Monday Musings...
Today is FLAG DAY, and if you haven't got your flag up and blowing in the breeze, shame on you. And while this might be considered one of those "minor holidays", the significance behind it is worth grabbing the *411*.
Our flag is nothing less than our NATIONAL SYMBOL, and represents so much more than the three colors of the cloth that makes up OLD GLORY.
And I'll be getting to that in just a minute...but first, "a word from our sponsors"...and that would be the wonderful people that bring you our "slum in progress" on the south side of Fort Wayne.
*** This past Saturday, we had the usual montage of unsupervised kids running around, and one toddler happened to stand out from the rest.
Here's why.
He was running along the sidewalk when his slightly older sister (a known chronic litterbug) took him to the corner. She looked around furtively, and then proceeded to "shield" him, as this pre-schooler took a piss against the utility pole at our corner...out in the open...in the middle of the afternoon!
I know...I thought the EXACT same things.
They "live" (read infest) a rental house down the block from us and WELL within distance to make the 30 second trot to the bathroom inside.
But I've noticed that when it comes to public urination, the black people around here seem to have no problem whatsoever with going "when the spirit moves them". And obviously, they learn this disgusting trait at a VERY early age.
Personally, I think Child Protective Services should be contacted as to WHY this little child could NOT go home to take a leak.
Something just doesn't seem right with that.
If it were me, my parents would have a fit, and I'd be hard-pressed to be eating dinner sitting down for a spell, if you get my drift.
There is NO excuse to NOT use the bathroom at your OWN house when you're so damn close by.
You're NOT a bear...and this ISN'T the woods.
*** But wait friends, there's more...
Fort Wayne still has a law which prohibits unlicensed vehicles from roaming our streets, such as go-karts, micro-bikes, and so on...
So imagine MY surprise when I hear this fine fellow, pulling wheelies up and down a nearby street.

That's right...a 4-wheel ATV with a shirtless (and obviously BRAINLESS to boot) driver on a city street...on a SUNDAY.
Yeah, he must be part of the white-trash contingent. We do have a few wannabe ghetto-fleas in the mix, sad to say.
A few years ago, when I did my "ride-along" with (then) Officer Ebetino, we ran a call on a go-kart that was riding around a neighborhood on the east side, and after some choice words to the owners, had it pulled into the garage and off the street.
You want to ride some ATV around? Find a nice parcel of RURAL or otherwise WOODED area to do so...NOT in a residential area of the 2nd largest city in the entire state, kapeesh?
But this wouldn't be a problem at all...IF we had some FWPD patrols criss-crossing the area on a more REGULAR basis.
Just because the "terrain" is flat and somewhat smooth, doesn't mean it's okie-dokie to break the law and ride your sorry ass off.
This mook needs to find some backwoods and move out there, ride his ATV and make some meth with the rest of the hilljacks!
We now return you to your regularly-scheduled day of observance...
*** Flag Day is a day to commemorate the adoption of the flag of the United States.
The day was set aside by the 2nd Continental Congress in 1777.
Here's the WIKI on today:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_(United_States)
Here's another link to show how to properly celebrate this day:
http://www.holidayinsights.com/other/flagday.htm
June 14th was proclaimed Flag Day in 1916 by (none other than) Woodrow Wilson...probably the ONLY GOOD THING that boy did as President. And in August 1949, an act of Congress formally established today as NATIONAL FLAG DAY.
Pennsylvania is the ONLY state that observes to day as a "holiday".
( I do so miss that out here in Hoosier-Land)
Here's a link to the National Flag Day Foundation:
http://www.nationalflagday.com/default.asp
Anything and everything you need to know about TODAY can be found right there.
It's days like this that kind of take the "edge" off of the fact that our newer computer has once AGAIN gone into the "boot-loop" mode and had to be taken in for service (seems like every few months)...
Time to forget about all the technology (flawed as it can be) and bask in something as simple as the symbol of what this nations stands for.
Time to appreciate those who uphold the values and concepts contained within those three basic colors.
It's time to stand up for what is just and right about this nation, and I can think of no BETTER symbol to rally 'round that our very own FLAG.
One need only remember the words written by Francis Scott Key.

O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Yeah, that kind of sums it all up...and nicely too. Enjoy the day, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.