We keep hearing how America is falling apart, America is becoming extinct, Americans values are gone, and so much more. But there is a simple truth to where this country is headed....
The problem lies not with America, but with people who have something to gain, either ideologically or monetarily, and who keep voting the same people in term after term. Regardless of how they squander the taxpayers money or how corrupt they are, the idiots keep voting them in time and again.
Why? Because many people, regardless of color, are on the gravy train that never stops at a station except to collect more money and benefits. Politicians pander to those who will vote for them by promising, and giving, rewards. More welfare, forgiveness of student loans, more shelter dodges for illegals, etc. If you offered a dollar to anyone who votes for you, it would be a crime. So the politicians simply promise more "dollars" in the form of freebies and those sucking off the hind tit of society go for the politicians who give the best freebies. Thus Sanders and Clinton, whose platforms include more and more give-aways, and subservience to foreign governments. Just like the current "leader" the future will be bleak if we do not turn things around.
I am so damned sick and tired of the police being vilified because 99.99 percent do a good job and are honest, hard working men and women in a thankless job. Black Lives Matter? Sure they do, every life matters. But the same people screaming at the cops are the ones who turn a blind eye to the crime statistics of black people killing other blacks. But that does not matter to them, they won't get out and make their neighborhoods safer, they just bitch and moan and sit on their collective asses while the cops are trying to stem the rampant crime. And they complain that police are harassing them when the police are in their neighborhoods and make an arrest, no matter how righteous. Yet they want the police to be there if the crime is committed on them. Same with a minority of Latinos and others who seem to think the only time a cop should be around is when they need one to cover their butt, not to arrest illegals or criminals or gang bangers! How sad for the good people of all races.
What is really disheartening is how many great people of color there are in this world, and the small number who have nothing better to do than protest, result in much public opinion being turned against people of color in general. Factually, they have the same problem as the police; most are decent people who just want a decent life. Most work and support their families and don't have time to protest all day. But exactly what has happened to law enforcement in general has also broad brushed the black community. If you are against the activists you are called a racist. If you are against the police you are called a supporter of the activists, nothing more.
The shooter who killed police officers in Dallas was a racist, through and through. Such acts severely deepen the chasm between the races and foster hate and division. Yet some people see this act as good and praise the gunman for his vile deeds. That is patently wrong on every level. What is wrong that we simply cannot see there are bad and good in every race and broad brushing everyone is just wrong?
In my opinion, the proliferation of freebies for people on the the public dole who should be working but will not, Section 8 housing where it is not warranted, and people having multiple non-family members living in the house at taxpayers expense, mothers with multiple children from multiple fathers who walk away from their responsibilities and move on to impregnate some more women, (Black and white and every other race, color are included), scammers on the system who collect benefits they are not entitled to, and the lack of a decent justice system that actually punishes criminals, especially those repeat offenders, are major reasons we are in this mess.
Speaking of criminal acts, it is outrageous where a citizen can make an honest several hundred dollar mistake on their taxes and be hounded by the IRS and charged interest, fines, and fees, while others can owe millions of dollars and get special treatment because of who they know or are. And the same goes for claiming disability benefits when people are actually able to work a solid job, but scam the system and feign a disability while sucking off the taxpayers paychecks. And they think they are actually entitled to these benefits!! No wonder Social Security is in worse shape than ever, when money is moved to the disability fund from the Social Security Trust Fund at the expense of retirees who count on that money to survive. And, those who have to worry about their benefits being cut are the ones who actually worked and payed into the system all their working life! As a note, I am not against those who have an honest disability, just the scammers who screw us all over. And I am mad at the justice system that turns a blind eye to allow these scams to continue.
Student loans are another issue today. Why is it that if you decide to go to any school, many for way over the four years and spend the student loan money on a car, bar, vacations, dates and everything else plus your schooling, and run up a $100,000+ debt that the taxpayers should be required to pick up YOUR debt? If a citizen runs up their credit card, nobody else gets to pay the debt. Many of us actually worked our way through college, and scrimped and saved to pay the bills. We did it by hard work, those with student loans had to pay them off month by month over many years. A month on forbearance meant another months payments at the end plus more interest. Why in hell should anyone expect that their student loan be forgiven? Maybe the government will then forgive mortgages? I think not.
People who went to schools they did not fully vet before enrolling now want the government to forgive their loans because they failed to do due diligence. What? Just because some people are idiots and easily scammed by any school, especially online schools and those who advertise online, they think we should bail them out? I hope they never buy a nice car, a home or anything else of great material value because they are in for a rude awakening. Nobody is going to pay the bills for them. GROW UP and get real. You made the decision so suck it up!
Finally, the "celebrities" who are absolutely nothing make statements that the "press" publishes, as yellow journalism does. These people are not celebrities but boils on the butt of society and how can anyone even consider listening to the tripe that emanates from them? Come on. America, wake up and get real. A wanna be singer, rapper, actor, artist, You Tube maker or anything else is just that...a wanna be that means zip, zero, Nada. Everyone should aspire to greatness,but these people will never be great, just mediocre at best.
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Sunday, April 12, 2009
California Illogic and Laws that Seem to Have Been a Waste Writing
Here's some ideas to help Arnold fill the state coffers. Of course, the Granola State" is so filled with political idiocy, that passing a law that makes sense, has teeth, is enforceable, and furthermore IS enforced, is as likely as freedom from drought and having a heavy snowstorm in San Diego in August. Regardless, here goes:
Raise the fine for talking on a non-hands-free cell phone from $20 to $500. Every day I see dozens of people using their same old cell phone slammed to their ear, dialing it or otherwise scoffing at the law that was passed a year ago. Twenty bucks doesn't cover the cost of a Bluetooth device but would cover the cost of a wired headset. But when it's only twenty bucks and the chances of getting caught are about zero, why bother. RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Raise the fines for cutting into the carpool lanes in non-access areas and enforce it. It's dangerous and people do it all the time. Double the fine for crossing the double yellow line to enter a carpool lane and if the person is a single occupant, double the carpool lane fine too. That should get someone's attention. On San Diego's Interstate 5, place an officer or two on the Del Mar Heights bridge to watch traffic heading north and watch them cutting in before and after the bridge; have several motor officers on I-5 north of the bridge. You could pay a politicians salary multiple times a week with the tickets you could write there. RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Enforce the speed limit within reason. If that means installing speed cameras, then do it and collect the fines and slow down the blithering idiots who seem to think that driving at 100 miles an hour and weaving in and out on the freeway is somehow okay! Maybe if the speed limit was enforced and the fines were really heavy when someone were caught, the message might get through. Endangering everyone else's life just because you drive like an asshole on fire isn't justified in any case. You should be caught, fined and your license revoked. And, if you get caught driving again, your vehicle should be impounded and your ass thrown in jail. Wanton disregard for public safety shouldn't be acceptable behavior, even though this is California! RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Go after all the outdated and unregistered vehicles and make them comply with current registration requirements. Vehicles that are unregistered or outdated have high levies placed on them, so collect it rather than allow them to be run on the streets for months or years while not collecting a cent! The State has raised the vehicle license fee on the rest of us to make up what they don't get from these scofflaws. Have the police and parking enforcement cruise through parking lots, private developments and gated communities and ticket vehicles with outdated registrations. Tow vehicles that are unregistered. Those that are junks yet are still roaming the streets should be noted as unsafe for use and impounded. Quit taxing the crap out of everyone else to make up for the inadequacies of the State in enforcing the laws that are on the books already. RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Can anyone see the gist of the above? This State makes laws they don't enforce, or perhaps never intend to enforce. They simply place them on the books to placate the general public, like MADD and other safety minded groups. Then the legislators can brag that they passed a law, even though it is hollow and really presents no positive impact on public safety. And if accident statistics go down, they can tell you it's because of their work on passing the law; except that in reality it's probably a glitch or because someone cooked or skewed the statistics to read how they wanted them to read this week or month or year.
Time to quit being a Girly Man, Arnold! You accuse everyone else of it....look in the mirror and see how you acquiesce to the political machine and pass taxes and laws to screw the ordinary citizen, while doing nothing to properly use the laws that we already passed to protect us.
Raise the fine for talking on a non-hands-free cell phone from $20 to $500. Every day I see dozens of people using their same old cell phone slammed to their ear, dialing it or otherwise scoffing at the law that was passed a year ago. Twenty bucks doesn't cover the cost of a Bluetooth device but would cover the cost of a wired headset. But when it's only twenty bucks and the chances of getting caught are about zero, why bother. RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Raise the fines for cutting into the carpool lanes in non-access areas and enforce it. It's dangerous and people do it all the time. Double the fine for crossing the double yellow line to enter a carpool lane and if the person is a single occupant, double the carpool lane fine too. That should get someone's attention. On San Diego's Interstate 5, place an officer or two on the Del Mar Heights bridge to watch traffic heading north and watch them cutting in before and after the bridge; have several motor officers on I-5 north of the bridge. You could pay a politicians salary multiple times a week with the tickets you could write there. RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Enforce the speed limit within reason. If that means installing speed cameras, then do it and collect the fines and slow down the blithering idiots who seem to think that driving at 100 miles an hour and weaving in and out on the freeway is somehow okay! Maybe if the speed limit was enforced and the fines were really heavy when someone were caught, the message might get through. Endangering everyone else's life just because you drive like an asshole on fire isn't justified in any case. You should be caught, fined and your license revoked. And, if you get caught driving again, your vehicle should be impounded and your ass thrown in jail. Wanton disregard for public safety shouldn't be acceptable behavior, even though this is California! RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Go after all the outdated and unregistered vehicles and make them comply with current registration requirements. Vehicles that are unregistered or outdated have high levies placed on them, so collect it rather than allow them to be run on the streets for months or years while not collecting a cent! The State has raised the vehicle license fee on the rest of us to make up what they don't get from these scofflaws. Have the police and parking enforcement cruise through parking lots, private developments and gated communities and ticket vehicles with outdated registrations. Tow vehicles that are unregistered. Those that are junks yet are still roaming the streets should be noted as unsafe for use and impounded. Quit taxing the crap out of everyone else to make up for the inadequacies of the State in enforcing the laws that are on the books already. RAISE THE FINES, IMPROVE SAFETY, AND ENFORCE THE LAW!
Can anyone see the gist of the above? This State makes laws they don't enforce, or perhaps never intend to enforce. They simply place them on the books to placate the general public, like MADD and other safety minded groups. Then the legislators can brag that they passed a law, even though it is hollow and really presents no positive impact on public safety. And if accident statistics go down, they can tell you it's because of their work on passing the law; except that in reality it's probably a glitch or because someone cooked or skewed the statistics to read how they wanted them to read this week or month or year.
Time to quit being a Girly Man, Arnold! You accuse everyone else of it....look in the mirror and see how you acquiesce to the political machine and pass taxes and laws to screw the ordinary citizen, while doing nothing to properly use the laws that we already passed to protect us.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Escondido Police Drivers' License Checkpoints
Kudos to the Escondido California Police Department on their use of Drivers' License checkpoints to curb unlicensed and unregistered, uninsured vehicles on the streets of their city. It appears to be a legal, effective way to help rid the streets of drivers who pay no attention to the law, and who fail to obtain licenses, operate outdated or unregistered vehicles or who have no insurance or insurance that has lapsed. They don't randomly stop vehicles; when they set up a checkpoint, they stop every vehicle passing through.
However, this upsets some of the Hispanic community, including one activist named Bill Flores, who always seems to be able to be a mouthpiece when trouble can be brewed over anything that could remotely be labeled Hispanic, Mexican or Latino, regardless of why or how. Especially if you add the word ILLEGAL in front of any of the above.
It seems that many of the drivers being caught in this "overzealous" dragnet by the Escondido Police are Illegal Alien Mexicans. Those who have entered this country ILLEGALLY, who have no right to be here, who have no right to be driving a car, who have no insurance since they can't legally drive nor register a vehicle and who should not be in America. Yet, their apprehension in these completely legal checkpoints angers Flores to no end, who accuses the police of racism, and of picking on the poor illegal alien Mexicans.
Flores states that all the illegals don't impact healthcare and states that Palomar Hospital was accredited this year. Good God, Flores, get your head out of your butt! Sure it was accredited as all the hospitals are! The standard of care everyone is concerned about is waiting in the ER and halls for help while the staff is overwhelmed providing free services to all the illegals and non-payers who come through the doors every day and night. Your chance of dying while a bed is taken up by an illegal with a non-emergency issue increases with the glut of illegals who use the Emergency Rooms as their own after hours doctors offices, knowing the care is free! This applies to Tri-City and most other hospitals as well. Flores doesn't say anything about the billions in healthcare shortages suffered in California every year as a result of the illegals; he's all for giving them everything free. I'd bet if he had a healthcare emergency and had to wait in the back of a paramedic van, or in the hallway of the ER because it was so crowded, that he might get a better picture. But maybe not. What would he then yell...get all the paying white, black, asian, etc. patients out? Naah, that would be racist!
People who want to give it all away should do just that. Give the illegals their credit cards, wallets, money, bank account, ATM and PIN numbers, cars and houses and have nothing. It should make them feel better that they have done their best to assuage the evil injustices done when people break Federal laws and then somehow get caught and deported.
They remind me of the Hollywood stars and Al Gore who want everyone else to go green, while their houses use more electricity in a week than yours does in a whole year! Flores sends out more hot air than the entire New Mexico balloon races to defend people who have absolutely no right to be here in the first place. Illegal is illegal. Period.
However, this upsets some of the Hispanic community, including one activist named Bill Flores, who always seems to be able to be a mouthpiece when trouble can be brewed over anything that could remotely be labeled Hispanic, Mexican or Latino, regardless of why or how. Especially if you add the word ILLEGAL in front of any of the above.
It seems that many of the drivers being caught in this "overzealous" dragnet by the Escondido Police are Illegal Alien Mexicans. Those who have entered this country ILLEGALLY, who have no right to be here, who have no right to be driving a car, who have no insurance since they can't legally drive nor register a vehicle and who should not be in America. Yet, their apprehension in these completely legal checkpoints angers Flores to no end, who accuses the police of racism, and of picking on the poor illegal alien Mexicans.
Flores states that all the illegals don't impact healthcare and states that Palomar Hospital was accredited this year. Good God, Flores, get your head out of your butt! Sure it was accredited as all the hospitals are! The standard of care everyone is concerned about is waiting in the ER and halls for help while the staff is overwhelmed providing free services to all the illegals and non-payers who come through the doors every day and night. Your chance of dying while a bed is taken up by an illegal with a non-emergency issue increases with the glut of illegals who use the Emergency Rooms as their own after hours doctors offices, knowing the care is free! This applies to Tri-City and most other hospitals as well. Flores doesn't say anything about the billions in healthcare shortages suffered in California every year as a result of the illegals; he's all for giving them everything free. I'd bet if he had a healthcare emergency and had to wait in the back of a paramedic van, or in the hallway of the ER because it was so crowded, that he might get a better picture. But maybe not. What would he then yell...get all the paying white, black, asian, etc. patients out? Naah, that would be racist!
People who want to give it all away should do just that. Give the illegals their credit cards, wallets, money, bank account, ATM and PIN numbers, cars and houses and have nothing. It should make them feel better that they have done their best to assuage the evil injustices done when people break Federal laws and then somehow get caught and deported.
They remind me of the Hollywood stars and Al Gore who want everyone else to go green, while their houses use more electricity in a week than yours does in a whole year! Flores sends out more hot air than the entire New Mexico balloon races to defend people who have absolutely no right to be here in the first place. Illegal is illegal. Period.
And, if the word illegal is offensive, too damn bad. My answer to that is:
"To call an illegal alien an undocumented worker is tantamount to calling a drug dealer an undocumented pharmacist!"
It just don't cut it!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Why Government Doesn't Regulate Highway Speed Effectively
You've all seen it happen. You're driving the freeway and cars are passing you at twenty, thirty and forty miles over the speed limit. Cutting in and out with what seems total impunity to traffic enforcement. Driving that borders on criminal, if not felonious, yet it continues every day as drivers push the envelope to get where they want to go, with total disregard of those around them, and the consequences of an accident at those velocities.
Yet, when a horrific accident occurs, and a number of lives are lost, law enforcement stands in front of the media cameras and professes their stringent attempts to curtail speeding and reckless driving on the highways. To those who see it every day, that's just a bunch of political bull sh*t to try and salve the wounds of families who lose loved ones out on our roads day after day.
Facts are that the states do not hire sufficient traffic officers to patrol the highways effectively, preferring to use Selective Traffic Enforcement (STEP) patrols which operate like wolf packs, when a certain area of the highways have a problem. They use a team to saturate a problem area, which may be the result of a series of crashes, to slow down traffic and issue a larger number of citations than usual, for a few days, and then go away. That creates the illusion of effectiveness to a segment of the motoring public, who sees a flurry of activity and police units for a short period. And you call that pro-active policing? I call this the "too little-too late" doctrine.
Same for the all-out DWI enforcement around the holidays and the media blitz on how many persons were caught, versus previous years statistics. That has absolutely no correlation with the actual number of persons who were actually on the roads at any given time under the influence of alcohol or drugs; simply a snapshot of how many went through checkpoints or were drunk enough to attract an officer's attention or be called in and somehow stopped.
Street Racing Enforcement units are disbanded as soon as there is a drop in the number of street racing related crashes and deaths, and the numbers go right back up. The racers know who's watching them and who's not. So why not maintain the units? It's like the USDA not inspecting cows for mad cow disease, because you didn't find any this month, so why bother ever looking again! Same stupid lack of logic. Just wait until the disease rears its' ugly head and then we'll start checking the animals again. It's too late then, just as it's too late when even one street racing death could have been prevented, had the police unit not been disbanded.
In my humble opinion, highway patrols operate similar to the "shark theory" on our freeways. They lurk about, looking for the motorist in the pack who looks like the easiest prey to grab, or the one with the most egregious driving attitude, that they can apprehend. If there are one- hundred vehicles traveling at twenty five miles over the speed limit, the "shark" will only get one out of that pack of one-hundred, leaving ninety-nine to continue to blatantly ignore the law. The one who was caught is just the luck of the draw in most cases, and could have been picked because of multiple infractions such as tinted windows, tail light or license plate out. or other such issue in addition to speed. Or, simply because he or she was the one picked out of the pack and for no other reason than speed. Of course, the driver who is all alone driving way over the limit or weaving in and out of traffic presents a pretty nice opportunity to become "shark bait" with no other attractant necessary!
If California, for example, wanted to help reduce deaths on the roads, and in turn reduce their budget shortfalls, now would be the ideal time to enact a tougher speed law that would protect drivers and help save energy at the same time. First, start enforcing the existing speed laws more rigidly. Secondly, institute a tiered "Waste of Natural Resources" surcharge on top of the speeding fines for those drivers who can't seem to stay within sane speed limits. Drive 20 miles over the limit, pay the fine plus a $250 surcharge; drive 30 miles over and pay the fine plus a $500 surcharge; drive 40 miles over the limit and pay the fine plus a $1000 surcharge. Subsequent infractions would have the surcharges increased commensurate with the violation, along with loss of license and perhaps the vehicle.
In defense of the traffic officers we have, there are not enough. We need to hire more, and to allow them overtime to spend the time needed in high impact areas, where they can do the most good in traffic enforcement.
Of course, as long as the people continue to put up with drunk and drugged driving, and the carnage on our highways, and allow the lackadaisical speed enforcement you see out on the highways today, nothing will be done. When you have drivers that have three and four driving while intoxicated convictions on their record, and are then involved in a fatal crash, a loud siren should be blasting in not only the publics' but the government's ears that something is more than wrong. These people are criminals who needed to be off the streets long before now. Why does it take someones' death to sound the alarm?
I've spent enough time at crashes to see the result; more than enough to last me many lifetimes. I've had to notify families that their loved ones wouldn't be coming home again, and if you don't think that's the worst job in the world, I don't know what you think it could be. All the air bags, seat belts and safety systems won't overcome velocity dynamics, when they far outweigh the normal design function that is designed into a car. And, no manufacturer tests for 100 mile per hour head-on collisions or side collisions at odd angles on the freeway. Metal is metal and flesh isn't. And when you mix the two in a crash, flesh doesn't do very well at all.
Yet, when a horrific accident occurs, and a number of lives are lost, law enforcement stands in front of the media cameras and professes their stringent attempts to curtail speeding and reckless driving on the highways. To those who see it every day, that's just a bunch of political bull sh*t to try and salve the wounds of families who lose loved ones out on our roads day after day.
Facts are that the states do not hire sufficient traffic officers to patrol the highways effectively, preferring to use Selective Traffic Enforcement (STEP) patrols which operate like wolf packs, when a certain area of the highways have a problem. They use a team to saturate a problem area, which may be the result of a series of crashes, to slow down traffic and issue a larger number of citations than usual, for a few days, and then go away. That creates the illusion of effectiveness to a segment of the motoring public, who sees a flurry of activity and police units for a short period. And you call that pro-active policing? I call this the "too little-too late" doctrine.
Same for the all-out DWI enforcement around the holidays and the media blitz on how many persons were caught, versus previous years statistics. That has absolutely no correlation with the actual number of persons who were actually on the roads at any given time under the influence of alcohol or drugs; simply a snapshot of how many went through checkpoints or were drunk enough to attract an officer's attention or be called in and somehow stopped.
Street Racing Enforcement units are disbanded as soon as there is a drop in the number of street racing related crashes and deaths, and the numbers go right back up. The racers know who's watching them and who's not. So why not maintain the units? It's like the USDA not inspecting cows for mad cow disease, because you didn't find any this month, so why bother ever looking again! Same stupid lack of logic. Just wait until the disease rears its' ugly head and then we'll start checking the animals again. It's too late then, just as it's too late when even one street racing death could have been prevented, had the police unit not been disbanded.
In my humble opinion, highway patrols operate similar to the "shark theory" on our freeways. They lurk about, looking for the motorist in the pack who looks like the easiest prey to grab, or the one with the most egregious driving attitude, that they can apprehend. If there are one- hundred vehicles traveling at twenty five miles over the speed limit, the "shark" will only get one out of that pack of one-hundred, leaving ninety-nine to continue to blatantly ignore the law. The one who was caught is just the luck of the draw in most cases, and could have been picked because of multiple infractions such as tinted windows, tail light or license plate out. or other such issue in addition to speed. Or, simply because he or she was the one picked out of the pack and for no other reason than speed. Of course, the driver who is all alone driving way over the limit or weaving in and out of traffic presents a pretty nice opportunity to become "shark bait" with no other attractant necessary!
If California, for example, wanted to help reduce deaths on the roads, and in turn reduce their budget shortfalls, now would be the ideal time to enact a tougher speed law that would protect drivers and help save energy at the same time. First, start enforcing the existing speed laws more rigidly. Secondly, institute a tiered "Waste of Natural Resources" surcharge on top of the speeding fines for those drivers who can't seem to stay within sane speed limits. Drive 20 miles over the limit, pay the fine plus a $250 surcharge; drive 30 miles over and pay the fine plus a $500 surcharge; drive 40 miles over the limit and pay the fine plus a $1000 surcharge. Subsequent infractions would have the surcharges increased commensurate with the violation, along with loss of license and perhaps the vehicle.
In defense of the traffic officers we have, there are not enough. We need to hire more, and to allow them overtime to spend the time needed in high impact areas, where they can do the most good in traffic enforcement.
Of course, as long as the people continue to put up with drunk and drugged driving, and the carnage on our highways, and allow the lackadaisical speed enforcement you see out on the highways today, nothing will be done. When you have drivers that have three and four driving while intoxicated convictions on their record, and are then involved in a fatal crash, a loud siren should be blasting in not only the publics' but the government's ears that something is more than wrong. These people are criminals who needed to be off the streets long before now. Why does it take someones' death to sound the alarm?
I've spent enough time at crashes to see the result; more than enough to last me many lifetimes. I've had to notify families that their loved ones wouldn't be coming home again, and if you don't think that's the worst job in the world, I don't know what you think it could be. All the air bags, seat belts and safety systems won't overcome velocity dynamics, when they far outweigh the normal design function that is designed into a car. And, no manufacturer tests for 100 mile per hour head-on collisions or side collisions at odd angles on the freeway. Metal is metal and flesh isn't. And when you mix the two in a crash, flesh doesn't do very well at all.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Worshipping the Wrong Heroes?
Somehow, we've placed sports and Hollywood figures at the pinnacle of achievement and idolatry in this world, and found them to be worthy of every second of media coverage available. No matter how convoluted their lives are, kids long to emulate them as they grab the spotlight on Monday night, making the long run for the winning touchdown, hitting the game winning home run, or walking the red carpet at the Oscars.
Yet, the real heroes of this world are not playing sports. They don't make millions in salary and don't endorse designer clothes. They have to fight to get a decent raise in salary, fight for medical coverage following injuries sustained in the line of duty, work twenty or more years for a retirement persion, are often disabled and can't work within the first few years of their career.
These are the real hereoes of our society. Our armed forces, law enforcement, firefighters, EMS and first responders. They work for low pay in many cases and lay their lives on the line every day. The media doesn't arrive in time, nor take time to show them rushing into burning buildings to rescue a child or an elderly or handicapped person, nor are they there to see the split second decisions made by a police officer under fire. Yet they will second guess that officer over and over again, about whether he made the right decision to fire his weapon, even though they were never there.
Our military stands between us and oppression, tyranny and a world that would take away our freedom. Those of us who served to keep America free know firsthand what lies on the other side of that thin line of defense. Unfortunately, most don't have a clue, nor do they take the time to acknowledge the selfless acts of the men and women, who defend them and their way of living each and every day.
Sports are an important part of society and it's certainly not wrong to look up to a quality, clean living sports figure. But remember who the real heroes are. Running down the field against a group of men on Sunday afternoon in Chicago doesn't make you near the hero as running across a road with your men under fire in Baghdad to save a life of a fellow Marine or soldier, or maybe just to get to the other side to save all your lives.
Yet, the real heroes of this world are not playing sports. They don't make millions in salary and don't endorse designer clothes. They have to fight to get a decent raise in salary, fight for medical coverage following injuries sustained in the line of duty, work twenty or more years for a retirement persion, are often disabled and can't work within the first few years of their career.
These are the real hereoes of our society. Our armed forces, law enforcement, firefighters, EMS and first responders. They work for low pay in many cases and lay their lives on the line every day. The media doesn't arrive in time, nor take time to show them rushing into burning buildings to rescue a child or an elderly or handicapped person, nor are they there to see the split second decisions made by a police officer under fire. Yet they will second guess that officer over and over again, about whether he made the right decision to fire his weapon, even though they were never there.
Our military stands between us and oppression, tyranny and a world that would take away our freedom. Those of us who served to keep America free know firsthand what lies on the other side of that thin line of defense. Unfortunately, most don't have a clue, nor do they take the time to acknowledge the selfless acts of the men and women, who defend them and their way of living each and every day.
Sports are an important part of society and it's certainly not wrong to look up to a quality, clean living sports figure. But remember who the real heroes are. Running down the field against a group of men on Sunday afternoon in Chicago doesn't make you near the hero as running across a road with your men under fire in Baghdad to save a life of a fellow Marine or soldier, or maybe just to get to the other side to save all your lives.
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