07
01/10
Falling or Fallen – You Decide
by John Galt
January 7, 2010
Four stories that have bothered me over the past month or so. As a nation have we fallen or are we falling. Some are local, some national. Falling rapidly is my call. You can decide for yourself as you read what is happening, as I am sure many of you have local horror stories to share also.
The Kansas City Star
Toys stolen from Toys for Tots warehouse, but helpers rush to the rescue
WICHITA | Toys for Tots in Wichita will be able to play Santa Claus this year after all.
After 1,000 toys were stolen from the Toys for Tots warehouse over the weekend, calls and donations began flooding in on Monday. The Marine Corps, which runs the Toys for Tots program, says it has received more than enough toys to replace all those that were stolen.
The Rev. Mike Stockwell, committee chairman for the Wichita program, said any toys or money left over would be used for next year’s program.
Gov. Mark Parkinson donated $1,000 on Monday, and thousands of dollars more came from congressional candidate Wink Hartman, Spirit AeroSystems employees, the Bombardier Aerospace Learjet Care Fund, unions and Wichita residents.
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Palmdale man arrested in funeral donation scam
A Palmdale man has been arrested and charged with grand theft after a woman saw a funeral collection box on display at a grocery market with the photo of her two daughters, who are alive, authorities said.
(Click on link above for rest of story)
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Salvation Army left short of cash by fake SC check
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Salvation Army thought it had received a grand gift ahead of Christmas — a $25,000 check. But the donation turned out to be an expensive hoax that may force the charity to cut back on winter assistance for the needy.
Investigators said Wednesday that more than a dozen Charleston-area charities received fake checks before Christmas purporting to be gifts from a genuine local company.
(Click on link above for rest of story)
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St. Petersburg police: Acid bomb thrown at homeless woman
By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, January 6, 2010
ST. PETERSBURG — Police want to know who threw an acid bomb at a homeless woman as she slept on a city street early Wednesday.
The woman was sleeping near the St. Vincent de Paul Society food center at 401 15th St. when she was attacked about 12:40 a.m., according to St. Petersburg police.
Someone in a passing car hurled a plastic container filled with acid at the woman as she lay asleep near the intersection of Fifth Avenue N and 15th Street N, police said.
(Click on link above for rest of story)
Chris
07.01.10
02:16
There’s also the rash of McDonald’s attacks. The latest one was a lady who threw a bucket of water, registers, straw holders, and all sorts of stuff over the cashier area because McDonald’s would not give her a refund for an “inferior” burger.
http://www.kctv5.com/news/22143388/detail.html
We’re basically turning into a nation on pins and needles and starting to get a bit desperate or despicable.
koios
07.01.10
04:14
JG-
You missed where the Charlotte Salvation Army collection warehouse was robbed of $4-5K. At gunpoint. Sick.
DTOM
07.01.10
06:01
I hear people say that if we go into a depression we will pull together and get through it like we did the last time. I would argue that the people who populate the USA currently are VERY different with regards to morals etc. than the people who populated the USA in the 30′s and 40′s. I work in an ER and see all the people who contribute nothing to society and are addicted to narcotics. If things get bad and they don’t get their narcs, watch out! They can be some very very nasty people…
Administrator
07.01.10
10:10
That is sick. I can not believe that one. I hope the cops nail the dirtbags and they “resist” arrest. Animals like that have no place in society.
Pickdog
07.01.10
13:00
We can expect even more of this type of behavior. Such as home invasions resulting in much death is one meme I expect to make the MSM as we progress further into this depression.
Pickdog
III
Chief
07.01.10
13:17
We have had several church robberies here in Iowa,along with other businesses. There is desparation out there for some. I do have to agree that this society is not your grandfathers society.
Pickdog
07.01.10
13:32
Looks like I was a day late and a dime short. LOL
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=130119
El Borko
07.01.10
16:11
This country is a modern day Sodom & Gomorrah. We have become what we feared the most. Everything is plastic…everything is fake. Gone are the days of helping one another. If we fall into a depression…say good-bye to “Hollywood.”
Des
07.01.10
16:18
Definitely falling fast… a lot of people compare the US to ancient Rome, Greece, or Babylon, and I think those comparisons have some merit. Unfortunately, these changes are coming at a near exponential rate, speeding up by the day seemingly.
JR
07.01.10
17:19
@ KOIOS, if it’s this story that you are thinking of, not just robbed at gunpoint, but murdered. On Christmas Eve. On from of his three children, ages 4, 6 and 8.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/25/arkansas.salvation.army.slaying/index.html
JR
07.01.10
17:20
Oops, “in front of”.
Tim
07.01.10
18:33
I am an amatuer student of history and America’s fall is not all that different than those of every great Empire preceeding us.
We have become a decadent and weak society. I have no doubt it will end in despotism…
How anyone can be anti-gun in todays world is asinine. Any douchebag who thinks he or she can make a victim out of me or my family will have a very rude awakening – most likely ending in awakening in hell after I put several .45 rounds through their chest.
Thus ends my random thoughts for the day…
Nahanni
07.01.10
19:27
DTom I fear is correct. In between the “War on Poverty” permanent welfare culture (see Detroit and New Orleans pre-Katrina for poster children of that, the illegal aliens who hate us yet live off us like a parasite and the brain washed and brain dead narcissistic nihilists Gen X/Y’ers we are in a world of hurt if TSHTF.
The majority (keyword here is majority) of the Gen X/Y’ers don’t even know how to cook anything from scratch much less know how to make do without the instant gratification that they have been brought up with. The wisdom and knowledge I learned from my depression era parents on a daily basis is unknown to them.
The permanent welfare culture and the illegals think nothing of stealing from others and would not hesitate one minute to loot and kill if they can get away with it. Once again see New Orleans during and immediately after Katrina for an example of that.
VJ
07.01.10
23:00
Just as scary, see the aftermath of Katrina for the attitude of any sort of authority figure. Cops gladly confiscating guns from law abiding citizens, “relief” workers taking anything they wanted (heavy equipment, etc.) and basically telling anyone who didn’t like it to “file a complaint”. The really ironic one was where they wouldn’t allow some guys who brought generators down to sell, to actually sell them. Didn’t want “profiteering”. The people who wanted those generators had a desperate need for them, but were “protected” by their government. So, instead of willingly paying a premium for the generators that they couldn’t get any other way, they were just out of luck. I’ve already decided that NO ONE is going to confiscate ANYTHING from me. Many who say that have people who depend on them and may have to take the safe road when push comes to shove, and I wouldn’t blame them one bit. I don’t, and can make that choice and live with the consequences.
George Tirebiter
08.01.10
02:40
The attacks don’t always come from the ‘scum bags’ of society.
An example of the same sort of violent psychology was experienced in an incident my wife and I had when we sold a house a year and a half ago and the perpetrators of this happened to be upstanding, drug free, employed members of the community, living in nice houses and driving expensive automobiles.
Both neighbors gave us a violent tongue lashing because they felt that we had sold our house to people they didn’t consider acceptable.
Around the same time my wife was driving into a shopping mall and was chased and verbally and nearly physically attacked by a woman because the woman believed my wife was driving an unacceptable (environmentally that is)car.
I share this because it points to a much deeper and broader problem in society that the robberies are only the tip of.
The people we were accosted by came up just short of being violent and these are people who were nowhere near their last dime.
I have to agree with DTOM that people like this aren’t going to band together, if anything they would be more apt to step over your grave to get the last available buck.
There are an overwhelming number of people just like this in our society today.
Things could easily end badly.
DB
08.01.10
04:21
An apple a day doesn’t keep the crooks away.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/more-than-100-apple-store-customers-victims-of-followaway-burglaries-in-la-region.html
Nahanni
09.01.10
01:43
George Tirebiter,
The thing is that when TSHTF people like the ones you cited will be the first taken out by the thugs. They are, judging by the behavior you described, a bunch of lefty liberal loons. They are the types that would never own a gun yet actually use it on someone if it was their life or the thug who is trying to kill them life. They also, despite their claims of wanting at “simpler, greener life”, are the ones who know nothing about survival-they will expect the gubmint to rescue them.
What happened in NOLA after Katrina is a good example of what will happen around the country soon. If you remember it was a city totally cut off from the rest of the country, utilities and communications were cut, stores closed and either out of everything or looted, services like hospitals and fire stretched to the breaking point. NOPD, which is notoriously corrupt, was more interested in beating the rest of the looters to the “good stuff” then trying to maintain order and protect people and property. It was a total collapse of society and civilization.
The city, parish and state governments at the time were remarkably alot like what we have in Washington right now-a bunch of corrupt, inept, clueless and totally out of league Democrat idiots who’s main goal was to stay in power so they could loot the people of Louisiana and give money and perks to their cronies while pocketing a good chunk of that money themselves.
The problem is that when TSHTF there will be no federal government to come in and kick the local governments ass because it will be the federal government that is screwing up everything. In fact I suspect that some of the states will take matters into their own hands and kick the meddling idiot Washington weasel feds out. The first to do so I suspect would be Texas, especially if things take on the look of John’s “The Day The Dollar Died” series. Texas and Texans would not put up with that crap, except maybe in Austin which has way too many hippies and liberals and they would be easily “taken care of”.
Perspective
09.01.10
03:51
I’m going to log in under the still falling category. As evidence I would submit our country’s role models: actors, sports figures and political leaders. Charlie Sheen and Tiger Woods being current examples. Then take the behavior of just the recent presidents, from Read My Lips on through to the Peace Prize for War. And Congress, where your retirement separation bonus is whatever is in the campaign treasury when you hang up your Public Service (plus the retirement benefits after just one term).
But for a general sense of the population, there I would have to direct your attention to the TV ads. The Madison Avenue boyz, for all their faults, know what sells and sells profitably. So based on the number of commercials for depression, and I happened to catch a new one tonight for bi-polar disorder, there are a lot of people out there that are mentally ill. If it was a small number, ads on prime time TV just would not be worth the cost of the ad spot and the producing the commercial.
Then there is the whole craze where young boys increasingly have Attention Deficit Disorder. Now that I think about it, there is a general formula where a (not real, quickly check the small print on the screen) doctor says if you have (insert symptom) then it could be (insert condition, disease) and you can be helped by (insert drug). And a lot of these drugs have side effects like suicide or depression in a usually small (at least per the ad) number of cases.
So I’d say we are still falling and maybe more than a few are being pushed off the sanity ledge. Unfortunate side effects perhaps of the early start up to this Brave New World of ours?