Officer Down!

By John Kubicek

Things like this just shouldn't happen in little old Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Unfortunately, though, it does. A police officer in Cedar Rapids suffered an injury that is life-threatening, right in my neighborhood. I shop at the grocery store just up the street from where this incident happened. Yesterday, I witnessed the ongoing police investigation of the nearby crime scenes as I stopped by that store on the way home from work. I had no clue about what was going on, until I saw the news last night:



In a world full of turmoil, we can easily lose track of the things going on in our own back yards. I decided that I wasn't going to let that happen today. Officer Tim Davis of the Cedar Rapids Police Dept. (CRPD) deserves more than that. He, along with his family, deserve our prayers.

Can we do anything to stop things like this from happening? I don't know if I can answer that question, but I know that it is very important that we have the right perspective about things like this. I hope to show in the remainder of this column why it is imperative for us to be aware of what goes on in our neighborhoods.

And then, there were the four officers in Oakland, California, that lost their lives trying to stop a very dangerous individual from doing further damage. Also, there was the young police officer in North Carolina that did his best to end a shooting spree at a nursing home, and was injured in the line of duty.

Well, here is the rest of the story. There are people out there, like our police, that lay their lives out on the line every day. I'm thinking that we sometimes forget about them, and forget they are people doing their jobs.... I was going to say, "doing their jobs, just like us," but that's the point. Our police, just like our military, do put their lives on the line all of the time. But we forget that, because it doesn't happen often.

It isn't just the police that face dangers and hazards most of us wouldn't want to deal with. How about the EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians), corrections officers, firefighters, military, or even private security officers? There are many more people that I could mention, too, that selflessly put their lives on the line for the safety of the rest of us. And sometimes, there may not even be a title by their names. There are even those times, like on Flight 93 on 9/11, where people just like you and I had a once-in-life-time "option" to make a difference to save lives.

But think about it. There are occupations, such as Law Enforcement, that a person must choose to do, and it is their loyalty to those they serve (us) to have to make the ultimate sacrifice if required. They deserve all of the honor that we can give them!

How to spend a Sunday

by John Kubicek

Well, I had plenty of things to do today. I suppose that ADD had something to do with it, but I found things to do and to think about that were completely off the page. My agenda of things I would accomplish went completely off the charts following an early Spring snow storm. And that is okay. It is times like this that give me a "fix" of learning more about God's gifts to us all.

So, let me bring you a video that I came across today:



This was a video that helped me to embrace multicultural relations all the more. But, it doesn't mean that I'm for some type of global governance. Actually, it is about sovereign people uniting and learning to accept and love cultures that are different from ours. We should all be giving a standing ovation for Linda Gentille, for doing what we should all be doing. It didn't take a U.N. Security Council mandate or resolution for people just like US to know how to get along with each other.

The Doom and Gloom Alarmists

By John Kubicek

There are many people in the media and in politics that are proficient alarmists. Don't you have to wonder how they have become so terrific at being able to amplify fear and anxiety with all of their doom and gloom predictions?

Well, Glenn Beck has let the cat out of the bag. He has hired a Fear Consultant, in which we'll see in the following video that I smuggled out of Glenn's Star Chamber. (I think Stephen Colbert will be very jealous that he missed his chance!) You will notice that the quality of the video is pretty lousy, but I had to get it through all of those various x-ray machines at the security check points at the Fox News building (which is ACTUALLY Glenn's Star Chamber!).

So, back to the story. You do realize that much of the media and about all of the politicians have fear mongering down to an art form. As the above tongue-in-cheek Star Chamber segment illustrates, a lot of the doom and gloom alarmists may not even be telling the complete truth, but if it's bad enough, it sells (Think: books and DVDs). It helps the media (including this blog) get a larger audience. It is a powerful tool for politicians, too. Heck, look at how well it has done for Al Gore in the last decadent decade! Nothing like spreading fear like the Inconvenient Lies about poor little polar bears without an ice cube to stand on!

There are times when we must practice discernment, and do our best to take the doom and gloom stories with a grain of salt. If Chicken Little tells you that the sky is falling, you may want to check and consider all of the facts before you move to a cave. You may want to take into account what the ultimate intention could be for an alarmist when ever you hear or read about doom and gloom. You know, things like man-made global warming having the ultimate goals of global governance and socialism seems to come to mind.

Fox & Friends, and the Implosion of Mercy

By John Kubicek

To: Fox & Friends, I'm there for you. I know all too well how technology can come back to bite us. Thus, I can also feel for you, too.

Last Saturday morning, there was going to be this historic building implosion in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was historic because it was going to the very first ever building demolision in Cedar Rapids using explosives. And very cool, because the site being imploded is next to a hospital. Can you imagine the histeria radiating from that issue? Well, funny thing was, there wasn't any that I noticed. In fact, it was an event that was celebrated just like the fireworks on the 4th of July. The "crowd" was much smaller, only because many people didn't find out about it happening until later.

Lucky for me, the original time that it was to happen was at 7:30 a.m., and it was postponed until 8:00 a.m. I had to hurry home from work to make it home to set up my video recording by 7:30 a.m. that morning. That wasn't easy, either, because I had several stops to make on the way home. Fortunately, the time was moved up to 8:00 a.m. during my trip toward home. I was keeping up with what was going on, apparently better than the Fox & Friends producers.

The Implosion of Mercy


But, it only figures. While I was able to multitask and get all of the video that I was hoping for, I encountered my own technical murkiness when trying to produce the above video. It was a combination of sleep deprivation following software issues I had dealt with, and I finally had to call it a day last Saturday. So, it took me an extra day before I could upload the video to youtube.com. And now, it is several days later before I get it put up on a blog. But, there is a point.

There are times when the "news cycle" depends on immediate release of the story, and getting it recorded "live" as it happens. The masses love "live" coverage. However, there are times when live coverage doesn't happen, as hard as we try.

That's why I have to make a shameless admission that this story, though published long after the news cycle of the event, is actually being used to make a point. It is just like the Rahm Emanuel Philosphy: Don't let a calamity go by without taking advantage of it. (Not the exact words, but the gist of it is accurate.)

And there is hope! A Conservative Prodigy

By John Kubicek

That last month, February 2009, was a very bad month. Nothing but doom and gloom. Cold weather. Fear and crisis. Irresponsible government spending. The 401k becoming a 201k... And we thought last summer was tough, at least here in the Iowa towns that were flooded out in June 2008.

The futility of it all...

And then, out of the ash heap of society, comes a new ray of sunshine. A new sign of hope! We haven't lost yet, because there are people out there that are waiting in the wings. They're going to be our future, and here is just one example:

Jonathan Krohn Addresses CPAC


Not only is Jonathan featured at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he is now appearing on Fox News. And when you see this following video, you'll see why he'll be a regular Fox News contributor; and he rivals Ann Coulter:

Jonathan Krohn on Fox & Friends - A Fox News Contributor in Waiting?

Yes, there is hope. If you think that Sarah Palin, and then Joe the Plumber, were driving the liberals nuts, they haven't seen nothin' yet! Here's another JK - Mr. Jonathan Krohn - a future (or, maybe even a current) leader of the Conservative movement.

The CPAC was very interesting, and I'm wondering what took our Conservative leaders so long to be able to start articulating the Conservative values. At least now we have hope that there will be another generation coming along that will keep the American dream alive.

I'd love to go on to provide you with some great links, and show you some stuff that will keep your faith up. I will be doing that, but not today. You will want to stay tuned, though, as you'll be seeing things that may amaze you.

Keep the faith. Don't give up the hope for better times ahead - for us Conservatives.

There will be updates of all the great things going on in my other blog, johnnyk's "Blogging In Our Time 2 Escape" which will help you keep up to date with this movement. Yes, that movement, the one where The Revolution Is Just Beginning. And it has to give you hope when a 13 or 14 year-old kid is making this kind of difference.