Machine Guns in Police Cars--a threat to the saftey of inner-city neighborhoods?

"County Sheriff's Department is asking the public's help to locate a rifle stolen from a department patrol car.

The car was parked near an officer's home [a few blocks from the inner city of Elkhart]. The incident occurred between 11 p.m. Friday and 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

Missing:

• A department-issued black Colt M16, a .223-caliber automatic rifle; serial number of 4459957.

• Four magazines of ammunition.

• Rechargeable flashlight.

Anyone with information about the incident or the stolen rifle should call (574) 533-4151 and ask to speak with an officer.

Off-duty weapons policy:

The Elkhart County Sheriff's Department requires officers to keep weapons secure while off-duty. If the officer does not have a garage at the residence, one of the allowed storage places is in the locked rack.

The officer's vehicle had both interior and exterior damage, including broken windows, and [the] locked rifle rack had been cut and removed from its mounting."

So, the wireless alarm systems installed on every machine gun mount can be circumvented!

Did it ever occur to these people that displaying such a choice weapon just a couple feet from the face of just about every criminal ever transported to the county jail probably wasn't a good way of deterring the theft thereof? Or that criminals are likely to find such a weapon far more useful than the county officers who carry them everywhere they drive?

I've been told that police officers considered large flashlights a weapon, but never realized that they fit into such an exalted category thereof.

Doctor has medical license pulled, but won't be charged with murder in death of patient

Link
I don't usually report on stories like these, but this is one I stumbled upon and haven't seen anywhere else. This is big news on several fronts:

1) A legislative body instructing the executive branch to prosecute a case.
2) An abortion procedure that has all the hallmarks of murder: Premeditated, purposeful, clandestine disposal of the body, alteration of medical records.
3) The case has been pushed through by a combination of a lobbying firm and grass-roots action.
4) A doctor gets his medical license revoked for an abortion he never performed.

The ACLU takes another nap

A protester at a public appearance by President Obama last week was threatened with arrest by local police.

Not because he was being belligerent (he wasn't, ever) or loud (he was, briefly). No, he was evicted from the public venue and threatened with arrest because the police didn't approve of the content of his speech (they told him so, twice).

An astonished bystander, documenting the confrontation, was also (twice) threatened with arrest if he didn't put his camera away.

This time, both suspects went out of their way to avoid arrest, and succeeded.

Not so much as a whimper was heard from that alleged watchdog of Civil Liberties, the ACLU (which organization, as it happens, used their computer system to display this blog post less than 24 hours after it was put up).

And alas, the sleeping news media took no note of the story--just another chapter in America's Loss of Civil Liberties. So, no story to link to this time. I wish my readers didn't, but they'll just have to rely on my second-hand version of the story.

Further fuzzifying the decriminalization of adultery

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, erstwhile evangelical pastor Ted Haggard says he doesn't consider himself gay, but rather "a heterosexual with issues."

Aren't we all. But what followed is the disturbing part:

"Haggard used to think the same-sex attractions that led to his downfall were demonic, but now sees them as part of who he is. He told Winfrey that while he believes Jesus accepts him and everyone as they are, he also believes that the Bible is God's Word, and that God's ideal is for 'heterosexual monogamous marriage'."

I believe that is God's ideal too, but the founders of this country that Ted, Oprah and I share did more than believe it: they wrote it into law. Conjugal relations outside of "heterosexual monogamous marriage" were excluded from the realm of legally permissible activities. These laws have slowly fallen into oblivion, with the only vestige being the universal prohibition in all 50 states against being married to more than one entity at a time. Surely this too, will fall.

WHAT HISTORICAL FIGURES MIGHT HAVE SAID TO OPRAH:

Abraham, 1900 BCE:

"I believe God's ideal is for heterosexual monogamous marriage, but since my wife is infertile, I'm also taking on a concubine or two in order to produce heirs."

Lot's oldest daughter, 1900 BCE:

"I believe God's ideal is for heterosexual monogamous marriage, but since God killed our mom, my sister and I will get Dad to impregnate us in order to pass on our genes, even if we have to get him blind drunk to do it."


Solomon, 900 BCE:
"I believe God's ideal is for heterosexual monogamous marriage, but politics being what they are, I'm also taking on an extra 700 wives in order to promote peace in the region. And since nobody's stopping me, I'll also throw in another 300 women as concubines."

Hillel, 30 CE:
"I believe God's ideal is for heterosexual monogamous marriage, but if your wife burns the toast, you can toss her out and get another one. Remember, God accepts you just as you are."

Bill Clinton, 1998:

"I did not have a sexual relationship with that woman--depending on what your definition of 'is' is. Besides, Lord knows I have needs that Hilary can't meet."

Ray Boltz, 2008:

"I believe God's ideal is for heterosexual monogamous marriage, but since it didn't work out for Carol and me, I'm going to go with who I really am and get a man--or men--instead. Remember, God accepts me just as I am."


WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS:

God, 1490 BCE:

"Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Jesus, 30 CE:

"[God] made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh.'
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. "

"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

The Postal System's monopoly loosens

So, for the first time in 62 years, Americans are spending less on postage. Not because the rates have dropped, of course--but because they've risen. The Postal Service has continued to pay more and more each year for the privilege of hiring workers who are less and less willing to endure cold, sleet, and the dark of night to get the mail through. The law of economics has kicked in: prices up, demand down.

Naturally, people like me, who have the option of using the Internet to communicate, have pretty much quit using the mails. Postal volume has gone down 5% since last year. But since the USPS is locked into the spiraling costs guaranteed in a collective bargaining agreement with the Postal Workers Union, it has to charge more and more to deliver fewer and fewer letters.

So, what's the solution, to keep the monopoly going? Postmaster General Potter says that mail delivery should be cut from six days a week to five. Great, I say. They want to work less, let them work less. There's less mail to carry, so--?

Once mail carriers are getting paid full time to work two or three days a week, hopefully Congress will realize the futility of it all and end the monopoly the USPS has on the delivery of mail.

USPS, RIP.

Update March 21, 2009--AP
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Postal Service has already suggested dropping a day of mail delivery to save money. Now, with economic gloom everywhere, it's turning to early retirements, management cutbacks and office closings.

Not so long ago, the picture was far different. The USPS finished fiscal 2005 with a $1.4 billion surplus.

Postal officials were already struggling with a sharp decline in first-class mail as letters and many bills moved to the Internet. Then the flagging economy devastated advertising mail, which had become the agency's largest volume. At the same time, the number of delivery points - homes and offices where it must bring mail, was continuing to increase.

The Postal Service lost $2.8 billion last year and is facing even larger losses this year, despite a rate increase - to 44 cents for first-class mail - scheduled to take effect May 11. Update September, 2011: Two more years of heavy losses later, the USPS and Congress are still talking about the problem and not doing anything about it. All the more reason to cancel this loser's iron grip on the mail system.