Humpday Happenings...

Welcome to the middle of our week - one which finds me playing "catch up" from yesterday (for some odd reason).
Yesterday's weather was all that bad (for a change).
Our Hoosierland weather for today will be just as nice, if not nicer still.
Still riding that "sunshine express", we'll see a high of around 55 degrees, even if it is barely above freezing early this morning.
Like I said...not bad at all.
So, let's all get ourselves a cup or glass of our favorite morning drink, as we see to this day, and all that's included...
*** First off of the breakfast table is our WHO SAID THAT? quote of the week:
"Our principles are the springs of our actions. Our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles." 

You might be a bit surprised as to the person behind this quote.
So, WHO said it?
The answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
Meanwhile, back on the deck of the "Cotton Blossom"...
*** Next up, is our "What the hell happens today, Bob?" feature:

April 13 -
---Today is NATIONAL MAKE LUNCH COUNT DAY

(if you skipped breakfast, this could be important)
---It's also NATIONAL PEACH COBBLER DAY

(I always think of a cobbler as someone who works on shoes)
---It's NATIONAL SCRABBLE DAY

(Try playing using only KLINGON words - never enough of the letter "Q")
---It's also NATIONAL THOMAS JEFFERSON DAY

(Well, take me to Monticello and give me a nickel)
---And, it's NATIONAL BOOKMOBILE DAY

(I remember them when I was in school. Glad they still have them)
*** Next up, and pardon my forgetting this YESTERDAY, are all our police calls regarding shots fired and armed robberies in Fort Wayne over the past week:

SHOTS FIRED / ARMED ROBBERY CALLS - 4/4- 4/10
=============================================
APR 4 -
16F043621 00:20:01 113 SHOTS FIRED 2700 PAULDING RD E
16F043624 00:34:52 113 SHOTS FIRED 5700 ANTHONY BLVD S & PAULDING RD
16F043636 01:51:28 113 SHOTS FIRED 4200 WARSAW ST & MCKINNIE AVE
16F043646 02:57:19 113 SHOTS FIRED 400 PAULDING RD W
16F043814 15:38:17 53 ARMED ROB 2800 NEW HAVEN AVE
APR 5 -
16F044031 01:53:00 113 SHOTS FIRED 4300 HANNA ST S
16F044032 01:54:48 113 SHOTS FIRED 4400 MONROE ST S
16F044038 02:28:03 113 SHOTS FIRED 300 CREIGHTON AVE W
16F044054 04:38:12 113 SHOTS FIRED 900 RIDGEWOOD DR
16F044392 22:45:14 113 SHOTS FIRED 2700 OLIVER ST
APR 6 -
16F044450 04:19:52 113 SHOTS FIRED 11800 CORALBERRY CT
16F044537 11:55:22 53 ARMED ROB 800 TENNESSEE AVE
16F044698 18:12:25 53 ARMED ROB 1200 WILDWOOD AVE 
APR 7 -
16F045071 16:52:18 113 SHOTS FIRED 4900 NASSAU DR
16F045167 20:48:02 113 SHOTS FIRED 700 ELMER AVE
APR 8 -
16F045216 00:01:11 113 SHOTS FIRED 5000 NEVADA AVE
16F045262 03:49:13 58 SHOOTING 2200 RANDALLIA DR
APR 9 -
16F045694 03:01:13 113 SHOTS FIRED 6500 STATE BLVD E
16F045727 05:19:09 113 SHOTS FIRED 3700 WEISSER PARK AVE
16F045638 00:04:27 58 SHOOTING 1500 GRIER ST & WINTER ST
APR 10 - 
16F046505 22:48:18 113 SHOTS FIRED 2200 HOLTON AVE
===========================
FIREWORKS CALLS 4/4 - 4/10
============================
APR 7 -
16F045164 20:46:21 44FW 2700 SPRING ST
(cripes, there always seems to be ONE idiot)
*** Next up, and speaking of crime, there was ANOTHER shooting on the (where the hell else?) SOUTHEAST SIDE of town.

Here's the story link (don't expect much information, as usual):
http://wane.com/2016/04/12/man-seriously-hurt-in-shooting/
This took place around 2200 hrs last night at the (former) EDEN GREEN APARTMENTS (now renamed The Villages At Hanna).

You can change the NAME of "the badlands", but it doesn't look like the PEOPLE have changed once damn bit, OR their attitudes and nature. More of the SAME, right?
Guess that could be called "being in denial" as far as the city is concerned?
*** Next,  it might be a bit harder to spot a police car or SUV, all because of this story:
http://fox4kc.com/2016/04/10/fords-new-no-profile-light-bar-makes-police-cars-harder-to-spot/

Imagine that - a low profile lightbar INSIDE the vehicle that can't be detected from outside.
A couple things here - first, those flashing lights can be a problem to those inside a police vehicle, and definitely tyo those OUTSIDE driving near a police vehicle.

Many people feel the (LED) lightbars are TOO bright (they are).
Well, people with epilepsy are especially "at risk" with such devices when they're flashing.
We know the SIRENS are plenty loud (and can lead to hearing loss by OFFICERS).
Now, they can hide the lightbars, but those oversized TIRES, antenna "nubs", and that CITY (police department) license plate is ALWAYS a dead giveaway (to me). I miss the days when undercover police cars in Philly used STANDARD PLATES - if you knew the "prefix" of the plate, you could still pick 'em out.
*** Next up, I watched the second part of Ken Burns' Jackie Robinson on PBS...

It was a very good program, and although you KNOW how it ends, it's still worth viewing.
Interestingly, Robinson was a staunch Republican...until Nixon (when running against JFK) decided not to call MLK when he was jailed.

This went against the urging of Robinson, and changed Jackie's way of thinking about politicians in general.
While he supported more democrats, you could not call Robinson a liberal by ANY means.
If anything, we was a moderate at best.
He embraced Dr. King's entire "non-violence is the solution" aspect to the Civil Rights Movement, and spoke against those such as H. Rap Brown, Malcolm X , and the like.
Naturally, this branded Robinson as an "Uncle Tom" by his own people.
And during the 60s, you could see many (up and coming) blacks turn against Robinson, which is pretty sad, because the message of Dr. King carried more truth and purpose than ALL the other violence-touting "young guns" rising up in the black community.
Jackie Robinson knew as much, and he was not afraid to say so.

The side-story of Robinson's son (Jackie Jr) was heart-breaking,
I still did not like the Obummers and Bellafonte in there, tossing their "small change" opinions around.
I would have preferred to see people like Colin Powell (he had to have known a  lot more about Robinson), Alan Keyes, Allen West or Condoleeza Rice.
Other than that, it was some decent TV about a man who (imho) did MORE for his race than just becoming the first man of color to join a ball club in Brooklyn.
And more people need to come to that realization.
*** Last back to the lunch counter...I lived through (or rather survived) the 1960s, and there were few (real) high points that I can recall.

Still had segregation for no good reason.

I was in high school through the latter half of that decade.
In our house, it was pretty much normal, but out in the REAL world, where I would find myself soon enough, there was a crapload of stuff going on, and much of it, in some way, mirrored a lot of what's going on today.

A man with a dream of TRUE equality.

Only the names and places have changed.

A war that became more political by the day.

We have not moved as far forward as we'd like to believe.
At best, we've marked time.

Anyone remember Kent State?

Or a President being assassinated?

Race relations in America are at their lowest point SINCE the 1960s, and that's not by "accident".
Whatever progress that has been made over the decades, has been quietly undone by people with a specific agenda, and to what end that will develop, no one really knows, or is saying.

In some respects, the blame for some of this can be traced back to LBJ's "war on poverty" which only served to allow the birth of an entitlement nation, aimed squarely at the blacks in America.
To me, whenever you start to reward bad behavior (and by "bad" I mean slothful, or non-productive), that behavior will flourish. It has no alternative than to do so.
This was never intended to be the crux of ANY rights movement or equality issue, but it has become so over the decades.
I guess the democrats have such remorse for the crimes THEY committed against blacks (the KKK was founded by a democrat - look it up). And the ORIGINAL proponent to the Civil Rights Movement legislation for equal treatment was Dwight Eisenhower (look that up, too). LBJ just ran with it and signed it into law.

Race relations between blacks and white today are tenuous, and that's on a good day.
But the race relations WITHIN the black community (itself) are even worse.
Look at the statistics for black-on-black crime.
That alone tells a much different story than that which is provided by the liberal media sources.
As much as we don't want to be involved in politics, sooner or later we get caught up in it.
There must be a problem when we can't leave politics TO the politicians.
The main reason is a case of TRUST (or the lack of it).
Perhaps, we can turn things around to have them be the civil SERVANTS they're supposed to be, and not the masters of the (read OUR) "estate".
History does provide adequate lessons and examples to us all along those lines, and we would be remiss to not avail ourselves of them.

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