A New Year’s Poem

I read this this morning on the Freemasons for Dummies blog and thought it was somewhat fitting for this crowd as well.  Please check out Br. Chris Hodapp’s blog if you have a chance, as there are some really interesting things there…even for non-masons.

Happy New Year all- Cheers

 

The Passing Of The Year

by Brother Robert William Service (1874 - 1958)

My glass is filled, my pipe is lit,
My den is all a cosy glow;
And snug before the fire I sit,
And wait to feel the old year go.
I dedicate to solemn thought
Amid my too-unthinking days,
This sober moment, sadly fraught
With much of blame, with little praise.

Old Year! upon the Stage of Time
You stand to bow your last adieu;
A moment, and the prompter’s chime
Will ring the curtain down on you.
Your mien is sad, your step is slow;
You falter as a Sage in pain;
Yet turn, Old Year, before you go,
And face your audience again.

That sphinx-like face, remote, austere,
Let us all read, whate’er the cost:
O Maiden! why that bitter tear?
Is it for dear one you have lost?
Is it for fond illusion gone?
For trusted lover proved untrue?
O sweet girl-face, so sad, so wan
What hath the Old Year meant to you?

And you, O neighbour on my right
So sleek, so prosperously clad!
What see you in that aged wight
That makes your smile so gay and glad?
What opportunity unmissed?
What golden gain, what pride of place?
What splendid hope? O Optimist!
What read you in that withered face?

And You, deep shrinking in the gloom,
What find you in that filmy gaze?
What menace of a tragic doom?
What dark, condemning yesterdays?
What urge to crime, what evil done?
What cold, confronting shape of fear?
O haggard, haunted, hidden One
What see you in the dying year?

And so from face to face I flit,
The countless eyes that stare and stare;
Some are with approbation lit,
And some are shadowed with despair.
Some show a smile and some a frown;
Some joy and hope, some pain and woe:
Enough! Oh, ring the curtain down!
Old weary year! it’s time to go.

My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New:
Old Year! a parting word that’s true,
For we’ve been comrades, you and I—
I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now! Old Year, good-bye!

(Brother Robert W. Service was a member of Yukon Lodge No. 45 in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. He is best remembered for his poem, The Shooting of Dan McGrew).

As Mike said….I need one of these :)

And the Fascists show up in Florida

This story almost leaves me dumbfounded.  Usually if you refuse a breathalyzer, at least in every state I have lived in, your license is suspended….that’s it.  Now, they have a judge on site (how much does that cost?) and will FORCE you to take a bloodtest. 

"We don't want to violate people's civil rights. That's the last thing we want to do, but we're here to save lives”

When does someone use that same logic to say “"We don't want to violate people's constitutional rights. That's the last thing we want to do, but we're here to save lives” and ban guns as well?

Oh well….here you go.  Enjoy or shudder as you will-

"No refusal" DUI checkpoints could be coming to Tampa

Tampa, Florida-- With New Year's Eve only days away, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects this to be one of the deadliest weeks of the year on the roads.

But now a new weapon is being used in the fight against drunk driving.

It's a change that could make you more likely to be convicted.

"I think it's a great deterrent for people," said Linda Unfried, from Mother's Against Drunk Driving in Hillsborough County.

Florida is among several states now holding what are called "no refusal" checkpoints.

It means if you refuse a breath test during a traffic stop, a judge is on site, and issues a warrant that allows police to perform a mandatory blood test.

It's already being done in several counties, and now Unfried is working to bring it to the Tampa Bay area.

"I think you'll see the difference because people will not drink and drive. I truly believe that," she said.

Not everyone is on board, though.

DUI defense attorney Kevin Hayslett sees the mandatory blood test as a violation of constitutional rights.

"It's a slippery slope and it's got to stop somewhere," Hayslett explained, "what other misdemeanor offense do we have in the United States where the government can forcefully put a needle into your arm?"

The federal government says Florida has among the highest rates of breathalyzer refusal.

"Now you've got attorneys telling their clients, don't blow, don't blow! Because we know from the results from these machines that they're not operating as the state or the government says they're supposed to operate," said Stephen Daniels, a DUI consultant and expert witness.

Supporters, though, say you could see the "no refusal" checkpoints in the Bay area by October.

"We don't want to violate people's civil rights. That's the last thing we want to do, but we're here to save lives," Unfried said.

She adds that this type of checkpoint would be heavily advertised, with the goal of deterring any drunk driving.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has recently said he wants to see more states hold similar programs.

My favorite quote of the year

From my man…..Mike Tyson.

My life is like a tornado, a f---ing hurricane. It's like I'm a naked tornado that comes through a city and there's just so much wreckage. There's so much destruction, and when it's finally over, it's like the morning after and you're sober and ... what the f--- happened here

An Alabama PSA

 

Illegal to possess too much beer

An excess of "holiday spirits" landed an Albertville man in jail on Christmas Eve.

Albertville Police Chief Benny Womack said 35-year-old Ramiro Santos, of the Kilpatrick Mobile Home Park, was stopped at 10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of U.S. 431 and Mathis Mill Road in Albertville on suspicion of driving under the influence.

During a subsequent search of Santos' vehicle, officers discovered a large quantity of beer, leading to charges of illegal transportation of alcoholic beverages being filed against Santos.

Womack said the list of beer was lengthy and included 14 cases of Bud Light, and a variety of other brands, including Modelo and Corona.

"We don't see a lot of these types of cases," Womack said. "It's not often someone has that much beer in their car."

With many people planning New Year's parties, officials caution drivers to be aware of alcoholic beverage restrictions and laws.

Alabama Criminal Codes state transporting more than five gallons of alcohol is a felony offense punishable by no less than one year but no more than five years in prison.

Drivers are allowed to possess three quarts of liquor or three quarts of wine along with one case of brewed or malt beverages. However, no beverages may be kept in the passenger compartment of a vehicle or within sight of the passenger.

Since many parts of Marshall County are considered wet, or allow sales of alcohol, drivers are subject to an open container law. Under the law, drivers can possess alcoholic beverages for transport, but containers cannot be open and bottles cannot have broken seals.

In dry portions of the area, such as Boaz and Mountainboro, drivers are subject similar laws, according to Boaz Deputy Chief Todd Adams.

"The main thing people need to know is they cannot have alcoholic beverages of any type within reach of the driver or passengers at all," Adams said. "That doesn't matter if you live in the dry or wet areas."

Could this be the end of an empire?

Woman dies at Busch home

Autopsy report to take weeks

HUNTLEIGH (AP) — Police found the body of a 27-year-old woman in the upscale suburban St. Louis home of ex-Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV, though it could take at least a month before authorities know how she died.

The woman was identified as Adrienne N. Martin of St. Charles. Police were called Sunday afternoon to the St. Louis suburb of Huntleigh and found her body in Busch’s gated home. St. Louis County forensic administrator Suzanne McCune said yesterday there were no signs of illness or trauma. An autopsy was conducted, but results could take four to six weeks.

Art Margulis, an attorney for Busch, said Martin was a friend of Busch who was visiting the home and there was “absolutely nothing suspicious” about her death.

“It was a tragic death of a young woman,” he said. Margulis told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Martin and Busch had been dating for at least a year.

Frontenac police, whose area of coverage includes Huntleigh, provided information in a news release that did not say if the death was considered suspicious. Phone messages seeking an interview were not returned. The release did not say why news of the death was not announced until four days later.

The statement from police said the department received a 911 call at 1:15 p.m. Sunday about an “unresponsive person” at the home. Martin was deceased when paramedics and officers arrived, the release said.

McCune declined to speculate on the investigation or the cause of death.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying the case was being investigated as a possible overdose. McCune would only say that an overdose was among the possible causes.

Citing a divorce file, the Post-Dispatch reported that Martin was married in 2002 to a 45-year-old man but they separated in February 2009. The couple had joint custody of an 8-year-old son, the paper reported.

A woman identified as Adrienne Nicole Martin, from the St. Louis area and the same age as the victim, posted on the website iStudio.com that she was studying to be an art therapist and was hoping to become a model. “I really would like to do beer advertising,” the woman wrote in the posting.

Busch, 46, was chief executive at Anheuser-Busch from 2006 until the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers was purchased by InBev in 2008. The $52 billion merger created the world’s largest brewery.

Busch remains a member of the board of directors for InBev.

The Post-Dispatch reported that Busch and his wife of 2½ years divorced in 2009.

In 1983, Busch, then a 20-year-old University of Arizona student, left a bar with a 22-year-old woman. His black Corvette crashed, and the woman, Michele Frederick, was killed. Busch was found hours later at his home. He suffered a fractured skull and claimed he had amnesia.

After a seven-month investigation, authorities declined to press criminal charges, citing a lack of evidence.

DUI in DC since 2000? You may be in luck

As if Traffic Stops were not intrusive enough, no small wonder that stories like this happen.  Great job DC…..you continue to show your incompetence.

Bogus Breathalyzer Results may go back a Decade.  Whistleblower contends Washington, DC breath testing machines have not been accuracy checked since 2000.
Motorists in Washington, DC may have been falsely accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) for more than a decade as a result of faulty "Intoxilyzer" breath testing equipment. Whistleblower Ilmar Paegle, a veteran police officer now working as a contract employee for the District Department of Transportation, argued in a memorandum to the city's attorney general that the breath testing machines have not been properly calibrated since 2000, as first reported by WTTG-TV.
To date, the District has only admitted to bogus breathalyzer results taken between September 2008 and February 4, 2010. Of 1100 cases prosecuted in that period, 300 were convicted based on evidence provided by faulty machines.
"As a result of the miscalibration the instruments apparently produced results that were outside the acceptable margin of error to be considered accurate," Deputy DC Attorney General Robert J. Hildum wrote in a June 4 letter to DC trial lawyers. "OAG [office of the attorney general] is in the process of notifying the defendants and their counsel in those cases."
Paegle's discovery that the breathalyzers producing bogus results forced the Metropolitan Police Department to stop using the machines on February 4 and switch to Intoximeters. Hildum blamed the problems on Officer Kelvin King who began replacing motors in the breathalyzers in September 2008 as part of routine maintenance. Under DC law, the machines must be tested for accuracy every three months, but the District failed to codify procedures or standards for this testing. Paegle was concerned that the District has never performed these accuracy tests, raising concern among legal experts.
"You too could have been pulled over on the basis of a minor traffic violation and put through a series of difficult and humiliating field sobriety tests," DC-based defense attorney Jamison Koehler wrote on his law firm's blog. "After blowing into the breath test machine, you could have spent the night in a jail cell with other people who were drunk, angry, disorderly, mentally ill or whose sweating, panting and retching signaled to you that they going through drug withdrawal. You could have had to shell out thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer and missed work on so many occasions to attend court hearings that your employer warned you might be fired.... On the basis of the faulty breath test results, you too have been convicted of driving while intoxicated even with blood alcohol levels far below the legal limit."
A copy of the OAG memo is available in a 220k PDF at the source link below.
Source: Letter to DC Superior Court Trial Lawyers Assoc. (DC Office of the Attorney General, 6/4/2010)