As the Weekend Nears...

Geez, if that doesn't sound like the title of some soap opera...
"Like tax dollars through the fingers of liberals...so are the days of our lives..." ROFL.
Hoosierland weather today...yep, we got us some.
After some overnight showers (and a few thunderstorms), we will see the rain start to abate and by 1800 hrs this evening, all should be drying out nicely.
We might even see a decent sunset...maybe.
The temps will be a lot less milder than the past 2 days, only topping out in the mid-50s (and some damn good music came out of THAT era).
Expect much cooler temps tomorrow AM, too.
Meanwhile, back at the rain barrel...
*** First up today is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? motto:
"If we could sell our experience for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires."

This was spoken by Abigail Van Buren, otherwise known as DEAR ABBY.

And here is her WIKI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Phillips

Her REAL name was Pauline Phillips (nee Friedman), and she passed away earlier this year (13 January) at the age of 94 from Alzheimer's Disease.
Abigail Van Buren was her pen name, taking ABIGAIL from the book of Samuel in the Bible and VAN BUREN from the former president.
She had a twin sister, Esther, and the curious thing about them was their names. "Abby" was Pauline Esther, and her sister was named Esther Pauline.
You might have also known her sister - she was ASK ANN LANDERS.
I'm sure both of them came across more experience as a result of their columns than could be found in several lifetimes apiece.
Moving on...
*** Our own FWPD chief came back from a meeting in Washington D.C. over gun violence, held by (Crazy) Joe Biden and AG Eric Holder.

I'm sorry, but since I like to sleep at night with a clear conscience, I could not in good faith share ANY room with those two men.
The lies that have come from their mouths in the last 5 years have been non-stop and unbelievable.
Here's the story link:
http://cityoffortwayne.org/latest-news/2421-police-chief-york-in-washington-dc-for-meeting-on-reducing-gun-violence.html
This was part of the Police Executive Research Forum, founded in 1976 as a non-profit organization.
And I still hear the chief talk about how 40% of gun purchases at gun shows and online go WITHOUT background checks...
WRONG...try closer to FIVE PERCENT. That 40% number is from that 1994 "survey" of ONLY 251 people, and was more like a "guesstimate" than anything else.
There is a procedure that follows online purchases.

You buy a gun ONLINE, then you pay a TRANSFER CHARGE (fixed fee), and that gun gets shipped NOT to you, but to an FFL DEALER that YOU have to specify.
THAT dealer is responsible for any and all background checks, which can also be done via the Internet, so you can be "pre-approved"  (or denied) before the dealer contacts you to PICK UP the firearm...it's THAT simple...takes a few days.
I've done it, it works, so don't mess with the system in place.
If there is a "straw-purchase", that's a whole other ballgame, because many of THOSE purchasers can often fly under the radar.

You get someone without a felony to buy a gun for a thug, pay off the purchaser and then jack up the price through a middleman...

A "legally" purchased firearm is NOW in the possession of someone NOT ALLOWED to have one.

There are some "red flags" that gunshop owners need to be aware of, like MULTIPLE purchases at one time, and multiple purchases within a small time frame, or even single purchases in various locations, which should be easily addressed whenever a B/G check is initiated.

The process for those "instant" checks doesn't take long, doesn't hurt, and doesn't infringe on law-abiding citizens, but I have to stress that the MEANS (technology) to do ALL these background checks is (and HAS BEEN) ALREADY IN PLACE FOR A LONG TIME...we don't need more laws that would become redundant.
Besides, the background check is not on the FIREARM...but the PERSON buying it.
I have ONE driver's license, but I can OWN as many VEHICLES as I can afford to register and insure.
Some folks can't even manage that, and YET...THEY are driving our streets DAILY.
Go figure.
*** Once in a great while...somebody takes it upon themselves to report the FACTS (aside from yours truly), and sometimes, it happens right HERE in the Summit City.

All I've been doing here on this blog since 2006 (has it been THAT long already) is show YOU, the readers what some folks (like Wifey and I) have to deal with, and what's being done (or NOT) the change that.
I've taken to task those people (of every race - I'm an equal-opportunity "employer" in that regard) who see fit to bring DOWN this part of the city, showing that the chronic offenders are spreading to other parts of town, and that sometimes, you have to take a stand and make yourself heard...even if it does seem like you're like the Biblical one voice crying in the wilderness.

Case in point, an article by Kevin Leininger in today's (11 April 2013) News-Sentinel.
Here's the link:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130411/NEWS/130419955/1041/LEININGER
It's a good read and certainly NOT because I'm mentioned in there, but because the story addresses issues that have gone long unchanged, unresolved and unfettered by whatever means have been tried to halt such behavior in the past...means that have proven to not be as effective as intended.

Two differing styles of standing one's ground, by Rod Parker (former gang-banger) and me (former Philadelphia Fed).
And BOTH approaches deserve merit when trying to turn around (as former mayor Graham Richard once said) "a blighted area".

Yes, that is MY mug in the one picture, holding up that streetlamp...lol.
And that IS our "Fortress of Reason" in the background.
I agreed to do this, as a followup to an interview I had with Kevin back in 2004, when our neighborhood was "in flux"...aka changing it's "demeanor" into what we have to endure THESE days.
That article mentioned the problems, but also had me defending the FWPD...which I still do and will continue to do.
Coming from a police family in Philly, I KNOW it's not easy working the beat when the community isn't that "hep" on having you roll through...the whole "lack of respect" thing for the LEOs.

Society HAS changed in many ways, with THIS being one of them - the lack of RESEPCT all around for law-enforcement - those we PAY to protect us.
Hopefully, in some quarters on the SE side, that ideology is changing.
Like I said, I'm NOT blowing my own horn (got a big enough target on my back), just addressing the facts as to WHY this area, or any area for that matter, HAS to devolve into a place where curbside drive-up drug deals occur, LOUD noise is omnipresent from car stereos, houses, and shouting residents, fights break out on your lawn after midnight (as well as an occassional arrest), and an overall feeling that civility and morality have ALSO decided to move to a better place out of town.

We've had too many broken windows for way too long down here, and it's time that more than just TWO, or even a handful of people decided to turn the tide on crime and yes, get people back on the track to better behavior...a better attitude towards one another, and especially themselves.
I don't believe that is asking too much, nor seems overly-altruistic...it just takes motivation, determination, a little hard work, and the desire to WANT to settle for better...to BECOME better, for we are ALL capable of such things.
A black Baptist preacher friend of mine in Philly once put things in perspective THIS way by saying::
"If you're too busy doing the DOs in life, you ain't got time to do the DON'Ts"
Sound advice.
And sometimes, you just can't fix things by slapping a coat of paint on a condemned building and calling it done either.
You might have to GUT the interior and work your way to the exterior, and in some extreme cases, you might have to tear the whole place DOWN and start over again, but the results will indeed prove worthy of the patience, and the labor YOU put back into it.
That's how we ALL learn...and wind up better people than we were the day before.

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

Humpday Happenings...

Welcome to Wednesday, where here in Fort Wayne, you never know WHICH Walgreen's that schizophrenic 6-foot tall black guy will show up out front of, and want to talk to you loudly as he waves his hands around.
I kid you not, I heard a call describing such a person on the radio for JUST THAT before 0800 hrs. Some DO start early in this city.
Weather today will consist of rain...don't know when it's supposed to start, how long it will last, or how much we'll get...
Right now, it's cloudy with temps in the 60s...and that's where they'll remain.
In other words, it's one of THOSE mornings where you have to seriously consider is it even worth getting UP?
Whatever the case, time waits for no one, so let's get busy...
*** First out the door today is our Motto of the Week aka WHO SAID THAT?
"If we could sell our experience for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires."
Now, if THAT isn't the truth, I don't know WHAT is.
The answer will be at the top of tomorrow's post.
Meanwhile, back in the doldrums...
*** Like I said at the start today, this is one of THOSE mornings.

I'm feeling a tad on the philosophical side, so hang in there.
-- It's like life is smacking you on the back of the head wanting you to take some time off, but you know you can't.
There are too many and so many things that need attention, and you just KNOW if you turn away, something will occur because of your INattention.
My parents impressed upon me the fact that life wasn't going to be "easy", unless you find a way to make it that way (which is damn near impossible).
They told me life would be full of ups, downs, yays, nays, successes and failures...and lots of other things that would challenge me and teach me...if I paid attention.
And boy, were they RIGHT there.
Now, I don't measure any success by sheer monetary gain...that would be stupid. You could have millions of dollars laid at your feet, but if you don't have a freaking clue as to how BEST to spend it, or, to put it in better context, how to USE it properly (like any tool in the workshop), it will wind up HURTING you.
And perhaps that's why God has seen fit to not allow me the chance to "hurt myself" in that regard.
I'm not bitter over that, nor should I be...although I will always argue that riches COULD make any misery a lot more easy to take...LOL.
So, you do the best you can with what God gives you and move on...
That seems reasonable enough...for most people, and it's proven itself over time to be the best way to evolve as a species.

But there are those that have become "at ease" with not having to participate in much of life, rather taking what they can from who they can and wasting whatever opportunity they may be given.
Such people are never expected to work (or participate) for much, and thereby never come to APPRECIATE what they both have and can acquire as a result of such endeavors. That's a far cry from a few decades ago, when so many MORE of us were a lot more self-reliant, and apparently a lot more WILLING to undertake life's challenges to further ourselves.
There does come a time when, if people are GIVEN things instead of expecting them to work for it, they will come to EXPECT more things, challenging (read demanding) others to do FOR them, rather than doing for themselves.
That's a nasty habit to consider, let alone embrace.

Life is meant to be a "give and take" proposition...in MANY regards.
It's NOT meant to be a "take what you can and put nothing back" scenario.
We can debate the specifics and circumstances of such things until the cows come home, and we might begin to scratch the surface of why this happens with some people and not with others.
Sooner or later, those that only TAKE from others in life will run of other people's money and stuff TO take...and that's because those that have given (or have been taken from) will soon need help making their OWN ends meet, creating a greater mass of folks without the resources to survive, let alone succeed.
If this all sounds vaguely familiar, it's the modern welfare and entitlement system.

This is a far cry from the initial concepts and implementations.

Nearly 50% of ALL Americans are receiving SOME form of government assistance,and that's just plain WRONG.

When did we start looking to an ever-growing government to take care of us, when we used to be SO much more self-sufficient and self-reliant?

We've given over the job WE used to do for ourselves to a bunch of legislators, who have NO idea how to perform the tasks we're suggesting they perform.
The job of the government is to protect the nation AND her people, and that sure doesn't sound like handing out free stuff for people who don't feel the need to participate in self actualizing or shoulder a bit of hard work to get those same things.

The only aspect of "self" many of these freeloaders WILL take on is self-indulgence...and usually at a cost to other people in money, time, resources, or even life itself.
Now, I really don't mean to get to preaching here, but all of you HAVE to see the same things I've been noticing, and are wondering WTH is going on in the world's most prosperous nation..and to that, we are not at the top of that heap any longer, because of the way things have been going here.

I wish I had the answer as to how best to resolve this trend, and reverse it back to when we called upon our OWN inner strength and knowledge and wisdom to do what was right...and to also seek out knowledge and wisdom in order to take advantage of opportunity, rather than shy away from it.
The easy way out of this is to blame the economy...or something similar, but I pose to you that Americans pulled through in worse times than this, and came out better for it. But we had ONE thing in our favor then...a much better attitude.
Moral and civil decline is growing in this nation, and I believe (as do many others) that THIS is at the root of the problems we're facing.

*** Bill O'Reilly spoke to this last evening, and I couldn't agree more.
He compared the 50s and 60s with TODAY, and asked "Are we better NOW...or then?"
We had LOWER unemployment rates in those days, higher school dropout rates (but more graduating), a higher poverty rate back then, per capita income was $17.6K (adj for inflation) while today it's $43K and change. Only FIVE PERCENT of births were out of wedlock in 1959 - today it's a whopping 41 PERCENT!
Drug use was rare, but the alcoholism rate is about the SAME as today.
And, in the 50s and 60s, we had a much greater respect for cops, teachers, clerics and yes...even parents and for one another.

The BEHAVIOR was the key issue...we had much BETTER behavior and standards we followed.

O'Reilly says today's mantra is: "Where's mine?"

On the whole, we did a much better job of "policing" ourselves back THEN, than we do today.
Granted, blacks had it rough in those days, but we've made profound ADVANCES in civil rights....thing is, what have many of the blacks DONE with it?
Well, those who motivated themselves to do something...DID, and succeeded brilliantly, while many others...you guessed it...just put their hands OUT, and the government answered that call, so now we have not TRUE equality, but some people becoming more "equal" than others.
Class warfare, chided along by progressive agendas and liberal rhetoric...it's like trading one form of slavery for another.
That also is very wrong.
We need to really wake up, take a look around us and see what's being done to America and her people.
Yeah, it might be one of "those" mornings, but to an ever-growing number of us, EVERY morning is starting to look like this.
That's one rut NONE of us need to be in.

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

Saints and Sinners...

Now, this isn't a review of a Johnny Winter album of the mid-seventies (although it IS a damn fine LP), but today's post will run the gamut of good folks and not-so-good.

So hold that thought as we take a look at the Heartland weather today which will see temps reach near 70 degrees, with showers mostly on the southern half of the county. Lots of clouds and little sun. At least they didn't say hailstones, frogs, locusts, or flies...yet.

Meanwhile, back at the Doppler radar...
*** Lord knows we have our share of both good AND bad people, and the bad ones can be as far away as N. Korea, or as close as the house down the street. Same can be said to the GOOD folks...(those that escape from N. Korea for example) and they also can be found around your corner.
Thing is...these days, the bad seem to outnumber the good for some reason, and that makes the good ones have to work HARDER to sometimes even get noticed. Or perhaps we focus ON the bad ones, to the exclusion OF those good ones.
I would say that need to pay attention to BOTH, and here's why:
The BAD people in the world (or on our street) need to be called out because it shows that WE don't have to subscribe to such behavior or actions.
The GOOD people in the world (or also on our street) need to be held up to some level of esteem for being who THEY are, and how they help our communities, or nation, and yes, even the world.
Without going all "sermonesque" on you (it IS after all only Tuesday), let's just say we are ALL sinners, and those that manage to shrug off that mantle and become "saints" in some manner do so through hard work, a good life, and many times through a constant bombardment by the forces of evil.
Now, having said that, I think we're ready for some candidates of BOTH sides of that fence.
*** First up today is the person in custody for the shooting up on Hugh St.
Here's the story link:
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/Arrest-Made-in-Connection-With-Death-201759641.html

Whoa, looks like this "Buster Badass" might be doing some serious time in the hoosegow.
Love that first name, too - DEADRIAN...can't have Deadrian without the word DEAD in there, right?
It DOES appear to be a gang-related shooting (again).
I thought it was originally stated that the police didn't BELIEVE it to be gang-related?
And yes, I LIKE waffles, especially with lots of butter and syrup.
Moving on...
*** So, what do you do when you run out of LIVE targets on the SE side?
Well, you practice hitting the BROAD SIDE OF A BARN...or in THIS case, a HOUSE.
Here's the story link:
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/Police-Investigate-Afternoon-Shooting-Incident-201855691.html

I was saying that two things would come of all these homicides/shootings...
a) Other raced innocent people would be struck.
b) Property damage aka "collateral damage".
Well, half of that's come to pass. let's hope the other half does NOT.
Bet these perps wish to hell someone would invent SMART bullets...to make up for THEIR lack of intelligence.
*** Ammo still in short supply for consumers.
Here's the story link:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/local-gun-stores-feeling-impact-of-ammunition-shortage-mre


Stores USED to look like this.

 Well, our Orwellian government has seen fit to make owning a gun even more problematic.
Cause a rush for ammo, and soon, gun stores will feel the pinch in sales.


Dude,where's my ammo?

 No product = lost revenue for store owners.
And why buy a gun IF the ammo isn't available?
(it makes a cute paperweight or a nice CLUB???)
Along those lines, President "That Guy" paraded out the "human shields" (this time parents from the CT shootings) once again in another erroneous speech on GUN control.
Here's THAT story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130409/LOCAL08/304099978/0/SEARCH
Da Prez keeps stating that 40% of gun sales have NO background checks...
((...ahem...))
That is an outright LIE, considering that statistic is from a NINETEEN NINETY FOUR "survey"! (wasn't that the Clinton era?)
That number is not even CLOSE to the percentage of background checks today. (try less than 5% have no B/G check)
But, don't just take MY word for it...here's the PROOF:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/03/obama-criticized-for-using-dated-disputed-gun-stat-to-sell-background-checks/
The study only used a sample size of 251 people...!
Hardly a BROAD range of cross-section of Americans.
But there you go, our Liar-In-Chief thinks HE knows everything, when in FACT...he knows little if ANYTHING about the TRUTH.
*** I love stories like THIS one:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130409/LOCAL/304099933/1002/LOCAL

Planner hears CRITICISM...imagine that.
The first plan doesn't really affect me in any way, but that SECOND one in the story is SPOT ON!
Keller Development wants to put up a $3 Mil, 30 unit duplex community at Hanna St. near Tillman Rd.
(yes, that IS the infamous SE side)
One neighbor, Cindy Shank, spoke out AGAINST that project, stating "it would create INSTABILITY for existing HOMEOWNERS".
(good for You, Cindy!)

She also said that Keller would NEVER try to grow a RENTAL community near one of SW Ft. Wayne's premier neighborhoods.

The MAIN concern here is that rental communities would attract TRANSIENT RESIDENTS.

(Imagine THAT.)
Welcome to MY world, folks, because that is EXACTLY what took place in MY neighborhood over the last 15 years!
The neighbors that spoke out feel that Keller "can only get away with this because of ALL THE CRIME that exists in this side of town."
Permanent housing is needed to create a feeling of COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP.
And that means wanting to take on all the RESPONSIBILITIES that go along with such a venue.
Good to see OTHERS speaking out for a change...very refreshing.
*** Lastly today, the world has lost two influential women, and they were both influential for very DIFFERENT reasons.

-- Margaret Thatcher, former PM of England (1979-1990) passed away from a stroke she suffered yesterday.
She was 87.
I won't link to her obit, but rather to her WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
When you consider she was the FIRST female PM and took England from a 15% unemployment rate DOWN to around 5% by the time she left office, that alone speaks to how REMARKABLE a woman she was.
She was the right women at the right place at the right time, and it sickens me to see people laud her passing with drunken revelry.
Lady Thatcher brought England BACK from the dangerous precipice of nationalistic socialism, for lack of a better term.
Here is a link to a column by Sarah Palin (H/T to Gadfly for finding this):
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/345014/grocer-s-daughter-sarah-palin

When you read Maggie's WIKI, you can plainly see she was a scholar of the FIRST order...not bad for someone starting out as a RESEARCH CHEMIST, hmm?
I simply cannot find ANY woman with such credentials, and she is to be honored, rather than scorned.
It would be hard if not impossible to find another like her.

-- Annette Funicello also passed away yesterday after a 25-year long bout with Multiple Sclerosis.

She was 70.

And, she was probably MY first crush...(you NEVER forget your "first").
Yeah, me and millions of other pre-pubescent boys.
There was never ANY bad press about her either, but you can read HER WIKI for yourselves:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Funicello
And she is most likely the reason I have such an affinity for PEANUT BUTTER to this day.

(remember all those Skippy commercials?)

I must have seen most ALL her movies SO many times, both in theaters AND at Drive-Ins (as a youngster and as an adult).

I still tune in on cable when they show one of her many beach movies (w/ Frankie Avalon).
In every movie, she was the glue that held all the idiots around her intact, and yes, that even includes the Merlin Jones (Tommy Kirk) Disney movies as well.
I especially remember with fondness the original movie THE SHAGGY DOG (starring Fred MacMurray and yes, Tommy Kirk again)

One of her best movies (imho), was Babes in Toyland, and it was visually stunning (as was Annette).
Along with Annette in that movie were Ray Bolger, Ed Wynn, Tommy Sands, and it is based on Victor Herbert's 1903 operetta of the same name.
When doing the movie Back to the Beach (1987), she was diagnosed with MS, but kept it from friends and family until her announcement in 1992, and she became a spokesperson for the neurological disorder.
When I heard about her passing, it really got to me, because this was someone I "knew" from childhood...someone you look to with familiarity.

You can't help but get misty-eyed over such things...and that lets you know your heart is still working.

I'd like to close along those lines with something that means a lot to me...and probably to you as well.

(From the Walt Disney movie Cinderella- 1950)

A dream is a wish your heart makes,

When you're fast asleep,

In dreams you lose your heartaches,

Whatever you wish for, you keep.

Have faith in your dreams and someday,

Your rainbow will come smiling through,

No matter how your heart is grieving,

If you keep on believing,

The dream that you wish will come true.

A dream is a wish your heart makes,

When you're feeling small,

Alone, In the night you whisper,

Thinking no one can hear you at all.

You wake with the morning sunlight,

To find fortune that is smiling on you,

Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow,

For all you know tomorrow,

The dream that you wish will come true.

A dream is a wish your heart makes,

You Wake with the morning sunlight,

To find fortune that is smiling on you,

Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow,

For all you know tomorrow,

The dream that you wish will come true.

No matter how your heart is grieving

If you keep on believing

The dream that you wish will come true.

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

Monday Musings...

And we're off on another whirlwind adventure into the wonderful world of the mundane.
Yep, it's Monday, alright!

For us down here in the ghettohood, it's just another week of the same damn thing...just change the numbers on the calendar, that's all.

If there is one consolation, it's that the sun comes up the SAME way (and the same majesty) everywhere in the city...except when it's CLOUDY outside, which it is today.

If you like rain (and who doesn't?) you'll enjoy the first half of the week, as we're set to get wet around Hoosierland, at least until Wednesday.

Temps will climb into the SIXTIES, so I'm sure some of the local white trash will be going "shirtless" (always works for the BRAINLESS).

That's not something you want to see even on an EMPTY stomach, believe you me.

In the meantime, let's poke about and see what runs from the bushes...

*** With the advent of warmer weather around here, you can always be sure that it will bring out the chronically-stupid and acoustically-challenged.

Oh yeah, it's BOOMCAR season!

 (not to be confused with WABBIT season, Elmer).

And every year, we go through the same hackneyed BS down here...having to be forced to listen to the latest "urban contemporary" tunes...at house-shaking levels...and with a greater number of them to invade our privacy (we're suddenly up to 10+ per day).

I also am on the horn to the FWPD a lot more often with such vehicles (when parked and able to be ID'ed), or in some cases, those hovels that also feel the need to SHARE the "music"(?).

Now, remember back in the 70s when they used to have those boom-BOXES - Those shoulder-carried noise makers you could hear damn near a block away?

They faded away soon enough, didn't they? Don't even SEE them any more outside of a house.

And do you know WHY that happened?

Well, people got FED UP with other people annoying the hell out of everyone, and legislation was passed to make it all but impossible to play them at ear-bleeding levels outside...we called them NOISE ordinances and amended them to INCLUDE boom-boxes.

But, that was ALSO a time when the EPA had an ACTIVE program against NOISE.

Yes, the very same EPA that brought you cleaner water and air ALSO used to make sure that noise levels were a lot LOWER than we hear today.

It especially targeted commercial AIRCRAFT engine noise (for people living near airports)

Watch the original movie AIRPORT...one of the opening scenes when the family is getting ready for dinner, and a jetliner overflies their home, shaking everything in sight.
The EPA also went after STREET NOISE...like construction work, and even different compounds of tires and asphalt were explored to reduce traffic noise.
But that division of the EPA was shut down during the Reagan era. (the ONLY thing Ronnie did that I opposed)
Luckily, much of what had been started to abate noise levels stayed with us, but unfortunately the REST of the EPA got LARGER and more intrusive after Reagan left office..when the Dems took over.

Now, the EPA is more concerned about COWS FARTING than the boomcar noise that's slowly causing your house to crumble, and your nerves to become frazzled.
Sure, we have "laws" at the LOCAL levels that are SUPPOSED to quell such nosie from the streets, but how EFFECTIVE are they really?
Well, that all depends on how WELL those laws are ENFORCED.
Some cities have taken this as a personal crusade for it's citizens (good for them)...going so far as to CONFISCATE the offending vehicles and destroying the stereo equipment.

Chicago (of ALL places) saw a 33% DROP in noise violations when they enacted stricter laws...which runs opposite to the stricter GUN laws they also enacted...so you CAN have laws that do some good, depending on where that law is directed...like AT THE REAL PROBLEM.

John Stossel did a segment when he was with ABC (20/20) about such boomcars...it's on YouTube still, and it's a decent watch.
Now, traditionally, the boomcar drivers prefer venues that are not TOO crowded, because with traffic congestion comes a greater chance of being CAUGHT (like the song says - "nowhere to run...nowhere to hide"), so they take to streets in less "urban" areas, or streets that are not regularly patrolled, and believe me, they KNOW where those places are soon enough. Law enforcement has a job on their hands trying to nail such morons ("they" have to hear it), but they are getting much better at the tactics they use in SOME cities.
Some police departments have even set up "boomcar hotlines" for people.
One police department ( I think it was Joliet, IL) set up two plainclothes officers on law chairs (with radios) and gave descriptions of EVERY loud vehicle that went by blasting the stereo (they were just beyond the noise limit set by local iordinances), with another officer around the corner who pulled the vehicle over and had it towed away (if it was a second offense) or levied a hefty first-offense FINE.

And guess what?
Boomcars in THAT neighborhood miraculously DROPPED significantly, to where hardly ANY were heard after several weeks.
Now, here in Ft. Wayne, it's another story...
NOISE complaints are WAY down on the priority list (apparently cell-phone pocket-dials are MUCH higher and chase officers all over needlessly), and as a result, response time is appropriately slow enough to allow the offender to drive off...after 20 minutes of thumping (or more).
It depends on whether or not an officer is CLOSE enough, and then, it's only a roll-up and a warning...nothing of consequence.

Although the FWPD states they made over FIVE HUNDRED noise citations (in 2011), how many resulted in ARRESTS or CONFISCATIONS?

I would wager very few IF ANY AT ALL.

That's EXCLUSIVE from the more than 2000+ that come past OUR "Fortress" yearly, too.

Forget the FACT that boomcar noise is often a precursor to drugs and criminal activity (some announce themselves by booming), and that no SANE person goes around disturbing the peace to all hours, right?
And, if you want to talk about self-destructive behavior, chronic exposure to LOUD NOISE (of any kind) can lead to a myriad of physiological issues like high blood pressure, increased stress, and naturally HEARING LOSS (what?).

WHY do you think that hearing protection is REQUIRED when anyone is on the tarmac (flight line)? Even the baggage handlers at commercial airports are seen with noise-reduction headgear.
WHY do you think that hearing protection is REQUIRED whenever you go to a shooting range (indoor OR outdoor)?
WHY do you think that today's vehicles have a LOT more "sound-deadening" materials on board?
(to drown out road noise)
You simply cannot dispute the data...the statistics...AND the reasoning behind all this.

What you CAN dispute is HOW such things are handled in YOUR city...by YOUR law-enforcement agencies.

Just TRY and take a boomcar and thump your ass around PORTLAND...or BERNE, or DECATUR Indiana...ain't gonna get far, before YOU get pulled over, and ticketed for breaking the noise ordinance.

You have to remember that "ANY law is ONLY AS GOOD as the enforcement OF IT..."
(you may quote me)
Anything less does a disservice to those that bothered to WRITE the damn law in the first place, as well as the citizens who have to put up with the violators OF that law.
I think it doesn't become any simpler to comprehend than that...does it?
*** Ft. Wayne Mayor (King) Henry delivers petitions to Indiana senators...they want action of GUN violence.

(they also "really" want to establish a database for all LEGAL gun owners)
I want background checks, but I would ALSO want a VIOLENT OFFENDER REGISTRY to be put into place...that makes a background check easier for those who want want to purchase a gun when they shouldn't even be near them.
Now, this is aside from the FACT that most all violent offenders will NOT purchase a firearm LEGALLY.
That's a given...so why bother with background checks under THOSE auspices?

They can "buy" guns on the street from whoever will sell to them, and THOSE weapons are most likely STOLEN (in many cases from another state) and brought here to sell on the black market...who asks for a background check THERE, hmm?

And there are those that will STEAL from gun shops themselves...like what happened in New Haven, IN last year (20 weapons were stolen and I believe that all were eventually recovered)...no background check required THERE either, right?

You really have to READ between the lines here...find out what's being MEANT as opposed to what's being SAID.
THIS is the way your freedoms and liberties will be eroded...slowly, damn near imperceptibly. It won't happen in a wholesale manner all at once.
Guns will never be the problem when there is someone BEHIND the trigger...THAT is where the problem lies - with the "someone".
Work on that first and foremost, and the rest will take care of itself.
And we'll ALL be a lot safer for that.
Have yourselves a good week.

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