Apologizes to Burma: You too could be a victim of America

This situation has been going on for at least two decades (the last time Burmese people held an uprising) and yet, very little is mentioned in the United States about the plight of the people looking to throw off the shackles of military rule.

I plead some ignorance on this topic. Only recently (in the past month) has it made it way on my radar via the broadcasting of the BBC. They report nightly (4AM) on the struggles of the monks & general population to present the case for a democratic rule.

Today, the considerable intellect that is George 'Dubba You' Bush remarked on the Burma-brewing conflict at the United Nations. Interesting tact by him to suddenly became 'aware' of that long-standing conflict, since we know so well how his "interest" in other problems and situations are usually carried out. Its not enough that he is only interested where the money (oil) is, but he has not been a outspoken leader on anything remotely related to civil rights and democracy. (Since his administration has done plenty of damage to that U.S. Constitution.)

Burmese people are led in spirit (and opposition to the military junta) by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest most of the last 18 years. Even now, she is headed back to prison, which can not be a pleasant place to be. She defeated the military regime in an election which suddenly wasn't an election, as the military took over and arrested her.

In a country of 43 million people, located just to the south of China, another wonderful establishment of peace, equal rights and prosperity for all, it is little wonder this "secret regime" has continue on with little ado. And the United States interest in 'spreading democracy' has fallen by the wayside - since winning the 'hearts and minds' of 89% of the population that is Buddhist is considered a weighty task.

Plus, the country is not in the arms race. So no real threat is posed by this backward country or its backward leadership.

With our bitter failures and defeats in the SE Asia war of Vietnam, with Laos and Cambodia representing equally distressing areas of failure, Burma is just another country we would rather avoid, instead of taking up the mantle of freedom and placing it firmly on the country. Since the U.S. has a ongoing, capitalistic relationship with superpower China, which holds billions of dollars in debt and obviously produces tons of consumer goods for us, the actions we take are only punitive to a point.

Economic Sanctions. Rhetoric. And backdoor politics headed by China and India. These tend to hurt the people they are trying to help more than any real pain to the junta. Even today the Chinese quietly urge the people of Burma (Myanmar) to quell protests and avoid violence. All in support of their Capitalistic desires for energy supplies and stability in the region. Not to actually change policy to a freer or democratic nation.

Sadly, this situation will escalate if the people of Burma realize it has to finally put the military to the test. And many thousands will likely die for their cause.

The struggle to gain acceptable governance is never easy. Burmese people I wish you well in your struggle - because it has only just begun.

Short Story: On the Fly, Run the Table (Part 1 of 3)

Waking up with the smell of stale warm beer hanging over him, Terrance rolled to one side of the motel bed and vomited into the ash-filled plastic garbage can. He could hear the roar of the semis trucking by at 75 MPH, like the old railroad line that ran by his Greenboro, Alabama home.

His family was "air poor" which was a might worse of that "dirt poor." As his Uncle Sal said to him at age six: "Dirt poor means you got something to hold on to. Air poor means you swap it out, like one of those time shares in Florida. We's do plenty of swappin' out 'round here."
That little dusty town was a model of the Reformation South: small, black majority, white controlled. It just figured Terrance wanted to escape it.

He was twenty-three. All ready divorced from the high school sweetheart made under the bleachers of the football game. She seemed to care greatly until Terrance decided to move north to Cincinnati.

"I am not leavin' my family. They have my best interests at heart. You don't." Wendy Nixon was a southern belle without any inner beauty. After giving the owner his 2-week notice at the distribution plant, with a job awaiting in Cincy, he found Wendy fucking his best man, Ronny Mason, on the kitchen counter. She could have avoided the surprise.

Terrance barely reacted - just went to the bedroom and packed his clothes - knowing it was all over except for the divorce papers. He left for Cincy after a week in the hotel, taking his last paycheck and belongings with him in the dusty '93 Toyota Camry.

Wendy never called, or worried. But then again her family owned the hardware store and was the law in those parts. Wendy had married him because he played football well and worked hard. Talent and work ethic were hard pressed to find in Greenboro. "You's the best catch a girl could have," Wendy had said only 3 years prior. Funny how time changes that.
----

Terrance third month in Cincy had seen him fall down a bit. He worked hard at the top-end distribution center, going through the supervisor training and making it to the overnight lead supervisor. But on weekends he got drunk and spent hours at the local strip club, half-mile from work and one mile from the seedy hotel.

Samantha (Vanity) liked him. She'd only take enough money not to cause her wannabe pimp owner not to get suspicious. Terrance seem unfazed by her seductive gyrations seeming to stare right through her, upon their first encounter. That bothered her, since she was never ignored by any customer she ever met. After watching him drink a half-dozen beers and lethargically hand over a dozen $1 bills to the various strippers, she came over.

"So what's you doing?" Samantha asked.

"Thinking about things." Terrance said.

"Bad things?" Samantha asked.

"Is there any other type?" he replied.

"I think so. So can I help?" she drew closer, figuring him for any easy $100 for 4 songs.

"I'm sure you could oblige. I shouldn't be here. It's just convenient." Terrance took a sip, paused for a moment, looked at his watch and stood up to leave.

"You in a hurry? Got a wife?" she cocked her head sideways as she stared up at him. He towered over her 5 foot frame, even in 4 inch heels.

"No and no. Just had my fill. But thanks for the conversation." He handed her $40 --and left out the door.
----
In the ensuing month, and weekly visit to the joint that nabbed plenty of hourly workers and supervisors, Terrance warmed to Samantha a bit. After the fifth visit, she had made it her priority to get Terrance alone in the "back stage" area. She initiated more than ever.
----
It resulted in more confusion for both. More mysteries to fight against. Whys and Hows and What Next came breezily through their minds.
---

Terrance wasn't surprised she had left him in the motel alone -- he been pretty terrible after sex, crying -- but he just didn't belief she had time to pick flowers up from somewhere nearby. On the night stand stood a mixture of roses, tiger lilies and lilacs and a note: "Wondrous indeed is the night we had. See you later Terry. Love Sammy."

Gary Tragedy: Video from a survivor, Excuses & Excusers

Gary Teenager, Darius Moore, Victim of Accident speaks about situation


Gary Mayor: "Looks Like Somebody Messed Up"

Police Chief: But Gary Police Chief Thomas Houston defended his officers and emergency personnel Monday, saying they had received conflicting information regarding whether anyone had been left behind at the accident scene. Police also said the two survivors had been drinking and that one was legally drunk, though the chief would not specify who had been legally drunk at the time of the incident.

Furthermore, Chief Houston stood by the coroner's findings, saying officials told him, "No matter how much medical assistance was at the scene, there were no lives to be saved."
----

How nice. The Police Chief is shifting the blame (if the driver isn't drunk (wasn't said), how is it relevant to the accident that another teenager did get drunk?) and downplaying the results (no lives to be saved.) And since when could a coroner do such an autopsy that quick? (Not to say the results are wrong, but there is a possible lawsuit here at stake, so yes, it is "interesting.")

I hope the Police Chief is fired for his attitude and poor control of his subordinates. No matter how you slice and dice this situation, two people were dead and left behind by those that should be the pillar of concern for all citizens. Since they refused to do their jobs, or listen, they should be brought up on some serious charges, and at least face removal from the police force.

Funny too that the 1st arriving officer's name hasn't been released. It seems the media hasn't tracked down that guy. I'll be curious to see the reaction then.

Some of the Message Board reactions REFLECT the Region's problems:

Commenter #1: Those of you STILL blaming the GPD need to become true adults, yes, I said it, you must be 12 years old to blame the cops. FYI, if it was my son or daughter (12 and 19) in that vehicle, if they were driving, hospital or not, I would have walloped them so hard that they would beg for drinking and driving #1, #2, I would scream at them as well as the ignorant parents of those kids NOT wearing seatbelts, I taught my kids better, obviously, they did not care about theirs to teach them to wear their seatbelts. It is NOT the GPD that murdered those 2 boys, it was Darius, FACE THE FACTS PEOPLE!

Commenter #2: As a mom i want to say my heart and prayers go to the victims.Do i think the boys should be held accountable for their actions if to be found guilty,YES. As for those saying that it wasn't the emergancy care workers fault two boys were left behind,where are you coming from? Being a emergancy care worker,there was no excuse not to find bodies 10 feet from the accident.As for you saying it's not their faults because the boys were drunk driving,that upserd.That's like saying we should not give cpr to a person thats had a heart attack because they are over weight and did it to themselves or not give care to a person with lung cancer because they smoked.Bottom line is when you become a emergancy care worker it doesn't matter if they did it to themselves or not,you help as much as you can. our job is not to judge it's to try and save lives.Also to that mother that says she watches every move her kids make and her youngest is 20,you've must of not done a good job not to trust them as adults.....

Commenter #3: Isn't Rudy Clay the same guy that gave us "Gary is not a violent city"? Now we get "looks like somebody messed up". Perhaps the kid that was driving drunk messed up, eh?

Commenter #4: It was an unfortunate accident and the cause was someone drinking and driving. However after reading the reports and listening to the news accounts (as a police officer) I believe that if the young man said there were other victims or even possible victims they should have looked for them and called fire aparatus if needed. The fault of the accident is one thing but the improper police response and fastest autopsy finding in Lake County history are another thing!!

Commenter #5: I'm not sure where you are a Police Officer at, but they need to send you back to training. As an accident reconstructionist, I can usually tell within the first 5-10 minutes on scene whether speed was a factor involved or not. Although the vehicle rolled down a hill, speed is required to generate the momentum required to make the vehicle roll, not just gravity. Speed has everything to do with the vehicle rolling in this case. Excessive speed would almost definitely be a factor. I agree, the investigation is not complete yet, and there are still alot of unanswered questions, but it comes down to the basic fact that these underage kids were drinking and driving, traveling too fast, and not to mention not wearing their seatbelts. The Coroners verdit states that they died on impact, and no amount of medical care was going to save them. So, now lets hold those responsible for the deaths responsible, namely the driver of the vehicle and those who supplied them the alcohol.

---
Issues:
1) How quick others defend the cops and want to the teenagers to pay
2) You see that the mention of alcohol means that the police don't have to do their jobs, the kids are just stupid
3) The Blame Game has started. The Gary Police has shifted it to the teenagers. Trying to cover their tracks, getting autopsies done in record time, suddenly stirring the pot with alcohol, refusing to acknowledge their shoddy police work and not saying anything that can be considered a apology.
4) Officials have little to say that supports the belief they care. Gary Mayor is a real joke. The Police Chief is indifferent to the whole thing. "No lives to be save," must be nice for him to take such a cavalier attitude toward two dead teenagers that aren't his.
5) Those of you who claim to be professionals in emergency care, police work and crime investigation SHOULD all take note:
Do you allow haphazard, shoddy and indifferent natures to permeate your work?

Would you just blame the kids, forget that 6 hours passed before you got two other bodies out of the ditch? Saying, "Oh, well, they're dead. Let's get some lunch, eh?"

Is race the reason?
That the kids were out late?
Why does that matter in how you perform your duties, sworn and by grace of God?

Anyone calling for charges against the boy driving, while ignoring the cops' indifferent nature, is being racist, biased in favor of a "pro" and ignoring a human tenant: that all lives are equal, sacred and worthy of care.

And I duly hope you learn that lesson the hard way. What comes around goes around.


Just sad, sad, sad.

The Police: To Protect and Serve? Or Capture and Kill?

Today, in Gary, IN, long known as the murder capital of the USA, a car accident with four teenagers inside resulted in two deaths. This would not be unusual except for the fact the two deaths were likely a direct result of shoddy, indifferent and criminal police work.


Darius Moore, the driver, Deandre Anderson, Brandon Smith and Dominique Green were coming home from a rap concert/party. According to Moore, the car blew a tire, and he lost control of the vehicle careening down the embankment, resulting in all 4 guys being ejected from the car. (No seat belts I suspect.)


Moore then found Anderson immediately, both suffering only minor injuries, but able to flag down an officer. According to the teenagers, who had no reason to lie, they said both Brandon Smith and Dominique Green were still down in the embankment near a wooded/short grass area. The police have maintained that they got conflicting stories from these boys.


As a result, six (6) hours passed while the boys were at the hospital being treated, and likely telling the medical personal about the accident. Meanwhile, the cops flip the car over, searched minimally, then left the scene and two teenagers without a comprehensive search.


From ABC7 News in Chicago:


More than six hours after the crash, at 9:27 a.m., the coroner was called because Brandon Smith's father took it upon himself to go to the crash scene. Family members found Smith's and Green's bodies in the wooded area. According to the coroner, both had been ejected from the vehicle and died of multiple blunt force trauma.


It took Arthur Smith only 5 minutes to find his dead son, Brandon.


As a result, the Gary Police have clammed up, "trying to get their story straight", while two families and countless others, suffer. This is only one tragic event that has recently befallen my local area of residence, as a result of police indifference and policies that seem to be a pattern of behavior for all local law enforcement.


Since a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld the rights of officers to engage in dangerous Police Chases of suspects, it seems that is the mode of operation in NW Indiana.



1. August 8th: VALPARAISO, Ind. A crash in Valparaiso, Ind., took the life of a woman and injured three others Wednesday afternoon.The crash occurred on Highway 49, just south of Vale Park Road during a police chase. As CBS 2 Northwest Indiana Bureau Chief Pamela Jones reports, the driver apparently ran a red light.The crunched plastic and shattered glass pinned under a semi-truck is what's left after a police pursuit turned tragic in Valparaiso.A Porter County Sheriff's Deputy was sometime around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon chasing a teenage driver who had a warrant out for his arrest.



2. Apr 15, 2007, a motorist was killed Sunday after leading police in northwest Indiana on a high-speed chase and crashed on I-94 near Chesterton.The driver of the 2003 Trail Blazer was Rose Marie Hurley, 44 of Mokena, Ill.The chase started around 6:30 a.m. in Burns Harbor when a police officer responded to a disturbance at a local truck stop and the person involved in the disturbance got into a Chevrolet Trail Blazer and fled the scene, according to Indiana State Police.



She flipped the vehicle, was ejected from the Blazer, and pronounced dead on the scene.

3. January 29, 2007. Hit-and-run turns deadly. Penny Paul was supposed to marry 44-year-old Cornell Yancey next year.“I can't believe that he's gone,” Paul said.

But police say around 3:30 Monday afternoon, a speeding car running from police ripped Yancey's car apart, killing him. "I couldn't believe it. I mean it's like…It's not real. It's like it's not real. It's like a dream to me,” Paul said.

Police say a Hobart officer spotted a PT Cruiser in Hobart that had been reported stolen.The officer tried to stop the driver for speeding at Ridge Road and Martin Luther King Drive on the border with Gary. "Apparently, he tried to stop the vehicle in Hobart. And in the course of the vehicle fleeing from him, he stayed in hot pursuit of the vehicle as it was traveling through the city of Gary,” sad Anthony Ramirez of the Lake County Indiana Sheriff’s Department.
-----

A few other stories are out there. What I find problematic is that procedures seem to be shifting from a regard for life to a total disregard for any life. These men with their badges, nightsticks, guns and hop-up vehicles, are now in it for the sport of running down their bad guys/girls. The put the public at risk and refuse to concede that they are adding to the misery of this world. And Refuse any sanctions, because no one of importance has died in their willy nilly chases.

Then, when an accident happens, they haphazardly disregard the victim's assertions of two other people being thrown from the car. What does that say about them? That it is more important to go catch more bad guys, or those black teenagers are not all that important.

When Steve Fossett (spelling) went missing, the whole world was interested, no resource was spared. The six coal miners trapped in Utah, again, no stone was left unturned, as days went by. Meanwhile, these two teenagers were found by their own flesh and blood. Couldn't spare them that heartache; they had to be the ones to find their boys.

Meanwhile, the "blue boys" are out trying to run down people that in all these recent cases were not killers, rapists or child molesters, just disorderly, possibly drunk and juvenile offenders. What does that say? It says that public safety is being ignored.

I'll write more later.

The Idiot Box: Things I've watched and liked

Since we often find ourselves plopping down in front of it, while awaiting a new adventure to take form somewhere inside us, or around us, here is a list of the shows I've took an interest in over the years....

M*A*S*H - while I was growing up, this was usually high on the watched list. Between Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce and Hotlips Houlihan, I guess it was a small microcosm of the Vietnam War, although it's approach was not quite what I think should have been. Still retains title as highest rated TV show ever in its finale...And no show nowadays will ever amass that sort of audience with Cable/Direct TV.

The Wonder Years - Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold was a top-flight casting decision. He brought plenty to the role of a teenager growing up in the late 1960's, early 1970's. Daniel Stern doing that classic voice over, like The Christmas Story Red Rider Bee Bee Gun guy, also was top flight. Since the story moved in the same period, Vietnam, it was interesting how it could take on that topic, then come back down to antics of growing up, figuring out girls and getting into trouble. Olivia D'abo (left) was also a then schoolboy crush. (She's 38, plays on a show I really want to watch, but can't, since it is on SciFi and my cable company sucks - Eureka - and probably still pretty good looking.)

Remington Steele - Pierce Brosnan (pre-Bond) and Stephanie Zimbalist formed a partnership that was chaotic and funny. As a detective combo, they both worked pretty well. With Pierce's English verve and Stephanie's understated hotness (left), the show did enough for my 12-13 year old attention span. Sorta of a Moonlighting without the funny, sharp and quippy language. Which lead us to...

Moonlighting - Bruce Willis (pre-Die Hard) and Cybil Shephard (post-The Last Picture Show) did what Remington Steele couldn't usually: laugh at itself on screen. Breaking through the "4th wall" of TVLAND and adding plenty of spice in the sack that Remington didn't. A typical quote from the series:

Petruchio/Addison: You see through me, Kate. No tuner I. But I wish it were within my talents to play piano for you.

Kate/Maddie: 'Tis a sad thing indeed. You're the only man I know who suffereth from pianist envy.

House - what better way to understand a pseudo-Sherlock Holmes than to watch a drug-addicted doctor ply his craft on the cases and medical team members of his choice. It sometimes makes a good statement; other times it stretches any medical ethics to the point of absurdity. Hugh Laurie (pre-House) though does an excellent job. His pop was a doctor from a few sources.

Psych - this is a pretty decent show, though it will have to step it up a bit to garner any acclaim like Monk did. The references to old TV shows, characters and plotlines though sometimes really funny, are getting a bit too much. The characters are all likeable, which is why the show works. Gus (Dule Hill) and Sean (James Roday) are a tight duo that works well on the weird cases they solve through the photographic memory of Sean and awkward smarts of Gus.

The Black Sheep Squadron: Based very loosely on the WWII heroics of Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington, Robert Conrad and John Laroquette led this show in a short-lived airing of 36 episodes. The dogfights staged as they were with 1970's technology was pretty good. Laroquette would go on to Night Court and his own show.

The Dead Zone - Even being based on a Stephen King novel, I was surprised to see the big 3 (ABC, NBC or CBS) did not take this on their airways. (Though USA Network must be owned by NBC.) Anthony Michael Hall (of Chevy Chase's Vacation & The Breakfast Club) has really done a unique job -- though the character has ran its course. The showdown with Vice President/President is coming...Hope it doesn't suck.

Hustle - Nothing like thieves in Londontown to make an interesting adventure. Led by Mickey Stone (Adrian Lester of Primary Colors) and Albert Stroller (top character actor Robert Vaughn, who was nominated for Oscar in The Young Philadelphians) in the con game played for the moral good of others (they get the really bad men) in a Robin Hood without-the-giving-to-the-poor always scenario, I like the backdrop and the action.

I don't always get to this one. I've like the 8-12 episodes I've seen, but alas, I forget AMC plays something other that movies like For A Few Dollars More or From Here to Eternity, which are both fine, but I've seen.

Burn Notice, Heroes, Family Guy, Law & Order original, Star Trek and plenty of others are things I've watched.

A very poor segway to more educational stuff:

Connections & Connections 2 & Connections 3: Englishman James Burke takes you on a ride to see the connections in history between divergent technologies and vastly different people. How one thing or item became instrumental to the fabric of another item, sometimes 500 years removed from each other. This series started in 1979...

The Universe - New show on how this thing called a Universe is created and shifting from place to place, and time to time. It is always interesting to learn about Physics and the crazy things that are capable in just one star 1 billion light-years away.

Cities of the Underworld - Nice to see 1,000,000 skeletons (Paris), drawings from 2000 years ago (Rome) and dungeons (London) in these places just 100 feet below your feet. Entire lives and streets exist just under the parking garages of your current existence.

Just about anything on the History Channel or Discovery, is pretty cool at times.