Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

Today is the Fourth of July. The anniversary of the day the Declaration of Independence was approved, it was signed later, by the Continental Congress. Read the document. You want to talk about awe inspiring, this is it.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

We are all created equally. What a visionary thought and idea that even they didn't uphold completely and had to work towards.

I bring this information up to compare the ideal of what the Founding Fathers were striving for with the reality of today. How the people of today view their responsibility as free citizens of this country and how they use their rights of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" to their own end.

Kan. shoppers step over stabbing victim

As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.

The June 23 situation, captured on the store's surveillance video, got scant news coverage until a columnist for The Wichita Eagle disclosed the existence of the video and its contents Tuesday.

Police have refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.

"It was tragic to watch," police spokesman Gordon Bassham said Tuesday. "The fact that people were more interested in taking a picture with a cell phone and shopping for snacks rather than helping this innocent young woman is, frankly, revolting."

There we go, that's how people view their rights as a citizen of this country. The right to not help one another. The right to ignore our fellow citizens need for help. Their right to pursue their happiness, while somebody bleeds to death at their feet. Their "unalienable Rights" not to care for another person in this world but to only care for their own self. What about the women that was bleeding to death? Did not she have a right to Life? Did these people not have a moral obligation to help their fellow citizen instead of kick them when they are down? Quite stirring isn't it, how people view their rights and responsibilities the Founding Fathers gave them.

This whole story sickens me especially today when I read it. The contrast between the ideal that was what the Founding Fathers were striving for and the reality of what people are making of it is a sad state of affairs for people of this country. [sarcasm]Happy Fourth of July[/sarcasm]. Do we just celebrate the ideal or do we try to live up to it? Sadly enough as this shows, not enough people live up to the ideal.

Mother charged after child left in car

A Great Falls woman was charged with felony criminal endangerment after allegedly leaving her 2-year-old son in an abandoned car overnight as snow fell and temperatures dropped to 32 degrees.

Police found the toddler at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. The boy was shivering uncontrollably after enduring 14 hours in the cold, according to documents released Thursday during the initial court appearance of the mother, Jessi Lynn Parrish, 25.

Enough said.

One death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic. Joseph Stalin

I'm sure everybody has heard about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Right away on the Internet I read stuff about how this tragedy was caused by the ability of Americans to own guns and then read articles about how this tragedy was caused by people not being able to freely carry guns. Let's keep our eye on the ball here. This tragedy was caused by one one crackpot who killed 33 people. Why everybody wants to make this about guns is beyond me. Using such a tragedy for a political agenda is wrong.

'Tis better to suffer wrong than do it. Thomas Fuller

Some people breed so they can sell their kids bodies for sex with perverts who are willing to buy them. This supposed mother is as low as the filth she was selling her kids to. I can't believe such deviance is allowed to breed.

The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor. H. L. Mencken

The story in the paper yesterday about drugs and murder was very interesting. It touched on a pet peeve of mine. The dosing of our children with prescription drugs to control them easier.

In a nut shell these sorry excuse for parents got prescriptions for ADHD and by hook and crook got more pills than were necessary and used them to keep their child in almost a coma so they wouldn't have to deal with her. Reading the story it is not really even for sure that the child had ADHD, it was just based on family history. At 4 years old did this kid really need to be on such medication?

Kifuji told police Rebecca had been her patient since August 2004, when she was 2. She said she based her diagnoses of ADHD and bipolar disorder on the family's mental health history, as described by Carolyn Riley, and Rebecca's behavior, as described by Carolyn and briefly observed by her during office visits.

But Rebecca's teachers, the school nurse and her therapist all told police they never saw behavior in Rebecca that fit her diagnoses, such as aggression, sharp mood swings or hyperactivity.

I THINK NOT!!!!

This just shows in my worthless opinion how parents want to control their kids with medication to make their lives easier. I am sure glad I grew up when I did. I have been told I was a handful when I was growing up and My Well Seasoned Mom has told me if the drugs were available when I was growing up that are available today she would have got them for me.

Today I can do nothing about how hard it might have been on my parents when I was growing up but I turned out pretty good without drugs to regulate my behavior. Nature has managed some revenge on me with my son who is also a handful. We have had people say we should get some medicine to control him better but we figure, you have to let a kid be a kid. Most of them grow out of it and turn into reasonably well adjusted human beings. By teaching them to use drugs to control their behavior seems to be a dangerous path to be on to me. What other drugs might they use to change their behavior since they have learned "better living through chemistry" thanks to their parents?

I know, my rant about over medicating our children is old, you've heard it enough. But it does worry me. What really makes me wonder though is this so called doctor diagnosing ADHD and bipolar based mostly on family history. Is this moral/ethical? It sounds like poor doctoring to me.

And while we are on the subject of medication you always need to look at risk versus benefit. Temple Grandin

Some people shouldn't have the privilege of breeding. There kind of "love" disgusts me.

The government gives a license to a person to drive or even to fish, but they'll let any worthless asshole have children. Unknown

There was a wolf that was killing livestock, 120 sheep, in the Circle area last year. Officials finally found and shot it. The state has finally released some information about the wolf. It was not a wild wolf, but a "domestic" wolf that somebody let loose. The DNA of the wolf proves this since it comes from a variety of sources that never would manage to get combined in the wild.

I wonder how the person that let this wolf go feels about the havoc they caused? Do they have any feelings at all for the 120 head of sheep this wolf killed? Some of these sheep were killed not to eat, but just to be killed. Why would a person do this? A wold that was raised domestically would not have the proper tools to survive in the wild so in a way was this not cruelty to turn the animal loose? I know it was cruelty to the animals he killed and murdered. I wonder if the person who released this animal thought about this stuff, hell if they thought at all?

The chances of them finding whoever turned this animal loose are slim to none. If they did though the person should have to pay damages to the ranchers who were affected by this wolf's murderous rampage. I don't think people pay any attention to the consequences of their actions. What you do not only affects you, but it affects other people in the world. Turning a "domestic" wolf loose was a disaster for all concerned but I'm sure the person who did it doesn't care. They're probably just mad that the wolf was shot. People are crazy on this wolf issue. I wish a little common sense could come into play.

Cruelty is, perhaps, the worst kid of sin. Intellectual cruelty is certainly the worst kind of cruelty. Gilbert K. Chesterton

Some things that quickly caught my eye.

When did the Doomsday Clock, which was used to show the threat of a nuclear cataclysm, begin to be used to show environmental catastrophe? I was not aware of this change, not that I'm in the loop on this one. It seems like an.........interesting change.

Did you know that there is going to be an increase in deaths in affluent households in 2010? That's what some people are claiming.

Congress must act to discourage a year of mysterious accidents in affluent households

I wonder if they mean that old people will kill themselves or that the heirs will murder them? I don't even know what to say about such a claim. How can they ethically make such a speculation? Alluding to murder or suicide is just unbelievable to me.

Why do some lawmakers want to do away with same day voter registration? Sure it made for some long lines but it was a success. The people generally like it. What, are they afraid it's going to come back and bite them in the ass next election?

People could be opening a fine kettle of fish in respect to water rights. How do you figure priority dates in respect to ground water and over how large of area it might affect things. This could have far reaching implications for our dry corner of the state.

I've kind of wondered about how the over worked crime lab in the state was going to handle all the DNA samples this new law would require. Sounds like they would really have to upgrade the crime lab to do it. Any bets on whether the Legislature will do that? I doubt it, the legislature always like to expand it's workload but not give them any more money to do it with. Typical politicians thinking. Politicians thinking, isn't that an oxymoron?

Does anybody know which landing strip the Feds want to close that prompted our Congressman to attempt to ban them from doing it to any rural strip? Something like this proposal is always brought about by some action and I would just be curious to know what. Doesn't really make a difference to me, just more useless information for me to mull over.

Take these useless thoughts and throw them out the window somewhere. That's about all they are good for.

He is useless on top of the ground; he ought to be under it, inspiring the cabbages. Mark Twain

Man charged with murder of baby girl

A prosecutor told a judge Wednesday that fatal head injuries suffered by a 6-week-old infant were similar to the injuries she would have received had she been ejected from a vehicle at 50 or 60 mph.

"This baby never had a chance, your honor," Deputy County Attorney Juli Pierce told Judge Pedro Hernandez.

Robert Hans Hoffman, 20, is accused of crushing Christine Lynn Hoffman's skull after a day of heavy drinking. Hoffman made his first court appearance Wednesday on a charge of deliberate homicide. He was arrested Tuesday night.

Hanging is probably too good for this slime bucket but it would solve the problem. How people can hurt children, or anybody else, like this is beyond me. Drinking might be a factor but it's not an explanation.

The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor. H. L. Mencken

Couple accused of sex abuses

A Heron man who authorities say claimed he was God has been charged with a string of sex offenses after a family member recounted being abused and held in virtual isolation from society for years.

James D. Guill, 54, faces charges alleging six sex offenses. His common-law wife, Nicole Christensen Guill, 36, also is charged with four sex offenses. Both are being held on $1 million bail pending appearances in District Court later this week. They initially declined public defenders at a court hearing last week. It was not clear Tuesday whether they had hired private attorneys.

Sanders County Attorney Bob Zimmerman said more charges against the two are likely.
The two were arrested after the victim, now 22, told authorities she had escaped from the family property, where she claimed to have been sexually abused by Guill since the age of 6, court records said.

The sickness that is out there in some people just astounds me. Some how these people felt it was "right" to hold this young girl captive and abuse her for 16 years. That takes a sickness I am not ready to try to contemplate. As you see I do have a solution for this sickness.

The way people treat each other sometimes really makes me wonder about the human race. Then to do such despicable acts and bring the concept of God into it really hurts

Now, this sickness and this death and all these things that happen here on earth are not necessary. It's totally out of harmony, coordination precision and discipline. Sun Ra

Feds net 125 nationwide in kid-porn case

A Bible camp counselor and a Boy Scout leader were among 125 people arrested nationwide in an Internet child pornography case in which subscribers purchased photos and videos of children engaged in sex acts with adults, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The case originated in New Jersey, but quickly spread to 22 states. The defendants were charged with either possession or receipt of child pornography. Additional arrests are expected.

Prosecutors said the Web site alerted subscribers that its content was illegal and urged them to be discreet about their purchases.

"When I say `hard-core' pornography, I am talking about child pornography that includes images of children as young as six months involved in bondage and sodomy," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said. "This type of depraved conduct is something a civilized society cannot tolerate."

There are people out there that tell me man is a sexual animal so all things sexual in relation to man are normal and good.

BULLSHIT!!

When you are talking consenting adults I will maybe give you a by on this but when children are involved, no. There is nothing natural or normal about it. IT IS WRONG!

People that are interested in such child porn are sick individuals and are a danger to society. Nobody can ever convince me otherwise.

On a separate note about the story, why does the reporter of the story find it necessary to bring up the professions of two of the accused, Bible camp counselor and Boy Scout leader, and not the professions of the other 123 persons accused of this? What separate out these two over the others? Are they the only ones in the group that have access to children? I doubt it. I think the reporter is showing a very large bias against these two professions by making sure they are mentioned and tainting all of them with this news. Why does the media, and reporters, find this necessary?

The news on this sting is depressing enough in and of itself but the spin put on it by the media makes it doubly worse. What a sad statement on our society.

From one learn all. Virgil

Death-row prisoner gets pregnant in solitary

death-row inmate held in solitary confinement in Vietnam for almost a year is pregnant and is seeking a pardon to give birth, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

he Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper quoted a police doctor as saying tests in September confirmed that convicted heroin trafficker Nguyen Thi Oanh, 39, was then 11 weeks pregnant.

The report said it was the first time that a death-row prisoner had become pregnant in Vietnam and that police were investigating how it had happened.

Unless it was immaculate conception, which I doubt, I have a real good idea how the pregnancy happened. Can the police be this clueless?

Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad. Diogenes

I've always jokingly told My Darling Wife the only way she is going to git rid of me is to shoot me. HA, ha, ha, that is until I saw this today.

Woman admits to killing husband

A woman who said her husband told her during a drunken argument that "the only way I'm going to leave you alone is for you to shoot me" did just that.

My only saving grace might be that neither one of us drink, but i had better watch my choice of words. They might get me shot.

I’m not afraid of death but I am afraid of dying. Derek Jarman