More About Culture...

If you're hoping for a day like yesterday...faggeddaboutit.
Today's Hoosierland weather will be a definite turnaround, even if it starts out looking nice...except for the temps, which will climb a bit higher and top out around 85 by late afternoon.
That will also be the time when some severe storms will be heading our way.
And naturally, the humidity will seem a lot more pronounced as it gets warmer and rainy.
Might even see some "windage" around the area, so be aware.
Feel free to get that cup of your favorite beverage poured and sit back a spell.
Now, without any further ado, let's get busy as we look into "...the rest of the story"...
*** First out of the lunchbox today is our daily tribute to all the "stuff" that took place in the month of August, as well as those who happen to have been born this month, and we call that "What the hell happened today, Bob?"
So, here goes...
August 19:
43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.

Oh, you said WITCH...I heard it wrong.

1692 – Salem witch trials: in Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

1812 – War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname "Old Ironsides".
1848 – California Gold Rush: the New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
1895 – American Frontier murderer and outlaw John Wesley Hardin is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.

1909 – The first automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

1934 – The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.

1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.

And France had long-term memory problems

1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris – Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1945 – August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.

1960 – Cold War: in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
1981 – Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.

Some things NEVER change, do they?

1991 – Crown Heights riot: Black groups target Hasidic Jews on the streets of Crown Heights in New York, New York for three days, after two black children were hit by a car driven by a Hasidic man.
2010 – Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.
NOTABLE BIRTHDAYS:
1743 – Madame du Barry, French mistress of Louis XV of France (d. 1793)

1871 – Orville Wright, American pilot, inventor, and businessman, co-founded the Wright 
Company (d. 1948)
1883 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer, founded the Chanel Company (d. 1971)

1902 – Ogden Nash, American poet and author (d. 1971)

1906 – Philo Farnsworth, American inventor, invented the Fusor (d. 1971)
1921 – Gene Roddenberry, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1991)
1926 – Angus Scrimm, American actor (Phantasm series..."come here, BOY")

Our daily dose of "Yowzah"!

1940 – Jill St. John, American actress

Thought you'd like this one.

1946 – Bill Clinton, American politician, 42nd President of the United States

From Simon and Simon

1948 – Gerald McRaney, American actor, director, and producer

1952 - Jonathan Frakes - American actor and director (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
And, it's also NATIONAL AVIATION DAY as well as WORLD HUMANITY DAY (Int'l).
(that last event's gotta kinda IRONY for those in Missouri, I'll bet)
So now YOU know a crapload more than most collegiate students...
Meanwhile, back at the arena of ideas...
*** Been mulling over this whole Ferguson crap (because that's what it's turning out to be), and I've yet to see or hear definitive answers as to WHY the riots and looting took place, and also WHY we're not seeing an abatement of those "activities" in that area.

When in doubt - burn it out.

I suppose one has to ask these questions (among others) because ALL of us should be concerned, and not just about all the double standards we're seeing as this scenario continues to unfold.
So, I will try and put some of this stuff in some sort of perspective.
Here's one take on this "culture":
http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/020699.html
And another:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/willful-defiance/
Both of these articles PREDATE Ferguson, yet say much to what is happening in Missouri.
We're being told the events are taking place in Ferguson as a REACTION to the shooting of an unarmed teen (who happened to be 6'4" tall and weighed close to 300 lbs)...no doubt headed to college on a football gig. That one HUGE "boy"...a "gentle giant" (who had a propensity to rob stores for cigars he could turn into a blunt). yes, there ARE always two sides to every story, but SOME people refuse to see that.

Sure, it's fun for the kids, too.

The reason we're NOT seeing this stop is because no one really wants to enforce the laws (for political reasons)...it can be misconstrued as actions against a minority community (who started it in the first place) and we ALL know by now, that you can never punish people for being evil...or wrong. You "reward" them (by allowing the aberrant behavior to continue).
But let's look a bit DEEPER into all this...and let's define the problem for what it really is.
There is this CULTURE OF DEFIANCE at work here. We see it evidenced every single day in most every city, town or borough.

Fortunately, the number of chronically and criminally defiant is small, compared to the general populace, BUT the level of violence is higher than in times past.
Yet, this defiance is allowed to continue.

And, it begins early on when children become defiant and others seek to molly-coddle them, when in fact, they (the kids) should be admonished and taught the difference between BAD behavior and GOOD behavior.
When these kids get older, and, having been given the "free-pass" to bad behavior, they keep that ball rolling by pursuing OTHER aspects of defiance.
It can be as simple as playing their music too damn loud, or parking the wrong way on streets, or refusing to get a damn driver's license (or insurance).
It always has a blatant DISRESPECT for almost ANY form of legal authority, too.
If a law or someone says "don't do that"...THAT is what will be done, with little or no regard for consequences, and that is because they were never held accountable by anyone, for fear of being "insensitive" to the plight of the black race...or whatever other race, ethnicity, gender, or religion we're talking about.

If we have all these PSAs about drinking and driving, WHY would we still see all the DUIs from police departments across the country?
It's because of a defiance to that law...simple as that.
I'm sure there are good, decent black people out there who are watching this Ferguson thing take place and are disgusted by the actions of their OWN people. Hell, I would be, were I in their shoes.
One of the most troubling aspects to this shooting is NOT just the shooting of ONE black man...it's the FACT that just THIS past weekend, there were SEVEN people killed and TWENTY-NINE wounded in Chicago (I'd wager most of THEM are black) and THIS takes a distant second place to a single shooting.
THAT is simply A-F$cking-Mazing!
But people FROM Chicago are coming to Ferguson (as a demonstration of "solidarity"), when they SHOULD be protesting the violence and death in THEIR OWN CITY. How screwed up is that?
I've been on the streets in various cities along the east coast, and I've seen my share of "stuff"...none of it that pleasant. And that was years ago.

The same things occur today, so change is slow in coming to reverse such events..and the minds of the people behind them.
I've also seen my neighborhood devolve into a place where gunshots ring out regularly, the police patrol a lot less than a decade ago, and are basically thinking that THEY are one bullet away from a scene much like that in Ferguson.
Every innocuous traffic stop or dispatch call OUR officers respond to COULD lead to a shooting similar in nature to Ferguson, and that's got to weigh heavily on the minds of everyone along that thin blue line.
So, what gets done in the meanwhile?
Do we have our police all over the nation "back off" and not do the job we've tasked them to do?
Or, do we allow them to POLICE our society and let the chips fall where they may?
Well, I don't think the answer lies WITH our police departments...they've got enough on their plates as it is.
When we read stories about police being shot at...or ambushed (in many cases BY blacks in inner urban settings), it's little wonder we see them "gear up" for something akin to a combat scenario.

It's the culture of defiance that needs to be addressed, and the dissolution of the traditional American family is as good  place to start as any.
Like I ALWAYS say...the real problem always comes down to...THE PEOPLE.
Doesn't matter if it's a gun-control issue, a law-breaking issue, or even some sort of civil rights issue.
The people are the ones that create the problems, and not the devices they obtain along the way to reinforce their false sense of  bravado.
And the people are the ones that can SOLVE the problems.
There are neighborhoods all across this nation that are right on the edge of becoming the next Ferguson, and it's not the fault of the police
The fault lies in the notion that some people can operate with impunity, creating chaos. And in some cases, that IS what's happening.

Since any other race cannot (or will not) step up and tell any minority how to behave in a CIVILIZED society, it falls to that particular minority community to do it...or die in the attempt.
I've said for some time that the next civil war (were we to have one) would not be geographical in nature, but rather racial.
I would also like to conclude, that, given the evidence of over 50 years of civil rights, that a civil war is already taking place, and it's WITHIN the black community itself. THEY are already a "divided' race, and it's high time they noticed it and decided to do something about it, because their inaction has been affecting everyone else for decades...we're just reaping THEIR whirlwind.
There is much truth in the old saying that "If you do nothing, that is exactly what will get done."
Maybe more people in those communities might want to think about that...before they pass the point of no return.
Therein lies the lesson for today.

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