Friday, June 17, 2011

Friday Odds and Ends

Heart Breaking Video From Puppy Mill Raid



The Humane Society Press Release is here.

The Fear of Taco Trucks - They are the ubiquitous taco trucks, a rolling metaphor that illustrates perfectly our fear of the Latino invasion of the United States of America.


Taco Boy Truck in Charleston, from one of Cedar's Favorite Photographers Joan Perry. Check out Joan's photos of Cedar Posts' working home here.

Long time residents of Charlotte, like myself wonder what happened. Our city seems to be under attack from all sides.

We no longer feel safe in uptown, or east Charlotte. Our "turf" has been reduced to a wedge that to the south boarders between Monroe Road and South Boulevard and in the north the LKN area. The rest is no-man's land.

A drive down Central Avenue might as well be "East LA" rather than East Charlotte. Sure there are pockets of "before" but for the most part Eastway and Central are a waste land of Asian and Latino markets, payday loans and western union stores, as well as noticeable "white flight".

And as recently as four years ago East Charlotte was also the perfect place to find a taco truck.

Perhaps that is why in 2008 the Charlotte City Council set out to "ban taco trucks". The trucks are a mainstay of cities like Los Angeles, and Dallas, where they have replaced the blue collar lunch wagon with authentic Mexican/Latin fast food. The argument was that they cause litter and crime. The over bearing rules passed by Charlotte City Council worked, reducing the number of taco trucks from 50 to 7.

Charlotte's stand against the Latin invasion may be over, as the city council looks into de-regulating a business that they deem un-attractive. Of course it might just go the other way, the fatal blow given to the taxi owners on Monday may just signal a continuation of the heavy handedness.

Mary Newsome Departs - The journalistic talents of the Charlotte Observer's queen of liberal nuttyness could be debated ad nauseum. But not her career length, she is the perennial wall flower of the far political left. Sadly she is another casualty of McClatchly cut backs, or maybe she just saw the handwriting on the wall, regardless she has left the Observer building.

Some will celebrate her departure, and while I found her views extreme and journalist conduct far from acceptable, her habit of censoring dissent was revolting, she did add perspective to the world around her. Once you had Mary's view you always knew you could find the center by going to the right. Her final humor filled blog post is here.

Passing of Former CMPD Sergeant William Durham Branch - Mr. Branch, was 90, He was born on April 26, 1921 in Lumberton, son of the late Ellis and Lessie Bowen Branch.
Mr. Branch was a veteran of the United States Army, serving during World War II. After the war he joined the Charlotte Police Department, retiring as a Sergeant in 1979.



A funeral service was held on Monday, June 13, 2011 in the chapel of Hankins & Whittington, 1111 East Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28203. Entombment with military honors was conducted at the Sharon Memorial Park Mausoleum .

Your Credit Score is Meaningless - You've seen the countless ads, telling you that you should know your credit score, purporting to "reveal" your credit score and provide you with the tools to actively manage your credit file.

Did you know that the number you are given has nothing to do with the number the credit report companies provide your bank or credit card company? It's true that 780 number you are so proud of is being reported to your bank as a 640. The number and the scale are variables based on predetermined parameters set by some magic set of guidelines. More on this soon.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sgt Branch was a wonderful, funny, little man, He always had everyone laughing. A great man to work for.
On another sad note now we have lost Sgt Andy Martin. He was also great to work for. His son is a CMFD employee..Our condolences to both families.

Anonymous said...

All has been running smoothly and people doing their jos well without DC Harold and his second in command(?) Both away on vacation this week,,,
All I have heard is how well things are running without the craziness and stress he brings that buggers things up!
Something to be learned here? Nope denial I'm sure as the obvious zooms right over their heads!

Anonymous said...

If you would like to tell Bill and Deborah Allen of Hudson North Carolina just what you think of their puppy mill here is the contact information:

Office Phone 828-474-8730
Home Phone 828-572-2033
Fax: 828-572-0136

Or send the SOB an email:

preciouslittletreasures@charter.net

http://pups4all.webs.com/

Anonymous said...

Andy Martn was a Captain.

Anonymous said...

yes Andy was a CPT.. My mistake..Please accept my apologies.

Anonymous said...

Crime is rampant and Charlotte is unsafe in the ways you have stated because the CMPD won't take police reports, won't investigate crimes, won't investigate known misconduct on the part of the bad officers that they have who are making their awesome officers look bad by association... and the City "leadership" is supporting this. CMPD is obviously misreporting crime statistics: isn't it odd that ALL of the crime statistics are reported as being radically improved in Charlotte since Monroe arrived except for Murder? It seems it is at least a little bit harder to cover up dead bodies than the other crimes committed. It does make you wonder how many of those deaths may have been avoided if the other lesser crimes had been dealt with as they should have been. Good officers are threatened to keep their mouths shut or be out of jobs. That's what they say, and I believe them.