Racism makes you stupid

Or does stupidity make you racist? Chicken, egg . . . who knows?

And why -- when something this glaring comes about, something hard for a blogger to ignore -- is it almost invariably in my home state. Not to mention my hometown.

This is getting highly embarrassing.

NEVERTHELESS, here is the pathetic tale of Beavis and Butthead From the Bowels of Hell, as reported by The (Baton Rouge) Advocate:

Two white men were arrested on counts of hate crimes Thursday, accused of firing a shotgun and yelling racial slurs at two black DPW workers, officials said.

The two employees of the city-parish Department of Public Works were cutting grass along Hoo Shoo Too Road in East Baton Rouge Parish Thursday morning when Eric Arnaud, 22, and Christopher Roussell, 17, drove up.

The two swore and yelled racial slurs at the DPW workers, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Fred Raiford says in a statement.

“It was discriminatory,” Raiford said in a phone interview.

The two suspects went to a house at 11212 Amite River Road where they retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun, Raiford said.

They returned to the lawn workers at Hoo Shoo Too and Kendalwood roads, where Arnaud opened fire, Raiford said.

“They were firing directly at them,” Raiford said.

Both lawn workers escaped unscathed, and headed to the Kleinpeter Sheriff’s Substation to report the crime, said Pete Newkirk, director of the Department Public Works.

Deputies arrested Arnaud and Roussell on Thursday, booking Arnaud into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on two counts of attempted second-degree murder and a count of hate crime. Roussell was booked on two counts of principal to attempted second-degree murder and a count of hate crime.

Newkirk said the two workers had been cutting grass around Hoo Shoo Too Road Thursday morning when their tractor got a flat. A supervisor was on the way with a replacement when the shooting started, he said.

Raiford said the suspects had a Confederate flag displayed outside their house on Amite River Road when sheriff’s deputies arrived.

“They can have that (a Confederate flag) in their prison cells for the next 30 years,” Newkirk said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It was discriminatory.” Uhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . do 'ya THINK???

Apart from the quote thing, my first reaction is "Why am I not surprised?"

Here's why: Broadmoor Junior High. Eighth or ninth grade. Phys ed. Archery unit.

For some unfathomable reason, the physical-education powers that be at Broadmoor Junior thought it would be a good idea to give junior-high-age boys deadly weapons. Deadly weapons most of us had never used before -- unless you count rubber bands stretched across textbooks, handy for launching sharpened pencils across a classroom.

And for some equally unfathomable reason, Coach set up the targets in front of the school, so that our arrows would be flying toward unsuspecting innocents on Goodwood Boulevard. Especially the arrows of some Future Inmates of America members at Broadmoor Junior.

One day, a public-works crew was working on Goodwood.

“They were firing directly at them. . . .”

". . . and yelling racial slurs. . . ."

SADLY, some things never change. Thank God for crappy bows and insufficient upper-body strength back in the day.

Thank God for crappy aim and the long arm of the law today.