LordJeb Blogs

Tonight I had the experience of a lifetime. I was able to attend the final game of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, and (more importantly) I was able to see MY team - the Pittsburgh Penguins - win the Cup.

I decided Wednesday night that I would try to get a ticket, and I was actually able to find one online through the Red Wings ticket exchange. It wasn't cheap, but I figured that this kind of opportunity doesn't come along all that often. I bought the ticket, a plane ticket, booked a hotel and a rental car, and less than 24 hours later, I was off.

I got to Detroit late Thursday night, checked into an airport near the airport, and the Friday morning I headed into downtown Detroit. I had lunch at the Hockeytown Cafe, and then walked down to Joe Louis arena. There was a party at the riverwalk next to the stadium. I hung out there for hours, listened to some bands, and watched some planes doing some racing and aerobatics over the river.

The game was MOST EXCELLENT. It was by no means a given that the Pens would win. There were some tense moments, particularly in the third period. As the buzzer sounded signaling the end of the game, there was a half-second of disbelief, and then the moment hit me!

I snapped as many pictures as I could, met some very nice Red Wings fans, and some very nice Penguins fans as well. The negative stories that I had heard about Detroit prior to coming turned out to be not true at all. Everyone I ran into during my stay was friendly, in spite of me wearing the wrong colors.

What an awesome trip! Go Penguins!

I would imagine that anyone who reads my blog is probably already aware of some of the controversy surrounding the Federal Reserve Bank. But just in case, I wanted to make a quick post and encourage everyone to look into H.R. 1207 “Audit the Federal Reserve Bank”. Give your representative a call today and encourage them to support this resolution or thank them for their support. (Almost 100 representatives have already co-sponsored this resolution.)

The Federal Bank is basically in charge of massive portions of our financial system. They control the money supply, borrow money from other countries, lend money to financial institutions, etc. And the truly scary part about this is that NOBODY OVERSEES WHAT THEY DO. They report whatever numbers they feel like, and in recent years have stopped publishing data about the money supply. Even the Congress does not hold them accountable or exercise any oversight on their actions.

The problem is, that the Constitution gives CONGRESS many these financial powers: “to borrow money on the credit of the United States . . . to coin money, regulate the value thereof.” These are powers, than even when exercised, should NOT be turned over to a third party with complete autonomy. Congress has the responsibility to make sure that these powers are used correctly and responsibly, and WE should hold THEM accountable to do so.

This semester in school, I have been taking a course titled "Foundations of American Constitutionalism." It has been a brutal course simply because of the amount of work required, but it has also been one of the best courses I have ever taken. I have learned more about the Constitution, and the thousands of years of change that let to its creation, than I was aware even existed.

Last night we had our last lecture, and as I was leaving class I was thinking about everything we had covered. I started thinking about another student who I know is an active member of a certain political party and appears to support anything they do. Which party isn't important since what I was wondering applies equally to both.

Does somebody who studies the Constitution and what the Founders thought was good and right ever question their own modern beliefs and party actions? If you're a good little party Democrat, do you ever stop and realize that the Founders didn't think government should be limited to protecting the basic natural rights such as life, liberty and property. If you're a good little Republican, do you ever stop and think that the Founders would be disgusted by all we do in the name of "national security" today?

Or do you somehow compartmentalize so that you can simultaneously believe two things that are completely incompatible? Have we come to the point where George Orwell's 1984 is true? Are many modern American's so adept at "doublethink"?

My brother is having this pretty funny blog war with his wife right now. It's pretty amusing to see all the back and forth. Who knew blogs could be such a big deal?

If you haven’t been following the news for the past few years, you probably think I’m talking about China or Russia, or some third world country. Oh would that it were so. Unfortunately, I am writing about America, supposed to be the land of liberty and of the free, and a place where the rule of law governs, rather than the rule of will.

But as you know if you follow the news, police here in the good ole USA have let power go to their heads a bit too much. I myself had an encounter with the long arm of the law recently. Before I go into the details, however, I want to lay down some background. Following are a set of articles and videos from online about police abuse of power. All of these incidents (and hundreds of others that you can find in seconds) have led me to believe that police officers cannot be trusted any more than a common thug.

My run-in with the police happened a few weeks ago at the Provo city gun range. A group of friends were there shooting and apparently some other shooters didn’t think we should be there. We explained to them that we had a key, and told them they could lock the gate on the way out since we could let ourselves out. Apparently they decided to call the police, who appeared on the scene as my brother was driving down to the front gate to let another friend in.

The first police car pulled to the side of his truck, while the second car pulled in front of him. The first officer got out and stepped to the side of the vehicle and my brother rolled the window down. (So far so good.) The second officer then gets out of his car with a shotgun, walks toward the vehicle while visibly chambering a shell. He walks to the side of the vehicle and jerks the door open to stand there menacingly. He didn’t actually point the shotgun at the occupants, but it was definitely a threatening situation.

Meanwhile, I am standing about 200 yards away watching this with the rest of our group. When the first officer got out of his car, I kind of rolled my eyes and thought, “those morons called the police but once they find out the situation they’ll leave and we’ll go back to shooting.” When the second officer gets out and pulls a shotgun, my adrenaline level shot through the roof. Now I’m thinking, “oh s**t, this moron is about to shoot my brother.” Now the real problem is that I’m standing there with a rifle wondering if I need to do something to protect my brother from a cop who seems a bit out of control.

Fortunately, the whole situation ended without any further incident. But the police officer started a huge potential escalation when he introduced force and coercion where none had previously existed. One day he will threaten somebody and that somebody will react the wrong way. The officer may end up dead, and of course the person who shoots him will probably end up dead too. Two lives will be destroyed because this guy doesn’t have any thought or communication skills.

Police officers like this need to be disciplined, and trained, but more often the reaction is to rally around the troops and pretend that nothing is wrong. That way will simply lead to more problems. Officers should also be held to the same standard as the rest of the populace – “rule of law” anyone? When an officer shoots someone they should go to prison. When they threaten to manufacture evidence they should be fired.

Chicago Police Officer Attacks Female Bartender
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49kgG0s7lVk

Baltimore cops V.S. skateboarder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GgWrV8TcUc

Fresno Police Officers Violent Arrest of a Homeless Man
http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/39403357.html?video=YHI&t=a

BART Shooting - UPDATED!!! NEW angle of the shooting!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKKQ-gzc_Yw

Brett Darrow Case: Cop Fired After Fury Against Motorist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3GlEe1kCHA

Man says Provo police beat him
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705283031,00.html