Getting Caught Up

Well, the vacation is over. I had a great time and wish it had lasted longer. But reality crept back in and work is already picking at me. Boy, is the fuse getting shorter - and I haven’t even been back into the office yet!

• My dad did fine in his recall/replacement surgery. The more I look at it the more it convinces me that the old defibrillator was bad from the moment they first installed it 4 years ago.

• Can you believe that FEMA is demanding their money back for their errors after a third review of a person’s application? Yes, restitution should be made but at least be considerate and work with the people. How can someone repay the $12,000 you gave them within 30 days or incur penalties and interest, when the Insurance Company has been dragging their feet for 6 months? They are struggling just to live and pay a mortgage on a totally destroyed house. Go after the Insurance company, those are the real crooks. The new twist is claiming the water damage was caused by the high surge of water - Thus the Hurricane didn’t directly cause the damage and therefore isn’t covered. Will we start not covering fires? The fire may destroy some of the house. But anything not burned and that is damaged as the result of the water and the firemen’s attempt to stop the fire aren’t! So FEMA, forget the Red Tape for the time being and help the people in Florida some. Oh that is right, Congress is too involved in violating state’s rights and personal issues of the citizens to do their job.

• I was appalled at seeing how much damage still needs to be fixed, even after 6 months. There is more work than workmen available to do the job. And can you believe this, the local companies want to change the law and cancel all temporary licenses of companies that have come down to Florida to help. Talk about being greedy! From all I spoke with it’s the local companies that are the worse offenders of doing shoddy work, taking deposits and never showing up, or promising work and then backing out.

• I wish the rhetoric over Terry Schiavo would die down but I am afraid these two warring camps will continue until someone feels they have won.

• It is getting to the point you can’t trust the press to report the true facts of the case and leave personal or network bias out. Once again this morning I watched them evaluate some new video of the lady and draw conclusions to support their fight for her life. Excuse me, BUT THE PICTURES WERE THREE (3) YEARS OLD! Maybe three years ago you would have had a valid point, but not now. Show me picture from the last two weeks! They would be more supportive of the point of the matter. I have a funny feeling down inside that the new and current pictures would underscore the husband’s decision to let his wife rest in peace. That would be bad for the Press, so erase them.
• The Press reports - He (Michael) didn’t let the family in to be with her at the end! Excuse me, but isn’t the Husband part of the Family? Besides, maybe he just wanted to spend the last moments alone with her. That is his prerogative as her husband. The rest of the family was there up to the last ten minutes. Yes, maybe that was a bit dramatic on Michael’s part to ask them to leave. But after the way the other side of the family as acted I could see a reason to not allow them. Even that the spokesman, the Priest showed his disdain of Michael when he said, “the family would even sit with Michael in order to be there.” How loving is that .. Taking shots at him even to the last moment.
• I hope every one of those “CHRISTIAN PROTESTORS” apologize to the other people in that Hospice Center for denying them their peace and quiet as they dealt with their own problems. They banged their personal war drums so loud and often, I wonder why didn’t the Police stop them from disturbing other people in their time of sorrow and pain. The Priest’s showed real compassion by making just as much noise so they could get their picture on TV. Maybe this was the Catholic Priest’s way of deflecting their child abuse problems much like Tom Delay deflected his ethics woes for a brief moment, or as Jesse Jackson tried to bolster his flagging ego. Shoot, Michael Jackson should have come. Maybe he could have help support the circus atmosphere that the Media was generating.
• Shame on the Media, the Catholic Church, and the so-called Christian Protestors, and the busybody Congress.
• Shame with extenuating circumstances to the Family of Terry Schiavo (mom, dad, and brother).
  

From the South

Well, the vacation is almost over. Bowling was good; I didn’t embarrass myself nor finish last. I did though have fun and relax a bit. It helps going to an area that slows down as compared to the fast lane of the D.C. metro area. Next is Corpus Christi in March 2006.

There quite and experience when I dialed *HP in Mississippi on I-10. I reported a scrap metal truck that was going 70 mph and having scrap aluminum fly off his truck. Of course, every car behind him was swerving and dodging those little missiles including myself. The lady that answered didn’t want to do anything unless an accident occurred. Nothing like being proactive – one day too late. I guess it was doughnut break time for Bubba the Cop. I am relieved to say no one got hurt during the time I watched in my rear view. But there were a few dented hoods, burnt rubber from the skid marks and a whole lot of cursing.

As expected my “hurt” assistant didn’t come to work on Thursday as expected and the newsroom network melted down. All I could do is shake my head and try to help my friend who was called in to fix it. His two-hour commute to get there and then the next 9 hours to get it all back up was a debt I will try and repay. Do I have too? No, but he is a friend who they took advantage of. Also, the odds of her coming back Monday: 10:1, why work when you can get a doctors pass and sit at home filling your mouth with potato chips and still get paid? Where did I miss the boat or was I born yesterday?

Looks like the trip may be a few days longer. Pops was told his defibrillator is defective and may not work. We knew that Medtronic – it works fine but lies about doing anything when it is downloaded. And they thought Pops was lying when he said it went off. In summary, there are 330+ people here with them and the hospital called and said he was #1 in priority to get a new one. So Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent in a waiting room. The procedure is easy enough. It is the testing that is the problem. They stop the heart and see it the unit restarts it. Well, in Pops case, it never does, at least the last 3 times, so the stress level is very high when they do it. They have to manually kick start him for another try.

What ever happened with rehabilitation of these convicted sex abusers? How many more children must die before we do something? At some point we must do something to stop them from preying on the harmless. Civil Rights? Heck, what rights does the little girl have after that so called rehabilitated sex-offender strangled her to death? How many children must die before his rights are forfeited. Why isn’t Congress hopping on this bandwagon instead of interfering in the Schiavo matter? Come on Jeb Bush – these crimes are in your back yard and you can do something - instead of grandstanding for re-election. Oh, that is right, you are Catholic and Catholics protect priests and thus they don’t get worried when a Child Abuser plies their trade. It seems that in the past they they would abuse and then let them go, but lately it is more fashionable to abuse and kill. And we want to abolish the death penalty as being too cruel? And Child Sex abuse isn’t? What about rape, execution, cold-blooded murder and other horrendous acts against another human? What is cruel if these acts aren’t? Could it be humans are the cruelest, nastiest, beings to ever walk the earth? Is there any other mammal in nature that abuses their offspring like this? Oh, that is right, we killed them into extinction as being too cruel and in-human.

Perhaps the words of the sentinel in the Matrix when he spoke to Morpheus was a harbinger of what reality is – Humans are the most vicious of organisms consuming everything around them until they alone are left.

Eve of a Good time

Tomorrow the adventure begins. I am off too Louisiana by the way of Florida. It is my annual pilgrimage to the ABC National Bowling Tournament. With some luck I will manage to win back my entry and dream of what could have been. Besides, I will get to spend Easter with my parents.

• To my friends in #Dark_Towers, keep it alive for me till I return. Then we can build it together. But it is alright, if you start building it while I am away. I promise to catch up.
• My days of working 15+ hours a day has ended. As a promise to my wife, I will not do it again. The company that I work for that continually wants me to work those hours because they are too cheap to hire more people or plan better had better find another sucker. They think if you are salaried that you are available 24/7. Well guys, you are wrong. It is mind-boggling a so-called Christian Company acts like this. But then again, Christianity is a state of the heart and they have none. Maybe they should spend more time ready the Bible and less time acquiring properties. The word greed comes to mind. The top man sure didn’t balk at taking $250,000 bonus while all I got was 2 movie passes.

Some Things I will never understand:

• After the Atlanta Court shooting, they greatly increased the security for everyone entering the building. Well, duh, if memory serves me right, the gun did not come from the outside but the deputy inside. So let's fix the right problem before the Police once again mess things up and let that man get away.
• What is so hard with using biometrics on firearms? Only the person imprinted can fire it. All old firearms must be turned in and replaced with the new biometric firearm. The owner would get a certificate worth some amount towards the purchase of the new firearm. Any one wishing to keep the old firearm would have to have it professionally rendered inert (incapable of firing). This simple solution would solve several issues.
• The cost would go up enough to deter a large number of people from buying them for display or so called hunting.
• The time to imprint it would be possibly a week or more, thus stopping some buy now and kill tonight schemes.
• As the new ones are issued, they are registered and the owner fingerprinted.
• The inert firearms would be registered and owners finger printed.
• Everyone could still have their firearm for what ever they want to do but now we would have a more complete database of weapons and owners. This is good and the by-product would be safer firearms and ones that could not be taken and turned against others.

Terry Schiavo

• Now that the State Court system has wrung all it can out of the family, they turn it over to the Federal Court system to do all they can do.
  

• Doesn’t the Congress have anything better to do than interfere with a family matter. What about fixing social security, health care, better tax system, getting all the political appointees confirmed and the myriad of other National matters languishing on the docket. You see, Congress only does what is appealing and generates TV ratings. Pump up their image for re-election. Meanwhile the country gets deeper in debt and the future of seniors and those people approaching retirement gets bleaker. Lately all Congress does is try and run baseball as it attempts to control steroid use. Back off and at least give the Commissioner a chance to do something. Now that the problem is public knowledge, let him try and step in when he totally fails.
• Congress loves to investigate things. Why? They are wannabe lawyers who watch CSI too much. Investigations generate TV audiences and talk show appearances. The investigation take time so that they can do less legislating and avoid the potentially career ending political mistake of backing the wrong issue.

• As for Terry, I wish she would recover and join society once again. But, right now it is a private family matter in which the husband must make some very hard decisions. He will be the one to answer to God if he chooses wrong. Her parents should quit their selfish acts. Once she married she join with her husband and left their care. If the parents want to do something good, support the husband and help him and he can then help the parents resolve the loss of their daughter. But quit making Terry a spectacle in a tug-of-war. Shame on the TV people, radio people, lawyers who push this to prove their point and gain more money, and the Congress that takes too much time meddling instead of legislating.

Michael Jackson

• Everyday I feel he is more guilty but more likely to walk out of the court free. The victims of this perverted man will once again suffer because we bend over backward to save the so-called image of this man. All we can do is hope his perversion stops him, the courts won’t. Perhaps the Catholic Church will ordain him as a Priest and he can get Church protection.

My Head Hurts

Well, the news gets funnier and funnier.

• The Italian lady that is claiming the U.S. targeted her. Come on Lady, driving in the dark at a high rate of speed towards a checkpoint that has experienced numerous attacks from car bombers is a very dumb thing. Besides, if you were released after paying your ransom, why were you driving so fast? Were you afraid they may change their mind and keep you and the money? Blame you Government and not use the U.S. as a scapegoat for their dumb decision. Your escorts hampered things by playing "I got a secret" and not coordinating with the U.S. for apparently two reasons. First, they paid the ransom and didn't want to admit their weakness to the public and secondly, the Italian government wanted to grandstand this to make them look good. So get rid of your communist agenda, ego, and not worry about how much you will make on TV deals. Thank your lucky stars the Government was so weak they paid for you and the man that gave his life to protect you made that sacrifice. Perhaps, he should have ducked and let what may happen to you! Somewhere in the back of my mind the word “ungrateful” rattles around.

• Since when does a religious leader need to live in a 10 million dollar house? Tele-evangelists have a bad enough name as it is, so quit trying to be #1. If you truly loved Christ and desired to follow him, you would use that money the way the people who gave it to you thought it would be used. Used to help those in need. It looks like you have hardened your heart and greed has taken over you whole life. Talk to the Baker’s and learn from their mistakes. Talk to Graham and learn what an Evangelist is all about. Perhaps your new mansion is built on sand and will crumble before long. I will pray for your forgiveness but laugh at your stupidity. Maybe it is you who needs to be on his knees more than the many people that come to your crusade to be duped.

My votes:

• Michael Jackson - You are guilty of a sick crime and your money will buy you free.
• Syria - Get Out!
• Oil Company's - I hope you in good conscience enjoy your ill-gotten gains. If there is a crook loose, it is you. You raise prices fast as you can for any reason and then drag your sorry feet when it comes to dropping gas prices. You deserve everything that comes your way when America finally wakes up and pushes alternate fuels.
• Sen. Byrd - Step aside, you are a dinosaur that has outlived your era. Please get out and let some new blood help West Virginia before you fossilize and become a sitting stature in your chair in the chamber. Oh! That is really you just sleeping ... sorry .... shhhhh!
• Good ol` California – Trying to increase the penalty for people engaged in high speed chases. Excuse me, but most of these people aren’t worried about bigger fines or an extra year in jail.

Just over 2 weeks until I get a break from a few headaches in my life and head for Baton Rouge for a week of bowling and fun.

Would You Believe?

American's and Safety

Virginia just voted down a law that would prohibit Teens from driving and using the cell phone at the same time. According to the news, the predominant argument was "it is discrimination since adults are not prohibited." Does that mean the Insurance must change their rates so they don't discriminate by charging one group a higher rate? Adults can't even handle driving and a cell phone at the same time. To me it is COMMON SENSE to be safe and not do something that endangers others. But for some reason Americans must have a law to prevent their unsafe acts and then they ignore it until they are cited by the law officer. Everyone knows that talking on cell phones distract you from doing your primary task of driving. Ever see a car that wanders all over their lane, or can't keep a constant speed even for 100 yards, or someone cuts you off or pulls out in front of you .. each time they have a cell phone plastered to their ear and just talking away. It goes back to Americans can't act responsible; they must have a Law to force them.

Look at seatbelts. Everyone knows and most accept the fact that seatbelts save lives. But do we wear them? No, but when we do it is mainly because we have to in order to avoid a ticket. Even so, many still don't and take that chance. Only after a close call do they change their mind do what is right.

Running red lights is another. We all agree that it is dangerous and even potentially deadly. But we do it if we think we can get away with it. The government puts up Red light cameras and we then make a fuss to get them down. Excuse me, but they are there only to make us do what we won't do normally. Is it a moneymaker for the city? Yes, if we obeyed the law just because it was a safe idea, then they wouldn't need those cameras. Once again, Americans can't act responsible; they must have a Law to force them.

The list goes on but I will step down from the box. Ok, America, grow up!

Supreme Court Ruling on 18-Year Olds and Death Penalty

Well, this is a fine one. I hate to know a child would be executed but sometimes the crime warrants it. If the child shoots someone and kills them then the jury should weigh the facts and the faculties of the child in their decision between life and death. A child mishandles his parents gun may be an example where death isn't warranted. But the Columbine Killers, Lee Malvo and the DC Sniper, or a kid standing there on the playground pointing a gun point blank at another child’s head and executes the them are cases where the pure evilness of the situation warrants death.

We have already seen some changes because of these laws based on age. Drug runners are under 18; because the penalty if caught is lesser than if they were over 18. Plus at 18 their juvenile records are wiped clean and they start over. Stealing cars is another one done by the teenagers for the same reasons. The way things go these days it is almost like "Catch and Release” we do for fishing. Meanwhile the real criminal mastermind goes free and gets richer.

I believe the U.S. Supreme Court just made murder another option for the under 18 crowd to add death to their arsenal of getting even with their schoolmates.

Jackson Defense

I love where they are blaming the boy's mother greed and attempt to get rich as the reason Michael Jackson sexually abused the child. Excuse me, have the trial deal with did he or did he not sexually abuse the child. It is a simple yes or no thing. Then deal with who did what to get rich. She was trying to get rich and equally bad Michael Jackson was trying to use them to defuse what he said on that tape in order to save his image and financial base. So they both tried to work the system meanwhile a child was abused. Focus on the real travesty, child abuse, and deal with the others later. Besides, more trials mean more money for these lawyers.

You can almost see it now. We are going to bend over backwards to protect MJ much like the priests and let a horrible crime, child abuse, go unpunished.