J****

Real early this morning my son called to see if we had any information regarding his best friend. The initial word he heard was his friend shot himself with drugs and was found dead. These two guys have been pals since kindergarten. He did not want to call J****'s mom at 0130 hrs but Ryan said she was on his answer machine and she sounded real grim.

This morning, my wife called his mom and learned J**** had been shot to death in his apartment but she had no further information as yet.

By 0900 my wife had found out that J**** and two other people ( his off again on again girlfriend and another guy) had been doing drugs and alcohol overnight. Early in the morning the guy and gal started to trash the apartment and J**** told them to stop doing that. The end result was J**** went to his room, got his pistol and shot the two who were trashing the apartment. The male is in critical condition and the female was dead. Then J**** went into his room and shot himself. He died at the hospital.

This was one really nice kid, who would have never done anything like that without the substance abuse. At this time, I have no idea how often he used drugs and alcohol or what substances he used.

I do remember him as a cub scout and boy scout. He was a very good kid all through school. He graduated with my son, Ryan. Him and Ryan also worked often around our house as my wife's lifters and movers and assisting her in many varied projects. The kid and his many talents will be missed.

And he will be remembered by many for the wrong reasons.

Brevard Shutters, Rockledge, Brevard County, Florida

I ordered my hurricane shutters on 01/07/2005, they are installing my accordion shutters today, 10/14/2005, as I write this. This does not mean the job is or even will completed today, it is only part of a long list of screw-ups by this company. But I must let them finish the job so I can detail all of the errors.

Since April of this year when they actually started installing things, the job has gone downhill. While they were putting up the wrong type rails to hold the aluminum shutters I told them. They completed that install but when I asked them where the see through panels were The installer basically said "Aw s**t and left. Today is the first day they have managed to get back here.

While some of the problem is the fact that suppliers are overwhelmed by their orders since last years hurricanes most of the problem seems to be poor management. The see through panels were finally ordered on 06/01/2005 a fact that no one bothered to tell us. In fact there has been almost absolutely no communication from Brevard shutters to us and more than one failure to return our calls.

More to follow as the adventure continues.

Today is the 18th of November. My shutter installation is still not complete. About 3 weeks ago, I had a visit from the owner of the company who came to offer his apologies and ensure the job was finished right. He went over everything , listened to me and told me of some of the problems his company had suffered. He then called a work crew with explicit instructions to report to my home between )800 and )900 the next day, Saturday to complete the job.

At 0815 I on Saturday, I called their office to see where my installers were. I was told they had to attend an officew meeting but were on their way. They arrived about an hour later and commenced work.

They did complete everything except my upstairs bonus room. Initially the shutter peices had been cut to long and their boss told them to cut off about one and a half inches. This they did without checking. However, they had also replaced the L2 track and installed a plate behind it for a better fit. Each time the lower track was replaced (they were up to 4 timesnow) the measurements changed. They then cut the shutters IAW their bosses instructions abd Voila, they are now to short. When I came out they were preparing to lower the upper track to make the shutters fit.

At this point, I said NO Way. Each time they move the track, I get four more holes in the front of my house. They plug them with caulk BUT. I told them I wanted the upper track where it was and they needed to go get shutters that fit.

The next week I was out of town and the week after that I had doctors appointments and personal items to take care of. My last phone conversation with them, in which Lynette again asked me who I was I told them to get together a plan and call me. Still no phone call almost three weeks later yet when the installers left they assured me they had the necessary material in the shop.

More to follow as the adventure continues.

Yeah Right!


Just before Christmas, I called Brevard Shutters and asked what they plan was. Craig told me he was reviewing my file and wondered what else I needed besides an outside lock. I told him the lock had been installed weeks ago but that I really needed the second floor window completed, that the rails were in place and all I needed was the hurricane panels installed. He said he would send a man right out. I told them there would be know one home and to be sure and bring a ladder because it was a second floor window. I even said just put the shutters up and after I inspect them, I will take them down.

That night when my wife came home she found a business card from Brevard Shutters tucked in the door but no shutters. Today the date is 01-07-06. A year ago today, we ordered these shutters and the last flurry of action from Brevard Shutters was before Christmas when they stuck a card in the door.

The work they do seems to be good, but you could die of old age waiting for them to install your shutters.

Sex Offenders and Sexual Predators

Thank goodness for small politicians and loud causes. Sex offenders and predators belong to the State of Florida. Politicians in counties and cities need to be more concerned with road repair, maintenance of replacement of public buildings and funding of city or county services.

With every jurisdiction in the State coming up with different restrictions on sex offenders and predators the job of the Department of Corrections Probation Officer assigned will become almost impossible.

As a former DOC Probation Officer with a caseload of sex offenders I can assure you that not all sex offenders are equal in their crimes, some who were charged with serious crimes pled down to lower level crimes and other offenders were so purely evi, you wanted to ensure your firearm was with you at all times.

With the new proposed criteria of having local police check their status more often than the State's requirements I cannot help but wonder: If the subject commits another sex crime, has the local jurisdiction supposedly watching him or her now assumed at least some liability from the state. Who will the attorneys for the victim come after now.

And most of these sex offenders WILL recommit more sex offenses.

Are these jurisdictions who intend to use their police to follow sex offenders prepared to hire more police officers or do they intend to act like the state and continue to increase the workload without proper funding?

When you read in the paper that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement says X number of predators and Y number of sex offenders live within a particular jurisdiction remember this: sex offenders lie, they change their locations without notification and they are ALWAYS positioning themselves in their search for new victims. In addition, they also move from other states without following the rules of the state they left or the one they moved into.

I might also add that the ACLU is surely waiting in the wings to initiate lawsuits regarding the unequal application of restrictions on a class of people in this state.

In my opinion, if citizens are not satisfied with the Department of Corrections and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement they should make their feelings known the their state representatives and state senators to have the laws changed.

Sheep, Wolves and Sheep Dogs

The people of this world are divided into three categories.

The first are those categorized as Sheep. Sheep have to be taken care of. They have to be protected from predators of all shapes and sizes. Most of the people in the world are sheep. That is to say they go through their life totally oblivious to what is happening around them and if they are not protected by someone or some thing different than their fellow sheep, they are injured or killed off by predators.

Wolves are the segment of the population that consists of predators. These predators that exist to feed off the sheep. Wolves go after sheep for food or fun. The damage caused by wolves is not limited to just what the wolf needs to survive. For the wolf it is almost a bloodsport to kill, injure or just terrify sheep, singular or plural.

The final and perhaps smallest part of the population are the sheep dogs. Sheep dogs exist to protect the sheep from the wolf and any other physical danger that may arise. Sheep dogs have been known to sacrifice themselves when they are highly outnumbered by the wolves.

I suppose each of us has the ability to consciouslly decide whether to be a sheep, a wolf, or a sheep dog.

The main problem for those who become sheep, whether they reached that staus consciously or not, is there are never enough sheep dogs to protect all of the sheep every minute of every day throughout the lifetime of each sheep. Additionally, the sheep normally refuse to foot the bill for the cost of 24 and 7 sheep dogs. When it comes to finances, the sheep are always prepared to sacrifice some other member of the flock to hold down costs. Although some sheep often use the following battle cry "for the good of the lambs" when they try to interest the flock to increase their protective blankets.

Illegal Confiscation of Firearms in New Orleans

This post includes the main points of a message I forwarded to each Florida Senator and to my Congressman, Dave Weldon:

Dear Senator or Congressman,

In the article below, Deputy Chief Warren Riley from the New Orleans Police Department states: "No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons."

This mans own police officers are seen on national television looting a Wal Mart store. While looting, they were shown in uniform and wearing sidearms.

The situation as deacribed below is totally unsatisfactory. I am a police officer in Florida and these people, such as Deputy Chief Riley, are using their position to further their personal agendas. And while doing so, they are violating the civil rights of honest and law abiding citzens.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Katrina Educates World On Need For Owning Guns
by Erich Pratt

"All our operators are busy right now. Please remain on the line and an operator will be with you shortly. Your call is important to us."

Can you imagine any words more horrifying after dialing 9-1-1? Your life's in danger, but there's no one available to help you.

For several days in September, life was absolutely terrifying for many New Orleans residents who got stranded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. There were no operators... there were no phone calls being handled.

Heck, there was no 9-1-1. Even if the phone lines had been working, there were no police officers waiting to be dispatched.

Hundreds of New Orleans police officers had fled the city. Some took their badges and threw them out the windows of their cars as they sped away. Others participated in the looting of the city.

While there were many officers who acted honorably -- even apprehending dangerous thugs while grieving the loss of their own family members -- most residents were forced to fend for themselves.

Many did so successfully, using their own firearms, until New Orleans Police Commissioner Edwin Compass III issued the order to confiscate their guns.

Anti-gun zealots confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens
On September 8, several news outlets began reporting that officials in New Orleans were confiscating firearms... not from looters, but from law-abiding citizens who legally owned firearms!

"No one will be able to be armed," said Deputy Chief Warren Riley. "We are going to take all the weapons."

It was like a scene out of the former Soviet Union or Communist China.

The Associated Press quoted Compass, the police commissioner, as saying, "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons."

Well, there you have it. Given the chance, gun control advocates will always implement their real agenda -- confiscation of firearms from everyone... except the police!

ABC News video on September 8 showed National Guard troops going house-to-house, smashing down doors, searching for residents, and confiscating guns. Every victim of disarmament was clearly not a thug or looter, but a decent resident wanting to defend his or her home.

Many of the troops were clearly conflicted by their orders. "It is surreal," said one member of the Oklahoma National Guard who was going door-to-door in New Orleans. "You never expect to do this in your own country."

Many never would have expected it -- confiscating firearms from decent people who were relying on those firearms to protect themselves from the looters.

It was an outrageous order -- one that should not have been obeyed. There was no constitutional authority for the directive, and it ignored the fact that many good people had already used firearms to successfully defend their lives and property.

Guns were saving lives and protecting property prior to the confiscation order
As flood waters started rising in New Orleans, a wave of violence rolled through the city.

"It was pandemonium for a couple of nights," said Charlie Hackett, a New Orleans resident. "We just felt that when [looters] got done with the stores, they’d come to the homes."

Hackett was right... which is why he and his neighbor, John Carolan, stood guard over their homes to ward off looters who, rummaging through the neighborhoods, were smashing windows and ransacking stores.

Armed looters did eventually come to Carolan's house and demanded his generator. But Carolan showed them his gun and they left.

No wonder then that gun stores, which weren't under water, were selling firearms at a record pace to people looking to defend themselves. "I've got people like you wouldn't believe, lots of people, coming in and buying handguns," said Briley Reed, the assistant manager of the E-Z Pawn store in Baton Rouge.

"I've even had soldiers coming in here buying guns," Reed said.

Makeshift militias patrol neighborhoods
In the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, dozens of neighbors banded together to protect their neighborhood.

"There's about 20 or 30 guys in addition to us. We know all of them and where they are," Gregg Harris said. "People armed themselves so quickly, rallying together. I think it's why [our] neighborhood survived."

Harris isn't joking about the armaments. A gun battle erupted one afternoon between armed neighbors and looters. Two of the thugs were shot.

Since then, no more looters have bothered the neighborhood. But the neighbors aren't letting their guard down. They all take their turn keeping watch.

Gareth Stubbs sits in a rocking chair on his front porch, holding his shotgun and a bottle of bug spray.

In another home, a 74-year old mother keeps the following near the bed: her rosary, a shotgun and a 38-caliber pistol.

Vinnie Pervel and two other volunteers man a balcony-turned-watchtower with five borrowed shotguns, a pistol, a flare gun, and old AK-47 and loads of ammunition.

To be sure, many of the weapons were borrowed from neighbors who fled before the storm hit. Pervel and Harris did not have any working firearms themselves in the aftermath of the storm. But because Pervel had been keeping in contact (via phone) with neighbors who had already evacuated, he got permission to go into the vacant homes and get his neighbors' weapons.

"I never thought I'd be going into my neighbor's house and taking their guns," Pervel said. "We wrote down what gun came from what house so we can return them when they get back."

Firearms were a hot commodity
It would be an understatement to say that firearms were the hottest commodity in the days following the massive destruction. In Gulf Port, Mississippi, Ron Roland, 51, lost everything -- three homes, four cars, a bait-and-tackle shop and a boat. It was all destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Nevertheless, Roland was determined to salvage what he could amidst the rubble -- with or without police protection. And it's a good thing, too, because there would be no such thing as "police protection" in the days following the storm.

Standing guard over one of his homes with a handgun in his waistband, Roland used his firearm to stop looters from rummaging through his storm-damaged property.

Roland and his son even performed a citizen's arrest on one plunderer and then warned future thieves by posting the following message in his yard: "NO TRESPASSERS! ARMED HOMEOWNERS."

Signs like this were common throughout the Gulf Coast region in the days following Katrina.

Unfortunately, some people had to learn the hard way about the utility of keeping firearms for protection.

Water, food... but what about guns?
The managers at the Covenant Home nursing center in New Orleans were more than prepared to ride out the hurricane. They had food and supplies to last the 80 residents for more than ten days.

They had planned for every contingency... or so they thought.

"We had excellent plans. We had enough food for 10 days," said Peggy Hoffman, the home's Executive Director.

But they had no firearms. So when carjackers hijacked the home's bus and drove by the center shouting "Get out!" to the residents, they were completely helpless.

All of the residents, most of them in wheelchairs, were evacuated to other nursing homes in the state.

Hoffman says she has now learned her lesson.

Next time, "We'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot," she said.

Thank goodness someone is learning from their mistakes.

Does anyone remember Los Angeles?
We should have learned this lesson more than ten years ago when the entire country saw horrifying images coming out of Los Angeles.

If the riots of 1992 taught us anything, it is that the police can't always be there to protect us.

For several days, that city was in complete turmoil as stores were looted and burned. Motorists were dragged from their cars and beaten.

Further aggravating the situation, police were very slow in responding to the crisis. Many Guardsmen, after being mobilized to the affected areas, sat by and watched the violence because their rifles were low on ammunition.

But not everybody in Los Angeles suffered. In some of the hot spots, Korean merchants were able to successfully protect their stores with semi-automatic firearms.

In areas where armed citizens banded together for self-protection, their businesses were spared while others (which were left unprotected) burned to the ground.

The pictures of Korean merchants defending their stores left quite an impression on one group of people living in Los Angeles: those who had previously identified themselves as gun control advocates.

Press reports described how life-long gun control supporters were even running to gun stores to buy an item they never thought they would need -- a gun. Tragically, they were surprised (and outraged!) to learn there was a 15-day waiting period upon firearms.

Confiscating guns puts people at risk
Fast forward more than a decade, it seems that many folks still haven't learned the lessons from previous tragedies. If the Mayor and his cronies really wanted to help the decent citizens of New Orleans, they would have been issuing people firearms instead of taking them away.

These guns were the only thing that prevented many good folks from becoming victims in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Now that residents are disarmed, will the Mayor provide 24-hour, round-the-clock protection for each of these disarmed families? Will he make himself personally liable for anyone who is injured or killed as a result of being prevented from defending himself or his family?

When your life is in danger, you don't want to rely on a police force that is stretched way too thin. And the last thing you want to hear when you call 9-1-1 is, "All our operators are busy right now...."

That might just be the last thing you ever hear.

High Fuel Costs

Senator Martinez, Senator Nelson, Congressman Weldon

Like many of my friends I want reasonably priced fuel, be it gas, diesel or heating oil.

One of our major problems is this counties inability to refine crude oil to create the amount of fuel used in this country.

I believe that it is the job of our senators and congressmen to ensure that new refineries are created that are as modern as possible.

I believe that it is your job to ensure that those seeking oil must do it it with safeguards to protect the environment.

I do not believe that it is your job to play NIMBY (not in my back yard) to the detriment of this countries ability to obtain needed fuel.

No one wants oil stuff on their beaches, yet we all drive vehicles on the road.

The federal government has aided truckers for so long we basically have no trains or ships to move mass cargos.

I want cheaper fuel, my friends want cheaper fuel, we do not care where the oil wells are drilled...they will be in sombody's back yard.

Your job is to ensure when the oil wells are drilled and the refineries are built that they are as environmentally friendly as possible for that type of heavy industry.

I Don't Care Either

The e-mail this came in purports that the lady who wrote this letter is Pam Foster of Pamela Foster and Associates in Atlanta. She's been in business since 1980 doing interior design and home planning. The e-mail indicated that she recently wrote the following letter to a family member serving in Iraq:



WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS?

"Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001? Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown
Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania? Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi tells the world he is sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling, slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

I'll care when judges stop ordering my government to release photos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which are sure to set off the Islamic extremists just as Newsweek's lies did a few weeks ago.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college hazing incident, rest assured that I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank that I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts that I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times! "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it -- I don't care!" -

I did not write this, but I feel the same way as the person who wrote this and if it was not Pam Foster, I don't care.

The Self-fulfilling Prophecy

In 1957, Robert Merton wrote in his "Social Theory and Social Structure" that the Self-fulfilling Prophecy occurred when " a false definition of the situation evokes a new behavior which makes the original false conception come true." Or, once an expectation is laid out, even if false, people tend to act in ways consistent with the expectation, which often comes true.

We in fact are now seeing this on a daily basis. The headlines from the newspaper are in some form or another: GAS TO REACH $$$ PER GALLON. There is no or very little outcry from the citizens, mumbles but no outcry. Our elected representation in the various levels of government say nothing... Except for a few trying to change their level in the government. Which often seems to be more of a personal agenda rather than help for their fellow citizens. Those at the highest level of government must have enough fuel to run their government vehicles and heat their government quarters because they also seem highly ignorant of the situation.

I realize that some in government are so against such things as oil refineries, SUVs and private vehicles that they are also unconcerned.

With all of this said, we need to remember that those same newspapers also continuously report that the worlds oil companies are also posting record profits.

Here is my prophecy for a country which moves on and exists in its present state so dependent upon crude oil: High fuel costs will to uncontrolled inflation followed by economic chaos.

Do not be fooled that crude oil suppliers will always sell their products to this country. The Chinese are coming after as much of the worlds energy as they can get their hands on. Failure to increase our energy sources by both increasing our ability to refine crude oil as well as diversifying into other energy sources will be our downfall.

New, modern oil refineries would eliminate many of the problems caused by oil refineries built years ago. The new ones would have better electronic controls to insure they are more environmentally friendly. But they are like warships in the fact they can not be built overnight. They take years of planning, all of which takes time.

This country is running out of time.

Two meaningful paragraphs from a book

The following is taken from "Inside the Wire" by Erik Saar and Viveca Novak, The Penguin Press 2005. Erick Saar served as an Arabic linguist in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. His book, from the viewpoint of a sergeant neither really praises nor trashes the Army's efforts in Cuba.

However, in my opinion, the following two paragraphs taken directly from the book are noteworthy in understanding our terrorist foes:

Before I left, I had one more conversation with Mustapha, the Syrian detainee with whom I'd had long talks about religion when I was on the JDOG team. I told him I was going. "Mustapha, we've talked a lot over the past six months, and we've learned a lot about each other," I said. "I have one last question. I want to know what you think of me."

Sitting cross-legged on the floor as usual, Mustapha smiled and gazed down the corridor of Echo block, taking in the atmosphere and the breeze coming off the ocean he couldn't see. "Basam," he said. "You are not how I thought an American man or soldier would be. You believe in God and you love your family. In a way I respect you. But you are a Kafer"-------an infidel. "You are not a Muslim. In fact, you are an enemy of the true God. If I were not in this cell I would have to kill you."

Failure to understand your foe can cause great disharmony in your life.