A crying shame

Sometimes things happen and get me scratching my
head over why we allow them to happen. This story
involves the bodies of 28 veterans who were left in
a morgue for a year and a half.

Granted, nobody stepped up to claim the bodies from
the Los Angeles County Morgue, but 18 months? These
poor souls are now going to receive the proper burial
they deserve at the Riverside National Cemetery.

Even though the morgue and the VA are playing the
blame game, we were saddened more by the fact that
these burials are usually attended by only a few
volunteers.

Then we heard the number of unclaimed veterans
remains left in the morgue for over 18 months could
be as high as 60. This is unacceptable.

We’re told the morgue claimed the VA didn’t follow
through with required identification and processing
while the VA claims the morgue didn’t notify them
that the bodies were processed and ready to be
buried. Stop the nonsense.

All should be buried in a National Cemetery if their
body wasn’t claimed by family. It is the law, it is
a show of respect, and it is the right thing to do.
Comments are always welcome.

The rampage results

Nicholas Sheley went on a nine-day rampage in 2008
that started with an argument with his former wife
over his heavy drinking. During that time he killed
Russell Reed in Sterling, Ronald Randall, 65, in
Galesburg, Kenneth Ulve, Kilynna Blake, and Dayan
Black in Rock Falls, all in Illinois and Jill and
Tom Estes in St. Louis, Missouri.

He killed these people with a hammer, picks up his
former wife, and heads to Missouri like he is on
vacation. He was arrested after someone recognized
him in a Granite City bar, and was just found guilty
in the deaths of three adults and a two-year old
boy in Illinois. His third trial in the state.

He is still awaiting trial in Missouri for two more
murders there. This guy has shown no remorse for his
actions and acted bored in court. Talk about a poster
boy for bringing back the death penalty.

In fact, if lethal injections aren’t working let’s
bring back old sparky for this guy, or the gallows.
Comments are always welcome.

Did he?

We read a blurb about this man online.

We can neither confirm or deny the story is true,
but here is what accompanied the photo-

Lets make this piece of shit famous!
Flight from CLT to PHL, pilot asked all passengers
to stay seated to allow a family traveling with
deceased soldier to deplane first. Out of respect,
the entire plane sat still and in silence while a
woman and children, in tears, left the plane…
EXCEPT for this asshole. Four times he was asked
to sit and he never did.
—————–

So it got us thinking. If true the story makes him
sound like a real jerk. Unless he thought he was
standing out of respect, but the story doesn’t have
enough facts.

And we thought why is he pictured in an airport and
not the airplane? Was the shot taken before or after
the flight? And why isn’t a name attached to identify
the person?

Then came the question of how would one handle a
situation like this if it arose. Pound him silly in
front of a grieving military family? Get into a
screaming match in front of said family? Politely ask
him to sit down?

If it is true, did he commit a crime or was he just
an inconsiderate jerk? If it is false does he have
any recourse?

As mentioned, we don’t know if the story is fact or
fiction and cannot confirm it on our end. If it is
true he deserves a kick in the pants and if not, an
apology.
Comments are always welcome.

Gun Control myth

After the recent killings in California the Liberal
Gun Control bunch is at it again calling for more
regulations on our guns.

The only one who really has a car in this race is
the father whose son was shot and we offer our
condolences as we know the pain of losing a child.

Everybody else is just pushing for more control and
not more public safety. Let’s look at the facts as
they exist:

the shooter passed a background check

he could only have 10 round magazines by law

he could not buy the dreaded assault weapon

California does not issue CCW permits

you cannot legally carry a gun in California

and half of his victims were stabbed not shot.

According to California gun laws this shouldn’t have
happened. Why no outcry over the stabbing victims?
We haven’t heard of a knife control lobby.

Those who say the gun control laws aren’t working
are right. Perhaps instead of blaming the gun you
should go after the criminal or stop passing laws
that do nothing.
Comments are always welcome.

While we were gone

In our regular cruise down the information highway
we find some interesting things that we like share.
Here are a few we found during our latest outing.

Here is a look at the “Tunnel of Love” in the GM
Heritage Center.

Do you know the saga of Oldsmobile? It is an
interesting tale, and is also at the GM Heritage
Center.

If you missed the 2014 Torque Fest this will give
you a feeling of what it was like. So crank up the
speakers and enjoy.

For our fellow Red Green fans here is a Handyman
Corner segment. And if you are a fan you know it is
meant for stress relief and not instructional value.

If you were a hot rodder in the 1950s, the following
short film was made to show you how membership in a
hot rod club would contribute to safe driving.

From the ‘something you don’t see every day’
category comes this short video of a flame throwing
1930 Model A rat rod hearse. It sounds sweet.

Or how about another short one featuring a human
Transformer. It’s almost like a trailer from the
movie.

For music, here is an old country standard done by
none other than Johnny Cash.

This concludes the cruise and our ride is parked.
Please enjoy the sights and sounds.
Comments are always welcome.

Random thoughts

I got a phone call last night from an old friend.
Rumors had been making the rounds that he was in the
hospital and not doing well so I was glad to hear
from him.

He’ll get out soon and we talked, as we always do,
about cars. We talked of his coupe, my Impala, and
the hell we raised when we were young enough to do
it. And it reminded us of this again-

Later I turned on TV for a minute and caught the
outraged father of the drive by shooter calling for
tighter gun control. While we are truly sorry for
his loss we can’t get on the bandwagon.

Why is it that with every other form of senseless
violence our society goes after the criminal and not
his means of execution?

If a drunk driver kills people there is an outrage
over irresponsible people driving drunk. If someone
uses a ball bat to bludgeon someone else most say he
did it because he lost his mind. There is no unified
voice calling for baseball bats to be banned.

And more people are killed with knives, ball bats,
or fists each year than with an assault rifle this
administration is set on demonizing. Using the
‘killing kids’ argument doesn’t work either because
the same people who support banning our guns have no
qualms about the millions of abortions done since
that law was changed.

Like others of our faith we have been taught that
life begins at conception and ending that life, even
before birth, is murder.

We believe we may an answer that could appease both
sides of this issue without offending either. If you
don’t like guns and don’t want to see them, don’t
break into my house and I won’t stick a 45 in your
nose.

Comments are always welcome.

What if?

This post is brought to you in response to the
politically correct movement and some of their recent
actions.

A friend sent an email about how these people were
upset over the names of some sports teams and would
like to see them changed.

So we decided to take it a step further. What if
this same bunch came after our car names? Think about
it a minute.

Look at the Dodge “Charger”. How long will it take
the PC crowd to realize that the name means a person
or thing that charges, a horse ridden into battle, and
someone who uses a charge card?

The commercials are all over the TV channels. Surely
in the interest of teaching our children to be non-
confrontational a line must be drawn in the sand and
the name changed. We suggest the Dodge Companion.

Or how about the Ford “Mustang”? That means a small
wild horse of the SW plains. Wild? Little? The PC
group could have a field day. If the name were
changed to the Ford Middle, nobody would be offended.

And what about Chevrolet? They have Super Sports,
and we all know super means greater or better than
others of its kind. Oh the humanity. The PC people
can’t have blatant boasting like that. Perhaps they
would demand the name be changed to Average Sport to
make all the underachievers feel better.

There are many more names that would be insulting to
one group or another but you get our drift. So we’ll
also mention automotive accessories.

Think about it. I’ll bet there are a whole bunch of
mad older ladies out there who don’t like the term
“air bag”. Shouldn’t the PC police demand the name be
officially changed to rapid-inflating safety device?

Of course the bumper would have to have a name
change. A device used to absorb the shock of a
collision or unusually abundant.

Same with headlights. As we know head means the part
of the body containing the brain, the top, the foam
on a glass of beer. a position of leadership or
honor, or a pot smoker.

We can laugh all we want now, but what if…
Comments are always welcome.

Go silent

Please consider observing a moment of silence on
Memorial Day.

Looking towards the heavens

Today is Mom’s birthday and though she isn’t here to
share it with us we all still love and miss her. Not
a day goes by that I don’t have a memory of her pop
into my mind.

Her suffering has been over for some time and our
grief has run its course. The hole in our hearts has
gotten smaller and the memories remain.

She taught us how to be thrifty and that we had to
wear clean underwear in case we got hit a bus and the
doctor might see our skivvies. She taught not to
steal and to be honest.

She washed our mouths out with soap when we’d let a
cuss word pass our lips and comfort us when we were
hurt. She was an original who didn’t mince words and
didn’t care who knew it.

So later tonight I’ll go out in driveway, look to
the heavens, and have a talk with mom. It will be
another moment to remember.
Happy Birthday Mom!
Comments are always welcome.

Memorial Day

The holiday is almost here and we’re sure many are
looking forward to the long weekend. But there is a
reason for this day we celebrate.

Memorial Day is a holiday to honor those who gave
the ultimate sacrifice. Some say the first Memorial
Day dates to 1861 and honored the Confederate fallen.

Others say Memorial Day began as a holiday to honor
the dead in May of 1865 in Charleston, South
Carolina. Union POWs were held at the Charleston Race
Course and at least 250 died there and were placed in
unmarked graves.

Black residents of Charleston organized the May Day
ceremony where they landscaped, built an arch, and
gave the soldiers a proper burial.

David W. Blight said of the event: “This was the
first Memorial Day. African-Americans invented
Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina. What you
have there is black Americans recently freed from
slavery announcing to the world with their flowers,
their feet, and their songs what the war had been
about. What they basically were creating was the
Independence Day of the Second American Revolution.”

By the end of the 1800s, Memorial Day was observed
throughout the country on May 30. After World War I
the was expanded to honor all those who gave the
ultimate sacrifice in all Wars.

In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson
declared Waterloo, N.Y., the birthplace of Memorial
Day. There a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local
veterans who had fought in the Civil War.

An act of Congress in 1971 made Memorial Day a true
national holiday and placed the date as the last
Monday in May.

And there are some small snippets of little known
information about the holiday that begins our summer.
If you can’t make it to a cemetery please take a
moment out of your day to remember those who gave
their life to keep us free.

Comments are always welcome.