Excuse me? Let’s wait one minute here. Broke, debt ridden and his wife left him? Now whose fault is that I ask you? The only one to blame for this individual being in financial and marital strife is the individual himself, not the State of Vermont.

Sorry buddy but you’ll get no sympathy from me. Shall I sue the Bicycle Playing Cards Company because I was too pigheaded to stop playing poker when I was ahead of the game and ended up losing my butt? It was obviously their fault that I lost my money. And which credit card company should I sue for providing my first wife the means to get way over her head in debt? It’s surely Visa and MasterCard’s responsibility to make sure she used her plastic responsibly, yes? It’s their fault that I ended up having to commit bankruptcy because I was too young and naïve to stop her, right?

Which bar do I take to court for letting me drink past my capacity to drive safely and then purposely ignored the fact I was actually going to ride my Harley Davidson home after closing time? Which of the many bars that I frequented during my younger days can I sue the daylights out of for letting me ride off, completely inebriated, on my 800 lb American made motorcycle to not only endanger my own life but other lives as well?

How much money can I suck out of an “establishment” because of my own stupidity and lack of responsibility?

I smoked for 28 years before I quit and it’s not the tobacco company’s fault or responsibility if one day I’m diagnosed with lung cancer and/or heart disease–It’s entirely my own for smoking cigarettes in the first place.

No Lottery Commission of any State in the Union is responsible for human stupidity and lack of personal responsibility. Have a problem with gambling? Then don’t play, it’s that simple. Yet invariably somebody out there is guaranteed to cry “gambling addiction is real! It’s a sickness! Oh, the poor gambler.” Well you go ahead and believe that if you want; to me it falls under the category of Ultimate Stupid People Tricks.

To the man whining about how the lottery commission is to blame for his current situation, here’s a wake up call. It’s your own fault, buddy! You cocked up your own life; no lottery commission did it for you so stop your whining and get your act together. It’s never too late.

Sound cold and heartless, do I? I don’t think so and no one who knows me would ever accuse me of being heartless. However, I have to admit that I have absolutely no patience or tolerance for this kind of moronic human behavior.

Even in myself.

Yup! You just have to love our local humor.

(Source: The Barton Chronicle, Vol. 35, #16, April 23rd, 2008)

17% of Vermonters Admit Driving Drunk

Washington, D.C. – April 23, 2008

According to a new federal report, nearly one in six motorists in Vermont admit they have driven drunk. The report relies on information from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted over the last three years.

In Vermont, 16.7% of drivers said they drove drunk within a year of being questioned. New Hampshire had similar results at 16.4%. In New York, 13% of drivers said they have driven drunk.

Wisconsin had the highest percentage at more than 26%. Utah was the lowest at 9%.

Yeah, right. That’s because the rest of ‘em didn’t admit to it. The ones that did probably moved here from out of state within the last 5 years and still didn’t know any better. Just goes to show how you can trust statistics like this now doesn’t it?

 
(Photo Courtesy of Sixty via a Weather Satellite reentering the atmosphere)

It’s obvious that Grandad had to have his neighbor, Spanner, do a bit of modification on the delivery system. Didn’t know you could deliver a multi warhead ICBM using a Piper Cub before. Grandad says he used the plane to record the explosion but I know better. I scarfed all the nuclear material from the warheads embedded in the nose of the plane (no wonder it crashed–too nose heavy) and I’m currently adapting it to my heating system. With any luck I’ll have me a nuclear powered furnace percolating in my basement within a couple of days and then I can tell the local oil company to pack sand. Thanks buddy!

The driver of the first police cruiser guided his vehicle towards the curve ahead of him, his fellow officer running a few car lengths behind in the second cruiser. It’s the wee hours of the morning, the road about as deserted as it usually is this time of the night, the trooper enters the curve. What was on his mind at the time is unknown but whatever it was must have been suddenly obliterated by what was seen on the other side of the curve and the double jolt as the cruiser wheels rolled over the what had appeared to be a man’s body lying in the road.

The driver of the first cruiser grabbed the mic on his radio and attempted to contact his partner in the second car but it was way past too late too quickly as the second cruiser had already run over the same obstacle. If the body that lay across Vermont’s Rt. 100 in Windham county hadn’t been dead before, there certainly was know question about it now.

And now it’s Monday and the autopsy of that man in the road will take place and what would you think has to be determined first? You guessed it. What was it that actually killed the man in the road? Was he dead before the two police cruisers ran him over or was he simply unconscious for whatever reason and if not, if the man was dead before the first cruiser entered the curve–what had killed him?

"At this point we are leaving all avenues open. We do not know what caused Mr. Peterson to be in the roadway at this point in time. That’s why we are asking for the public’s assistance. Anyone who happened to be driving Route 100 in Dover from the time period between 2:30 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. are asked to contact Vermont State Police at the Rockingham barracks," said Vt. State Police Capt. Ed Ledo.

Source: Police Run Over Man (WCAX-Vermont’s Own)

A more detailed article can be found at the Times Argus Online

Tragic? Absolutely it’s tragic. But what was he doing lying in the middle of Rt. 100 at that time of the morning? A result of partying all night of course comes to mind but there could be a dozen other reasons as well. I’ll have to keep my eye on the evening news to see what happens.