Saturday, May 22, 2010

Ebbs and flows

Since my promotion there has been a period of adjustment in my personal life that has been a series of ups and downs.  On the major plus side of the balance sheet is way more time with my family and time to reacquaint myself with many of our friends.  It is nice to eliminate the "sorry, I have to go to work that night" phrase from the vocabulary.  No doubt about it, monday through friday with weekends off does have it's perks.

On the other side of the  balance sheet there are some notable losses.  Now instead of going to Wal Mart or the grocery store in the late morning on a weekday when there is no one else there, I am banished to join the rest of the world on long lines and in packed parking lots on the weekends.  With that very thought in mind I set out this morning quietly cursing to myself about how I would be waiting on a very long line at the town dump as with the exception of two weekday mornings (I can't go to the dump in a jacket and tie) the only time you can get rid of that extra trash that won't fit in the garbage can is early Saturday mornings.  Well, as it turns out, it is not every Saturday but only the first and third of each month.  The good news......no line this Saturday.  The bad news....today is the fourth Saturday.

Welcome to the real world.  Sigh.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Hey Conservative Episcopalians!!!

Nice day for a swim, and the Tiber is not really that wide.

The Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, of Baltimore, will be ordained and consecrated on Saturday, making her the second openly gay bishop in church history and one of the first two female bishops in the Diocese of Los Angeles' 114-year historyThe rest here.

I really love dogs

But really, where do we draw the line for goodness sake?  Dog needs live saving Viagra?

More on Sarah Palin

A few posts back I was critical of Sarah Palin for being a bit too folksy. While I still believe that I want to reiterate that she has a place in American Conservative politics. Find out why here.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Governor Christie versus Reporter

Enjoy!

Support Education

This is really starting to piss me off.  For those of you from outside of the Garden State, we elected a fiscally conservative governor this past November.  For the first time in my nearly half century living in NJ we have an elected official that has pledged and is following through on changing the way government is run.  While he is getting substantial resistance from both the Senate and Assembly and is being bashed by the Teacher's Union, change is in the wind.  Instead of the State artificially supporting local schools, costs are being shifted back to the town where VOTERS can decide what the financial priorities of the School Boards should be.

Now, this is not without pain.  Cuts are being made, and teachers (who I truly adore) are being laid off.  Not because they have to be but because bloated, swine like school board bureaucrats refuse to trim fat and spend money only on salaries for teachers who actually have contact with students.  While painful. if we allow this plan to run its course the Boards will ultimately have to bend to the will of the people and spend money on education and not on junkets to Atlantic City.  Then.....................


Despite President Obama's pledge for honest budgeting and billions of dollars in stimulus money spent to save teachers' jobs, the Education Department is asking for off-the-books emergency funding to keep local districts from laying off school teachers next school year.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent Democratic lawmakers a request Thursday to pass a $26 billion emergency supplemental to fund up to 300,000 teachers' jobs that he says will otherwise be lost in the fall.

This guy will just not abandon his quest for a socialist state.  If we follow Governor Christie's plan, education will survive.  It is time for President Obama to butt out.  The rest here.

Too folksy?

I really like Sarah Palin.  I don't think that she should be President but I like her style and think she was a bang up Governor.  Also, I think that she could be a defining force in conservative politics if she would just rely on her intellect instead of trying to continue to remind us how folksy she is.  Just saying.

Cooling my heels

I started this post yesterday and had to interrupt my flow to attend to some pressing business.  I found myself yesterday morning stuffed in a windowless conference room in the county courthouse waiting to testify at a homicide trial.  Here in our little corner of suburbia we luckily don't have that much violent crime.  Due to an error in jury instructions at the original trial the first guilty verdict was overturned and we had to go through the entire trial again.

Without getting in to the sordid details of the crime let me just say that because of the bad choices of one young teenage male, another was killed.  Sad really.  Two lives with nothing but potential and both ended poorly.  One dead and the other consigned to about twenty seven square feet of cage for the next sixty or so years.  While I was waiting in the conference room I was joined by a Mom and her two teenage children.  They too were there for a retrial.  The difference was that these two wonderful kids had been sexually assaulted when they were in what we in the trade call "the tender years". 

You can almost understand the stupidity of youth when you consider the circumstances of the homicide.  I am not trying to excuse anyone's behavior, but face it.  None of us were Rhodes scholars at eighteen and absent some capable parenting anyone of us could have conceivably wound up in the same situation.  But to rob the innocence of children who can't fight back.  There must be a special Bunsen Burner in a corner of hell for those people.

The Bionic Nurse

Good news is always welcome and today is no exception.  Our good friend Nurse Terry returned home today to the Silzer Street Command Bunker sporting two brandy new artificial knees.  Apparently the physical demands of emergency room nursing compounded by the endless upkeep needed by her difficult geriatric husband took their toll resulting in the need for some factory certified replacement parts at a much younger age than anticipated.

So I am happy to report that she made her glorious return today and while I don't feel comfortable sharing it on the web I was privy to some video footage of her ambulating better than I with the two knees God gave me.  Deo Gratis for good friends and their good fortune.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Loaves and fishes

Hey!  That is one catchy title.  EWTN, are you listening?  Not that I have a huge readership, but I try to be responsible when posting links.  Particularly if they are to another blog site.  Perhaps my most favorite and clearly the most informative blog I visit several times a day is What does the Prayer really say? by Father Z.  Now, I am a self admitted church weenie and am a fellow with very conservative leanings.  But even if super orthodox Catholicism is not your bag you have to appreciate the multi dimensional Priest that writes about so many diverse topics.  He has been on a cooking binge lately and his efforts deserve a visit from you.  Stop on over.  Maybe you will be his trillionth visitor.  (yes, I have blog envy)

Role Model?


Congress at work

The country is in a shambles, debt is out of control, economies are collapsing, and what important issue are our elected representatives debating?  America's most important issue.

The latest reason why I want to hit the lottery

There are many ways to pay off campaign debts — cajoling phone calls, begging letters — but Bill Clinton believes that he has come up with a better method to wipe out the financial obligations outstanding from his wife’s failed presidential bid. He is raffling himself. In an e-mail sent to millions of people who supported Hillary Clinton’s White House campaign, the former President asks: “How would you like the chance to come up to New York and spend the day with me?” For those who would like the One-Day-With-Bill prize, an online donation of as little as $5 (£3) will buy them the chance.

So the former President is raffling himself off.  If I hit the Powerball I would buy all of the tickets and make him stand in front of the US Capitol and read this out loud via a bullhorn.

Copper's Return

Greetings faithful readers, long time, no see.  Sorry for the extended absence from this space but it has been very busy around here the last two weeks or so.  A promotion at work which exposes me to natural sunlight for extended periods for the first time in over 22 years, a new boss, and a pot full of new responsibilities.  Not that I am complaining mind you.  It is a great opportunity and one that I set my sights on at the onset of my police career many years ago.

On top of all of that there was finals for Grad school, a daughter figuring out what Dad is doing home so often at night, and one very large and confused Newfoundland who is acting like a big furry suppository.  But it is great to be back at the key board and while I have not had the chance to news surf in a while there is a lot of great material out there.  So, thanks for sticking around and checking me out during my absence and stay tuned.