Some Thoughts on the Connecticut Tragedy

Official seal of Newtown, Connecticut (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just want to share a couple thoughts on the senseless tragedy that occurred today at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where 26 people were murdered, 20 of which were elementary aged children.

I can only imagine what the parents of those children are going through tonight.  You drop them off at school and you expect them to come home safely after.  Never in a million years do you expect that some nut job will come in and gun down defenseless children.  Words can not express what those folks must be feeling.

Then there are those who were fortunate enough to escape unharmed.  Those parents are undoubtedly relieved that their children are safely home tonight. At the same time, they must be taking special care to watch over their children to guard against any traumatic effects.

Sadly, at a time when we should be praying for the families and for the country, there are those who are quick to pounce upon this tragedy for political gain.  Almost immediately, those on the left launched into calls for more gun controls.  How utterly reprehensible.

Equally revolting to me is the counter attacks by some of my friends on the right.  My Facebook feed was filled with counter attacks about how guns don't kill people or it's time to arm our teachers.  Some posted an equally horrible story about a man in China with a knife who injured 22 people at a school there.

I do not own a gun, nor do I want one.  However, I firmly support the right on law abiding citizens to own them.  I also believe that if you do take guns away from law abiding citizens, that criminals will find way to get guns.  They don't respect laws in general, so how can we think gun laws will work with them.

I do not pretend to know the answers on how we can prevent things like this.  I do not believe that taking away the rights and freedoms of the majority of American in the wake a tragedy like this is the route to take.

As I said before, right now we need prayer for the victims, and I believe for the country.  The last thing we need is for people to try to take this tragedy in order to put forth or defend a political agenda, particularly in the hours immediately following the shooting.  A pox on all their houses.

Know the Score

Image via WikipediaWith everything being online these days, it becomes more and more important to be vigilant in protecting your personal information.  It seems like a everyday that goes by there is some sort of news story about an identity theft ring or some major retailer or financial institution having their databases hacked and personal information getting compromised.

Having your identity stolen or personal information compromised can wreak havoc on your ability to get credit you need.  In these tough economic times when it is hard enough to get credit extended, having nefarious individuals hurting your credit worthiness is something you can ill afford.  One way to protect yourself against these types of assaults is to keep track of your credit score.

Several years ago, I got myself into a little bit of financial difficulties.  There were a series of bad decisions, combined with losing a job that I had for 21 years due to the company I worked for eliminating positions here in the DC area and consolidating to their corporate headquarters on the left coast.

I turned to a friend of mine who is a financial services provider for some advice.  One of the first things he had me do was to sign up for one of the free credit score services to check into everything that appeared on the report.  We were able to identify accounts that were incorrectly applied to my name since I am a junior.  Thankfully, there were no fraudulent account listed. 

There are other things that you can do to help protect your identity and your credit worthiness.  Advocates encourage people to shred any documents that have personal identifiable information before disposing of them.  Many neighborhoods sponsor community shredding events towards that means.  Keeping on top of protecting your identity is vital in this day and age.

A Time and a Place

According to the Book of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NKJV

To everything  there is  a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck  what is  planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.

To paraphrase, there is a time and place for everything.  This next story is neither the time nor the place.

I think that at one time or another, every guy has taken matters in his own hand, so to speak, and um, pleasured themselves.  Any guy that says he never has, is probably fibbing.  I would like to think that most guys would take care of that business in the appropriate setting such as the privacy of their own bedroom or maybe in the shower.  Unfortunately, some guys do not always show such discretion.

Last night, I was checking out a number of different news sites looking for interesting news stories.  I came across one on The Smoking Gun that caught my attention.  On August 28th, police were called to the First United Methodist Church in Niceville, FL in response to a complaint that a 14 year old male had his penis outside of his pants and was allegedly spanking the monkey, as it were.

Due to the age of the alleged perpetrator, his name was removed from the police report.  He apparently admitted to beating the bishop during the service because he was bored.  He also admitted to doing it the previous week.  Hopefully, the young man has learned his lesson and will take care of these things in the proper place, but it does give you something to think of the next time you are at church and greeting one another with a handshake.

Like Father, Like Son?

Image via Wikipedia

Like father, like son.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  These are just a couple of old sayings used to describe the similarities between father and son.  Apparently, or should I say allegedly, these sayings ring true in regards to former DC Mayor and current DC Councilman Marion Barry and his son Christopher.

Barry's career in DC politics has been colorful, to say the least.  A review of his Wikipedia biography can give you a real good summary of his career.  He was first elected to be mayor of DC in 1979 and served three consecutive terms.  His administrations always had a hint of impropriety in regards to graft and corruption.  Near the end of his third term, Barry was caught smoking crack cocaine on video during an FBI sting operation.  He ended up spending six months in prison.

Those of us who lived outside of the world of local DC politics, would sit in wonder at how the Mayor for Life managed to continuously get elected.  After he got out of prison, he ran for mayor again in 1994 and won.  He served that term but did not seek reelection.  In 2002 he was going to run for city council, but cancelled those plans when traces of marijuana and cocaine in his car.  Two years later, he ran, and was elected to the city council.

In addition to his issues with the law regarding drugs, Barry has had other run ins with the law.  On multiple occasions he has been charged with failure to file and pay his income taxes.  He had been accused of several traffic violations and at one point had a boot put on his car for failing to pay parking tickets.  Not only did we wonder how Barry kept managing to get elected, we also wondered how he managed to stay out of jail.

Now, his son Christopher is facing drug charges of his own.  The younger Barry was charged with possession of marijuana and PCP with the intent to distribute.  Now, I know that one is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.  However, there is another old saying, "where there is smoke, there is fire."

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Fun with Love Dolls

There must have been something in the water this week.  I think I can count on one hand, the number of times I have heard news stories that involved love dolls.  In fact, I think the last one I heard about was nearly 18 months ago when Roxxy the robot was debuted at the Adult Entertainment expo.  So imagine my surprise, and intrigue, when I heard not one, but two different news stories this week involving inflatable love dolls.

The first story really caught my attention because it occurred not far from my neck of the woods in Woodbridge VA.  Police were responding to a burglary at the MVC Late Night adult store to find the front glass door smashed and unlocked.  They sent a canine unit into the store where they found a man hiding in a closet of the store, attempting to have sexual relations with an inflatable sex doll.

Needless to say, I laughed out loud when I heard the initial news report on the radio as the broadcaster stated that the man was found in the closet with the love doll.  First off, it is bad enough that the guy committed a crime by breaking into the store.  Let's not even go into what he was trying to do with the doll, but how stupid do you have to be to do that at the scene of the crime?  It made me think of a story I posted about three years ago about a guy who was using the vacuum at a car wash to satisfy himself.

The second story I heard about was one that I did not think was quite as humorous.  It involved a high school senior from Indiana.  As part of a senior prank, the kid wanted to sneak into the girls restroom and leave an inflatable doll.  Unfortunately, he was spotted on surveillance video wearing a hood, gloves, and carrying a package as he entered the restroom.  They saw him leave empty handed.

I can understand their reaction in the world we live in today, but officials called the proper authorities who rushed a bomb squad to the school and evacuated the school.  The student was arrested and now faces a potential 8 year jail sentence for felony criminal mischief.  It seems to be a stiff penalty to pay for what really was a harmless prank. 

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Casey Anthony Trial

Image via Wikipedia

Every now and then my wife will pick up a copy of People magazine.  The other day as I was puttering around the house I saw a recent edition on the table.  On the cover was Casey Anthony, currently on trial for the murder of her daughter Caylee.

Seeing that particular cover got me to wondering why this particular trial is garnering so much national attention.  Any time a child is murdered or harmed it is heartbreaking.  It is more disturbing when the person accused of the crime is a parent.

I have not been following the trial, but I have caught snippets on the news here and there.  How could you not?  Every day there seems to be coverage of the trial.  There have been the stories of the crowds of people waiting to get into the courtroom to view the proceedings.  The Today Show have had reports nearly every day.  It has been the subject of magazine and tabloid covers.

Here in the DC area, there have been multiple cases of local missing children.  There have been those where the mother reported the child missing, made pleas on local television, only to later be discovered to have murdered the child.  There have been other cases where the parents were going through a divorce and one parent murders the children.  None have risen to the national interest as the Anthony trial.

Sadly, these kinds of crimes happen all too often.  Most of them end up getting some attention on local news, but don't get national coverage.  What is it about the Anthony trial that makes it as some news broadcasts have described as being the biggest since the OJ Simpson murder trial?  I understood the interest in the OJ Simpson murder trial.  Simpson was a well know, loved, national sports celebrity.  Casey Anthony was a young single mother who wasn't on anybody's radar.   

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News Briefs 1/22/10

I am going to try something new tonight.  I am going to highlight two or three stories that caught my attention that I want to address briefly.  It may be something I thought was humorous, outrageous, or just really made me mad.  I am going to call these "News Briefs."  I am not sure yet if I will make this a regular feature, but thought I would give it a shot.

First up, is a story about a woman who punished her 12 year old son for getting bad grades.  Now I am not one of those parents who do not believe in instilling discipline in one's child.  I do not necessarily think it a bad thing to smack a child on their bottom when warranted.  This woman, however went well beyond the norm.  She was arrested in Georgia and charged with child and animal cruelty for forcing her child to kill his pet hamster as punishment.  What kind of sick, twisted freak could possibly conceive of doing something like this to their child and an innocent animal?  

Second story for tonight is the story of a man who was arrested and facing prostitution charges.  However, this brilliant piece of work was not arrested in some sex worker sting.  Nope.  He called police himself.  He paid a woman $150 for sex and then she decided not to live up to her end of the bargain.  The police arrested them both and charged them with prostitution charges.  Two things come to mind, if you are going to be engaged in an illegal activity such as soliciting prostitution, do you really think it's a good idea to call the cops if the deal fall through?  Second, if she did not actually have sex with the man for money, should she still be charged with prostitution?

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A Case for Gun Rights

Advocates of gun control laws, usually liberals, want to restrict the right of law abiding citizens to own guns.  They argue that by restricting access to guns, then crime, particularly violent crime, will be reduced.  They believe that the police department should be the ones to respond and prevent criminal activities from occurring. 

With all due respect to our law enforcement officials, more often than not, they are unable to respond in time to prevent a crime from occurring.  Take the case of Donna Jackson, age 57, from Oklahoma.  Donna Jackson was home alone while her husband was working a night shift when a man tried to break into her home.  She called 911 asking for help.  While on the phone with 911, waiting for police to arrive, the man broke into her home.  She shot and killed the man.

We do not know what the intent of the intruder who entered her home.  It may have been a simple robbery.  She could have been sexually assaulted or worse yet, killed.  You can hear in her voice in the news clip below that she is scared.  She does not relish the thought of shooting another human being.  After shooting him, she sounds distraught at the thought that she may have killed him.  I believe that most law abiding gun owners would feel the same way.  One thing we know for sure, had gun control advocates had their way, she would not have been able to protect herself and would be a victim today.

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Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski via last.fm

Thirty one years ago, Roman Polanski was facing sentencing for drugging and raping a 13 year old girl.  He was 31 years older than the girl.  Like a coward, the pervert fled the country and has been considered a fugitive for the past three decades. 

He was arrested in Switzerland over the weekend and is facing possible extradition back to the US.  Sadly, France, Poland, and the Hollywood elite are all coming to his defense.  They feel that Polanski is being treated unfairly and should not have to face punishment for his crime.  They and other progressives believe he has suffered enough for his crime.


BULL SHIT!  I know that our Constitution guarantees that there shall be no cruel and unusual punishments.  For drugging and raping a 13 year old girl, I believe there is no such thing as cruel and unusual punishment.  You see, I believe that anybody that does something like that should suffer. My idea of the ideal punishment for this type of crime is to hang him upside down by his testicles.  Then, he should be shot.  Extreme? Maybe, but I guess I am just not as enlightened as the French.  I have no mercy for pedophiles. 

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Steve McNair 1973-2009

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I was supposed to work my part time job of delivering pizzas this evening. I had a feeling it would not be a very busy night. After all, how many people have pizza on July 4th. Especially when it is a sunny day with temperatures in the 80's. So it was no surprise when I walked into work and was told that they did not think they would need me and that I could go home if I wanted to.

So I walked back to the car to head home in a pretty good mood. It is always more pleasurable to be at home with the family than to be working. My good mood was tempered when I heard the news that former NFL quarterback Steve McNair was found dead in his apartment. McNair and a woman had been shot to death in a double homicide.

McNair played his college football at Alcorn State University where he earned the nickname "Air" McNair for his proficiency in executing the passing game. During his college career, McNair finished with over 16000 yards passing and averaged 400 yards passing per game. In his senior year, his combined rushing and passing yardage was nearly 6000 yards. He won the Walter Payton Award for the most outstanding offensive college football player and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.

McNair's success at Alcorn State led to him being the third player selected in the 1995 NFL Draft by the then Houston Oilers. The Oilers later moved to Tennessee and became the Tennessee Titans. McNair led the Titans to their only Super Bowl appearance. He finished his career in 2007 after two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. Among his accomplishments in the NFL was being named co-MVP of the league in 2003 and three Pro Bowl appearances.

McNair had begun to move on in his life after football having opened his first restaurant, Steve McNair's Gridiron9. The restaurant opened just two weeks ago on June 19 and was talking about opening more. Sadly, McNair's life is cut short at the young age of 36 years old. Let's hope that the police in Tennessee will quickly find the murderer.

UPDATE: It is now being reported that McNair was the victim of a murder/suicide. The woman also found dead in the apartment was 20 year old Sahel Kazemi. McNair was shot several times, and Kazemi died from a single gun shot to the head. A gun was found at the scene.

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