Think of the advantages! When the commencement speaker started droning away, you could gently prod your duck with a Bic pen, and when it started quacking, you could get up and announce: "I have to leave! There's something wrong with my duck!"
That's the kind of initiative you need to show, young people. Because we are approaching the Dawn of the New Millennium, and the question is: How are you, the class of 1999, going to respond when the Clock-Radio of Challenge emits the Irritating Buzz of Opportunity?
Are you going to roll over and hit the Snooze Button of Complacency? Or are you going to wakeup and after performing the Bodily Functions of Preparedness boldly grasp the Toothbrush of Tomorrow?
I hope so, Class of 1999. I hope you are ready to take over, because my generation is getting old and tired. And we have good reason to be tired: We won World War II.
No, wait, that was our parents. But my generation did watch a lot of grueling movies about Worid War II. Then, for a while, we tried to solve the problems of society. Eventually we gave up on that and started looking for "closure." Today we have given up on "closure" and would settle for a good herbal laxative.
So we're basically finished, and the time has come for us to pass the torch on to you. But before we do, we must ask you a very important question: Where the heck did we put the torch?
We can't find anything any more. By conservative estimate, my generation has now spent 50 times as much time looking for its car keys as it ever spent protest-ing war and racism. I, personally, right now, own at least 247 pairs of reading glasses, and the only way I can find any of them is when I step on a pair in my bare feet
So it is up to you, the class of 1999, to do whatever it was I was saying
And now is the time!
Think of the opportunities you have! You have the Internet! My generation did not have the Internet When my generation needed a piece of information, such as the population of Rhode Island, we had to haul out the encyclopedia, which was a bunch of dusty old heavy books that smelled like unlaundered socks.
First we had to figure out what book "Rhode Island" was in, which was difficult because the books were labeled with Seceet Encyclopedia Code phrases such as "Quisling - Rotogravure." Then we had to manually look up "Rhode Island," using the alphabet, which, like long division, and the song "Polly Wolly Doodle", is probably not taught in schools anymore.
Then we had to hunt around for the population statistics, which were comically inaccurate because our encyclopedias were always way out of date, having been written when were only about 17 states and scientists thought the Moon was carried across the sky by a big turtle.
Things are much easier for you, the class of 1999, thanks to the Internet. All you have to do is type in the words "population of Rhode Island" into your computer, and within a few seconds, the number appears on your computer screen: 467,298.
This is not the population of Rhode Island, of course: This is the number of web sites that have contain the words "population," "Rhode," "Island" or "of". So you start clicking away with your mouse pointer, and, 14 hours later, you find yourself looking at a Web site titied "Poison Frogs of the Congo Delta". You have no idea how you got there, except that along the way you purchased two weeks in February at a time-share condominium in Saskatchewan and saw 583 pictures of Pamela Anderson naked.
This was not possible in my day, class of 1999! We didn't even have Pamela Anderson!
Yes, it's a bright new world you're entering, Class of 1999 - a world that will offer many exciting career opportunities, such as tattoo removal, which, trust me, is going to be the next Internet, once you all start having children and get tired of explaining to them how come mommy and daddy have bad words written on their butts.
Ha ha! I wish I could be there to see it! Unfortunately, by then I'll be spending pretty much full time looking for my dentures.
In closing, let me leave you with the words of the great educator Dr. Quisling P. Rotogravure, who said: "Fare thee well; fare thee well; sing polly wolly doodle all the day." Remember those words, class of 1999. And put sunscreen on your duck
In my more cynical moments, I have to agree with Bill Kristol- the welfare state isn't going anywhere, so conservatives should focus on making it work better.
It's still tough to see how tax-payer funded cosmetic surgery should be part of even our out-of-control welfare state, though.
"In my more cynical moments, I have to agree with Bill Kristol- the welfare state isn't going anywhere, so conservatives should focus on making it work better."
That is not a shocker. Kristol has proven himself to be one of these new age conservatives.
Get it on the calf...but don't tell PETA.
Perhaps that example was a bit broad. My point was that most any government program can be justified by comparing it to an even more expensive less effective alternative. For example, government paid health care is often justified because it will prevent more expensive emergency care at a later date.
If it is so important for these people to remove their tatoos, why can't they pay for it? If other people want to help, why don't they create a non-profit to do it? Why is a government solution necessary?
Forewarned if a tattooed princess ever needs an epidural.
Your darn right about that...but I;m sure a lot of it made it's way into other 'stangs..plus I got to drive my Stepdad's 289 '65 convertible after my "grounded" period ended. got another '66 200 when I was a senior..wish I still had it..
Learned a darn good lesson too, there have been other
(fatal) wrecks there too..a very dangerous "dead man's curve" a sharp blind turn at the top of a short steep hill.
Koon Rd. Irmo, SC...I remember a stink about fixing that turn, maybe they did..
If this is true, my wife is going to be pissed when she's in the delivery room someday.
The irony is, her tattoo is supposed to say "Wisdom" in Chinese.
Obviously, the writer hasn't priced dental work lately.
> So then, make a gubmint program.
No point in it. Toothpaste is cheap enough even for bums.
> If it is so important for these people to remove their tatoos, why can't they pay for it?
Ask the same question of college student getting gubmint loans. They have to pay *those* back, do they not?
How does removing gang tats reduce their propensity to commit crimes? If some kid with gangsta tattoos walks into my store, I'm going to watch the little felon. In fact, everyone is going to be careful with this guy.
If he shows up on my doorstep with teardrops tattooed on his face and a MJ leaf on his neck, I fer sure will not believe his story about selling magazine subscriptions.
So he uses my tax $$ to get this early warning system removed- this does not change his personality or proclivities.
Granted it may make it easier to get a job and then not rely quite so much on stealing and armed robbery.
But if the little criminal really wanted to go straight, he'd get a job where tattoos don't matter- injection molding plant, warehouse, Strawberries, and so forth, then pay for removal with his own money.
By getting the free laser zaps, he has learned to steal 5 to 10K from me in a legal manner with the sanctimonious politicians feeling warm and cozy over the theft.
Good points.
"No point in it. Toothpaste is cheap enough even for bums."
You know what is cheaper? Not rewarding the mistakes of others.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.