Year: 2006

Violence in my Neighboorhood

I have been distracted.

Friday morning brought a bashed out truck window. The creeps who did it tossed the contents of the gloveboxs, and made off with – now this is exciting stuff for the buggars (read: #$%#^&^^%$)  – the remote control to the complex gate,  maybe 3 bucks in change that was in the ash tray and a few home burned CD’s with a mix of classical, country, jazz, and bluegrass music from under the seat.  The creeps left behind: a flashlight.

Calls to the insurance company, police reports done online, and a request for the complex video security tapes. Now that is funny security? Ha. So, we know who did it but no one else seems to care. Oh well – the glass is all cleaned up – I needed to wash the truck anyway.

Friday night a a group of teenagers massed in the front of the complex – read in front of my townhouse – and started to argue. The group got louder and larger. Before the police arrived it had grown to about thirty kids and one adult. The sticks and knifes came out the group moved away from my front yard and carport so I took the oppportunity to get in my truck and leave. As I was leaving on police car arrived. When I came back there were five police cars and more kids arriving. I parked across the street and snuck back into my townhouse – I was worried about my dogs. The police finally got it all calmed down and left.

Saturday and Sunday were spent jumping up and peeping out the windows everytime we heard kids screaming or noises in the carports. Augh! These are the terrorists in my little world.
Saturday there was a shooting at the park where the dog park I go to is located. Sunday a shooting downtown in front of the Macy’s that left one kid dead and maybe another soon to follow.

I have been considering joining what we call the white flight – moving north out of the southern mess of Sacramento – now I am considering Oregon or Nevada. There are too many rats in this cage we call Sacramento. I have always been a true believer in mixed neighboorhoods but today I feel like it is an experiment in social studies that has gone terribly wrong.

I could blame the instigators of the fight friday on the Katrina victims that rented a unit here as they were at the core of the mess. Or, I could blame it on an ethnic group since all those involved in all of the above problems were anything but white. But, I think the problem is the same one we have always had: ECONOMICS.

Forcing section 8 housing and renters into areas sucks! The loosers are always the quite, peaceful, law abbiding as they watch their community taken over by thugs. Our townhouse associations homeowners are diverse in ethnic breakdown. The minority is white. We all are tired of the laws that forced section 8 into our area.
I almost did not post this and I may regret it later.

Zarqawi BLOWN UP – Again

“Today Zarqawi was defeated,” said the Iraqi PM, Nouri al-Maliki.

Statement from US Forces:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Coalition Forces killed al-Qaida terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and one of his key lieutenants, spiritual advisor Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, yesterday, June 7, at 6:15 p.m. in an air strike against an identified, isolated safe house.

Tony Blair is Happy

Oil fell 1.7% to below $US70 for the first time in two weeks today after the death of the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A few weeks ago, U.S. military leaders were laughing at Zarqawi as a leader since one of his lieutenants had to clear a jam in his weapons system. Now, a severe blow has been dealt to the insurgency.  Was he a threat or not?

In today’s CNN article and see how he’s using this as a tool for Iraq damage control.

Then again MSNBC reported off the AP wire on March 4, 2004 that:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in the Sulaimaniyah mountains of northern Iraq “during the American bombing there,” according to a statement circulated in Fallujah this week and signed by the “Leadership of the Allahu Akbar Mujahedeen.”

What the heck I do not believe everything I read anyway.

A Constitutional Amendment to Discriminate – Gay Marraige

President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Frist are once again using their diversion tactics. Lets’s not talk about their tax cuts for the “super-rich”; ending the war in Iraq and returning Americans soldiers from harm’s way and immigration problems. No with the “gay marriage amendment” they can divide and conquer. Pick and emphsize issues that divide and inflame the American Public.

Bush: “When judges insist on imposing their arbitrary will on the people, the only alternative left to the people is an amendment to the Constitution: the only law a court cannot overturn,” Wow since when did the president become interested in the Constitution as law? This no-gay-marriage amendment proposal’s timing seemed pretty suspect given the president’s current approval ratings.

This would be the first amendment written in our constitution that actively discriminates against a certain group of people.

“How many people in America truly feel threatened by gay people in committed relationships asking for equality when it comes to inheritance rights; taxes; being able to have access and make healthcare decisions if their partners are hospitalized; social security benefits; adoption rights: etc? If they were trying to do the same thing to blacks or latinos or taking us back in time 50 years and barring inter-racial marriages again — would America be standing passively by? I doubt it — This will simply be another part George Bush’s legacy as a failed leader who wants to constitutionalize discrimination and hatred and say that God told him too — what a shameful disgrace for all people who believe in God — which includes many gay people.”

Gay people are not out to get special rights they want equal rights.

A Tale of Annie’s Tail

Saturday Catfish and Annie dogs participated in our third annual WOOF walk at the Elk Grove Park. It was an easy walk with more than 200 other registered participants. My labrador retriever Annie is 1 1/2 years old. Catfish is three. Annie still gets very excited when around lots of other canines. She has a very active tail.

When we got home everybody was tired. The dogs went to their beds and zonked out. Later on in the evening I noticed that Annie was acting strange. Not as active as usual and she whinned a little bit once and a while as she does when she wants a toy that is beyond her reach or stuck under something. I searched for any stuck toys and found none. I assumed she was just tired as this was our first long walk of the year and she went back to sleep.

Later on, after non emergency hours are over at our veteranary, she woke up and acted as if she was in pain. I worried that perhaps her hips of legs were sore. Finding nothing I just kept an eye on her. Then came the big augh hah! Oh my, her tail is hanging down kind of limp like a stuffed toys. About 3 inches down it had a strange looking bend in it and then it just hung down.

We all start trying to think of how she could have hurt herself, was her tail broken? Was something else causing this? She had not had any scruffles, bumps, or any other incidents. I checked her tail and yep she let me know that hurt and leave my tail alone please.

This is now where all humans in the household panic thinking she has broken her tail, load her up into the car and drive to the vet. Convinced that somehow she had broken her tail and feeling guilty that this could happen without us having a clue. Finally we get to the vet, sign in, tell our tale of the tail and wait.

One hundred and twenty six dollars (after hour emergency fees and medicine) later we now know that a dog can sprain it’s tail. Similar to someone waving on a float all day and awakening with a sore arm. Yep, a sprained tail! There are a few names for this: Cold water tail and limber tail are the most commonly used. It is supposably a common occurance in sporting dogs but I had never heard of it before.
So, now you know, I took my dog to the emergency vet clinic for a sprained tail and Annie is on anti-inflammatory drugs for a few days.
Info on cold water/limber tail syndrome can be found here at the Labrador Retriever Club, Inc. site.