Let’s Just Chat

I feel like just chatting a little today. Here are a couple of things to talk about.

Hurricane Irene forced a lot of people to scramble for higher ground last week, either by choice or mandatory evacuation. But one group of unsung heroes rode out the storm outdoors. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (known as “The Old Guard”) continued its mission of guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia throughout the hurricane. Members of “The Old Guard” have guarded the tomb for every minute since 1937 and they kept their guard of honor during the storm despite 40 to 50 mile an hour winds, driving rain and the threat of flooding. “Honor, Duty, Country“, words made famous in a speech by General Douglas MacArthur, have not lost their meaning. They are still kept faithfully by men and women in our Armed Forces like the members of “The Old Guard”. Well Done and Thank You.

Here is another reason we hold politicians in such low regard. Economic development funds in the Illinois town of Cicero apparently went to the benefit of the Mayor Larry Dominick’s family. The mayor has already admitted to some outlandish spending: $500,000 worth of rubber chickens, pens and backscratchers with his name on them, and putting 20 members of his family on the city's payroll. Now, The Chicago Sun-Times is investigating as much as $120,000 at the Dog Stop, a hot dog stand operated by a city employee's two children, which the city employee apparently has a financial stake in. Part of that $120,000 was a $26,000 park opening, catered by the hot dog stand. If all that he took was $500,000 in rubber chickens and $120,000 in hot dogs, it might set a new bar for cheap corruption in the City. The last mayor was arrested for a $12 million insurance scam.

We live in a world where we’re constantly being watched. A world where Big Brother can see everything we do through the use of millions and millions of cameras and satellites. No one is safe. Not even the police themselves.

Never has that been better shown than in this story of a New Mexico state police officer in serious trouble due to surveillance camera footage. Big Brother has clearly brought him down and, judging by the fact that the footage shows him having sex with a woman on the hood of his car while in full uniform, he is clearly the man.

Albuquerque’s KOB Eyewitness News 4 managed to get the pictures by filing a public records request. They’re promising to push the state police department and get to the bottom of who the officer is. After all, he’s doing this in broad daylight and while he was, umm, occupied on the hood of his police car, neither he nor his car was out protecting the good people of Albuquerque.

The one question that really remains though is who is that prairie dog in the picture’s foreground shown watching the whole thing? An agent of Big Brother? Or small mammal pervert? 

When I was a lad I was a big fan of Joan Beaz's music. As I grew older, and a little wiser (very little), I came to dislike her politics, but I still enjoyed many of her songs. Here is one of my all time faorites:

Live Long and Prosper....