I Went House Hunting in Western TN...

 ...over the past couple of days. Drove there on Wednesday, looked at one house on Thursday and left on Friday - disgusted. Why did I leave disgusted? Well, I sent my realtor a list of 11 places I wanted to see. When I got there and saw her on Thursday, she told me only 2 places were still available even though I had made up that list and sent it to her a week or less before my trip. Damn, houses are selling fast. One of them came with 25 acres for 189K. It looked like my dream house. When we were looking at the one house we viewed on this trip, the realtor told me she had gone to the potential dream house, made a video, showed the video to another client and he made a bid on it. He did not have the high offer. I asked if I could still see that house and she checked with the owner's agent who said the owner had so many offers he would not accept more. If it was as nice a place as my realtor had said it appeared, I would have offered up to 10K over asking price, maybe even as more as 15K over. Those 25 acres plus the look of the place made it ever so appealing!

Now, you may be asking (and I did ask but she had no good reply) why my realtor did not send me a copy of the video as she knew I was extremely interested in that particular property and I had told her if she viewed it and thought it was an excellent buy, I'd make an offer by phone through her and then head there without delay to seal the deal if mine had been the high offer. It just did not happen! Maybe I need to contact another realtor.

I wound up driving a total of about 943 miles to get there (second time in about 1 or 2 months or so), looked at the one house (not bad but not to my liking), drove around to see if I might find one not listed online but with a for sale sign (I found a nice very secluded one but it was about $140K over my high limit), I also checked online but no newly listed houses were shown since I had last looked. Then, I said screw it as I decided the other house still available to see the next day was not worth seeing.  So, I drove back home yesterday. 

I spent wasted a lot of money on gas, a good deal at restaurants and a bar, and some on one night at a motel (actually stayed at motels two nights but had enough points for the one where I stayed the 2nd night but even those points were wasted). I also had my dog boarded until Monday which was more money pissed away. While I am home now, she is staying there until Monday regardless, if only because I do not have to wake up early to walk her for a couple more days and I need a break after this frustrating trip. All in all, it cost me a nice chunk of change and of my time, and a lot of wear an tear on the Corolla once again, to make the pointless trip.

In all, I am pretty fed up with driving to TN to look at houses and may look in TX in earnest soon but must say I am hesitant to look in TX because TX and I do not always agree. With all due respect, while many Texans believe TX to be a mecca of conservatism, I see it as way too liberal for my liking. In all of its history it has had only 7 Republican governors, 4 governors of other parties and 38 democrats as governor; yet somehow, Texans like to brag that Texas is and always has been a very conservative state. 

Just like many New Yorkers, who think they are conservative or libertarian but do not have a clue to what either is in reality, many Texans live under the misconception that their actual liberal views are somehow Conservative. They seem to think that just because they are pro-gun or pro-religion. Conservatism and Libertarianism are not one or two issue concepts and thus merely being pro-gun or pro-Christianity (because most Texans are in my estimation not very pro-other religions) does not necessarily make you either. Plenty of Black Panthers, BLM members, ANTIFA scum and other ultra-leftist radicals are pro-guns; some are probably even pro-religion so long as the religion is Islam. That is, by my guess, so long as it is only them with the weapons and so long as no one in their ranks is a practicing Jew or a Christian (or of any other religion than Muslim). Anyway, my guess is that within two or three election cycles, the ultra-libs will just about completely take over the state once again. While I lived in NY and can put up with liberals, even with ultra-leftists, as good as anyone can do, my idea is why bother with them in the first place since they and their radically screwball rights eviscerating ideals make me, for the great part, want to puke.

As the Grateful Dead sang: "Tennessee, Tennessee, there ain't no place I'd rather be...". Well, there may be some places I'd rather be, like AZ or SD, but they'd be too far from my son to make visits practical except maybe once or twice per year and that is nowhere nearly enough. Thus the line from Tennessee Jed makes lots of sense to me and besides that TN has no income tax and seems to me to be much more conservative/libertarian leaning than does TX (which also has no income tax as is the same in SD as well). 

Even in that I think TN more to my liking though, I just do not want to make that trip again and come up empty handed and broke for having done so. Hopefully the next time, which would be the 3rd or 4th time - as I went there at least once or maybe twice more within last year before the two trips recently - will be the charm if indeed I go again.

While my trips to Tennessee have not been fruitful yet - at least the song still is inspiring. I miss Jerry and miss going to Dead shows; they were excellent despite the libs who enjoyed them too, or maybe because all of us who went - no matter our politics - could agree on something and that was that the Grateful Dead were fabulous!

 

All the best,

Glenn B

It Is A Dilemma - Should You Or Shouldn't You Get Involved...

...when you see a crime being committed - especially a violent one? What do the police, in general, tell us to do: 'Be A Good Witness and call 911', or something like that! 

 

If you do get involved and try to help the victim of a violent assault and are then injured - what do the police say? They in essence say we told you so, you should have been a good witness and called 911. If however you come away unscathed and help the victim, they tell you a lukewarm good job (at best most times it seems) but still warn everyone to be a good witness and call 911 should they witness a like crime.

 

On the other hand, if you wind up helping a cop and you prevent the bad guy(s) from injuring the officer what do the police say: Excellent heroism, great that you got involved, we appreciate it. See what I mean in this example:

 

""If the two individuals watching nearby had not selflessly taken it upon themselves to assist the officer, the injuries he sustained could have been much worse," said Fredericksburg Police Chief Brian Layton. "I can’t thank them enough for bravely putting themselves in danger."" More at the source.

Of course, you could decide to always help. The thing is, if you do that, or just even help as few times as one, and somehow are found responsible for injuring the bad guy or possibly inadvertently hurting the victim, you might be sued. That regardless of whether or not you prevented worse injury befalling the victim. Once again, the police are going to likely say you should have been a good witness and called 911; I tend to doubt they will defend your actions in a tort claim and they may even charge you criminally.

Now, if you do not help the victim, and the victim is badly or fatally injured - you may live with feelings of guilt for a long time to come. I do not know about you but I am pretty sure I would feel that way about myself should I have the opportunity to help and then not do so. I even had bad feelings about shooting the vermin who tried to rob me many years ago. I had nightmares about it for at least 6 months and some on and off again guilt for about the same time. Happily - I got over it because I knew I did the right thing and I'd do it again.

Some police departments even tell victims to be a good witnesses and not to defend themselves if facing a crime of violence or potential violence like robbery. Robbery always includes a high risk for violence committed by the perpetrator and while it may not always be violent, there is at least the threat of violence. Yet, the police tell us to surrender our valuables and in essence trust that the robber's kind hearted and merciful soul will prevent the robber from harming or killing us because we complied and we gave that scum our belongings. Even though we comply with their demands and do as they say (as the police tell us to do) we may wind up severely injured or even dead. The fact is many bad guys do not want us being able to be a good witness because the testimony of good witnesses can put them in jail. Thus they may try to prevent us from being such either with an intimidating beating or by killing us. Not telling you what to do but I think it's something to consider.

 

Here is the way one police department from a major U.S. city puts it:

  

MPD has issued a series of tips for residents to limit their risk of robbery:

• Do not walk alone
• Be hyper-aware of your surroundings at all times – pay attention!
• Carry only items you need, and carry less cash
• Be prepared to give up your cell phone and purse/wallet
• Have keys already in your hand as you approach your car
• Despite all our efforts, robberies may still occur! Do not argue or fight with the criminal Do as they say. Your safety is most important!
• Be a good witness. When you call 911, be prepared to answer many questions. How many suspects? Age, height, complexion, hair and eye color? Scars or tattoos? Weapon- what did it look like? What direction did they leave in? Vehicle description? (Source.)

 So what is one to do even if one sees someone being attacked or even if it is one's self being attacked? It is a dilemma that any of us could face at any given moment. Do we jump right in and help or do we merely be a good witness and call 911 regardless of whom is being attacked? I do not know the answer relative to any future such situations in which I may find myself; that said though, I prefer to think I'd choose to help as I have done before on a few occasions when someone needed help. That was to observe & assess then take whatever I thought was appropriate action to help; that has included jumping into the fray so to speak. Luckily that also usually has meant me having to do little more than announce my presence to the bad guy; luckily most of them seemingly (to me) are cowards and they have fled once the threat of someone helping the victim confronted them. Once though I had to shoot the guy who was robbing me and who left me no alternative as far as I was concerned. I'd probably do it again today should the same type of situation again raise its ugly head to threaten me. In the past, I have chosen not to depend upon the mercy of violent or potentially violent criminals who threaten me, or other innocents, with serious bodily harm or death because my guess is they are merciless or they would not have made such threats in the first place. Although one can never truly be absolutely certain as to how one will react/act in the future, I hope to do likewise in any similar type of encounters in that come my way.

All the best,

Glenn B