Socially Enhanced ...ish

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You Get What You Pay For?

I’ve been playing devil’s advocate with the gun control media frenzy. It’s fun to watch them scramble on the latest breaking news then find out there’s nothing new the government can do other than cost tax payers more money for research.

The POTUS proposed a $500 million dollar plan to ban assaultweapons and make private sales of firearms illegal, and a $10 million dollar plan for research by the CDC into possible linkages between violent video games, media images and real-life violence. An ESTIMATED $510 million dollars for something that will not stop the bad guys from getting guns and killing people when they set their mind to it, yet we are not even one month into 2013 and the majority of Americans are already losing $200+ per household a paycheck from the tax mayhem. The gun laws already on the books need to be enforced before they start binding them with new ones.

Listen up! If you are convicted of a felony you are no longer allowed to possess a firearm (right to bear arms). That sounds fair for the basic version of bad guys. Keep reading. When a person in Baker Acted it is considered a medical condition that falls under HIPPA. This is a privacy act that protects people’s medical business from being public information. Under the new laws proposed people who are Baker Acted will no longer be allowed to possess firearms. This means your medical information in this regard will become public information in order to be tracked.  A person Baker Acted will be no different than a convicted felon if they are caught in possession of a firearm. If this goes through then they will also be subject to search just like a convicted felon in order to ensure the law is properly executed.  This means anyone they reside with will also be subject to this law in order to keep them from having access to firearms.  Still sound fair?

Don't go off on the "protect our children" soap box. I firmly believe in protecting our children, MY CHILDREN, and everyone else who needs protection. I wholeheartedly agree that we need to make it impossible for the bad guys to access any weapon.   Banning them will keep everyone from having them so that solves everything!   Banning them is stupid.  It keeps the honest people honest, and the bad guys get creative. 

I’m a cop. I’m also a mom of two active boys and a wife to a Jarhead who will eat a steak as long as he doesn’t know how it died. We own firearms. Our boys know how to shoot, and our oldest knows how to access them in case of an emergency. Teaching them these things are important to us for two reasons: One is for safety, the other is for protection.

I also have a diverse group of friends. Some are for gun ownership, others are against it and a few are on the fence. I respect their opinions and reasons for each. Though most people’s apprehension over firearms is their lack of exposure and training with them, some folks just aren’t gun people. My ancestors called them ‘gatherers’.
 

With my profession I see gun ownership as a double-edged sword. You have them for sport/hunting/protection, or you have them for killing. We’re usually the target which is why we carry guns. Safety is our first priority, and if I can’t get there fast enough to save you then guess who wins?  

Here’s my perspective in a nutshell:  Average speed of a bullet fired from a 9mm is 955 mph. Average speeds of a police car running lights and sirens in a busy city is 85 mph at best. It only takes one bullet. Bad guys with guns trump the good guys without them. Bad guys with a plan win when the good guys don’t have one.

Stop blaming the laws, gun manufacturers, video games, and crazy people.   A person that makes the decision to kill another human being does so out of CHOICE.  The rest of us have the same access and exposure as the bad guys yet we choose to abide by the law.  If anything else, arm yourself with knowledge instead of spreading fear. 

And for the sake of We the People, STOP WASTING OUR MONEY!

 

Tuebor

**DISCLAIMER: Do not read this if you believe ignorance is bliss.  Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance means you are uninformed and unaware.  Leave now.     

To those who admonish the right to bear arms, who condemn prayer in schools, and who believe in freedom of speech so long as it does not offend you, remember this:   I fought for these rights, for my country, for my children, for you.  Try to take them from me, and I will shank you. 

In your darkest hour of need my right to bear arms is the difference between your life and the bad guy’s death.  I carry a Glock 22 .40 caliber pistol in uniform, a M16A2 rifle in my patrol car, and an S&W Bodyguard .380 between my boobs on my days off.  I’m accurate and deadly with all three.  My boot, belt, back pocket, and Kevlar vest keep my knives warm and at the ready.  Try to take my guns, my knives, and I will find another weapon to protect my loved ones. 

Ignorance and denial of the evil that surrounds us is the greatest threat.  So many people are oblivious to the monsters in this world.  They watch in horror as the media flashes headlines of school shootings, mass murders, snipers on rooftops.  Then the politics begin.  A trip to the mall, a plane flight home, a movie theater, college campus, pumping gas, political rallies, and just driving down the street have been recent horrors where monsters attacked with the use of firearms, knives, or explosives.  You’re appalled at first then you become complacent as the media frenzy fades and think it won’t happen to you.  You’re sheep. 

The psychology of the bad guys is another focal point in the media.  They’re all “mentally disturbed”.  That is a broad term that can be interpreted to fit a number of mental disorders.  It is defined as any clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome characterized by the presence of distressing symptoms, impairment of functioning, or significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, or other disability.

Guess what that means?  Any of you with general anxiety disorder, phobias, ADHD, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc  which are all psychological syndromes have—by definition—a mental disorder.  There are good men and women who walk the front lines every day with one or more of these psychological syndromes.  The top one being a sleeping disorder followed by caffeine induced anxiety I’m sure.   With this in mind do you really think the bad guys having a mental illness makes a damn bit of difference?  No.  What makes the difference is the choice they made.  They chose to kill.  I know plenty of bat-shit crazy people who wouldn’t hurt a hair on a fly’s ass.  Stop making excuses for their choices.  They are evil.  They killed innocent people because they wanted to and the only way to stop this from happening again is stop being sheep. 

A number of lawmakers are hell bent on making it harder for the good guys when the bad guys are…dare I say it…BAD.  While law abiding citizens stand in line with the red tape to legally purchase a firearm the bad guys are stealing them.    They break into homes and cars to steal them, take them from loved ones, get them from friends, and obtain them by any means necessary in order to break more laws that were meant to “protect” us.  A box cutter was the weapon of choice for the terrorists who hijacked planes and attacked us on 9/11.  Shall we outlaw all straight edged instruments that can be used as a weapon?  Laws only keep the good people honest.  The bad ones don’t give a shit. 

My children are vulnerable enough in this world and it scares me to death that they may be taken from me through tragedy.  On Christmas day those of you uninvolved with the atrocities that took place will gather around decorated trees to open gifts then gather around a table to feast, all of the evil will be forgotten.   Whether you are reading this shaking your head or nodding in agreement, remember:  I’m not the threat.   I’m just here to save your ass when it comes. 

Dear God, thank you for the strength to face what others fear, to fight what others cannot, and to protect them when they refuse to protect themselves.  In Jesus name, AMEN.

 

Remember Them

Heaven’s gates open wide for theses angels to enter.  God’s arms welcome them home.  12/14/2012
 

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto,27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

OBITUARY...not mine.

To my dear friends, loved ones, and greatest--my readers, 

The moments in life that make you stop and remember your priorities are often not subtle moments. Life gets busy, especially with kids and work (etc. etc.). When those moments happen that make you stop they are like someone punching you in the gut and making you gasp for air.

One of those moments happened while I was at work. End of shift, September 22, a phone call from my sister.  She usually sends a text and knows I’ll call her back after work.  This time it went to voicemail, she left a message then called my Hubs to tell him I may need to get home sooner than planned. It was the tone of her voice and the slight hitch that was noticeable when she spoke about our dad’s health declining more rapidly than they expected. 

Fighting back tears I snapped at my Hubs over something he said to our four year old while on the phone with him.   It wasn’t even part of the conversation, just a distraction for me to change the subject and get off of the phone as the lump in my throat swelled.  I love a good cry, but not when I’m in uniform and have to solve other people’s problems who expect a little more bearing and professionalism.  It wasn’t fair.  It was too soon and raw after losing my father-in-law in April to a painful battle with cancer.

My dad (step-dad endearingly called Mr. Bob) was diagnosed with Parkinson’s a few years ago.  But there was something more than Parkinson’s rearing its ugly head.  The degenerative and immobilizing disease rapidly progressed with “episodes” where he would stumble and sometimes pass out, only to come out of it with a glazed look and no explanation.  He would have them when he stood up which most of us assumed was blood pressure related.  They got worse to where it would happen with him sitting down. 
 
My mom saw it daily.  She tried to explain it to doctors who ran tests who said over and over everything looked normal.  The test results were normal they were just running the wrong tests.  The medical gurus at the VA just nodded their heads and were unable to explain it—the pain, random falling, confusion, the dizziness, all of it worsening rapidly—so they kept upping his medications.

On August 22, or about that time, they finally got a doctor who was straight with them.  With everything Momma described, new tests and the Doctor’s experience, the diagnosis was not Parkinson’s…it was worse.  Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) is the name given to this evil foe that had been infiltrating dad well before any symptoms alerted them. 

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, MSA is:
 

“…a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by symptoms of autonomic nervous system failure such as fainting spells and bladder control problems, combined with motor control symptoms such as tremor, rigidity, and loss of muscle coordination. MSA affects both men and women primarily in their 50s. Although what causes MSA is unknown, the disorder's symptoms reflect the loss of nerve cells in several different areas in the brain and spinal cord that control the autonomic nervous system and coordinate muscle movements.”

My definition, it's Parkinson’s on steroids.  It is known to advance rapidly with progressive loss of motor skills, eventual confinement to the bed, and death.  The cause of MSA is unknown.  There is no remission.  There is no cure.  The only sure way to diagnose multiple system atrophy is to examine brain tissue after death—my God, this sounds like rabies. 
 
Monday, September 10, 2012 dad was placed into hospice care. It was less than a month that he went from being able to communicate, eat, drink and somewhat manage his personal needs independently to being a shell of a body lying in a hospice bed with family surrounding him.  We begged him to swallow his medication, to eat or drink anything, to just sleep and wake up in God’s arms because the pain we felt for him, seeing him this way, was not able to be treated with morphine. 
 
Broken hearted, we said goodbye to him on Thursday, October 4, 2012.  Dad remained very brave and kept us all close to him with his memories and stories up to the end.  He told us all he would be going soon and that he loved us.  Amazingly I said goodbye on the Monday before telling him I would see him that Saturday.  He shook his head and said, “No, they won’t let you inside.”  I told him I would be here anyway to see him and he said, “ok, but you won’t get in.  I love you.” 

I love you.  He made that known through all the years in my life.  He was the man that showed me what a daddy is suppose to be and what I wanted a husband to be like, as he treasured my mother.  Forever the greatest man in my life, I love you more Mr. Bob.  I love you more.

 

OBITUARY

Seale Funeral Service, Inc.

1720 S.Range Ave., Denham Springs LA 70727    

Robert “Bob” Lester Jackson, 70, passed away Thursday, October 4, 2012 at his home in Pine Grove, LA.  He served and defended our country in the U.S. Navy, was a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church and once longtime business owner of Slade’s Industrial Services, Baton Rouge.  He was known to everyone as “Paw Paw” and will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved him.

Survived by his wife, Debbie Jackson; children and spouses, Sheri Payton, Robin Taylor, Bobby and Larquel Jackson, Elaina and Heath Monson, Brandy and David McDonald, T.J. and Beka Buckley, and Sissi and Bobby McLaughlin; grandchildren, Brittanie, Jordan, Alyssa, Taylor, Harlie, Anthony, Chase, Raven, Moose, Bammers, Colton and Cason; great-grandson, Brendan; sisters, Leslie Jackson Thoresch and Rhonda Jackson Swink; brother, Barry Don Jackson; “blood brother” and best friend, Jerry Guffey; as well as many other relatives and friends.  He was preceded in death by his mother, Oletha Highfill; father, Lester Wesley Jackson; brother, Gary Wayne Jackson; and grandson, Chance Wayne McDonald. 

Visitation will be at Seale Funeral Home, Denham Springs, on Monday, October 8, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Visitation will resume Tuesday October 9, from 10 a.m. until the Memorial service at noon, officiated by Rev. Paul Taylor, Rev. Greg Stewart and Rev. Max Landry.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Children’s Home Inc. located in Paragould, AR. www.childrenshome.org.