Heroes
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Real American Hero
No, this isn’t a beer commercial. This is about the kind of split-second thinking and fast action that saves lives; the kind that defines true selflessness and bravery in the face of one’s own imminent peril.
I can say no more about this man, since no words of mine will do him more honor than he has done himself.
With an out-of-control car bearing down, Joseph Richardson grabbed his 4-year-old daughter and held her up out of harm’s way.
It was his last act—and one that apparently saved his daughter’s life.
Richardson, a 39-year-old father of three, was killed Monday evening by the car, driven by a man who police say was drunk.
The car pinned Richardson and his daughter Kaniyah against a wrought iron fence at 95th Street and Wentworth, police said.
Kaniyah survived and was listed in critical but stable condition Tuesday evening at Comer Children’s Hospital, where a spokeswoman said she was doing well.
Nothing more needs to be said. Except for this:
The driver of the car, Angelo Thomas, 32, ... was charged with two felony counts of aggravated driving under the influence, police said. He was also cited with driving without a valid license or insurance.
I’m sure a Felony Murder charge isn’t out of the question under these circumstances. Our prayers are with Mr. Richardson’s friends and family in these devastating times.
(h/t The Line Is Here)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Great quote
I’ve mentioned Thomas Sowell here before, but I just ran across a great quote from the revered Doctor.
Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.
Heh, quoth the Puppy Blender
Monday, April 07, 2008
Different Sides of the Same Tracks
The benefits of being proactive.
I know that a lot of people don’t really like LAPD Chief Bratton, but I think he’s a decent guy. The Valley, my home and alma mater was one its way to becoming the next South Central Los Angeles. As home prices dipped through various recessions, more and more criminals made the valley their home. There are still some places you wouldn’t want to go to after the sun goes down, and there are others that the LAPD is valiantly fighting for. Here is a good set of stats.
The Los Angeles Police Department reported last week that the first three months of 2008 saw a 6 percent decrease in violent crime in the San Fernando Valley compared with the first three months of 2007. Better still, the Valley had a 10 percent decrease in homicides in the same period, and gang-related crime dropped an astonishing 27 percent.
And fifteen miles south, and ten miles to the east, we see this.
While a dip in violent crime is always something to be thankful for, three months’ worth of statistics don’t necessarily tell the whole story. For one thing, while the Valley might have seen a drop in killings, the entire city hasn’t… [h]omicides are up 20 percent, and include shocking shootings such as the multiple homicide in Winnetka in which SWAT Officer Randal Simmons was killed. Another high-profile gang-related shooting shut down a Glassell Park neighborhood for several hours. A week ago, East Los Angeles residents were shocked by two double homicides that occurred within minutes and less than a mile from each other. Four men died.
The LAPD is restrained by their own handcuffs. I’ve been on multi-agency task forces with some awesome LAPD officers, and they all tell me the same thing: the politics of the department prevent them from doing their job. Whether it is endless paperwork that is geared toward keeping officers busy with everything but crime fighting, or a consent decree that has no end in sight and reeks of corruption and pay-offs, LAPD officers are still pushing a very large boulder up a very steep hill when it comes to crime fighting. And considering what they’re up against, I still think they’re doing a great job, and any decline in violent crime should be noted.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Wow. Just… wow
I found this clip over at Ace’s HQ, and it is possibly the most incisive dissection of the Liberal mindset I have ever seen.
Watch it. Save it. Learn it.
“Anything other than indiscriminiteness is the evil of having discriminated.”
Evan Sayet is a conservative writer and producer, and clearly someone who has given this a great deal of careful thought. It’s kinda long (about 50 mins), but take the time to watch the whole thing. You’ll thank me later.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Well worth a read
From the Four Wackos comes this Black woman‘s demand for an apology and remuneration. 
No, wait, now… She wants that apology and reparations from (wait for it...)
From the Democratic Party. 
“We, African American citizens of the United States, declare and assert:
Whereas in the early 1600’s 20 African men and women were landed in Virginia from a Dutch ship as slaves and from that tiny seed grew the poisoned fruit of plantation slavery which shaped the course of American development,
Whereas reconciliation and healing always begin with an apology and an effort to repay those who have been wronged,
Whereas the Democratic Party has never apologized for their horrific atrocities and racist practices committed against African Americans during the past two hundred years, nor for the residual impact that those atrocities and practices and current soft bigotry of low expectations are having on us today,
Whereas the Democratic Party fought to expand slavery and, after the Civil War, established Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes and other repressive legislation that were designed to disenfranchise African Americans,
Whereas the Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party, and their primary goal was to intimidate and terrorize African American voters, Republicans who moved South to protect African Americans and any other whites who supported them,
Whereas, according to leading historians (both black and white), the horrific atrocities committed against African Americans during slavery and Reconstruction were financed, sponsored, and promoted by the Democratic Party and their Ku Klux Klan supporters,
Whereas from 1870 to 1930, in an effort to deny African Americans their civil rights and to keep African Americans from voting Republican, thousands of African Americans were shot, beaten, lynched, mutilated, and burned to death by Ku Klux Klan terrorists from the Democratic Party,
Whereas Democratic Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman rejected anti-lynching laws and efforts to establish a permanent Civil Rights Commission,
It only keeps getting better…
(Cries of “racism” to appear from the Loony left in 3… 2… 1… )
Quick bio from her page reads: “I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and retired from the Army in 1984 after 20 years of active service. I received a Bachelor of Science degree from Drury College in 1973, a Masters of Business Administration from Golden Gate University in 1976, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1977. I became politically active in 1982 and served as a member of President Ronald Reagan’s Private Sector Initiatives Task Force. I worked as a volunteer in the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, as well as Governor Jeb Bush. I am a co-founder of the SaraMana Black Republican Club. I am also a member of the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Sarasota County. Most recently, I became Chairman of the National Black Republican Association, an organization that is committed to returning African Americans to their Republican Party roots. Among the awards I have received during my military career are the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Defense Service Medal and four Army Commendation Medals.” Emphasis mine.
A black female conservative Republican? I think she is more qualified than a certain Senator I could think of… (Take that however you wish.)
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Must reads
I’ve been catching up on a lot of sites that I haven’t visited often enough for a while now, and started with these four Wackos a few months back. They’re still on Blog*Spot for some reason, but I can’t fault the quality of the writing, or their ability to ferret out news items and other things that I have missed.
Such as this little gem. I can’t find a snippet worth excerpting, because you need to read the whole thing, start to finish, to get the full lesson. Go ahead, I’ll wait. (You’re probably going to have to scroll down to “Cookie Economics”. I’d love to reprint it, just to be able to provide a hyperlinked copy that isn’t going to be eaten by Blog*spit (piss be upon them), but I don’t want to even hint that I am taking any credit for being so smart. If any of you four are reading this, that was a hint. 
)
Another link well worth perusing in its entirety is this link to a debate regarding the products of the different types of society and “Why The West Is Best”. They had this snippet that caught my attention:
A culture that gave the world the novel; the music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert; and the paintings of Michelangelo, da Vinci, and Rembrandt does not need lessons from societies whose idea of heaven, peopled with female virgins, resembles a cosmic brothel. Nor does the West need lectures on the superior virtue of societies in which women are kept in subjection under sharia, endure genital mutilation, are stoned to death for alleged adultery, and are married off against their will at the age of nine; societies that deny the rights of supposedly lower castes; societies that execute homosexuals and apostates. The West has no use for sanctimonious homilies from societies that cannot provide clean drinking water or sewage systems, that make no provisions for the handicapped, and that leave 40 to 50 percent of their citizens illiterate.
Amen, brudda. As Thomas Sowell (another VERY smart guy) states, “Those who say that all cultures are equal never explain why the results of those cultures are so grossly unequal.”
Anyhow, if you aren’t stopping by (just to catch up) every couple of days, you’re missing out. ‘Nuff said. 
Monday, January 14, 2008
Oh, I want one too
Mike at Cold Fury has suggested a great present for the Patriot in your life.
I know what I’m gonna get for Father’s Day…
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Yer gottdamn skippy
Too bad for us that this guy is Canadian…
Quick background: Our neighbors to the north have instituted some policy or other that allows them to investigate “hate crimes” as regards things appearing in print, and this publisher had published an article that offended some Muslim group or other, so they filed an official complaint, along with yet another of the Muslim groups trying to suppress any sort of speech that isn’t sufficiently respectful (as defined by them).
Just listen to him tell off the apparatchik…
We need a few people like that here.
Definite tip of the hat to DrewM. over at Ace’s place
UPDATE: You should go read up at Mr. Levant’s site here
Friday, December 07, 2007
I can’t deny it any more
I’ve been trying to give the other candidates a fair shake, and I have dug into the candidates and issues quite a bit over the last several months.
I’ve tolerated the Paulbots (but just barely, laughing all the while), I’ve laughed at John “Maverick” McCain’s claims that he is the one that represents conservative issues (remember the “Gang of 14” during the judicial confirmations a few years back?), I’ve worried about Huckabee’s assertions and positions, I’ve ignored the religion debate (see also COTUS, Article VI, Para 3), but I have finally settled on a candidate that I can support in the upcoming primaries.
There is no doubt regarding his experience, and his conservative credentials are impeccable. He has been involved with all three branches of our government, with “behind the scenes” expertise in getting things done, and changed careers because no one could be found in that entire new field of endeavor who could even pretend to fill his shoes. He has been a success in everything he has done, has specific ideas regarding the major issues of the political landscape (rather than vague generalities), and has been away from the DC scene long enough to not be directly involved with the mess that exists within the Beltway.
I am speaking, of course, of Fred Thompson. Former U.S. Attorney, movie and television star, former Senator from Tennessee, helped with the Senate approval process for our new Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts, and has actually thought things through…
I do not speak for any of the three other authors on this blog, but I am officially - and wholeheartedly - endorsing Senator Fred Thompson as he runs to become the GOP candidate for President.
Think I’m crazy? Prove me wrong…
Sunday, November 11, 2007
If you can read this, thank a Teacher
But if you can read it in English, thank a Veteran.
Today is Veteran’s Day here in the United States (originally known as “Armistice Day” to celebrate the signing of the treaty that ended WW1), and if you happen to be out enjoying all the crass commercialism, be sure to thank the veterans you might happen to see today.
If you are a veteran yourself (as I am), please accept my heartfelt and humble thanks for your service.
In other news, it is Eldest Daughter’s 18th anniversary. We took them out to dinner last night, and I had to go and break my fucking toes (the “pinkie” toe and the one next to it on the right foot) at the start of the evening. We were all going to be riding in Son-in-Law’s new SUV, and I was dressed in open-toed sandals, it being a somewhat casual occasion. They had watered their lawn earlier and the bottom of my sandals had gotten wet. I was climbing into the back seat passenger side and pushing to slide in with my right foot on the car door lintel.
The wet sole slipped and my toes were slammed hard against the underside of the car door. Ouch. To say the least. The VERY least. They don’t look bad, but they cannot take any weight or stress on them without the pain level shooting up like a bottle rocket. I can barely move them, either. I had to take a Vicodin last night because my toes couldn’t stand having the weight of the sheet and bedspread on them. Never mind wearing shoes for the next week or so…
Poor pitiful me, huh? Fuckit. It isn’t the first time those toes have been broken. I dropped a 42"x60" metal-and-glass framed painting on them a few years ago when the wire hangar support snapped as I was trying to carry it from one room to another, and it landed squarely on those two toes. Damned thing must have weighed 40 pounds. That time they turned a nice gaudy purple and yellow for several days. The metal frame broke and the glass spider-webbed from the impact point outward.
Oh, well… This, too, shall pass, and it’s not like my customers will complain very much. But why does all the physical trauma happen to the right side of my body? Over the years, I have injured my ankle (caught in the spokes of a 10-speed when I was still too young for kindergarten), knee (blew out the LCL playing basketball, and I’m still limping from it), collar bone (greenstick fracture from a bicycle accident), shoulder (banged against a ladder while almost falling overboard), elbow (bone chipped while sliding/falling down a set of ice-coated stairs), wrist (degenerative tissue damage), and hand (dislocated finger) on the right side.
About the only thing that has been injured on my left side is that the tinnitus (permanent ringing in the ears - from that bicycle accident) seems louder and more constant on that side.
But despite all that, I am truly blessed. I have a family that loves me, a business that is currently thriving, a website that has regular visitors, a home that keeps the weather out, and food in the fridge sufficient to satisfy most wants. I have been allowed to serve my country, and I continue to serve my community as opportunity permits. This truly is a great nation, and that brings us back to the reason I started posting this entry. None of that would be possible without the efforts of millions of men and women over the last two centuries to keep this nation free and her citizens safe.
We are the Land of the Free because we are also the Home of the Brave.
Thank a veteran.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Great news
about the Lake Arrowhead fire.
Our youngest daughter was finally allowed up the hill to see whether her home had been burned to a crisp.
Last time, in the 2003 fires, the firefighters were literally fighting mere feet from her front door as the house across the street burned down, but her home was saved by their efforts. This time, it approached within a few blocks (we won’t know exactly until she gets a chance to scout around a bit, but she just walked in the door and called us a few moments ago), but was beaten back once again by those guys in red and yellow.
Their bravery and skill surpasses me, and I cannot speak more highly of them.
What the military is to our nation, the police and firefighters are to the local communities.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Ever seen a jet dance a ballet?
Except for the music, this video is as close as you’re gonna get to watching a heavier-than-air craft simply ignore gravity.
I’ve seen a shitload and a half of aircraft flying - fixed, variable and rotary wing, both visually and on radar - including being on the air search radar tracking the first Space Shuttle flight after the Challenger disaster as a part of the “safety net” procedures. But I’ve NEVER seen a plane move like the Raptor.
Hooooooo-leeeeee shit 
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A good cause
Just sitting here thinking of Helo’s post reminded me (and I commented on it) that there is a group who is making life on the front lines a little more bearable for a military group that has been fighting terrorism and terrorist groups up close and personal for a HELL of a lot longer than we have.
I speak of the Israeli Defense Force, who has managed to defend their homeland against overwhelmingly superior forces, because there was simply No. Other. Choice. It was win or die.
They won. And won again. And again. And they have continued to win in low-level conflicts, showing a fighting spirit that would thrill the heart of anyone who has ”seen the elephant”.
So anyhow, there are these nice people who get together to send pizzas and burgers to those brave Israelis as they sit on a duty station, and traditional holiday gifts to their worried families, too.
If you have a few bucks to spare, you should at least think about it.
Their website is here.
If you don’t want to pony up for a whole pizza and soda, what about some ice cream for the squad?
(Anything over $250 is tax-deductible here in the US as a charitable donation, so think about those end-of-the-year tax write-offs you could be earning!)
{/PSA}
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Speaking of Everyday Heroes
They’re allowed to make mistakes every once in a while… 
I’m going to tuck this below the fold, because I don’t want it to have to load every single time the page loads, and I am not quite sure what it’s going to do to my bandwidth, but enjoy. (I’m sure he did...)
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The Unofficial Start of Summer
Well, yesterday was one of the busiest travel days of the year as millions leave their homes in a desperate attempt to “beat the traffic” as the three-day weekend kicks off…
It’s a shame that most people only see Memorial Day as nothing more than a three-day weekend or a reason for a shitload-and-a-half of sales across the spectrum of manufactured goods, from mattresses to cars, from yarn to adult beverages. Or the Indianapolis 500…
Well, this is your final announcement for - and chance to join in on - the Fourth Annual Patriot’s Journey. (cue trumpet flourish)
Once more, for those who have never heard of it, all you need to do is make a single post on your own blog - or as a comment in someone else’s blog (although you should post a link in that comment back to one of the participating bloggers, so that you don’t confuse the other people commenting) - of something positive about the United States of America. Once a day, from Memorial Day (May 28th) to Independence Day (July 4th) is all it takes.
So far, we have JimK, Scott, The Bastidge, and Cosmicbabe (Larry’s friend). Plus Your Humble Host, of course, and John Cross has even alluded to posting one or two things along the way.
The reason for this annual journey is simple: I thought it was interesting how those who cry that we “shouldn’t question their patriotism” are precisely the same ones who don’t bother expressing anything positive about this country?
When was the last time you heard a liberal - or “True Conservative”, for that matter - actually say anything positive about the US?
Well, let’s show ‘em how it’s done! 
Starting Monday…