Here we are arriving at airport in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Thursday afternoon.
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Saturday, April 18, 2015
Day 1 & 2 Florida Vacation
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Saturday, December 27, 2014
Friday, December 26, 2014
Oklahoma City - Vacation Day 1
The Bricktown District of OKC...it was dark so it's not a good photo from my phone. It is overlooking the "river", and then we went down and took a River Taxi ride.
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Monday, November 24, 2014
My thoughts on the matter....for what that's worth
The verdict of the grand jury in the Officer Darren Wilson/Michael Brown shooting came down tonight with no indictment made, not going to file charges against Officer Darren Wilson.
I'm white....living in a very non-diverse community of the country, very few non-white citizens in my area. Do I have a true grasp of what life is like for a person of color? No, of course, not. There is really no way I can know. I try to understand. I try to see all sides of the story. I was not there, and I have not read everything written on the issue.
Okay, with those disclaimers out of the way.....
How does any police officer or emergency services personnel even get up the courage to go out every day and do their job, especially in large cities? These men and women go out every day and every night and have pledged to do their best to keep our streets safe. They put their lives on the line every single time they go to work. How many of us would be able to do that?
There are bad cops. No doubt about it. And, as I said above, not fitting into the demographic description of being black, in a large city, etc., I don't know what type of relationships they have with cops. I would like to think some of it is acceptable, and yes, some of it is no doubt stretched.
How did these relationships reach this level? Crooked cops, in some instances, I am sure. A growing segment of entitlement and diminished nuclear and supportive family network, teaching children the difference between right and wrong, responsibility, respect, etc.
What is the desired outcome? Not just the indictment of the white police officer. I don't think anything different would be going on in the Ferguson/St. Louis area if the indictment would have been different. Do these folks WANT the police to just go away? If a robbery is committed and young black men, or white men, or Hispanic men, etc., walk down the middle of a street, they should just be left alone? Are the police not to confront the violators? If they are allowed to confront the violator, do they need to just use kit gloves, don't be harsh, go ahead and take abuse? Don't worry about the threat of the police officer's life? They don't have a right to feel threatened? If they die, they die????
It has been a "he said, he said" type of thing? At least until tonight. Information and testimony has started to come out tonight after the verdict was handed down that even indicates there were witnesses. Some "witnesses" lied...not even being there, just "hearing" about it. But, there were witnesses that supported the Officer's defense, African-American, black witnesses who corroborated the testimony given by the Officer. There was forensic information, autopsy, etc. The evidence was not there for an indictment.
So, now, protesters are out....and rioters are out. Rioters are seeking "justice" by burning businesses. I DON'T GET IT! They are looting liquor stores, carrying out bottles of liquor; looting a McDonald's, carrying out food; breaking windows in a tire shop; burning an AutoZone, burning a hair salon. WHAT GOOD DOES THIS DO? The owners of these stores may very well be members of these peoples' community!!! They are hurting their own people! They are burning their own city! Why!?!?!?!?!
Justice!?!?!?!?!?!?
We need to keep Ferguson/St. Louis, and the United States of America in our prayers....and pray hard.
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I'm white....living in a very non-diverse community of the country, very few non-white citizens in my area. Do I have a true grasp of what life is like for a person of color? No, of course, not. There is really no way I can know. I try to understand. I try to see all sides of the story. I was not there, and I have not read everything written on the issue.
Okay, with those disclaimers out of the way.....
How does any police officer or emergency services personnel even get up the courage to go out every day and do their job, especially in large cities? These men and women go out every day and every night and have pledged to do their best to keep our streets safe. They put their lives on the line every single time they go to work. How many of us would be able to do that?
There are bad cops. No doubt about it. And, as I said above, not fitting into the demographic description of being black, in a large city, etc., I don't know what type of relationships they have with cops. I would like to think some of it is acceptable, and yes, some of it is no doubt stretched.
How did these relationships reach this level? Crooked cops, in some instances, I am sure. A growing segment of entitlement and diminished nuclear and supportive family network, teaching children the difference between right and wrong, responsibility, respect, etc.
What is the desired outcome? Not just the indictment of the white police officer. I don't think anything different would be going on in the Ferguson/St. Louis area if the indictment would have been different. Do these folks WANT the police to just go away? If a robbery is committed and young black men, or white men, or Hispanic men, etc., walk down the middle of a street, they should just be left alone? Are the police not to confront the violators? If they are allowed to confront the violator, do they need to just use kit gloves, don't be harsh, go ahead and take abuse? Don't worry about the threat of the police officer's life? They don't have a right to feel threatened? If they die, they die????
It has been a "he said, he said" type of thing? At least until tonight. Information and testimony has started to come out tonight after the verdict was handed down that even indicates there were witnesses. Some "witnesses" lied...not even being there, just "hearing" about it. But, there were witnesses that supported the Officer's defense, African-American, black witnesses who corroborated the testimony given by the Officer. There was forensic information, autopsy, etc. The evidence was not there for an indictment.
So, now, protesters are out....and rioters are out. Rioters are seeking "justice" by burning businesses. I DON'T GET IT! They are looting liquor stores, carrying out bottles of liquor; looting a McDonald's, carrying out food; breaking windows in a tire shop; burning an AutoZone, burning a hair salon. WHAT GOOD DOES THIS DO? The owners of these stores may very well be members of these peoples' community!!! They are hurting their own people! They are burning their own city! Why!?!?!?!?!
Justice!?!?!?!?!?!?
We need to keep Ferguson/St. Louis, and the United States of America in our prayers....and pray hard.
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Thursday, November 20, 2014
More Gracie
The blog has been terribly neglected for several months now, huh? Haven't traveled anywhere recently, but been busy with library stuff and Allison stuff and general stuff, and kind of forgot about this. I thought I would post more pictures of Gracie over the past few months....she's so sweet, if not a little ornery.
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