Humpday Happenings...

It's one of those DAMN COLD days outside this morning...makes you wonder WHEN we'll see POSITIVE integers for overnight lows.
And, it's another 2-hour delay day for the schools in the area - God forbid today's kids really knew how to DRESS for severe weather, like WE used to do.
Still, cold IS cold, and we've that a'plenty today, with highs in the Hoosierland trying to reach TWENTY degrees.

Again, whatever sun we see will barely make any dent to melting snow or ice, so be warned when venturing outside, especially in your car.
Now, with that dispensed with, let's all refill that cup of hot coffee, tea, or cocoa and get this show on the (icy) road, shall we?
*** First on the toboggan course today is our WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"You can't get mad at weather, because weather is not about you. Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life."
So, WHO said that?
The answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
Meanwhile, back in the Great White North...
*** Yes, friends, when you clear the roads, expect crime to come back from the "cabin-fever" it's been suffering from.

And here's the proof:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140212/LOCAL07/302129941
Of course, this happened on the city's...(...altogether, people...)...SOUTHEAST SIDE.

Oh, THAT is gonna leave a mark (or 19).

A red Impala, traveling along the 6800 block of Decatur Rd near Dawnan Drive was struck by about NINETEEN rounds (the number of markers the FWPD tagged nearby) yesterday around 1335 hrs.

HELLUVA park-job, but it IS the SE side.

Two men in the car were wounded and taken to hospital in fair condition.
They were found outside the vehicle by police when it drove off the road into a snow-covered ditch.

So, where IS the nearest DUNKIN around here, anyway?

Little details are forthcoming, so we have NO suspects or descriptions of the shooters or vehicle, NO motive, and NO names of those shot.
Funny, that car looks a lot like one that frequents our area of the ghettohood (for years), and hangs at a house down the corner that has a LOT of traffic coming and going every day...over a hundred visits per month.

And this buck couldn't drive that well back THEN!

I sent a tip about a possible drug-house on the FWPD website, and after TWO years...not one investigation, although there was ONE arrest there a year or so ago...but nothing since,and the traffic continues.
((Editor's Update - 1400 hrs - The IDs of the victims have been released. They are DeAndrew Moore and Devonte Jones. Both men stated top police that the shots may have come from a nearby house, but neither knew who was shooting at them. 
Both also have notable RAP SHEETS. ))
Moving on...
*** Our "king", Mayor Henry will hold court today as he delivers his "State of the Regime" propaganda address at noon...(let the pigeons loose)

It's STILL good to be KING!

THAT ought to be fun to critique (to which I will).
Now, you can expect the USUAL spin from hizzoner, touting ALL the great things this city is doing (mostly DOWNTOWN), and how, even with a RECORD number of homicides LAST year, we've got two NEW people "on the job" (one is not needed at all, the other not experienced enough...you can decide WHO they are).
That should tell you where the city is headed under such auspices.
We'll probably also hear how "he" wants the city to go (in what direction), and that will mean spending MORE money, that we soon won't have, because democrats LOVE to blow the wad...and worry about tomorrow...well, tomorrow.
For ONCE, I'd love to hear a politician spell it out THE WAY IT IS...and not how they "perceive" it, because their perception is often clouded by special interests and dollar signs.
Guess THAT dream of mine will have to wait...for now.
*** Next up, more Fort Wayne legacy money going down the crapper?
(say it's not so, Bob)

Well, according to Kevin Leininger's latest column,. we've already pissed away several craploads of moolah (MY words, not Kevin's...lol)
Here's the link to his column:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140211/NEWS/140219971/1041/LEININGER
Kevin makes some good points (as usual), but which way the city will shake on current and future "opportunities" will be the litmus test as to how WELL they spend the legacy money...which (imho) to date, hasn't delivered enough bang for those bucks that's been coughed up..
It's a good read, and show you how the city's been taken to the cleaners a few times.
*** In another snow-related story, it seems that parked cars are being SIDESWIPED...
(horrors!)
Yep, it's true, and here's the story from WANE:
http://wane.com/news/local/some-parked-cars-have-been-hit-due-to-snowy-icy-roads/

I know what I did when I said "OOPS"...

Now, in defense of the owners of the parked cars, I have to say that yes, the plows did a less-than-stellar job THIS time around when they came down streets (several DAYS after the last flake fell), but I also have to point out that TOO MANY people have to ALSO "share the guilt" here.
The evidence of such MEA CULPA can be seen along most ANY street, where cars are supposedly "parked".

The FRONT end is OVER TWO FEET OUT from the curb.

The vehicles are often TOO FAR from the curb to be (legally) called PARKED.
And they jut into the street, making travel on such streets a ONE-LANE venue (and a narrow lane at that).
Others get stuck and leave the vehicle where it's at, and still others try to get out, wind up at a 45 degree angel to the curb, and give up.
Few really bother to SHOVEL themselves out, and that's indicative of our society...let the "government" do it.

Or, we can park with the ASS end out...either way.

Take some f$cking responsibility and do it YOURSELF. The job of the street department is to plow the street, and if your car is in the way, they go AROUND it. Not to mention that media sources stated that the city asked drivers to park OFF STREET where possible when the plows came by, so they all had adequate warning.
Well, we have people where we live who don't even utilize the damn DRIVEWAYS attached to their properties (as we do). One house has a driveway long enough for SEVERAL cars, and they ONLY park ONE there, leaving whatever other vehicles that come over to park ON THE STREET, usually 50 feet AWAY from the house in question.

BOTH cars are well over a FOOT away from the curb.

It's sheer LAZINESS that overwhelms such people.
So, if a car gets sideswiped, I can sympathize with the owners, but if THEY haven't done everything in their power to assure this would not HAPPEN at all, then my pity-factor for them drops off the chart.
Perhaps some drivers shouldn't be on the streets if they can't navigate well enough to NOT hit a properly-parked car.
Perhaps more people need to take responsibility and shovel a space for themselves to park BETTER.
Plenty of blame to go around...that's for sure.
*** Last back to the freezer today...remember that story I told you about when (back in Philly) a bunch of us men shoveled the entire (shared) driveway so everyone could get out?

Well, that was called WORKING TOGETHER...on a block of ROWHOMES.
We didn't sit on our asses and WAIT for someone ELSE to do it...we did it ourselves.
And much of that seems lost in today's hurry-up world.

We know to clear OUR area.

Granted we at the "Fortress:" live on a block with only TEN houses, (two of them vacant and adjacent to us), but when the going gets rough in such weather, I get busy doing what I need to do, such as clearing sidewalks and driveways at OUR place.

When we had GOOD (and more) neighbors here, there was never any problem,. but with the "changing of the guard" as it were, we see a group of "entitled" people who are perfectly content to let "someone else" do whatever it is that needs doing.
Sorry, but that doesn't speak to American Exceptionalism.
It DOES speak to terminal LAZINESS.
And that is NOT what this nation was either founded or built upon.
Those that fit the criteria for being this lazy need to be reminded...often.
Those of us that still subscribe to what it means to hold to the values and principles of this nation need not be chided...or told what to do, how to do it, or when it needs to be done....we already know.
Therein lies the lesson for today.

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