Most, not all, but most Christians, are rather meek folks.
Using the bible as a standard, instead of Hollywood, Christians circle around it, and try not to stray from it. In fact there are those who not only think that the Constitution is outdated “Ruth Ginsburg for one” they also think that the bible is outdated and needs to be changed. Since God is not sitting at the negotiating table, they are taking it upon themselves to push the envelope to see how far they can push those meek Christians before they rise up.
I would submit to you that is exactly what the Japanese did with Perl Harbor. That did not end well for them if you remember anything of your history.
Christianity is under attack, from not only these folks but some secular liberals who want to give communism another try. Idiots who did not read or learn history….
The 2013 case regarding the Lesbians who sought out a Christian bakery to make them a cake is such a tactic to push the envelope, and bully the Christians. To add further insult to injury, the judge has placed a gag order on the couple, forbidding them to “talk about” this case!
Not only are they being punished for standing up for what they believe, but their first amendment rights are being violated! They are being raped!
The couple lost their argument to this judge who subsequently fined them $135,000.00 as the lesbian couple said and I quote, they were mentally raped!
Are you Fucking Kidding Me!
Let me be perfectly clear about this!
It is not anyone’s business what you do in your bedroom. What you do is between you and your maker. If you happen to be atheistic in thought and “faith,” than you might be surprised when you draw your last breath but… I am not judging you nor will I. Way above my pay grade. No one else should judge you either, or me for that matter..
I have many friends who are gay; I know few, if any who are bullies! That is why I count them as friends. I happen to believe that there is strength in diversity not only of race, but gender, thoughts, mores, and sexual preference. I also have friends who are yes….Democrats! I truly care about all of these folks.
If this case holds, it opens the door for a law suits against the LGBT community as the sword cuts both ways. This country is too damned litigious anyway and now we have people looking to be offended so they can sue… Really??? What happened to good old stopping short in front of someone unexpectedly, and suing for whiplash?
Several other bakeries in the area were approached by reporters who told them they wanted same sex wedding cakes and in no time they found 7 that declined. Were the reporters mentally raped too!?
This couple has been raped by the judicial system, not only in their freedom of speech, but also freedom of religion! I am certain that lawyers will tackle this case and it may end up in the Supreme Court; which is so damned left leaning, that this may be a serious loss for religious freedom.
When you use your sexuality as a weapon, you are by definition a bully!
This couple is doing harm to the LGBT community by pressing this, and the backlash will come.
Public opinion with stories like this will no doubt further divide this country, and cause our eyes to be taken off the things that need to be focused on like foreign policy, and the lack of any clear direction from the white house.
You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.
If you look at their front page of the website, there is scripture on the front page! As the matter of fact their whole site is full of scripture. Maybe they should have gone to a Muslim bakery to see how that went for them.
I am going to follow this story as nobody should be bullied.
Hey future bakeries approached by folks like this, here is a tip… Tell them sure, take their order and then go to the grocery store and have them make a cake as was ordered. Mark it up 75% and wish them well. Order it from another bakery if you feel so strongly about it.
They get a cake, you didn’t physically make it; and no one knows the difference.
While I feel that this whole thing is a travesty of justice, I would really like to know what the kids that have the bakery truly had a problem with. I feel like there are facts to this case that are simply not making the news.
It is a cake for god’s sake! They didn’t ask you to officiate, bless or ordain them, just make them a cake. If you truly love the sinner and not the sin, what is the big deal? Is it worth all of this? I personally think you played right into their hands, and opened the door for copy cats.
It would seem that many of you liked it but, some “at least one” took issue with the example of the bathroom… 🙂
To me that example was perfect in that you have all heard this before or maybe said it, “Find a bathroom that looks clean.” This is said as you are motoring down the road at some speed at or slightly above posted limits! That phrase or statement always made me chuckle as in, “how the hell do I know if the bathroom will be acceptable to your standards from this distance at this speed?
If you are guilty of this statement, I promise I am not picking on you… I actually know what you mean; as men sometimes must sit too…..
I don’t understand however; why some will not lift the seat to pee and instead, pee all over the seat and leave! It is my fervent wish that all who did or do that have to clean someone else’s pee off of the seat, so they can sit and relieve themselves.
Anyway, enough on my bathroom story.
Creative writing is definitely an art form as I have spoken about in the last post on writing.
I mentioned my happy place.
Before I write, I sometimes will find my happy place, and ponder on it for a while.
My Happy Place
Under a huge tree, up on a hill overlooking the countryside, the sun has risen enough to warm the tall grasses and dry the morning dew that dampened my feet a short while ago as I wondered up the hill to greet the sun from its slumber. The sky is now a cerulean blue, after shifting from its former oranges and yellows; sporting a few wispy clouds, lazily floating by. A slight breeze caresses my face and carries with it the scent of salt water, from the beach down the hill.
In the distance, there are a few people setting up their blankets and umbrellas, as they prepare to spend the day collecting shells, digging their toes into the sand, and watching the seabirds call out to the wind, in eager anticipation of their next meal.
My morning watching the sunrise has ended, I too seek the company of strangers, as well as the feel of the sand between my toes; and the warm water circling between my legs and eventually immersing my body in its warm embrace.
I watch from a distance the young families building sand castles with their children, remembering with fondness the days of doing the same with mine. The sand sticks to my feet up to my ankles as I sit on my lounge, peering into the distant waves as they meet the sky.
A shriek from a young child brings me back to the here and now, as a small crab scuttle’s by the imaginary moat; protecting the castle against all invaders. While the white winged dragons in the sky see the invader as lunch; they too are afraid to get too close to the giants wearing pink frilly armor. They seem interested in the morsel as well. The dragons call out to the giants but to no avail, the invader of the castle has been captured and placed into a small vessel, held by the giants for examination. The giants speak in a language that only they can understand, as it is full of squeals and single syllable utterances that the taller giants seem to understand.
The dragons return to the skies, looking for less protected invaders. The giants quiet down from the excitement. My thoughts once more return to the waves, the clouds dancing above us in a slow waltz, while a ballerina does a slow pirouette in front the spot light, which immediately cools my skin and brings me once again to the here and now.
Looking around, I see more families and others like myself who are there to simply enjoy the beach. Some come as couples and others by themselves, and of course there are those with stories in paper format to lose their selves into, while allowing the sun to warm parts of them that rarely is seen by the sun, much less others.
Very soon, their openness comforts me, as my attention turns back to act II: the ballerina morphs into a butterfly! The other dancers on stage also morph into dogs, and rabbits, and even a shark! The audience calls out to them, as they too perform amazing acts of aerobatics, not be outdone by the vaporous ghost of the sky.
The spotlight is now bright upon me, and the others who have joined me. The smell of coconuts and other potions punctuates the fluidity of my thoughts. I decide to lay on my tummy and allow the sun to tan my back for a while, as I drift off into a deep slumber, with the sounds of the ocean, the birds and the children to lull me into another world, where my thoughts are not constrained by anything physical. The sounds actually guide my imagination to other worlds, occasionally bringing me back to this one, as I take stock of my own lotions, and my growing desire for food as somebody has decided to light a grill.
I too must return to the real world, and it is this grill and the thought of a sizzling parcel of meat that drives me to sober from my thoughts, wipe the now dried sand from my feet, and leave this paradise for other adventures, in other realities.
May you too find your happy place, and revere in its existence. When in the real world your happy place is always there, look for it. It might be in the small flowers attached to tiniest of plants, or simply above you; inviting you to take part as they too dance and entertain.
There are too many books that I have trudged through in my life to tolerate bad writing. Too many good books exist and let’s face it, how many books does one have time to read in the very short time that we have here?
As a writer, I craft the story much like so many other writers in that there are twist and turns, and I try to throw predictability out the window. One of my friends compared my “style” to Stephen King! I am not sure that is a good thing but, it is what it is.
I try not to worry with technicalities as I write. Those will get sorted out in the editing phase.
When I write a story, it is as if someone somewhere out in the “ethos” is dictating it to me. As I write, I too am enthralled with the story. The story takes on a life of its own and therefor interruptions cannot be tolerated.
When I craft the words, I am painting a picture. As an artist I know all too well what has to go into a painting to make it interesting so, when I paint with words, I too know how to create a picture that will form in the readers head.
From the dead flies in the windowsill, the flickering fluorescent light that comes to life with a snapping buzzing sound, and the smell of an un-flushed toilette; you suddenly remember each and every “not clean” bathroom that you have been forced to use, at some time in your life.
Even my beloved muse, a Russian Blue who has yet to learn the meaning of “no,” has to leave as he too disturbs the process, by trying to chase the words as they trudge across the screen.
One of my writer friends goes off to remote cabins and waits for “the mood” to strike, and then sleep will not get into her way, as the thought process gels, the pages turn into marching characters and symbols that systematically stop and start as the process of transformation of thought to text, occurs.
Many of you here who follow me are writers, and it is to you who I am addressing the following.
We share a common bond and while we don’t personally “know” one another, we do know each other through this medium.
“If you want to get to know someone, you read their book.”
While the story may be as fictional as “Never-Never Land,” it is also, to many of us, our “happy place.”
Character development is a struggle for me. As a man I can develop the female character and paint a nice picture. Realistically, I have developed her from what I “see” and know of women. Doing so for the male character is somewhat of a challenge as I don’t look at men, as women do. I can however; capture the logic and thought processes of men much easier, as I am one. The emotional side of the female is a stretch for me.
There are all kinds of readers out there, so character development should be such that whoever is reading your words, should be able to “know” your character.
As a writer, I feel a personal loss when I “kill off” a character. As a reader, I feel that same loss when the book is over.
Currently, I am working on a trilogy and it is because the story material is that entertaining to me, that I could not end it with one book. The characters have taken a life unto their own; and I suspect most of the writers out there know exactly what I am talking about.
Writing cannot be forced.
Mechanically you can write and if you remember your English class’s where that was the case, the stories that you wrote were for the purpose of dissecting your usage of nouns and verbs and punctuation, not for creativity. Sentence structure was so damned important!
Screw the rules!
Weaving a tapestry of intersecting thoughts, while making it all grammatically correct is to me a true Rembrandt. I don’t think being a grammatical and creative savant, is something that you can simply ask of someone, who does not share the passion of writing.
Painting is much the same way. When painting, I am lost in the painting. Each and every brush stroke has to be perfect. The smaller the painting; the more flawless the brush stroke must be.
Write to please yourself. Making it grammatically acceptable is something that can be accomplished after the creative process is done.
Painting and writing is “me time.”
Sometimes, I feel a little selfish when I carve out “me time.”
As an artist, you will not get rich by your efforts, unless of course you are doing it for some large publication and it is mechanical. One of my Artist friends has her work re-produced on greeting cards, puzzles, and other things that people purchase in gift shops around the world. Every so often a check will appear for a few hundred dollars. She has no way of knowing how many actual unites were actually sold however.
I have also concluded that many feel that if they can just finish their book, they will get rich. Too many out there “self-publish” and the only people making money “for the most part” are the folks who offer that service.
Lastly, and why I write this is; “write to please yourself.”
If your end goal is money, your writing will be forced and not genuine. Much like doing a story for some professor to “grade.”
Immersion into the story, taking time to reflect, re-read and edit, and re-read again for the flow of the words is tantamount to making the story your own.
I will offer one free tip on the editing process for you, a trick that I figured out.
There are “services” that will edit your manuscript for you for who even knows how much money.
Purchase the latest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking with the text to speech option.
One paragraph at a time: have it read it, to you.
Go and edit that paragraph until it sounds right and then go onto the next. When reading your own writing your mind tends to skip over the “you” instead of the “your” or the “the the” mistake that I see too often. When writing, your words are punctuated with gaps as the thought process starts and stops. That is when the “the the’s” occur or other anomalies that your professor in college would have a hay day with their “Fucking Red Pen or F.R.P.!” Of course, there were no computers in my day so possibly, this process would be easier.
I don’t mean to belittle writing classes. Don’t get me wrong. Finding a professor that is passionate about their job, and what they are doing is a true goldmine. Finding someone that will constructively criticize your work and offer suggestions is great. Finding folks who are genuine, and are there without the need to equivocate for their personal aggrandizement is a definite plus.
There are writing “clubs” where others will read your works or have you read excerpts to the others in the group and they all cumulatively have something to offer. There may be a pearl of wisdom that you can take away, even if you simply listen to their work and what the others have to say. I have seen some however; who are so haughty, that just about anything that they said was dismissed without taking the time to weigh it on its merits. It was almost as if they were there to build themselves up, at your expense.
“Aluminum Nanites being spread by rogue government operatives at 50,000 ft. leaving chem-trials. The objectives are to change the earth’s weather to a cooler climate and when these nanites hit the ground they are eaten or absorbed by humans and then activated through microwave technology via HAARP to control you much like the pod people. “
Film at 11:00
I am not sure that this would even compete with Sharknado on the SCI-Fi channel but, the looney websites and blogs that post this kind of stuff are teaming with ads to sell you prepper stuff, and more paranoid stories for as much as you care to read.
Not too long ago I was confronted with the FEMA story and how they have these camps set up all over the place, and they have ordered thousands of coffins and body bags. The plan is at some point to round up everyone and put them into the “camps” and then cut their heads off!
Here, buy these MRE’s and all of this other prepper stuff and be ready to bugout so that you can keep your head!
I am a science fiction writer and this stuff does not even make fodder for a bad story line much less something to write about.
Let me “Snopes” this for you. “Snopes as a verb, who knew?”
At high altitude, the air is damned cold, somewhere between -40 and -50 degrees below 0. Any exhaust from aircraft will leave a contrail. Depending upon barometric pressures and temperatures and water moisture the con trials can last longer and be denser than on scalding dry days with little moisture in the atmosphere. With enough air traffic, they can form a high layer of clouds.
There are thousands of flights a day so yes, con trials can appear to create clouds!
Nanites or the term nanite, borrowed from Star Gate and or Star Trek.
They do not exist now nor have they ever existed. If you want to see for yourself, clean a container really good and then set it out in the rain. After the storm use a sterile eye dropper or straw and capture any sediment from the bottom of the jar/container and place it under a microscope. You will find pollen, dirt and a myriad of things but what you won’t find is microscopic machines waiting to be activated by HAARP.
HAARP works at lower frequencies, not microwave as suggested in articles all over the net. Microwave is line of sight ; therefore, you can even see that this claim is Bogus!
“White planes with no markings flying at high altitude flown by Chinese people are spraying these toxic chemicals making chemtrails. “
There are some solid white planes used to bring folks into and out of Area 51. Well, mostly white other than that big red stripe. They, however, do have registration, and I am confident that the pilots are not all of the Chinese descent. Since this is a secure area, the pilots would be American with security clearance.
Janet Airlines getting people to work to and from AREA 51 at Vegas
How can you tell these planes are all white with no markings flying at 50,000 feet? All planes at high altitude have no distinguishable markings. Going past that how do you come to the conclusion that they are Chinese folks doing this?
“So you are telling me that these white streaks from jets are not chemicals.”
Nope, they are indeed chemicals in the strictest of sense in that they contain mostly ice from water vapor that immediately freezes at high altitudes. There is also some carbon dioxide, smoke, small amounts of hydrocarbons (unburnt fuel), oxides and nitrogen and carbon monoxide.
So, if you want to call them chemtrails instead of contrails technically you would have a point as there is chemistry in them but, not in the paranoid sense that the people that want you to buy MRE’s are touting.
On to FEMA camps.
So the government has these FEMA camps all over the country ready to round up folks and cut their heads off.
Let’s work this one backward shall we?
Throughout history when some government of radical leader wanted to commit genocide they killed folks in an expeditious manner and then either left them for the animals to eat or placed them in mass graves. They did not put them in coffins and give them a nice burial. They were ruthless people and could not care a damned about who they were slaughtering. Does it make any sense to you that the government would cut off your head and then give you beautiful funeral?
I would not be surprised to see these camps “if they exist” housing undocumented migrants of certain age groups and sex until they can be processed.
When there is a lack of information people will invent it.
What is the real purpose of AREA 51?
What exactly is HAARP?
What are these FEMA camps?
Is there a government cover-up regarding UFO’s?
Because there is an extreme lack of transparency on these issues, it is easy to understand how so much time and speculation could be spent on these subjects.
Let’s employ a little common sense.
My guess is that Area 51 is a place to test long range and experimental aircraft that they want to keep a secret, not so much from the public but from those that would like to steal our technology.
I think HAARP is some experimental site that uses low frequency to heat up the ionosphere for reasons that only they know. When radio waves skip from one part of the earth to the other, off of some layer of the ionosphere, they do so by bumping into molecules of air that have been ionized by solar photons or cosmic rays. Depending upon the layer affected the signal could be absorbed or refracted making long distant over the horizon communication possible without satellites.
I would guess that communications of some sort come into play with HAARP, but unless I get an invite to see for myself, that is as close as I can come.
We could speculate and guess that they are using RF to ionize the lower layer of the ionosphere thus causing it to absorb or scatter RF at certain frequencies, instead of allowing it to bounce off of the atmosphere.
I doubt that there is any nefarious activity regarding weather control or brain wave control going on so you can put the tin foil hat back over the ham in the oven.
The simple truth is that we do have a government that is far from transparent with more cover ups than Houdini ever thought of. Most of them involve embarrassmentsas so many have done so much to taint our election process, spreading propaganda through smear campaigns and yes, using the IRS to target conservative groups because they could not win on their own merits.
It is very easy to see how the public could concoct such stories and unfortunately fall prey to hucksters selling prepper type stuff.
Let’s for a minute indulge the paranoid among us.
The technology that the government has is incredible. If they were to become third world, rogue banana republic kind of thing, would give you the prepper no chance. If they were to round up everyone, it would only mean that your incarceration would take a day or two longer than those who willingly walked into the van, or bus or what have you.
Even if you had guns, their guns, and weapons are so much more advanced than anything you can buy today. It is laughable that people are buying guns and ammo to protect themselves from their government.
A more likely scenario is that the infrastructure breaks down as it did in Baltimore or Ferguson, and you need to escape the fray. Having some plan with medicines and what have you already packaged would be a good thing.
Three days supplies ready to go with flashlights, radios, water, MRE’s and Medicines would not be a bad idea in case there is a problem with the infrastructure from man-made or natural causes.
Facebook, where the ideas coalesce, and intelligent folks discover just how stupid some are.
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
“Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”
The great common denominator of the day is social media. It levels the field as it were and if you are of a mind to “let it all hang out” here is your soapbox!
Blogs are another good place to be shown as a fool, if you are indeed one.
Today one of my friends posted on Facebook this “Occupy Democrats” post regarding Denmark and how wonderful it is.
Without further investigation one would happily share this and ask, what the hell, why cant we do that?
Free University
Free Childcare
Free Healthcare
First off my friends, there are no free lunches. Just like lunches; there are no free Universities, or childcare, or healthcare. Someone pays for it! They have to! So who and how is the question.
Denmark enjoys a tax rate of 55.4% at the low end up to 65.9%..
Denmark also has a VAT or Value Added Tax of 25%
All of this free stuff is broken out into different sections of their overall tax structure, much like the USA except ours is like 39%
So for you who did not pay attention in school when we talked about such things as math, lets do a little exercise should we?
That highly skilled Burger flipper is getting $20 and hour. Immediately 55.4% goes to taxes so he or she is in effect making $8.92an hour.
The VAT is pretty flat at 25% on frivolity such as that burger (prepared food vs. grocery store food,) so that burger if this is correct is $5.60 plus $1.40 VAT making that burger $7.00. That is not the drink or fries, just the burger.
Folks, that $18.000.000.000in debt that This President has put us in with Obama care and all of his entitlements will force the next president to institute a VAT or some other form of taxation to pay for this. If not that than most likely there will be a worldwide economic collapse as the countries monetizing their debt (printing money buying our own debt with faux money) with their house of cards, will come crashing down.
Liberal thinking must be a mental disease. Only an insane person would walk a country down the road to its destruction, like we have done during the last 6 plus years!
The Danes have the free universities to encourage people to take advantage of it for higher paying jobs and to be globally competitive. Obama wants the tax payers to foot the bill for higher education for certain people to be more competitive but, his agenda is social justice, not world competitiveness.
The Danes can hire and fire at will as they are not constrained by the laws that we have in this country so I look for business owners here to be under attack as well.
The work week in Denmark is about 35 hours a week for the women and 41 hours a week for the men.
Denmark tries to keep their commuting time down to a minimum which is in stark contrast to the US where we have “downtown” as the place to work, forcing people to sit in long lines of traffic burning fossil fuels, and wasting hours and hours a week sitting, breathing carbon monoxide, and other noxious fumes.
The Danes on average live longer than Americans and I would have to think that their commute plays a role in the equation.
If the US had the brains of the Danes, they would think outside the box and Decentralize business’s as to cut down on congestion on the freeways.
A couple of other differences between them and the US is the amount of people and types of government.
I noticed that I have some readers in Denmark, if I have something wrong, or you would like to contribute please do.
My facts come from hours of research and I am certain that I don’t fully appreciate the eccentricities of your government and its taxation schedules and lets face it, the facts that I have found could be in error.
Either way; it appears to those of us that know how to use a calculator that when it all boils down to the nuts and bolts, our burger flippers are making about the same as your burger flippers, ours are simply having to pay extra for the things that your high taxes are paying for currently.
My heart goes out to the people in Charleston. The senseless violence in this country seems to be more and more frequent. While the left will tell you it is the lack of gun control, and use this and every occurrence of gun violence they can to push an agenda; they are dead wrong.
Going after the law abiding citizens’ guns is like going after silverware because there are so many fat people around. Yes, it really is that ludicrous!
While the country is grieving for these folks; we have idiotic politicians out there using this as a bully pulpit to push a very liberal agenda which also happens to be a dangerous one.
In my business it is necessary to do something called a “root cause analysis.” Simply stated, what happened, how did it happen, and how can we prevent it from happening again.
It is more than putting magnetometers at the entrances of all public buildings with security guards.
Do we attend church via skype, and turn Xenophobic?
Do we use this as an excuse to not attend church?
Do we listen to it on the TV or Radio and think that is good enough?
Maybe we use this as an excuse to qualify the absolute lack of a god as a good “god” would not allow this to happen.
The problem is much deeper than this and I am glad that this kid is still alive so we can learn from him, what set him off.
Instinct tells me that when investigated, you will find that he spent untold hours playing violent video games with other on-line people, and simply took it to the next level. These games are so realistic that I fear that after enough of it, the lines between reality and fiction become so blurred that killing for real is simply a “level up” for him.
Since he gave up so easily, my guess is that he is a coward, and picked a soft-target like a church where the odds of him getting hurt were minimal. Being a black church, there may have been an element of racism involved, which made the target more palatable. His racism again would be interesting to study as how and why? Was he picked on or bullied by blacks as a school child?
With the uproar in Baltimore and Ferguson, who knows if that pushed him in that direction?
We cannot afford to ignore these “simulators for killing” any longer. Mental health needs to be a priority for this, and all future administrations as technology pervades our lives and these “kids” who have so much time on their hands and play these games for hours and hours on end.
Cars kill, knives kill, baseball bats kill, just about anything can be used as a weapon!
The common denominator is people. People kill, and the motives need to be looked at. Go, look for yourself at some of these games and the realities of them. Go to your local game store and look at demos of them, watch these kids as they play these games.
They are dropped into a war-time situation where killing with realistic effects are over the top. I would not be surprised to find that this creep that killed those folks suffers from some sort of PTSD from video games!
Only if life were so simple that we could hand Otis the keys to his prison cell, so when he was sober again he could let himself out of prison and get about his day.
Only if, the cops had one bullet and kept that bullet in their shirt pocket instead of the gun.
Andy never had to deal with terrorist and Barney, well he never had to deal with a hardened criminal that would have shot first and asked question later.
The truth is that many of us want Mayberry RFD. Many want to go down to the local fishing hole with our son or father spending the day hooking worms and pulling the hook out of the mouths of the fish that fell for the bait.
Andy was the optimist, there was good in everyone and, everyone was innocent until proven guilty.
Barney was a small city cop that had the heart of a big city cop, with the pessimism to match.
Sunday mornings in such a town would have been about getting the family up and dressed in their Sunday best and all sitting in the pews attentively listening to what the preacher had to say. After church, pleasantries with the other “saints” would be exchanged and in some church’s most likely Fried Chicken on the grounds would be in order.
Most certainly if not enjoyed as a group, each family might retire to their own home to enjoy Fried Chicken, homemade ice-cream (you know the kind without listeria) and lemonade on the front porch, “family time.”
Where have we gone astray?
I think it started with radio, and then TV, and now we have so much technology that the world has become a small place. All the evils of the world have pervaded the threads of our humanity, which cause many of us to rail against it and some to simply shut down and ignore it. We seek refuge in the few places that seem untouched by “life” and Church is such a place.
The old Hymns of the 1800’s still comfort some of us, and for a little while we focus on things other than their evil but, our own sins, and how we might do better and of course, give thanks to God.
Today, on the way to church, at the bottom of a hill sat a cop with the latest in technology LIDAR “light detection and ranging” equipment. This device can accurately determine your speed down to the .00 “hundredth” of a mile per hour.
If this does not look like hunting to you maybe you should go hunting.
While Mayberry and Andy are nowhere around, at this time of the day the road is occupied by a high percentage of folks headed to church. The cars are full of families with the mother making sure that Johnny has matching socks, and not the pair with the holes in them.
Mary is trying to apply that last bit of makeup before they arrive, as she wants Steve to notice her. Dad is trying to get to church just one day on time; without getting into a fight with the wife or children about things that have to be done before Monday.
While going to church should be a joyous occasion, it seldom is as we are a people that either stay busy, to keep up, or get left behind. We forget why we are up on Sunday morning to begin with, and why we are going to church?
Since the family has left the house a little late, it is important not to catch the lights and hitting the brakes while going down the hill seems counter-intuitive as the speed picks up from 40 to 45 in a few hundred feet anyway!
Enter into the picture a modern day Barney Fife. Young guy wearing a freshly pressed uniform, clean car and sporting the most modern technology available, purchased with tax dollars from those he is “hunting.”
I simply do not understand why cops have an image problem?!
If it takes high tech toys, pointed at cars going down a hill to determine when the driver has exceeded some magic number to earn a ticket of $200 plus dollars, while on their way to church, why do it? Is it to make this guy’s day, or increase revenue? Does he have some imposed quota of tickets that he must reach or is it simply a friendly competition with his fellow officers to see who gets the most tickets written in the month? What motivates someone to sit at the bottom of a hill, waiting for some poor slob to not hit the brakes while going down the hill? I can tell if someone is driving stupidly without the gadgetry, can’t you?
Sitting at the bottom of a hill shooting Laser up the hill is disingenuous at best, and I would think simply in bad form. At what speed does one get pulled over in a 40? Is it 43, 43.5, 44, 44.5, 45? What, what is the magic number that one has to hit before Barney pulls out his ticket book? Maybe its 44.788?
Make no mistakes about this blog… I want the cops to do their jobs. “To protect and to serve!”
If someone comes through there at 50 weaving in and out of traffic, I want them stopped! That does not take LIDAR to figure out. If someone is driving recklessly, they need to be held accountable. If on the other hand someone gains a few miles an hour going down a hill on a Sunday Morning, when there is little traffic, and you need LIDAR to figure out exactly how fast they were going, that is simply DAFT!
Here is my challenge to you the police… Treat others as you would want to be treated. Very simple idea I know but I think many have forgotten this, possibly because they are sitting in a cop car on Sunday Morning hunting with high tech toys rather than sitting in a pew somewhere learning that we are all sinners and all fall short of the glory of god. While the golden rule is not part of the Bible, it really should be. Let he who is without guilt cast the first stone, is in the bible.
To you the people who see this same kind of behavior, here is what you can do.
Firstly there is technology that will beep at you, if you are speeding. I have this in my vehicle and I use it driving anywhere. People in my car tell me it is annoying but let’s face it, how many times have you missed a speed limit sign because it was behind a tree or bush?
Another thing is a radar detector. I am not telling you to get one to speed, I am telling you to get one so you can even out the technology gap a little. Radar itself will give you advanced warning, laser will not tell you anything, other than you have been tagged. Laser however is line of sight so, while they see you and “target you, if you are observant you will hopefully see them and wave, with all of your fingers…. “lead by example.”
In combination with your beeping GPS and radar detector, and eyes; you should be able to avoid giving money to the city.
The pitiful part of this is that I believe that it is all about money and little about protecting and serving. That is why I would push for money from tickets not go into their coffers but, into education or, infrastructure.
I would challenge the Sergeants that have underlings; have them lighten up. I can tell if someone is driving badly without any technology, I see it daily. Do you really want people to see your guys sitting at the bottom of hills shooting lasers up the hill? Are you that damned desperate for funds that you have to ticket little old ladies on their way to church for failing to step on the brakes while going down a hill?!
To the Barney Fife’s of the world; I don’t know what drives you whether it be adrenaline, or you hated your parents but remember, one day this will be you. You will not always be the one behind the LIDAR. If you get stopped, are you going to pull out your badge and hope for some “good old boy treatment,” or possible professional courtesy, much like the shark that won’t bite a lawyer? You in fact are no different from us, and that is really the point of this blog.
There is this “us and them mentality” which you promote by doing things like sitting at the bottom of a hill shooting LIDAR up the hill. Tell you what, Drag your sorry butt to Church when you are not on duty. Go enjoy that fried chicken with your peers. Let people in the community see you, and interact with them in a manner that is not judging. You are no better than the rest, and when you think that you are, you are on the slippery slope.
Protect the people like you are supposed to do, which is what you signed up for. To protect and to serve, not to hunt and to hassle.
I would also challenge the people to do one more thing. Get a dash cam.
Not long ago I was pulling into a restaurant in Addison Texas. Screaming out of the parking lot was a Dallas police officer who had been working radar in the parking lot, camouflaged by the other cars and trees. Had I not been keenly aware my situation and stabbed the brakes, she would have hit me head on! Now, how do you think that would have gone down in court? She was totally at fault, but it would have been her word against mine and possibly, possibly and unbiased third party cop, to see the evidence and maybe a witnesses but, had there been a dash-cam no contest. Her zeal for catching some speeder on Belt Line just about ruined both of our days. Had we collided without a camera, I feel that it would not have gone well for me. Maybe, and I hope that I am; wrong.
After the screeching stopped, our eyes met, she lowered her head breaking eye contact, and slowly pulled out onto the road.
No one is perfect and the dash cam would have made my life easier had I not been able to get that car stopped in time.
These cameras have come down in price and are certainly affordable. If you see, as I have seen, cops driving stupidly, send the video to their boss. They too need to be accountable. I have listened to the scanner while I travel and seen some do some rather stupid things, including speeding excessively for no reason other than they can, because they are mistakenly under the opinion that, they are the law! Once on camera, they will quickly find out that they are, not the law, but the man (or women) that has been hired by you to “protect and to serve!”
All cops should be required to wear active body cameras, not necessarily to point out your guilt or theirs but, to protect them from the people who would wish them harm, or by besmirching them, or accusing them of wrong doing.
At the end of the day we are neighbors, families and communities and what we each do for a vocation should not be an issue or divide us from each other.
Let’s get the Ne’er-do-wells off of the street, and if they wear a uniform, let’s get them a new vocation, as the man in blue should garner respect, not because you are told to respect them but, because they have earned it.
Sitting at the bottom of a hill, hunting church folk is not going to do it!
For the last several years West Nile has made the news.
West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne zoonotic arbovirus belonging to the genus Flavivirus in the family Flaviviridae. This flavivirus is found in temperate and tropical regions of the world.
Flaviviridae: family of viruses typically spread by tics or mosquitoes.
You….
What can you do to a: protect yourself and your family and B: the community in which you live?
Someone told me that there were not that many mosquitoes in my area to worry about anything other than myself. Use pesticides with Deet to protect myself and don’t worry about it.
I however did not believe them, and I also care about my neighbors; and the small animals that live outdoors and become food for those winged vampires of the night!
I installed not one but two bug zappers in my back yard.
Each bug zapper is good for an acre and my back yard is rather small city sized lot.
After one night of operation here are the results:
bug zapper 1Bug zapper 1 after one nightBug zapper II 25 feet from bug zapper 1Bug zapper II twenty five feet from bug zapper 1
So, now what can you do?
Buy a bug zapper or two and install them, especially if you are in an area with West Nile.
They are on eBay, Amazon and a host of other places and if your hold your mouth right the local hardware store may actually have them, I would not count on that however.
The trick is that these things attract bugs. You know “go to the light…..”
So you need to hang them far enough from your door that they actually draw them away from your house.
Nope, they are not cheap. Anywhere from $50 to $80. What is your health worth?
-Best
PS. Are you itching yet? I am just looking at this…. ZAP!
Update 6/11/15
I have no idea who besides me is interested in this such as this but…..
The next day both bug zapper were about half full... No biggie; use compressed air and blow out the dead mozzies and put the zappers back in place.
Expecting that they would not be as full today I could not have been more wrong.
Today …Day 3 of the great bug barbecue the zappers were both chock-a-block full of fried Mozzies!
Today the newest Zapper arrived, I replaced the oldest with a “clog-proof model.”
Tomorrow will most undoubtedly bring more Fried Mozzies but will there be less, or more or about the same….?
Yes, Mosquitoes were harmed during the making of this blog!
Yes, there were a few other critters that met their maker as well but 99% were mosquitoes!
Watching a video shot by a “white witness” would make one think that the police were out of line.
Listening to the witnesses who saw more than a video focused on the police trying to quell chaos, is another.
Backstory:
An end of year graduation party was planned in a private area for a few teens, and some adults. This was an invitation only event where many different teens were invited, including those of color.
Because it was talked about on social media some took that to mean that they could simply ignore the rules and crash the party via jumping over fences etc.
When asked to leave by security guards and some parents, tempers flared on both sides which escalated the conflict until police were called. That should have most probably been their first call as these kids jumping fences already demonstrated that they had no respect for the adults, or the security guards; and apparently the police.
By now the conflict was irreversible and when police arrived and tried to sort things out the teenagers were non-compliant with officer’s orders to “freeze.” In fact they began running in all directions as we have seen over the last few months in different cities around the country.
As one of the girls walked away instead of running, she was detained and when she fought back “resisted arrest” the officer detained her by force. This is probably SOP.
When two of her friends tried to help her “resist arrest” the officer felt his life might be in danger and pulled his service weapon. Had either of those kids had a weapon, I suspect the news would be different than what it is today.
This was not a racial issue. This was and is an issue about those who don’t respect the cops and or the laws that we have here in this country. When a cop tells you to freeze, you comply!
Had Michael Brown Complied, he would still be alive!
Had Eric Garner Complied, he would still be alive and most likely still selling loosies in Staten Island.
We don’t know the story of Freddy Gray because the Baltimore Mayor and others have this case so screwed up we may never know. I suspect if he had complied, he would still be alive as well but; we don’t know for sure.
If the first two events had not transpired, Baltimore would be a footnote; and McKinney would not even make the local news much less national news, as McKinney was not sparked by racial unrest. It was sparked by some having no respect for the rules and no respect for the cops.
Should the cop have brandished a weapon?
Here is the better question, should he have had to?
At a certain moment in time was he afraid for his life?
Those were not twelve year old soccer players trying to intervene on the “bikini clad” girls behalf. Those were big boys that could have hurt him had they wanted to.
All cops should have body cameras on and active, when they are on duty.
This video should be instantly transmitted up to the cloud and to a monitor on their supervisor’s desk so they the supervisor has video of the event as well as the teen journalist video with a cell phone, possibly with an agenda.
If a situation becomes hot, the supervisor can decide to act.
The cop’s camera can vindicate him or her and their actions or indict them.If nothing else has come out of these events, it should be that the cops need to present their side with video evidence too!
If the video would indict them, then they should not be cops.
As a kid growing up here in Texas I can tell you first hand I have had my fair share of run-ins with the cops that were un-justified. I never, ever ran from them and always did as I was instructed. My hands were always in plain sight as I was not wanting to be an accident! The time to fight oppressive people is in court, not on the side of the road, you are in their world, in court; not so much!
The bottom line is this, if a cop tells you to freeze, dammit freeze! How the hell hard is that?
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