Veterans Day

Now that Veterans Day is over and many have taken down their American Flags and put away their gratefulness to our Veterans of our armed services I am wondering when the next time anybody will remember to thank a vet? I specifically waited three days after Veterans Day 2011 before I posted this for the simple reason of proving a point. I myself have never had the honor of serving and I will admit I kick myself in the ass daily for having not served.

I am wondering if anybody will think of those brave Marines who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. I wonder who will remember heros like Audie Murphy, George Patton, David Hackworth, Tony Herbert, Robert Howard, or the ones currently fighting battles in Afghanistan or even the vet who suffers from  PTSD sleeping in a cardboard box or a worn out walmart tent in the woods somewhere begging for spare change so that he can drink the horrifying memories of what he saw in battle off of his mind.

Oh yes the ones that you call "bums" because they eat from a garbage can and beg for change outside of liquor stores maybe about 20, 30 or 40 years ago were the most squared away people leaving behind their family and homes to fight for freedom an entire world away from what they were used to. But you didn't think to ask them about it did you? You didn't even think of it did you?

Yes the VA has hospitals for people to go and recuperate and get on psych meds but shouldn't a man who walked through jungles and deserts thousands of miles away from home be afforded the right to his own mind?

Anyway just remember that you are free because these brave men (and women) did a job not just two days a year but for an entire year most even more then that and a lot paid the ultimate price. Some are still fighting battles that have ended 30 years ago in their minds. Some are still fighting battles in Afghanistan today. Some will enlist to fight tomorrow as well.

I would like to personally thank every Vet on a daily basis for serving this great country of ours and fighting for our rights to either say Thank You or (unfortunately) call veterans "bums". I would hope out of the two choices you will choose the right one.

Thank you for serving and God Bless America!

Anthony Allen.
Biloxi, Ms
The Southern Conservative

Seat Belt Laws

Ok now that we are used to giving law enforcement a free reason to pull us over and fine us for something that is hard to disprove lets take a look at some things. Seatbelt tickets range anywhere from $10 to $500 and possibly higher in some places. There is a government grant giving extra money to those who specifically enforce seatbelt laws and since then two officers that I know of are up on charges for writing bogus tickets. One of which is a 22 year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department and the other is a Deputy with the St Charles Parish Sheriffs Department. Here is that story courtesy of NOLA.com.

A 22-year veteran New Orleans police officer pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of malfeasance, receiving a five-year suspended sentence for writing hundreds of phantom seat-belt violations while allegedly racking up overtime pay. Retired Officer Glenn Gross, 44, wrote 215 bogus tickets while working a special overtime shift dedicated to traffic safety and financed by a federal grant, according to police Superintendent Ronal Serpas.

Glenn Gross

In June, the department received a grant that pays for overtime for officers who enforce seat-belt laws. But instead of pulling over real people, Gross, who worked in the NOPD's information technology unit, wrote up tickets to pretend motorists, officials said.
Gross was arrested Aug. 18. He brushed past a reporter as he left the courthouse Monday. Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Camille Buras sentenced him to five-years probation.
In a statement, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office said the deal called for Gross to plead guilty and leave the force, but that probation was not part of it.
"He accepts responsibility for what he did," said his attorney, Donovan Livaccari.
Gross retired last week from the department, Livaccari said.
Just how much overtime Gross took home was uncertain. He originally was booked into Orleans Parish jail on 215 counts of injuring public records and a single count of malfeasance in office, after his arrest by the department's internal investigative unit.
At the time, Serpas said there might have been some factual shreds in the bogus tickets. But Serpas made clear that the tickets didn't link to real people or events. Investigators have been unable to find a single legitimate ticket that Gross wrote during the period.
An internal probe was launched Aug. 5. It is unclear whether other officers were involved. The overtime program was under the supervision of the NOPD's Traffic Division.
Gross was among several dozen officers who worked an off-duty paid detail for the city's embattled traffic camera review program, which has come under scrutiny and was the subject of a separate internal investigation. There is no connection between Gross's detail work and the ticket scam.
Also in August, Carol Ney, a former Harahan police officer, was sentenced in federal court to two years of probation and ordered to pay restitution for padding her payroll sheets to the tune of $20,515 with overtime from a federal policing grant.
And a St. Charles Parish sheriff's deputy was arrested last Wednesday after an investigation revealed that he had been filing false seatbelt citations over several months to motorists he never stopped, claiming overtime pay for the work.
William S. Marciante Jr., of Luling, was booked with 27 counts of malfeasance in office, 21 counts of injuring public records, 21 counts of forgery and six counts of payroll fraud.
Marciante has been fired.

When are we going to tell the government that we appreciate their concern but will you pretty please stay out of our lives and stop imposing laws to gain revenue.


Also while you think about that think about this. In the State of California with their strict cell phone laws they can pull you over for not wearing your seatbelt (or any other minor infraction) and actually take your cell phone and go through it reading your messages or seeing your call list just to see if you have used your cell phone while driving even though he may or may not have seen you doing the illegal act. This is a gross violation of our Fourth Amendment rights. We have grown so used to this that we do not see the loopholes that the justice system has made for itself to screw us.


Just my two cents worth.

Anthony Allen

Biloxi, Ms
The Southern Conservative