Johnny E. Mahaffey The Novelist Portent
May 13, 2013

AMERICAN GRANDILOQUENCE:
Reese Witherspoon--Between the Lines

WELCOME TO THE U.S.A.
HOME OF REESE WITHERSPOON

"Do you know my name?" Witherspoon asked an Atlanta cop after
she and her agent/husband got pulled over for DUI; and it's
the phrase a lot of the knee-jerk-media is focusing on, but
some journalists are picking up on the bigger picture. Her oddly
archetypal claim of--"I'm and American and I can do what I want."

Here, as with most, is a Hollywood product, putting into
words only what the shared mental collective of the American
public is thinking. A typical specimen, Reese isn't to blame,
because she's no worse than any other American female her age.
She just happens to have the attention of millions upon millions
of people. I used to live in Atlanta, and let me tell you, it's
full of DUI swerving verhicles, the Witherspoon's car was nothing
new to those streets. I knew lots of dirty cops when I lived
there. I seen cops screwing the hookers behind one of my stores
on a regular basis, usually girls from Mexico or Rio, there
trying not to get caught without a green card and willing to
do anything to stay--I felt sorry for them. I knew cops that
would buy and use drugs, and I even knew some that participated
is the street racing I did, blocking roads off or even running
their patrol cars stupidly against my 3000GT VR4.

What Reese needs to do, is hire an investigator to not
only do a check on the arresting officer, but track every single
penny of the fines her husband incurred with his DUI. Now I'm
not saying the Witherspoon's actions were just, drinking and
attempting to drive is very stupid. I've had a lot of bosses
that were alcoholics--always coming up to the stores drunk in
their cars, for years, never pulled over. Reese was most likely
stopped not only because the cop seen a DUI, but because the
cop noticed an expensive car (I presume) that could pay. That's

AMERICAN GRANDILOQUENCE The Novelist Portent
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why I'd like to see where the money went. Let us just say that
Reese's husband, Jim Toth, got like a $500.00 fine, although
I'm sure it's much more in total, including impound etc; and
where exactly does it go? How much did the taxpayers of Atlanta
actually see, and why?

Tax payers of Atlanta, and Georgia, give tons of money
to law and law related things (i.e., patrol cars, gas, repairs,
helicopters, cameras, paperwork, computer tech supplies and
repair, jails, housing if inmates, electricity for the jails
and offices of law, prosecutors and their many assistants and
needs, the list goes on and on and on, and tax payers pay for
it ALL.) Even may millions, even billions, of government taxes
from across the country make it to Atlanta's budget, just as
it does with all our cities. The Witherspoon's have money, lots
of it, and probable pay like 60% of it to the government (The
rich pay a lot more than the poor like to admit, they usually
pay out over half of what they make now, and if everyone had
had to do that they'd be another civil war. Most poor and middle
class pay about 8% on the low end if anything at all, and like
40% on the high end. Somesone making twenty grand a year, and
with two kids, in South Carolina, pays no taxes at all--they
get it all back plus bonus money under the ruse of "earned income
tax credits"--I know because I always claimed it myself.).

My point, Atlanta has budget funds coming in from everywhere
in the U.S. and to top that off, even those avoiding taxes cannot
avoid buying things, and all those pennies of sales tax add
up. So. Why. Do. Cops. Profit. From. Tickets. And. Fines?

Don't think they do? Get Reese to trace the money of those
fines. Where did it go, and whose paychecks benefited from those
dollars collected? Oh I'm sure some went to good causes--but
I bet you'll find some didn't. And how many of these wayward
pennies add up for the year? Plus, what other crimes were taking
place while this cop was parked by the side of the road? It
would take someone actually looking at reports for the following
week or so of that day, of crimes reported to have taken place
by record of filed reports (and arrests) of the happenings of
that night, then overlay it all with a map of the city, compare
it to weekly, daily, and monthly, even yearly data. What you'll
probable find is that the cop had much bigger fish to fry that
never made it on the bank let alone near the pan; because he
wasn't really fishing for criminals of poor quality, the city
needs its quota, and that's met with payed tickets, convictions,
and incarcerations.

We as Americans have these shared delusions that we're
all special for some reason or another--but we're not, we're
all part of the same human race, and humans are greatly flawed!
Hollywood may raise us, with its bedazzled life and its throwback
ease, but we have to grow up at some point. If you drink; you
cannot drive. Do drugs; you're an idiot. An actress is just
a woman that can act. A cop is just an EMPLOYEE of the taxpayers.
When they start crossing lines--we need to then read between
them, for the bigger problem at hand.