Welcome To 2011

Every new year is usually filled with expectation and hope. If you are watching or involved with government, you will no doubt notice some new laws and regulations which they tell us will make life better for the people.

This year, the state of California begins the annum novo with 725 new laws going into effect. It is already one of the most regulated and legislated states in the union. But that's okay, they obviously needed some more.

Here are but just a few from the short list provided in the link:

SB 782 prevents landlords from evicting tenants who are victims of domestic or sexual abuse or stalking.

So...the landlords must eat the costs of no rent from these people for how long? I am not sure it says, but I am not sure it matters to the authors. It's just another infringement on property rights, if you ask me.

AB 537 will make food stamps an acceptable form of payment at farmers markets through an EBT process.

Another business unfriendly measure designed to discourage people from starting a small produce market. Like many of these free enterprise hating measures, most of their ideas end up hurting small businesses more than the large corporations.

Forcing these businesses to use food stamps will cause a greater cost to the owners when it comes time to redeem them....and who says they will be able to? At the rate the government is going now, how long will they have any value at all?

SB 1317 allows the state to slap parents with a $2,000 fine if their K-8 child misses more than 10 percent of the school year without a valid excuse. It also allows the state to punish parents with up to a year in prison for the misdemeanor.

Not a bad law on the surface, we all know that parents need to be more accountable for their children's actions or inactions. For all of the food stamp/government check receiving parents, who sit at home on their asses, this may be applicable. But how will they penalize them? Will they take it out of their government checks?

And what if the parent is a hard working parent who shuns public assistance and must work hard every day to make ends meet? Every day they must go to work or face disciplinary issues and even termination at work. How will they be penalized? Will the state fine them incessantly for a kid who will just not go? Will they do it to the point where the parent ends back on public assistance?

AB 715 makes a change to the California Green Building Standards code. The change will require new California buildings to be energy efficient.

More business killing legislation to prevent global warming...er, I mean, climate change. And they wonder why the corporate tax base in the Golden State is shrinking. If I owned a business in California that wasn't dependent on Californians, I'd be getting out as fast as I could.

AB 12 allows foster youth to acquire state services until the age of 21.

Adding more debt to the state that is already broke...at the taxpayer's expense. At 18, they can join the military. Why does the state need to provide services to California's foster children, when they could get a job?

Oh...I forgot. There are no jobs because there is a shrinking corporate taxe base, because businesses are fleeing....and we need people to learn how to stay dependent on government. How silly of me.

SB 1399 allows California to medically parole state prison inmates with physical incapacitating conditions and ultimately shifts some of the cost of care to the federal government.

Putting killers back on the street so that the federal government can pick up the tab? People in other states are soon going to be bailing California out, one way or another. If not by a huge money payout, they'll do it by incremental shifts in burdens like this. A little here, a little there, pretty soon you'll wish you just wrote them a check and could be done with it.

AB 97 bans the use of trans-fats in food facilities.

More freedom lost.

Maybe if they try hard enough, they can follow the lead of the warped nanny-city of San Fransicko and ban Happy Meals statewide.

Look.... there are needs for laws, we all know that.

If humans weren't so self-serving and dishonest, there would be no need for a lot of them. But I cannot help wondering if we need to enforce the good laws we already have and implement punishments to fit the crimes, before we start tacking on things that infringe on the rights of the law abiding citizens and those who are working to keep this economy moving. 

We certainly do not need to make laws to appease the false prophets like the social justice lamebrains, the Global Warming ministry, and the race-baiting racists just to shut them up. They do not produce anything...except idiocy.

So once again, welcome to MMXI. Leave your sense of humor at the door. Because if the newly elected Congress doesn't start a corrective process and path,  you may find yourself crying a lot this year.

Bravery On The High Seas

I stated in earlier posts after the election that Barack Obama would get a fair shake here at PYY, much fairer than the Left gave to GWB. But this doesn't mean I cannot criticize him and if you've read this blog with any regularity, you'll know that I've been highly critical on most of what we've seen from his administration, so far.

Naturally, if it's fair to argue against the bonehead policies and interventions assumed so far, it's also fair to give praise, when actions and implementations warrant it. This is but one moment, where a good job was done.

From the outcome, we can ascertain that this was handled well. There was no politicizing of this situation. The President's people were tight-lipped, as they should have been. They knew the situation and Obama had the guts to give the Navy authorization to execute the operation, as they saw fit. As an inexperienced Commander in Chief, he wisely allowed those who knew what they were doing, to do it without micromanagement.

We can surmise that time was getting short. The pirates and their hostage were out on the sea for quite awhile in just a lifeboat. Essentials (like drinking water) were probably getting scarce and the opportunity for action was becoming a shrinking window, by the hour. Add to this the imminent danger to the Captain and we have the makings of one of those split decisions that you cannot get back, once made,

As this story unfolded, I was only privy to the information available through the media. I didn't have any inside knowledge of anything, I just had my intuition. And like many, I probably would have acted a bit sooner with just as much authority, strength, and determination. But allowing the pirates to weary in the elements for a little while had its value, and in the aftermath shows that it was the wisest thing to do.

It will be interesting to see how future events like this are handled. We know that there will be future acts of piracy, because there many more out there just lurking and waiting for a victim. It's what they do for a living. The pirates have already sworn revenge and we must take them at their word.

So let's not kid ourselves here. We will have to be ready for some measure of retaliation. They will see this as a challenge and will most certainly up the ante next time. If I were the Administration, I would not hesitate to show others who are part of this discipline of criminals a thing or two. I would let them know rather swiftly, what is at stake if this kind of thing continues.

At this juncture in time, this kind of thing is merely a distraction from other more important issues. Right now, it's just a pesky fly that could cause us to not pay attention to those other issues. And it's one that must be swatted down. But if left unchecked, it will become a larger problem that will take more resources than what may be prudently available.

After all is said and done, the Captain who was held captive by these thugs is the real hero. At least to the crew of his ship, he is. Volunteering to be taken so that his crew could be left alone is an act of bravery, from an individual that represents what this country used to be all about. Not enough can be said about this man and I doubt that there are many like him left in the world.

Learning From Tragedy

Like everyone else, I am shocked and stunned at the shootings that just occurred on two separate continents. Maybe not as much as people who live in those communities, but certainly more than those that have never been to either area.

You see, I was stationed not far from both shootings. I used to know both areas pretty well at one time, many years ago. So in a sense, I feel a certain kinship to those people who are grieving. I am sure they are desperately trying to cope with these tragedies. And in whatever way they possibly can, they are trying to make some small shred of sense from what is one of the most senseless acts, imaginable.

It's easy for me to sit here and say things about these incidents. One of my kids wasn't killed, so I have no real experience at what the families must be going through right now. It wasn't my kid who pulled the trigger, so I cannot even imagine what is going on in the heads of those who survive these gunmen. So, take my words for what they are worth, as, I am no expert in these matters.

But I am a parent who has raised children. Neither of them have been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and both have greatly contributed to the graying of what was once a full set of brown hair. I thank my God daily that they have never been capable of doing anything like this, nor did they ever witness or experience it. And I think it should definitely go without saying, I am doubly thankful they were never the victim of such a tragedy.

The first knee-jerk reaction will be to blame the parents of the gunmen. I think it can be a starting place to look for answers, but in the Alabama case the mother is dead. If she in any way contributed to the mental anguish (or did not), we may never know because she has paid the ultimate price with the other victims. The case in Germany may be different, but who can actually say at this point?

Neither of these kids (I know the Alabama man was 27, but at my age, he's still a kid) showed any signs of being capable of such heinous acts. At least that's the early report. Both gunmen were described as quiet and reserved. I know many quiet and shy people, this alone is not a sign that someone will snap like this. When someone is not able to express their thoughts in a setting that is non-judgmental and non-threatening, who knows what they are thinking? As a result, how does one find a red flag in this kind of case?

Many times over the years, I have tried to encourage my children to verbally express themselves. Sometimes they did, other times they didn't. But if not, I always left the door open if they changed their minds. So if there is any one thing that a parent can do, it's listen. Sure, we lecture. That's what parents do. Mine did it, I did it, and I am sure my kids will do it when it is their turn. But we also have to listen. Or they will get very good at shutting us out. As a result, they will not listen to us.

The second knee-jerk reaction will be for anti-gun advocates to cry out for stricter gun laws. In Europe, this will certainly be a major rallying cry and already has been in the hours since the tragedy occurred. To which I still say, the guns did not kill anyone. They did not just start firing on their own. Someone had to load them, aim them, and fire them. Those that are capable of this kind of thing will only find other ways to carry out the deed.

So when struggling to understand the incomprehensible, it is important to note something. We must try to understand, what made these kids want to believe this was a viable option in whatever turmoil they were experiencing. What caused them to snap? If we can learn something from this, we may be able to recognize something in the future. We might just be able to recognize the same things in others, who may have the capability of doing something like this. As time passes, we may learn more valuable information that may help us prevent something like this in the future.

But for right now, we know the best prevention is for parents to do their jobs, and one of those jobs is to listen to their children. It doesn't mean they have to give in on anything, on which they are not inclined to do so. It doesn't mean they have to ignore their better judgment. It means they listen to what the kids are saying and then, they teach them how to develop independent problem-solving skills.

Right now, there are too many parents that are not doing their jobs. While their kids may never snap like this, many will make other poor decisions down the road, as a result of the parents not taking the time to listen and teach proper coping skills. And unfortunately, many of those poor decisions may have a lasting effect on some other innocent person.

Breaking: Prison Riot In Indiana

From WTHR.com comes this announcement, details are sketchy right now. This continues to develop.

This facility has recently started accepting inmates from Arizona. Those inmates are kept separate from the Indiana inmates. It is being reported that it is the AZ offenders that are involved.

Fires are burning, it has also been confirmed that two prison employees have been hurt.

State Police are being mobilized. I am sure the E-Squads from around the state are in route.

More as it develops (and I have time to cover it).



UPDATE:

Here is a write-up in the Chicago Tribune that explains the situation, as it stands now, with a little more background on this facility.

Right now, it seems that things are dying out. But there are still inmates that are not in their areas, therefore the facility is not under control. This facility is not run by the Indiana DOC, but a company called GEO. They run facilities worldwide.


UPDATE II:

State Police have announced that the situation is in the process of being stabilized. As usual the press wants more. This appears to have started as a feud between the IN prisoners and the AZ prisoners.


UPDATE III:

Doesn't take long to hit the internet, does it? Here is the video of the event, at its height.



UPDATE Last One:

Well, things are slowly getting back to normal. The local media is trying to imply it too long to get things under control. Anyone with a basic knowledge of criminology, knows that you cannot storm a facility without knowing the situation, fully. There was no report of hostages, no reason to storm the place with guns a blazing. But I bet if they had, they'd be the first to condemn the use of excessive force.

That's the media for you. Now, you know why I they leave such a sour taste in my mouth.