mcity

College students rent a house from my sister and her husband. One night, a thief attempted to break in. When the young woman living there called the police to tell them that a break-in was in progress, the operator responded in an unusual way: “You’ll have to call back in the morning. We’re just too busy right now.” That response was very disturbing! The young woman had done the right thing by calling the police, but for some reason her plea for help was disregarded. That kind of indifference is upsetting.

I grew up during the cold war when everyone was suspected of being a communist (Thank you Joe McCarthy)

I was a young man during the drug wars and the appointment of the first “Drug Czar” (Thank you George H. W. Bush”

I was a grown man when our country embraced Civil Commitment for sex offenders, Megan’s Law, and Jessica’s Law. ) Thank you radical right and U. S. Supreme Court)

I was a grown man when our country embraced making it illegal to smoke in public. (Maybe it’s not surprising that Nazi Germany was the most powerful anti-smoking movement in the world in the 1930s and early 1940s.)

I was a grown man when our country implemented the “Patriot Act” (Thank you George W. Bush)

Now I am almost a senior citizen and I am not surprised that the powers to be will attack drinker. They already take pictures of us in intersections and then send us traffic tickets.

I have had the opportunity and the privilege to travel to a country in Eastern Europe. I can tell you all that they have far more freedoms then we ever dreamed of. So when I see articles like this the following always comes to mind:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for the Drug Dealers, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Drug Dealer; Then they came for the Sex Offenders, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Sex Offender; Then they came for the Smokers, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Smoker; Then they came for the Terrorists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Terrorist; Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

'Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither' - Benjamin Franklin

therealkbaylis I always have to pee when there's no bathtrooms around #firstworldproblems

RULES ARE RULES: Jan Cline of Salem, Ore., is trying to fight off
terminal bone cancer. "Just by walking I can break a bone," she says.
Cline wants to be a good citizen and pay her mounting medical bills.
"It's a struggle," she says. "It's a struggle for me because I'm very
independent, used to taking care of myself." To help, she has been
selling off her possessions in a series of yard sales. The problem:
Salem has a law limiting residents to three yard sales per year. She
didn't know about the law until a city inspector stopped by her house
and ordered her to stop the sales. If she has another one within a
year, it's a misdemeanor and she'll be subject to a $300 fine. "I hope
no one else has to give their lives away for nickels and dimes and then
be told they can't even do that," Cline said. After explaining to the
inspector what she was doing and why, "He said, 'I'm sorry. Rules are
rules.'" (RC/KATU-TV) ..."Rules are rules" -- the bureaucratic
equivalent to the parental "Because I said so."