IS THERE ANYTHING SCARIER THAN THE THOUGHT OF BEING CHASED BY SOME IDIOT WITH A MEAT CLEAVER?!?

There's a frightening story on the front page of the Los Angeles Daily News today about some lunatic in a quiet neighborhood in Thousand Oaks who got upset at a 6-year old boy because the boy was playing video games.

Okay. If you're some kind of adult authority in the home, a little conversation about that is acceptable. If you're being ignored, an argument can be made for taking the video games away from the young boy.

But no, a man named Calvin Sharp decided that watching video games was a killing offense and he chased the 6-year old boy with a meat cleaver while yelling, "Die! Die!" and whacking at the child's head with the cleaver. When the boy's mother tried to save her dieing son, Sharp savagely attacked her while darn near severing her arm and hand. A couple of very brave neighbors got involved and subdued the cleaver carrying lunatic before cops arrived and tasered the guy into submission.

The boy is dead, the mother is severly injured, one of the good samaritans got cut in the face by the meat cleaver and cops on the scene showed tremendous professionalism by not simply blowing this guy away.

There is nothing to indicate the cleaver slashing savage was the boy's father or related to the boy in any way at all. It is unknown if the cleaver slasher was having a personal relationship of some kind with the boy's mother, but this much we do know. He has some kind of serious problem regarding little boys playing with video games.

At the risk of sounding no better than the cleaver slashing savage, am I the only one who wonders about the necessity of a trial in a case like this? Calvin Sharp is now in jail charged with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. If he can post a bail of a million bucks, he'll be back out on the street.

Short Commentary: I'm sure this guy doesn't have the ability to come up with the bail money, but what if he could? Should a person like this even be offered the opportunity to post bail?

MORE BAD NEWS FOR POTENTIAL HOME BUYERS:

Ah, the American dream. Own a piece of land where you can raise your family, etc., etc. It's what many of us hope to do, right? We all understand how a bad credit history can slow that dream down, but now, even great credit is no guarantee you can get a loan to buy a house! Lenders are making things so darn difficult for prospective home buyers that one wonders if we're on the verge of future home ownership turning into the American pipe dream!

AND SPEAKING OF REAL ESTATE:

Have you heard of a film called "16 Blocks" that came out in 2006? For whatever reason, this critically praised film was a film I never heard of. It's been running on the HBO channels and I watched it yesterday.

Bruce Willis stars as a very troubled cop. I mean very troubled. He is given an order to transfer a prisoner who is played by Mos Def to a courtroom where he is supposed to give testimony by 10 that evening. Testimony that the Willis character knows nothing about. Testimony that could result in a half dozen cops going to jail. Needless to say, those cops don't want this testimony to be given. The leader of the rogue cops is played by David Morse who has the art of playing "bad" down to a science. Even if he's smiling, when David Morse comes on the screen, you know there's trouble.

16 blocks is the distance that the Bruce Willis character must travel to get the Mos Def character to the court house. What happens during this journey grabs your attention and keeps your attention until the film has ended. I won't give anything away, but I will make an observation. As an actor, Bruce Willis gets better and better in everything he does, but he's seldom (if ever) mentioned as one of the great actors of our generation. Too bad, because Bruce Willis is one of the great actors of our generation.

"16 Blocks". If you find it on one of the HBO channels, you'll thank me for the recommendation.

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A new blog is written every morning, Monday through Friday and is posted between 7 and 7:15, Pacific Time. Sometimes earlier. Questions and comments can be sent to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I do write back.

TOMORROW: I'll tell you about a letter writer who thinks she has the perfect solution for the illegal immigration problem and anything else that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"