And that Las Vegas is called “Sin City”. But what is the name of the city that has the nickname “The Icebox of the United States”?

And if you haven’t noticed, we no longer own and we no longer control our cities. Oh sure, there are mayors, law enforcement and all indications that cities belong to the citizens who live in them, but we are not the owners and we are being held hostage by cheap, cowardly thugs who think brutal intimidation will keep them swimming in adulation.

I cite as my proof, the newspapers of the local city…

“Wednesday, January 20, Roseville Police and Roseville Fire personnel responded to a reported shooting in the parking lot of a strip mall in the 1000 block of Sunrise Avenue. The victim, a weight-loss clinic employee, was standing on a sidewalk near the clinic when another male approached him. After a brief conversation, the suspect fired two shots from a handgun, striking the victim in the abdomen. The victim is currently recovering from his injuries and is expected to survive.”

“Monday February 1, VALLEJO, Calif. — A Vallejo city worker has been hospitalized after he was attacked and robbed by a group of people while a crowd looked on. Police said the 46-year-old man, who has not been identified, was assaulted around 3:20 p.m. Monday near Vallejo High School after getting into a confrontation over rocks thrown at his backhoe.”

“December 12, Saramento, CA Sheriff’s Dept reports that two unidentified male suspects entered the Jack in the Box restaurant at 4128 Norwood Ave. Both suspects jumped the counter and forced the employee at gunpoint to open the safe. Cash was taken from the safe, along with a laptop and cell phone.”

“January 21, North Sacramento, CA. A woman said that she was forced behind a building in North Sacramento and sexually assaulted by a stranger Wednesday night, according to Sacramento police. The woman, who is in her 20s, told police she was waiting for a friend near the light-rail station at Arden Way and Del Paso Boulevard shortly after 8:30 p.m. when an unknown man approached her and physically forced her behind a nearby building.”

“VALLEJO, Calif. — Authorities are searching for a 15-year-old runaway from Hayward in the shooting of a Vallejo ice cream truck driver near a middle school. Detectives said that the driver, a recent immigrant who did not speak English well, had trouble understanding their demands and was shot when the boys thought she was not responding quickly enough.”

You are not in control. Your police departments have no control. The government cannot and will not protect you from this kind of escalating problem. The gangs and two-bit thugs that inhabit your city infrastructure own your city. They own your subdivision. They own your street. As homeowners in your neighborhood, you are powerless to change this oft overlooked fact. It will not get better… It will not change soon…

In todays society and with increasing regularity the effort by the scum that inhabit your neighborhoods and cities continues to grow exponentially. It is estimated that by the year 2017, homicides, robberies, beatings, malicious mischief and crimes using a firearm by local gangs will overwhelm the police departments best efforts to stop them. In other words, they have more and better than the police who are charged to protect us.

Most authorities cite several reasons for this;

1. People who witness some type of gang issue do not want to get involved.
2. Belief in the reliance on local law enforcement to correct a known situation.
3. Families of gang members think their relatives are not involved.
4. Victims have read about the problem, seen the problem, know it’s a problem, but do nothing to prevent it from happening to them.
5. Laws in many areas are not harsh enough to curb abhorrent behavior.

In other words, we are failing to protect ourselves because of what we do, what we know and what we can provide to help alleviate an escalating situation.

But you can survive and you can help others live normal lives. How? By being aware. Here are ten things you can do to thwart injury to yourself and others:

1. Be ever vigilant

You can never let your guard down. These gangs strike quick and they are cowardly. You have to be aware of everything going on around you.

2. Don’t just tell you friends or family to be careful

A flip remark like “Be careful” means little unless you and your family and friends find ways to talk to each other about how to be careful. “Be careful” is so vague. Define what it means to be careful in todays society.

3. Make every effort to protect those who cannot protect themselves

Kids, the disabled… they are deserving of your attention and protection whether they are yours or not.

4. Be an aware witness

If you see something that looks suspicious, it probably is. Can you describe it down to the finest detail? A statement like “well, he was a large guy wearing a hoodie..” means nothing. Open your mind and take in the entire situation. Practice doing witness descriptions when your waiting at your dentist’s office or the DMV. Be very specific about what you saw.

5. Arm yourself

Despite what you just read, I don’t mean to pick up a gun. There are many ways you can arm yourself and there a many courses offered by local organizations that can help you arm yourself against threats. Attend one of those classes. Take a self-defense course. Carry a pepper or mace spray. Use a short dog leash with a heavy buckle attached to your keys. A small wooden baseball bat makes a good swinging weapon. Above all, take a course and get some knowledge.

6. Tell your neighbors what’s happening

At one time it used to be called neighborhood gossip. Today it’s called Neighborhood Watch. Be a good neighbor and tell others that you live close to the things that you might be seeing in and around your sub-division.

7. Be seen when you are on foot / Make your home bright

Park in well lit areas. Turn on outside house lights at night. Carry a flashlight AND USE IT, even if the way is well lit. Be visible from many different directions and if you can, be around others.

8. 911 on your speed dial

Is 911 programmed into your cell phone and home phone speed dial? Sometimes you won’t get a chance to make a full call, let alone a 911 call. Just pressing one number can notify someone you need assistance. Nine out of ten victims tell authorities that they do not have a one button 911 setting.

9. There is safety in numbers

It’s not a secret… There is safety in numbers. If you have to walk anywhere, try and get someone to go with you. The more “someones”, the better. Even if it’s just out to your car in the office parking lot, ask someone to accompany you.

10. Always tell someone what you are doing and where you are going

Almost always, this is never done. To many times the report to authorities is that they had no idea what or where the victim was going or what they were doing. Always tell someone (especially your neighbors) if you are going to be away and for how long. Tell family members what you will be doing. Keep them appraised of the status of your time away.

This economy is not helping our governments ability to provide the safety and security that we should get. As city services become stagnate, these gangs will resort to more bold approaches to augment their habits. Do not think that you won’t be touched by these low life criminals. It’s complacency like that which will get you and your family and friends into some serious trouble.

And it’s happening everywhere… well… unless you live in the town dubbed “The Icebox of America”. But then again, the folks in International Falls Minnesota may disagree with you. But, I bet it’s happening there too.

Until next time…

Need a hint??? How about some choices:

A. U.S. Coast Guard

B. U. S. Forest Service

C. U.S. 4th Cavalry Regiment

D. U.S. Department of Agriculture

Tis a wonderful world we live in.  However, are we, as a people, growing up too fast?

Is technology coming at us faster than we can absorb it? Heck, NASA is talking about the new “suit” one can wear to fly to and from any destination.  Can you imagine what kind of chaos that will cause?  Hell, we have folks who can’t chew gum and walk at the same time.  Now we are going to suit them up to fly to work?  I hope I am long dead before I see that happen.

Cars are now going to voice command systems, heads up displays(HUD), collision avoidance, wend and weave notifications, drive by wire systems…  I’m afraid of looking at just what a HUD in a car would look like.

My new car's HUD

It would have to be simple… yet display all the info I need to make sure I select guns when I am too close for missiles.

Cells phone used to be simple.  Push a few numbers, press the green button and you were connected.  Now we are wired, geared, texting, twittering, calculating, gaming, posting, GPS’ing, checking e-mail, checking directions,  checking messages, playing music…

Uncle Marks early cell phone

Hell, it even takes your picture.  Do I know how to do all those things on my cell phone?  Puh-leeze…

I have a refrigerator that tells me I’m low on milk and the temperature is a tad bit high because I left the door open looking for something to snack on.  I had to call tech support.

Reboot? Its a fridge, ain't it?

The guy at the other end of the line said to just reboot the refrigerator.  (WTF?)

My furnace has a LCD screen on it which allows me to put in all kinds of info to tell my home when to heat up and cool down.  It’s supposed to save me a boat load of cash.  Now when I get home from work early, I freeze to death until “Merlin the Furnace Nazi” tells me it’s time to warm up the joint.  It saves cash alright.  I’m so cold I can’t even open my wallet to pay the paperboy.  Had to cancel the subscription.

In my zeal for new found trinkets, I thought about putting a biometric key lock on my front door.  You know, place your thumb on the pad and the door opens without using a key.

How many miles you get with this thing?

The very thought of my in-laws standing on the porch in the cold scratching their heads trying to figure out where to put the key so that they can open the door to feed the kitties while I am out for the weekend, just told me that it was not a good idea.

Somewhere on the web, I found a counter top food processor that microwaves, chops, dices, sanitizes and repackages.  And it was the base line model.  I’m scared to death to ask what the luxury version does. Maybe it will feed the kitties… Hmmm…

I’m not so sure that the world is ready for all these new fangled techy options.  You might have thought I was kidding about the people who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time?  I’m not.  I see these same people sitting in their Pontiac Super Chief doing 90 on the freeway.  Put that person in a new car with todays fancy doo-dads and you’ll have a train wreck involving fourteen cars, two 18-wheelers and a bus full of Alzheimer’s patients coming back from some place they can’t remember.

The argument that all these new ideas are for the younger generation holds only so much water.  This “younger generation” can’t even balance a check book without a computer (and even then it involves a software program and an external accountant).  Remember, these are the same folks who will be taking care of your heart surgery at Mercy General using a joy stick and game pad sitting in their office in Taos New Mexico.  Hell, I haven’t even been to Taos.

The point is this;  I am not so sure the world is ready for all of this new fangled gadgetry.  How do I know that we are not ready?  Let me ask a question.  Have you recently used something that is as simple as a kitchen butcher knife, but has more buttons on it than the button you have permanently attached to your torso?  Did it work right?

Hmmm…   Let me ask one more question.  You use a remote to control your TV, right?  Do you know how to turn off the TV or adjust the brightness… at the TV?

Point made.

I’d be very happy to tell you all about my feelings toward this over the phone.  But my hearing aid is the new digital kind and I haven’t gotten to the page that talks about programming it for use with a telephone.  I have it programmed for talking in a moving vehicle and for general conversation at a dinner party.  It came preprogrammed with the movie theater and the office environment settings.  I had to make adjustments for the quiet outdoors and doctors office settings.  However, I love the jet airplane and metro/rapid transit settings.  But the page on programming it for use around the house when it’s just me and the missus got torn and it somehow found the fire place…

Until next time…

P. S. The answer was “C”.

The tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year was started around 600 B.C by the ancient Greeks, who, at the start of a year would carry a baby around in a basket. The purpose of it was to honor Dionysus, the God of Fertility and symbolize his annual rebirth.

Fearless 2010 predictions:

1. Everything will stay the same for 2010… bad economy, bad employment listings, bad News, bad T.V… you name it, it will be just like it was in 2009.

That’s it folks… thank-you for coming… be sure and tip your waiter.

There are some good things… We have our health, our families, our friends… and all of that far out weighs the crapola that we will see, hear and feel in 2010.

In many ways I am glad to see 2009 slide into the rear view mirror. So much happened that wasn’t pleasant for many folks. Maybe the new year is just the right time to start thinking about things getting better. So maybe a New Years wish should be in order…

Edith Lovejoy Pierce
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called “Opportunity” and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.

Sydney Smith
Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.

Aisha Elderwyn
Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself.

T. S. Eliot
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.

Benjamin Franklin
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.

Vern McLellan
What the New Year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the New Year.

Michael Altshuler
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.

Albert Einstein
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

Edward Payson Powell
The old year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The new year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!

Hal Borland
Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

John Selden
Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it’s twice as onerous a duty.

Ogden Nash
Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn’t it, of a long line of proven criminals?

William Thomas
It wouldn’t be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets.

and probably my favorite…

Anonymous
Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.

May 2010 see you happy, healthy and harmonious…

Until next time…