Thoughts For Thursday...

Sorry...geez!

Okay, so it's NOT raining this morning...and it's NOT foggy outside. Hell, we might just get a decent day out of all this (unless someone comes along and screws it all up...lol).
Our Hooiserland weather WILL have you thinking it's JULY out there today, with temps expected to rise into the EIGHTIES.
(alright, that's too hot for me)
Mostly sunny skies will be coming along for the ride, so if you're at the beach, don't get too burned.
(we on the SE side get "burned" most every day, so I'm used to that...heh)
Now, without any further ado, let's get our morning beverages poured and parked nearby, as we see what's been going on elsewhere...
*** First out of the surf shop today is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality."
This was attributed to Albert Schweitzer (14 January 1875 - 4 September 1965)
And here (again) is his WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer
We only had two prior quotes from good old "Al", so I thought it was high time we did another.
Face it, the guy had a lotta GOOD stuff to say, right?
Albert was a theologian, philosopher, organist, physician, and medical missionary (in case you forgot).
And he was really into pipe organ rescue and restoration.
According to his WIKI, he believed "the Western civilization was decaying because it had abandoned affirmation of life as it's ethical foundation."
Yeah, was true then, and even MORE true today, right?
I posted one of his quotes in each of the last two years...time to keep that ball rolling this year.
The WIKI is always a good read (imho).
Moving on...
*** And yes, time once again for our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:
May 7 - 
---Today has only two things going on - NATIONAL TOURISM DAY.

Cripes, a whole WEEK?

Guess it makes sense that yesterday we were busy appreciating the "tourists".
I suppose it would be too much trouble to COMBINE them?
---It's also the NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER.

This started in 1952, enacted by Truman. Great idea.
Lord knows we can use THIS one.
*** Next up, since I am STILL awaiting the delivery of our morning paper (yes, he's late several times EACH month), I thought we could have a bit of a chat about something we're hearing more of in the recent news - A NATIONAL POLICE FORCE.

First of all, before we get started, I am dead set AGAINST such a thing.
After all, that's why we have a MILITARY...to protect the NATION, right?
When it comes to LOCAL enforcement of the laws of the land, it should and MUST be handled at the LOCAL levels, be they state or municipal.
But, when I hear Sharpton mouth off about a national police agency, and also hear Obummer spout off about the same thing, I tend to get a might scared over the premise, and here's why.

---Sherman, set the WAY-BACK machine for the early 1930s with the location of Germany as our destination, where we find a similar situation, in that those in that country created the same thing after the dismal failure of their democratic "experiment" aka the Weimar Republic.
The police "force" was known as the Ordnungspolizei, or ORPO.(translates to "Order Police")
You can call them the "green shirts".
And yes, there is a WIKI for them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnungspolizei
Much of this came under the Ministry of the Interior (run by Himmler,also head of the SS) and were under the complete control of the Nazi regime, ergo a NATIONAL police force.
This united the municipal, city, and rural uniformed police that HAD been organized on a state-by-state basis (like the way WE are today)

"Show us your papers"

The WIKI goes into the structure of the organization, and describes it's functions during it's run from 1933 to 1945. BTW, it didn't work out...lol.
Now, if you don't think THIS is what Obummer and his cronies want in America, you're living in a damn cave. This is EXACTLY what they would love to see...complete control over ALL the police under one "umbrella" organization.
And the road to this has already begun.

When our local police become fearful of performing their duty because of civil repercussions or even criminal charges, that's not a good sign.
And when you consider that ALL police and other law-enforcement agencies are completely VOLUNTEER in nature, you can see why recruitment could take a serious nosedive.in the future.
You "could" always lower the standards, but that wouldn't be the right or best way to proceed (you tend to get what you pay for).
That's what we're seeing with our military (also all-volunteer at this juncture) - the regime wants to LOWER standards in the USMC, and there's a lot of push-back on this. I can see why. Marines don't take kindly to being made weaker in ANY fashion or form.
But you can see these comparisons between the military and law-enforcement.
That brings up another thing, and even though it happened a couple years back, it should trouble everyone.

Remember when the Department of Homeland Security (under the former secretary Janet Napolitano) went out and bought up over 1.6 BILLION rounds of hollow point ammunition?
Remember the several THOUSAND MRAP vehicles?

Here's a refresher course:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/03/11/1-6-billion-rounds-of-ammo-for-homeland-security-its-time-for-a-national-conversation/
Yeah, how soon we dismiss this...so what happened to all this "stuff", anyway?
I didn't see any of it "on sale" anyplace as surplus...did you?
Why would any department need ALL of this...IF something wasn't in the works?
Yeah, I know the more you seek answers, the more questions you uncover.
But, haven't we ALREADY "militarized" the local police departments?

FWPD's Commando V-150 armored car.

Sure we have. Many also have surplus military vehicles, mostly armored cars for SWAT teams. Some even have full-tracked vehicles.
There is a reason for this, and it's as simple as having the police transition from revolvers to semi-auto hi-cap mag pistols.
The BAD GUYS have better weapons that the police USED to...simple, huh?
When the thugs start carrying 17+ round pistols, don'cha think our POLICE should do likewise?

Remember the North Hollywood shootout with the two perps who had full-auto AKs?
Totally caught the police with their pants down around their ankles, and the officers had to "borrow" some ARs from a local gun store to combat the duo.
You don't want to ever find yourself out-gunned on a damn city street, and that's why officers today might be carrying some sort of long gun in their cruisers.
Used to be a time when even BODY ARMOR wasn't worn by police...no real need to have it.
Can't say the same today, can we?
The bad guys have "upped the ante", so to protect the public (and themselves) police have had to react in kind.

Hardest thing to do in law-enforcement is to stay a few steps AHEAD of the bad guys, because THEY are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the police.
But we don;t have need to "nationalize" our local law-enforcement.
*** Last back to the station house...it's been said that "if we never learn from history, we are destined to repeat it", and these days I can see that happening with regularity.

Many say we've come a long way in the realm of race-relations...statistics say otherwise. More people think race relations are WORSE than back in the 1970s.
Personally, I thought the bubble burst in the 80s with the advent of crack cocaine into urban neighborhoods.
I do know that the level of VIOLENCE has ramped up considerably in those urban areas since the 1970s, even IF the actual crime RATES have fallen, and that paints a very disturbing picture for the law-abiding citizens there, as well as for the police. It ain't that secure out there, or even in your damn house.
Targeting officers for nothing less than murder or assassination tells the tale, when it comes to violence. And whitey ain't leading the pack here.
Certainly, we have the race-baiters out there, crying the blues over something THEY themselves have created - a constant state of anger (they call it frustration) against the system.
Thing is, these same leftists are the ones who CREATED that "system" in the first place.
THEY were the ones dumping TRILLIONS of tax dollars into the inner cities for all these programs designed to raise people FROM poverty.

Not working out all that well.

Again, statistics proves them wrong....little to nothing has been done to raise people from poverty, for if things HAD worked out, the poverty levels here would be a helluva lot LOWER and more minorities would be succeeding, rather than becoming generational dependents OF the system.
People need to take charge of THEMSELVES, rather then look to those who would only seek to keep them down in life.

These race baiters need to be called out, and the people they supposedly (mis) represent, need to wake the hell up and see what's being done TO them year after year, rather than FOR them...and take a stand against such divisiveness which has been coming from their own people.
Then, maybe we can get back to other things like making this nation a beacon of liberty again, instead of a refuge for the corrupt and lazy.
Now THAT would work.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.