06 July 2007

Indiana State Trooper Slain...

Today's papers mirror the tragic story that unfolded yesterday afternoon just after 4PM. On a common piece of U.S. route 24, just west of Wabash Indiana, Master Trooper Detective David E. Rich was murdered by a Michigan man who immediately afterward killed himself with the same shotgun used on Master Trooper Rich.
And it just a typical "routine" stop.

The vehicle carrying the shooter was sitting along Rt. 24, and Rich, noticing the stopped vehicle, pulled over, got out of his cruiser to lend whatever assistance might be required. He was shot in the chest as he approached the vehicle (which had been stolen from the man's father in Gaylord, Michigan).
Just prior to the shootings, Rich had stopped to lend assistance to another motorist whose car had broken down less than ONE MILE from where he was shot. Master Trooper Rich leaves behind a wife, a 7 year old daughter, twin 3 year old sons, and a brother who is a captain with the ISP, along with scores of fellow comrades in arms, and friends.

Now this is one of THOSE cases where the most INNOCENT stop has the most DIRE consequences. Sadly, this scenario plays out across the nation way too often every year.

And yet there will be those people who will STILL decry the behavior of ANY law-enforcement officer whenever they appear a tad more "brusk" than usual.
Can you honestly BLAME any officer with what they face daily?
ANY situation can turn REAL ugly...REAL fast, no matter how it appears.

Whether it's along a stretch of highway, a "quiet" neighborhood, or just patrolling in their cruisers, it can come from ANYPLACE...at ANYTIME...for ANY REASON. Yet these men and women who CHOOSE this profession know this full well, and STILL they feel it their DUTY to patrol our streets and highways, allowing us the chance to enjoy our lives...something WE take for granted every day, and something that can be taken away from THEM at the squeeze of a trigger.

If you were to ask an officer WHY they do what they do....they will, in all likelihood NOT say it's about the money. Heaven KNOWS they aren't paid all that they are worth (imho). And it's not about any prestige or power. They are but enforcers of the laws enacted. Almost invariably, they will tell you that they believe that THEY can MAKE A DIFFERENCE. They feel that if they can turn ONE person around from doing the wrong thing...they've had a good day. If they can change the mind of someone who was going to commit a crime....they've had a good day. And if they can set an example to their families, their community, and the public in general by the way they approach life (and death)...they've had a good day.

I offer my sincere condolences to Master Trooper Rich's family, for they will bear the brunt of the grief. But they can take solace knowing that David died doing what he loved...protecting citizens and offering aid. I also offer my thanks to every single officer out there that is trying to make that same difference. Another officer will come along to fill this "empty chair" in the ISP, but no one can take the place of ANY officer taken down in the line of duty.

Most any LEO will tell you privately that they never really "die" when they are taken from us....they're "still out on patrol"...just in a quieter location.

And THAT is the way we should remember every one of them.

05 July 2007

Pleading the 5th...

You just KNEW I was going to "critique" yesterday's "celebratory" antics on the south side of Fort Wayne for SO many reasons. Now I like a good celebration as much as the next guy, but there seems to be a very thin line between having a good time and just plain acting stupid in this regard. Sadly, too many people either staggered across that line, fell over it, ran passed it, or just didn't even bother to look for that line.

Something we USED to call PERSONABLE RESPONSIBILITY is about as RARE down here as finding ONE SINGLE BLOCK full of WORKING people...you just "ain't gonna find no such animal"!

When we declared our freedom back in 1776, there was GOOD reason to celebrate. We had created a NATION unto itself, owing to ourselves, endowed with liberties and freedoms granted by our creator. And that was reason enough to go out and shoot off your rifle or set off fireworks. You were FREE from oppression...FREE from England's rule.
While it is nice to remember that day with celebration, there are so many ways OTHER than JUST annoying other people who DO know the difference between responsibility and stupidity.

Let's take this current fireworks "law" (please), which if I were to "grade" it, I'd have to give it a resounding *F*! This was a FARCE at BEST and nothing less than SHEER IDIOCY at it's WORST. We have SEVENTEEN damn days to play around with dangerous crap that the city and county have made available to everyone. Better to hand out some guns and let the mayhem commence, eh? Oh wait, we've ALREADY got that situation down here! The problem lies with their inability to shoot each other fast enough, though. Hey, I'm all for shooting courses.

We had "people" (for lack of a better word) IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAMN INTERSECTIONS setting off all kinds of aerial ordnance (in plain violation of the new law) and it took a call to the FWPD to get them to stop (actually, they stopped right AFTER I made the call...must be that "community scanner" they all listen to).

And this went on with reckless abandon until after 2AM.

How could I describe this so that YOU can appreciate the nuances of it all?

Was it like the 135th anniversary re-enactment of PICKETT'S CHARGE?
Was it like the GREEN ZONE in Baghdad on a busy night?
Maybe it was more like the TET OFFENSIVE back in 1968?
No, no, no....it was JUST like the GUNNERY RANGES when they dial in the mortars and other assorted artillery.
Yeah...that's it!

Screw the fact that we have trees and foliage that are so damn dry from lack of rainfall. Forget the fact that people are DRIVING along the streets where these idiots were setting off fireworks. And don't worry about all the solid and incendiary crap raining down from the sky (from explosive aerials) like some Biblical curse in Old Testament Egypt! No one takes into account that some morons will do anything to make life miserable for others, and yet we allow legislation OF them AND their behavior into our society with great zeal. We give them carte blanche to act in a manner that is detrimental to our society and this nation. These same idiots also (unfortunately) drive cars, buy alcohol, take controlled substances, and otherwise make what little bit of life the rest of us are allowed seem like a long-term stay in Hades. That's just not fair.

But we DO have to "celebrate", right?
I have been doing a tally of ordnance being detonated around my area, and I would say (conservatively) that over several THOUSAND dollars worth of fireworks has been expended PER NIGHT over the past week! And in many cases, the same people were doing this EVERY night, which means that somehow, they got a $hitload of money to waste. We're talking the "mortar round" type of fireworks, and not all those cheap-ass "lady-finger" firecrackers we hear all the time. Where the f$ck DO these people (who don't work, live in HUD rentals and have no "income" to speak of) get ALL this money for ALL this $hit anyway? Must be the same place they get ALL the cash for all those nice, shiny new cars and SUVs, right? Funny...didn't know the city had a place to get FREE MONEY...did you? The rest of us need to get ourselves a few slices from THAT "pie", don't we? I DO know that *we* (my wife and I) sure as hell "could" get us some serious fireworks readily enough, but to what end? It's over in a few seconds, and you're out a hundred or so bucks. Cripes, I can get a better "deal" from some good single malt scotch, AND make it last a LOT longer. Plus, I don't feel the need to intimidate or terrorize the neighbors, as some people do. I'd much rather opt to let the pyrotechnic PROS provide entertainment for me (and for free as well).

But we STILL DO have to "celebrate", right?
A good celebration should have good friends, good food and drink, and a pleasant time had by all....NOT some cacophonous hilljack radio station blaring, or some dumbass hip-hop crap thumping our walls from their foundations. A good celebration is NOT about how LOUD you can be...it should be about good memories you can cherish for years. It should NOT be about who got falling down drunk first and pissed themselves. It SHOULD be about camaraderie between people.
It's much akin to the founding fathers...their loyalty to the concept of founding a nation, to each other, and to the people they would represent. It wasn't about how LOUD they could be, was it?

So many people nowadays have just plain missed the boat.
Hell, they're so frigging landlocked, it's not even funny!

We do have the unalienable right to PURSUE happiness, NOT wrest it AWAY from others.

(I wonder if G.I Joe's on Wells St. has a sale on PAS/G headgear?)

04 July 2007

Preserving the 4th...
This is probably one of the EASIEST blogs to post today, and it's not because I'm feeling lazy...quite the contrary. Today represents THE most important milestone in our nation's history, for without what transpired on this date all those years ago, nothing since would have context or meaning.
Whether you think of our country's FLAG or our nations symbol, the BALD EAGLE, it all does come down to what brave patriot's wrote and signed in that building on Market Street in Philadelphia back in 1776.
It was THEIR belief in liberty and freedom that put their very lives at stake when they placed their names at the bottom of our most sacred document.
* * * * *
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

'Nuff said.

Stop by www.ushistory.org/declaration/ for more in depth facts.

Have a safe and happy 4th.

03 July 2007

Deep In The Heart Of Taxes...

Well, we've covered the property tax gig rather well last week, along with the problems of recent city annexation, and anyone who still buys cigarettes has seen the latest edition of the "Sticker-Shock Times" where the price for a carton pf ciggies had smokers stocking up late last week on the cheapest find around. I can say that our favorite brand now is "Class-A"...absolutely NO frills whatsoever.

Actually, buying some bulk tobacco online and rolling our own is looking better (and less expensive). Or we could just quit until someone finds something ELSE we can't (or shouldn't) have.
Add to the list of ever-increasing holes in your paycheck. Milk prices alone are rivalling those at the gas pumps now...time to start letting the rest of our bones soften too, I guess.
It would be right in keeping with America's loss of backbone in some regards.
And it would explain many of our current shortcomings.

Which brings me to yet another interesting find....the price of BEER is going UP.

Yeah, yeah I know....you stopped driving a lot because of GAS PRICES, and you quit smoking because of the prices as well as the smoking ban, and just when you "thought" you found a haven in your favorite malt beverage...BOOM...along comes...(everyone, all together now)....HIGHER PRICES FOR BEER. I know a six-pack of Guinness is up to $9 and change, so I do SAVOR the rare occasion to purchase one. You can blame ETHANOL on THAT now too. Seems farmers are growing less BARLEY and more CORN to "feed the fad". And we know that any beer worth it's foam can't be made without barley (excluding those cat-piss hued cheap-ass brands like Bud Light, which tastes like they brew it with used cat litter instead of barley anyway).

So there you go. Boned again!
Wow...at this rate, copping some marijuana or crack might become the newest "bargain" in town, although your life might become a tad ruined in the process. But one could say it would imbue the southside with some much-needed "renewal".
Decisions...decisions to be sure.

Now here we are, on the eve of this nation's INDEPENDENCE DAY...where we stuck it to the king (largely) because of TAXES. Divorcing ourselves from England, and tossing off the shackles of our oppressors, we forged ahead with a hope of a new land where liberty and freedoms could reign instead of "the crown".
Appears we've come full circle after all these years, and we're close to being back where we started once again.
Nice job.

OK, so we're "free"...free to do what? We're free to drive our cars as long as we ALL BUCKLE THE HELL UP. We're free to pay HIGHER PRICES for damn near everything. We're free to get shot by thugs on our streets as well as when they break into our home. We're free to allow millions of illegals into our country to ruin our infrastructure for those who are here legally. We're free to annoy others with fireworks, boomcars, and other assorted sources of cacophonous noise. We're free to smoke (in our homes, or on some remote island in the South Seas). We're free to drink (in places that have NO smoking), and we're free to pretty much do damn near anything (as long as we don't get caught).
Luckily, we're still free enough to bitch, piss and moan about all this crap, so YES, we STILL are free to "sing the blues".thank the maker!

Ahhhh.....the American Dream has been realized.

And if you're filthy rich, NONE of this applies to YOU, so go on about your business.

02 July 2007

The "Haves" Have It....

...And the "have-nots" probably don't, won't or ever will. At least that's what the luxury retailers are touting today. Our economy with it's ups and downs never seems to bother the wealthy, and I suppose that "might" be a good thing. I mean SOMEONE has to keep the economy afloat, because it's sure not the MIDDLE class...not with all the "taxing" situations we find ourselves in these days.

Montblanc (makers of quality writing implements to the uber-rich) recently sold a PEN for a WHOPPING $700,000!!! Now I don't know about YOU, but I really don't have the "need" for such drivel, nor do I have occasion that would require me to have SUCH a waste of money in my pocket merely to SIGN something. And in spite of my excellent credit rating (let's just say we're in the 800's), even MY "John Hancock" ain't worth so much that I need a $700K pen to apply it! Where the hell is my cheap-ass, always writes in any temperature BIC?

Then there's the luxury cars...ahh, those cars. Whether it's Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Bugatti, or even something a LOT more exotic than those, there is ALWAYS a market for something that goes from 0-60 in less than FIVE seconds, costs close to a million bucks, AND gets LOUSY mileage! We won't even get into the maintenance costs or insurance either, because, like my Dad used to say: "If you have to ask, you can't afford it". And Dad was always right.

Funny thing is...we live in pretty much a "disposable" society. It's disposable diapers, disposable lighters (if you can still afford to smoke that is), and ALL those disposable bottles and cans that fuel the retailing juggernauts across America. Nothing is really "made to last" anymore, and if it IS, it's probably way out of reach of many people's price range. That's why we keep CHINA running, buying all our goods from THEM, and even THEY are feeling the economic problems that once plagued JAPAN, when we were buying all THEIR stuff.Hell, we've even got disposable people now. Don't think so? Then just ask all the SENIORS on fixed incomes....society paints them as pretty near disposable the way they're treated by pharmaceutical companies. And what about those living at poverty level? Isn't it akin to Dickens when many state: "Better for them to die and decrease the surplus population"? Seems the harder people try to make THEM more equal, the more it costs every one else, right?
SO where IS the equality in that?
And those of us "have nots" seem to be pretty much OK with that. Well, most of us anyway. I don't really count myself in that number. I'm one of those that swims against the current here. I don't HAVE to have all the fol-de-rol that comes with the latest, greatest, most innovative, and expensive. And it's not because I can't afford it (which I can't anyway), but I like what WORKS...and works WELL, and for a LONG TIME. I don't believe that things are meant to be "tossed out", especially before their time, whether it's a TV, a car, or yes...even a person. We always prided ourselves in keeping (and holding onto) what we valued, so why stop now? Dad had another axiom for that: "What's worth having is worth working for and keeping, and what's worth keeping is worth taking care of".

Amazing what one learns from one's father, isn't it?
It has to do with NEEDS vs WANTS.

What I need is a lot different that what I want, as should it be for everyone. Problem is, many folks have blurred THAT line between the two...and the worst part is, they don't even know it. That's all well and good if you're rich out the ass, but for way too many of us... we're just NOT as fortunate. So we go into several types of HOCK to get what we want (or what we think we need), and to what end? Sure, let's re-mortgage the house to get us a plasma TV, an iPhone (or two), a new Lexus, and a puppy....!
We can always worry about eating LATER, right?

There will always be a "best of" as well as a "worst of", but somewhere in the middle is a TON of crap that's good, solid, and costs a helluva lot less in many ways. All we have to do is look for it...and not buy some $700,000 pen to sign our lives away in the process.

But that's just MY opinion...