I couldn’t resist reposting this item from the North and East Yahoo Group Poet Laureate Janis Mara, who was responding to a spate of uncharacteristic complaints about crime and schools and in-fighting about email protocol in the normally upbeat North and East Neighborhood community blog:
I live on Gaynor near 26th and we have a problem that this city’s lazy, useless, do-nothing police chief refuses to address. Every morning somewhere between 6 and 7:30 a.m., it is no longer possible for me to sleep because an increasingly bright light comes into my room.

You all glorify the police chief like he’s some kind of god or something, but every single morning, I’ve been awakened by this light coming through the window, and he refuses to do anything about it.

I have called Chief Magnus 597 times about this and every time he says the same thing. “The sun rises in the east. If you don’t like it, buy window shades.”

Why should I have to spend my own hard-earned money on window shades? Why don’t they send an officer to fix this problem? I know it affects the other homes because when I look out my window at 7 a.m., it’s light all over the block.

And why doesn’t Tom Butt do something about it? I can’t believe he has been elected to five terms when all he has ever done is help establish Rosie the Riveter Park, save the Red Oak Victory, restore the Hotel Mac, put Point Richmond on the National Register of Historic Places and balance the budget for 17 years.

I can certainly understand why you are all grilling him mercilessly and ignoring Corky Booze, who has done so much more good for the city. He’s already done so much, no wonder you don’t ask him to do something about these problems.

Finally:  I’m sick and tired of the way you brain-dead, dithering, blithering, vindictive nasty mean depraved pathetic loser morons call each other names. STOP IT NOW, DO YOU HEAR ME!?

And quit posting in all capitals, too. It’s rude. Stop being so negative!