Divemedic

So a guy today dropped his heater on a ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. He was barred from returning to the park, but no charges were filed. Let me start by saying that this guy screwed up, and he is lucky. Although Disney claims to prohibit weapons on their property, this prohibition does not carry the force of law. Where he broke the law is:

790.174 A person who stores or leaves, on a premise under his or her control, a loaded firearm, as defined in s. 790.001,
and who knows or reasonably should know that a minor is likely to gain
access to the firearm without the lawful permission of the minor’s
parent or the person having charge of the minor, or without the
supervision required by law, shall keep the firearm in a securely locked
box or container or in a location which a reasonable person would
believe to be secure or shall secure it with a trigger lock, except when
the person is carrying the firearm on his or her body or within such
close proximity thereto that he or she can retrieve and use it as easily
and quickly as if he or she carried it on his or her body.

My mother has been doing our family’s ancestry as a hobby. She was showing me the family’s history this past week, and showed me something a bit interesting: The US census record of her grandfather (my great grandfather) shows him as “negro.”

An octoroon is a person with 7 white great-grandparents, and one black one.That accurately describes my ancestry.

This means that under the law, I am an African American. See, much of the United States follows the “one drop” rule, where even a single drop of African blood makes you an “African American.” This also means that I am part of the protected class, and I can now get preference in hiring, promotions, and I can whip out the race card whenever I wish. It is also impossible for me to be called a racist.

The funny thing is that people who claim to be minorities are more likely to get a job. I know someone who was looking for work, and was having trouble even getting interviews. She had been looking for work ofr over four months, and had not even managed to get an interview. She has brown skin, so I suggested that she start putting down “American Indian” in the race column. Less than a week later, she got a job. 

Claiming to be a minority is a fast way to get a job, because employers use the fact that you are a minority to prove that they are an “euqal opportunity” employer, and use this as a talisman against racial lawsuits.

This, more than anything, proves that racial definitions are silly.

Nothing makes a larger statement about the character of our nation than this story. The third place finisher for a TV contest that is so unpopular that it is about to be cancelled is more important than our veterans.

In 1790, when the Census was carried out, the Union contained 3.9 million inhabitants. Virginia being the most populous state, with19 percent of the total population of  the Union: 747,610. The problem was that 293,000 of them were slaves. Many other slave states were in a similar position, with nearly half of their populations being slaves.
During the years of the Articles of Confederation, the south argued that slaves should not count as part of the population, since the could not vote, and the north argued that they should. This was not done out of kindness or cruelty on either side. The reason for this was that the taxes paid by each state under the articles was apportioned by population. The more people, the more taxes.
During the ratification and writing of the Constitution, the states changed positions. The new problem was that population equaled votes in the electoral college and representatives in the legislature. The northern states did not want to see the southern states dominate the political landscape, and so the three fifths compromise was born. The states agreed that the slaves, who could not vote, would count as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of calculating representation in the House of Representatives, and for the purposes of calculating electoral votes.
Even so, these ‘extra’ votes that were allowed by counting slaves allowed the south to dominate the political scene for the first 80 years of the union’s existence. It was only through the passage of the 13th and 14th amendments that mooted the three fifths compromise and would have shifted political power to the southern states.
The Fifteenth Amendment mandated that the right to vote could not be denied on the basis of race. The north could not have that, so they proposed literacy exams, poll taxes, and other means of disenfranchising the black vote. This would have the effect of disproportionately disenfranchising blacks.
This was about politics and about power, just as the issues are today. You can trace the political questions about illegal immigration and other issues back to politics. Politics has never been about right and wrong, only about power and the desire for more of it.

There is some confusion on background checks in Florida. The papers are all abuzz, because Pinellas County and Fort Lauderdale are requiring gun shows to conduct background checks on all sales that occur at gun shows. This is allowed because in November of 1998, the voters of the state of Florida passed the following amendment to the state constitution:

(b) Each county shall have the authority to require a criminal history
records check and a 3 to 5-day waiting period, excluding weekends and
legal holidays, in connection with the sale of any firearm occurring
within such county. For purposes of this subsection, the term “sale”
means the transfer of money or other valuable consideration for any
firearm when any part of the transaction is conducted on property to
which the public has the right of access. Holders of a concealed weapons
permit as prescribed by general law shall not be subject to the
provisions of this subsection when purchasing a firearm. 

 Note that there are two important exceptions to this provision: the holders of a CCW are not subject to it, and only gun sales that occur on land where the public has the right of public access. What does this mean? This means that a county may pass an ordinance prohibiting the sale of firearms on public property (which is the only land where the public has a right of access).

Fort Lauderdale is in Broward County, which along with Pinellas County, have both enacted laws requiring background checks and waiting periods for firearm purchases on public property. The local officials are threatening to shut the shows down or not renew their lease.

“If they continue to challenge our enforcement, it’s much easier to not have a gun show,” Seiler (the local official) said.

If I were the gun show promoter, I would look for a new venue NOT owned by the public immediately, and then I would open the show as before, but I am in your face like that.

To be placed in the “friend zone” has a different meaning. To be put
there means that the woman placing you there wants you to do all of the
things that a boyfriend or husband would do: take her to dinner, travel,
movies, etc, with one important exception:
You will never see her naked, nor will she ever be yours.

The song that I think is the saddest and most beautiful song about this phenomenon is this one by Harry Connick, Jr. I know I’ve posted this before, but it is simply a beautiful song.

A woman in Oregon calls 911, and is told that there are no police officers available. The dispatcher says that she should ask him to leave. Her ex-boyfriend breaks in and rapes her.

I take a few lessons from this post:
– First, the obvious: No one is responsible for your protection but you. When you are depending on others to protect you from harm, you are subject to their whims.

– The citizens refused a tax increase that would have funded services like police. The tax on a $100,000 is now $59 a year. The proposal would have raised it to $148 a year.

– The residents of this county lost their police protection when Federal budget cuts forced the Sheriff to reduce the number of deputies to 6.

– The people of this county are, in other words, wholly dependent on Federal tax dollars for their local government’s needs. They would have me here in Florida foot the bill for the police to protect them in Oregon.

If the citizens of Josephine and Curry counties of Oregon don’t care enough about their own safety and well being to fund their own police force, why should I here in Florida be forced to do so through Federal tax dollars? They don’t want to pay a property tax of $148 dollars a year, so I am forced to pay it for them? Even though MY property taxes are $1600 a year for a $120,000 home?

This reminds me of the people in Tennessee who were angry when the neighboring town’s fire department refused to respond to their home when it caught fire, because they didn’t pay the fire fee.

I used to teach paramedic school. In 2006, two of the students in my class were best friends. They had joined the Army together in 2001 under the “buddy” plan, they went through Army Corpsman training together, and were sent to Iraq together.
While they were there, they saw some pretty horrendous fighting. One of the young men, we will call him Steve, was awarded the Silver Star for running to another soldier’s aid during a fairly intense firefight, and shielding that injured young man with his own body. The other buddy, Sam, never came back whole. Sam had severe problems adjusting to the things that he saw over there.
They were discharged in 2005, and enrolled in Paramedic school. Sam had his demons, and was able to keep them in check with the help of his buddy Steve. They were roommates, and Steve was the steadying influence that Sam needed. Even though Steve got married in 2009, Sam remained their roommate, and was able to cope.
All of that came to an end in 2012, when Steve’s wife became pregnant. They asked Sam to move out, so they could have room for the baby. Six months later, Sam killed himself.
That is a common story. We are sending our young men off to war, and then we are punishing them when they come home broken. They can’t call for help, because they will be persecuted if they do, and still will not get the help they need.
Shame on all of us.