Monday Musings...
Well, here in the Summit City (aka Fort Wayne), we're staring at some needed rain for the next 2 days...doesn't that always seem to happen right AFTER you wind up mowing the lawn?
I will say one thing, and that THIS summer has been one of the more MODERATE ones I've seen for a while.
A LOT fewer days with temps over 90 degrees.
Maybe all this "global warming" stuff isn't all it's cracked up to be.
Oh, wait...that's right...it ISN'T, according to a growing number of reputable scientists.
Sorry, Al...hate to burst that bubble of yours....(not).
I did find a couple stories interesting enough to warrant posting about, so here goes...
** A Harlem store owner shot and killed 2 would-be robbers last Thursday.
Here's the link to the NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/nyregion/14shoot.html?_r=1
And the article as reported by the NYPost:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08142009/news/regionalnews/harlem_store_owner__i_had_no_choice_but__184568.htm
Now, suffice it to say that after the melee, the score was:
Shopkeeper - 4
Robbers - 0
While two robbers were killed, two were taken to the hospital.
And Charles Augusto, owner of the Blue Flame Restaurant Supply Company is a free man..free in the knowledge that some perps looking for a fast buck, wound up with some fast buckSHOT instead.
Now, Charlie is an "everyman"...a 72 year old making a living in a business he runs with two other employees...nothing remarkable there, right? He's carved out his piece of the American Dream as best he can.
We can say that he's ALSO saved the taxpayers of NYC a lot of money by offing two of these thugs (no jail time for them).
But it's times when you see an employee being pistol whipped that you have to step in. Charles asked the thugs to leave, saying he wouldn't even call the cops, but they had to remain...and in doing so, found out first-hand what is meant by the word CONSEQUENCES.
Three shots from Augusto's nearby 12 gauge later, consequences were dealt out in short order.
Charles is not saying about any "backup" he might have "on hand", since the police had to seize the shotgun as evidence.
To all those people who want STRICTER GUN LAWS, I would point out that Augusto played by the rules...and WON. He didn't need ANY MORE restrictive gun laws passed. The current ones worked just FINE for him.
As for the perps...well, two had priors for firearms possession, so maybe no amount of gun laws would stop THEM from being able to get a firearm anyway...'ya think?
Let's work with the laws we ALREADY have in place...we don't need stricter LAWS, but we DO need stricter enforcement and stricter punishment of those who break or otherwise circumvent the CURRENT laws...period.
Here's one story that damn near breaks my heart:
** Future Worries Classic Car Owners
Here's the link to the story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090817/NEWS03/308179955
Now, you have to admit that today's cars are NOTHING like the "real" cars we remember from the golden age of auto manufacturing.
Those were days when cars were more like works of art, than the cookie-cutter tinfoil road rollers we see today.
And I have to admit to having an affinity for those marvelous beasts of yesteryear.
Compared to today, they were rolling billboards of beauty.
And much can be said about America's love of the car from seeing them parade past during a commemorative event.
Today, we seem to have "lost the love".
We view transportation today as a "necessary evil"...there's little if any passion about the vehicle we have in our garages. It's there to get us from A to B...and that's about it.
And it's little wonder that car sales have slumped in recent pre-bailout years.
Our passion has waned for the "newbies" on the block...our love affair with the car has been relegated to days of yesteryear...it's more like the love affair has become a "marriage of inconvenience".
The "magic seems to be missing".
Cripes, I can hear Barry Manilow's "Trying to Get the Feeling Again" playing somewhere....how apropos.
But, as long as we have those who DO remember what REAL cars were like, and how that galvanized our families together, those classics will never REALLY go out of style...there's always another parade, right?
** Lastly, My wife and I took a spontaneous drive up past Harlan, IN to visit our former neighbors...
Well, we DID have Christmas gifts to drop off...LOL!
Seems they have a third horse now...they got her as a gift, and she's cuter than all get out.
It was an all too brief visit, and yet, it's ALWAYS good to get AWAY from this ghettoesque cesspool we live in (now), and see some DECENT, NORMAL PEOPLE.
I took my paintball pistol and BB gun up there, and we had some shooting fun (even repainted the wheel rims on his utility cart...LOL)
He's even got an old Daisy Model 25 BB RIFLE...and that was fun...made this old coot feel like a kids again.
Nice to live where you can have NO qualms about going outside for ANY reason. No people going out their way to disrespect you because of the color of your skin...no noise keeping you awake to all hours, no drug dealing near your house, and no trash being tossed about by careless kids with no sense of civility.
It's just a place where you can relax...where it's OK to shoot off a gun...and your nearest neighbor is some several hundred yards away (if not farther). Somehow, for this old city boy...that seems damn nice these days.
Then again, there are a lot of Amish in the area...
And that reminds me why THEY don't like to live among the heathen...
Well, time to get ready for this bout of rain...and if there's something I've learned by living in this city, it's NEVER to underestimate the WEATHER...like last winter's ICE STORM...
The weather around here will ALWAYS wind up costing you money...!
Have a great week, and...
Stay safe out there, America.