And the Hits Keep Comin'...

This is one of those "BOHICA" mornings (bend over, here it comes again) where if you don't have anywhere to go and have already picked up the paper, or turned on the TV news show, you're most likely to just spew the coffee across the table, say screw it all, and go back to bed, hoping that this was just some dumbass dream you were having.

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble.

Welcome...to the REAL world.

So without any further ado, brace yourselves...it's not a pretty world out there today.

-- Gas Prices Soar - AGAIN...

With prices of crude oil hovering at the $110.00 A BARREL mark, it's small wonder you're going to go through some "sticker shock" when you fuel up in the next few days. Pump prices across the nation are AVERAGING $3.25, we here in Fort Wayne are "enjoying" a sizeable hike to $3.45 a gallon. But it could be worse. We "could" live in Frisco (a city that hates the military) where prices are over the $4 a gallon mark.

Now, I predicted a production slowdown this month by OPEC, and although we're not seeing any INCREASE in production, what would be the cause of the drastic RISE, hmm? Maybe someone's not telling us something. I said to my wife that it would be NICE if this rise in gas prices affected the BOOMCAR crowd around here.

After all, most of their "thumpmobiles" are older models (80s era or even earlier), an we know their milegae is worse than newer cars (especially when you don't properly maintain them...as they don't). It's all about trunk space really. Older cars-larger trunks-louder stereos.

Simple, huh?

But anyway, it would be nice if the boomcars were halted in their daily annoyance in this neighborhood. Sadly, I think that just won't happen. These jerks will find SOME way to get gas money, either by beating on the "old lady", robbing people or businesses, or (my favorite) dealing drugs. You have to remember, all that stereo crap doesn't come onboard for free, so they need to have a source of "revenue", even if it might be YOUR house, YOUR wallet or YOUR car.

Forwarned is forarmed.

--STD Rates Climb among Teenage Girls...

And here we heard that teen pregnancy was down, teen drug use was down, and teen sex was down. Guess someone was WRONG (and it wasn't me). Last time I checked STDs are caused by (all together, now...)...SEX. That's why it's an "S" td.

One out every of FOUR girls has an STD.

I thought the same thing (ewww...man, that's nasty). And I'm sure that every one of you that have a daughter is starting to get a bit more concerned. I always say "Make sure she only hangs with TWO other people, that way you beat the odds".

All kidding aside, this is one SERIOUS problem, and not just for the girls. Any young man she might come in contact with can wind up with whatever she has (and is also most likely the source of the initial infection).

And what would that be?

Let's take a look, shall we?

-Syphillis

-Gonorrhea

-Herpes Simplex

-Trichomoniasis

-Chlamydia

-HIV

Not a pleasant prospect, is it? The highest prevalence per race is 48% for blacks, with whites and Hispanics topping out at 20% each.Yeah, we can blame sexual behavior and the sebsequent diseases on POVERTY too now, right? We so poor, all we can do is lay around all day and screw.

Why don't we blame it on CULTURAL "norms", and MORAL DEVIANCY (instead)?

Better yet, take responsibility as a parent to know WHO she's seeing, and get her to the Doc for a checkup. And educate yourselves about what she might come in contact with. An ounce of prevention is TRULY worth a pound of cure in this case.

- Our Bust is Bigger Than Yours...

Last weeks record marijuana bust (in Allen County) of close to 3.35 TONS (that's around 6,700 pounds of "high", or close to 6 million home-rolled ciggies) was pretty damn impressive. But we couldn't hold onto this record for long. You just knew that somewhere else in the world, there was more.

In Cali, Colombia (big surprise, people) the Army's 3rd brigade showed the news media a SEVEN TON haul. Yeah, that's almost TWICE the amount confiscated here in Indiana. The army seized this marijuana from the FARC rebels in Corinto, near Cali. Betcha those rebels are gonna be SO pissed when they find their "funding" has dried up. Sorry boys.

- Meanwhile, In the Yin / Yang Department...

The Ft. Wayne GM plant is still closed because they have no axles to build their trucks. American Axle is still on strike you see, and until they go back, WE here have to "suffer". Now there was something to be said for having the ENTIRE production of vehicles under one roof (ask henry Ford), but when companies started to make themselves more "efficient", they shopped out a lot of the "small $hit" to smaller firms, delegating sub-assemblies to the four winds.

And whenever you scatter seed in that manner, you can ask ANY farmer what the result is:You REAP what you SOW (as well as WHERE you sow, Biblically-Speaking). All these LARGE plants with thousands of workers are put on the dole because some small plant with less than maybe a hundred workers goes on strike.

The best case scenario for "cause and effect" if ever there was one. It's like that thorn in the lion's paw. Everything comes to a screeching HALT.

Where's (our) Androcles when you need him, eh?

At least the SUN is shining...

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled lives (such as they are after all this).