Thursday, August 25, 2011

What's Good For The Crooks is Good For the Cops...


Gettin' a little late here, but the neighborhood is quiet. Hope that's not deceiving. A couple of streets away, sometimes within 600 feet so at the end of our block, bad things are going on...assaults, home burglaries, stuff with cars, etc. All started about 5 or 6 months ago. I'm thinking a new family moved into the area. Most of us have been here for years. Never had that stuff before.

Except for once...couple of guys stole the back wheel off my car, which was parked on the street in front of the house. Little did they know that the neighbor across the street in front and another neighbor across the side street were both armed and watching the whole thing. One of them got the thieves' license number. Both were prepared to act if either of the thieves headed toward our house.

So of course we phoned the police and they came and took information from all of us. Now I consider the San Diego police force to be the best and most decent in the entire USA...and they can also be hilarious.

Next day came a knock on the door. I answered and there stood 2 policemen and my wheel. I asked how they got it back...and they grinned from ear to ear and one said, "The same way the crooks got it." :)))

They'd actually gone out that night and stole it right off the crooks' car. Just tickled themselves. And I just cracked up laughing. :))

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Thinking vs Believing....



That Undying Symbol


by

Keith Taylor


It is a simple design, useful in the construction of grand buildings, or as a small platform from which to hang trouble makers. It has also become the world's most recognizable religious symbol.

In its most utilitarian usage, it is part of the framework of building
It is so impressive, we need be reminded it is utilitarian, not miraculous. Despite its inspiring design, it failed along with the rest of the framework, to stop religious zealots from destroying two of our largest buildings plus themselves in their effort to prove their god was better than our god.

Somewhere in there lies an inspiring religious message. It must be so because when our buildings fell and 2700 people died, people in many foreign countries, those with the other god celebrated. Death and the celebration of it are big deals in religions.



The cross, called the symbol of peace, is more often associated with mass killing and cruelty. Spanish conquistadors brandished flags decorated with crosses as they killed countless native Americans in their search for gold and other riches. Pious Christians, crosses on their vestments and shields, journeyed from Europe to the Holy Land to kill, plunder, and secure land they deemed sacred because a man/god had been crucified there.



It was the very symbol of the Spanish Inquisition. Countless heretics were killed because they committed one of the prime sins: questioning unproven claims. Today the word "inquisition" conjures up a vision of cruel men wearing crosses causing unbearable pain to folks who merely asked the most basic sentence in science "why?"



Reminders of the sacred icon are everywhere, and defended zealously. Defying the Constitution, a court order, and affirmation of that order by an appeals court, a cross still stands on public property on a mountain overlooking La Jolla, California.



Others have not been so prominently displayed. A piece of the framework in the shape of a cross was found in the wreckage of the twin towers. This was the symbol, many felt, to inspire us to . . . uh, to adorn a new, replacement building.



A photo shows a priest and the former mayor of our greatest city adding a blessing to the symbol pulled from the wreckage of the twin towers felled on 9/11. Some object to this use of a religious symbol, sometimes citing it's long and poignant history of violence and killing.



But to the adherents of our god, history is ignored. After all, they claim, believers are enjoined to never question God or his works. You can find it in every catechism or Sunday school tract.



So, should we object to yet another religious symbol? After all those of us who don't share this zealous feeling that comes from belief in things not proved are shunned, often considered eccentric. More than half the electorate would not vote for someone who does not acknowledge a belief in a supreme being, and the cross does represent just such a thing. Who knows how bad it will get if we object to a sacred symbol?



Let's leave it be. Agree it will stay there, but as a reminder of what we lose when we substitute faith for reason in trying to determine what is happening on our earth. When a non-believer views the symbol which inspires so many believers he might take off his hat and stand quietly while contemplating what the world would be like if we started thinking rather than believing.



Thinking will not produce miracles but it may help us understand those who believe in them.

-0-

//Keith Taylor is a retired Navy officer living in Chula Vista, Ca. He can be reached at krtaylorxyz@aol.com //

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Law Enforcement Officer...From the Inside....


http://richardcraiganderson.com/

For some fascinating reading, go to Rick's blog. URL above. Rick is a former Maryland State trooper. Moved to Florida and became a FAM...Federal Air Marshall. Their motto:
"We don't miss". Better not, since they're the guy in the plane with you, there to take out the bad guy, and they really don't want to shoot a hole in the plane rather than a hole in the bad guy.

Just fascinating. Latest post from Rick is on the matter of confidential informants. A good police officer...and every other law enforcement officer...has those crucial people.

It's one thing to know about these things and, believe me, another to learn about them from inside the game...which you will if you read Rick's posts. Enjoy!

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Saturday, August 13, 2011

Huntsman for President!!!

So now Rick Perry from Texas is joining the run for Prez. W.Bush was better than this guy would be. I can just see Perry keeping religion separate. Not a chance.

Have not changed my mind one bit...Jon Huntsman is my choice. He may be a Repub, but he is an INDEPENDENT Repub. And that gives the other people and the media fits. The media invariably leaves the Independent out. More, he's no liar.

It's plain to see he qualifies, having been Gov of Utah and diplomat to China. But he continually gets ignored because he's not flashy like the other Repubs running. He just does the job.

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