Coming soon

1) My thoughts on Steve Jobs, Occuppy Wall Street and other similar issues!

2) My thoughts on the recently deceased stars like Andy Rooney and Heavy D!

My 1st try adding visuals to my blog

These weren't my images, I just copied these images. I was taking a workshop on power-points, and I applied some of my new knowledge (copying & pasting images) to this blog!

So I'll have to go find who own the copyright to these images later on!

But I won't take credit for the creation of such images!

Make the Rich Pay?

The Occuppy Wall Street demand that the rich pay their "fair share". (I'll go over more about Occupy Wall Street in another blog post)

But we don't need more taxes.

We need the rich of OTHER NATIONS to PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE of their country's defense.

Here's what I got in the email from Downsize DC


=========

•The U.S. has around 865 overseas bases, NOT counting Iraq and Afghanistan

•They cost $102 billion per year, according to Miriam Pemberton of the Institute for Policy Studies http://tinyurl.com/aqq4zu

•The bulk of them are in wealthy countries such as Germany, South Korea, and Japan that are capable of defending themselves

•But we also have no business stationing troops to help defend the wealthy, corrupt dictators of impoverished countries

•Bringing our troops home will force wealthy nations, and dictators, to pay the full cost of their own defense

The savings to the U.S. could well be over $1 trillion over ten years, more money than "taxing the rich" would raise. And, bringing the troops home will be in our national interest...

========
 
I'm all for paying for paying for the defense of this country! I'm all sending troops to hunt down Al Quaida, who have declared war on the USA!
 
But it's also time for other countries to pay more of their fair share of their own military defense, INSTEAD OF FREE-LOADING off of USA TAXPAYERS!
 
It's time for the rich folks of Japan, South Korea, Germany, and other nations to PAY FOR THEIR OWN DEFENSE, instead of free-loading off of US taxpayers?

31 years and still living!

Today is my 31st birthday, and that means it's time for my annual birthday blog post, giving my readers an update on my life!

Within the last 12 months there has been some changes in my life!


1) Professional Changes

 Last year, at this time, I was working 2 positions in the education systems. I was working a part-time para-professional tutor (PPT) position (2-3 times a week) at Niu Valley Middle School (NVMS). On the other days, I continued working as a substitute teacher!

I am no longer working the tutor position at NVMS. However, I'm currently working the same position at Palolo Elementary School (PES).  I'm still eligible to continue working as a substitute teacher on the other days I'm not at PES.

While I do enjoy my work as a PPT and a substitute teacher, I only get paid for the days I'm able to work! While that works out great during the school year, it's totally non-revenue during school vacations!

Let's put it this way - I spent 7 weeks during the summer as totally unemployed! Toward the last month of the summer vacation, I did some temporary labor work for Labor Ready,  basically as a legal day-laborer!

-----

I also re-applied to work at Macy's!

A year ago, I had absolute zero-experience with retail work!  

Wanting some extra-income during last year's winter vacation, I applied and got hired for a holiday seasonal job at Kahala Mall! I was a recovery associate, meaning that I fold clothes, put stuff away, and assisted customers.  It was a fun job, but it was only temporary.

At the end of January 2011, I had my exit interview! I was also informed that Macy's  headquarters had eliminated all recovery associate positions!

In the summer, I did apply again for various jobs within the Macy's organization. I got hired for  part-time sales associate position at a different Macy's store! Now, this time, I'm working the cash register!

2) Finally starting on my Master's!

I want to continue working in the school system, but I'm tired of the non-paid vacations associated with being a PPT and a substitute  teacher. I want a job within the system that comes with a higher salary and  benefits!  It's also time that I take on a job with more responsibilities!

So, I'm about to started my Masters degree program at the University of Phoenix! This program will be in Elementary Education. My goal is to eventually become a full-time elementary teacher, hopefully with upper-elementary students!

This program involves 1 night-class a week! That might sound easy, but it also involves writing papers and doing research.

And doing all this with while still being employed in my current jobs.

But in order to get ahead in life, sacrifices need to be made! You don't get something for nothing!

But if everything goes to plan, in a few years, I'll get my master's and will be  working as a full-time teacher!  I'll be getting paid better than I do now, and also have vacation benefits! :)

3) Another sign I'm getting old

I'm starting to lose hair. I got a mini-bald spot, and you can see my hair thinning up front!

I still got my hair long, but that's because I won't be able to do so much longer.

My older brothers already lost their hair!

It's gotta be from the European side of the family.

Hair-loss is said to be inherited from the mother's side of the family tree!

And my mother's side of the family has more European DNA than my father's side.

While my mother is Puerto Rican (with Spanish and native DNA), she's also Portuguese and German. A lot lighter skin than me! Her brothers all experience hair-loss!

My father has some European DNA from his father, a Mexican soldier with Spanish ancestry! But my father's mother is purely of Native Mexican ancestry (Zapotec tribe to be more specific). And my dad has no sign of hair loss! More evidence of hair-loss being inherited from the mom's side! After all, there isn't much hair loss if your mom isn't of European ancestry!

My dad did once said "too much shampoo can bring hair loss, just use regular soap on your hair". Well, don't mind getting rid of my chest and back hairs (more inheritance from the European DNA) so I decided to experiment with using shampoo on my body hair, and use regular soap on my head hairs!

The way things are working out, "shampoo vs regular soap" got nothing to do with it! I'm stuck with European hair traits (ie too much on the front & back, but not enough on top). My father just happened to have less European DNA than me!

Enjoy my long hair while it lasts!

4) Birthdays vs the Party Poopers

I've recently heard a former classmate say something like "Who celebrates their 31st birthday!? Seriously though, I'm not much of a birthday person past thirty........... I'm also not sure if I'm up for celebrating birthdays anymore, other than for, you know, kids"

Well, that guy is entitled to his opinion!

Here's mine!

Birthdays are a reminder to celebrate life!


If you want to spend your birthday home alone, wallowing in self-pity, grievances and insecurities, you have the right to do so! I also have the right to think that's very pathetic!


Look, anyone who read my more personal blog posts knows I didn't always have it easy! (see http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html   for examples)   But I also realize other people have it worse!


Look, even in Haiti, with all its disasters, poverty and violence, people still find the time to celebrate fesitivites. Most of the greatest US party jams comes from the urban ghettos.  The Israelis don't stop partying, even though nearly all of them have been traumatized by terrorism!


If they can celebrate life, WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR ALWAYS ACTING LIKE A PROFESSIONAL VICTIM? 


WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR YOUR "EVERYTHING SUCKS" ATTITUDE?  


WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR BEING AN ENERGY VAMPIRE? (meaning someone who sucks up everyone else's energy by constantly having long depressing conversations about the negative things in life!Or even worse, constantly asking YOU about your problems!)


WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE FOR NOT CELEBRATING LIFE AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR?


==
Also, that guy's attitude of  "I'm also not sure if I'm up for celebrating birthdays anymore, other than for, you know, kids" shows that he has an attitude of "birthdays are for kids".


Well, ever notice that kids (even though they don't have much control of life) ARE NOT ASHAMED TO ENJOY LIFE? That they can play around and smile at ease?


Too many adults have been so traumatized (or at least irritated) by so much of their life, that they forget to celebrate the joys that life can bring!


A few friends, great food, fun activities are what birthdays are all about! That's what life should be about!


Birthdays are a reminder to celebrate!  Even if they happen to be an odd # birthday like 31!


So yeah, you can be all cynical about life!


As for me, I AM READY TO PARTY! :)

My letter to Congress on the Food & Drug Administration (FDA)

I do use several online services to send e-mails to Congress and other  organizations. Though I rarely do post those letters to my blog, though I think I should do so more often.

This is a letter I sent via Downsize DC (http://downsizedc.org/) on the Food & Drug Administration and it's approval policies on medications. I wrote that the FDA should be more of an advisory agency instead of being the over-managing agency it is now.


============

Make the FDA advisory, not mandatory.


I want to control what medicines I use.

I DON'T want the government to micro-manage those choices!
While I do believe there's a place for the FDA, the FDA should make advisory recommendations only. It should NOT have the power to mandate which drugs I can buy, and which I cannot.

* If pharmaceutical companies value the FDA seal of approval, then they can pay the FDA to evaluate their drugs.
* If consumers value FDA approval, then they can decide to only buy FDA-approved medications.

If the FDA's seal of approval is really so valuable, then it does NOT need to be mandatory. No coercion is necessary. Instead, the FDA should be able to sell its services through voluntary means, just like Underwriter's Laboratory does.

Consumers and doctors should be free to consult available science, and make their own decisions about which treatments to try.

All human beings are unique. Treatments that might be dangerous for one person, could be the only possible solution for another. There is zero chance that one-size-fits-all dictates can possibly account for the vastness of human variability. Patients and doctors must have the flexibility to deal with individual human uniqueness.

The FDA should serve, not rule. And Congress should do the same. Stop trying to rule me. Instead, serve me. You can do this now by introducing legislation to make the FDA advisory, NOT mandatory.

Pablo Wegesend

==============

9/11 - 10 years later

Today, it's been 10 years since the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked by hijacked planes.


1) Me on 9/11/2001

The common question that will be asked will probably be "where were you on 9/11?"

I was at University of Hawaii that time, living at the dorms!

Because of the time difference between NY and Hawaii, I was asleep when the attacks happened!

I first found out about it when my mom called me at 5:45. She mentioned that the World Trade Center blew up. At the moment, I was thinking it would've been similar to the bombing that occurred in the World Trade Center in 1993.

Only when I listened to the radio (the TV in my dorm room was screwed up at the time), when I found out it was actually airplanes that hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

Later that morning, I was in the cafeteria, when a student was concerned that a class I had with him was going to be cancelled. He also fear that Pearl Harbor might get hit again.

I had 2 classes that day. In the 1st class, the professor mentioned about the 9/11 attacks, then went on with the lesson of the day. I think it was the appropriate way to deal with it.

Acknowledge what happen, but don't let it stop everything.The 2nd class that day, the teacher just cut it short.

In that semester, I was working at the UH dorms, both the Lokelani and Lehua buildings. Coincidentally, 9/11/2001 was the 1st day I was working at the Lehua building. Hectic circumstances.

3 days after the 9/11 attacks, I was hanging out with a long-time friend. We were talking about the week's events, plus all the racist hate crimes committed against Arab Americans occurring in the mainland. Then the friend said that I better shave (at that point I didn't shave for a whole week) or someone might look at me the wrong way. (Though I am Latino, some have said I look like I'm from the Middle East, especially if I didn't shave) Needless to say, I shaved my face that night (though I kept my infamous mustache).

2) American unity after 9/11

 After the 9/11 attacks, there was a big wave of patriotism. There were American flags on everyday! Tons of new flags were bought! Same for any merchandise with the USA flag on it!

It was like the stories our grandparents told us about how the nation came together during World War 2! After all the divisiveness and bitterness surrounding the Vietnam War, there was a feeling like Americans would never go back to the unity expressed during World War 2! But it happened right after 9/11!

Of course, some Radical Left wing writers and professors  basically blamed America for being attacked! They got a whole bunch of hate coming at them that they didn't see coming! It was like those Radical Left wing writers and professors were stuck in 1968!  But we had no patience with those whose minds were stuck in 1968! 

This isn't the Vietnam War where we just but in to someone else's conflicts! Those who attacked us were based in Afghanistan! Our involvement there is totally different than our involvement in Vietnam! Most Americans understood, and those Radical Left wingers stuck in 1968 got the ridicule they deserve!

---

However, American unity seemed to decline since 9/11.

Part of it was disagreement over whether the US troops should've gone into Iraq! Iraq had zero involvement in 9/11, just like China has zero involvement in Pearl Harbor!  Many felt it was a distraction from the war in Afghanistan! However, there were concerns that Iraq might still want to retaliate against the USA over our defending Kuwait from Iraqi troops back in 1991!

Other factors also caused the decline in American unity! Part of it was the anger over the slow action taken after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans! Part of it was the economic decline since the 2008 stock market crash! Part of was just war fatigue and 9/11 fatigue!

3) Anti-Muslim paranoia in Europe and North America

While the Radical Muslims have a very dangerous agenda, I still think there is too much anti-Muslim paranoia out there!

In Europe, where there are many immigrants from Muslim countries, many native Europeans are paranoid about a "Muslim takeover".

This fear has inspired Norway's white supremacist Anders Breivik to go on a shooting spree earlier this year, against those he felt were too tolerant on non-white immigrants.


Here, Gary Younge sets the record straight

http://www.thenation.com/article/162270/europes-homegrown-terrorists

The general framing goes like this. Europe is being overrun by Muslims and other non-white immigrants, who are outbreeding non-Muslims at a terrifying rate. Unwilling to integrate culturally and unable to compete intellectually, Muslim populations have become hotbeds of terrorist sympathy and activity. Their presence threatens not only security but the liberal consensus regarding women’s rights and gay rights that Western Europe has so painstakingly established; and overall, this state of affairs represents a fracturing of society that is losing its common values. This has been allowed to happen in the name of not offending specific ethnic groups, otherwise known as multiculturalism.

One could spend all day ripping these arguments to shreds, but for now let’s just deal with the facts.

There have been predictions that the Muslim population of Europe will almost double by 2015 (Oner Taspiner, the Brookings Institution); double by 2020 (Don Melvin, the Associated Press); and be 20 percent of the continent by 2050 (Esther Pan, Council on Foreign Relations). Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches: “The number I heard is every 32 years the population, the European population of Europe will be reduced by 50 percent. That’s how bad their birthrates are. This is in many respects a dying continent from the standpoint of European-Europeans.”

This is nonsense. The projections are way off. While Muslims in Europe do have higher birthrates than non-Muslims, their birthrates are falling. A Pew Forum study, published in January 2011, forecast an increase of Muslims in European population from 6 percent in 2010 to 8 percent in 2030.

The Norwegian terrorist Breivik feared a Muslim takeover. But Muslims make up 3 percent of Norway. Black Americans have a greater presence in Alaska.

[my note: that reminds me: when Sarah Palin ran for VP, she was mocked for being from a state with "hardly any black people", nevermind the same was true about "the 1st black president"! But yet, some fear a "Muslim takeover of Norway", when their presence is VERY TINY, even tinier than the presence of African-descendants in Alaska]

[When I posted a link to that article on facebook, a right-winger on my list mentioned some mullah saying
"we will take over Europe because we breed like mosquitoes."

My response was : yeah, but from the 3% they are today? 3%! Some mullah talks about "breeding like mosquitoes" but it's all talk! As the article said, even the Muslim birth-rate WITHIN Europe has been declining! So much for "breeding like mosquitoes"! And even if the jihadis in Europe do have many kids, let's remember, a lot of kids either rebel or ignore their parents! ]

More from Younge's article:

Nor do immigrants struggle to integrate. In Britain, Asian Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus all marry outside of their own groups at the same rates as whites. For most ethnic minorities in Britain, roughly half or more of their friends are white. Only 20 percent of those born in Britain have friends only from their own group. According to a Pew Research Center survey, the principal concerns of Muslims in France, Germany and Spain are unemployment and Islamic extremism.

In most of Europe the official politics of multiculturalism that the likes of Breivik and more mainstream politicians rail against—a liberal, state-led policy of encouraging and supporting cultural difference at the expense of national cohesion—is an absolute fiction. Last year German chancellor Angela Merkel claimed the “multikulti” experiment had failed. Earlier this year, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the same thing. The truth is that neither country ever tried such an experiment. “We never had a policy of multiculturalism,” explains Mekonnen Mesghena, head of migration and intercultural management at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. “We had a policy of denial: denial of immigration and of diversity. Now it’s like we are waking up from a long trance.”

The real object of their ire is the existence of “other”—meaning non-white—cultures and races in Europe: the fact of “other” cultures, not the promotion of them. The single greatest obstacle to integration in most of Europe is not Islam or multiculturalism but racism and the economic and academic disadvantage that comes with it.

And, finally, Muslims are nowhere near the greatest terrorist threat. According to Europol, between 2006 and 2008 only .4 percent of terrorist plots (including attempts and fully executed attacks) in Europe were from Islamists. The lion’s share (85 percent) were related to separatism. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem. But it’s not on the scale or of the nature that those first out of the gate on Friday claimed it was. Put bluntly, if you have to assume anything when a bomb goes off in Europe, think region, not religion.

[in other words, most terrorism in Europe has more to do with folks like the IRA who want Northern Ireland to separate from the UK. Or the Basque separatists who want their land to be separate from Spain. And similar folks in other European nations]


=======
And on the Muslim population in the USA, Steve Chapman sets the record straight!

http://reason.com/archives/2011/09/08/who-really-kept-us-safe-after

This surprising record has been attributed to excellent work by the FBI, CIA, and other law enforcement agencies, the war in Afghanistan, and the Bush administration's aggressive treatment of suspected terrorists. But on the list of those deserving credit, the first is a group hardly anyone would have predicted: American Muslims.

(skipped paragraphs,)

There are too many targets to secure them all. It would have been a simple task for a handful of minimally trained volunteers to keep us in a constant state of fear.

But the volunteers, with rare exceptions, didn't come forward. Charles Kurzman, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writes in Foreign Policy magazine that "approximately a dozen people in the country were convicted in the five years after 9/11 for having links with al-Qaida" and "fewer than 40 Muslim Americans planned or carried out acts of domestic terrorism."

That may sound like a lot, until you remember that there are 15,000 murders a year in this country. A report from the Rand Corp., a national security think tank, noted that of 83 terrorist attacks that took place between 9/11 and the end of 2009, only three "were clearly connected with the jihadist cause." Three!

We hear a lot of allegations of radical American imams preaching jihad. If so, they are not getting through. The simple fact is that most American Muslims don't sympathize with religious extremism and almost none are willing to practice it.


And why should they be? According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, "They are overwhelmingly satisfied with the way things are going in their lives (82 percent) and continue to rate their communities very positively as places to live (79 percent excellent or good)."

In other words, despite the fear-mongering from the likes of Jerry Coffee, Michelle Maglalang Malkin, Pamela Geller and other losers, the amount of US Muslims involved in terrorism is VERY TINY! 

The ones most likely to kill you are those of the same race as you! And since, most of the US population is of European ancestry, most of them are in danger of being killed by another European-American, NOT by some North African or Middle Eastern dude screaming jihad!


But it's just easier to scare people about those from a different culture!


-------
Last year, there was a debate over having a mosque being built near Ground Zero.


People claimed having a mosque near Ground Zero is "an insult" to the victims. That's bull-stuff!

For one thing, some of the victims were Muslims. In fact, in BOTH the World Trade Center AND the Pentagon, there was a prayer room for Muslim employees!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/nyregion/11religion.html

Did that surprise you? If you're over 18 years old and that article surprised you, then you are an EXTREMELY ignorant person!

A mosque near Ground Zero is only an insult to extremely ignorant people who think in stereotypes!

It is NOT an insult to the victims! The people who were working and visiting the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 were of many faiths! There were Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and yes, Muslims!

If that shocks you, you are mega-ignorant! Are you really that lacking in brains that you didn't know there were employees within World Trade Center that are from Islamic cultures? Are you really that lacking in brains that you really thought only Christians, Jews and atheists were employed in the World Trade Center?

New York is an immigrant city, where people come from all over the world! Even Muslim countries! Get over it already!

4) The Decline of Islamic terrorism

After the last 10 years of the War on Terror, it seems to me that radical Muslim terrorism has been in serious decline!
 
Part of that is Al Quaida being chased off their bases in Afghanistan, drone attacks in Pakistan and Yemen, crackdowns on terror cells worldwide. And off course, Osama bin Laden being killed and dumped in the ocean!
 
But also, many in the Muslim countries are turning more of their anger at their own country's leaders. Already, the dictators of 3 North African countries have been chased out of power this year! And there are increasing anti-dictator protests in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, and Iran! In all those cases, the protesters are less concerned about past interference from the US, Europe or Israel. They're more concerned about their everyday reality, which has less to do with foreign powers and more to do with their national leadership!
 
Some are concerned about radical Muslims taking advantage of the chaos that comes with the transfer of power when a dictator loses power. But every country has such chaotic transitions.
 
Do you think the USA transition to freedom was easy? Even though the Founding Fathers were writing beautiful words about freedom, it was followed by multiple decades of conflict over whether slavery should exist in the USA! It took a  bloody civil war to resolve the issue! And even that was followed by a century or racist segregation! It was only in the 1960's that all racial groups had their official civil rights intact! That didn't stop all unofficial racism that continued!
 
I dont' write that stuff to bash the USA! In fact today,  the USA is WAY AHEAD OF MOST OF THE WORLD when it comes to personal freedom, religious freedom, economic freedom and racial integration! I mentioned USA's stuggles over slavery  to point that the transition to a freer, more liberalized society in the Muslim world WILL NOT BE EASY! There will be decades of conflict with ultra-conservative Muslims and the more Westernized liberals!   We have to give them time to get their act together! We can't do it for them, real change has to come from within!

5) Soulja Boy's insult to the troops

Today's anniversary of 9/11 gives it very bad timing for Soulja Boy's controversial lyrics.

While Soulja Boy couldn't be destroyed by rap rivals like Ice-T, Soulja Boy destroyed himself with his lyrics to "Let's Be Real".

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/09/06/soulja-boy-apologizes-after-members-armed-forces-slam-his-anti-military-song/#ixzz1XOWi2ZO3

In that song, most likely just meant to be a freestyle in which rappers just say whatever rhymes comes to mind, regardless of whether it makes sense, Soulja Boy said "F**k the FBI and the army troops ... fighting for what? Be your own man "

Yep, this being the anniversary year of 9/11, and 10 years of the War on Terror, Soulja Boy really screwed it up this time!

And real soldier tells "soulja boy" off at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsSTKqzrIYk&feature=share

And he told DeAndre Way (Soulja Boy's real name) to "change his name".

I always thought it was bizzarre for DeAndre Way to call himself a "soulja boy" since he's NEVER been in the military!  You want soldier status (even if you mispell soldier as "soulja)? It has to be earned!   It's NOT earned by swagger and boastful lyrics! It's earned by fighting real battles in real dangerous conditions where real death is a risk!  Verbal battles with other rappers don't count! Real battles with real bullets and real explosives in Iraq and Afghanistan count!  

The Police Can't Protect You Everytime - the UK edition

While people tell you "you don't need a gun to defend yourself, just call the police", I have exposed several incidents in which the police were NOWHERE TO BE FOUND during moments of mass chaos.

In one blog post, I mentioned how the police either did nothing or were too overwhelmed during mass shooting sprees and riots.

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2008/12/police-cant-protect-you-everytime.html

And earlier this year, i mentioned about the infamous shooting spree in Norway, where it took MORE THAN AN HOUR for the police to arrive at a camp where the shooter was killing children! MORE THAN AN HOUR!

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2011/07/police-cant-protect-you-everytime.html

Not only that, most of Norway's police were UNARMED! That's right, the police were DEFENSELESS against an armed suspect! Norway's police force isn't much of a police force!



Now, the riots that took place in the UK last  month shows more evidence that the police aren't always out to protect you!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024412/London-riots-Police-soft-looters-ordered-stand-observe.html

Police were ordered to 'stand and observe' rioters as they laid waste to London's streets instead of confronting them, it was claimed today.

Read that again people! The police were REQUIRED to STAND AND OBSERVE RIOTERS!

That's right, if you were getting viciously attacked, or if your home and workplace is being vandalized, the police could be ordered to STAND AND OBSERVE!

A police that stands and observe is TOTALLY WORTHLESS! But that's how the police acted at the begginning of the London riots!


More from that article

 Scotland Yard insiders have revealed teams were frustrated at their inability to wade in and arrest troublemakers while they looted and burnt out shops.


They had apparently been told to try and contain any violence but not to haul away offenders who would instead be identified through video footage later, according to The Times.


It was only on Monday night, when the riots escalated still further, that tactics changed and armoured vehicles called Jankels were used to disperse the crowds.


On Tuesday night, some 16,000 officers also flooded London's streets - almost triple the previous night's deployment - and they were finally given the green light to confront the gangs.

(skipped paragraphs)

The police's tactics have led to much public criticism from residents and business owners, who are bemused at the 'soft' approach when their livelihoods are being ruined.



Eye witnesses have told of ranks of police standing by while mobs of youths rampaged and stole from shop fronts and terrorised residents.



Not only were the police not allowed to stop looters and vandals, civilians aren't even allowed to defend themselves BY ALL MEANS NECCESSARY!


http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100100323/if-british-shopkeepers-had-the-right-to-bear-arms-vicious-thugs-would-think-twice-before-looting/


During the Los Angeles riots in 1992, many store owners in the south central part of the city defended their property against marauding gangs with their own weapons, and succeeded in protecting their livelihoods and thousands of jobs that depended on them. And across the country, Americans admired their bravery, thankful for the Second Amendment to the US Constitution which protects their right to keep and bear arms, and thereby defend themselves, their families and their property. In contrast in London in 2011, shopkeepers were left at the mercy of feral, brutal thugs acting with impunity across whole swathes of the capital as the police were overwhelmed. If they had the right to bear arms and defend their stores with force, it would have been a very different story, and brutal looters would have met firm resistance.

 Britain’s gun laws are among the most draconian in the world, yet the nation has some of the highest levels of violent crime and burglary in the West, and there is no shortage of gun crime in major cities such as London and Manchester. While criminal gangs are often able to acquire firearms on the black market, ordinary law-abiding British citizens are barred from owning guns for self-defence.


The riots in London, the West Midlands and the North West should prompt a renewed debate in Britain over the right to bear arms by private citizens. The shocking scenes of looting across the country are a reminder that the police cannot always be relied upon to protect homes and businesses during a period of widespread social disorder. The defence of life and property can never be entrusted solely to the state, not least when there is a complete breakdown in law and order. As we have seen this week in Britain, when individuals are barred from defending their own property from mobs of vicious thugs, sheer anarchy and terror reins.


=======

Even though it was hard for the law-abiding citizens of the UK to get guns to defend themselves, some store owners did resort to baseball bats to defend their property against looters

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/london-riots-fighting-neighbourhoods

When the rioters came to attack the premises of Kurdish and Turkish businesses in Hackney's Stoke Newington High Street and Kingsland Road on Monday night, the owners were waiting for them.



"It was between about nine and 10 at night," said Yilmaz Karagoz, sitting in his coffee shop next to a jeweller's shop that has been shuttered since Sunday when the rioting began and a pharmacy that closed a day after.


"There were a lot of them. We came out of our shops but the police asked us to do nothing. But the police did not do anything so, as more came, we chased them off ourselves." The staff from a local kebab restaurant ran at the attackers, doner knives in their hands. "I don't think they will be coming back," Karagoz said.


On Green Street in East Ham a similar-sized group of rioters was chased away by several hundred Asian residents. And in Bethnal Green local shopkeepers came out to defend their property.


Tuesday night there were further reports of communities taking steps to defend themselves. Dozens of men were guarding the main Sikh temple in Southall, west London.


Around 200 people were walking around the centre of Eltham, south-east London, following rumours that the area was going to be the latest place to be hit by disturbances. The group, predominantly men, had been congregating in pubs since the rumours began to circulate in mid-afternoon. "This is a white working-class area and we are here to protect our community," said one man. In Enfield, north London, about 70 men were seen chasing a group of youths.


Further anecdotal evidence also suggested that in other cities hit by Monday night's violence, communities were also remaining vigilant. On Amazon sales of baseball bats and truncheons rocketed overnight. Sales of one aluminium bat increased 65-fold in a day, albeit from low initial sales, while a truncheon jumped from a sales rank of 5,973 to 136.


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When the trouble came, hairdressers, sales assistants and butchers were among the scores of Turkish and Kurdish workers who stood outside their businesses in Green Lanes, Haringey, from 8pm having been warned by police to expect trouble.





The Guardian filmed others – some armed with baseball bats – on guard outside shops and restaurants in Kingsland Road, only a mile away from Hackney's burning high street. Three workers from Re-Style Hairdressers were among those out in Green Lanes, after word spread that an attack was imminent at about 4pm.


"I was here with my brother and my boss waiting for them until about midnight," said 16-year-old Huseyin Beytar. "If some guy ever breaks a window in this street, all the Turkish Kurdish people come down to protect the shops. We're like a family."


"We have to do things for ourselves," said Huseyin. "We have to look after each other. If they come here tonight there will be a fight, a big fight."


"We were outside ready and expecting them," said the manager of Turkish Food Market, who asked not to be named.


"But I felt very panicky because we are not safe from either the rioters or police.


"We put all of our efforts into this shop. It took 20 years to get it like this. But we do not know about our rights."I'm scared that the police and the government will attack us if we defend our businesses.
"We are being squeezed between the two."

 
I agree with those store owners with the baseball bats! Those who try to vandalize and loot those stores deserve to get their heads bashed by those people they're trying to victimize.
 
But using a baseball bat requires you to get near the person you're trying to hit. You don't need to get close to someone if you got a gun. You could just aim at a distance! That distance factor makes gun much more effective in defending stores than baseball bats!

 

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Now, I'm NOT advocating that we just get rid of the police, nor am I saying using guns in self-defense is as easy as it looks on TV! 

But most criminals pick on the defenseless. They overwhelming majority of criminals are NOT interested in a fair fight! In most cases, most of them run like cowards if you just point a gun at them!

We need the police to investigate crimes and prevent crime. But they're humans, and they're flawed as the rest of us!

In an emergency, you're on your own in the crucial first few minutes! 911 can help, but help will arrive in minutes! Someone can brutally physically damage you IN SECONDS!