Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Holidays

I thoroughly enjoy Fredericksburg's downtown all year, but especially during the holidays. Over the years, Caroline Street has seen changes.

Over the years, the trees lining Caroline, bereft of leaves, were adorned with white lights for the holiday season. You could stand at one end of Caroline, after sunset and see the entire length of the street beautifully lit.

Two years ago, the white lights came down and in their place, large white stars were placed in the trees. Caroline Street, while still quaint, just didn't have the same seasonal feel or appeal to it.

This year finds all of the white lights and stars gone. In their stead are period type lampposts; not just on Caroline, but William Street as well. They are adorned with green garland and white lights wrapped around the length of the posts and red bows at the top. They are nice but, to my eye, somehow lacking in aesthetic holiday appeal.

I will continue to wander downtown and patronize the shops and eateries. I just won't feel the same sense of holiday awe and wonder as in years past.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

OWS 2

As the movement has progressed, there are more and more stories of the Occupy Wall Street protesters attacking journalists, trashing businesses, harassing people and generally doing more harm than good for their cause.

The OWS movement has morphed into a protest I have little sympathy for. No one seems to have learned that you make a more powerful statement with peaceful resistance than with violence and anarchy. Ghandi knew this, as did civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King. You certainly don't earn the public's support or sympathy by creating problems for the residents and business owners in and around you. OWS protesters have one right guaranteed and one right only...the right to protest. Food, water, toilets; no where in the U.S. Constitution are those basic needs (desires) guaranteed.

At the same time, Police forces across the country are marching, fascist like on the orders of local leaders, through the protesters; more often than not, brutally attacking protesters, under the guises of "keeping the peace," "public safety" and "enforcing the law." All of which are, basically bullshit. These are excuses which officials use in their attempts to keep Americans subdued and in line.

I readily admit, I do not like, nor do I have any respect for 99.9% of law enforcement. They are nothing more than sanctioned heavily armed bullies and thugs who, for the most part, wholeheartedly believe they are above any and all accountability. Take for example the OccupyCal protest at UC Berkeley. Cops hiding their badge numbers in order to prevent identification for cracking the heads of protesters. I can now officially add the term "chickenshits" to my list of LEO descriptors.

The violence local law enforcement is heaping on its citizens is nothing short of assault and battery. Yet, because they are cops, they get away with their brutality. The beatings, the pepper spray, the tear gas. Citizens who dare to fight back are charged with Obstruction of Justice, Failure to Disperse or as they're commonly known..."Contempt of Cop."

Americans at some point will decide enough is enough and will fight back. The only question is when? When will 500 chickenshit riot cops come face to face with 500 like armed citizens, who have had their fill of law enforcements brutality and respond in kind? It may not be that far off.