I’d forgotten about the marvels of the internet when I posted about enjoying The Outer Limits earlier. After a good night’s sleep and engaging my brain, it dawned on me to check YouTube for the chance that someone might have posted a trailer for the show; turns out they did more than post the trailer, the whole show is available in five parts. Here’s part one; hope you enjoy it as much as I did. All you need do is click on the next installment to see the whole show; amazing what you can find on the internet.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Time on my hands
Lucy is down at the beach in Galveston with her brother and two sisters for the week, their chance to be together each year. This has become something of a tradition and so I have time on my hands to stay up late watching movies or listening to music.
I glanced over my DVD collection and landed on The Outer Limits – Time Travel & Infinity Collection. If you enjoy well written Sci-fi it’s hard to beat, especially this group of time travel stories.
There were two which I enjoyed more than the others, A Stitch in Time and Tribunal. Amanda Plummer plays the roll of a time travelling executioner. She waits until the state would have executed a murderer; but instead of letting the victim get murdered, she goes back to the day prior to the murder, identifies the dirt bag and explains how he’d been convicted and at that moment she blasts holes in summary execution.
Things get a bit twisted each time she jumps back and forth as she recalls both “histories"; the one where the actual murder took place and the other history, the one where the murderer is executed prior to destroying an innocent life. The trail of evidence is toyed with rather well as pieces and facts don’t fit or make sense; a gun fabricated in the mid 70’s being linked to a murder which happened in the 50’s, finger prints of a suspect who would have been in kindergarten at the time the murder took place.
Tribunal takes a shot at bringing a NAZI war criminal to justice half a century later where he is living under an assumed name. The time traveling involved brings ancestors, both past and future together as time lines get reworked in order to bring about closure.
Having all this time on my hands I got to watch the entire collection; probably my fourth or fifth time to enjoy this collection. I remember something Douglas Callister said regarding great books, that the best books should be read and re-read year after year rather than simply saying, “Oh, yea, I read that one”, and then letting it gather dust on the book shelf. I suppose the same could be applied to certain DVD’s and music.
I’m getting a little sleepy now, the pain pill and muscle relaxer I took a while ago is kicking in. I better post this and get to bed.
I glanced over my DVD collection and landed on The Outer Limits – Time Travel & Infinity Collection. If you enjoy well written Sci-fi it’s hard to beat, especially this group of time travel stories.
There were two which I enjoyed more than the others, A Stitch in Time and Tribunal. Amanda Plummer plays the roll of a time travelling executioner. She waits until the state would have executed a murderer; but instead of letting the victim get murdered, she goes back to the day prior to the murder, identifies the dirt bag and explains how he’d been convicted and at that moment she blasts holes in summary execution.
Things get a bit twisted each time she jumps back and forth as she recalls both “histories"; the one where the actual murder took place and the other history, the one where the murderer is executed prior to destroying an innocent life. The trail of evidence is toyed with rather well as pieces and facts don’t fit or make sense; a gun fabricated in the mid 70’s being linked to a murder which happened in the 50’s, finger prints of a suspect who would have been in kindergarten at the time the murder took place.
Tribunal takes a shot at bringing a NAZI war criminal to justice half a century later where he is living under an assumed name. The time traveling involved brings ancestors, both past and future together as time lines get reworked in order to bring about closure.
Having all this time on my hands I got to watch the entire collection; probably my fourth or fifth time to enjoy this collection. I remember something Douglas Callister said regarding great books, that the best books should be read and re-read year after year rather than simply saying, “Oh, yea, I read that one”, and then letting it gather dust on the book shelf. I suppose the same could be applied to certain DVD’s and music.
I’m getting a little sleepy now, the pain pill and muscle relaxer I took a while ago is kicking in. I better post this and get to bed.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Suspect Could Not Have Been an Astro
According to an AP story , “Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is in the hospital after he was attacked by person using a metal pipe as he was leaving the Wisconsin State Fair.”
About the only thing I could add, the suspect could not have been an Astros' ball player; as poorly as they’ve been hitting they couldn’t have done it. The Astros’ struggles continue with vs Brewers ; between their pitching and lack of hitting they aren’t much to look at right now; and I’m one of their fans.
“The Astros have lost 12 of their past 15 games on the road and 15 of 21 overall. Houston (56-61) is five games under .500 for the first time since June 25, when it was 33-38. The Astros are 9 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central -- their biggest deficit of the year.”
There’s a high definition video clip of Pence getting a two run shot which accompanies Brian Mc Taggart’s article; this new age in computer graphics ability still blows me away. Perhaps the Milwaukee police will want to talk with Pence to see if he has an alibi, or maybe Matsui after he’d logged his 2000th major league hit.
About the only thing I could add, the suspect could not have been an Astros' ball player; as poorly as they’ve been hitting they couldn’t have done it. The Astros’ struggles continue with vs Brewers ; between their pitching and lack of hitting they aren’t much to look at right now; and I’m one of their fans.
“The Astros have lost 12 of their past 15 games on the road and 15 of 21 overall. Houston (56-61) is five games under .500 for the first time since June 25, when it was 33-38. The Astros are 9 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central -- their biggest deficit of the year.”
There’s a high definition video clip of Pence getting a two run shot which accompanies Brian Mc Taggart’s article; this new age in computer graphics ability still blows me away. Perhaps the Milwaukee police will want to talk with Pence to see if he has an alibi, or maybe Matsui after he’d logged his 2000th major league hit.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Saturday Review August 15th 2009
Once upon a time in a blogosphere not so long ago…a couple of folks would post highlights of the week, articles which might have been missed, interesting side shows and other items of interest. I’ll take a stab at it and see if anyone likes it.
Never Yet Melted posted a link, Obama’s Leaky Plumbing , that started off my morning.
Never Yet Melted posted a link, Obama’s Leaky Plumbing , that started off my morning.
“Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Joe the Plumber to come and fix it. Obama asks Joe how much it will cost.”
{…}
“Joe immediately says, “$9,500.”
“$9,500?” Obama asks, stunned. “But you said it’s an easy repair!”
“Yes, but what I do is charge a lot more to my clients who make more than $250,000 per year so I can fix the plumbing of everybody who makes less than that for free,” explains Joe. “It’s always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied government to pass this philosophy as law, and it did pass earlier this year, so now all plumbers have to do business this way. It’s known as 'Joe’s Fair Plumbing Act of 2008.’ Surprised you haven’t heard of it, senator...”
Go read the rest; it’s too good to miss.
Third World County posted Greenie Sheeple which has a video clip from Penn & Teller getting folks to sign a petition banning DiHydorgen Monoxide in order to save the environment.
Mover Mike has a video which answers the question, “Is the recession over?” . I’m not the sharpest pencil in the pencil box when it comes to economics; however, according to the information in this video, if you price the toxic assets of all these banks which are in trouble in real terms, not the BS made up jargon which was instituted in order to confuse the public; then no, the problem which existed before still exists.
Down Under on the Right Side posted a video which explains “Muhammad’s Whorehouse” through the reading of specific lines from the Koran. Is it any wonder why these ignorant wretches blow up their fellow beings in order to escape into such a promised carnal state?
Stop the ACLU has one, “Surprise! Global Warming Data Missing from CRU” . All that data which had been requested under the Freedom of Information Act in order to replicate the models by scientists outside the close knit circle of fear mongering Climate Warming Religionists known as the Climate Research Unit.
I love the way the article starts, “Or, as The Register puts it “
While I’m on the subject, stop what you’re doing and purchase Ian Plimer’s, Heaven & Earth: Global Warming – The Missing Science . The book makes for a difficult read, lots of footnotes and scientific charts and data; however, the information contained makes it a must read for anyone looking for reason in this manufactured “crisis”.
I should mention the on going crime scene two doors down the street. I have no facts, no information other than what the sheriff’s deputy told me as I stood at the edge of the yellow taped off barrier, “I can’t tell you anything at this time; but, let’s put it this way, you and your neighbor will have plenty to talk about over coffee.” Boy, that was helpful.
There were police cars blocking the street, one of these patrol cars had witnesses in the back seat. There was a “plain wrapper” parked in front of my house, a crime scene specialty unit, a sheriff’s officer taking lots of close up pictures of what ever was in the front yard, another sheriff’s officer with a metal detector going over the blades of grass in a search pattern and a patch of what looked like blood on the driveway next to the house. I’ve no idea what happened; but I seriously doubt it had anything to do with a home owner’s association complaint regarding the yard being in need of mowing. News at eleven…
Friday, August 14, 2009
Silent Encroachment by Those in Power…
Do you really want to know, really? Listen to what Ronald Reagan had to say about the skillful and never ending advance of Socialism here in America through Medical reformation. Thanks to Glenn Beck and many others for sharing this 10 minute history lesson.
“One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it. Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it.”
I would hope, as did Ronald Reagan, the American people would unhesitatingly vote against it; however, there are so many living under the delusion that being “poor” is the same as being entitled to a portion of someone else’s hard earned money. There are plenty who would trade liberty for security, yours and theirs, because they never understood that you can’t get something for nothing. Wake up America or we will have to explain what used to be a land of liberty and choice to the next generation, hanging our heads in shame for letting it slip away.
“One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it. Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it.”
I would hope, as did Ronald Reagan, the American people would unhesitatingly vote against it; however, there are so many living under the delusion that being “poor” is the same as being entitled to a portion of someone else’s hard earned money. There are plenty who would trade liberty for security, yours and theirs, because they never understood that you can’t get something for nothing. Wake up America or we will have to explain what used to be a land of liberty and choice to the next generation, hanging our heads in shame for letting it slip away.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Why bother asking?
I found this video interview over at Neal Boortz’ website . I should toss in that it hardly qualifies as an interview since the fellow asking the questions, Lawrence O'Donnell, continues to talk over and shout down his guest, potential Senatorial candidate Peter Schiff, the entire time. Inexcusable, steam rolled and rude come to mind; Lawrence O'Donnell needs to have someone teach him some manners back behind the barn.
Can you imagine for even half a nano-second switching Peter Schiff and substituting Barbara Boxer or Nancy Pelosi? No, I didn’t think so.
Can you imagine for even half a nano-second switching Peter Schiff and substituting Barbara Boxer or Nancy Pelosi? No, I didn’t think so.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
This is filed under humor…I think
I’ve seen this in my email twice already; don’t know who originated it, thanks all the same.
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, 'If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?'
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, 'Sure, Why not?'
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra high resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany.
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full color, 150 page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP Laser-Jet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, 'You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.'
'That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,' says Bud.He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then the Bud says to the young man, 'Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?'
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, 'Okay, why not?'
'You're a Congressman for the US Government,' says Bud.'Wow! That's correct,' says the yuppie, 'but how did you guess that?'
'No guessing required,' answered the cowboy. 'You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows... This is a herd of sheep. Now give me back my dog.'
Will your GPS do this?
Something similar to this made the rounds a while back but it is still good for a bit of a chuckle.
Lastly, and on a similar note, if you’re as thrilled as I am about the direction our government is headed, you’ll love this next humorous link . Thanks and a tip of the hat to my friend Richard for sharing.
I better shut down; the pizza delivery guy just drove up…
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein. If that makes sense then Vote NO INCUMBENT next time around.
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, 'If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?'
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, 'Sure, Why not?'
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra high resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany.
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full color, 150 page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP Laser-Jet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, 'You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.'
'That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,' says Bud.He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then the Bud says to the young man, 'Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?'
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, 'Okay, why not?'
'You're a Congressman for the US Government,' says Bud.'Wow! That's correct,' says the yuppie, 'but how did you guess that?'
'No guessing required,' answered the cowboy. 'You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows... This is a herd of sheep. Now give me back my dog.'
Will your GPS do this?
Something similar to this made the rounds a while back but it is still good for a bit of a chuckle.
Lastly, and on a similar note, if you’re as thrilled as I am about the direction our government is headed, you’ll love this next humorous link . Thanks and a tip of the hat to my friend Richard for sharing.
I better shut down; the pizza delivery guy just drove up…
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein. If that makes sense then Vote NO INCUMBENT next time around.
Friday, August 07, 2009
Ink Heart on DVD
My daughter Jennifer let me borrow her copy of Ink Heart on DVD. I wasn’t familiar with the movie title; however, she gave me a run down of the basic story line and I was intrigued. I visited their website and found that it is part of a trilogy which I intend to purchase in book form; it isn’t often I find truly original writing.
“Based on the best-selling book by Cornelia Funke, “Inkheart” is a fantasy adventure that sends a father and daughter on a quest through worlds both real and imagined.
Mortimer “Mo” Folchart (Brendan Fraser) and his 12-year-old daughter, Meggie (Eliza Hope Bennett), share a passion for books. What they also share is an extraordinary gift for bringing characters from books to life when they read aloud. But there is a danger: when a character is brought to life from a book, a real person disappears into its pages…”
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Cash for Clunker Honesty Clause?
When you purchase almost any item the seller must be straight forward and explain the actual benefits of any given product; just part of honesty in advertizing. Why isn’t this approach applied to the Cash for Clunkers cash give away program?
There should be a warning statement, much like on the side of a pack of cigarettes, something along the lines, “Caution: The tax money used in the Cash for Clunkers program has been obtained at the point of a gun from fellow citizens. The actual benefit to the environment is minimal and the long term detriment to society has not been calculated.”
The government has mandated the total destruction of the motor and drive train to insure that nothing gets recycled. Does this sound a bit odd considering how recycling saves both energy and natural resources?
It all looks like smoke and mirrors to me; spend money you didn’t earn by taking the government handout money they stole from your neighbor to save the planet from cars that emit CO2 and cause global warming according to falsified data and computer generated models obtained from the EPA who is telling government they need to be more honest. Yup, sounds like our government; business as we have come to expect.
There should be a warning statement, much like on the side of a pack of cigarettes, something along the lines, “Caution: The tax money used in the Cash for Clunkers program has been obtained at the point of a gun from fellow citizens. The actual benefit to the environment is minimal and the long term detriment to society has not been calculated.”
The government has mandated the total destruction of the motor and drive train to insure that nothing gets recycled. Does this sound a bit odd considering how recycling saves both energy and natural resources?
“Under the program, the government is advising car dealers to replace a trade-in's engine oil with a lethal sodium silicate solution and run the engine to ruin it before giving to selling the car to a scrap dealer.
The Automotive Recycler's Association says that means more waste, since the damage prevents the resale of parts like pistons as well as smaller profits for scrap yards, since it can cost $700 to $1,200 to process a car, including transport and removing toxic items like mercury.
ARA Executive Vice President Michael Wilson said that recycling auto parts saves 85 million gallons of oil per year in energy savings alone.
The two parts most in demand on the resale market are the engine block and the drive train, accounting for 60 percent of used-parts sales, he said. But when cars are scrapped, the engine block is destroyed by the silicon, and the drive train can be sold only under certain conditions.”
It all looks like smoke and mirrors to me; spend money you didn’t earn by taking the government handout money they stole from your neighbor to save the planet from cars that emit CO2 and cause global warming according to falsified data and computer generated models obtained from the EPA who is telling government they need to be more honest. Yup, sounds like our government; business as we have come to expect.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Locksmith Award 2009
Opening my email this morning, “We are pleased to announce…”, oh please, not another award. I remember the first time I walked into the bus station; I must have one of those faces, “Wanna’ buy a watch, Kid?” The same hold true, even in the age of email. “Wanna’ buy a neat looking award?”
I never bothered to read how much the locksmith award plaque was going to cost, not to mention shipping and handling.
I never bothered to read how much the locksmith award plaque was going to cost, not to mention shipping and handling.
Over thirty years of being in business has taught me an important lesson; the awards I’m after have faces on them; Franklin, Jackson and Hamilton.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Skeletons in the Closet
There’s an AP story out of Illinois about a resourceful group of cemetery folks selling the same piece of ground over and over in order to increase profits. They would dig up the previous “tenant”, toss the old bones and make the plot good as new for the next poor soul, pardon the pun.
Detectives working the case actually found one skeleton wearing a suit, presumably the one he was buried in. I’m surprised they didn’t try to resell the suit on eBay.
“We’ve only done very, very shallow digging there and have found a substantial amount of bones,” Dart said. “Just below that level is dead grass so it almost appears as if things were just dumped on top of existing grass.”
I have to wonder, how many of the other skeletons were wearing, “Obama” t-shirts? Anyone with a sense of history knows, “dead people always vote straight Democrat”.
One last observation; as I was about to post, my iTunes was playing, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, the Canadian Brass version. Have I got timing or what!
Detectives working the case actually found one skeleton wearing a suit, presumably the one he was buried in. I’m surprised they didn’t try to resell the suit on eBay.
“We’ve only done very, very shallow digging there and have found a substantial amount of bones,” Dart said. “Just below that level is dead grass so it almost appears as if things were just dumped on top of existing grass.”
I have to wonder, how many of the other skeletons were wearing, “Obama” t-shirts? Anyone with a sense of history knows, “dead people always vote straight Democrat”.
One last observation; as I was about to post, my iTunes was playing, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, the Canadian Brass version. Have I got timing or what!
1st Amendment Double Standard?
A FoxNews item explained how rapper “T.O.” plead No Contest to threatening a pair of Lakeland police officers in his song, “Kill me a cop” .
“The 20-year-old rapper, whose real name is Antavio Johnson, began a 2-year prison term July 24.”
So what’s the problem; recalling how each and every person standing before a judge is offered an extensive opportunity to hear, “You understand the by pleading No Contest you will be found guilty…the you are doing so of your own free will without threat…” and so on.
““He wrote a song, the song is an expression, the First Amendment protects it,” attorney Joe Registrato said in the FOX affiliate’s report on MyFOXTampaBay.com.”
Sorry Joe, had your client identified the President of the United States as the target of his anger, “I’m gonna kill Obama” or some similar phrase in his song you can bet he’d have been hauled off for threatening the POTUS regardless of his inability to carry out such threats.
As for threatening specific individuals being protected speech under the 1st Amendment; I hardly think so. This gets back to the original foundation of thought; where do Rights come from? Rights come from God and it hardly sounds reasonable that God would have included threatening another of His children with bodily injury or death as part of “free speech”. The same holds true for pornography or what some call artistic expression; the opportunity to spit in the face of society in the name of “freedom of expression”; horse hockey!
I’ll likely have my file reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security for mentioning the POTUS in this article, some computer that goes over each and every printed word on the internet will flag me as a potential threat. Who knows, T. O. and T. F. could be cell mates one day, serving time for serious threat against another; I’d have to kill him since I can’t stand Rap.
“The 20-year-old rapper, whose real name is Antavio Johnson, began a 2-year prison term July 24.”
So what’s the problem; recalling how each and every person standing before a judge is offered an extensive opportunity to hear, “You understand the by pleading No Contest you will be found guilty…the you are doing so of your own free will without threat…” and so on.
““He wrote a song, the song is an expression, the First Amendment protects it,” attorney Joe Registrato said in the FOX affiliate’s report on MyFOXTampaBay.com.”
Sorry Joe, had your client identified the President of the United States as the target of his anger, “I’m gonna kill Obama” or some similar phrase in his song you can bet he’d have been hauled off for threatening the POTUS regardless of his inability to carry out such threats.
As for threatening specific individuals being protected speech under the 1st Amendment; I hardly think so. This gets back to the original foundation of thought; where do Rights come from? Rights come from God and it hardly sounds reasonable that God would have included threatening another of His children with bodily injury or death as part of “free speech”. The same holds true for pornography or what some call artistic expression; the opportunity to spit in the face of society in the name of “freedom of expression”; horse hockey!
I’ll likely have my file reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security for mentioning the POTUS in this article, some computer that goes over each and every printed word on the internet will flag me as a potential threat. Who knows, T. O. and T. F. could be cell mates one day, serving time for serious threat against another; I’d have to kill him since I can’t stand Rap.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Should Have Washed the Truck
We had a 20% chance of scattered showers in the Houston area today; but as Maxwell Smart would have said, “Missed me by this much.” I could have washed the truck when I passed one of my regular car dealerships; but I could see the thunderstorm off to the north moving our way; should have washed the truck, we never saw a drop of it.
I did get out the lawn mower for the front yard this afternoon. It was better than watching the Astros do a face plant at Wrigley Field for the second day in a row. It’s a good thing the wind was going the other way; they were stinking up the place.
I made keys for a woman this morning, a friend of one of my regular accounts so I went easy on the price and it was still expensive since it was a transponder key which had to be programmed to her Jeep Liberty. She already knew the price I quoted was better than she’d get elsewhere, all the same she felt compelled to cry on my shoulder about how she just got out of the hospital, her dog was sick, she’d been robbed at her house, somebody stole her purse and on and on. I guess if she was any worse off I’d feel bad and give her a better price; not gonna’ happen.
I asked her, tongue in cheek, “Would it make you feel any better if I punched you in the nose, let the blood run for a bit and then cut the key?” I don’t think she had a sense of humor as the words landed on her ear. I had to laugh for the both of us until she figured out that I was messing with her, trying to let her know that it could be worse.
By the time I arrived to do the job she’d mellowed enough to smile as I handed her my business card. Life is good when you stop to appreciate it. I hope her day went better than it started out; I know mine did.
I did get out the lawn mower for the front yard this afternoon. It was better than watching the Astros do a face plant at Wrigley Field for the second day in a row. It’s a good thing the wind was going the other way; they were stinking up the place.
I made keys for a woman this morning, a friend of one of my regular accounts so I went easy on the price and it was still expensive since it was a transponder key which had to be programmed to her Jeep Liberty. She already knew the price I quoted was better than she’d get elsewhere, all the same she felt compelled to cry on my shoulder about how she just got out of the hospital, her dog was sick, she’d been robbed at her house, somebody stole her purse and on and on. I guess if she was any worse off I’d feel bad and give her a better price; not gonna’ happen.
I asked her, tongue in cheek, “Would it make you feel any better if I punched you in the nose, let the blood run for a bit and then cut the key?” I don’t think she had a sense of humor as the words landed on her ear. I had to laugh for the both of us until she figured out that I was messing with her, trying to let her know that it could be worse.
By the time I arrived to do the job she’d mellowed enough to smile as I handed her my business card. Life is good when you stop to appreciate it. I hope her day went better than it started out; I know mine did.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tanning Beds Could be Your Final Destination
If you’ve seen the movie, Final Destination, think it was the second one, then you know to avoid tanning beds at all cost. The two pretty young women getting fried when the temperature gauge got messed up and no way out because the door got bolted; yuk! If you think about it, they never had a chance; after all, look at the name of the movie.
Then again, scientists have been warning everyone for years that tanning beds and the ultraviolet light used to create those tans are “probable carcinogens.” The AP article on FoxNews website went on to say how young folks, those under 30, should avoid tanning beds since their chances of getting skin or eye cancer increase by 75%. I know a lot of young people enjoy gambling; but 75% odds isn’t gambling; that’s more like a death wish.
Was Charles Bronson in any of the Final Destination movies or did he stick to doing Death Wish? I can’t remember; been out in the sun too long.
Then again, scientists have been warning everyone for years that tanning beds and the ultraviolet light used to create those tans are “probable carcinogens.” The AP article on FoxNews website went on to say how young folks, those under 30, should avoid tanning beds since their chances of getting skin or eye cancer increase by 75%. I know a lot of young people enjoy gambling; but 75% odds isn’t gambling; that’s more like a death wish.
Was Charles Bronson in any of the Final Destination movies or did he stick to doing Death Wish? I can’t remember; been out in the sun too long.
Monday, July 27, 2009
DVD Removal, Scalpel Please…
Lucy and I took a quick trip out to visit my folks in Florida this past weekend. We flew out Saturday morning to West Palm Beach, picked up our rental car and drove up to Vero in time for lunch. Dad set us up at the Holiday Inn with a room facing the ocean, a couple of patio chairs and a small table where we could enjoy the view. We met for dinner and kept things simple. We stayed all day Sunday, having breakfast and dinner with my folks and were back in Houston at 8:00am Monday in time to pick up some business; provided the phone rings, so we only missed one day of work.
We had plenty of time to visit without wearing anyone out, tough to do when you’re away from them so long. I noticed my mom had the La Boheme DVD we’d sent sitting on a table in the entry way; not exactly looking the way it should as I inquired, “Did you get a chance to enjoy it?”
There was something not quite right as I picked it up, mom looked at her shoes and I knew she had not gotten that far. The protective plastic which is part of the DVD case was missing which meant the printed jacket cover no longer was being held to the case. Knowing my folks as I do, I started to laugh. The plastic had not been ripped off; no, it had been carefully, almost lovingly removed in such a way as to make you wonder how it had been removed without leaving the slightest evidence of trauma, rough edge or burr.
“I couldn’t figure out how to get the case open so I started trimming; but it still wouldn’t open.” This woman was a surgical nurse, worked in the operating room handling scalpels and other tools of destruction. She never said how she’d attacked the “challenge”; but that DVD was somewhere inside, under the jacket cover as she removed a layer at a time, just as a surgeon would have gone at it where it alive.
I took another DVD jacket and switched the printed covers so La Boheme is now “whole”, its jacket once again protected by a thin plastic film. Mom got to enjoy the opera as I set it up to play on my laptop; her DVD player is hooked up to dad’s television and it was time for the ball game. I’ll find one of our not so great DVD’s and do yet another swap.
Later that evening when we met at the Manatee, a nice seafood restaurant on the Point, they told me they had my laptop in the trunk of dad’s car. Mom couldn’t figure out how to get the DVD to eject when the opera ended. I let out a breath slowly, remembering how she’d taken on the challenge of the DVD jacket. I was lucky, the laptop was still intact; she’d turned it upside down, sideways and never figured out where the DVD was hidden so the scalpel was never used this time.
It’s probably a good thing they don’t have a computer; books they’re good at, you turn a page and read, turn a page and read. Note to self: Remind me not to buy them a Kindle .
Friday, July 24, 2009
A Gnome There Wasn’t
Lewis Padgett wrote a book many years ago, A Gnome There Was , a collection of wonderfully written short stories. I was fortunate to obtain a well used copy for my library and bring it out now and again to read to my grandchildren.
One of the short stories included tells about a fellow who, upon entering a mine uninvited, gets a first hand experience of free flight at precisely the same moment a blast of dynamite goes off, magically transforming him from human to gnome and all that goes with Nid’s Law. If you have the opportunity you might enjoy the short read in a library or perhaps on some internet site since the book has been out of print long enough to call it a collector’s item.
A couple of years ago I bought a replacement wrought iron bench for Lucy on Mother’s Day, the old bench having rotted away. I included a pair of red capped gnomes, yard ornaments to dress up an otherwise drab green area around the bench.
The other day while mowing the grass it dawned on me, the gnomes were no longer there. Someone had stolen a pair of yard gnome ornaments and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them. It might have been a year ago or last week; but each time I’d mowed the yard you’d have thought they would have been missed, not so.
Having read the story and the warnings about messing with gnomes, hope who ever stole them is prepared for the payback. Gnomes can get pretty ugly, especially to humans.
One of the short stories included tells about a fellow who, upon entering a mine uninvited, gets a first hand experience of free flight at precisely the same moment a blast of dynamite goes off, magically transforming him from human to gnome and all that goes with Nid’s Law. If you have the opportunity you might enjoy the short read in a library or perhaps on some internet site since the book has been out of print long enough to call it a collector’s item.
A couple of years ago I bought a replacement wrought iron bench for Lucy on Mother’s Day, the old bench having rotted away. I included a pair of red capped gnomes, yard ornaments to dress up an otherwise drab green area around the bench.
The other day while mowing the grass it dawned on me, the gnomes were no longer there. Someone had stolen a pair of yard gnome ornaments and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen them. It might have been a year ago or last week; but each time I’d mowed the yard you’d have thought they would have been missed, not so.
Having read the story and the warnings about messing with gnomes, hope who ever stole them is prepared for the payback. Gnomes can get pretty ugly, especially to humans.
What Have I Done?
Over the years I’ve grown to respect many folks who don’t share my political or religious leanings; the expressions, exchange of thoughts and emotions are what make life interesting. I’d rather engage in conversation with someone who strongly disagrees with my point of view than with some milk toast fence sitter too afraid to have an opinion; what a waste of time.
That having been said, the last scene from The Bridge on the River Kwai comes to mind as I hear some of my friends defend or even jump on the band wagon, the progressive band wagon which is destroying America. Alec Guinness, more accurately his character, is standing below the bridge, that magnificent structure which could not have been accomplished without his help. He senses something is wrong, something which might interfere with the “grand opening” of “his bridge”. Over night the level of the river had gone down and, after having followed the exposed detonation wire, he takes his hat off as the reality of the situation hits him, “What have I done?”, a realization that all his efforts, altruistic as they were, have been aiding the enemy.
Unfortunately for us here in reality, falling on the detonator to blow up the bridge will not make the huge debt which has already been accrued go away. The admission that we might have made a slight error in calculating unemployment figures, a slight error in the overall effect of multi-trillion dollar deficit spending, a slight error in calculating the effects of Cap and Trade and the negative effect that will kill off incentive to grow the economy, the quality of health care once nationalized health care destroys private sector insurance along with government managed and rationed medical treatment go into effect; all these progressive alterations from the Founder's concepts for freedoms and individual liberties will be of no avail.
“But the sun is still shining…” as if the steadily eroding cliff we are standing upon will continue to support us forever. The solid ground of our foundation is cracking even as I write, “But the sun is still shining”. The sun was still shining while Noah built the ark, as the rains fell, Noah built the ark; even as the ark began to float there must have been some clinging to the idea that not too long ago the sun was shining. The damage will be so enormous as to place an entire nation into servitude, debtor’s prison if you will, to nations which are not our friends and in fact are our enemies.
Here’s the short clip from the movie which presents the idea I wish to generate, “What have we done to America, to freedom and God given individual rights. All we wanted to do was to help our fellow man and instead; we’ve shackled them with trillions of dollars in debt, have we made them permanent slaves? My God, what have we done?” (Apologies in advance for the required advertisement which precedes the movie clip.)
The concerns I have for America’s future have me more than a little unsettled as I watch what I consider ruinous if not traitorous leadership from both sides of the political spectrum figure out ways to spend taxpayer’s funds at break neck speed as if there were a bottomless pit from which to gather such funding. We don’t have the money! Stop spending money we don’t have under the delusion that it will miraculously manifest itself at some future date.
Many of my political beliefs are tied in directly with my religious beliefs; imagine that. The Plan of Salvation , the Plan of Happiness, call it what you will, “…is the fulness of the gospel. It includes the Creation, the Fall, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and all the laws, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel. Moral agency, the ability to choose and act for ourselves, is also essential in Heavenly Father's plan. Because of this plan, we can be perfected through the Atonement, receive a fulness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God. Our family relationships can last throughout the eternities.”
Included in the American foundations of life, a fundamental building block for all the rights granted unto men is the idea of Agency, the ability to choose and act for ourselves. Agency, individual choice is part of our founding documents, from the Declaration of Independence on through the Constitution and Bill of Rights. This is what America is, a defined principle of the individual human as the most important part of society, not the society which governs the individual; and yet, as we are finding out, government has found a way to grow to a point where the individual with all his God given agency would seem almost an insignificant obstacle in the way of progress.
If we do not put a stop to the entitlement mentality, the idea that we can have something for nothing or that we can provide everything to everyone without having to pay for it then our experiment in self government will come to a screeching halt. I keep hearing how we will get all this money from the rich, those evil rich. Is this the America you want to live in, a place where you have to steal from your neighbor, take that which your neighbor earned through the use of his intelligence and hard work? Is this the land of promise that God saved for the righteous or is this the coming around of the prosperity cycle, that part where we have drunk ourselves into a stupor and deserve the bitter bonds which must accompany such riotous living?
That having been said, the last scene from The Bridge on the River Kwai comes to mind as I hear some of my friends defend or even jump on the band wagon, the progressive band wagon which is destroying America. Alec Guinness, more accurately his character, is standing below the bridge, that magnificent structure which could not have been accomplished without his help. He senses something is wrong, something which might interfere with the “grand opening” of “his bridge”. Over night the level of the river had gone down and, after having followed the exposed detonation wire, he takes his hat off as the reality of the situation hits him, “What have I done?”, a realization that all his efforts, altruistic as they were, have been aiding the enemy.
Unfortunately for us here in reality, falling on the detonator to blow up the bridge will not make the huge debt which has already been accrued go away. The admission that we might have made a slight error in calculating unemployment figures, a slight error in the overall effect of multi-trillion dollar deficit spending, a slight error in calculating the effects of Cap and Trade and the negative effect that will kill off incentive to grow the economy, the quality of health care once nationalized health care destroys private sector insurance along with government managed and rationed medical treatment go into effect; all these progressive alterations from the Founder's concepts for freedoms and individual liberties will be of no avail.
“But the sun is still shining…” as if the steadily eroding cliff we are standing upon will continue to support us forever. The solid ground of our foundation is cracking even as I write, “But the sun is still shining”. The sun was still shining while Noah built the ark, as the rains fell, Noah built the ark; even as the ark began to float there must have been some clinging to the idea that not too long ago the sun was shining. The damage will be so enormous as to place an entire nation into servitude, debtor’s prison if you will, to nations which are not our friends and in fact are our enemies.
Here’s the short clip from the movie which presents the idea I wish to generate, “What have we done to America, to freedom and God given individual rights. All we wanted to do was to help our fellow man and instead; we’ve shackled them with trillions of dollars in debt, have we made them permanent slaves? My God, what have we done?” (Apologies in advance for the required advertisement which precedes the movie clip.)
The concerns I have for America’s future have me more than a little unsettled as I watch what I consider ruinous if not traitorous leadership from both sides of the political spectrum figure out ways to spend taxpayer’s funds at break neck speed as if there were a bottomless pit from which to gather such funding. We don’t have the money! Stop spending money we don’t have under the delusion that it will miraculously manifest itself at some future date.
Many of my political beliefs are tied in directly with my religious beliefs; imagine that. The Plan of Salvation , the Plan of Happiness, call it what you will, “…is the fulness of the gospel. It includes the Creation, the Fall, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and all the laws, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel. Moral agency, the ability to choose and act for ourselves, is also essential in Heavenly Father's plan. Because of this plan, we can be perfected through the Atonement, receive a fulness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God. Our family relationships can last throughout the eternities.”
Included in the American foundations of life, a fundamental building block for all the rights granted unto men is the idea of Agency, the ability to choose and act for ourselves. Agency, individual choice is part of our founding documents, from the Declaration of Independence on through the Constitution and Bill of Rights. This is what America is, a defined principle of the individual human as the most important part of society, not the society which governs the individual; and yet, as we are finding out, government has found a way to grow to a point where the individual with all his God given agency would seem almost an insignificant obstacle in the way of progress.
If we do not put a stop to the entitlement mentality, the idea that we can have something for nothing or that we can provide everything to everyone without having to pay for it then our experiment in self government will come to a screeching halt. I keep hearing how we will get all this money from the rich, those evil rich. Is this the America you want to live in, a place where you have to steal from your neighbor, take that which your neighbor earned through the use of his intelligence and hard work? Is this the land of promise that God saved for the righteous or is this the coming around of the prosperity cycle, that part where we have drunk ourselves into a stupor and deserve the bitter bonds which must accompany such riotous living?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thirty Eight Years
We went to Bo-Lee for dinner to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary a while ago. We got married a little after seven in the evening; guess that makes it official now. Lucy posted this same picture as a Facebook entry earlier, a snapshot in time as we’d only been married a few minutes earlier and were going to meet with all our friends at the wedding reception they’d prepared for us.
How do you explain thirty eight years of shared experiences? I don’t think you can. We started off with a laugh the very first day on our honeymoon. Lucy’s watch quit working and we thought it was about 9 or so in the morning. We went downstairs at the Hotel Galvez restaurant to have breakfast. The waiter explained how they only had a lunch menu since it was after one in the afternoon; then threw out, “are you here on your honeymoon?”, smiling at two people who had no cares, much less what time it was.
I could mention how I had to ask “what was that” the first time Lucy cooked steak; a real mistake. I could bring up the time Lucy accidentally spilled a tin containing sewing pins on the floor, how I was helping pick them up when she thought it would be fun to stick me with one of them; I let her pick the rest up by herself.
A great date might be flying off to Chicago to take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field or going to locksmith convention and a ride on one of those paddle boats on the Mississippi River where we first enjoyed the thrill of pulling a handle on a slot machine.
We’ve slept out under the stars and listened to a bear explain how it was his lake and that we should get inside the camper for the rest of the night. We warmed our feet with large stones which we’d placed around the campfire, wrapped them in bath towels to place inside the camper only to have them catch fire. There was the coin operated shower at one of national parks, the one which had three settings; boiling hot, scorch and pure steam; that was fun.
I could talk about the time Lucy called to meet her at the hospital when Bonnie’s fever spiked so high it worried even the doctors. Maybe the time Jennifer came home from the mall with her ears pierced only to have one earring come out. It was too painful to replace, the tissue inflamed so as to close off any chance of restoring the sharp metal post and the tears falling because all her friends would call her a freak the next day at school. William has given us a few thrills, maybe the time he had all those ant bites that made him swell up so bad. Being a parent is so much a part of being married all these years.
I’m so grateful for the Elder’s Quorum lesson I got to hear so many years ago, not long after joining the Church. That half hour was spent explaining the importance of “date night” each week, making sure to court your sweetheart as if she might still be undecided in your favor; that’s a sobering thought that should keep us humble.
There’s an image permanently etched in my mind, Lucy standing next to me in one of the Sealing Rooms at the temple in Salt Lake City as we looked at the never ending reflections before us, the mirror in front followed by the mirror behind as it led us into the eternities together hand in hand. I wonder how I’m so fortunate to have my soul mate fill in my weakness with strength and happiness and then I realize; my Father in Heaven knew exactly who was meant for me and I simply acknowledge His great plan.
How do you explain thirty eight years of shared experiences? I don’t think you can. We started off with a laugh the very first day on our honeymoon. Lucy’s watch quit working and we thought it was about 9 or so in the morning. We went downstairs at the Hotel Galvez restaurant to have breakfast. The waiter explained how they only had a lunch menu since it was after one in the afternoon; then threw out, “are you here on your honeymoon?”, smiling at two people who had no cares, much less what time it was.
I could mention how I had to ask “what was that” the first time Lucy cooked steak; a real mistake. I could bring up the time Lucy accidentally spilled a tin containing sewing pins on the floor, how I was helping pick them up when she thought it would be fun to stick me with one of them; I let her pick the rest up by herself.
A great date might be flying off to Chicago to take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field or going to locksmith convention and a ride on one of those paddle boats on the Mississippi River where we first enjoyed the thrill of pulling a handle on a slot machine.
We’ve slept out under the stars and listened to a bear explain how it was his lake and that we should get inside the camper for the rest of the night. We warmed our feet with large stones which we’d placed around the campfire, wrapped them in bath towels to place inside the camper only to have them catch fire. There was the coin operated shower at one of national parks, the one which had three settings; boiling hot, scorch and pure steam; that was fun.
I could talk about the time Lucy called to meet her at the hospital when Bonnie’s fever spiked so high it worried even the doctors. Maybe the time Jennifer came home from the mall with her ears pierced only to have one earring come out. It was too painful to replace, the tissue inflamed so as to close off any chance of restoring the sharp metal post and the tears falling because all her friends would call her a freak the next day at school. William has given us a few thrills, maybe the time he had all those ant bites that made him swell up so bad. Being a parent is so much a part of being married all these years.
I’m so grateful for the Elder’s Quorum lesson I got to hear so many years ago, not long after joining the Church. That half hour was spent explaining the importance of “date night” each week, making sure to court your sweetheart as if she might still be undecided in your favor; that’s a sobering thought that should keep us humble.
There’s an image permanently etched in my mind, Lucy standing next to me in one of the Sealing Rooms at the temple in Salt Lake City as we looked at the never ending reflections before us, the mirror in front followed by the mirror behind as it led us into the eternities together hand in hand. I wonder how I’m so fortunate to have my soul mate fill in my weakness with strength and happiness and then I realize; my Father in Heaven knew exactly who was meant for me and I simply acknowledge His great plan.
Officer Stern, did you really call him a dumb SOB?
I couldn’t think of another way of introducing today’s topic, the continuing saga regarding the arrest of black professor Henry Louis Gates Jr . If you have been locked away in a closet this past week you may not have heard how “Gates, head of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, had broken into his own home after being unable to find his keys upon his return from a trip to China.”
Oh, by the way, unless you are blind and dumb, the photograph supplied with the story shows a Black police officer leading the way after the arrest of Gates had been made; must be one of those Uncle Tom Black police officers.
Barrack Obama, president of the United States of America, in case you weren’t sure which Barrack Obama I was referring to, happens to be friends with professor Gates.
“Obama told reporters Wednesday that this incident shows that there is a long history of racial profiling in the United States.”
Excuse Me! What has one to do with the other, Mr. President? You have nearly no information upon which to make any statement and you plant both feet in your mouth to proclaim this particular incident as an example of racial profiling? In another day, one without politically correctness, that would fall under the category of the pot calling the kettle black.
This past year I read, One Party Classroom by David Horwowitz , a broad brush explanation of the kinds of classes being pushed off as higher education in our colleges and universities. One of the reoccurring courses of study, the names change but the content remains the same, had to do with indoctrination of Black domination through classes similar to those professor Gates has at Harvard. Who is the racist?
Many years ago I was assigned to work traffic at the scene of a major accident in downtown Houston, an accident where a pedestrian stepped off the curb and got hit by a Metro bus. I watched a fellow standing on the corner, oblivious to the investigation off to his right side as he waited impatiently for the pedestrian Walk light; I noticed he was about to step off the curb without noticing yet another Metro bus which would certainly do him damage.
“Stop, you dumb SOB”, only I used the extended full version and made sure he and everyone near him heard my emphatic warning. It worked; he stopped in his tracks and the bus went by without incident. This three piece business suit glared at me, walked over to my position in the middle of the intersection and proceeded to chew me out for yelling at him.
“You don’t know who I am, now do you?” He showed me his business card indicating he worked for the Attorney General’s Office.
“No, Sir; and I really don’t care either. I did keep you from getting run over by a bus you didn’t see because you were too busy to look.”
It really doesn’t matter who you are, black, white or yellow if you get hit by a bus. It wouldn’t matter, at least not to the person who is being prepared at the morgue, whether or not the Walk/Wait light system was in his favor; other factors make that first step a wise move, or, as I so eloquently stated, one of those “Stop, you dumb SOB” kind of moves.
I’ve no excuse for letting such language escape my lips other than to blame a life time of developing just the right words for particular situations; call them technical police terms. It should be noted that some of those terms are actually automotive locksmith terms which serve both professions.
One emergency I was assigned had to do with protecting the efforts of the fire department while they tried to rescue some window washers after their rig broke leaving them dangling off the side of a building downtown. The ladder truck with lights flashing had to park on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to a parking lot.
Wouldn’t you know, a very important individual with a pre-paid monthly parking place in that building wanted to take full use of that space at the same time the firemen were busy saving two lives just above that particular entrance. I stood there without flinching as he continued his attempt to drive past me.
“Ya’ dumb SOB; get on down the road and come back later!” I must have raised my eyebrow just right because he believed I actually would have arrested him on the spot, his gold BMW getting back into traffic as he shook his finger at me and wrote my badge number down.
An hour later, after the window washers had been rescued, I got a call to the office to explain my actions. The good citizen had voiced his displeasure, not so much at being called a dumb SOB; no, he missed an important meeting by not having his VIP parking place available for use. He didn’t give a hoot about the guys dangling by a rope on the side of the building or the firemen risking their lives to rescue them; no, it was all about his business appointment having turned sour by a fire truck parked on the sidewalk and a cop who wouldn’t listen to his perfectly valid reason.
My supervisor smiled, having already figured out the circumstances and probable justification for sending this jerk down the road, “Stern, did you really call him a dumb SOB?” I nodded, sheepishly, for having let inflammatory words annoy yet another fine citizen. Nothing official was entered in my official folder; but this was a couple of years before the advent of Internal Affairs Division. We still had a Sgt. who’d reach into a desk drawer, pull out a roll of toilet paper and hand it to folks wishing to complain about this, that or the other, “Fill this out and leave it on the desk.”
I got a call to the office one other time, supposedly for giving a hard time to a citizen and calling them some racially charged combination of words that included reference to somebody’s dark skinned mother performing a sexually active union. I was at a total loss, trying to remember how such a situation might have come about since I wasn’t used to including racial slurs; simple non-racial insults were generic and worked for any and all dumb SOB’s.
The supervisor knew right away which officer had actually said what may or may not have been said. The complainant kept referring to me as, “that black SOB”. He’d taken the time to write down a badge number; except he’d gotten one number wrong. My badge number was 908 while the presumed correct number was 903 which would have made sense; sounded like something my friend R. D. Anderson, a black police officer, might have said to a dumb SOB who’d gotten in his face.
It’s probably a good thing my retirement came along; don’t think I could have survived in this totally PC environment. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, when talking to the nice police officer, try to remain civil and you won’t get hauled off to jail, or worse, once all the dust settles. Professor Gates still comes off looking like a racist SOB, as does Obama; but if you hadn’t figured that out by now, what kind of dumb SOB are you?
Oh, by the way, unless you are blind and dumb, the photograph supplied with the story shows a Black police officer leading the way after the arrest of Gates had been made; must be one of those Uncle Tom Black police officers.
Barrack Obama, president of the United States of America, in case you weren’t sure which Barrack Obama I was referring to, happens to be friends with professor Gates.
“Obama told reporters Wednesday that this incident shows that there is a long history of racial profiling in the United States.”
Excuse Me! What has one to do with the other, Mr. President? You have nearly no information upon which to make any statement and you plant both feet in your mouth to proclaim this particular incident as an example of racial profiling? In another day, one without politically correctness, that would fall under the category of the pot calling the kettle black.
This past year I read, One Party Classroom by David Horwowitz , a broad brush explanation of the kinds of classes being pushed off as higher education in our colleges and universities. One of the reoccurring courses of study, the names change but the content remains the same, had to do with indoctrination of Black domination through classes similar to those professor Gates has at Harvard. Who is the racist?
Many years ago I was assigned to work traffic at the scene of a major accident in downtown Houston, an accident where a pedestrian stepped off the curb and got hit by a Metro bus. I watched a fellow standing on the corner, oblivious to the investigation off to his right side as he waited impatiently for the pedestrian Walk light; I noticed he was about to step off the curb without noticing yet another Metro bus which would certainly do him damage.
“Stop, you dumb SOB”, only I used the extended full version and made sure he and everyone near him heard my emphatic warning. It worked; he stopped in his tracks and the bus went by without incident. This three piece business suit glared at me, walked over to my position in the middle of the intersection and proceeded to chew me out for yelling at him.
“You don’t know who I am, now do you?” He showed me his business card indicating he worked for the Attorney General’s Office.
“No, Sir; and I really don’t care either. I did keep you from getting run over by a bus you didn’t see because you were too busy to look.”
It really doesn’t matter who you are, black, white or yellow if you get hit by a bus. It wouldn’t matter, at least not to the person who is being prepared at the morgue, whether or not the Walk/Wait light system was in his favor; other factors make that first step a wise move, or, as I so eloquently stated, one of those “Stop, you dumb SOB” kind of moves.
I’ve no excuse for letting such language escape my lips other than to blame a life time of developing just the right words for particular situations; call them technical police terms. It should be noted that some of those terms are actually automotive locksmith terms which serve both professions.
One emergency I was assigned had to do with protecting the efforts of the fire department while they tried to rescue some window washers after their rig broke leaving them dangling off the side of a building downtown. The ladder truck with lights flashing had to park on the sidewalk in front of the entrance to a parking lot.
Wouldn’t you know, a very important individual with a pre-paid monthly parking place in that building wanted to take full use of that space at the same time the firemen were busy saving two lives just above that particular entrance. I stood there without flinching as he continued his attempt to drive past me.
“Ya’ dumb SOB; get on down the road and come back later!” I must have raised my eyebrow just right because he believed I actually would have arrested him on the spot, his gold BMW getting back into traffic as he shook his finger at me and wrote my badge number down.
An hour later, after the window washers had been rescued, I got a call to the office to explain my actions. The good citizen had voiced his displeasure, not so much at being called a dumb SOB; no, he missed an important meeting by not having his VIP parking place available for use. He didn’t give a hoot about the guys dangling by a rope on the side of the building or the firemen risking their lives to rescue them; no, it was all about his business appointment having turned sour by a fire truck parked on the sidewalk and a cop who wouldn’t listen to his perfectly valid reason.
My supervisor smiled, having already figured out the circumstances and probable justification for sending this jerk down the road, “Stern, did you really call him a dumb SOB?” I nodded, sheepishly, for having let inflammatory words annoy yet another fine citizen. Nothing official was entered in my official folder; but this was a couple of years before the advent of Internal Affairs Division. We still had a Sgt. who’d reach into a desk drawer, pull out a roll of toilet paper and hand it to folks wishing to complain about this, that or the other, “Fill this out and leave it on the desk.”
I got a call to the office one other time, supposedly for giving a hard time to a citizen and calling them some racially charged combination of words that included reference to somebody’s dark skinned mother performing a sexually active union. I was at a total loss, trying to remember how such a situation might have come about since I wasn’t used to including racial slurs; simple non-racial insults were generic and worked for any and all dumb SOB’s.
The supervisor knew right away which officer had actually said what may or may not have been said. The complainant kept referring to me as, “that black SOB”. He’d taken the time to write down a badge number; except he’d gotten one number wrong. My badge number was 908 while the presumed correct number was 903 which would have made sense; sounded like something my friend R. D. Anderson, a black police officer, might have said to a dumb SOB who’d gotten in his face.
It’s probably a good thing my retirement came along; don’t think I could have survived in this totally PC environment. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, when talking to the nice police officer, try to remain civil and you won’t get hauled off to jail, or worse, once all the dust settles. Professor Gates still comes off looking like a racist SOB, as does Obama; but if you hadn’t figured that out by now, what kind of dumb SOB are you?
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Dogs and Babies Understand Each Other
Scientists have determined that babies are able to communicate with dogs .
“The study involved 128 infants, with 32 from each of four age groups (6, 12, 18 and 24 months), who had little or no exposure to dogs.”
I don’t want to spoil it by giving away too much of what the article included; however, the folks at Bush's Beans, the same folks who have that beautiful Irish Red Setter in their commercials became concerned when they saw their dog being interviewed by a six month old child.
“The study involved 128 infants, with 32 from each of four age groups (6, 12, 18 and 24 months), who had little or no exposure to dogs.”
I don’t want to spoil it by giving away too much of what the article included; however, the folks at Bush's Beans, the same folks who have that beautiful Irish Red Setter in their commercials became concerned when they saw their dog being interviewed by a six month old child.
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