Tuesday, Tuesday... October 12th

Manatea County Sheriff's searched a man caught fleeing from them and found a bag of marijuana and a bag of cocaine stashed in the man's buttocks. The man told them only the marijuana belonged to him.....?

A female robber gave her victims quite a show by stripping after robbing them in a Darwin Fast Food Restaurant. She then made good her escape with $500 in cash. Police got good descriptions of her body, but no one could remember her face....

A couple of buying tips for shoppers: If you want to avoid crowded stores, shop at dinner time or later. Only 4% of people shop between the hours of 9 pm and 8 am. Also, the most crowed day of the week is Wednesday.

When I was a younger man, I very often lost patience with what I saw as stubborn resistance to change by other, usually older, people. When something seemed like a good idea and took forever to get a fair hearing, and even longer, to get change, if at all, it drove me crazy. As I’ve grown older, m still frustrated by the agonizingly slow pace of progress at times, but I’ve also come to appreciate why some people step on the brakes while others are stomping on the accelerator. It’s because they’ve seen how terrible the cost can be if the change is wrong. I mention this because we’ve all seemed a little irritated lately about the resistance to change in Washington. I understand. When people have great ideas and they think they can see the brass ring just hanging there, it’s so hard to wait for others to come around to your point of view. But I think it is important to remember: most of us are tired and want change to take advantage of all the things that can be accomplished; but experience makes us a little hesitant. We can get mad about that if we want, but that won’t solve the problem. Only patience, help, and respect for other people’s point of view will achieve the kind of change we can all live with.

Some actions are just plain disgusting. The Westboro Baptist Church has disrupted military funerals in the vilest possible way. The Supreme Court is now hearing the case and many people have taken the position that it is a question of free speech. They feel that, as despicable as these actions are, we must not deny these animals the right to express their opinions. I understand this argument but I cannot disagree more. To me the matter is not complicated at all. This issue is a matter of decency not just free speech. The right to free speech cannot include the right to intentionally inflict pain and suffering. I am sure most of the Baptists in the USA are appalled at the Westboro group. These protesters, these self-righteous, so-called good Christians, are bearing signs stating, "God hates you." They must not have read the same Bible that I did. The pity is that the court case is just giving this group more press, which is what it craves.

Nancy Pelosi has a wonderful way of brightening  my day. I admit, I was a little down this morning and was having one of those "hard to get started" days when I turned on the news and there was Nancy doing one of her famous comedy routines. I really laughed and enjoyed her line about how the most effective way for the government to create jobs is through food stamps and unemployment insurance. I thought my sides would split when she shot off the one about those being "the best bang for the buck!" ----Oh, wait, she was serious? Really? Ouch....

Live Long and Prosper....