Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Evening

2 work days left until a 3-day weekend.

An 80 year old man shoots and kills a home-invasion intrusion suspect in Chicago.

There is nothing here about this guy - the invader had a weapon, I would have no problem shooting the invader, either.

There is nothing alarming about this. Kudos to the man that shot the invader. Ex-military, I would guess he intentionally shot to kill - this invader would have undoubtedly held a grudge and come back for - more.

No, the alarming thing here is as follows:

"No charges have been filed against the homeowner, but Chicago currently has a statute outlawing the possession of handguns. Its legality is currently being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court."

How can any government entity in the U.S. have a statute or law that outlaws handguns? I have NOT seen this in ANY news outlet. QUITE the surprise. It's no wonder it's gone to the U.S. Supreme Court. The implications of the decision of the Court are tremendous. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Chicago, then there goes the guns - to normal, law-abiding citizens, anyway.

The man killing the intruder? This is a normal response to someone coming into your home with unknown intentions but - making the potential intentions obvious with a gun in hand.

The statute outlawing handguns? Outrageous. Unbelievable. I want to hear more about this. I'm dumbfounded that the news media - on either side of the issue - isn't all over this. It's a granted that s*** would never happen in AZ. We just passed a law making it legal to carry a gun WITHOUT any kind of permit. There is NO good outcome to making it illegal to own guns, the criminals will always have access to them and they can get as much as they want, when they want it.

"A high-profile Chicago attorney has already stepped forward offering to represent the man pro bono if he faces charges for possessing a weapon.

"Self-defense isn't just a right, it's a duty," said attorney Joel Brodsky. "If this man is prosecuted for saving his own life it's not just a travesty, it's justice turned inside out."
Amen, brother.

Phase 4 of pond waterfall construction. Sidewalls are definitely warranted for the idea of having a small pool at the top. I poured the foundations for the block on each side a while ago. Tomorrow, I can lay the block and I can also put the first large rock into place - cemented into place I should say.

Getting the water flowing into the waterfall? Hope to have all of these phases done within the week. Getting the walls covered up? Who knows. Not a priority, I want the thing working for now. I will wait until I get another trip up northeast. If/when I go, I will STUFF that sidebox full of rocks. I do NOT want to "buy" rocks. I will empty that sidebox out of all of it's "stuff" before I leave on that trip - if it ever comes - and make sure I can get a LOT of rocks in there.

In reality, the trunk of my car is HUGE. If I wanted to, I could stuff at least 18 8X8X16 wall blocks in there.

Whatever. There is an inside salesman at work whose recurrent, daily, recalicitrant ugliness finally got to me. Call him for info concerning the account I am pulling an order, loading it onto the truck and deliveriing it? UGLY. He is USUALLY in a VERY sour mood. This morning was no different. In fact, it was aggregious. NO need to go into all of it. After a year plus of this crap, I gave it back to him this afternoon when he called me - which is also a frequent occurence, asking me to do something for him.

He is not a team player. His attitude is he doesn't care if it gets done or not. I'm assuming this attitude comes because his uncle is also the general manager. I do not know the general manager, however, to be a person that tolerates this kind of shitty attitude. I am DEFINITELY tired of it. He answers the phone in such a sour tone, you wonder HOW this guy has lasted as long as he has in the position he has occupied. He is ALWAYS in a BAD MOOD. It reverberates in his voice, just answering the phone it enough. You have just irritated him by calling him. You have inconvenienced him. This man definitely has problems outside of work and is bringing this problems with him TO work.

Uhh, get off of that subject - his response to my simple question this morning set me off after listening to this nonsense for quite a long time now.


Well, I stopped at Home Depot on the way home from work, bought a few more wall blocks and some more cement, poured 2 footers when I got home, and that was that. Tomorrow I will lay the block and probably be able to cement the first large rock into place on the waterfall.

I aquired a much larger, pre-formed pond at a very cheap price. Like almost nothing. My rather large goldfish will like that pond much better. I will not have a waterfall - for now - on that pond - until I figure out how I am going to incorporate it with everything else. The smaller ponds will be plant ponds with small fish only. And, of course, a waterfall with a small pool at the top.

I am not installing the larger pond until I have the waterfall finished. The only caveat to that is if the trailer guy wants to do it - but he is still in pain, still taking pain medication, I'm assuming he's pretty much out of hard, physical labor until a later, unknown date.

Anyway, that's it for now.

I'm done with this and I bid you well.

G'nite.

ben

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

G'day Ben

Looking forward to seeing photos of your pond when it's finished. Enjoy viewing the step by step photos that you've been posting.

West Aussie (Lynne)

Anonymous said...

I'm with ya on the gun thing. I'll never give mine up. Ever.

BenB said...

Thanks Lynne!
That waterfall project is taking far longer than I expected.
Agreement, Anita.
ben

Anonymous said...

Washington DC had a ban for quite some time which was challenged and overturned by the supreme court. Heller was the case I believe. There has to be some balance in my opinion. They can be helpful in deterring crime, but it's obvious that criminals get their supply of firearms from stealing legal ones, and those guns then make their job quite a bit easier too. Then there are all the murder suicides of couples. Wife says she's gonna leave, husband shoots her and then himself. You can't tell me it would be just as easy for him to use a knife. It wouldn't be. And then there are all the mass shootings we have. The firearms murder statistics for the US are atrocious compared to western europe. I'm not for the silly notion of "banning" firearms, but like I said, there has to be some balance.

Anonymous said...

The black market affords guns to anyone that cannot legally get them (ie: felons). Doing away with handguns nationwide would simply cause that market to grow to disproportionate size. Besides, the law apparently is only for handguns. A murder suicide could be carried out with a 12 gauge shotgun - no handgun necessary. I'm sure the person attempting to kill oneself with a shotgun might have a bit of a task, but, the killing mind undoubtedly would come up with a way. I am not sorry to say that I am a gun advocate. It is unlikely that handguns will be taken out of American hands anytime soon.
If a person desires to kill someone else, they will find a way, regardless of what's available or not.
I don't see how a "balance" can be achieved without taking them away from everyone, leaving only criminals and law enforcement. IF such a law was ever passed nationwide, I have serious doubts that most people would just walk up to a handgun turn-in station to dump their contraband. I just don't see any of that kind of thing happening, and I would like to hope that the Supreme Court finds against Chicago.
ben

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