Thursday's Child Strikes Back...

No friends, this isn't the latest installment of any Star Wars saga, but it does have a basis in today's post.
You'll see what I mean as we go along today.
Nice seasonal weather in the Heartland...frosty-cool and brisk outside this morning, sunny with highs in the low 60s...and it will be a tad on the breezy side, in case you guys didn't get to fly your kites yesterday...lol.
*** First up, the answer to our WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"You cannot be disciplined in great things and be undisciplined in small things...Brave, undisciplined men have no chance against the discipline and valor of other men. Have you ever seen a few policemen handle a crowd? "

This is attributed to our old pal, General George S. Patton, Jr, 17 May, 1941, address to officers and men of the Second Armored Division - The Patton Papers, II, 1974.
Kinda reminds me of last year's "Occupy Wall St" scenario...NYPD did a commendable job with the flotsam there, as did other departments in other cities when confronted with the rabble.
Moving on...
*** The "Mystery of the Missing Coolant" in the Wifeymobile has not been resolved yet.
Took the car in, the shop had it all day, did a pressure check for TWO hours - NO leaks anywhere (inside or out).

The water in the passenger cabin came from something else, but NOT the heater core. Still no leaks on our garage floor, and no sign of a bad hose, water pump, or connection anywhere...
Times like this, you need someone like SHERLOCK HOLMES, who, on more than one occasion keenly observed:
"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
(His Last Bow - 1917 - The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans)
Well, I can certainly say we've exhausted all the possibilities of what the loss COULD be (and was not), so whatever conjecture we can imagine might well become whatever truth that decides to surface...if ever.
(case closed...for now)
*** Have you been watching ANY of the new shows they've put on TV this season?
Well, I've been picking and choosing...can't watch all of them, and don't WANT to watch most of them.
But a few manage to rise to the top of the bunch...if you look carefully.

On the CW last night, they had a premiere of a show that has some GREAT potential.
It's simply called ARROW, and it's based on the DC comics character Green Arrow.
Think of it as part Batman, part Punisher and part William Tell...pretty cool, huh?
It's got shades of ninja, archery (obviously), crime-fighting, technology, and a touch of zen thrown in.
The title character (Oliver Queen, son of Robert Queen, billionaire businessman) has survived being a castaway on a remote island for several years, returns home, to find it changed...a lot.
His father died at sea during the same event that tossed Ollie on the shores of that island, where he became someone more than he could ever believe. His father's legacy was to right the wrongs that HE committed, and to take down those responsible for the state of the city.

Really complex character development and some intricate plot twists and turns.
Face it, in today's world, having a "Guardian Angel" (as one persons mentioned in the show) isn't really a bad thing...even IF they're a vigilante.
THEY get the job done...THEY pursue and mete out JUSTICE...the old fashion way - swift, sure, and final.
It's a good show, and provides one more avenger in one more city, even it he's not a Marvel hero.
It works, and hopefully, others will think it a decent watch.
*** Now, right after watching Arrow, I had to turn over to the Discovery Channel for more good TV in the form of Sons Of Guns.

I really love this show, because (like the show American Guns) they get into the "meat and potatoes" of gunsmithing...they show you WHAT they do and HOW they do it. I love to watch a craftsman at work, and this show has some REAL good ones down in Baton Rouge, LA.
After that, it was time to watch Ted Nugent's Gun Country on the same channel...talk about a Triple-Play on cable!
Ted's one of my favorite guitarists of all time, and he's also a damn fine AMERICAN patriot as well.

His show talked about his ranch near Waco,TX, and how he has a herd of Oryx on it, and how they planned to thin the herd out, before the population gets out of hand. Ted also went and got a new rifle, made by Larue Tactical - a scoped .308 on an AR platform...(sweet).
His wife's a got a neat little AR too...in PINK zebra camo. And she can shoot pretty well.
Later, Ted took his one son out to hunt, and they bagged that old Oryx bull, and served up the meat to some visiting wounded troops at a cookout.
It was a neat look into the life of a really cool guy with a heart damn near as large as the state of Texas.
*** And now for some "not-so-good" stuff...courtesy of the City of Fort Wayne.

Remember when I mentioned that the FWPD was SUPPOSED to have about 440 officers (authorized), and that we ONLY have around 419 available?
(yeah, we're 21 down...so far)
Oh, it keeps getting BETTER, boys and girls...
NOW, it appears we're woefully deficient in the FWFD as well...to the tune of about THIRTY ONE smoke-eaters!
And our population isn't standing still (numerically) until we CAN hire on more public safety employees...no, sirree!
We're already hearing about the (worst case scenario) of maybe in the future of shutting DOWN fire houses...!!!
((...WTF???...))

Yep...JUST like they've done in Philly with the dumbass that passes for a mayor THERE, and it's cost the lives of a few firefighters already and several citizens and more property than if ALL the houses were fully staffed every shift.
Do we in Fort Wayne REALLY even want to consider going down THAT path...seriously?
Think about this logically...If a city's population CONTINUES TO RISE (which ours has here, especially in the last 2 decades), isn't it not only prudent, but also in the best interest OF public safety that both the POLICE and FIRE departments keep PACE with the increase by raising THEIR staff levels proportionately? I mean, you can't wring any more COMMON SENSE out of this if you TRIED, right?
Let's cut the damn CITY HALL staffing FIRST...too many paper-pushers to suit me, anyway.
And you go ahead and raise property taxes FIFTY PERCENT...won't bother me really, and it also won't address the problem you're allowing to grow.
That would be all this "free" (or reduced) housing.
Many contend that OWNING a house imbues the buyer with a sense of self-worth, and I agree...to a point.

It SHOULD mean something to OWN a house...like you're RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH to own it, maintain it, and keep it from falling into the disrepair we see around us in the ghettohood...makes sense, hmm?
But, when you allow at least ONE, perhaps TWO generations of people to be placed part and parcel into a house, without having them know anything about how to "run" a household, that's asking for trouble in bushels...and we see the result down here on the...(...altogether, gang...)...SOUTHEAST SIDE of Ft. Wayne. It's also spreading up the NE side of the city and branching out to the SW side as well.
And when people don't take CARE of stuff, the VALUE of it goes (where?)...DOWN.

Like with the value of a HOUSE (property)...declining year after year, and subsequently, the assessments drop accordingly...that would result in the LOSS OF REVENUE for the city.
Face facts...the property tax of say 4% on a house valued at $150K+ is a LOT more than that same rate applied to a house only worth $25K.
Doesn't take an accounting degree or a savant mathematician to figure THAT much out.
And the city has KNOWN about this since the beginning...that's why they ANNEXED that chunk of Aboite...but THAT was only a band-aid on a compound fracture.
There are TWO recourses the city follows whenever their revenue drops:
1) Raise taxes
2) Annex someplace else
Not the BEST choices for them...just the only ones they can see.
A good gentrification of the SE side would most definitely be in order, and then take it to the other areas that are borderline "SE".
But you can't tell me that the black (or any other ethnic) community thinks everything is "fine and dandy"...
(as long as they're getting "free stuff", it probably IS)
Everyone has to be held to the SAME standards...that's how we compete and achieve, and thrive as a community...as a city.
And for God's sake, NEVER sacrifice PUBLIC SAFETY to balance the books...unless you LIKE living in DETROIT.
*** Lastly today, there's so much that can be said about how our city succeeds (for some) and fails (for many).
Sure, we have a new ballpark and a nice downtown...and the city LOVES to dump money into THOSE...to the exclusion of damn near everywhere else.
The NORTH and WEST parts of the city have seen retail growth out the ass over the last TEN years alone, and it continues unchecked.

The SOUTH and EAST have seen (too) little change...property values depleted, rentals all over, once nice neighborhoods becoming the new "strip malls" for crime and gang activity. Arsonists, rapists, drug-dealers, thieves, thugs, and other assorted bad guys (and gals) also go unchecked (and frequently arrested again and again), only to return to our streets...and the city does nothing.
Cripes, we have a city that doesn't even check the alleys for NCE violations and overgrown foliage. Trash accumulates alongside housea and goes unnoticed (conveniently). People park damn near anywhere and anyway they want...that's never addressed. So much is outright ignored.
Different standards for different people? I think not.
We should be BETTER than to allow such segregation...such a sub-culture to flourish.

And we COULD be better...it all depends on changing the minds of those downtown...and the sooner the better...for everybody.
In that, we DO have "far to go"...like Thursday's child.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...

Stay SAFE out there, America.