Thoughts on Thursday...

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...and we call that LIFE.

Heartland weather today will be mild with temps rising throughout the day and into the low 50s by sundown...BUT, we also get some rain with that, so if it seems cloudy today, there IS a reason.

We've some interesting stuff to get our hands into this day, not the least of which is that NRA logo (why YES,  I AM a card-carrying member) you see at left.
You CAN click on it to be taken to their site, and I can't wait until I hit 65, so I can get a lifetime membership for LOTS less.
Anyway, let's get busy with...the REST of the story.

*** First up, the answer to yesterday's Motto of the Week aka WHO SAID THAT?

" If you count all your assets, you always show a profit."

This is attributed to American journalist and humorist Robert Quillen.
(born-25 March 1887, died 9 December 1948)

And yes, he DOES have a WIKI:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Quillen
Most notably, he wrote for the Saturday Evening Post and The American Magazine.
In 1934, Hollywood screen writer Lamar Trotti used Quillen's life as a prototype of a Will Rogers film "Life Begins At Forty", in which Rogers played a small town newspaper editor. The film lists Quillen as "contributing dialogue".

A rather unremarkable man that none the less provided much insight to the human condition.

Meanwhile back at Fountain Inn...
*** Yes, another shooting on Fort Wayne's...(...all together, gang...)...SOUTHEAST side.
Here's the lowdown:
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/130109-oliver-street-shooting-186254212.html

Yepper, that area of OLIVER STREET is sure to make the news as much as it did LAST year...must be a "cultural" problem there, hmm?

The victim was found by police in the street with a gunshot wound to the leg in the 4000 block of Oliver St. around 2030 Hrs. He was transported to hospital in serious condition.

And while police are still investigating the initial reports of 20-25 shots ringing out, no one is in custody in connection with the shooting.

Wow...up to TWENTY-FIVE shots...and the guy ONLY gets a leg wound?

Someone needs some SERIOUS range time.

Bet'cha ALL the rest of the people in the area "dinseenuffin", either.

*** A foiled robbery attempt at a Freedom Financial Credit Union...at LAST!

Here's THIS story:

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130110/LOCAL07/301109936/1002/LOCAL

Fast-thinking employees at the credit union, located at 1802 Inwood Drive, near Coliseum and E. State Blvd thwarted a robbery attempt by TWO men yesterday around 1030 Hrs.

When a worker spotted the men approaching the building, one armed with a long gun, the vestibule door was locked and the would-be robbers could not get inside.

The two men fled east on foot to a nearby residential area (probably government-sponsored).

They remain at-large.

This is the same credit union that had been robbed FIVE times (h/t to CWM for the correct total) in 2011 and 2012.

(sorry, perps...not THIS time)

Nice to see a "happy ending" for a change, isn't it?

*** Obama "task force" headed by Biden meets with gun advocates from the NRA...AND Wal-Mart.

Here's the "4-1-1" on this "shootout" (with video - just listen to Biden)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-09/biden-says-obama-considering-executive-orders-on-gun-violence.html

Really...?
REALLY???
Our own Imperious Leader and his "minions" are considering ANOTHER "Executive Order" , this time regarding a (likely to be attempted) "gun-grab"?

Just how LONG do you think you can trample upon our CONSTITUTION, Barry?
This is from a President (and I use that term LOOSELY when describing our Whiner-in-Chief) that has (ab)used Executive orders OVER 147 TIMES since he took the "Oval Orifice".
Now, here (again) is the WIKI for the EXECUTIVE ORDER:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order
In a land where a MONARCH (or dictator) REIGNS...this is called a....DECREE!
It's to be used in a DISCRETIONARY manner...and predominantly for some sort of national emergency...like a CIVIL WAR.
(which at this rate is a lot closer to happening again with THIS empty suit in office)
Now, before you start hoarding guns and ammo, consider THIS:
ANY executive order against the 2nd Amendment would be considered a severe breach of our Constitution...and would be subject to a plethora of lawsuits, and could even lead to consideration for impeachment proceedings.
Next, if the "O" is thinking about ANY kind of REGULATORY measures, he better think again...
In order to enact ANY form of "regulation", you FIRST have to have the LEGISLATION it's based upon...simple, huh?
(my American politics teacher is smiling down from Heaven)
And the LEGISLATION does NOT come from the oval orifice...BUT, from the House of Representatives.
That's the whole "checks and balances" our particular form of government enjoys SO very well.
Sorry, Barry...you ain't gonna win THIS one, so take your "thug-politics" back to Chi-Town where they belong.

Mussolini type rhetoric is SO passe` these days, anyway.

Obama, Biden and Holder better READ the documents they SWORE to uphold...and then think long AND hard about how far they all have deviated FROM it.

Cripes, these three should be replaced by the MARX BROTHERS...at least when THEY ran a country (Duck Soup), they made me laugh...not get pissed the hell off.

(Hail Freedonia...LOL!)
*** Lastly today, we are dancing on the razor's edge when it comes to maintaining our sovereign position as a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC.
...IF we can hold onto it, as Ben Franklin noted.

Too many factions (both HERE and abroad) would love to see us fade away and get into lockstep with other, less civilized nations.
I'm sorry, but our Founders put too damn much on the line to have us just walk the hell away from it all.
They sought to FIGHT tyranny...they produced a country unique in it's manner of governance, and with the premise that such tyranny as what created this nation should NEVER rear it's head again on these shores, let alone elsewhere.
But these days, we are engaged in a war...perhaps not with physical weapons, but rather a war of ideas...of rhetoric, and of logic.
Common sense tell us that things are wrong, and logic proves that much.

Our morality clearly demonstrates that many of us "get it", while others, opposed to all things proper, would have us think and believe the exact opposite of what this nation was founded upon, and what our CREATOR intended from it's citizens (as well as it's politicians).

Now, more than ever, we ALL need to be paying attention to what is being said by people who think THEY know best for all of us, when in fact, they only desire power and privilege for themselves.

But, more importantly, we also need to listen to what's NOT being said...to read between the lines, and base our conclusions on fact, holding all those accountable for trying to take our country away from us.

The old adage of STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN no longer applies just to railroad crossings or city streets...does it?

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

Stay SAFE out there, America.