When Will Enough BE Enough?
I like to eat at restaurants, and I mean the good, waiter pulls my comfy chair out, shows me a wine list, cost you a chunk of the paycheck, enjoy a single malt scotch & a cigar with that mulit-tiered dessert cart kind of restaurant. Yeah, THOSE places.

Boy, has THAT changed!
Now bear with me, because I will be addressing recent crimes in our city, but I have to get this off my chest first, and I believe it will also be a nice lead-in to what I will be talking about today.
When I go to one of THOSE restaurants, I KNOW when I've had enough.
I am stuffed to the brim with damn fine food, and just want to take my time getting home, kick back and enjoy that fine repast (most likely sleep it off...lol).
Call it a "culinary after-glow", if you will, but doing that once or twice a year is something I've always enjoyed.
Today...not so much.
We've got SMOKING LAWS...so, there goes my after-dinner cigar.

And that scotch (neat) is going to cost 1/6th the price of what the entire bottle USED to cost.
The meal portions are smaller (but somehow the costs have RISEN all too much), so we don't all wind up rolling out the door of the establishment, instead of walking, due to obesityv (or heart attack due to cholesterol) FROM said dinner.
And driving any distance TO said restaurant costs MORE, thanks to gas prices.
So, that meal that USED to satisfy me, and cost about $20 (and change) has become more like a FIFTY DOLLAR + VENTURE into the wonderful world of inflationary economics.
Maybe that's why I learned to COOK (no complaints...AND no fatalities...so far from anyone)!
The world has managed to all but kill one of my "simple pleasures" in life.
Same goes for driving...
And smoking...
And the occasional drink...
Cripes, it even costs double (what it used to) to go to a damn pistol range, and work out my angst, what with hourly fees and ammo costs.
Basically, I'm busting my butt trying to do AS MUCH as before....with LESS.
Again...so far, so good.
But I've pretty much had it with spending frugally 99% of the time, having a blast with the other 1% and NOT being rewarded for such "proper conduct", while I see those crying "bail me out" and being rewarded for doing "the financial nasty".
Somehow, that JUST AIN'T RIGHT!
Enough IS truly enough.
Enough with all the bailout bullshit...let the businesses and people fail. The experience will make them better people (or their suicides will take care of the "survival of the fittest" aspect of humanity).
Enough with the taxes, enough with the rising costs for the same damn things, and enough with politicians that secure only THEIR OWN FUTURE, while pissing MINE (and yours) up against the nearest D.C. monument!
And enough with all this damn crime.
(see, I told you I'd get around to this)
((CAUTION - SEGUE ALERT))
With the advent of nicer weather, we're seeing more business robberies. Thankfully, they're not ALL on the S/E side of town...we're pretty much tapped out for retail as it is.
TASTY PIZZA, along Fairfield St, has become the target of an armed gunman AGAIN. This is the place where the young employee was killed December two years ago. The recent robbery makes four (I think) robberies within the last year.
When the hell is someone going to just shoot these damn thugs?
You want to eliminate this type of crime...ELIMINATE THE PERPS!
That simplifies things (As the late USMC General Chesty Puller would say).
Same goes for the CITGO station along East State St. They've been robbed FOUR times in a year as well (this last time had some good video of the armed thug).
People don't realize HOW MUCH this costs EVERYONE.
It costs the company to put up cameras (they ain't free, folks), hire a security guard (ditto on the not free thing), or even purchase a firearm to carry on the premises (if the company allows it, that is).
Revenue LOST results in HIGHER PRICES (eventually). NO ONE runs a business to LOSE MONEY (except the U.S. Government, apparently).
Enough IS enough.
And don't you DARE come to me with the whole "well, it's poverty causing this" bullshit...
When some young armed sonuvabitch pulls out his pistol (which he can't be all THAT poor, or he couldn't afford to get one), with the sole intent of relieving some business owner of the money they WORK for, just so this felon can support his drug habit, or buy the latest "athletic" wear...that's NOT poverty, people...that's HEDONISM.
These bastards aren't feeding ANY family. They're feeding their HABIT, be it clothes, loud car stereos, or drugs.
Poverty causes REAL people to work harder to make ends meet. It causes personal SACRIFICES. It causes a mess o' belt-tightening, but it DOES NOT cause someone to rob a store several times a year, because they can get a whopping $118.
You can't take responsibility for the children you sire, you can't support them or the woman who had them, BUT...you CAN manage to get a gun, booze, drugs, "stylish" clothes (gag), and a brand new vehicle...ALL without a real job.
Last time I checked...ALL that shit still costs MONEY...money these hoodlums take from YOU...and ME...and every other taxpaying citizen each and every time they rob a business.
Sorry, but the ONLY way to scare the piss out of these criminals is to start shooting them dead.

Send a message that this type of behavior will no longer be tolerated. Tell them you've HAD ENOUGH of this crap, as you put one in THEIR skull for a change.
Is this advocating a form of vigilante behavior?
No.

You're not "seeking" these thugs out...you're just waiting for them to come to YOU to do something STUPID, so you can "correct" it (permanently) for them, that's all. Consider it a "public service", and one's "civic duty".
When you allow such DOMESTIC TERRORISM (and that's exactly what the hell all this shit really is) to hold court in your cities and on your streets, you're basically giving these people the keys to the candy store...and believe me, they've got one HELLUVA sweet tooth.
If you're uncomfortable with firearms, you still can write, call, or email the politicians and set THEM straight on how YOU feel, and what SHOULD be done. It may not be the popular thing for them to do, but it sure as hell is the RIGHT thing to do.
Take a cue from Howard Beale, from the movie NETWORK, and just say "I'm madder than hell, and I'm not going to take it any longer".
Last time I checked, THIS is STILL your country (and mine)...NOT theirs!
It doesn't belong to the criminals, no matter what color the collar or skin, and it sure doesn't belong to the politicians.
We, the people...just allow the politicians to USE IT...hopefully to make GOOD laws, and follow the ones ALREADY in place.
THAT'S what it's all about.
Crime will probably never be totally eradicated...humans will find some way.
But that does not mean crime cannot be LESSENED, and that's where all of US come in.
WE can take back our neighborhoods, AND our cities.
Hell, we may even take back our NATION along the way.
Betcha Ben Franklin would like that...a LOT.
Stay safe out there, America.