Trickle down behaviour

A philosophical question: If one commits a crime but isn't convicted in court, is s/he still a "criminal"..? Yes, according to every dictionary I could find. For example, thefreedictionary.com defines criminal as:

One that has committed or been legally convicted of a crime.

Similarly, merriam-webster.com defines criminal simply as one who is "guilty of crime." No resource says anything about a requirement that one be convicted (i.e. in court). Consider: If someone rapes a girl but is never convicted—perhaps her testimony is poor, or perhaps the perp can afford a good lawyer—is he then not a "criminal"..? How about someone who breaks into a car and steals the stereo but is never caught, much less convicted. Is he a criminal..? Of course he is! He's simply one who got away with his crime. Happens all the time. Unfortunately, the inverse is also possible, and even more disturbing—people often are wrongly convicted of crimes they didn't commit. [ref1; ref2] The law, despite reading like an anal-retentive version of a tax form, is incredibly capricious. It is so because its enforcement is dominated by people with agendas.

This brings us to the current situation: the committee charged with hiring the new HOI includes one or more people applying for that position, e.g. Kristin Paul. If those individuals proceed any further, they'll be violating Wis. statutes. Of course, they are operating in an environment where corruption and sleaze is the rule. Outgoing HOI Brian Borkovec apparently violated the statute (conflict of interest) when he voted on his own salary earlier this year. His boss, Hoofer Advoosigator Jim Rogers, has committed battery, perjury, and other substantial crimes. And his boss, Union Director Mark Guthier, has also committed felonies including obstruction and perjury.

In such an environment, how can the subordinates be expected to behave any better..? That would be like asking your crew to wear their lifejackets when you're not wearing yours!

Pathetic

Today it was 80 degrees out with scattered clouds and a south wind at 15 knots. In other words, perfect for sailing. Yet incredibly, all of the large keelboats (cruising and racing fleets) sat at their pins all afternoon. The J29 (technically part of the J fleet) was sailed for awhile, then put away at 2:30. The J24's sat at their pins too. Nor did the red flag go up until just before 5:00 (and then only for a little while). Thus, on one of the best sailing days of the year, dozens of club members were deprived of sailing all afternoon on any of the large keelboats!

Or were they..?

Apparently, there's hardly anyone who even wants to sail the keelboats if they can all just sit at their moorings on a day like this. So let's not hear any more crap about there not being enough keelboat lessons. And how can Chris Frye be teaching lessons..? He can barely tie a bowline.

In the stink

Dear Leader was out of town but he is back! And so much has happened in the past week.

A new commodore was "elected"—apparently. Witnesses report that some people received several ballots, so was it really an election..? Please define "election". Whatever, nobody ever said the old adage "one person, one vote" applies in Hoofers. In fact, the exact same thing happened last year (and the year before that, and...)

Meanwhile, club leaders continue to remove posts from the official club "forum". What the heck kind of forum is that..? If you want to be shocked and amused at the same time, check out their rules. Read them twice if you don't throw up the first time. It's enough to discourage anyone with a brain from posting there. The rules against purposeless inflammatory posts and meaningless threads are especially pathetic. Who do you think decides whether something is meaningless or inflammatory..? Why, the people who are being criticized, of course!

Club leaders went so far as to ban some individuals from posting any more at all, simply because they criticized the current BOC. That is what's known as c-e-n-s-o-r-s-h-i-p. One post had pointed out that despite the club rule that a general membership meeting must be held at least quarterly, there hasn't been one in years. For that, the person got banned.

At least no more boats have sunk. although I haven't actually taken a count lately....