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September 11, 2001

Posted by Dave on Monday, September 11, 2006 12:01:51 PM
In September of 2001 I was teaching ESL classes at night for a local community college.  I was living in a small two-bedroom townhouse with my brother and his wife as they were building a new home and had already sold the other.

On September 11, 2001 I was awake but not really up when my brother, a former Army reservist, who rarely cries if ever, came in my room with tears in his eyes.  He told me someone had just flown planes into each of the World Trade Center Towers and we, as a nation, were under attack.  He had been watching news of the first tower while getting ready for work.  He watched in real time as the second plane hit and was deeply impacted.

Confused and a little in disbelief, I turned on my TV and watched the rest of the morning’s events unfold.  I couldn’t believe the Pentagon was hit, and I was extremely shocked to watch the towers come down.  I was saddened and angry.  What in the world was going on?

The rest of the day was strange.  I couldn’t leave the TV.  My brother went to work but I think ended up closing early.  It was just too weird and no one knew what was happening or what was going to happen.

I tried to get in touch with my girlfriend (wife now) but she was still in class (grad school).  She didn’t know what had happened til she went back to her apartment for lunch and found her roommates crying in front of the TV.  I’ll never forget how angry I was when she said she went back to class that afternoon and none of her professors even acknowledged that anything had happened.  They never did.

I knew it was a day that would never be forgotten.  I still have my journal entry from that night.  I ended with the following: “surely the world will never be the same”.  

I was right.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

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What Will the Neighbors Think

Posted by Dave on Wednesday, September 06, 2006 2:16:39 PM
I ran into an awful dilemma this past weekend.  Given the long weekend I decided to do a little painting.  We moved into our house just over a year ago and did quite a bit of painting then, but we never finished.  I decided to ease back into it and knock out the guest bathroom.

The guest bathroom is a bit small and cramped.  Not wanting to spend the day inhaling paint fumes (call me crazy), I opened the window.  Well, you can’t just open one window, so I opened a window on the other side of the house in attempts to create a cross breeze.

I thought I was good to go.  I had my digital cable on the 80’s music channel and I was jamming to some old school Michael Jackson, Kajagoogoo, and Pet Shop Boys, painting away.  Then I realized I was getting a little dizzy and the breeze wasn’t as strong as I thought it would be.  So I decided to turn on the bathroom fan.  While this improved ventilation, it was quite loud and I couldn’t quite hear the words to Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus.  My next move was to turn the TV up; so I cranked it.

And you can only guess what the next song was.

Only In My Dreams by the oh-so-talented Debbie Gibson.

Then it hit me.  My neighbors are all outside, it’s obvious I’m home alone since my wife’s car is not in the driveway, the windows are open, and I’m blaring Debbie Gibson.  Oh no!

I jumped off the ladder and headed for the remote.  I quickly found the Hard Rock station and was relieved when I heard the lyrics to November Rain.  Ah, a little G ‘n R.  Now I’ll get some respect from my neighbors.  Hopefully nobody noticed the previous song.

So I’m heading back up my ladder when I heard the intro to some hardcore death metal song and immediately the little old lady next door came to mind.  I can’t have her thinking I’m some angry punk who wears black leather and metal studs out on Friday night.  I run back down the ladder, thumb through the radio options once more and stop on Classic Rock – should be ok with the young couple across the street, elderly lady on the left and the single 40-something on the right.

Of course following the Eric Clapton masterpiece was Journey’s Open Arms and I’m back to where I started.  Needless to say, I gave up.  I turned the fan off, shut the windows, and headed over to Arena Rock.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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It Ain't My Fault

Posted by Dave on Tuesday, September 05, 2006 5:36:14 PM
I woke up a little groggy and tired this morning.  I had a slight headache and felt like going back to bed.  Unfortunately my mind was already anxious about the meetings and work related activities planned for the day.  What’s worse is that my wife’s 10 year high school reunion is coming up and today was my vowed day to start doing Weight Watchers again.  Blah.  Why can’t I just eat what I want and be healthy and sexy at the same time?

Anyway, I managed to pull myself together, drink some half-the-calories orange juice along with my egg fried in olive oil, topped with reduced fat American cheese, and sandwiched between a light, whole grain English muffin, and get ready for work.  After arriving at work and getting my computer set up I performed a quick scan of the days news.  It was then that I came upon the best story I’ve read in years.

Evolution, not gluttony, has lead to my obesity.(article)  

What great news!  It’s not my fault after all. Apparently, the forces of nature and the free market have forced me to eat sugary, fatty, processed foods.  I think they called it Dietary Evolution.  But whatever they call it, I’m just glad I’ve had nothing to do with it.  Here I was, about to start changing my eating habits and attempting to improve my lifestyle.  But it’s out of my control, it’s the forces of nature, it’s evolution.  I’m destined to be fat.  Amazing.

So let me get this straight.  We’re not responsible for being fat, alcoholics, addicted to cigarettes, ill tempered, ignorant, lazy, uneducated, parents, or poor.  We can’t spread peace to the world, cure aids, survive hurricanes, or stop forest fires.  But somehow we can manage to destroy the entire earth in less than 100 years?

Makes sense to me – I guess I’ll go get a hamburger from McDonalds.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

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Survivor: Race Relations

Posted by Dave on Thursday, August 31, 2006 6:03:55 PM
Apparently the next season of Survivor is going to have teams segregated by race or ethnicity and there are lots of people upset about it.  To be honest, I don’t know what they're upset about.  After all, people want to be segregated.  When given a choice, the majority of people naturally segregate themselves anyway.

People often bring up school lunchrooms and churches as examples of segregation.  In my experience those are two very good examples.  In fact, my high school had a recessed area of the lunchroom where the majority of the black students congregated for lunch.  They weren't forced to sit there, not all of them did. 

My group of friends in high school included various minorities including blacks.  But oddly enough, they didn’t seem to be accepted by many of the other blacks in school.  I guess because they studied, took advanced classes, and played sports like soccer, they were considered white, which only confirms my theory that people want to be segregated.

Church is usually another good example of people wanting to segregate themselves.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the saying that 11:00am to 12:00pm on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in the U.S.  I’ve been to numerous churches where that’s the case – both black and white - and I would tend to agree.  It took my wife and I several months of visiting churches, after moving to Virginia several years ago, to find one that wasn’t all one race.  What in the world?  My current church sure isn’t all one color (www.kpic.org).  Don’t all Christians worship the same God?  Why can’t we worship together?

Oh yeah, we like to be segregated.

Personally, I like people from all different backgrounds and races.  I work for a small business owned by a Korean-American that I consider a very close friend.  Earlier this month I was honored to be a groomsman in his wedding.  Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  I ended up in a sea of Koreans and Korean-Americans.  While it was a lot of fun and the women were quite pleasing to the eye, it gave me another example of natural segregation.

I don’t think any of this is really earth shattering though I don’t think most people want to admit it for one reason or another.  But if people aren’t forced to segregate, and it’s not used to exert power over another race, why in the world does anyone care?  I don't. 

After all, last time I checked there wasn’t a Survivor draft or anything.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

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Government "Assistance" and Katrina

Posted by Dave on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 10:43:02 AM
I grew up as what I define as middle class.  Looking back, I think we might have been lower-middle class, but what does the terminology really matter.  My wonderful parents succeeded at keeping me from feeling the affects of any financial hardships they went through.  I got some cool toys for Christmas and birthdays.  I remember a lot of them: a Superman sleeping bag, an Atari, a dirt bike, and well, I could make a long list. Whether I realized it or not, my parents taught me to take care of those toys; and I did.  To this day I’m picky (my wife uses another word) about how my “toys” are handled.  I have a collection of nice cutlery that I’m very proud of.  I’ve gotten them piece by piece over several years.  If my wife uses them, I make sure they are immediately washed, dried, and put back on their magnetic strip away from any damaging elements.  I appreciate my things, I work for them, and I take care of them. 

I don’t take anything for granted.

I may not have had all the toys I ever wanted, but one of my childhood friends did.  He was very wealthy; if there was a toy I wanted a toy, he had it.  He had his own big bedroom and playroom, both filled with toys.  Video games, instruments, camping gear, and whatever else he wanted.  The only problem with his toys was that they were usually broken or had missing pieces.  To be perfectly honest, he didn’t care about his toys.  He could get whatever he wanted and expected just that.  I guess that’s why they didn’t mean much to him.  I could never figure out why he didn't take care of them.

I understand now.


I have two trees in the front of my house.  Two very different trees. 

One tree is a miniature Japanese Maple.  It was hand grafted by my uncle, nurtured for a few years, and given to me as a Christmas present. It’s an incredibly beautiful tree with tiny green leaves trimmed in red.  It sits about 16 inches tall, rooted in special soil, and lives in a small handmade pot on my front porch.  To keep it healthy I have to water it nearly every day and protect if from the blazing summer heat. 

It definitely wouldn't survive without me.

The other tree is quite different.   It’s a typical Maple tree that was planted by the neighborhood developers.  It sits in rocky, clay soil in my front yard.  It’s about four years old and gets no special attention.  I don’t water it, fertilize it, or do much else to help it along.  I’ve thought about giving it a little attention earlier this year when we were having drought conditions, but to be perfectly honest, I want it to be a strong, healthy tree, able to withstand hot, dry summers and cold harsh winters.  I’m afraid that if I pamper it, I’ll make it weak and one harsh summer will kill it.  It may look a little wimpy now, but I know it's growing deep roots and trying hard to stay alive.

It will be better off if I leave it alone.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

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What will they think of next?

Posted by Dave on Monday, August 14, 2006 10:03:43 PM
I think I see a pattern here.  Terrorist highjack planes with knives.  Consequently, we were banned from taking scissors, pocketknives, or fingernail clippers in our carry-on luggage.  Now, a terrorist plot is foiled that included taking liquid explosives and detonator devices such as cell phones on planes destined for the U.S.  Thus, we are banned from taking shampoo, bottled water, or toothpaste in our carry-on luggage.

I don’t know about you, but if the terrorist figure out a way to make explosives out of clothing, I can guarantee you won’t see me at the airport.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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Ignorance

Posted by Dave on Wednesday, August 09, 2006 1:17:38 PM
(This post was in response to "Bodies on display" by Linda Chavez and reader comments)

Why comment on something you know nothing about?

I accompanied my wife to Bodies: The Exhibition in New York this past weekend.  As a Christian, Pediatric Physical Therapist, my wife has devoted her life thus far to helping disabled children improve their quality of life.  I supported my wife through graduate school and distinctly remember the time spent in the cadaver lab.  Dissecting a woman piece by piece on a daily bases was not easy, and she struggled at times.  But she now considers it one of her greatest classes, and gained more appreciation of the human body, as a creation of God, than ever before.  To this day she continues to stay glued to Discovery Health curiously watching surgery after surgery.

I don't have the credentials to participate in a cadaver lab or surgery, and am not sure if I would if given the opportunity.  So, when she suggested we go see Bodies: The Exhibition I was a little uneasy; but knowing that she is a wise and discerning woman, I agreed to go.

I'm so glad I did.  I learned more about the human body in those 2 hours than I did in all of my years in government run educational institutions.  I have a greater understanding of how my body works and how awesome and wonderfully we are made.  I saw the brain of a stroke victim, the layers of fat of an obese woman, the corroded lungs of an emphysema sufferer, the black lungs of a smoker, and even such medical advances as hip and knee replacements.  I was even able to see the incredible formation of an 8-week-old fetus, which renewed my disdain for abortion and the criminals who kill innocent, unborn babies.  Moreover, my wife was able to view in amazing detail the central nervous system, improving her understanding of various disabilities and neurological deformities.  For those of you who may not have participated in a cadaver lab, it’s nearly impossible to separate nerves from other tissue in a typical lab setting.  Needless to say it was an educational and eye-opening experience on numerous levels.

I have not seen the Body Worlds exhibit so I cannot speak to that.  But as for Bodies: The Exhibition, you can call it what you want, but you should know what you're talking about before spewing ignorant opinions.  Finding something disagreeable or personally distasteful doesn't always warrant a boycott.  Furthermore, using several bodies for the purpose of research and education in no way insinuates that a civilization has no respect for it's dead.  In fact, I would suggest that it reveals a desire to preserve life.

Hundreds, probably thousands, of bodies are dissected in medical institutions all over the world.  Bodies are skinned, organs removed, and skulls sawed in half.  This is how Doctors learn how to remove cancer from your mother or replace your dads failing hip.  Why the outrage because a body is preserved for public education instead of burned like the rest?

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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Black and Decker (I couldn't resist)

Posted by Dave on Wednesday, August 02, 2006 5:03:17 PM
Well, North Carolina made it on Drudge again.  Last time it was the Duke Lacrosse Incident, this time it involves our wonderful Speaker of the House, Jim Black and fellow Democrat, former Republican, Michael Decker.  You may not recognize these names, but we hear about Jim Black in the news nearly everyday.  And not because of the wonderful things he’s doing for the state.

Let’s see, there was the incident of the blank checks made out to his campaign, then there’s the legislation he passed requiring all children entering kindergarten to have an extremely thorough eye exam (oh, by the way, Black is an optometrist), and now it appears that Mr. Decker was given $50,000 and a job for his son as a bribe to switch from the Republican party to the Democratic party which happen to make a 60/60 split putting Jim Black back in power again, and killing any oportunity for Republicans to make positive changes.

Of course, there’s nothing concrete to convict Mr. Black of anything (doesn’t seem he gave Mr. Decker the $50k), and I’m not saying that he has done anything wrong, but man, the people around him have more bad luck than the Griswolds.  I believe the count is up to 4 people with direct ties to him who have been convicted; yet he hasn’t volunteered, nor been asked by his party, to step down.

What kind of standard are they setting for us?  Let’s compare this with the Duke Lacrosse situation.  Three young men were alleged to have committed a crime, the whole team’s winning season was ended and the coach "resigned".  Again, no one has been convicted at this time.  Yet in the case of Mr. Black’s situation, 4 people have already been convicted and he’s still sitting pretty.

What kind of precedent does this set for our youth?

Unfortunately, the idiots who show up to vote in November could care less about integrity, honesty, or even the real issues.  They’ll walk in the booth like always and hit the party line.  Who cares if the current office holders have managed to steal money from designated budget items, increase taxes (including the gas tax), and pass the “education” lottery in a sketchy, dishonest session, only to declare afterward that the generated revenue would replace current educational spending.

Keep up the good work!

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

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What Laws?

Posted by Dave on Monday, July 31, 2006 4:49:12 PM
I just returned from a weeklong vacation up in Maryland and Delaware.  Since I was a boy, my family has been renting a cottage in Bethany Beach, DE for a week in the summer (I know, amazing given the lack of sweet tea).  It’s a nice place to vacation.  It’s quiet around Bethany Beach, but head north and you’ve got Rehobeth Beach and a fantastic boardwalk, head south and you’ve got the endless strip of Ocean City, MD.  Needless to say I didn’t want to come back (except to get sweet tea).

I didn’t have a lot of time to get online, and the time I did was spent checking in on the office.  I did have a little time to think, more than that, I had an amazing realization that I’d like to share.

There’s a strip of road in Bethany Beach that separates the houses on the bay side with the houses on the ocean side.  It’s a four-lane highway with a median and block after block of pedestrian crossings.  What’s unique about this stretch of highway though is that all drivers exhibit a phenomenal behavior.  They all drive 35 mph.  Of course, the speed limit posted is 35 mph, but where on earth have you ever driven where people obey the speed limit?

I’ve known about this odd little stretch of road for a while, but I’m always amazed to see that the phenomenon continues.  It’s weird, but if you hang around long enough, you can find out why people obey the speed limit here.  Several times throughout the day and night, if you pay really good attention, you can actually see police cars giving tickets to those who speed.  You’ll also notice that people are given fair warning – the speed limit signs have big orange additions that read “Strictly Enforced” (which I guess re-emphasizes the fact that if you don’t see any special notices, then a speed limit sign only serves as a suggestion).  

But sure enough, people obey the speed limit. . . amazing!

I wonder if anyone has ever thought about enforcing other laws.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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Political Success 101: Vote-buying

Posted by Dave on Thursday, July 20, 2006 3:12:24 PM
Since I plan to run for a local office one day in the not too distant future, I’ve often thought about what my “vote-buying” scheme will be.  It seems that in order to have success in politics, you absolutely must have a plan to buy votes.

Right now I’m seriously considering the “raise-minimum-wage” scheme.  I mean, who DOESN”T want more money?  Of course, the first thing I have to do is to get my salary linked to minimum wage somehow; I’m thinking union.  Is there a union for general managers?  Anyway, this scheme seems to work really well.  The main thing you need to consider when buying votes is that you want to make sure that the number of people you will inevitably alienate is smaller than the number of people whose votes you’re trying to buy.  The raise-minimum-wage scheme does just that.

There will always be more workers than business owners.  Well, truth be told, there will always be more ignorant, government-educated voters than knowledgeable, responsible citizens.  So when you hurt business and the economy at large, you really don’t have to worry about the next election cycle because you have a) all the employees who are too young, unskilled, or uneducated to earn more than minimum wage, and b) all the other government-educated voters who don’t understand economics and think that you just helped end poverty.

However, you have to be very careful and ensure you get good media coverage.  If you’re going to use this scheme, you really can’t afford to have people out front trying to “inform” the general population.  You have to convince voters of a few things: it’s normal to make minimum wage, supporting a family of three on minimum wage is well within reason, it’s ok to drop out of high school before ever learning English or Math, having a poor work ethic won’t hinder success, you will always earn minimum wage (raises are for greedy white men), and if for some strange reason they’re here illegally, you have to let them know that they’re included too and they’ll probably be able to vote next time around.  Otherwise people may actually think they have to get an education, work hard, be legally eligible to work, and earn enough to support a family before having children.   What a mess that would be.

I’m pretty excited about this vote-buying plan.  I know it works in reality because some politicians have used it as part of their overall plan to stay in office since before I was born.  I only foresee one real problem with the raise-minimum-wage scheme.  It can only be used every few years, and unfortunately for me, the North Carolina politicians just used it last week.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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You are going to die!

Posted by Dave on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 1:08:02 PM
I hope this isn’t going to ruin your day or cause you added stress, but I have some bad news. 

You are going to die. 

Of course I can’t predict when this will occur, but it is an inevitable part of life.  I also can’t predict how this will occur or what your cause of death will be.  Statistics may predict heart attack, stroke, or a traumatic brain injury (a TBI as my wife likes to call it), but we can’t be sure.  You could have a rare disease and spend a considerable amount of your life in pain, or you could die instantly one night in your sleep.

Death is hard to deal with.  My grandfather, a hero of mine, battled colon cancer for years before he died in the hospital when I was only 18.  A friend of mine from high school died when he left a party drunk and drove his Wagoneer into the side of a house.  It’s hard for the living to deal with death, but we must.

Somehow I feel like even at my young age, I’ve already learned that death is a part of life.  Like C.S. Lewis suggests, death doesn’t end life, it’s a part of life.  And sadly enough for those who continue to live, our loved ones will leave us.  Often enough, it won’t be abrupt.  Many will get sick, contract diseases, or suffer over time.  It’s part of life and always will be.  We can’t stop it, and we shouldn’t feel like we need to do so at any cost.

To improve the lives of millions around the world, I absolutely agree that we should continue to search and strive for medical advancement as so many have in the past.  But concepts such as cloning and embryonic stem cell research push the lines of morality and ethics.  While it may be impossible to keep this type of research from continuing, and may even be unconstitutional to try, it is certainly not the place of the federal government to allocate taxpayer’s dollars to such measures.  Providentially, our founding fathers were brilliant enough to include checks and balances in our federal government; looks like we will be fortunate enough to see that in action this week.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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News Flash: Urgent Announcement!

Posted by Dave on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 9:10:32 PM
It’s HOT outside!

I’m so incredibly glad I listened to the news on the way to work this morning, otherwise I would have failed to realize that it’s hot outside.  Although it’s July 18, and last year during July it was hot, and well, every year before that it was hot, I totally would have forgotten.  Gosh, that would have been horrible.  I might have quit drinking water, put on a sweatshirt to go for a long jog, or even turned the air conditioner off at work.  But fortunately, I listened to the news and was spared.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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This is your brain on drugs!

Posted by Dave on Monday, July 17, 2006 11:09:09 AM
Unfortunately or not, I feel the need to clarify part of a previous post (Real Cowboy Diplomacy: Survival of the Fittest).  While I have not come to a firm conclusion on the best method to deal with the ongoing drug problem in the U.S., my sarcastic comment was not meant to reveal my underlying beliefs.  Rather, I was merely suggesting, in jest, that we may be better off if those who are foolish enough to become drug users had access to an unlimited supply, rendering them immobile or possibly removing them from society.  In essence, leaving them to deal with the consequences of personal choice, i.e. survival of the fittest.

While committing criminal acts may become a repetitive and compulsive behavior, drugs are often physically addictive, and I would not dare suggest that someone caught in their grip be left in a downward spiral punctuated by death.  I may argue about WHO should be left to rescue these addicts but not whether they should or shouldn’t be rescued.

Regrettably, as with many areas of life, we’ve given up our freedom, and decided that we would much rather the government control our actions and protect us from ourselves rather than be left to make our own choices and deal with their consequences.  

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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Game On

Posted by Dave on Thursday, July 13, 2006 11:10:29 AM
I love games.  Especially guessing games.  And guess what?  There’s a fun game that we’re all playing on a daily basis.  What?  You don’t know about it?  Well, I was a little disappointed too; to learn that the game was on and I wasn’t informed.  The game you ask?  Well, I don’t know the official name for it, but I call it the “Leave Words Out Game”.  I think it’s been going on for a while.

I finally realized the game was on during the recent frenzy over illegal immigration.  I was reading an AP article on how horrible it is that conservatives don’t want immigrants in the US.  These wonderful, culturally insightful, hardworking immigrants want to come to the land of the free, and these racist conservatives don’t want them here – at all.  As I read on, it hit me.  There’s something missing.  Yes, there is a word left out of the whole entire article.  Great, I thought I was just reading a news story but turns out it’s a game.  I’d invite you to play but I can’t find the article again.  However, I’d be willing to bet (though not online anymore cause I can’t use a credit card) you can guess the word that was left out.  

Did you guess “illegal”?  If you did, congratulations, you are right.

Instead of reading an article about illegal immigration, which is what I thought I was reading, I read an ill represented article on immigration.  I thought there was a difference, but whatever.

The good news is the game is still on.  In fact, I don’t think it ever really ends.  I read news on a daily basis and I’m constantly excited to see what’s being left out.  Sometimes it’s just one word; sometimes it’s a phrase or even a series of facts.  If you’re not used to playing, you may want to start off with some easy stories.

I know just the place to start. I’m beginning to hear more and more reports on stem cell research and the partisan debate.  I bet if you check the main media outlets, you’ll find that the fun-loving liberals are playing the “Leave Words Out Game” again.  Since you may be new to the game, I’ll give you a hint with this one.  If you pay attention, you’ll notice that it sounds like republicans are totally against stem cell research.  Any idea what you won’t hear?  

Isn’t this fun.  Man, I only wish I new we were playing this game years ago in school . . . who knows what I could have learned.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!
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Real Cowboy Diplomacy: Survival of the Fittest

Posted by Dave on Tuesday, July 11, 2006 9:50:11 PM
Apparently in the great state of Florida, it’s ok to “meet force with force” to defend yourself on the street, in a bar, or even at a ball game.  And now, the crime rate is the lowest it’s been since 1971.  Finally, some legislature that makes sense.

Maybe, just maybe, the great founders of our wonderful country were on to something when they suggested that it was ok for people to carry a gun (see Bill of Rights – Amendment 2).  You see, the idea is this: a thug on the street carrying a gun feels all bad and tough, he’s not afraid to rob you because there’s a good chance you don’t have a gun and he does.  But let’s assume that lots of folk carry guns.  I mean tons of people.  So many people carry guns that you seldom see someone without a gun.  If that’s the case, that same thug may not be quite so sure of himself.  Especially since his best friend tried to rob an older lady two weeks ago, got shot in the thigh, and won’t be having kids anytime soon.

Of course, there’s the argument that if everyone is allowed to carry a gun then shootouts will rule the street.  But let’s think about that, thug from above decides he’ll play the lottery on Friday night trying to rob a little man walking down a dark street.  Little does he know that the little man has been taking shooting lessons from the local police force (since they have more time and money on their hands due to the dwindling crime rate).  Little man shoots thug and thug dies.  Since most violent criminals are repeat offenders, the more that get shot on the street, the fewer that will be around for next years data.  I think it’d be safe to assume that eventually the crime rate will fall dramatically.  Most of those on the verge of crime would think twice, and those stupid enough to continue would eventually be killed off.

Survival of the fittest if you will.

Now, if we could just get drugs legalized and readily available . . .

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!

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