To serve, protect and cover up?

"Former New Orleans Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Cover Up the Danziger Bridge Shootings"
http://neworleans.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/no022410a.htm

You really need to read this one for yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, some cops are dishonest. That isn't to say all cops are dirty. But please don't fall into believing that cops don't lie.

Case in point:

In 1994 I was charged with illegally carrying a concealed firearm and disorderly conduct.

These are the facts of the case:

I had just returned from the indoor shooting range and had backed into my driveway at home. I opened the door to my pickup truck, reached over on the seat to get my Firestar .45 compact semi-auto pistol. I placed it in an inside-the-pants holster located behind my back and under my shirt. It should be noted that it was already legal to carry concealed in your home, your place of business or property leased or owned by you.

In short, no law was broken.

As I backed out of my truck I heard someone shout, "Please step away from the truck, sir!" As I turned to see where the voice came from I saw 5 police officers pointing their weapons at me. I was trying to figure out what this was all about.

Officer Plumb asked me to walk toward him as the other officers continued to point their firearms at me. He asked if I had a firearm. I replied in the affirmative. He asked where it was. I told him. He asked if it was loaded. I told him there was a magazine in the firearm, the receiver was empty and the safety was on.

He stood in front of me and reached behind me, where I told him the firearm was. Not a very bright idea, given I have been a martial arts instructor for many years and it would have been easy for me to subdue him and use him as a shield, if that was my intent.

He asked if I had a permit to carry concealed. I told him there were no permits in Arizona at that time. He said, "Yes, there is." I said, "No, there isn't. Governor Fife Symington has signed the bill but the packets aren't even available. I can sight ARS 13-3102 and it's subsections for you." He said, "I didn't know that." I said, "So you don't know the law but you're going to site me?"

He said, "I'm also going to charge you with disorderly conduct." I said, "Oh, really; for what?"
He informed me that he was going to cite me for disorderly conduct for (wait for it), "recklessly displaying a concealed firearm." Huh?? How do you recklessly display a concealed firearm?

It seems the nexus for all of this was two young kids told their parents that they saw a man with a long black shotgun. I had a very compact stainless .45. That may have been a hint that you may have the wrong guy.

Fast forward to 2 days later when I received a copy of the official police report. According to the police report, when officer Plumb arrived, I was in the street talking to my wife and a neighbor.

Fact: I was 36 feet inside my own property and my wife and neighbor were 50 feet away on my neighbor's property.

He said I began walking toward my property to get away from him, he stopped me and I told him that he was on private property. His report claims he told me that I was just in the street and I said, "Oh". He went on to say that I began reaching behind my back, he stopped me and found a concealed firearm.

Enough of this bravo sierra. Fast forward one year in Tucson City Court. Plumb brings another officer with him to substantiate his lie.

Happily, I had a judge who was sharp enough to take notes. He asked Officer Plumb's fellow officer, "Officer Gin, you must have made hundreds of stops since then. How are you remembering all the details of the case? Are you reviewing the other officer's notes?"

Gin replied, "No, your honor." "Well, you did file a report didn't you, Officer Gin?", the judge asked. "Ah, I suppose so, your honor.", Gin replied. "Well, where do you suppose your report is?" "Ah, I don't know, your honor."

The judge said, "Ya know, I take pretty good notes and I know when I'm intentionally being misled. Not guilty. Have the defendant's firearm back in the property room for him to pick it up this afternoon."

Hate to burst your bubble, folks, but this is the real world.

Are all cops bad? No, but all cops aren't good, either.

Samuel Colt and Valentine's Day

While I often lament over what to get my perfect gal on Valentine's Day, often falling back on roses, chocolate or dinner, this year there was a scary reason my lovely bride dropped hints that she wanted a gun more easily carried than her Colt Commander 1911.

We live quite a few miles apart, unfortunately, and a serial rapist has struck more than two dozen times in the rural area in which she's living to care of our handicapped daughter and our four grandsons. I'm 6 1/2 hours away on a good day. When a rapist strikes, 1 second is too far and 911 is too late.

This jerk, who apparently walks to his victim's homes or apartments (so there's no vehicle description), has begun severely beating the women afterward. The 1911 is undeniably one of the best self-defense firearms ever designed, but it's heavy enough that a woman might think twice before tossing it in her purse if she has a CCW. It adds bulk to a girlish figure and our daughter is a quadraplegic, so getting her in and out of the van and through stores is exhausting enough without John Moses Browning's ultimate design adding to the workout.

So this year, instead of roses or even a card, I bought her a Ruger LCR. It's not nearly as "modern" as Browning's 100-year-old design, but it has some twists. It's double-action-only and hammerless, so if a bad guy shows up, she can run the gun from her purse without ever removing it, knowing all five shots will rotate into battery because there's no slide or hammer to get caught up in that purse's clutter.

As for the fine folks who don't think guns are the answer, I've been blessed enough to become friends with a variety of handicapped people who have routinely carried guns. I also got to see some of them draw on bad guys. When they pulled, bigger and more muscular, fully ambulatory criminals cowered and ran. The quote about Colt is right.

My wonderful daughter's fingers no longer work, so she doesn't qualify, but I'm glad to know my wife has her covered with a lightweight Valentine's Day gift chambered in .38 Spl. +P.

Doctors with no patience for patients

Fox News is reporting that some doctors are now asking you to sign an agreement that you won't share your concerns with your care on the Internet, chat rooms, etc. If you refuse to sign it they will refuse to treat you.

Ironic isn't it? The paperwork you sign as a new patient says that the doctor will share your medical information with everyone and their brother.

It has yet to be determined whether this move can be held up in court or not.

White House says Stimulus had 'Undeniable' impact on economy.

According to a FOXNews.com article White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says Obama's Stimulus had 'undeniable' impact on economy.

Finally, something I can agree with Gibbs on. No kidding, Sparky; it destroyed the nation's economy. They also keep claiming that Obama has created 2 million jobs. Are they on crack or do they believe the country is smoking crack?

Great quote

"I take exception to folks saying that Bernanke, Obama, Reid and Pelosi are spending like drunken sailors. When I was a drunken sailor, I quit spending when I ran out of money." Sen. John McCain

Uncle Sam's Plantation

The following article is from syndicated columnist, Star Parker. It's a great read.


Here is a young black liberal, who has been in the system, and through experience and education,
has seen the problems with the government hand out programs and socialist attitudes. Makes for
interesting and informed reading.




Six years ago I wrote a book called "Uncle Sam's Plantation." I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.
I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.
I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.
A vast sea of perhaps well intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960's, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.
A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"
Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems. The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.
The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.
Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.
I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican congress and signed into law by a Democrat president. A few years after enactment, welfare roles were down fifty percent.
I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism.
But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.
Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.
Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh."
Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.
There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.
In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.
"This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending-it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care, and education."
Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."
Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.
Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."
Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single parent homes and out of wedlock births.
It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.
Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?

Star Parker is president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal & Education
http://www.urbancure.org/article.asp?id=3141

"Only the police should have firearms."

We've all heard the mantra of the anti-gun crowd who like to tell us that only the police and military should have firearms. We don't need one; just dial 911.

This Fox News story shows exactly why I'm not buying it.

"Gun rights advocates have a California police detective in their crosshairs after he apparently posted comments on Facebook advocating that "open carry" supporters should be shot."
Of course the odds of you having a concealed carry firearm to protect yourself are the same I'd give a snowball in hell.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585807,00.html