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Petty Theft
Next time, Eileen...SPEAK OUT! If you had called the theft-in-progress to the attention of store personnel, I feel that this story might well have had a different ending. When I worked for Target of Escondido, we had a policy of "zero tolerance for shoplifters." If a customer (or one of us employees) noticed a "five-fingered discount" in progress, we told the door guard, who notified Assets Protection. I had to do this once, when I caught a young man in our Men's Room opening a tin of Pokemon cards, taking them out of the wrappers, and pocketing the cards. The Assets Protection head and I did the takedown outside of the Restroom area. We found out later that he had been put up to it by some older boys from his school. We turned him over to his daddy, and I carried on with the rest of "The Plan For Today." Every time we have a shoplifting incident, be it a store guest or employee, it cost our store far more than money. To make up for such costs, we had to raise some prices. The worst shit for employee pilferage was the Overnight shift, btw. To sum it up: five-fingered discounts are not a "victimless crime." It's theft, pure and simple. You folks pay for it in higher prices, the stores pay for it in lower revenue, and the employees pay for it when HQ directs the store to lay off a few employees because of shrinking revenue! Oh, and as the son of a Vietnam vet (U.S. Navy Hospial Corps), and the widower of a ODS/Grenada vet (U.S. Army Medical Corps), I appreciate your service to our nation, Eileen. Thank you. --LPR— September 11, 2010 4:16 p.m.
Not Funny
Fie on Shelley Malil! If he's convicted, the only "comedy" he will be providing is for the other prisoners as he gets worked over in General Population. Watching him get busted up, like he did Kendra Beebe? That will be good for a laugh among Malil's cellies! Even if he gets sent to the Special Needs Unit? He still won't be safe. How much you think it will cost to have somebody slip something terminally toxic into his meal? In prison, life comes pretty cheap...and ending a rival/marked man's life isn't all that costly. For the right price, even someone in "protective custody/special needs" can be taken all the way out! Sleep tight, Mr. Malil--it's later than you realize! --LPR— September 5, 2010 10:21 p.m.
National Dog Day
Redd Foxx said it best about dogs: "Dogs aren't dumb. Some fool once told me "Get that dumb dog out of here." I told him "Sucker, how can a dog be dumb when he can understand English and you can't speak Dog?" Instant Karma: Your "four-legged best friend" hoisting his leg on you and letting you know what he really thinks of you feeding him that el-cheapo dog food from WallyWorld! --LPR— August 30, 2010 11:31 p.m.
Paid in the Shade
$20 an hour just to use a freaking gazebo? Talk about a Captain Stupid in the Parks And Wreck Depatment! Sadly, we po' folks just do not matter to those whom inhabit any City Hall. The elected residents there are too busy living out the Golden Rule. As in: "They who have the gold, make the rules." And if their corporate sugar-daddies want them to play Froggie (as in "JUMP, FROGGIE!"), the inhabitants of City Hall only get to ask one question: "How High And Far"? Perhaps it will not be long before The Powers That Be start offering $500 and a one-way bus ticket to those of us making under $50,00/year, just so the rich can have the city to themselves? Or the county, for that matter--since We The People obviously do not? --LPR— August 30, 2010 11:33 a.m.
None
Take your spam somewhere else, man! The Ninth Ring Of Hell comes to mind! If you are not here to blog? Then do not come here at all! --LPR— August 28, 2010 6:28 p.m.
Crystal meth came into the house on Oceanside's East Parker Street
If I remember from the end of this article, there is now a "sanity hearing" concerning the defendant. If he is found to be "judicially insane" (as opposed to clinicaly insane), it will mean commitment to Vacaville state Hospital until he is judged to be "legally sane." However, he'll still have to serve out the remainder of his sentence. A diagnosis of "mental illness" is NOT a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card. Regardless of your sanity state at the time of the homicide, you will do the time. Just the place you will serve your sentence will differ. And more likely than not, his "insanity" plea will be rejected. Game over--yet nobody wins! --LPR— August 25, 2010 8:26 p.m.
The Crazy On The Corner: La Mesa
"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." --Lord Acton. "We have been like you...and you shall be like us!" --engraved over the cemetery gates, from the Mario Puzo book "The Sicillian." "One minute, a ruler is seated on their throne, and the next minute they are thrown out on their seat!" --Redd Foxx "You cannot kill what you did not create!" --Slipknot, from "Vermillion." "If this disturbs you, then walk away!" --Disturbed, from "10,000 Fists." "Some things in this world, you just can't explain!" --Charlie Daniels, from "The Legend Of Wooley Swamp." "Which one of these words don't you understand?" --Anthrax, from "Caught In A Mosh." "Mankind Is Our Community." --The Holy Qu'ran. "Why do we always send the poor?" --System Of A Down, from "B.Y.O.B." "We share the same biology, regardless of ideology." --Sting, from "I Hope The Russians Love Their Children Too." "But for all his power--couldn't see his own demise!" --Iron Maiden, from "The Clairvoyant." "Some swear it on the Bible, other flaunt it on The Qu'ran." --Accept, from "Heaven Is Hell." "A wise man picks his fights carefully." --Larry Bond, from "Vortex." I remember, when I was subscribing to Reader's Digest, there was a section called "Points To Ponder." These are some points about life itself--and I am certain there are more. Insanity is what you do to yourself and others, yet expect different-and-better results. And I really feel that Homo Sapiens needs to stop calling itself "Mankind." For in the history of humanity, kindness has never been one of our virtues. At the rate we are plowing through the centuries...it never will be. Folks like myself may live among you now, but for many years, we were not premitted to do so. In some societies, we were not even allow to live at all. My diagnosis may be my Mark of Cain, but I also know that with each new day, I am grateful to see it break and crest, much like a great wave. And as there is one breath left in me--I'll still be here! --LPR— August 25, 2010 8:12 p.m.
War
Those who desire peace most of all have heard the obscenity of the shell's fall. Napalm in the morning is their revelie, while a missile strike can make them cease to be. They have heard the screams of their friends, dying as with the Lord they try to make amends. Snipers track officers, hunting them like game, while chaplains exhort greater efforts "in His name." On the seas, explosives and gunfire create Hell, as sailors burn and drown in what is now a shell. Undersea killers await the sight of a fat prize, then blast it with torpedos, eliciting wild cries! Puffs of smoke fill the air as pilots duel it out. One lives, one dies--is that what it's all about? Bombs rain death from above upon the cities below... is there no stopping in war in how low man will go? Shells filled with poison, bugs, and nuclear death await the chance to make the Earth take it's final breath. The Angel Of Death looks on, the fire and smoke rising... isn't it true that war being hell is not that surprising? Those who have fought one war never again desire to go, yet it is those who have never seen the hellpit desire it so. Let's put THEM in uniform and send THEM out to the front lines! Perhaps a night-or-two might get them to change their minds! Dying in warfare is cruelty passed from the old to the young, especially bad if songs were written about it to be sung. From a song I know from my youth, I offer you my thesis-- "It will either be Peace Unto The World--Or The World In Pieces!" --LPR— August 22, 2010 4:49 p.m.
Lube Check
Be thankful you are not in Bulgaria! According to a book I read, Bulgaria's DWI laws are the most Draconian of all. Prison for the first offense, the firing squad for the second. A probable Bulgarian PSA would read: "Drinking and Driving--Do too many shots...you will get shot!" --LPR— August 20, 2010 6:38 p.m.
Haiku - A - Day
Another sunny day in Vista. A gift from a wise old Deity. Make the most of it. Hubris breeds Nemesis and Fury. Another radio scold's tent folding soon. A victim of her hubris. Cold Chamomile tea this morning. Powdered eggs, scrambled in my skilet. Not bad for a quick meal. I must take leave of you, But fret not, for I will be back. Have to run a few errands! --LPR— August 18, 2010 10:49 a.m.