Lieutenant Stephen D’anjou says that the suspicionless checkpoint (covered previously) was announced to the Daily Breeze on September 2nd. Again, I find no mention on the Daily Breeze website, so we still have an effective Internet blackout of this information.
The Lieutenant believes it was also posted on Torrance Police Department website, but he said the website program never published it. An honest mistake. I've seen first hand that this can be a common mistake in any web publishing environment. But there's something else I'd like to point out. See if you can tell the difference between the two announcements. One announcement was for the 11th, the other was for June 19th.
The information published about June 19th, 2009 listed the intersection as well as the time. But the information published about September 11th, 2009 does not list the intersection.
It's already beyond recognition of what it was originally. They're just going to keep tweaking and modifying this.If you still don't understand why this is bad, please review my previous article on the subject. Also consider an article called "Bloodsuckers in Blue" on Lew Rockewell's web site.
Last night, I observed a suspicionless checkpoint on Artesia going eastbound toward Van Ness. All eastbound traffic was being stopped. A lot of cars were being towed.
I contacted Torrance Police Department to inquire as to why these activities were not announced ahead of time. The initial response from Lieutenant Stephen D’anjou (via Blackberry) was that the press release was sent out last week. I believe Lieutenant D’anjou is mistaken. I checked the Torrance PD web site and no such press release was listed on their press release page. Maybe a press release was sent out but just not posted on the web page. The local paper would have gotten a copy if that's the case.
But this is not the case from what I can tell. Daily Breeze (the local newspaper in Torrance) has announcements for other such activity in the past, but not the one regarding last night. Was it announced only in hard copies of the newspaper? Is this an Internet blackout? Yet indeed, here is a view of the actual suspicionless checkpoint from the corner of Artesia and Van Ness, looking back to the west:
Torrance Police Department believes the "DUI" checkpoint is a proven effective method for increased awareness of the dangers of impaired driving. In the past, by publicizing these enforcement and education efforts, Torrance Police Department believes motorists can be deterred from drinking and driving.Typically, funding for these kinds of operations is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But last night, they broke from their previous motivation and imposed the suspicionless checkpoint without even prior notice.Whatever your belief of the effectiveness of these suspicionless checkpoint, know this. It is a violation of the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution to demand evidence of a crime without probable cause. The suspicionless checkpoint, by definition, lacks probable cause. It is much easier to introduce an intrusive measure by watering down the most intrusive aspects. It is harder to be against suspicionless checkpoints when they are announced ahead of time. But is easy to just stop announcing them once they become commonplace. We are no longer on our way to a police state. We live in a police state now. It's only going to get worse.
I've had some time to reflect on the events right before and to the birth of Titus. We are safe and sound at home as a family. Grandpa Jerry dropped off the kids the day after we got home and we're all together again in our tiny apartment.
We appreciate all of the well-wishes and congratulations from everyone. It took so long to get to this point, yet Titus was really only two days "late." His due-date was the 8th, and he ended up being born on the 10th.
A bit of the story can be seen on my Facebook account as it happened and as I would snap pictures and upload them. But that really doesn't capture the story completely.
T-06:09: Book Store - Just a few hours before Titus arrived, Karen and I were actually on a date. Aunt Tammy was watching the kids and we went to Souplantation. After that, we went to the book store and even met with a friend there.
T-05:30: Home - We arrived home to find the kids were asleep in bed thanks to Aunt Tammy. Karen complained of "gas" pain, which made Tammy and me suspicious. But there were false alarms before, so we treated this the same.
T-04:10: First Stage Labor - We went to bed and Karen continued to report pain every 10 minutes. I got dressed. Twenty minutes later, I called Grandpa Jerry, who was our designated baby-sitter for the big event. Jerry arrived quickly after that. We were still trying to figure out if it was time to go to the hospital. See, we didn't want to spend hours there and we didn't want them to pressure us with any unnecessary procedures before we were ready. Then the contractions came more quickly, so we decided just to go.
T-01:10: Hospital Arrival - We arrived at the hospital at 1:20 AM. It took a moment to locate L&D department on the 3rd floor. They were closed up and no one was at the front desk. We found the intercom and they let us in. I had to leave Karen to move the van from patient arrival to the parking lot.
I got back from moving the van and joined Grandma Sue, Aunt
Tammy, and Uncle Gilbert. Karen was already in a hospital gown. I briefly stepped out to tell Gilbert we might be a while. Little did I know Karen was "complete, complete."
This means dilation was complete and effacement was complete. The doctor was 30 minutes away, so we got the "on-call" doctor.
T-00:18: Second Stage Labor - Karen answered their questions and signed their papers. So much for second stage labor.
T00:00: Delivery - Titus Joseph Martin arrived at 2:13 AM on May 10th, 2009 (Mother's Day), weighing in at 10 pounds, length of 21 inches.
After he arrived, got cleaned up, and Karen was patched up a bit (she sustained far less injury than with Benjamin's delivery, even though Titus was about 7 ounces heavier), we were moved from L&D to our room at around 4:30 AM.
There were several visitors on Mother's Day including Gramps and Nana.
They were already scheduled to volunteer at Torrance Memorial that day, so they arrived early and too me to breakfast.
Later that day, Hannah and Benjamin arrived with Grandpa Jerry. Jerry had some things to take of, so all the kids got to hang out for a while.
We stayed one night and left after diner on the 11th. The hospital is not a place to rest, so we were all too glad to get out of there. They did a number of tests and picked on on the new kid for various reasons (due to his size and other factors) and they all came back negative.
Arrival at home was around 10:30 PM. Benjamin and Hannah were still with Grandpa Jerry, so we had a peaceful night and morning. Titus was very quiet ... almost too quiet. But Karen assured me he'll get more vocal very soon.
Since we got home early, we were in uncharted territory. We never had such a peaceful time so soon after the birth of either Benjamin or Hannah. I highly recommend going home early if it's safe to do so. And I highly recommend ditching the kids of possible, even if for 24 hours.
The information here is gathered under the best of my ability and understanding. If I have anything wrong, I am willing to listen to correction. Part of the problem is due to the inability for people to fathom some of the facts. But that's not the whole problem. I feel like it's better to dive in and make mistakes than to sit idle and hope everything works out.
Today I cast my first "nay" vote as a member of School Site Council of my son's school. I opposed the principal in her attempt to amend the school plan to include clarification on one of the goals. The exact goal isn't important. What's important is that this is goal was mandated by state and federal law which I oppose.
In clarifying the goal, the way I understand it, the principal is hoping to justify expenditures so that the school may qualify for a particular category of spending which I oppose.
My opposition didn't amount to much. I was the only "nay" vote and the action item passed as amended. But my "nay" vote carries with it the desired implication, "Ye shall go no further." Sure, they out number me. But I do not give consent. Obviously they may go as far as they want, but not with my approval.
I have a fundamental disagreement with the lack of local control the school is able to make. This lack of control means the school is barred from certain activities it might otherwise decide to take. To me, the whole system is broken and it's time to put on the breaks. This latest budget crisis just drives the point further.
There is already a lot out there about ICE. Snopes has an article. Even Benjamin's school talks about it. If you're not aware of what it is, in a nut shell, ICE stands for "In Case of Emergency." It is supposed to manifest as an address book entry in your mobile phone. I think there are many ways to do it, but this is how I do it on my iPhone:
Create a new address book entry with the Company Name of: ICE
Add spouse's phone number followed by a hash (#).
Add home phone number followed by a hash (#).
Add work phone number followed by a hash (#).
Add own mobile number followed by a hash (#).
Add mother's mobile number followed by a hash (#).
I use the custom label feature of iPhone rather than leave each entry labeled as "other" or whatever the default is. I am emphasizing the hash (#) for a reason. If you do not have a hash at the end, likely your phone will match incoming calls to the ICE entry, which is a pain. I would rather see my wife's name and photo show on the screen when she calls, not just "ICE." In the unlikely even a first responder has to look over your address book, he or she will likely not be confused by the hash. So it's the best of both worlds. Anyway, that's my only alteration to the instructions other than the reason I have my own mobile number listed in my ICE entry is just in case my phone is involved by I am not. If that happens, I can check my messages and find out what's going on. Anyway, I hope that helps. Enjoy.
USA Today has a great iPhone/iPod touch app. They even collect their campy polls with it and show local results. I just thought it was funny how FEMA and Wal-Mart are tied. I voted for Wal-Mart.
I just think it's interesting that one of the ads in the bus I regularly take is a complete lie. I guess "truth in advertising" doesn't apply to government and corrupt lapdog corporations. The ad reads:
Healthy Kids Need Healthy TeethThe law requires that kindergartners receive a dental checkupLa ley ahora requiere que los kindergartners reciban un examen dentalTo learn more call 800.CDA.SMILE or visit cda.org.A MESSAGE FROM THE CALIFORNIA DENTAL ASSOCIATION
Only, the law does not require any such thing. It is a falsehood to imply that the law requires dental checkups for two reasons:
The state has no jurisdiction to make any such law.
The state law itself allows a waver.
I hate to go beyond #1 because it is so important. The state has no jurisdiction in the mouth of our children. We parents are responsible. The notion that some parents have decided to forgo dental examinations for their children has no bearing on how I go about caring for my children.
They are free to take care of their children in their way, thus, I am free to take care of my children my way. This is what's called "freedom."But #2 is also important. The law, as I read it, says that parents may opt out of the requirement. Which means saying "the law requires" is inaccurate, in this ad. The law requires either an examination or a statement by the parent to the contrary. What's interesting is that a parent who makes a statement to the contrary is reading the law. Are these parent likely to avoid dental checkups for their child? So this is where I get angry. Advertisements like this are simply taxpayer funded attempts by state lobbyists to drum up business. I hate that!
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