We need as a nation to wholeheartedly support our troops. This means more than a simple status update on Veteran’s and Memorial day. It means more than even thanking one of them personally or donating to a veteran’s group. We must take the time to sit down with them and listen to what they have to say about not just such occasions as these holidays, but their thoughts on life and war in general. Each has a unique perspective and their own story to tell, and each one can easily think of the sacrifices they have made.

At the very least we owe it to these people to give deep consideration to their sacrifices and how they have impacted not just those who serve, but the people around them. We must do more than stand and applaud, than just offer our words. We must open our minds and hearts to these people. They have a lot to say about the subject and given that they know firsthand, we need to listen and take into great consideration what they have to say. A quick search of Google and YouTube on the subject of veterans and war is a great place to start, but asking them personally would be even better.

Why should we thank and support our veterans? There are three reasons, at the least, for doing so.

• These people have made sacrifices with every intention of protecting the world we live in while giving us the opportunity to enjoy liberty.
• Aggression will always exist and we must have those who stand ready to defend against it.
• War is hell, and no one comes back from it the same.

Anyone that endures this should be thanked, especially if they voluntarily chose this.

There are those who want to politicize this though. To politicize something is to trivialize it, to selfishly use others for your own personal gain. This is the ultimate slap in the face to those who have served and will serve.

Politicizing is for those who seek to manipulate and destroy the fabric of our society, it dehumanizes the reality of what we face as a nation. We must strive to ensure that when we celebrate our veterans and mourn the fallen, we keep in mind why they made those sacrifices. We must ensure that no one suffers needlessly. We must remain vigilant against those who would put our veterans in harm’s way without just cause, that our constitution which our veterans defend is upheld in all aspects and at every turn. Even greater that we keep in mind the wishes of those who founded this country, who knew that the best way to ensure our freedom is to stand tall and strong while keeping a watchful eye on others, striking only when we are personally attacked, in a manner that ensures the least amount of suffering on our part and the least amount of intervention in the affairs of others, to treat nations as we would have them treat us.

Supporting our troops is something each and every one of us must do. Perhaps the best way to do this is to spend a lot less money on cruise missiles and such; and put a lot more resources and attention towards ensuring that our veterans are given the best care possible, and that they are not put under the strain of war unless it is absolutely necessary to do so.

Let’s thank our veterans and support them by getting involved on a deeper level, by defending them through putting better leaders in office. To not stand up and fight on behalf of our veterans against illegal wars, corrupt politicians and poor medical treatment of those who have served on our behalf, that would simply not be patriotic.

Jake Gyllenhaal, known for his roles in Donnie Dark and Jarhead among many other movies plays officer Brian Taylor and along with Michael Pena as his partner and close friend, officer Mike Zavala.

The two have a chemistry like no other as they make you feel the bond that exists between them and it is demonstrated again and again throughout the course of this roller coaster of a movie. The two make a comical pair with funny antics and a near constant flow of cut-up filling the gaps between a number of dramatic scenes.

As part of a film project, Taylor records every moment with both a personal video camera along with cameras attached to both his and Zavala’s uniforms, much to the disdain of many other officers. This provides for a movie centered almost entirely around these two with the exception of a few cuts from cameras being used by gang and cartel members.

The premise of the movie is that Taylor and Zavala arrest a member of a Mexican drug cartel during a traffic stop and also find money and guns. Upon further investigation they end up being marked for assassination as they disrupt the cartel’s activities.

From the writer of Training Day, this movie will send you to the edge with comedy, violence, drama and even despair as you ride along with the boys in blue. Like no other, you will constantly be wondering what happens next and at times laughing heartily.

One must ask themselves though, would much of this be reality if we were not waging our very much failed war on drugs?

End of Watch is rated R and runs a solid 109 minutes. It is not for the weak of heart or stomach.

With a limited menu focusing primarily on home-style foods, the prices come at a relatively low cost even as generous portions are served.

On my first visit to this establishment after hearing rumors of a topnotch chicken fried steak I was seated near the back of the restaurant in a booth. There are a good mix of both tables and booths which is sure to provide a readily available choice of seating base on your preferences.

Upon sitting down it was immediately noticeable that a lot of effort went into ensuring an authentic look based on all of these vintage items placed on the wall and along the front of the building. Also noticeable was that the restaurant could be better lit since it was fairly dark.

Having arrived just after lunch at about 1:15 p.m. there weren’t many patrons so the service was quick. After placing an order for chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and corn, my sweet tea was delivered to the table soon after. A trend observed at many restaurants where only unsweetened tea is served, it’s nice to see a business taking the time to offer up a product that others are choosing to ignore. Unfortunately, the tea was brewed too weakly and I ultimately had to send it back in exchange for a fountain drink Big Red, also something rarely served in restaurants around town.

While I waited for my food, rolls and butter were served in a hubcap. The rolls were great however the butter served along with it was so-so.

The food arrived roughly 15 minutes after placing the order. The corn was good, the mashed potatoes creamy with a tasty white gravy, and a well-cooked chicken fried steak that was among the best in town, but could have used a better prepared and seasoned breading. Also to my surprise was a small slice of watermelon served along with the order.

My waiter’s name was Doug, and unlike many other waiters, he was very personable and good at his job, making sure to ask about the quality of the food not before I had begun to eat, but soon after I had actually had the chance to taste it.

When the check arrived the total came to about $11 for a generous portion of food and a drink; chicken fried steak was one of the more expensive items on the menu.

Before leaving I inquired about beer prices. They do not serve draft beer, only bottles. Domestic is $3.25 and import is $3.75, and yes, Shiner is considered an import.

Overall a great restaurant which will see more of my business. Next on the agenda to try are their variety of cheeseburgers.

Jake’s Texas Tea House is located at 613 Austin Ave Waco, TX 76701.

The election system has been intrinsically designed to limit participation from the get go. The first election laws only permitted landowners to vote, which society worked to establish as white males, though this was not always the case. After this it was all white males with a poll tax to keep those with lower incomes from voting, followed by minority males gaining the right to vote with both poll taxes and literacy tests, which were highly discriminatory. After this women gained the right to vote, with poll taxes and literacy tests being completely abolished in 1966.

After a time, these restrictions were no longer needed as those who used the power of government to make themselves very well off, the banks, major corporations such as railroads, steel, oil, munition manufacturers, etc found new ways to ensure favorable politicians got elected.

All throughout the history of our country it has been shown time and time again that most elections are bought, bankrolled by the most well off. Third party and independent candidates have been discriminated against, often having to meet near impossible ballot requirements, and almost always ignored by the established media, which is controlled by people who have a keen interest in having favorable politicians in power. Political parties do not want competition and they legislate in such a way that reduces the opportunities for other parties and independent candidates to be successful. It is a vicious cycle where only two candidates are presented to the voters, with outsiders having little to no chance because of this, often not because voters don’t agree with them, but because they have so little notoriety. It should be noted that traditionally those who have been in power, regardless of their party affiliation, serve the already wealthy special interests.

In the early days of our country, right up through and into the 1900′s, people kept focus on their local politicians, as these were the people who impacted their lives the most. With the 20th century though, focus was shifted to the national level as the federal government began to massively increase in size and power. By the 1930′s the country was well on its way to becoming a one-party system, further solidifying the stranglehold on political seats of power by the well to do. During the later part of the 20th century the Republican Party would rise again, but history shows us that in policy, they would be very similar to the Democrats, using wedge issues to keep people focused on the differences and keep their minds off of the striking similarities, that being both parties were largely in bed with special interests whose aim was to keep their perch atop the economic system. Local politicians are still very important, more important than national politicians, but everyone’s attention is stuck at the national level where by design, nothing good is usually done.

As people voted every presidential election year, and a smaller fraction voted in every congressional election year, they began to lose faith as it seemed no matter who was elected, nothing was changing for the better. Why vote if it did nothing to help the situation? So people began to turn away.

Some current voting statistics “estimated”
Total voter eligible population: 217,000,000
Total voters registered: 187,000,000
Total voter turnout in 2008: 132,000,000
Total voter turnout in 2010: 91,000,000
Total population of the US: 311,000,000

Roughly 70% of the population is eligible to vote, and of those eligible 86% are registered. For 2008 there was a turnout of 61% of eligible voters, and in 2010 it dropped to 42%. Most races are won with only 51%-60% of the total vote, meaning that out of all the total eligible voters, only 25%-30% of people are choosing the people that represent us, and this is just the tip of the iceberg considering that a MUCH smaller amount of people choose the candidates to be voted on during the primaries, so consider that the choices you get on election day are the result of 5%-10% of the population, if that. This doesn’t even take into consideration the complexity of the presidential primary system.

It all seems very overwhelming doesn’t it? The system is complex by design so that people will become easily frustrated and choose not to participate, whether partially or fully. It also doesn’t help that these processes are either not taught in high school, or are poorly covered.

The good news is that after looking at the math, you begin to realize that even a small number of voters could vastly effect the outcomes of elections considering that so few participate as it is. What does it require though?

Most people who run for office do it for one of two reasons, they either want to get their foot in the door in order to benefit themselves and those who back them, or they want to genuinely fix the problems we face. The problem is that usually those that are in it for themselves and the well-connected are well off enough to devote the time and money needed to win and have the backing of most media, while those who are genuine in their attempts are dismissed for lack of funding, volunteers, and media coverage. No one wants to waste a vote while they chase the lesser of two evils game, largely demonstrated by a dog chasing its tail. How’s that working out for us?

This all means that we have to make sacrifices if we want better politicians and better government. The current way of doing things is clearly not helping us at all where people go and vote once every two or four years. What good is this when at that point there aren’t any good choices to vote for, or when there is, hardly anyone was around at the beginning of the campaign to help bolster them so now they are perceived as having no chance of winning, furthering the wasted vote syndrome, which could be mitigated by a new election system such as approval voting, but that is another matter.

What are the sacrifices? First of all we need to realize where our votes will have the most impact, and that is on the local level. Local level officials have far more impact on your life than anyone else, and in order to make things happen at the national level, there must be a massive groundswell at the local.

Taking the time to learn about local candidates is a must, and this has to be done several months in advance of the primaries. Many races are uncontested, so if there isn’t a good candidate going into the primaries, search for one and if you have a notion to run yourself, go for it. Contact your local party or opt for an independent bid. Parties other than Democrats and Republicans, such as the Libertarian and Green Parties, likely will not hold a primary but instead a convention, which happens after the primaries have ended. Typically you can only vote in one party’s primary or convention.

Finding local candidates can be difficult. The easiest place to begin is a search engine. Look up all of the positions in your area and search for candidates who are running to fill those positions. This is time consuming and boring, but it has to be done. Go to local political events and keep an eye out for candidates. If they’re serious about their campaign, they’ll be there to introduce themselves to people. You can also contact local political parties and ask them for information about the candidates they currently have running. Find someone to support, even if it’s for dog catcher.

The most important part is getting some sort of footing and getting yourself acquainted with the local political process. Keep in mind that no one is going to agree entirely with you, and that while they may agree with you politically, they may disagree personally, and that is perfectly acceptable. Keep this in perspective and don’t let perfect get in the way of good.

Once you have learned about the candidates and have found some worth supporting, you must do two things:

First, a monetary donation to the campaign is a must. About 92% of all elections are won by the candidate that spends the most money. Money is needed so that the campaign is able to spread information about the candidate. Without this, the campaign will not be effective. A small campaign looking to be competitive is going to need to spend at least $5,000 in order to be effective.

Many will say that they are simply unable to afford donating to a campaign, but let’s be real with ourselves; twenty dollars is not much in the grand scheme of things. Remember that sacrifice we talked about? Is a better government not worth the twenty dollars that you could save by not going out to eat that one night?

Secondly, you have to donate some of your time to helping spread awareness about these candidates. There are a variety of ways to do this, simply get in contact with the campaign and ask them what options are available for you to help with. They will be able to find a way for you to contribute in a meaningful way that is easiest for you. Volunteering may seem like a daunting and scary prospect, but it isn’t as bad as it seems, and can lead to you making new acquaintances and finding new opportunities. Without volunteers a campaign is going to struggle mightily. The more people that are involved, the better the workload is distributed, the more effective the campaign can be and the less stressed people will be.

Most of the time spent volunteering will be the first few months before the election, but there is always a need for volunteers during the entire time a campaign is active.

Some things that you can do are hand out information pamphlets, distribute door hangers, talk to friends and family, make phone calls on behalf of the campaign, write to the local papers, show up to political events with signs supporting your candidate, and just be realistic about what you can and cannot do. Ideally the campaign you are volunteering for should have options for you that will be tailored to the campaign’s unique circumstances, but don’t ever be afraid to suggest ideas.

Once election time rolls around, vote early and urge everyone else to do the same. If possible, organize groups of people to go and vote together, you’ll enjoy the experience a lot more that way. Don’t wait until election day. Once you’re in that booth, vote your conscience, and whatever happens, happens. Keep in mind that success does not come overnight and that everything you have done is building towards something greater. Big things have small beginnings.

Don’t be discouraged if the outcomes aren’t to your liking, there will be a next time. Should your politician be elected though, keep their feet to the fire. Stay up to date with what they are doing and if they’re getting something wrong, call or write them and let them know, and whatever you do, make it clear that they must earn your vote every time. If they know that you will vote for them regardless of what they do, they will never improve. Don’t waste your time on a politician that isn’t going to be of use though, even if you originally supported them. We’ve all voted for someone that eventually turned out to be different than we thought they were. Save your time for someone who will be effective and will work on behalf of those that elect them.

Not voting is one of the worst things you can do, second only to an uninformed vote.

Aside from voting, attending local hearings such as city council, water board, county meetings, advisory committees, and anything else that is posted is the best way to keep a handle on your local government. Go and listen to what is going on in your area, speak out on a subject if it needs to be raised or further elaborated on. Use the contacts you make while working with local campaigns to help keep a network established for the sharing of local information and coordination of action.

This takes a lot of time, energy, money, and dedication, much like anything else worth achieving. This is what is required for good politicians and good government to prevail. Is it worth it to you?

By: Stephen Carter
Stephen@iCarter.com

After heading back from a campaign meeting today, my buddy Denton and I stopped in at Subway in Robinson. I ordered the Chicken and Bacon Ranch 6 inch sub on Italian Herbs and Cheese. My stomach was growling so as soon as we got back on the road I immediately opened it up and started eating. It was during a pause in eating to have a conversation that I realized something was odd about my sandwich.

I had eaten almost half of it, and had tried to take a bite several times before stopping to respond to what at the time was an important conversation, but oddly enough I now cannot remember it. I noticed something odd sitting at the edge where I was about to bite into so I grabbed it with my fingers and started to examine it when all of a sudden we both realized what it was, a dead fly covered in some ranch dressing. Good thing we were having such a great conversation.

Denton looked at me and pretty much knew what was about to happen. We had just arrived at his house when I said I’m going back, so he grinned and hopped out of the truck, telling me he hoped that it went well, and perhaps I’ll even get a blog entry out of it. I still had the fly by its wing in between two of my fingers, so I turned around and drove back down the road to Subway.

I walked inside and up to the counter, there were a few customers in line, only one person working. I set down the unwrapped sandwich and bag and calmly waited to be acknowledged. Some of the other customers gave me a few peculiar looks, seemingly waiting for me to make a scene. When the girl working there looked up at me she asked if I had forgotten something, I told her no. She asked if there was something wrong with the sandwich, and I calmly replied, yes there is.

She finished the sandwich she was working on and then came over to me to inquire about what was wrong. I held the fly up and said that I had found it in the sandwich. She looked at it for a moment and I moved it closer to her face by a bit. She remarked that it was gross, and I agreed.

So what did they do to make the situation right? I had to wait a good 15 minutes while she finished a very large order that she was already working on and because no one else was there, but ultimately I walked out with my money back, which was $5.41 and a new foot long sub instead of the original 6 inch as well as a drink and bag of chips. She apologized and was very nice about the whole thing, I was thankful that she handled it so well.

I could have walked back in there angry, upset, and could have been extremely rude to her and made a scene, and I likely would have gotten the same result, only I would have been an asshole and would have made that girl’s day miserable. In fact, had someone acted in such a way, they would have deserved the minimum, a replacement sandwich or their money back. There’s two sides to this equation, both the customer and the business, and there’s no need for rudeness on either side. The person on the other side is just another person as well, and mistakes get made.

While Subway does at times rub me the wrong way with the somewhat lack of quantity of meat and cheese in their sandwiches, it’s good to know that a business can admit wrong doing and make things right without a hassle. I’ll be contacting Subway to commend Mary for the outstanding service she provided me today. In fact I encourage everyone to follow up when things like this happen, good or bad, and either hold people accountable or help those who helped you.

As an avid fiction reader, surprisingly the first book I ever read by Grisham happens to be his only work of non-fiction. He tells a good story and really helps you to develop a mental image of what’s going on. My biggest gripe is that at times he was a bit too detail oriented, but this could be because he wanted to get all of the details in order to paint an accurate picture of what happened. His other novels may not have the same overuse of details. I’ll know for sure once I move on to one of his works of fiction, which at this point I am undecided where to start.

The story begins with the small town of Ida, Oklahoma where a local woman in her 20′s is brutally raped and murdered in her apartment. Rumors begin to fly and as people are questioned about their whereabouts the night of the murder, one man who was identified as having been the last person seen with the woman gives police the name of another local man who has his own history of issues and run-ins with the police.

Police investigators eager to produce results from the case then turn their focus towards Ron Williamson, a local man who briefly played for the Yankees but due to his mental instability is unable to hang onto the job and ends up turning to alcohol and other drugs. Convinced that the murder was a two person job, the police also set their sights on Ron’s friend, Dennis Fritz.

After talking to both men, who were detained and questioned for upwards of 10 hours using police tactics including lying and intimidation, breaking the men to the point where one of them finally gives in and “admits” to having a dream about the murder, which police then take as evidence of them having committed the crime. The only problem is that they have absolutely no physical evidence linking the two to the crime, with everything pointing towards the involvement of someone else.

It takes five years, but eventually both men are charged with rape and murder. Spending upwards of a year and a half in the county jail awaiting trial, the prosecution builds a case using junk science and jailhouse snitches looking for reduced sentences that can’t even keep their story straight. Between police intimidation, poor investigative work, flat out lies, prosecution misconduct, improper trials, and a host of other things, both men are ultimately convicted. Dennis receives life in prison while Ron gets the death penalty.

It isn’t until eleven years later after an endless rejection of appeals that someone takes notice of their case and the injustices committed. Ultimately the two would go on to be proven innocent via DNA testing, at which point the same prosecutor is still unable to account for his misconduct and vows to prove the two men are guilty. It comes to a bittersweet end as both struggle to pull their lives back together, never receiving so much as an apology after being released.

If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.

Read the first chapter here http://www.jgrisham.com/the-innocent-man-excerpt/

I’ve been thinking about this subject here recently and an article I just saw about the new Playstation supposedly coming out around the holidays of 2013 has got me ticked. Now while at this point it is just hearsay, I don’t doubt that it’s true. According to alleged inside information, the newly dubbed “Orbis” will have a feature to prevent people from playing used games by tying them to a user account. It is also alleged that the new system will not be backwards compatible with the PS3 games.

Paying $60 a game is already a bit much considering the half ass job they do on games these days. It used to be that you got a game with full content and then you got the chance to buy additional content. Now you have to buy a game and instead of purchasing additional content, you have to pay additional money to unlock portions of the game that should have been available in the first place. Now they’re moving a lot of games online so that you have to have a good internet connection and pay a subscription in order to play the game. We’re even moving to the point where the game won’t be stored on your system so in order to play you’ll have to connect to the internet every time.

Another issue most have noticed is the dwindling effort being put into CPU opponents. In their drive to force everyone online in order to fuel subscription fees, games aren’t offering solo-players the chance to simply compete against multiple NPC’s and instead have to go online and deal with often-times headache inducing idiots. Imagine having been able to play a game such as Halo on the individual levels with up to 15 other NPC’s rather than having to organize a LAN party or play online; or even allow people to play with NPC partners through the story-line. It’s not always convenient or possible to organize a group of people or connect to the internet.

Back to the subject of not being able to play used games, apparently the system will be set up so that in order to play a used game, not only will you have to pay for a used copy, but you’ll also have to pay an activation fee in order to play the full version of the game. My heart doesn’t do much weeping for a lot of the used game dealers that charge too much for used games, but what about the gamers that can’t afford to shell out $60 for a new game? In their drive for the almighty buck they’re pretty much screwing a lot of people over by making it more costly and difficult to buy and play a game.

Don’t get me started on the new systems being non-compatible with the older systems’ games. The ability to make them compatible is there and can’t be hard to implement. It seems obvious to me that this is just another effort to make more money off of gamers by forcing them to buy all of the new games for a system instead of replaying older games on it. A lot of gamers love to revisit the good ole’ days and dig up an old favorite to play for a little while.

You’d think that the future of gaming looks bright, that better graphics and more efficient and faster gaming systems will usher in a whole new slew of technologies to improve the game play experience, including depth of story line and abilities. From where I stand that’s getting harder to see though. It seems that at this rate we’re destined to move away from console gaming completely and move to the PC platform.

Instead of focusing on designing a system that is friendly towards the user, the gaming companies have opted to design a system that chains users to a very limited setup. This means that game makers have less incentive to offer quality games and every incentive to drain every last dime they can out of a project rather than having to improvise and come up with new content. I can’t help but wonder if patents and copy-right laws, as well as laws punishing people for modding their systems are helping to stifle innovation.

It seems that with every new generation of gaming system, I get pushed further and further away. If rumors about this new system turn out to be true and other system designers opt to go the same route, I may not buy into any of them at all. It just isn’t worth an investment from me if the system designers and game makers aren’t going to put in a good faith effort as well.

The Hunger Games is the first book of a trilogy written by Suzanne Collins in 2008. The plot is based on the remains of a nation called Panem set in the future located in North America. There is a central government that essentially uses the surrounding 12 districts as resource collectors and rules them brutally under heavy guard. Most districts are very poor and many starve to death while all of their production goes to the capitol. The book takes place 74 years after an uprising by the districts that was ultimately put down by the central government. As punishment and reminder, every year at a public “reaping” each district must offer up Tributes, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in the Hunger Games, which is a fight to the death between 24 people.

I have to say, the movie stayed pretty true to the book, the exception being that it was toned down in violence it seems in order to get the PG-13 rating. There were a few changes, but they made sense in converting the book to a movie. It’s always fun to read a book before seeing the movie for it, you get to sit there and see the story unfold knowing what will be happening and noticing how far the movie strays from the book. All too often I get disappointed when seeing a book turned into a movie, but this time I enjoyed it. If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend checking it out.

The casting seemed spot on and I especially enjoyed seeing Woody Harrelson, pleasantly surprised that he was cast for the role of Haymitch. I was disappointed that he wasn’t able to act out the role that was presented in the book, given that he was a drunken comedic character and Woody is just ripe for that part. He stilled played a good part none the less. Every character I saw in the movie was pretty much what I envisioned in the book, with the exception of Cato, as I imagined him to be a lot bigger. I imagined Thresh to be a lot bigger as well, but the guy that played him was pretty good size. It seems there was a flap though by some people over the casting of characters, that a lot of people were upset that Rue and Thresh were cast as black instead of white. I don’t know how to answer that, but I had no qualms with the cast.

I can’t say exactly how, but the movie seemed a bit rushed, moving from scene to scene pretty quickly at times. I do understand that it was a long book and they were pressed for time, so it makes sense to have a fast paced movie, I just wonder if they could have cut a few scenes and developed a few others a bit better. The movie was almost two and half hours long and had they developed a few more scenes it could have stretched to three hours and would have been fine. I was hoping for a little more action, but it in a way reminded me of the first Lord of the Rings movie, which I consider to be a little slow, but fundamental in building the story. Overall I was happy with the movie.

I haven’t read the second book of the trilogy, but I plan to soon. I’m sure I’ll be looking forward to that movie as well.

One thing I do know though, and I’ve seen some people already talking about this, but this is not the new Twilight. Not by a long shot.

I first heard about the story on a local radio station. I tuned in half way through the discussion and listened to pieces of details and whether or not the guy was a murderer. The initial story I got was that an unarmed black teenager in Florida had been shot by a white neighborhood watch captain and prior to this happening, George Zimmerman the guy that shot him, had called the police to report a suspicious person and they told him to wait for the police to get there. Then the police showed up, Zimmerman claimed self defense, and then nothing happened.

Pretty limited information but from what I was hearing I was leaning towards a racist murder and an indifferent police department. I knew I needed more details before I could come to any sort of conclusion though. I’ve learned from past experiences that making assumptions about things without having clear facts about the situation has led me not only being entirely wrong, but also has made me look like a jackass. So when I got to my destination I grabbed my computer and started searching for news articles.

I found a little more information, but it was limited and vague. I did find out that Zimmerman was not white, but of mixed origin Latin/Caucasian. I also found a picture of Trayvon that had been submitted for the news organizations to use. Pictures paint a very descriptive image in our minds and help us to imagine what people might be capable of. The picture I saw was of a small, skinny football player. Of course this naturally makes me wonder how a man the size of Zimmerman could be forced use a deadly weapon on such a smaller unarmed person. Come to find out that was an older picture and Trayvon was now 17 and a good 6’3 and 140 lbs. I’m not making any declarations here, but with that in mind it makes a self-defense claim a bit more credible.

These are the facts of the case as I understand them now. He was visiting his father at the time because he was suspended from school for 10 days. It is unclear why he was suspended, one reason given was excessive absences, the other for being in an unauthorized area on school property. On 2-26-12 Trayvon was walking back from a convenience store to his father’s girlfriend’s house in a gated community. George Zimmerman, the captain of the neighborhood watch saw him and for some reason deemed him to be suspicious, so he called the police to inform them. The operator told him to wait in his vehicle and that the police were on their way. It was at this point Zimmerman got out of his vehicle, approached Trayvon, some sort of altercation ensued where we have conflicting stories of Trayvon being shot for digging in his pockets and Zimmerman shooting him after Trayvon attacked him, some reports saying that Trayvon had him on the ground. There are also various phone calls and recordings that tell conflicting stories. Then the police showed up, Zimmerman claimed self defense, the police say they found no evidence to contradict the claim, so he wasn’t arrested. There’s more to the story concerning the bringing in of federal investigators and whatnot, but that is essentially the basic story that we know at this point.

It’s entirely too early to declare support for either side. There’s still a lot of information that isn’t available and likely won’t be for a while. We can still talk about the circumstances though.

Let’s say that someone is walking through your neighborhood and for whatever reason you deem them to be suspicious. Is there anything wrong with being able to at least walk up to them and ask what they’re doing? Of course not, this is how an informed society functions. Even if you call the police, this doesn’t prevent you from walking up to someone and asking them what they’re doing. You cannot try to detain them or put your hands on them in any way though.

Now let’s switch to the other perspective. You’re walking along minding your own business as a teenager and someone approaches you and wants to know what you’re doing. It’s understandable that you’re going to be a little scared, especially if there’s no one else around. You’ve got the right to either answer their question, tell them to get lost, or just keep walking. You cannot put your hands on them though.

Now say that you approached someone to inquire about what they are doing and they decide to get aggressive with you, making threatening gestures. You still don’t have the right to assault them until they’ve at least attempted to assault you. Once they do assault you though, at what point do you have the right to use deadly force? That’s a tough question. A person can do serious harm to someone even without a weapon. Say that person has you on the ground and is kicking you, do you then have a right to shoot them? Some would say yes, some would say no. I’d lean towards saying yes, because at that point you are in serious danger. What isn’t sufficient here though is saying that you feared for your life because at any point in time a person can fear for their life, even if their life is not in jeopardy.

In this case the police were unable to find evidence to the contrary of the self defense story. Let’s take this as is and proceed from there. Regardless of color, any time an adult shoots an unarmed teenager, it deserves some serious scrutiny. Should people just automatically be arrested in such a situation? Well think about it, what if it were you and you were genuinely just defending yourself. Would you want to be automatically arrested? At what point would we have enough proof in such a situation to justify arresting someone who has claimed self defense? It’s a tough call and I don’t envy the position of a detective who must decide whether or not someone needs to be arrested. We have far too many innocent people in this country already being arrested and stripped of their rights. We should strive to never arrest an innocent person, though this is of course not possible.

The court of public opinion’s sword has pretty much already fallen on Zimmerman’s head. We’ve already got people calling for him to be put to death or imprisoned for life, all before we’ve even had a chance and the time to examine all of the information surrounding the case. This is not good for us as a society to jump to such conclusions, even if the conclusions do turn out to be correct. It is things like this that got us a war with Iraq over allegations of weapons of mass destruction that never existed. We as a society must proceed more cautiously and rationally when dealing with matters such as this.

As for the racist elements at work here. I can’t help but think this stemmed from people thinking some white guy shot some black kid and the police looked the other way. Turns out this wasn’t the case but people are still going on about racism. Had a black guy shot a white kid, we’d still have the same issue. I find it interesting though that had this been a white guy shooting a white kid and the police still acted the same way, a lot of people wouldn’t have batted an eye. It seems people in this country are trying to dig up racism anywhere they can. I ask, how can we move forward and leave racism behind when we are so apt to promote it and use it to divide people, especially by calling people racist for having an opinion different from your own? Racism won’t die until we let it die.

It very well could turn out that an over-zealous guy with an itchy trigger finger shot some innocent teenager dead and then tried to cover it up. It could turn out that when he approached the teenager that he ended up attacking him and the guy had no choice but to shoot him. Either way, I must stress that we should not rush to judgement, especially based on pure emotion.

One thing I know for sure though, is that it is sad and sickening that politicians are trying to spin this situation to their advantage. Obama’s most recent remarks about if he had a son he’d look like Trayvon Martin comes to mind. Anything to get re-elected I suppose.