Humpday Happenings...

Welcome to the mid-week session, chock full of things intended to get those old synapses firing.
Today's weather stacks up like a Playboy centerfold...kinda hot...LOL!.
Temps today rising into the mid-80s with increased humidity (but no immediate rainfall).
Tomorrow, we'll be enjoying a heatwave (?) that will last into the late weekend.
Helluva way to prep out an exit to the month of MAY...isn't it?
Makes 'ya wonder what AUGUST will look (and feel) like.
*** But for now, let's take a look at our Military quote of the week, aka WHO SAID THAT?
"The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find it's fighting done by fools and it's thinking done by cowards."
So who said that?
Answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
Meanwhile, back at the foxhole...
*** So you hear a squeal...a slight one coming from somewhere in the house, and you notice it only when the central A/C (blower) is running...

You go downstairs, check out the belt (which turns the pulley, which spins the fan, that moves the air and cools the rooms...in the house that someone else built, and we live inside of). Belt seems OK, but the MOTOR (that drives the belt, etc.) is another story.
If the belt is NOT slipping and making that squeal, then it HAS to be the motor (it could be a pulley that's glazed, but that would be the belt slipping).
Sounds like we have the very beginnings of a bearing going belly-up on the motor.
Now, I keep the motor oiled (they have lube points on the top), and there isn't any "scraping" that can be heard (yet), so we can limp this one back to the barn...for a while.
How MUCH of a while is the real crapshoot here.

Usually, with the cool air passing over the motor as it does, this will slow the overheating of such a bearing, but it will never correct the problem.
Only tossing in a NEW motor will do that.
I've swapped out motors in wall and window units before...not a big deal, but a 30+ year old CENTRAL (basement) unit...that's IS a pretty substantial deal (to me).
And motors aren't as cheap as they USED to be.
(what the hell IS any more?)
Still, we WILL have to replace the unit, so we're looking at perhaps $200 (est.), as the motors themselves cost $150+, depending on the "phase" type of the motor.

Almost makes 'ya wonder if we shouldn't up and swap the WHOLE thing out...furnace/AC...the lot.
Then again, if we DO manage to move (and I also become Pope OR President), I'd really HATE to "hand" nice new stuff over to a bunch of government-sponsored moolies that will find some way to trash the damn thing, as they always seem to do with OTHER houses around our "Fortress".
You really have to "pick and choose" not only the TYPES of repairs needed, but the LEVEL of repair warranted, given the nature of SUCH a nice "area" of Ft. Wayne (that would be the ghettohood), because whatever you put INTO the house, you will NEVER see on the other end.
And I'd MUCH rather light my cigars with my ZIPPO than with Franklins, if you catch my drift.
*** Moving on...an UPDATE to the State Police shooting last week.

Here's the story link:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/trooper-involved-in-shooting-identified
ISP Trooper Seth Mann was the "Statey" that shot and killed Lucius D. Washington while trying to break up a fight at Main and Cherry streets back on 18 May.

There was a vigil held for Washington and that story can be found HERE:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/family-and-friends-hold-vigil-for-man-killed-by-state-police
Sure, the friends and family want ANSWERS.
Perhaps they should take a look at Washington's RAP SHEET?
================

02D04-0401-IF-000426 Washington, Lucius D 01/13/2004
Allen Superior Court 6 IF - Infraction
Decided NO OPR'S LIC. WHEN REQ'D
02D04-0405-IF-005405 Washington, Lucius D 05/24/2004
Allen Superior Court 4 IF - Infraction
Decided OPERATE WHILE SUSP (INF)
02D04-0410-IF-015407 Washington, Lucius D 10/25/2004
Allen Superior Court 4 IF - Infraction
Decided OPERATE WHILE SUSP (INF)
EXPIRED PLATE
02D04-0712-CM-008352 Washington, Lucius D 12/31/2007
Allen Superior Court 5 CM - Criminal Misdemeanor
Decided OPERATE WHILE SUSP (MISD)
02D04-0804-IF-006503 Washington, Lucius D 04/15/2008
Allen Superior Court 5 IF - Infraction
Decided FAIL SIGNAL TURN 200 FT
NO FIN RESPONSIBILITY(INF)
02D04-0812-MC-002757 Washington, Lucius D 12/08/2008
Allen Superior Court 5 MC - Miscellaneous Criminal
Decided P.C. DOMESTIC BATTERY
02D04-0903-MC-000459 Washington, Lucius D 03/09/2009
Allen Superior Court 4 MC - Miscellaneous Criminal
Decided P.C. DOMESTIC BATTERY
P.C. STRANGULATION
BATTERY (A)
INTERFER W/REPORTING CRIME
02D04-0903-FD-000244 Washington, Lucius D 03/12/2009
Allen Superior Court 5 FD - Class D Felony
Decided STRANGULATION
DOMESTIC BATTERY
INTERFERENCE WITH THE REPORTING OF A CRIME
BATTERY
02D04-0908-CM-005159 Y3044978 Washington, Lucius D 08/25/2009
Allen Superior Court 4 CM - Criminal Misdemeanor
Decided OPERATE WHILE SUSP (MISD)
02D04-0912-MC-002612 Washington, Lucius D 12/16/2009
Allen Superior Court 6 MC - Miscellaneous Criminal
Decided P.C. POSSESSION OF COCAINE
INVASION OF PRIVACY (A)
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA
02D04-0912-FD-001178 Washington, Lucius D 12/21/2009
Allen Superior Court 6 FD - Class D Felony
Decided POSSESSION OF COCAINE OR NARCOTIC DRUG
INVASION OF PRIVACY
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA HASH OIL OR HASHISH
02D05-1107-MC-001754 NA
NA WASHINGTON, LUCIUS D 07/11/2011
Allen Superior Court 5 MC - Miscellaneous Criminal (Citation)
Decided 35-42-2-1.3(a)/FD: Domestic Battery - Committed in Presence of Child Less Than 16 or Defn has Prior
35-42-2-1.3(b)(1)/FD: Domestic Battery (Prior)
35-42-2-1(a)(1)(A)/MA: Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury
02D04-1107-CM-004189 NA WASHINGTON, LUCIUS D 07/14/2011
Allen Superior Court 4 CM - Criminal Misdemeanor
====Address====
914 W JEFFERSON
Fort Wayne, IN 46807
============
Yep, sure looks to ME like he was another upstanding citizen of Fort Wayne...life of the party, never hurt anyone...yada, yada, yada...(we've heard it ALL before)
And he likes to beat on women, too...whatta BIG surprise.
Not bad for someone driving all over without a license...a LOT.
Typical....SO typical.
*** And that brings me to THIS story that I KNOW you must have heard about by now.

If you DON'T know the name DESMOND HATCHETT...you will soon enough.
Here's the link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-tennessee-man-has-30-kids-20120518,0,4036567.story
I would like to believe that ONLY in TN could this happen, but I would be SO incorrect there.
These type of things happens all the hell over (unfortunately)
Here's a lowlife who has (apparently) nothing better to do than impregnate women (eleven, so far) and father THIRTY children...and then has the cast-iron agates to say he "can't pay child support"...!?!

Yep, this IS surely a "WTF???" moment!!!
And he smiles about it...like it's some "badge of honor" or "rite-of-passage", or something.
It's little wonder we hear about more minority babies being born than whites these days...with sperm-donors like HIM running (and screwing) the f$ck around.
Perhaps a visit to that renown Russian specialist in chronic sexual promiscuity - Dr. Ivana Kutchicockov...is in order?
(or a "boy's night out" with Lorena Bobbett)

Hatchett has a minimum wage job and pays a whopping $1.49 per month to some of the "baby-mamas"...
And still he smiles...gotta love the regard he displays to ALL these kids with no support.
You have to ALSO blame the damn women who fell into this trap and didn't keep their damn legs the hell SHUT.
He's certainly not THAT great a catch, ladies, unless your standards have fallen SO low, you'll settle for anything.
So, lemme get this straight...
1) This guy is in jail and can't pay child support (neglect of a dependant)
2) All the women are looking FOR child support (probably many if not all are on the dole)
3) The children require SOME type of support (and that would be welfare, WIC, etc)
4) So the TAXPAYERS of Tennessee and the nation are footing the BILL for all this sh*t.

Anyone ELSE seeing a MAJOR PROBLEM with all of this????
-- Aren't things bad enough when one woman has to subsist on welfare for her child or children?
-- Isn't the "system" gamed to actually PROMOTE the continuance of welfare, rather than encourage the recipients to get off the sofa, put down the crack pipe, crunch n munch, and get a damn job somewhere?
-- If there is no legislation that would force Mr. Hatchett to undergo a vasectomy under THESE conditions, wouldn't it be prudent to MAKE some, in order to not have the chronic situation to perpetuate itself, as it has been doing?

I always say that there ARE people that don't deserve to have PETS, let alone CHILDREN.
And in a scenario like THIS one, (which would make a polygamist gasp in amazement), isn't it this whole breakdown of the TRADITIONAL FAMILY along sub-cultural lines that has led to this sad state of affairs?
Where are those who stress the MORAL implications, not to mention all the LEGAL ones?
Where is the accountability? (tossed out with the bath water, no doubt)
Where is the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?
There are not enough fingers to point at ALL those who SHOULD be held responsible, starting with our governmental "nanny-state" mindset and useless programs that keep people chained in a different type of slavery...one more insidious and more brutal (in the long run) than anything prior.
*** Lastly today...we all have choices, and we all have desires, goals, wants, and needs.

But, too many times, we permit ourselves to blur the lines between such things, never quite knowing what an honest NEED is, versus a desire.
Priorities have becomed skewed to the point of utter idiocy.
What some "think" is a priority is sought after with such verve that if they were to channel such intent on a NEED, they would never be lacking for the basics in life.
When THINGS matter more than PEOPLE, we diminish ourselves.
When accumulation of "cred" matters more than having food on the table or a roof over one's head, we lose our humanity.
When sexual prowess takes precedence over being able to care for those you sire, that's less than barbarian.
This nation is on the verge of an awakening...you can almost feel it.
People DO want things done right for everyone, with no preferential treatment for the lazy among us.
People DO want accountability for all and by all, especially the politicos, who have also been on this "free-ride" for way too long.

When EVERYONE holds up THEIR part of that log (military PT reference), the going gets EASIER for ALL involved.

To do less makes others struggle unjustly.

We need to remember such things, and to promote the values that this nation was founded upon.

Our children and our future depend on it.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.

((Tomorrow - I THINK I might soon have a milestone on my hands...uh, oh. ))