Saturday, September 27, 2014

Mass Shootings; Extradiction; Shoot Out; DC Guns; Deer Culling; The Call; Young Dinosaurs; Happy States; Childhood Mortality; White House; Money; Cloaking Device

Another fine Fall day.. 75 degrees and sunny.


"When I was a little boy, I had but little wit,
'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet;
Nor ever ever shall, until that I die,
For the longer I live, the more fool am I."


Wit and Mirth, An Antidote against Melancholy 1684


(How true!)


01.  Guns


Tribune:  The number of mass shootings in the U.S. has almost tripled in recent years.  The reason: copycat killers and the ready availability of firearms.


From 2000 to 2013 = 1,043 casualties (486 killed and 557 wounded)  This can't be right.. every year in Baltimore, Newark and Detroit, at least 3,000 people are killed every year (3 per night usually).. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.


02.  Nasty Lady


Carroll County Times: A very tough looking lady has been extradited from North Carolina and charged with fraud and second degree assault.  Our TRIAD co-leader, Jim, usually escorts extradited people into Carroll County.. so I wonder if she gave him a hard time and hence the assault charge.


03.  Shoot-out


CC Times: Hagerstown, Maryland (40,000 population) experienced a movie-style shoot-out through its streets last week.  After a high-speed chase, one of the cars was abandoned.. its rear window shot out.  The pursuing car disappeared into the night.


04.  Guns


WAMU DC:  I believe that I heard that DC now allows concealed guns to be carried.  OMG!  Do they think that this will lower the incidence of stick-ups?  Potential victims may be carrying.. so watch-it, perpetrator!  Welcome to Dodge City.


05.  Cull the Herd


CC TIMES:  2,800 Bambi's will be shot in the next 5 years at 3 Maryland and Virginia battlefield sites.  Sadly necessary, I'm told.  Otherwise they will destroy all of the green shrubs.  I hope that the meat will be distributed to those who need it.


06.  Heeding the Call


Former Carroll County Commissioner Robin Frazier had said that she will wait for God to tell her whether she should become a write-in candidate for the position she lost in this year's primary.  Well, guess what?   God has apparently finally spoken to her directly and she has filed as a write-in candidate.


07.  Young Dinosaurs


I just spoke to Reverend Lou Piel about his recent religious session.  His agenda listed talks about the 4,000 year old dinosaur about to be put on display in the Creationist Museum.  He said that his session was very well attended, although not by many folks ready to dispute issues.  He will have another session in November, and I hope to attend with a pocketful of irreverent questions.


08.  Happy States


New York Times:  Maryland was ranked as the 15th "happiest state."  We were beaten out by Utah, Nebraska, and even DC.  However, Maryland has the 4th lowest incidence of depression and suicide.


09.  Where have all the children gone?


New York Times:  The US mortality rate in 2010 was the 4th highest of the world's most developed nations.  6.1 infant deaths per every 1,000 live births.. this is way more that Finland, Japan, Portugal and Sweden. (We should be ashamed of our selves.)


10.  Open White House


WAMU:  When Andrew Jackson was President, any of his frontier buddies could barge into the White House at any time .. and other Presidents have wanted to keep it open as the "People's House"  for tourists.  However, since Reagan let lunatics be released from mental institutions, there are lots of nuts around who would also love to visit the White House.   Case in point:


A gentleman busted into the White House last week, through the unlocked front door. Although he probably just wanted to shake Obama's hand, he was a bit roughed up and searched.  He had only a pocket knife in, of course, a pocket.  However, in his car he had:


a map of the White House in a Bible;
2 hatchets;
a machete;
800 rounds of ammunition;
camping equipment;
2 dogs.


Earlier in the week, he had been arrested for possession of:


a sawed off shotgun
a sniper rifle
5 handguns;
other weapons.


Also.. he was out on bail.


What do you think? Nutcake? Tourist? Politician?  Lobbyist?  Terrorist? Democrat? Republican?


11.  Accountability


CC TimesMitch Edelman is on the attack.  In his weekly column, he talked about the Carroll County Education Opportunity Fund.  This fund of $800,000 is directly under the control of Audrey Cimino, who does not have to account for even a penny of how it is used.   It is assumed that it will be used by giving it to the parents of children who are not in Carroll County Public Schools.  Audrey seems like a very honest person, but a large fund like that deserves some accountability.\


When I first started to work at Social Security, a lady ran the Credit Union.  She did not take a salary because she received her Government pay, but she did drive a gold Cadillac.. something that people at her grade level usually could not afford.  As it happens, she was tapping the funds so that she could afford her new car, her new home, her vacations, etc.   She just could not resist temptation while she was responsible for large sums of money.  I know that Audrey would not be like this lady.. but what about someone who might be helping themselves, unknown to Audrey?


I wonder if anyone will agree with or dispute Mitch's article.  Time will tell.


12.  The Disappearing Ship


Wait Wait Don't Tell Me:  In 1943, the USS Eldridge Destroyer Escort  was tied up in the  port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while it was involved in the secret development of a "cloaking device." Apparently, some folks thought that they could find something in the Unified Field Theory that could be used in World War II.  During one experiment, the ship disappeared from Philadelphia, leaving a green fog in its place.


It then suddenly appeared in Norfolk, Virginia for a short time; then it reappeared back in Philadelphia.  Meanwhile, all crew members were nauseous, and some of them found their arms and legs encased in ship metal.  All of the crew had to be brain-washed to make them forget about the experiment.


Do you believe this?  Some people do.   Others think it is a hoax.  There are no records to be found.


At the time involved, some say the ship was undergoing degaussing to make it hard to detect on radar type equipment, and the story blossomed from that.  Over the years, articles about the "disappearing ship" have appeared in magazines and books, some insisting that the story is true.


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