Friday Follies...

I don't know about YOU, but I've been waiting for this since late Tuesday when I started to feel lousy.

At least the weather will cooperate today being mild again with temps reaching into the 70s, but there is some high overcast, and we could be in for the possibility of showers (I miss the snow already...LOL)

Could ALWAYS be worse, though...like out west of L.A. and those wildfires.

And even though it's been close to fifteen years since my Mom passed away, I can still hear her voice regarding my well-being:

"If you don't feel well, don't over-exert yourself...you could have a relapse."
Let's just say she was right AGAIN.
After the mowing, I figured I wouldn't get out of that one scott-free...
Nice to know mothers are ALWAYS right, and that's a helluva legacy that lives on LONG after they've departed this mortal realm.
Still, we shall soldier on with our best dispatch.
So, let's check out what's happening today, shall we?
*** First up today, another police-action shooting, raising the overall homicide number to SEVENTEEN in the Summit City (again, JUSTIFIED) - this time up on the NORTH side of town (for a change).

This time around, the victim managed to remove FOUR officers off the role call for the next 5 days due to administrative leave.
Add that to the other TWO already on "admin" and we're SIX MORE officers under our required level (which we were already 21 UNDER to begin with).
Here's all the details:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130503/LOCAL07/305039965

Yes, friends...an individual that ONCE before, around this same time LAST year, attempted to take his own life by shooting himself in the chest.
He failed that time...(like the guy that tried shooting himself in the head...and missed)
This time, he had some "help"...albeit impromptu in nature.

FWPD answered a suicide call yesterday around 0822 hrs, and entered a house in a neighborhood that, although is comprised of more "spacious" houses that sell for a lot more than OURS down here, reminded me of how OUR neighborhood USED to be a decade ago. When inside, gunfire was heard, and the police backed out of the place and sought cover.
The Wheatridge area, off of Cook Rd is NOT a place where anything like this happens with ANY regularity...AT ALL.
(must be the quality of the character of the PEOPLE that live there...probably damn near all upper working-class or professionals who are home-OWNERS)

Police been to this house before (within the last 6 months), and this 22-year old, the recently-deceased Ryan Koontz, has had a history both with mental-health issues and breaking the law.
Anyway, after the police found cover, shots come from the garage, and a vehicle with the man inside backs out and attempts to run over the officers.
Around 30-40 rounds were exchanged, and the vehicle pulled into another driveway several houses away, where the man exited the vehicle.
After numerous attempts to get him to "put the weapon down" went to no avail, police shot and killed the man to prevent any harm to themselves or to innocents. Several houses were struck by rounds fired by the victim, and were still being gathered up into last night.

Ryan Koontz

Now, this does not appear to be a case where the victim took "dad's" pistol and wreaked havoc. From initial speculations by Chief York, he believes the gun was purchased from a third party.
Based on the FACT that Ryan Koontz was a convicted FELON, that would pretty much wash him OUT of being able to waltz into, say Freedom Firearms, and get himself a "piece".
Gun shops DO perform B/G checks, but "interpersonal sales" are not, nor fairly much CANNOT be tracked.
Fir example - If "Joe Blow" has a gun, and wants to get rid of it - he got it from Billy Ballsey years ago who stole it from a house in another city - and finds a person like Ryan Koontz, BINGO...another illegal transfer of a firearm, and NO "gun-control" law would be able to catch that from the start.
The ONLY way the gun could be tracked is, unfortunately, when it shows up at the scene of a crime...after the fact.

Suffice it to say that this victim was also on some type of
"mind-altering" drug, which would explain whey he didn't go down RIGHT away after being shot at by FOUR officers (that's a good amount of rounds going downrange, and I would trust the officers' AIM a lot better than street thugs..ANY day).
That also explains the erratic behavior he exhibited before this scenario went down, but it doesn't answer a bigger question:
If he had mental stability problems, he was probably already ON some "mood-changing" drug to dissuade him FROM suicide...an anti-depressant, for example. Lithium carbonate comes to mind, and it's meant to "chill out" those with erratic behavioral shifts or manic-depression.
So, this STILL doesn't come down to a GUN problem, like Rusty York stated to the media. It was first and foremost a PEOPLE problem.
The gun was the "tool" used...like a hammer on a construction site.
If this boy was THAT unpredictable, WHY was he not institutionalized?

We DO have way too many such people "mainstreamed" on our streets and even in our schools, when they should be getting better help and proper attention to their specific issues in a MORE controlled environment..

Why didn't his shrink decide that firmer measures might be needed, especially after the first suicide attempt last year?
What drugs did the shrink have him on and would there be a chaotic interaction with "street pharms"?
Well, what we can conclude from all of this, is that if a person is BENT on suicide THAT deeply, it becomes that much more difficult to address.
I said yesterday that most suicides are white MALES, mostly in rural areas...well, this was more suburban than urban, so that profile fits to a large degree.
Only in THIS case...it would appear to be "suicide by cop" more than anything, and that's NOT the fault of ANY of the FWPD officers involved AT ALL.
When tasked with protecting the public, they risk getting shot by some crazed person, and come to realize that to neutralize the threat is ALWAYS in the best interest of the community they are hired TO protect...it's that simple, folks.
But, hey...that's just MY take on this. You decide for yourselves.
Moving on...
*** I was originally thinking of a great tie-in between Meatloaf, Transformers, and M&Ms, but I'd best leave that to our own online resident maestro of the six degrees, CWM!

Instead, I'll focus on the FIRST of this summer's BLOCKBUSTER flicks (and probably available on DVD by the early FALL, knowing how marketing works...LOL)

IRON MAN 3 hit theaters today...with a BANG!

The villain in this outing is a person called the MANDARIN, who enters Tony Stark's life and literally tears the hell out of it.
But, for ALL you silver-age comic aficionados out there getting sweaty palms, it's not THAT Mandarin.
The silver-age Marvel comics Mandarin had TEN POWER RINGS that did various stuff...like elemental control kinda things, and were supposed to be from a more mystical time.
That Mandarin was Chinese and lived in a huge mountain fortress, and bugged Iron Man incessantly.

Yes, I DO own all three issues.

The BEST 3 issue slug-fest came in Tales of Suspense #84-#86 (that was way back in 1967).
That's when comics were a mere TWELVE CENTS per issue!
(God, I miss those days)
-- That story begins with Tony Stark testifying before Congress on WHO Iron Man is...well, he suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized.
It's there that doctors find his chest plate keeping him alive.
(not a miniature ARC reactor)
In order to keep up the Iron Man "appearances", Stark enlists his bodyguard,  Happy Hogan to don the armor and fly around...until the Mandarin transports Hogan to his lair, where he beats the crap out of him.
The Mandarin thinks "Iron Man" is a pushover.

Stark leaves the hospital, dons his new armor and goes after Hogan, culminating in a REAL knock-down drag-out fight, that eventually has Stark removing his armored gloves and wailing on the Mandarin with his BARE HANDS.

Stark then leaves the Mandarin to his fate in the exploding ruins of that fortress as he flies away and sends Hogan back to the USA via the armor's remote control.

Talk about a real "nail-biter" for it's day...! 

Well, we WERE kids, and THIS was IT!

-- THIS Mandarin is basically a TERRORIST, using a super virus to control others (called EXTREMIS - developed by an agency called Advanced Idea Mechanics - an old foe of the silver-age Captain America).
The results to Extremis can be unpredictable, but are also used to the Mandarin's advantage.
Parts of that storyline are also explored in more recent comics.
This time, Stark has to come to grips with not being the "savior" of the USofA, and being soundly defeated, but with some help along the way, and his own personal asset of not being a QUITTER (and a billionaire genius to boot), things might just have a way of resolving themselves.
And while Jon Favreau does NOT direct this installment, and makes no bones about this maybe being the LAST movie for him, the franchise will always say otherwise, as...if you stay for the END of the credits (as you should always do) you will see the following:
TONY STARK WILL RETURN...!
Sure, it's ambiguous, but it WILL get you to come BACK, right?
(good marketing strikes again...lol)


Sure, it's ostentacious...but it IS cool!

Don Cheadle returns as War Machine, now labelled as THE IRON PATRIOT (badass red, white, and blue armor), and is supposed to be in the next Captain America movie THE WINTER SOLDIER, as well as the next Avengers movie.
And there's a new armor for Tony Stark as well, and some cool twists and turns to the ongoing mythology.

Do NOT be surprised if IRON MAN 3 is the top attraction for the next few weeks...!
I'll predict that much already for our favorite "shellhead".
Remember...heroes may sometimes FALL, but they are rarely if ever totally defeated.
Joseph Campbell (good author) reminds us of that often.
So, there you are...the weekend awaits you. Have at it.
Make it the best you can...I'll just rest up and try to kick this damn bug.

Be well, make a difference to someone today, and as always...
Stay SAFE out there, America.