The New Crime - TWD

Unless you have fallen asleep like Rip Van Winkle, or recently came from another planet, you can’t have missed the latest “crazy craze,” texting while driving.  Hardly a day goes by when we don’t see a news item or e-mail picture of some fool who got distracted by inputting and sending text messages while operating a vehicle.

The above picture purports to show a Corvette that went under the rear end of a semi due to a distracted driver who was apparently sending a text message.  The phone was found in his hand when they cleared the wreck.

My wife and I just drove home from Kansas City to Augusta, Georgia.  We saw and read several billboards and many of those roadside DOT signs that have light boards to spell out messages. The message on all of them was the same – “Don’t text while driving.”

I wish I could report that drivers were paying attention and heeding those messages.  Well, I can’t!

On one stretch of I-24 between Paducah, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee we had two close calls and both involved TWD.

In the fist incident a car went zooming round us at around 10-15 miles above the speed limit of 70mph.  Then it pulled in ahead of us and slowed down to about 60.  We were on cruise control, so we immediately checked for traffic on our left and pulled out to pass the fool.  As we did so I looked over and watched a woman driver resting her arms on the steering wheel while she manipulated her smart phone – certainly the phone was a lot smarter that she was – to type out a message. It must have been terribly important.

Several miles further down the road we were passing a slow moving car when it suddenly swerved into our lane, nearly sideswiping us.  Sure enough, the driver was in the act of texting.  It wasn’t the same car and driver, so at least two “textperts” were being distracted by driving while typing out that “all-important” message.

I have some questions for which I have no answers: 

1. What the heck is wrong with these people?
2. Is there a way for the highway patrol to monitor texting activity, like they do speeding with radar guns?

It is always tragic when we lose loved ones because either they or someone else commits the ignorant act of texting while driving. It gives new meaning to the term, “defensive driving,” because unfortunately this isn’t always a victimless crime.  Too often it is the innocent person who happens to be in the vicinity that winds up in the hospital or morgue.

Please, please, if you fit the description above, GET HELP!  You have a very dangerous addiction to your cell phone, and you will eventually pay for your sin.

Same Name, New Definition

Note: This column was already written and ready to publish before the shooting incident in Aurora, Colorado last Thursday. Instead of rewriting it, I’m going to send it as is and let you add your own post scripts…

For the past year or so there have been a rash of YouTube videos circulating that show people congregating in public places to entertain with song and dance routines that appear to be completely spontaneous.  Of course they aren’t, but are completely rehearsed and polished before the group assembles. The group entertainment is known by the name, “flash mob.”

Recently the term took on a new meaning.  Last Saturday evening a group of around 300 people converged on a Walmart in Jacksonville, Florida.  What ensued was a riot that caused untold damage to the store and the theft or destruction of over $1500 dollars worth of merchandise.  The flash mob turned into a trash mob.       

The whole thing was caught on video and made the online circuit.  A local Jacksonville television station broadcast a report  including the video and referred to the action as a “flash mob.”  The report did not at any point refer to the fact that the vast majority, and possibly the entire mob was composed of one race – Blacks. But even if it turns out that someone can find a few token whites or Hispanics in that mob, the culture is there.

The Jacksonville incident is not unique.  It is only one of many attacks that have been perpetrated on people and property in recent months.  Is it mere coincidence that these attacks started about the time that the Occupy Movement commenced? I think not.

With no end in sight, and very little response from public safety officials (a.k.a. police), it is highly likely that we are headed for a full-fledged civil war, and this one won’t be anything like that one that occurred 151 years ago. It was a skirmish by comparison.

If there is one fact we can count on it is that the new genre of flash mobs are likely to be armed and dangerous.  They have been incited to riot by the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and the culture has been created by the Rappers and Gangstas, so we know that THERE WILL BE BLOOD!        

Is this scary enough for you?  Well, you haven’t heard the rest of the story…

Within the next few weeks Hillary Clinton will be signing a United Nations treaty for arms control, which has the full backing of our president.  The Arms Trade Treaty is supposed to control the spread of weapons to “the wrong people,” but it could also have the effect of revoking the 2^nd Amendment of the United States Constitution because it calls for full registration of all firearms, always the first step to eventual confiscation.

You might counter this possible outcome by citing that any treaty is subject to the ratification of Congress and the acceptance and signing by the president before it can become a done deal.  Let’s examine that premise.

We already know that President Obama is in favor of the U. N. Small Arms Treaty, so his acceptance is a foregone conclusion.  Well, that’s one hurdle that it clears, but then there’s that pesky senate, which has (at last count) 58 Senators opposed to the Arms Trade Treaty.  However, in order to pass or fail the Senate approval it has to be voted on, and President Obama has an ally in the Senate in Harry Reid.  All the Senate Majority Leader has to do is keep the treaty from ever reaching the floor for a vote, something he has proven very adept at. 

There is another treaty that the United States signed and ratified known as the Vienna Convention.  It reads that any signed treaty will remain in force unless it is either rejected by the Senate, or renounced by the president. However, if neither of those events occurs, it becomes de facto law. (Funny thing, treaties that don’t become effective by ratification are still fully effective by non-rejection) Don’t believe it? Watch this video.

If you own a firearm, you had best “lose” it.  I’m not going to counsel you on how to do that, nor am I going to give you my thoughts on what precautions to take to ensure that you won’t have your weapon taken from you. 

I can only warn you that the other side is going to remain well armed, and they never registered those Saturday night specials.  You can draw your own conclusions and plan your own defense. The overt actions we’ve witnessed in the past six months are only a prelude to total chaos and disaster if we don’t make a stand.

Are you really scared now? Well, you had better be.