Saturday, January 30, 2010

Hoyle’s Billionaire Club

I’m still under the weather and getting over the “creeping crud”; one more day of the “Z” pack antibiotics for what the doctor called bronchitis. I did manage to get out and produce some locksmith work; maybe not the smartest thing to do since temperatures never got above 38 degrees today. I’d put this one fellow off for two days and he needed his truck and I needed a little cash flow.

I got home and jumped straight into bed with one of those microwave warm up things on my chest. When I woke up the house was empty; Lucy’s gone to a friend’s missionary farewell social. I promised him I’d stay away, doing my part not to get everyone sick.

I decided to push my limits on the Hoyle gambling game that’s on my laptop. I’d had my totals soar to unbelievable levels one time a few years back , only to watch that amount disappear in the blink of an eye; but I wanted to see what happens if you push the bar to the Billion dollar mark.

When you have over 800 million dollars to play with, strange as it may sound, gambling isn’t as much fun. Now I know how congress and Obama feel when they piss away a measly 100 million dollars of tax payer’s money; “Hey, it’s only a measly 100 million dollars and there’s plenty more where that came from.”

I was making starting bets of 10 million dollars, triple that on a loss until the cards came back right. I hit the billion mark rather quickly only to find that there was no hoopla, no bells and whistles, no parade of semi clothed dance hall girls, just a plaque with my name showing the accomplishment; oh yea, then the game instantly zeroed out the account and I got to start all over.

I’m going into the kitchen now for another bowl of Lucy’s home made chili. Maybe the front door will have a knock on it, the creators of the Hoyle gambling game will have one of their people come by and recruit me into the Star League where we’ll fight Zur and the Kodan armada or does that only work if you beat the Last Star Fighter game?



Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Trading Places

Several years back Dan Aykroyd was in the movie Trading Places. He was as down on his luck as he could fall, dressed in a filthy dirty Santa outfit stumbling around in the rain, when a dog lifted his leg to end a near perfect failure of a day. He’s sick to the point of death and looks every bit the part of deranged.

I’m not felling so good today, for that matter it’s been a rough week trying to cough up one of my lungs and having to settle for some ugly dark green stuff. I sent an email off a while ago letting the folks at the temple know I’d be unavailable for service tomorrow; Lucy said I’m to see a doctor so I must be grossing her out as well.

Yesterday I took my truck in for an oil change and found the battery needed replacement as well. There was a leaking of fluid from the power steering unit so today that was replaced; they actually got it fixed, the second time I took it back to them, a puddle of red fluid to clean up from my driveway. Unlike Dan Aykroyd’s character, if that dog came near enough to lift a leg I’d hark up and spit a huge green chest clearing, throat coated wad squarely on its head and watch him die of suffocation right there on the street.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Scope This!

MK posted an article, A falling camel attracts many knives , about the Trijicon rifle scopes being used by the military and the encrypted biblical reference stamped on the side of it. I read the original news story last week and, in my own mind, classified it as a “non-story”, something to fill a page when nothing else was found that day. Gracious, was I mistaken; turns out a wild fire followed; threats to have the scope removed from service and loss of government contracts.

I tried three times to leave my comment but for what ever reason the cyber space hex was upon me and nothing ever landed where it was supposed to. A fellow named Bob, who writes a blog titled, Spurious Missives , didn’t like the use of a New Testament verse and would have preferred something from the Old Testament. I figure, what’s the difference, the same God inspired all the Christian scriptures.

The idea came to mind; find a better scripture, one that hits the nail perfectly on the head and have that stamped on the side of the rifle scopes instead. I came up with one from the Book of Mormon, continuing with the idea that the same God inspired all our scriptures, Alma 46:13:

“And he (Captain Moroni) fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land”

Those who find fault with the fight for liberty and the blessings which come from God have no business running our nation much less our armed forces. Throw the rascals out!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

With Heavy Heart…

One of our neighbors knocked on the door a while ago and let us know about a young cat which she’d seen that might have been one of our Hobo Kitties, on the side of the street. I walked the short distance and recognized our Princess would no longer brighten our days.

I remarked to Lucy how it wasn’t up us to decide, that perhaps Princess was sent to us, a chance for her to learn about human love, what it’s like to live inside with them, enjoy their company and attach, ever so briefly, to their heart strings. If such was the case, Princess accomplished that because my heart is heavy with her loss.




Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tony Bennett Surprise

Lucy brought home a neat surprise yesterday while shopping the cheap table at Walgreens, a Tony Bennett DVD/CD combo pack; under five dollars for both. I guess they were trying to reduce inventory on slow moving items; we got a steal of a deal price wise.

The DVD is set up in biography format, a musical explanation of how his talent developed and eventually led to international recognition. There are some great snippets of some awesome music along with narration to set the tone; all in perfect digital sound.

I’ve just transferred the CD onto my iTune register and will make it portable the next time the iPod is updated. The Shadow of Your Smile just played while writting, a duet with some French singer, Juanes. The two of them alternate between English and French as they apply their talents; very nice.

The inside jacket on the CD contains a mosaic rendering of the singer; click on the image to bring it to full size and then use your photograph viewer to get ever closer, observing each individual image within the structure. I had to crop it; wouldn’t fit within the confines of my scanner’s platen.



Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Purrrrfect Night’s Sleep

Some of you are familiar with the Hobo Kitties who took up residence in our garage and the on going tales, here and here , of character development in each of them. So far only one of them, the Princess , has felt comfortable enough to enter our house without quickly scurrying back to safety outside.

This past week or so Princess has decided to stay inside, at least for a portion of the day or night; last week’s cold spell had nothing to do with her decision, enjoying the adventure at every turn. The other morning I woke up with Princess snuggled up to my hand as she worked to gain attention; something not missed by our Senior Kitty, Bubba.

This morning while still dark and at least an hour until the time we arise and get moving, we noticed the massage function on our Sleep Number Bed (not a paid advertisement) had been activated. The Princess had jumped from the bed onto the night stand on Lucy’s side and landed on the remote control unit. The bed began to “purr”, or so it seemed, as Princess came back and stood on top of Lucy, enjoying the moment and joining in the chorus of purring. There’s an automatic shut off after twenty minutes; but Princess wasn’t sure how she’d triggered the event and was content to cuddle until we got up.

Many years ago, before we had kids, on a driving trip to see my folks in Florida we stopped in Tallahassee for the night. That’s a lot of miles for the first leg of a two day trip and mostly we just wanted to crash and get a good nights sleep.

They had one of those “jiggle bed” things; place a quarter in the slot and the bed vibrates for 15 minutes and hopefully by then you’re asleep. Well, we dropped a quarter in the box and lay down; but instead of the bed sending soothing waves of massage to rejuvenate our road weary bodies we could hear the mechanism had come loose from its anchored position, bouncing noisily within the confines of the mattress.

Both of us started to giggle, the suggestive sounds; I’ll leave that to your imagination. We noticed, due to the lack of insulation in the walls of the motel, the folks in the next room had observed the more than active sounds emanating from our room, a giggle here and there.

The fifteen minute timer finally shut the mechanism off and it was time for some shut eye; instead I dropped another quarter in the box, Lucy looked at me with a disapproving eye. Immediately we heard the folks in the next room gasp and wonder how much energy we might have to generate so much activity.

The morning came and we continued our trip on down to my folk’s house. It’s been so long ago; can’t remember if we actually waved to the folks in the adjacent room or whether we simple contemplated the chance meeting. It made for a fun recollection, perrrhaps not a purrrfect night’s sleep; but enough to get me to smile.

Admitting Hearsay Evidence Opens a Can of Worms

There’s a court case developing in Illinois which bears scrutiny as a judge contemplates the admissibility of hearsay evidence in the trial of Drew Peterson. I’m sure the story will be covered on most of the new services; but the one I’ll refer to came from the Fox website, Victim to Speak ‘From the Grave’ in Peterson Case.

“The hearing is expected to provide the first detailed look at evidence prosecutors contend ties Peterson to Savio's death. It stems from a state law that allows a judge to admit hearsay evidence -- testimony from witnesses who recount what they heard from others -- in first-degree murder cases if prosecutors can prove a defendant killed a witness to prevent him or her from testifying.”

“The Illinois Legislature passed the law after authorities named Peterson a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, then exhumed the body of Savio, his third wife, and reopened the investigation into her 2004 death. Though the bill's sponsors were careful never to link the law publicly to Peterson, it has been referred to as "Drew's Law," and his attorneys have long suggested it was passed to put Peterson behind bars.”

Does anyone, other than an old retired cop, see a problem with skirting evidentiary principles in order to obtain a conviction?  In another reality, one of the reasons for not using hearsay evidence is to protect the judiciary process which gives defendants the opportunity to cross examine witnesses directly in the courtroom. The very nature of hearsay evidence precludes open rebuttal of damaging evidence which, once a jury hears and contemplates, can never be discounted as part of the decision making task in determining guilt or innocence based on the standard ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’.

Regardless of the outcome of the Drew Peterson trial, if hearsay evidence is given the light of day in open court, the appeals process will, out of necessity, end up in the Supreme Court. The right to a fair and impartial trial hangs in the balance for each and every individual American citizen. It would be better for a guilty man to be set free than to destroy the integrity of our judicial foundations through the enlistment of improper evidence. ( Somebody needs to explain the term “slippery slope” in the comment section or I’ll be disappointed)

Monday, January 18, 2010

Do Deceased Have Right to Vote?

One of the issues to challenge America as we continue into a degraded version of the Great Experiment would have to be the maintenance of the electoral process. Most of us have heard the famous Stalin quote, “It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.”

I should add, “Why is it that dead people always vote for Democrats?”, a feature not limited to Chicago style politics. All you’d have to do is check the internet for a history of voter records to find that Democrat voters truly are eternal.

This stands juxtaposed to George Washington’s thought process, “Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.”

If we are to survive as a nation, at least that nation envisioned by our founders, we must rely on the integrity of all the individuals who make up this society; not too reassuring when I contemplate the likes of ACORN and some of the activities I’ve observed in my short life time.


Robert Romano wrote an article for the Washington News Alert, We see dead people, 116,483 registered voters in Massachusetts are dead , “As reported by CNS News, “In Massachusetts, 116,483 registered voters are dead, 3.38 percent of the state’s total of registered voters. Another 538,567, or 15.6 percent, had moved to an area outside of where they are registered to vote.”


He concludes with a rather gloomy reality check:


“According to Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson, “The implication of dead people showing up at the polls means that it’s no longer sufficient to win an election with a simple majority. Now, candidates need a 4 or 5 point swing just to pad against potential fraud.”


“And that undermines our free form of government at its very core,” Wilson concluded.”


I mentioned at the start, the Great Experiment is based on the assumption that the society is morally capable of sustaining itself. I fear this is no longer such a society, at least those who have shown the capacity to alter elections behind closed doors through the use of corruption in order to predetermine elections.


One way to help get things back in order would be for each individual to pray for assistance from God, the Creator of our nation. “We shall overcome”, powerful words spoken by Martin Luther King as he addressed his dream for America come to mind; these words are based in religion, not politics.


Enslavement comes in many forms, bondage to debt, bondage as we permit elected officials to usurp God given rights in favor of temporary security and there is tampering with the ballot box. Let us be vigilant while maintaining faith in our most basic expression of freedom.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

This One’s for Bonnie

David over at Third World County had this short video up this morning and the first person I thought of was my daughter, the engineering major at Texas A&M. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy it either.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Did I Miss the State of the Union Address?


Lucy tossed the front section of yesterday’s newspaper on the coffee table awhile ago and in a quick glance the main headline grabbed my attention. I couldn’t see the smaller print or the photograph accompanying the headline, only the huge print, “A NATION IN RUINS, ITS PEOPLE IN MISERY”. The thought occurred to me, “Oh my goodness, I missed the State of the Union Address”; but the article was about the earthquake in Haiti.


Come next election, please remember, VOTE NO INCUMBENT. Throw the rascals out and maybe, just maybe the next crop of representatives will follow the constitution, listen to the voice of the responsible folks ( the ones who pay taxes, not the other ones), read legislation prior to voting, spend only what is absolutely necessary and remember that the purpose of going to Washington is to serve, not become rich and powerful.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Mr. Peabody and Boy Fraser

Apparently this is Way Back Week on Facebook. I posted a picture of yours truly the day before entering the Houston Police Academy, having just shaved of the mustache and slicked back my hair; frightening to see a stranger looking back in the mirror.







There was a request for a picture showing that same youthful and vibrant character with mustache; but I’ll go one further, half on and half off with a silly grin.







I didn’t have a picture of Mr. Peabody in my files and had to grab one from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon show. Looking a bit further back into the Way Back Machine’s archives I found a picture of yours truly on Christmas Day, 1954, wearing a cowboy outfit similar to those worn on the old black and white television series, The Cisco Kid.






Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Heck with Haloscan

You may have noticed the comment section changed from working to not working and then back to working. Haloscan, the folks who had been servicing the comment section and trackback functions for my blog recently notified me, via email, that their service was being “upgraded” to a “pay fer” service and that unless I sent them some money I would lose all the comments previously entered. My Scottish ancestry prevented sending a check and so I lost the use and historical bounty of several years of comments; oh well.


Now I have the old Blogspot version to accept comments; but in so doing I have unintentionally reformatted the way my blog looks. It may be due to only one article entry; then again it might not. I will eliminate the one entry, “But we don’t own a bird bath”, see what happens and then attempt to re-post that article. Cross your fingers, toss a strangled chicken over the fence and say something in Latin; here goes.

I just noticed that the one article which I had hoped would solve the format issue is NOT the location of the template problem.  I will have to figure out a better solution.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Chasing Bad Guys


MK over at Down Under On the Right Side had an article, Between the Public and the Scum , in which the topic of police chases was brought up. I threw in my 2 cents worth down in the comment section and moved on.

I had plenty of chases during my time as an officer in the Houston Police Department, each time the weight of responsibility rested squarely on my shoulders. When I was a young cop it was thrilling, one of those moments you looked forward to, a chance to have something really good to talk about with your fellow officers long after the chase was done.

Running Hot, lights and siren, the sound of tires squealing as they reached the limits of contact with the pavement, trying to drive and call the chase into the mike, keeping the bad guy’s activities focused just in case they want to go for guns; gosh but that was fun.

(Have to take a break, a locksmith job came in and priorities are important to remember.)

(It was a very nice break, actually did almost two days worth of business; more to follow)

At one time I was a training officer, one on one with probationary police officers on night shift. We were chasing a suspect in a stolen car north on Bingle as we approached Hammerly. It was my turn in the driver’s seat and the young officer was as close to petrified as I’ve seen, the bumper of our police car so close to the suspect’s car as to make it difficult to tell where one started and the other ended.

The suspect made a quick left and without missing a beat I stayed on his bumper; you could have kept a thin notebook suspended in mid air between the two cars during the entire chase. The suspect gave up at that time; he was afraid I was trying to push him off the road the way he was shaking once we got him out of the car and cuffed. It takes a certain mental toughness to work the streets; most civilized folks wouldn’t consider getting in a chase with all the risks, sure is satisfying catching the bad guys though.

The very last chase I was a part of started off as a burglary alarm call around 3am a couple of years prior to my retirement. When I arrived I saw the suspect vehicle tearing out of the parking lot of a tire and wheel warehouse. I got in behind the pick up truck and quickly found it to be reported stolen. Two suspects were in the back of the truck tossing large cardboard boxes containing chrome rims in my direction hoping to score a hit.

Speeds were within reason if we’d been up on a freeway; but we were cutting through the back side of a warehouse area and into a residential area. Stop signs and red lights meant nothing to these fools as I put out the chase and kept a safe distance behind the continued barrage of stolen rims being tossed. The suspect’s vehicle was headed toward a major intersection at about 75mph, one that would have traffic even at three in the morning.

At that time I notified the dispatcher that I was breaking off the chase for reasons of safety. I watched as they busted through the red light and narrowly missed taking out a vehicle that had no idea what was going on. I got a kick out of looking at the occupants of the stolen truck as they observed me back off to about a quarter of a mile. Perhaps they thought I was out of gas or had broken down; but for what ever reason, they were watching me more than the road as they smacked into a huge tree. They all took off on foot into the darkness leaving the stolen truck, what remained of their “booty” and as far as I know were never caught.

You want to know the real reason I backed off; about a week earlier there had been a letter come down from the chief’s office. The directive clearly explained that any and all damages incurred as a result of a police chase would be the responsibility of the officer(s), that any legal action would be directed at the officer(s) and because of this policy the City of Houston and the Houston Police Department would be able to sever any responsibility for a “dangerous chase”. Okay, now tell me the difference between a plain run of the mill chase and a dangerous chase; the answer, one in which there is litigation because of property damage, injury or loss of life.

I had figured it out, it had only taken nearly 20 years; I really wasn’t a member of the Houston Police Department. I was in fact a lone agent of the T. F. Stern Police Unit, wearing a borrowed uniform bearing a striking resemblance to one worn by the Houston Police Department. I knew that if anything “ugly” were to happen that the City and their legal staff had written themselves out of the equation; I was on my own in that regard.

Each time that stolen vehicle busted through a stop sign I was remembering the chief’s notice. Instead of seeing a vehicle with fleeing suspects I pictured a jury wondering how much I’d have to come up with to pay for damages. When I saw them headed for a major intersection at break neck speed I made sure to cut the string which tied me to their foolishness, the string which would be “officially severed” and recorded on the permanent recorded tapes there at the dispatcher’s office. I was actually laughing when the suspect vehicle cracked up; I’d gotten very lucky.

I could go on and on, like the Billy Crystal line, “Don’t get me started”; but that’s all for now. This spring will mark 18 years of retirement, not chasing bad guys in the middle of the night; Five Frank Twenty Six Oh Dee.
( Photo is not related to a car chase; just the only one I could find of yours truly in a patrol car on night shift. The suspect sitting in back had been burglarizing Rico’s Chicken and was caught inside; no chase, not even on foot.)

Lastly, you may have noticed an “issue” with the comment section. For several years I’d been using Haloscan for comments and trackbacks. I got an email from the Haloscan folks explaining how there would no longer be any free services, that to continue I’d need to “upgrade”, at a price, or all comments would be lost. My temporary solution will be to have you go to Facebook, where I cross post articles; leave your comments there until I figure out how to get Blogspot’s comment format working again. The only other way would be for you to leave your comments in the form of email which I could then add as an “edit” function to the bottom of each article for all to see.

Saturday, January 09, 2010

How Cold Did You Say It Was?


Thanks and a tip of the hat to Patricia Carr for posting this on her Facebook page.

It got down to 19 degrees last night; had to chop a hole in the Hobo Kittie’s water bowl, had about an inch and a half thick covering of ice. In less than an hour it was frozen over again.


Friday, January 08, 2010

Sci-Fi Becoming Reality


There’s an AP article posted to the Foxnews website, Mind-Reading Systems Could Change Air Security , which bears further scrutiny. Metal detectors and X-ray screening have been used for quite some time, now add to that Mind-Reading machines; but before everyone jumps up and starts claiming we’re all going to be much safer from terrorists, perhaps our technology is surpassing our humanity.

“On Thursday, in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt over Detroit, President Barack Obama called on Homeland Security and the Energy Department to develop better screening technology, warning: "In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary."’

The machines talked about measure and account for miniscule changes in body temperature, rate of breathing, muscle contractions and eye movement. Go read the article; both machines and human observations are used to evaluate such changes as either normal reactions or something which might bear further investigation.

Aside from “calling it Orwellian and akin to "brain fingerprinting”, as some critics have cautioned, what other uses could be applied to these new technologies? How about job applications, bank loans or even political speeches? What about in the court room where jurors would have an extra tool in their deliberations over truth and fabrication?

What’s the old joke, “How can you tell when a lawyer’s lying?... His lips are moving.” Okay so the courtroom may not be the best place to implement Mind-Reading technology.

We could take Obama at his word, “In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary”, we could have the president and his czars present themselves for intense scrutiny. We The People could determine, without a doubt, their intentions to destroy America, “one brick at a time”, isn’t that what one of his advisors thinks is the way to get capitalism out of the way?

Why stop with the Oval Office; we could have every congressmen, senator and department head “interviewed/interrogated”. Their words and actions would indicate a total disdain for a once vibrant economy, liberties and freedoms which are protected by the constitution. You think they’d ever stand for such intense scrutiny; remember these are the same folks who stack press conferences with lap dog journalists. The “nimble adversary”, the one standing in front of the microphone pretending to be concerned about the safety of America, the community organizer in chief himself is an enemy of America.

No, you won’t see this technology put into use anywhere it might trap the elitists, those fine folks who are above waiting in lines at airports, those who fly private jets paid for out of the public treasury. Waiting in lines is for peasants, the lowly servants of government. So, how can you tell when a politician is lying…his lips are moving; why waste all that money on something we already know.

But we don’t own a bird bath…


While I was sitting at my computer writing about Hobo Kitties deciding whether or not to come in out of the cold , we heard what sounded like a car crash outside. I glanced out the window; Bonnie’s pretty little VW was parked on the street all shined up and without damage. I could see nothing indicating an accident and chalked it up to the yard crew putting their huge lawn mower into the trailer at the corner.

A few minutes later I heard Bonnie exclaim, “There’s a couple of police cars pulling up in front of our house; no, make that three!” Maybe there had been a wreck, only it was around where we couldn’t see it.

I joked, on the way out the door, about the lady across the street who had difficulty parking her Mercedes; wow, that was it! Once outside and with a better angle, there was the wreck; our neighbor had accidently hit the gas instead of the brake. Her car went through the back wall of their garage, past the swimming pool, through the fence and onto the next yard. I intentionally blurred the license plate numbers on their vehicles.

It reminded me of the fellow who asked how the driving lesson went, the one where the lead in, “Every thing went fine, except we need to buy a new bird bath”, followed by, “But we don’t own a bird bath.” The wife then explained how the car went through the garage taking out the back of the house, flew over the swimming pool, crashed through the fence into her neighbor’s back yard taking out their bird bath. Funny how life happens; glad nobody was injured, other than their pride that is.

Princess In - Cousin Out


An Arctic mass of cold air made its way through the Houston area bringing temperatures down into the mid 20’s last night. We wrapped towels around the exposed plumbing where the water hoses hook up and where the service pipe goes into the house. I even placed a couple of huge plastic bags filled with mulched leaves against them to give a little more insulation.

In the garage I built a Hobo Shanty for the Hobo Kitties, an extension ladder acting as the main support for a tarp to capture the little bit of heat put out by a space heater, the tarp safely distanced so as not to be a fire hazard. We still need to get those kitties spayed and neutered or there will be a fresh crop of them come spring, keeping warm in cold weather lends itself to other forms of cuddling.

Our Bubba Kitty is an inside cat and begged to go outside this morning as the temperatures soared to 30 degrees, catch some fresh air and brag to the Hobo Kitties of her status. A few minutes later Bubba was at the back door wanting in, Princess Hobo Kitty sitting a few feet away contemplating her limited memories of having been on the other side of the very same back door.

Bubba didn’t need any prompting as the door cracked open just enough to permit her entry. I watched as Princess immediately followed, a slight apprehension keeping her from a full fledged bounding toward the opening. Patience was a limited commodity as cold air blasted its way in; but Princess opted to enter the “Giant’s” living quarters, carefully stepping across a rolled up towel used as a weather barrier as I closed the door behind her.

Cousin Headbuttr’ then showed up a few moments later, looking at the Princess who was now enjoying the warmth; but I knew better than to offer. Headbuttr’ lacks the intestinal fortitude to live among the Giants and would only stand in the portal, wanting to go in where it’s warmer and yet never making the commitment as cold air poured in the whole time. I captured the moment with my camera.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

How Did Jefferson Know About Detroit?


This blogsite was started in January 2005, so much for practice makes perfect. Some might say it’s a waste of time; remember, the same thing was said of the pamphleteers who railed against tyranny, tyranny from across the ocean which had been imposed on the colonies. Today’s tyrants are much closer and just as dangerous; that’s why I continue to blog.I found these gems in my email as a forward from a couple of folks, thanks to all for including me on your lists. The portrait of Thomas Jefferson came from the Jefferson Portrait Gallery .

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe."
Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."
Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."
Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.."

As a follow up to Jefferson’s thoughts I’ve included some practical application. I got a copy of an obituary, The Death of Detroit, in my email from several friends as a forward; but there was no indication of its author’s name, it may have been edited out along the way. Whether it was a creation intended to point out the deficiencies and corruption associated with a government welfare state or an actual observations really makes no difference, the fact remains that Detroit is a perfect example of big government destroying the fabric of America.

The Death of Detroit

For 15 years, from the mid 1970's to 1990, I worked in Detroit, Michigan. I watched it descend into the abyss of crime, debauchery, gunplay, drugs, school truancy, car-jacking, gangs and human depravity. I watched entire city blocks burned out. I watched graffiti explode on buildings, cars, trucks, buses and school yards. Trash everywhere!

Detroiters walked through it, tossed more into it and ignored it. Tens of thousands and then, hundreds of thousands today exist on federal welfare, free housing and food stamps! With Aid to Dependent Children, minority women birthed eight to 10 and in once case, one woman birthed 24 kids as reported by the Detroit Free Press-all on American taxpayer dollars.

A new child meant a new car payment, new TV and whatever mom wanted. I saw Lyndon Baines Johnson's "Great Society" flourish in Detroit. If you give money for doing nothing, you will get more hands out taking money for doing nothing.
Mayor Coleman Young, perhaps the most corrupt mayor in America, outside of Richard Daley in Chicago, rode Detroit down to its knees. He set the benchmark for cronyism, incompetence and arrogance. As a black man, he said, "I am the MFIC." The IC meant 'in charge'. You can figure out the rest. Detroit became a majority black city with 67 percent African-Americans.

As a United Van Lines truck driver for my summer job from teaching math and science, I loaded hundreds of American families into my van for a new life in another city or state. Detroit plummeted from 1.8 million citizens to 912,000 today.

At the same time, legal and illegal immigrants converged on the city, so much so, that Muslims number over 300,000. Mexicans number 400,000 throughout Michigan, but most work in Detroit. As the Muslims moved in, the whites moved out. (Hello Dearborn!) As the crimes became more violent, the whites fled.Finally, unlawful Mexicans moved in at a torrid pace. You could cut the racial tension in the air with a knife! Detroit may be one of our best examples of multiculturalism: pure dislike and total separation from America.

Today, you hear Muslim calls to worship over the city like a new American Baghdad with hundreds of Islamic mosques in Michigan, paid for by Saudi Arabia oil money. High school flunk out rates reached 76 percent last June according to NBC's Brian Williams.

Classrooms resemble more foreign countries than America. English? Few speak it! The city features a 50 percent illiteracy rate and growing. Unemployment hit 28.9 percent in 2009 as the auto industry vacated the city.

In Time Magazine October 4, 2009, "The Tragedy of Detroit: How a great city fell and how it can rise again," I choked on the writer's description of what happened. "If Detroit had been savaged by a hurricane and submerged by a ravenous flood, we'd know a lot more about it," said Daniel Okrent. "If drought and carelessness had spread brush fires across the city, we'd see it on the evening news every night. Earthquake, tornadoes, you name it- if natural disaster had devastated the city that was once the living proof of American prosperity, the rest of the country might take notice.

But Detroit, once our fourth largest city, now 11th and slipping rapidly, has had no such luck. Its disaster has long been a slow unwinding that seemed to remove it from the rest of the country. Even the death rattle that in the past year emanated from its signature industry brought more attention to the auto executives than to the people of the city, who had for so long been victimized by their dreadful decision-making."

As Coleman Young's corruption brought the city to its knees, no amount of federal dollars could save the incredible payoffs, kick backs and illegality permeating his administration. I witnessed the city's death from the seat of my 18-wheeler tractor trailer because I moved people out of every sector of decaying Detroit. "By any quantifiable standard, the city is on life support. Detroit's treasury is $300 million short of the funds needed to provide the barest municipal services," Okrent said. "The school system, which six years ago was compelled by the teachers' union to reject a philanthropist's offer of $200 million to build 15 small, independent charter high schools, is in receivership. The murder rate is soaring, and 7 out of 10 remain unsolved. Three years after Katrina devastated New Orleans, unemployment in that city hit a peak of 11%. In Detroit, the unemployment rate is 28.9%. That's worth spelling out: twenty-eight point nine percent."

At the end of Okrent's report, and he will write a dozen more about Detroit, he said, "That's because the story of Detroit is not simply one of a great city's collapse. It's also about the erosion of the industries that helped build the country we know today.

The ultimate fate of Detroit will reveal much about the character of America in the 21st century. If what was once the most prosperous manufacturing city in the nation has been brought to its knees, what does that say about our recent past? And if it can't find a way to get up, what does that say about our future?"

As you read in my book review of Chris Steiner's book, $20 Per Gallon, the auto industry won't come back. Immigration will keep pouring more and more uneducated third world immigrants from the Middle East into Detroit-thus creating a beachhead for Islamic hegemony in America. If 50 percent illiteracy continues, we will see more homegrown terrorists spawned out of the Muslim ghettos of Detroit. Illiteracy plus Islam equals walking human bombs.

You have already seen it in Madrid, Spain, London, England and Paris, France with train bombings, subway bombings and riots. As their numbers grow, so will their power to enact their barbaric Sharia Law that negates republican forms of government, first amendment rights and subjugates women to the lowest rungs on the human ladder. We will see more honor killings by upset husbands, fathers and brothers that demand subjugation by their daughters, sisters and wives. Muslims prefer beheadings of women to scare the hell out of any other members of their sect from straying. Multiculturalism: what a perfect method to kill our language, culture, country and way of life.

What? You haven't heard any of this in the media? ......... Gee, that really surprises me!!

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Whalers One Activists Zero


There’s a television series, Whale Wars, which does its best to show angel’s wings attached to activists intent on disrupting whaling efforts. I suppose these whale friendly folks got their wish the other day; yup, they lost one of their $5 million dollar war ships when it got sawed in two by a whale boat. You can read about it here .

I can hear them screaming, “This is war! We can try to put them out business; but they have to let us or it makes them look like evil capitalists”, sounds like a bunch of lefties to me. I bet the Somali Pirates watch the Whale Wars show on a large flat screen HDTV, take notes and are working a deal with one of the cable companies to get a film crew to cover their efforts as well.

If these whalers are doing something illegal, that’s what courts are for. It is not up to any self appointed vigilante or group of well meaning vigilantes to take it upon themselves to endanger property or lives. Those who get hurt in the heat of battle or have to watch their multi-million dollar self proclaimed “war ship” sink into the cold depths of the ocean don’t get my sympathies; they are criminals acting out fantasies under the delusion their acts elevate them to hero status. I’d classify them in the same boat as pirates; the only difference is these folks actually think they’re justified.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Police Trading Cards?




I was working on a vehicle at one of my regular car lots and found what appeared, at first, to be a baseball trading card; like the kind that used to come with a piece of flat pink bubble gum. Upon closer inspection, instead of being a baseball player; the picture was of a uniformed police officer. The back of the card had his statistics; not the number of times at bat, singles, doubles, triples, home runs or life time ERA. Check these out; Calls for Service, Incident Reports, Arrests, Accident Reports and Field Interviews.

I was hoping for other “stats”, number of Internal Affairs Complaints, type of weapon carried, short anecdotal story regarding his favorite crime scene or some other juicy tidbit. For all I know the card was fabricated as a novelty on a home computer since the card stock it was printed on lacked the quality of a Topps or Upper Deck styled trading card.

Maybe on future cop cards they could break those arrests down a bit; felonies, misdemeanors, DWI/DUI, red light violations, stop signs, speeding, driver’s license violations, no insurance, seat belt, cracked tail light lens all the way down to parking tickets issued. As far as the photo, maybe have him demonstrate his cuffing technique; similar to a ball player finishing his home run swing at the plate, only there would be a suspect spread eagle against the wall, a patrol car or down and dirty on the pavement.

What ever the reason for the chance opportunity of my running across this particular trading card; my hats off to a working cop, Christopher Kruppa, of the Palacios Police Department, card # 408. Y’all be careful out there.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Encouragement

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Marilyn Johnson for posting this short video to her Facebook page. It would be a better world if awkward moments were all handled in this manner.

Friday, January 01, 2010

Obama Takes U.S. One Step Closer to a Police State


An article which may have slipped under the radar was Obama’s amended version of Reagan’s executive order 12425. This information came to me in a round about fashion in my email; however, it would appear that the original article was written by Steve Schippert and Clyde Middleton under the title, Wither Sovereignty. and then linked via The Examiner.com in their article, U.S. Placed Under International Police State . Please take a few minutes to read both articles.

“Last Thursday, December 17, 2009, The White House released an Executive Order "Amending Executive Order 12425." It grants INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) a new level of full diplomatic immunity afforded to foreign embassies and select other "International Organizations" as set forth in the United States International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945.”

Andy McCarthy at National Review asks these crucial, sobering questions of the secretive Obama order:

“Why would we elevate an international police force above American Law?

Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law enforcement agencies?

Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files which, therefore, will be beyond the ability of Congress, American law enforcement, the media, and the American people to scrutinize?”

I don’t claim to have the answers; however, red flags went up in my mind when I considered the implications of such a change. Why change a well thought out policy which had been clearly defined as an appropriate means of supporting an international law enforcement effort while at the same time protecting American interests to a much broader policy which turns over American interests to any entity which has no accountability to Congress, American law enforcement, the media or the American people?

The cumulative efforts by the Obama administration, the not so “little things” which are being done to the foundations of America have the hair on my back standing on end. This is one more reason not to trust the “Community Organizer in Chief” or any of his close advisors.