07 April 2009

Crimestopper Textbook...
Time to take another look into the pages of the criminal activities (blue OR white collared) in and around our area. A word of caution, though...reading this could possibly lead to a change in behavior of the reader. You could suffer from extreme ANGER, or be overcome with tearful GLEE. You may even exhibit BOTH at the same time. But whatever the case, you WILL come away from this with KNOWLEDGE. And we ALL know that KNOWLEDGE IS POWER (Scientia est potentia, for you Latin scholars out there).
So buckle up and get ready for another wild ride.
** Looks like our "friend", Anthony Parish has managed to plea-bargain his way to lesser charges (big surprise there). This 19-year old gang-banger (supposed tie to the D Boyz, according to reports?) pleaded GUILTY of charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery in a shooting back on 1 October last year. He will NOT be charged with (regular) battery, criminal recklessness, carrying a firearm without a license, and pointing a handgun.
He faces up to 40 years WHEN he is sentenced in May. And that means he'll be out in 20 years (or less), back on our streets, ready to perpetrate MORE mayhem among us.
In January, Parish was charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, and 2 counts of carrying a handgun w/o a license in another shooting (Antoine Woods on New Haven Avenue). I March, Parish was also charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery and (you guessed it) carrying a handgun w/o a license, accusing him of shooting Dennis Salley (back in August last year).
So, this boy's got a shitload of bad wiring in HIS head...I say let him "have an accident that results in his demise", that way the state can save a crapload of MONEY instead of incarcerating his sorry ass.
I'll volunteer to "assist".
** In a situation that has some similarities to Philadelphia, a group of FWPD officers are suing the city for "back wages"...i.e. "Off-Duty work".
Apparently, with this take-home car policy, officers are coming to the aid of people while off the (official) clock...and there's nothing wrong with that, for as we ALL (should) know...(all together now, boys & girls)...a POLICE OFFICER IS NEVER OFF DUTY.
(very good)
But one can always argue that if an officer has to come to the assistance of someone for something regarding a police matter (and that can run the gamut from changing a tire for a motorist to chasing down a shoplifter...and more), the officer should be able to charge the department for that time "worked", as long as some record exists of the situation and the outcome (and takes less than 30 minutes to resolve).
Got no problem with that one bit.
Officers are NOT salaried, but HOURLY.
The group of officers want the lawsuit to be certified as a CLASS-ACTION suit on behalf of ALL the city's police officers. The complaint asks for 10% of the amount due the officers for each day the amount remains unpaid, according to court documents.
Now, back in Philly, the city AND the state there owes the PPD well over SIX MILLION BUCKS, and has yet to cough up the money, again, for jobs performed while in an "off-duty" capacity as a sworn officer of Philadelphia. There is also a PENSION issue at stake there.
Now I heard that IMITATION is the MOST SINCERE form of FLATTERY, but in this case...not so much.
The city would be wise to NOT alienate the department any further than it already has...for EVERYONE'S benefit (and safety). Hell, parts of the department are alienated one from another, but that's information you don't "need to know". ** Some GOOD news in our neighborhood (imagine that).
I spoke for some time about ALL the "stuff" going on at a RICH convenience store at the corner of Hanna and Pettit Sts. Well, the missus was driving past last evening, and noticed it WAS CLOSED DOWN. The sign was gone, and no lights were on at all, except for the utility poles.
I thought I was seeing less lawn trash and fewer kids munching their asses off after school...now I know why.
This is a GOOD thing, as I alluded to the other week in my post about having MORE convenience stores all over the place.
In my area, they are nothing but a breeding ground for illicit behavior and illegal activities. And like the people infesting the neighboring hovels...the FEWER...the BETTER.
Kudos to whatever city department that was instrumental in closing this place down.
Now...about the druggies hanging at the Senate Bar...
** In a related story to the last one, about 75 people turned out Monday to voice their concerns about 2 "gas stations" planned for the city.
Seems these stations (and convenience stores) are to be located at the SW corner of E. Pontiac and S. Hanna, with the other being at Clay and E. Jefferson Blvd. (sounds a tad close to RENAISSANCE POINTE...doesn't it?)
Neighbors agreed the SOUTHEAST side has a GLUT of 24-hour convenience stores that attract CRIMINAL ACTIVITY with such hours.
(wow, either these folks are observant as all hell...OR they been reading this blog regularly...LOL)
Project developers want to "invest" in the community (what? THEY want drugs too now?), and redevelop underused land.
The project at Hanna & Pontiac is expected to cost $1 million dollars (and what it cost the area in CRIME? A damn sight MORE I'd wager).
There are ALREADY FIVE gas stations within 3 miles of the proposed stations.
Neighbors want to see OTHER types of retail in the area (who can blame them...been saying that MYSELF for YEARS).
Stay tuned for further developments...or not, in this situation. The fewer...the better, right?
** Yeah, I said it HERE first (again). I said that when the price of ciggies goes up...so would robberies.
A Spring street TOBACCO STORE was robbed recently. Dave's Discount Tobacco was hit back on Friday. Two masked men entered, made the owner open a safe and they left with an undisclosed amount of money. On the way out, the robbers ALSO took several packs of NEWPORTS (so my guess is that the robbers were BLACK...Newports ARE the ciggies of choice for these guys..trust me on this one).
** Lastly, two more guns are out of the hands of drug dealers and off our streets.
During a raid on a (where else?) SE side house on the 3600 block of Felician St., where a fugitive warrant was being served, police founds some MJ, a handgun and a rifle. Modesto Feliciano was being held without bail, Jeremiah Hughes was being held in lieu of $52,500 bail, and Amy Hughes was held in lieu of $2,500 bail. All are charged with possession, while Modesto is also charged with battery, and Hughes was charged with dealing.
Nice job, people.
Now, don't you all feel a LOT safer after knowing all this?
Hell, even I do, and living down here, that's NEVER easy.
Still, is spite of all the great work the police are doing, it never helps to be on your toes...just in case, so...
Stay safe out there, America.



06 April 2009

Monday Musings...
If you EVER doubted for one moment that you were somehow transported off of the Earth YOU once knew and, after a time, have decided that you have found yourself on some sort of "alternative Earth"?
Well, doubt no longer, believers.
You ARE, like it or not.
If these past seven days aren't like something out of BIZARRO WORLD, I really don't know what is.
Seems people been getting busy going off the deep end.
Last week, it was the four police officers killed by a lone shooter in Oakland, CA.
Then it became another THREE officers killed in Pittsburgh, PA, and if that wasn't enough, we also had an immigrant in Binghamton, NY stroll into the American Civic Association building there, after using his car to block the rear exit, and proceed to kill over a DOZEN people. wounding quite a few more, before he shot himself dead...and all over the fact that he couldn't deal with being teased about his broken English.
Lastly we had a man out in Graham, WA, who apparently killed his five kids before he went to a casino to kill himself.
Fort Wayne was right in the mix as well, notching it's NINTH homicide of the year, when a man was found dead with a gunshot wound in a garage at St. Joe and Derome Rds.
And...ciggies are costing over $50 a carton...!
I mean WTF is going the hell ON here, anyway?
Did someone just flip on a "dumbass switch" somewhere and turn all these borderline nutcases into homicidal maniacs?
Is there something in the damn water?
Perhaps a bad batch of pistachios?
This is sheer lunacy...
Now, I suppose we can blame the economy, but I think we'd be wrong in assessing the majority of the blame there. Granted, it IS a contributing factor, but c'mon now...all this shit going down all over the place is nuts, plain and simple.
It's almost like the world decided that civilized behavior wasn't worth the hassle, and chose to devolve into anarchy.
But, of course, we'll no doubt hear the gun critics climbing out from under their rocks (again) sobbing the woes over more GUN control.
Sorry, but those weapons used in the fatal shooting didn't possess some otherworldly power over men, turning them into raging killers when they were picked up.
The guns had no collective cabal or pondered ruminations against mankind.
This was done BY mankind...against mankind.
It would be the same if a person took a car and decided to run over as many people as they could. The car has no control over the actions of the nutjob holding the damn wheel.
Hey, maybe we can blame all this crap on GLOBAL WARMING...?
I mean we DO (currently) have several ACTIVE volcanoes around the world filling the air with particular matter and noxious fumes, not to mention all the lava flowing from them. It's got to be making SOME sort of impact on the ecosystem, don'cha think?
What say you, Mr. Gore?
(silence......followed by more silence, and perhaps a few cricket noises)
Didn't think so.
If I were a fatalist, I'd say we're definitely into the "End Times", and having studied the Book of Revelation in the BIBLE, we've got a LOT of the "signs" showing...and not the blinking, neon-laced "EAT AT JOE'S" kind of signs, either.
Something IS brewing, and it's certainly NOT one of Sam Adams "21 varieties of beer".
Now if these people all of a sudden "snapped", we should be looking into what snapped them in the first place. I mean if ANYONE had reason to go postal, it would be yours truly, considering the way the human refuse manages to float past our house every damn day.
If ANYONE had a reason for some serious "urban renewal", then yes, it would be ME.
But...maybe I've got a little something these other people didn't have in any measure.
And maybe that something is called...SELF-CONTROL.
Lord knows these morons living around me have tested it on more than a few occasions. And they remain among the living because of my self-control.
Sure, deep down inside, we are ALL (still) savages. None of us has become THAT "enlightened" (even after being a regular reader here...), or civilized that we have risen above ALL the fatal foibles that infest our humanity.
We STILL have that mindless primitive inside us all, waiting to be unleashed.
Mostly all of us have that beast rather firmly in check, and "keep our genie bottled" as it were.
The rest...not so much.
Actually, we'd be a lot LESS human would we not have that aspect of our psyche. But I'm not going to get into the philosophical and clinical realm of the nature of mankind's actions. Another day, perhaps.
What I will state is that we're heading into that "Something Wicked This Way Comes" kind of scenario.
Used to be a saying that went:
"What's good for America is good for the world"...
I dunno about YOU, but we might want to entertain a motion to rethink THAT, We're not setting the pace, but following suit.
Maybe it's time to change that around, retake the lead....by EXAMPLE once again.
In closing, I want to extend my sincerest condolences to the families of the both the slain Pittsburgh Police department officers as well as all those killed in Binghamton. May all of you, in some way, find the solace you seek, the strength to continue with that empty chair at your tables, and the courage to pursue justice to it's inevitable end.
Life is always about CHOICES, and this weekend has seen it's share of bad ones (made by these shooters).
Funny thing about choices...they always come with something "extra"...
That's called CONSEQUENCES.
And like the choices we make in life, they also come in GOOD and BAD varieties.
Perhaps it's time to seek the good, instead of embracing the bad.
It's just a thought...
Stay safe out there, America.

03 April 2009

Friday Follies...
It's another weekend, and we're closing in on the end of the spring break (I'll bet the parents are ecstatic over that). Funny thing, ever since the break started, I can count the number of kids I've seen on ONE HAND, but when school is in session, we have scads of kids going to and from the bus stop. Wonder WHERE they all disappear to?
The good news about that, is that I pretty much ONLY have to deal with the ADULT idiots in the area, and not the YOUNG idiots (until school goes back next week). Lucky me, right?
Still, idiots are idiots, no matter WHAT the age, the weight, the size, the nationality, the religious persuasion, or the skin color.
Seems to be some sort of "universal constant" there.
Anyway, it's time to take a look around and see what's been going on.
** Regarding this G20 "summit"...sorry, NOT impressed. I watch the "Prez" yesterday fielding questions (sans teleprompter?) from reporters, and I will say one thing about Obama: He sounds fair to midland EVEN WHEN he's squirming on that hook...LOL!
But you have to admit...he sure is READY...to SPEND MORE MONEY we just don;t have. At least there is consistencey there.
The grandkids are gonna have ine HELLUVA future...aren't they?
** North Korea ready to launch missile.
Uh oh...this can't be good...and I heard that they pretty much HAVE to fire it, since they already FUELED the damn thing up (the fuel is corrosive,and can't be readily OFFLOADED). Nice rocket you fellas got there...caustic fuel, have to fire it somewhere, don't know what the payload is...yepper, just the thing to start ANOTHER "conflict" in the world...JUST what we need. Thanks, guys.
** Looks like the MSM has caught up with THIS blog.
When I posted back on 29 March about the Mexico/Guns from America thing, I meantioned that there WAS NOT this HUGE amount of arms going to Mexico...and once again, the truth was revealed HERE.
ONLY 17% of the arms that Mexico receives come from the USA, and that INCLUDES those arms bought FROM America from mexico for their police and military (which are then being sold to the cartels thanks to the corruption in the Mexican governemnt)...nice, huh?
** We've got some AFL-CIO people downtown having a protest today, as we speak (about 100).
Sorry people, but it's the economy's fault...blame THEM, and not city hall. They are to blame for a lot of OTHER stuff...trust me.
** You have to hand it to the criminals in this city. If you listen to the police scanner, they are up and out the door pretty damn EARLY. Then again, with crime PAYING as well as it does here, it behooves them to get "cracking".
** Also, while listening to the radio, you hear about people taking CIGARETTES...imagine that!
Now what did I say about these thugs robbing stores for CIGGIES, anyway? I said it WOULD HAPPEN...and apparently, either it HAS, or the perps have read this blog, and saw my post as an opportunity to tap another source for smokes.
** The FWPD has closed down an "after-hours" club
This story appeared in Tuesday's paper, but ti was mentioned in today's editorial page.
(You're really going to like this...AND get a better idea of the crap WE have to deal with daily)
Here's the story:
((7 arrested at after-hours club - Holly Abrams-The Journal Gazette
Drugs and guns were found during a raid at 3009 Oxford St.
City police, along with Allen County police and Indiana State Excise police
entered the building at 3009 Oxford St. with a search warrant and found more than 125 people.
A DJ would play music and advertise prostitutes for sale. The women would render their services to clients in the restroom. Others would buy alcohol and drugs.
These activities stopped Saturday when an after-hours club on the city's southeast side was shut down during a SWAT team raid, Fort Wayne police said.The raid came after two months of undercover work by detectives, said Fort Wayne police Sgt. Mark Walters, who works in the vice and narcotics division.
City police, along with Allen County police and Indiana State Excise police entered the building at 3009 Oxford St. with a search warrant and found more than 125 people. Seven of those people - all adults - were arrested on misdemeanor charges including resisting arrest, drug possession and alcohol possession by a person younger than 21. Others were arrested on outstanding warrants, Walters said.
Inside the building, police found after-hours sales of alcohol and narcotics in progress in addition to the prostitution. During the arrests, police recovered marijuana, crack cocaine, five handguns, money and alcohol.
Walters said raids like this are not unusual."It happens quite often," he said. "Probably not on that scale, but there are a lot of smaller places around town where this is going on."

Police said the illegal activity started about two years ago. Police expect more arrests, including possible felony charges, Indiana State Excise Police Lt. John Folk said.
Meanwhile, Oxford One Stop owner Rajdeep Singh is breathing a sigh of relief. For the past year, he said he has been cleaning up trash in the parking lot outside his store, at 3003 Oxford St., after the after-hours parties next door.
His newspaper bundles have been stolen at least three times, including during the most recent party, and patrons to the establishment would often urinate outside his store,he added.

"It was a lot of mess," he said.))
And here's the editorial comment:
((After-hours clubs bring guns, drugs, other big-city vices
As a true midsize city, Fort Wayne offers many of the amenities of a larger city – along with the occasional big-city disadvantages.
Residents were reminded of the city’s urban flavor when police raided an after-hours joint Saturday, where 125 people were drinking, smoking and participating in other vices.
A DJ doubled as a pimp, advertising prostitutes, whose workplace was the club’s restroom. Perhaps that explains why the owner of the convenience store next door complained that club patrons were using the outside of his store as an alternative restroom.
Police confiscated handguns, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and money. Seven people were arrested, and more charges are expected.
Such clubs have long been on the local scene, selling individual cigarettes and booze and sometimes offering gambling rather than – or perhaps in addition to – prostitution.
And, as one might imagine, they are not the safest places to be.
Police said a November 2006 homicide occurred inside a Lumbard Street after-hours club, and the year before a man was shot in the leg at another club on New Haven Avenue.
In 2000, a man reported being mugged after leaving an after-hours place on Buchanan Street.
With the closing of the Oxford Street establishment, no doubt another entrepreneur will seek to fill the void, and police will eventually catch up with it. Would-be patrons, be forewarned.))

WELCOME TO THE SOUTHEAST SIDE:
...where entertainment festers like a pus-filled sore.
Now I'll be the first to tell you that often, the city views these houses as "party houses", and has a habit of summarily dismissing them as "not as important" as DRUG HOUSES. Got news for everyone...they ARE DRUG HOUSES, and this story kind of says the same thing, doesn't it?
And these are the type of houses you might drive right past and NEVER give a second look at (in our area, second looks are prerequisites for having you shot at, the way these numbnuts behave).
However, it now looks like V/N is beginning to "get it", and by that, I mean that what USED to pass for a "harmless" party house is, in actuality, a haven for every type of illegal behavior and illicit activity.
WTG, people...congrats on the revelation!
Now...if you need HELP with finding MORE of such houses, stop on by or ring me up...you have my number.
** Lastly, Aside from the fact that this part of town needs a DISCOUNT MUFFLER SHOP BADLY, I have to say that when it comes to annoying people, my "neighbors" simply take the cake (and anything ELSE in your house that's not nailed the hell down, should you dare to go somewhere and leave the house locked but unattended).
Our city has a serious PEOPLE problem, and unfortunately, that abrogates the LIBERTY and FREEDOM of the decent citizens in our (recently) "blighted" areas. To deny these rights given by our Constitution TO those people is not only a travesty, but a blatant injustice to those that DO work...those that DO save...those that DO take pride in their property...those are truly PRODUCTIVE to the continuance of this city.
Dressing up a raggedy-ass dog to look like a pure-bred movie icon (that would refer to Renaissance Pointe) will NEVER address the REAL, underlying issue, namely the people that are allowed to commit the crimes...the people allowed to bilk the government of every entitlement coming down the pike...the people who do a disservice to every American by drawing their next breath.
Clearly, when Fort Wayne tackles the TOUGH problems with verve, and begins to reacquire ALL it's neighborhoods, that for so long, have been neglected, only THEN will it see itself as a city that can proudly claim a higher status...NOT before.
Something to shoot for, Fort Wayne...think about it.
Have yourselves a good weekend, and...
Stay safe out there, America.

02 April 2009

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.

01 April 2009

There's NO Fool Like An April Fool...
Happy April Fool's Day, and before you go out to buy your smokes...be PRE-WARNED...they are going to cost a LOT MORE than they did YESTERDAY...no foolin'!
Seems the "gub-ment" in it's never ending quest to deny people of the simple pleasures in life (like choosing one's manner of death), has seen fit to INCREASE the ciggie tax...about a buck a PACK.
Yep, that makes TEN BUCKS a carton.
SO...do you get that set of TIRES for the car...or buy 2 cartons of SMOKES?
I know...decisions...decisions.
Smoke 'em if 'ya got 'em, because the "Nanny-State" mentality is gunnin' for you AND your tobacco.
(and to think the "gub'ment" subsidizes tobacco farmers in America...WTF is wrong with that picture?)
Maybe that's why smokes are coming in from SOUTH AFRICA (and are cheaper).
There IS some consolation...up in NY state there is a brand of smokes called SENECA (after the tribe, who makes these), and they ARE a lot cheaper per carton...in some cases 50% LESS. Google it and take a look at their website.
I'm seriously thinking about going this route...sorry Low Bob's.
One thing that will occur (and you're hearing it here FIRST) from the increase in tobacco products will be more ROBBERIES at the smoke shops for "freebies", as it were. I fully expect to see more robberies at convenience stores as well. Anyone selling smokes will be next.
Getting back to "Fools"...(no, I'm not going to rag on politicians...not TODAY, anyway)...
I'd like to lighten things up a bit and share some thoughts by other people, who had something to say about FOOLS.
So, here is a small compendium for your enjoyment. Please use them wisely, and always wait an hour before swimming after using them.
Your mileage may vary.
===========================
Wise men speak because they have something to say;
Fools because they have to say something.
~Plato



Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
~Voltaire



In examinations, the foolish ask questions the wise cannot answer.
~Oscar Wilde


You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time,
but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
~Abraham Lincoln


Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich,
a tragedy for the poor.
~Sholom Aleichem


It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
~Abraham Lincoln


Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
~Albert Einstein


Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day;
wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.
~Elbert Hubbard


The fool wonders, the wise man asks.
~Benjamin Disraeli


Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool.
After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.
~H. L. Mencken


The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
~Baltasar Gracian


People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors.
~Francis Bacon


You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones
you want to concentrate on.
~George W. Bush


Showing off is the fool's idea of glory.
~Bruce Lee


A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
~Bruce Lee


To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.
~Marcus Aurelius


Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
~Euripides


If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool.
~Carl Jung


A man is a fool if he drinks before he reaches the age of 50,
and a fool if he doesn't afterward.
~Frank Lloyd Wright


It's easy to fool the eye but it's hard to fool the heart.
~Al Pacino


When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
~Otto Von Bismarck


The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.
~Epicurus


He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot.
He that dare not is a slave.
~Andrew Carnegie


Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool that follows him?
~Alec Guinness


A fool and his money are soon parted.
~Thomas Tusser


You may be able to fool the voters, but not the atmosphere.
~Donella Meadows


Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other.
~Ben Franklin

==============
And there you have it...something to take with you and impress others with on this day of ALL FOOLS.
Just don't be foolish when applying them.
As for me?
I'm going to watch my local neighborhood FOOLS!
(who never take a day off from acting the part)
Behave yourselves, make a few good decisions, and...
Stay safe out there, America.