Sunday, February 24, 2013

Feeling Chippy

Cheesy Garlic Bread Lays: Not a very Italian-like flavor. Kinda like a cross between parmagian and cheddar, herbs are few and a the garlic should be stronger. I really thought I would like these more. Stick with the Sour Cream And Cheddar variety if you want 'cheesy' because this will let you down.









Sriracha Lays: What took so long? Much like the real flavor profile of Sriracha, and it does distinguish itself along that line from just another chili pepper flavored chip. It's a slow burn at first with a deep sense of lingering around a while. After about the 5th chip, my eyes got watery. Enjoy them with beer.











Chicken And Waffles Lays: Slightly sweet maple flavor envelopes the essence of raw pancake batter... and has no place sitting on a potato chip.
It's wrong.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Because It's Cool When they Do It

On the drive home today, I hear that the two cops involved in the mucho reported  Murderous Rampage/Attempted Murder of two newspaper carriers have been placed on 'leave', and an investigation is being done.

'Leave' means: 'With Full Pay, Zero Work'

This was an act of attempted murder with out due process.
Yet, it took one full week for LAPD to do the very minimum that every other citizen assumes should be necessary the very moment  that Attempted Murder took place...

Look at that pic. A blue Toyota masquerading as a Grey Nissan Titan.
Yup, they must have asked for it, if you ask me...

"Investigation" means... stalling for for time while we do what we want... for ourselves...
Media be damned...
as in 'Fuck Y'all'...
It's how they roll...

As for the under-reported act of Attempted Murder immediatley following the first ( Honda truck, masquerading as a  Nissan Titan)... crickets.

crickets.

Get that.
Fukin crickets

Like I said, it was under-reported... easily ignored, never happened, yeah...

Gee, why do Los Angeles peeps (and by inclusion, Gino) dis the cops so much????

Fuck Tha Police, Yo!
We roll that way for a reason....

Because...
Ya know...
It's a close-knit family, like They said...

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Thoughts From An Interesting Week In SoCal

Christopher Dorner has become a bit of a folk hero to some (maybe many) in the Los Angeles area. There are understandable reasons for that (some right, some wrong), but to me he's still a murderer.
The dude was whack, OK? Get that.

Personally, I suspect that there is something to Dorner's anger at his treatment by LAPD.
To refresh: as a rookie, Dorner had filed a report alleging brutality on the part of his partner. After much Internal Affairs happenings, he was deemed to be lying and was fired for filing a false report.
Personally, I suspect that he was really fired for ratting out a fellow officer.


Look, it took like five years of IA and hearings to fire him. That tells me it took LAPD five (plus) years to get his termination 'right'.
What's that tell you?
I know what it tells me...

Growing up in my parent's house a mere two blocks from LAPD's turf, I think that I know who they are, and trust me on this: there are honest reasons why their fan club is rather small.
I think that a Dorner tattoo is rather cool. Not for the image of who, but for what. (FTR: I DO NOT ENDORSE DORNER'S ACTIONS. OK? I've said that... get it)
Yeah, I pity the fool who gets arrested while wearing one, though. It is LAPD we're talking about, after all. (or any PD, for that matter.)
Whoever it is that this tat belongs too has a set of nads like no other.
He will pay for that.

None of that excuses his murderous rampage. Even more so when non-law enforcement family members are targeted.
For this alone, he deserved no mercy, from nobody. But he was entitled to due process.

But it wasn't just Dorner who was on a murderous rampage because LAPD seemingly launched one of their own.

First, in the city of Torrance (I know the street and n'hood where this took place) there were two woman delivering newspapers at 5:30am on the same block of a Dorner target where LAPD had set up a protection squad. The cops opened fire on their truck (which did NOT match the description of Dorner's vehicle) with full intent to kill, without so much as identifying their target. Dozens of bullet holes riddled the truck, and the two women (both wounded) just barely escaped with their lives from the Protect and Serve Militia. ('To Protect And Serve' is the motto of LAPD. Ironic, yeah?)
This was an act of kill on sight, frontier justice... Not modern day police work.
Attempted murder charges have yet to be filed on the officers, but lots of bullshit excuses were offered, instead.
Gee, wonder why???

About five minutes after the attempted murderous rampage against the paper delivery women, LAPD cops 'protecting' a short distance away were rushing to aid in the murderous rampage incident that just took place and...
targeted another truck (still not matching the description of Dorner's vehicle)...
ramming it and opening fire...
Again... without identifying their target, which turned out to a white guy driving through his own neighborhood.
Luckily, he escaped the actions of the Protect And Serve Militia unharmed.
This event went under-reported.

A second case of frontier justice... Still no attempted murder charges.
Gee, I wonder why?

Several days later, after being discovered near his mountain hideaway, after two more shootouts with The Law (killing another cop), the cabin Dorner was holed up in was set on fire, intentionally. We know it was intentional because there is scanner recording of it. "get the gas and torch the fucker"... words to that effect.
Now, they are trying to claim the fire was not intentionally set by the cops.
Yeah, right.

A few have complained about Dorner's rights to due process being denied while holed up in that cabin. Yeah, I get ya... he was never going to get those anyway if the actions of cops throughout the week were any indication...
Still, when he engaged in a shootout from that same cabin, thousands of rounds fired (seriously, the audio sounded like a scene from the Battle of Fallujah)... what kind of arrest did you expect the cops to attempt when we've seen their actions up to then?

"Yeah, but they should have tried to wait him out. They had him contained. Give him a chance to surrender and make his case to a jury, and then send him to Death Row."

Personally, I would have preferred that scenario.
LAPD, on the other hand, probably would prefer he never had that public audience. It would have exposed their corruption, again.

Maybe, Christopher Dorner was unjustly terminated from a police force he thought had reformed only to find that they had not.
Whatever the actual, true life facts are, the historical facts tend to support his overall accusations.
Dogs are Dogs.
Pigs are Pigs.
LAPD is LAPD.
(and I doubt that any PD is vastly different, anyway.)

Through the aftermath, as the fallen cops were mourned, I kept hearing the phrase: We are a close-knit family... (in regards to law enforcement peeps)....
Yeah...
Wasn't that part of Dorner's issue?
Just sayin...
And I'm not the only one sayin it.

Still, I say it again, in bold, ok?
None of that excuses his murderous rampage

Added : I do not trust the coroner's report that Dorner died of a self inflicted gunshot wound. I believe that he burned to death. And still waiting for the report of who's bullet actually killed that deputy in the cabin shootout. Seeing what I see, he was likely killed by his own guys. Cause they suck at shooting straight, anyway, and have issues discerning friend from foe in the first place.
In SoCal, our cops tend to be of the Keystone variety...

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Don't Call Me 'Dog'. Just Call Me.

It's been a long time coming, really.
Manufacturing is a largely contracting sector of our economy. It's getting more difficult for the blue collar people to make a living. I see it every day in my own job.
Very few home owners left among the crew, nobody buys a new car anymore, everybody begging for whatever over time they can get (not much, actually).

I saw the writing on the wall about three years ago.
After 30yrs in this sector, the last twenty in the same job, I realized that I would have to figure something else out.
I wasn't making it any more, barely hanging on, and slipping further with every pay period.
The price of everything keeps going up and the pay does not.
It will not be getting better.
I had to make a change, but didn't know what change to make, or where to look.

Several months ago, one of my cousins was telling me about this lucrative new enterprise he was getting into and offered me a job working for him.

Yesterday morning I took and passed the state exam and I am now licensed to write bail bonds and bounty hunt in the State of California.

Not so sure I want much part in bounty hunting, but my cousin is going all in and insists that I can be of service in that aspect, too. I'm like... yeah, yer 6'4" and 300lbs. Me? not so much. But I can do surveillance from a distance if you need that.
Since I like to hunt, he thinks I should 'up my game' a bit, and get paid hunting bail skips.
I'm gonna leave that part open for now.
I'm all for taking part in hunting 'skips', but leave me out of the rough stuff. God created an entire race of people for that. They're called 'Samoans'. Let's use them.

"But we have Tasers!"
"I'll call them out, attempt to cuff them, and when they resist, you appear from around the corner and Tase them. It's legal."
Hmmm...
It's sounding better.
It will also qualify me for a Concealed Carry Permit, should I want one. (I do, and just because... Having one extra liberty at my disposal is never a bad thing should I choose to excercise it.)

My cousin has spent twenty years as his own boss.
He's a businessman in heart and mind, and he's successful. This not some fly-by-night enterprise. He's done his homework, the networking, the planning.
He knows what he is doing.
I'm in good hands here, and I will NOT let him down.
I may not know much, but I do know how to work hard...how to put in the hours... Look for shortcuts... Increase production... 'Smarter, Not Harder'... all of that.

He speaks constantly of 'Us/We'. What we can accomplish... and kick ass in doing so.
My mind is stuck on 'I'.
What can 'I' do...
'I' cannot succeed unless 'Us' succeeds.
So, yeah... I'm all about the 'Us'.

'We/Us' are going all out.
'I' am all in.

For the time being, I will be staying on the job at the mill while we build the Bail Bond biz. Something about a guaranteed paycheck... I KNOW that I will get paid something every two weeks. With medical benefits, too.

With my issues, and a wife with issues of her own, medical benefits are uber important.
But, I'm really looking forward to rejecting Over Time some day real soon.

('You wanna come in early tomorrow?' Fuck You!)
Yeah, so looking forward to that...


If this Bail/Bounty thing happens according to plan, in 3-4 years, I wont be clocking in at the mill anymore.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

A Nation's Loss

A 25-year-old Iraq war veteran charged with murdering former Navy SEAL and "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and his friend turned a gun onto the pair while they were at a Texas shooting range, authorities said Sunday.
I've read the book and I recommend it to anybody who likes that sort of topic.
In it, he tempers the standard warrioresque braggadocio by giving credit to the families and wives of those who serve, technology that makes things possible, and the luck of Providence.
In fact, much of his book was written by his dedicated wife, Taya, offering her perspective and struggles from the home front.

By all accounts, Chris Kyle was not just an American hero on the battle field, but off of it as well, using his unique experiences and skill sets to help other veterans recover and cope with their injuries, physical and mental.

He died doing what he had spent such a large part of his life dedicated to: in exemplary service to his nation and it's soldiers.