Turnstile Prison Gates.... Let Them Rust Shut

Another example of our justice system making you want to scream and pull your hair out:

In mid-July of this year in Tampa, Florida, a Family Dollar store was robbed and the manager, Horsley Shorter Jr., was shot and killed by the robber. I'll keep this short. The robbery was caught on the store security camera. The robber was identified as Demetrius L Parks, a 23 year old convicted felon.

Parks fled the area and six days later was caught and arrested. He will have his day in court. Case over. Except I'd like to mention a few facts.

Parks was released from a Florida state prison last year and a county jail in June.

PARKS

According to Tampa police Chief Castor, Parks has an "extensive criminal record". That might be an understatement.

Parks was first arrested in Florida when he was 14 on a felony battery charge. In all, Parks has been charged with 37 felonies and 25 misdemeanors. His arrest in this case was his FIFTH since March 2012 when he was released from state prison.

That's it. I wanted to make it short and sweet. Is there ANY reason that animal was allowed to be out on the streets? How many crimes does a person have to commit to be put in jail an never released? An inocent hard-working family man is dead because a career criminal was not behind bars. Or I should say, a career animal.

Oh, did I mention that Shorter Jr. was a 26-year military veteran? And that Parks was holding a gun on the clerk and Shorter Jr came out of the office to defend the clerk?

SHORTER JR.

America, we are losing.

It's A Dying Business.....

This might not be a true example of "losing our America" but it sure does show how greedy an American business can get.

On August 1st of this year my mother passed away at 84 years of age. She lived a long, good life and the years took a toll on her body and it was time for her pain to finally be over. Naturally, my family had many things to take care of and plans to make and like most families, we thought an obituary should be ran in our local newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times.

So I personally wrote the obituary, summarizing her life and how we would miss her. in this modern day and age you simply send in your written words and any photo and the paper would get back with you telling you the price to run the article.

I want to show you the actual article so you can see the length. Well, I must admit, it also let's me publish it for free! I was told the price was based on the number of lines required to run it. ( Not sure that is the fairest way since I've seen some obituaries that are only a couple inches wide and other that are six inches or more in width, meaning less lines.) Anyway, below is what I wrote:

STEPHENS, Wanda L. "Nanny"
84, of St Petersburg, passed away August 1, 2013. She was born in Florence, Ky on June 28, 1929. She was preceded in death by her parents Bonnie and Russell Luck, her brother Russell Irvin Luck and infant son Gayle Stephens. She spent most of her working career as a registered nurse. She moved to Florida in 1970. She is survived by her loving family: sons, Glenn and Ken Stephens (Kim); daughter Mary "Cindy" Watson (Bob); grandchildren, Kelly Watson Stack, Heather Watson Simmons, James Watson, Bonnie Watson Lloyd, all from St Petersburg, Fl and William Stephens and Melissa Stephens from northern Kentucky; twelve great-grandchildren. Wanda spent the past five years residing at Bons Secours Maria Manor in St Petersburg, Fl where she often said she loved living. She was a friend to many there and she was loved by many of the staff and residents. She left many good impressions on those lucky enough to know her and she will be truly missed by them all. She loved old black & white movies and those ridiculous reality shows on TV. She loved having people bring her an occasional "samrich" and her buttermilk as well as having an ice cold beer every so often. She will be forever missed by her family. A memorial service will be held at a later date at Bons Secour Maria Manor, 10300 4th St N., St Petersburg. Donations can be made to Suncoast Hospice.

The next day I get a call from a man at the 'Obituary Desk'. He told be they calculated the cost and it would be $575. Yes. Five-Hundred-Seventy-Five dollars! Needless to say, I never thought it would be anywhere near that amount. Be honest, would you have guessed that amount?

So I decided to delete about 3-5 sentences to lower the cost and I got a response back that the revised article was now lowered to only $487. Much better, huh?

I didn't respond and the next day the man at the desk called me on the phone and wanted to know if I wanted to run the obituary. I told him I thought it was too high and we decided to go a different route. Do you think they get people to go ahead and buy their ads if they speak to you on the phone? Probably. Do you think a lot of people are so sad and in shock with the passing of their loved one that they don't care what it costs? Probably. You want to honor your loved one and you know that publishing an obituary is the right way because you've seen them all your life in the newspapers. Right?

We decided to have the article I wrote printed up and laminated with a poem on the reverse side which would be a memorial bookmark/keepsake for family members. The cost for 54 of of those? $40. Yep, Forty-Dollars. At Office Depot. Do you think 54 people would have cut out the obituary from the Times and saved it? I doubt it.

So to me, I see it as local newspapers preying on the sadness and shock of people losing loved ones. They couldn't make money on running an ad the size of what I wrote and even charging $50 or even $100? I think they would have a lot more lengthy obituaries in their papers. I would have paid that with no problem.

And the papers wonder why they are losing subscribers and they know it's only a matter of time before there aren't any printed newspapers left. Everything will be online. Maybe an obituary the size of what I wrote would be $10. But I doubt it. Greedy people love looking for grieving families.

I can't wait to read an obituary about the Tampa Bay Times....

You Can't Beer The Truth....

I have an update on my last post about the Sam Adams beer commercial where they quoted the Declaration of Independence in an attempt to be patriotic. I see it as an attempt to sell more beer. Period. And when they quoted the passage they deliberately left out the words, "by our Creator". 

So, for those of you that know me, then you know when I get irked by something a company does or doesn't do, I don't have a problem writing to them and having my say. Which is what I did in this case. 

Here is what I wrote to their corporate office:

 I have been a loyal Sam Adams buyer for many years. After seeing your ad which appeared over the past Independence Day holiday I will no longer buy any of your products. With your omission of a few words about our Creator in your quote,  you have shown that you are more concerned with being politically correct than you are with  showing your true patriotism. I have principles that I live by and I am proud that I stand by them. I will spend a dollar to regain a penny if principal is involved. You will no longer receive any of my business and I will ask everyone I know to do the same.

A few days after I sent that email I received a reply from their "External Relations" director. I guess that means they also have a director of Internal Relations. (Make your own joke here).

Below is the entire email I received:

  

Dear Ken Stephens,

Thank you for your message about our recent TV ad and our use of some words from the Declaration of Independence, without the phrase “by our Creator.” We apologize that the omission offended you. That was never our intent. As you may already know, we adhere to an advertising code, established by the Beer Institute – a beer industry trade organization. The code states, "Beer advertising and marketing materials should not include religion or religious themes." We agree with that, and follow those guidelines in our advertising and responsibly marketing our products.

We understand your objection to the omission of the phrase "by our Creator" in other circumstances (after all, these words occur in the Declaration of Independence which our namesake, Samuel Adams, signed), and, in this case, we believe it would be outside our industry guidelines and inappropriate to invoke the deity in a beer commercial. We also want to let you know that this commercial was developed to run exclusively around Independence Day, and is no longer on the air. We appreciate your getting in touch with us to express your concerns and sensitizing us to your point of view. Thank you for giving us a chance to respond.

We really do rely on consumers to be the judges of our work and we appreciate your taking the time to reach out.

Sincerely,
Michelle Sullivan
Senior Director of External Relations
Boston Beer Company

So it appears that they are blaming the omission of the word "Creator" on the Beer Institute and their rule of not allowing religion or religious themes. So they just decided to edit the Declaration of Independence and still use it to sell beer. Would it really be using a religious theme or "invoking the deity" by simply quoting the entire Declaration? I think not. As a matter of fact, I went to the Beer Institute's web-site and read their advertising rules. And they do have a long list of no-no's. Most seem to be about age requirements, and not appearing to be aimed at people under 21, as well as not using models in commercials that are not at least 25 years old. Oh, and you can't have any beer ad with Santa Claus in it.... I'm serious.

But Michelle at Sam Adams was telling the truth. Line 7 of the rules does say:

"Beer advertising and marketing materials should not employ religion or religious themes".

Yes, line 7 is just one sentence. I guess it is open to interpretation. I take it to mean that you can't have God or Budda or the Pope sitting on a bar stool while taking a long drink of a frothy-headed beer and making that "Ahhhhhhh" sound after they swallow. Or make up your own image.

If I haven't bored you by now and you want to read more, here is the link to the Beer Institute's rules about advertising. Beer Rules - (I guess that could have a double meaning huh?)

I'd also like to point out this quote from Benjamin Franklin in a letter addressed to André Morellet in 1779:

Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.

Over the years, Ben has been misquoted as saying:

Either way I know he's talking about an alcoholic beverage and bringing God into the conversation. And I take no offense. Do you?

So, thank you Michelle and thank you Samuel Adams beer. I still will not buy your products and your feeble attempt to shift the blame doesn't work on me.

Did I mention "Buy Yuengling!" ?