$50,000 Reward for Missing Explosives

In a breaking story from CNN, the ATF reports they have found that there are 550 pounds of explosives missing in New Mexico. Federal authorities have “upped the ante” in locating these “missing explosives” by offering a $50,000 reward for information about the explosives, which were reported “missing” from a business near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Reportedly taken from the business, which is “licensed to store” them, were 400 lbs. of high explosives, and 150 pounds of plastic explosives, said a spokesman for the ATF. The stolen explosives, which were discovered on Sunday night, consisted of “detonators, commercial explosives, sheet explosives, prima cord and shock tubes, he said”. Quite a score I must add!

Governor Richardson wrote a statement that state agencies have been alerted to report any suspicious activity, adding that “it is my understanding that the explosives were stolen from a private magazine.” And, “there is no specific threat”. Comforting eh?

A terrorism expert from Rand Corp, Brian Jenkins, said “such thefts are common, with 1990s figures showing more than 100 such incidents each year”. Hundreds of bombings occur every year, and most have nothing to do with terrorism, said Jenkins. “Most have to do with insurance fraud, organized crime, personal vendettas, extortion, revenge, vandalism and protest.” Comforting eh?

Downplaying this scary material is about all officials can do, I understand from a PR standpoint, while they conduct investigations. But, I do hope the $50K that has been put up as a reward for info leading to the capture of these felons, is an indicator of how badly our law enforcement agencies are working to take the explosives out of the hands of crazies, organized crime, and of course terrorists like I said “crazies”. Just a stick will bring down an airliner with hundreds of innocent men, women, and children – wipe out a Greyhound – take out a small restaurant. Just use your imagination. The sheer amount and quality of the ordnance is enough to make one shudder if you’ve ever seen this stuff at work. Go get ‘em ATF!

Make Sure They’re Not Strapped

I was invited to play cards by an old college friend recently. It seemed like a great opportunity to re-acquaint myself with a couple of old chums who would also be attending. I assumed it would be your normal Friday night poker game with lots of suds, smoking, funny stories and horselaughs. He wrote the unit number of the condo owner, who was hosting the weekly game at his place, on the back of his business card which I promptly stuck in my wallet.

Friday came a few days later, so after showering and throwing on some fresh clothes, I jumped in my car and headed over the bridge to the card game. The parking lot for the condos was dimly lit and there were a “cluster” of cars to the left and down at the end. I swung the car around and headed that way. It turned out that all of the cars were in front of the last, of several buildings. I checked the building and saw that it was my destination. I parked the car and headed up the stairwell of the building and went to the third (and top) level. Reaching unit “3C”, I knocked on the door and was greeted by a burly dude wearing sunglasses and a suit?! He asked me who invited me, and nodded slightly as I mentioned my friend’s name, then – “OK sir, assume the position”. “What the hell is going on here”? I was told that I had to be “checked out” before I could enter. I was at first relieved to find out that I wasn’t being hauled into the police station for going to play cards, but a little befuddled by this large man’s cool behavior.

I looked over his shoulder a bit to see what I could, and my pal who had invited me, locked eyes with me at that moment and came up quickly. He told the man at the door “he’s with me, he’s my guest”. He was answered curtly by the door man who told him “then you must know the rules right”? He then told me to raise my arms to be “checked out” or he would not allow me to pass. Taking his word for it, and seeing the helpless expression on my buddy’s face, I just said “go ahead man”.

This guy whipped out a small, thin, black, plastic box that looked sort of like a pocket calculator. He swept it lightly over my body, pretty thoroughly then broke out in a big smile and said “welcome sir, please come in, we’re happy to have you with us tonight”. What a night to day scenario – one minute I didn’t know if I was going to be pitched off the balcony, and the next – I’m a VIP! Very cool….not!

Of course loving all gadgetry, I had to ask the door man to show me his little black box. He handed it to me and I was amazed. It was a “micro version” of a hand held metal scanner, like the large “paddle” types used in airports and courthouses, not some piece of junk. It was a Garrett Enforcer metal scanner, a respected company who supplies the best metal scanners made. It was very cool and when I questioned him about it, he simply told me that they liked “clean play and clean players”. The quip was lost on me. After chatting with my friend, who introduced me around to everyone (my other school friends didn’t show), I grabbed a can of Cola and sat in on some blackjack. While playing a few hands, I noticed that the players were all strangers to me, and I live in a pretty small town!

Paranoia started building about where I was, what I was doing and who the other players might be! Were they thugs, working guys, doctors, lawyers, cops – who knows? I had a bad case of the FEAR working inside me now and despite the cajoling of my pal and his card playing cronies, I split from that condo as fast as my soda was gone. I had broke a whole $50 bill into $5 chips, and while hastily checking out, I saw I had made a tidy $15 for my time and effort. I made the decision after wheeling out of that parking lot and that “horrible” card party, that my gambling days were at an official end. I stopped at a local burger joint and grabbed a sack of burgers for the family with my “ill-gotten gains” and came home to relax, and let my blood pressure drop about 20 points. My wife asked me if I enjoyed myself, and seeing my old chums. I told her about my episode and added, “with friends like that – who needs enemies”!

Hidden Cameras?

We have all seen the stories on the TV or in newspapers, involving the mental, and brutal, physical abuse that precious little children have endured at the hands of their demented nannies. Some are babies, others are toddlers, but what hurts so deeply is the knowledge of their innocence and their loving dependence on their parents or babysitter. I have seen babies slapped in the face repeatedly, shaken, and called filthy names by their screaming babysitters. It is indeed horrifying to imagine your child being pummeled, and abused by a trusted babysitter, right under your nose. Such people are the worst sort of criminal.

So how can a tandem of working parents, who decide to entrust their toddler to a babysitter, really know if this person is trustworthy and providing the quality care that they expect? Hidden cameras are a surefire method of watching every detail of your babysitter’s behavior with your child and don’t miss a thing. They are a little pricey, with good models running $200 to $800 for a high quality, wireless, hidden camera. These are among items that you get what you pay for, a simple black and white would be on the lower end of the price spectrum, but a good color mode camera with night/low-light capability would be at the upper end.

Also known as a “nanny cam”, the price is very low compared to the damage that a babysitter could inflict on an infant or small child. The effects of such brutal treatment, as described above, is the of the type that shows up as the child matures and begins displaying unexplained, errant behavior patterns.

If your choice is to work and have an “in house” caregiver for your child, you might want to invest in one of these. There are many available, already concealed in common household items, such as a clock radio with hidden camera inside. The technology is not new and the quality is now very good, so there’s no reason to be without one, just to be sure.

They are very effective for seeing what’s going on at home when you’re not there with your family, or if you have teenagers and you suspect they might be misbehaving. Stop wondering and check them out. A nanny cam doesn’t have to be used solely for checking up on a nanny. They can give you a lot of information that you really might want to know!

Personal Alarms Offer More Than Ever!

Over the course of many years, I have been dabbling in self defense. Self defense comes in many forms. A person could dedicate a couple of years to religious training at a decent karate school and equip themselves with some formidable skills.

Another might take a few classes of H2H combat in boot camp and honestly believe they can “take out” anybody with the “moves” they learned in classes. Sadly, I sat in the dojo interviewing a “disturbed” individual who wanted to sign up for classes in our dojo (training hall). He belabored me with his “certain death” techniques, such as, striking someone in the throat. Another, was sneaking up behind them, and choking the opponent to death. The third, and most interesting to me on a purely psychological basis, entailed a technique who’s name I’ve long since forgotten. To send the opposition immediately to the “other side”, one sneaks up behind the opponent, reaches from behind, and cups their mouth while thrusting a thin dagger into the brain from the rear. Wild eyed, he assured me, while salivating generously over his twisted visage, that this was the “best one” and he’d show it to me if I didn’t believe him. Needless to say, I was more shocked that this guy was allowed to walk on the same streets as my family – a real felony waiting to happen. He never showed up with his class fees the next night for class, and I figured we were better off for having “known” him.

I also review a lot of self defense products and make quite a few recommendations to men, women, and parents regarding the use of various devices, like steel batons to act as weapons, painful, but non-lethal crime deterrents like Mace pepper gel, and benign crime deterrents such as personal alarms which draw attention to a bad situation. Which one is best? Well, all of them or none, it just depends on the person and the situations that are described to me, as to what I might suggest. I wouldn’t recommend pepper spray or a personal alarm to any of my higher ranking Black Belts, since they can already administer a lot more pain, and even do it incrementally, until the attacker/s ceases his assault.

Usually, I find myself offering one or more of a selection of personal alarms that are on the market. They are all very loud, (some alarms have flashing strobe lights) and achieve their purpose easily. That is to draw attention to the situation, while at the same time, rattling the attacker by introducing a lot of light and sound to the equation. Muggers, rapists, or burglars prefer silence and darkness to a screaming victim, equipped with a loud flashing alarm, to engage in their dastardly crimes. The sudden introduction of sirens and flashing lights flips a “flight” switch in their mind, which is programmed to flee at these sounds which are associated with the police and incarceration.

A decent alarm, and a good, strong, pepper spray make a very nice combination. The sound and light momentarily shock the assailant, while you quickly reach into your pocket and come up with a canister of pepper spray and totally soak their mouth, nose, and eyes in OC pepper. That hurts just typing it!!

These tiny yet powerful alarms come equipped with attachments that my be used as window or door knob alarms. Parents are using them to keep unruly children in their rooms at night while they sleep, and now entire medical staffs are being equipped with them, affording them instant recognition by their co-workers if something gets out of hand, and assistance is needed. Starting at under $10 and topping off at around $20, these little devices have a lot to offer and would make a wonderful gift for a wife, daughter, or girlfriend. That’s a lot to offer for a $10 spot!

California Supreme Court Says “No” to Tookie

California’s Supreme Court found no compelling reason to stop the execution of convicted murderer Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the founder of the “Crips” street gang.

“Williams’ attorney, Jonathan Harris, told CNN he was disappointed by the court’s 4-2 decision.” Well, after a quadruple homicide conviction, what do you expect? And that’s just counting the murders they could pin on this killer, and put him away for quickly. I’m sure if you were a fly on the inside of Tookie’s head; 1. you’d feel like the only person seated in the Astrodome and 2. you’d recall all of the crime and murders Tookie really committed.

Tookie’s attorney J. Harris plans to make a convincing case before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or his staff on December 8, 2005 at a clemency hearing, to commute Tookie Williams’ death sentence to “life in prison without parole”. You see Tookie Williams didn’t start the criminal empire known as the “Crips” because he was stupid, he saw the opportunity to assemble unemployed, disenfranchised, black, inner city youth, into a lucrative full time organized crime family, with chapters stretching to every large city in our country. Drug procurement, processing labs, and a massive national distribution chain of “Crips” (the idiots in the blue dew rags and blue checkered flannel shirts) made the “Crips” major players in the sale of illicit drugs. Contract killings, retaliatory killings, and drive-by shootings were also the norm for “Tookie” and his homeys in turf wars between rival gangs, over the lucrative sections of the city, where illicit drugs were sold on street corners by droves of young gang-bangers. Street by street, block by block, the notorious “Crips” warred against other factions, and as often as not, carved out more and more turf, to distribute crack, cocaine, and heroin.

The Rub

Like many convicts, Stanley “Tookie” Williams became an anti-gang crusader while on Death Row, a court spokeswoman said. Foxhole religion, or smart like a fox? Your call. I can hear the ACLU’s legal aides taping emotional black women, sobbing “he’s helped so many children”, “look how Tookie saved my BABY” (BABY’s Crip name is “One Time” because he only tells you what to do one time – then he pulls the trigger), “he’ll do more good alive than he would if he were executed”, and so on. Fact of the matter is Stanley Williams is a cold blooded murderer, and was convicted by a jury of his peers, of killing at least four human beings; one child, the child’s mother and father, and a 17 year old store clerk. To recap, that’s: 1.) baby 2.) woman 3.) teenager 4.) woman and child’s dad. That’s just what he got nailed for, and not what he’s really guilty of, and was never charged or connected to. I believe his role as founder and leader of the “Crips” is a mandatory life sentence under the Ricco Statutes, but don’t quote me on that. You deserve every inch of rope you get home boy!

Governor Arnold “I’ll Be Back” Schwarzenegger, or a Federal Court may still intervene to stop the execution of Williams, who would turn 52 December 29. Happy birthday Tookie, glad you’re not here. Read the entire story at CNN.com