19

WANBO™, (welcome to America, now bend over)

   I just happened to be watching TV the other day and an episode of Cops came on, (not my preferred viewing pleasure), unfortunately the remote was a few inches out of reach. (Oh well, I’ll just have to suffer through it). I noticed that while there where a lot idiots getting arrested (and rightly so), I also noticed that in the majority of cases the rights of the individual were completely ignored. Watching this show on a regular basis would lead the viewer to believe that they have no rights during a police stop. One instance had an individual told to exit his vehicle, at which point he was handcuffed, (presumably for the officers protection), then searched. At what point in time did the police have the right to do a routine traffic stop, handcuff and search an individual with out probable cause, or does our mere presence on the road now constitute probable cause?
  
    The Fourth Amendment of the constitution, (remember the constitution? It’s there to protect our rights), prohibits unwarranted search and seizure, the Fifth Amendment gives you the right to not answer any questions. It would seem, (from this show anyway), that being removed from your vehicle and being handcuffed and detained without probable cause is becoming the normal, accepted practice. It appears to be a violation of your constitutional rights, and if you don’t exercise your rights you lose them. You don’t have to cop an attitude or be rude to the police, they have a job to do after all, but you also have “Constitutional Rights” that “They are Sworn to Protect, so the police shouldn’t cop an attitude if you insist on your rights.

   Now granted the episodes shown on TV are undoubtedly an extremely small percentage of all the traffic stops recorded by the Dashboard Cameras, an of course are selected solely for dramatic effect, the point is this; If you see something often enough then it becomes the accepted norm, and this is where the problem lies.

   The large percentage of Police Procedural shows on TV attest to the fact that the majority of the populace watch these shows, and since TV is a vastly superior method of modifying social behavior on a mass scale, we soon become accustomed to, and accept these breaches of our constitutional rights, as long as the bad guy gets it in the end.

   Another interesting thing I’ve noticed on these shows are the episodes where some naïve high school kid gets stopped and arrested for purchasing drugs at a “Known Crack House”, now if it’s a “Known Crack House”, bust the dealer and the problem is solved. It seems almost as if they leave the “Known Crack House” in operation, and since drug dealing is not taxable by it’s very nature of being illegal, they can tax the dealer by proxy (busting the buyer), and thereby generate income. Same for prostitution, pick up the prostitutes or the john’s every once in a while and collect tax through the fines they impose and generate a renewable income when the town coffers get low.
 
   At what point in time did the police stop being our friends, what is that point in our moral compass where the common good changed into the common desire for the accumulation of cash/power. I was going to include politicians in the equation but that moral compass has been spinning wildly since the advent of the ogglets. The main goal today seems to be the separation of the “common oggs” from their hard earned income, which seems to be the case in all aspects of our current lifestyles. The “common ogg really just wants enough money to live a relatively comfortable life free from worry, while the rich and powerful want the same thing but on a 80’ yacht berthed at a dock at their million dollar vacation home, (slightly different idea of comfort).    The “common oggs” just want their children to have good educational opportunities, good health care, and of course the rights afforded by our constitution, (or are they just privileges that can be revoked at any time?). It just seems that for most, hard work and perseverance don’t pay off like they used to, and the constant struggle to maintain, “the head above water posture”, is a losing battle. Everyone wants a piece of your pie and, they all want a larger piece than the next guy, from the insurance scams in their myriad of disguises, the taxman, the credit mongers, the secondary taxmen (police), your TV provider and the rest of the utility dudes, and let’s not forget you churches and charities , all the way down to your corner store, EVERYONE!!!!!

(not trying to depress anyone here, just pointing things out and asking people to wake up and pay attention)

http://www.flexyourrights.org/

18

Let Me Reiterate, or More Fun With Facts.

   Spring is upon us, and it is time for the semi-annual oil price increase, not quite the same as the swallows returning to Capistrano, but predictable none the less. It’s kind of like setting your clocks for DST, (maybe that’s why we have DST, so the oil companies have a better schedule), “Spring Forward, Raise prices; Fall Back, Raise prices”

   Oil, like any natural resource, should belong to the citizens residing in that country, the companies mining the resources should, of course, be allowed a measure of profitability for their investment and labor. But when one looks at the oil company profits it becomes clear that these companies have an entirely different outlook, one not in the best interests of the country they reside in. When the cost of crude, the cost of production, and the demand go up, you would expect prices to go up correspondingly. This increase in pricing should reflect the increased cost, thereby keeping a respectable profit margin, that should never rise by more than a few percent from a reasonable return on investment. Check out: http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm

   When oil companies boast of 1000% profits, something probably went wrong somewhere, and unfortunately our complacency allows this to happen. Oh yeah! We bitch and moan, and we take it for granted that our government would never let this kind of blatant raping of our country and its citizens take place, but it should be clear by now that most governments don’t have the best interests of its citizens on their agenda.

   To paraphrase JFK “Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what has your country done for you lately?”. The current state of affairs make it painfully clear that our interests are not being addressed by our elected officials, and these officials don’t even care if we know this fact, they don’t care if we are aware of their deceit, deceptions, ruses, games, and obvious lies. We now have records being set in bankruptcies, foreclosures, unemployment, illiteracy, crime, and of course the ever popular white collar game of “grab that pension and run”.

   We have records being set in the cost of housing, food, medicine, education, and of course that wonderful necessity of modern life oil. The only real constant seems to be the low stagnating wages that most Americans labor under, and the guarantee of an ever increasing cost of living. The current poverty level is:

2007 HHS Poverty Guidelines based on number of Persons in Family or Household

                                                                                    Alaska                    Hawaii

                                                    1     $10,210            $12,770                  $11,750

                                                    2     13,690                17,120                   15,750

                                                    3     17,170                 21,470                  19,750

                                                    4     20,650                 25,820                  23,750

                                                    5     24,130                 30,170                  27,750

                                                    6     27,610                 34,520                  31,750

                                                    7     31,090                 38,870                  35,750

                                                    8     34,570                 43,220                  39,750

   The current minimum wage is $2.65/hour in Kansas to a whopping $8.00/hour (in the very liberal states of California and Massachusetts). That’s $5512 to $16640 annual gross income, net, (after TAX), income is at or below poverty levels. Basically if you don’t have 2 incomes rolling in you get to choose between food or shelter, (forget about thise luxuries like TV, phone, heat,etc…), kind of shameful in the richest country on earth, don’t you think?

   On the other side of reality we have the CEO’s, (basically those people who decided that you should be able to live on minimum wage), making an average of $ 15 million in annual salaries and perks, (http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/).
At what point in the sur-reality spiral does one start thinking that they are worth $1 million or more per month.

   Maybe if we cap salaries and corporate profit margins, the cost of living might drop to the point where the average American can afford to live in America. More jobs would be available, with higher wages and less overtime, hell you might even have enough discretionary income to enjoy a day off that doesn’t include hiding your depression behind a TV set, or working around the house because you can’t afford the cost of hiring someone to do the repairs.

Oh by the way if you haven’t figured out the meaning of life is, "In this style 10/6",
You’re not paying enough attention to the current state of affairs, or to the quality of our current leadership.


(Later....)