Friday Follies - End Of Winter Edition...

Yes, friends, winter is now "officially" over...so why have we had some snow coming down earlier today?
Someone forget to call Mother Nature and let her in on this?
Ah, well...to each his or her own.
Today's Hoosierland weather will see us with no MORE snow, but perhaps some lingering light morning showers, with a warm-up back into the low FIFTIES, and those mostly cloudy skies will eventually go away and bring us some sunshine (he did say "eventually"...lol)
In the meantime, grab yourselves a nice hot cup of "welcome to the weekend" as we take some time to see what goes on in other places.
*** First off of the thawing ground is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
March 20 - 
---Today is in deed the FIRST DAY OF SPRING...

Well, officially it starts after 1800 hrs this evening, but, what the hell, hmm?
--It's also INTERNATIONAL EARTH DAY...((rolls eyes))...good Lord, here we go again.
All from those tree-huggers that brought you detuned engines, catalytic converters, Freon substitutes and curly-fries light-bulbs.

Go on...bat at it1

Go talk to every trash-tossing moron that only celebrates their own inability to acknowledge the Earth or want to take care of it in ANY manner, and also their stupidity for being the boil on society's ass...(what?  Too strong an admonition?)
---And, it's EXTRATERRESTRIAL ABDUCTIONS DAY...
(yeah, okay then)
I suppose if I had my CHOICE of HOW to be abducted by any alien of my selection, it would have to be by "a crazy man with a blue box"

Oi, mate...goin' my way?

Besides, is it really an abduction if you WANT to go?
---It's also PROPOSAL DAY, and you can take from that what you will.

OHHhh, THAT'S what they mean...been there.

I've a ton of "proposals" in mind...how to make government better, how to clean up MY part of the ghettohood, and so on.
(many of them not permitted by law...HA!)
*** And because this is a Friday, let's see what events the weekend brings:
March 21 - 
---Saturday is FRAGRANCE DAY,,,so go sniff something (just make sure it's not glue or anything of a solvent nature) And definitely NO lines of coke!

I know I have personal favorite fragrances as far as colognes go...and there's always certain FOODS that hypnotize your senses when you smell them.
Hell, I love the smell of a nice fresh day outside - early in the morning (before the mooks get up)...
---It's also NATIONAL QUILTING DAY...

So wha'cha waiting for - go quilt something.
March 22 - 
---Sunday is NATIONAL GOOF OFF DAY...((ahem))...it WOULD have to be on a SUNDAY.

I know what you're thinking...out in Washington D.C. that's EVERY SINGLE DAY...at least for the last 6 or so years...LOL.
I'd also have to say it seems to be every day down at our City Hall, with a very few exceptions in specific departments.
Now, you can plan your weekend accordingly...
*** Next up, a police call for a shooting nearby our "Fortress"...

Here's the story link:
http://wane.com/2015/03/19/shots-fired-at-vehicle-cornered-in-parking-lot/
This took place yesterday around 0945 hrs at the Walgreens in Southgate Plaza, located at 222 E. Pettit Ave.
Seems a white Caddy blocked a gold Chrysler Concorde and started to shoot at the car.
Police have not provided a press release with much detail.

A couple with four children were in the Chrysler (that's kinda crowded - proper restraints?). A woman crawled out of the Chrysler and into the Walgreen's asking for help.
The really ODD thing is when police arrived, the driver of the Chrysler refused to allow officers to check the vehicle.

(now THAT should send up some red flags)
Witnesses described the driver of the white Caddy as being a heavy-set black male with medium-light complexion.
No other information has been forthcoming.

Nope, not hardly

Wow...can't even stop at the local drugstore these days down here, can you?
Now, these people most likely KNEW each other in some manner...that places the odds in your favor when it comes to being a target.
About 70-80 percent of shootings have to do with shooters knowing their targets/victims.
Still, that leaves a SOLID 30 percent of the odds against you. Stray rounds, poor shots, adrenaline rushes all serve to create collateral damage, and you don't want to be lumped in THAT mess.
Sure would be nice to have MORE police down here, patrolling in the manner I SAID they SHOULD be doing...
Have to thank King Henry and Prince Garry for their depth of concern in our part of the "realm"...
(yeah, right).
*** Next up, I want to take a minute (or several) to talk about race relations.
You remember a time back in the 1970s when blacks and whites got along a whole lot better without all the race-baiting we have today?

Better decade in many ways

Well, I do (back in Philly)...worked with a lot of good, solid black people, male and female, who wanted the same things I did...to work for a living, make some money, and stay out of trouble.
And for us, both black and white, we managed to do that rather well. The companies we worked for hired us according to our SKILLS, not our color.
We received pay increases and promotions based on...(you guessed it)...MERIT (and not skin color).
Hell, the MUSIC of the day had whites and blacks "grooving together" as it were, without ANY of the mysogeny, violence, and hatred portrayed in much of today's "urban contemporary" tunes (if you can call them that).
It used to be called R AND B, as is Rhythm and Blues.
 Jazz was another joining factor to the races.
The performers were a better breed, and whites had no problem with toe-tapping along or dancing to the songs written and performed by blacks.
I suppose it was the late 70s when such things began to change...films as Superfly (and others) came out.
SHAFT was another story...it was a damn GOOD movie for it's genre.
But little by little, the movies became more "troubled", and even the music began to shift along with the movies.
There was a brief time during the "disco" era when the races came closer together again, but the advent of such things like crack cocaine put the dampers on that.

Again, it started a slide of the races away from one another, generally-speaking.
The streets started to get deadlier than in times past, and inner urban areas were the hardest hit.
It seemed to be a case where the black population was being divided among itself,  right along with the blacks and whites.

And, it's once again become an uphill struggle ever since, with certain factions maintaining an air of victimization for the blacks, when it all came down to a portion of them wanting the easy way through life...wanting a hand OUT instead of a hand up if they found themselves in dire situations, or even if they just "felt" that way.

We be gangstas.

That's not how things used to be...we were a lot more reliant on ourselves and to each other, rather than all these "third parties" feigning concern for the minority plight, when all it has done was to create generational welfare systems, designed to fail.
Again, that's not how we used to be.
We were all better...once.
*** Last back to the pulpit...I'm sure there are a lot smarter people out there with a lot MORE initials after their last names who can describe in better detail how race relations have come over the last 50 or so years, but I can only relate from my own experiences.
Maybe in the old days, people were a lot more resilient...had thicker skin, and if they didn't have anything good to day about people...they kept their damn mouths shut.
People would refrain from such blatant and violent displays in public because it was "not acceptable".
People also believed that when you left your house, you represented many things to a great many other people.
You represented your FAMILY...your SCHOOL...your OCCUPATION (if you were working)...and your FAITH (and that was a biggie back then).
And how you conducted yourself in public through all the above helped people make a call as to who YOU were as an individual.
Nowadays, it seems anything goes...and that says a lot about these individuals.

But moreover, it speaks volumes about who WE, as a society, have become.
Don't get me wrong...freedom and liberty are fantastic, and nowhere else on the planet can a person enjoy such things in abundance as in America...BUT, you don't get such things for FREE. There is a price.
And that price is called RESPONSIBILITY.
Along for the ride are accountability and consequences.
Again, we seem to have negated these things for what, exactly?
With all the abhorrent behavior in the world, the division between races, the lack of morality, how HAVE we become better as a result of the allowance of these critical aspects of human behavior?
Well, if I knew THAT one, I'd be richer than Al Gore and Bill Gates COMBINED!

All I do know is that I don't plan to compromise my values, principles, morality or ethics for ANYONE (including myself). Neither should you.
Sure, that might seem to be a bit anachronistic, but at least we'll be able to sleep well at night.
Can the same be said for those embracing all the wrong things in life?
Do have yourselves a great weekend.

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