Alcohol-Related Crash Victims Aren't the Only Victims

It was a hot evening on July 25, 2008. Instead of driving directly home after work, I had to make a trip to my mechanic to pick-up my sports car which just got the fuel pump replaced. On my way home, the road was blocked just a mile from my home. Apparently, a former classmate of mine, Ryan Hock, was involved in a serious car accident. Read about it here:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/36914279.html

Ryan's injury occurred when he was hit by Daniel L. Kannegiesser, 36, of Oak Creek, who drifted over the center line of County Highway XX in a Ford van and struck Ryan's Toyota Celica, according to the criminal complaint. His blood-alcohol level was 0.072, slightly under the 0.08 legal threshold for drunken driving. "All I did was look down for a second and the next thing I knew, I had crossed the line," he said, according to the complaint. "There was nothing I could do."

Ryan's life was destroyed and may be forced to live out the remainder of his existence as a vegetable. Kannegiesser was charged with causing great bodily harm while intoxicated, which carries a maximum 12 1/2 -year sentence and a $25,000 fine.

While it's unfortunate this happened to Ryan, it could've happened to anybody, including myself considering the accident occurred on at the time and place I generally would be passing through. This tragedy has hit Ryan and his family hard, but nobody ever thinks about the other guy - Daniel Kannegiesser.

Kannegiesser's BAC was perfectly within the legal limits. Although he had alcohol in his system, it was in a small enough amount to not greatly impair his ability to drive. Yet, he was involved in an accident anyway - not because of the alcohol, but because he momentarily took his eyes off the road, presumably to change the radio or something of that sort.

Kannegiesser's situation can happen to all of us as well. There are plently of times we are not 100% focused on the road. We deal with distractions all the time when driving. Usually these distractions don't cause accidents, but they can and do.

Although the entire situation is unfortunate, the thing that nobody is focusing on is that Kannegiesser was charged with a felony for Injury by Intoxicated Use/Vehicle in addition to failure to report an accident, open intoxicants in a vehicle, and unsafe lane deviation. I agree that Kannegiesser should be found guilty of the three lesser charges (he pleaded no contest), but not the felony charge. The specific charge is Wisconsin Statute 346.63(1)(a):

No person may drive or operate a motor vehicle
while under the influence of an intoxicant, a controlled substance,
a controlled substance analog or any combination of an
intoxicant, a controlled substance and a controlled substance analog,
under the influence of any other drug to a degree which renders
him or her incapable of safely driving, or under the combined
influence of an intoxicant and any other drug to a degree which
renders him or her incapable of safely driving

Twenty years of self-serving "studies," public service advertisements, victim testimonials and political pandering have completely confused and deceived the American public on the subject of drinking and driving, including the 70 to 80 percent of the adult population that drinks beverages containing alcohol

I think it's obvious that the cause of the accident was not paying attention to the road and drifting into a lane of oncomming traffic. I seriously doubt that alcohol was the cause and therefore Kannegiesser should not be held liable (given that his BAC was only 0.072). I fundamentally agree with the positions the National Motorist Association has when it comes to DUI/DWI Laws:

http://www.motorists.org/dui/

If you want to provide financial support for Daniel Kannegiesser's legal defense, his publically listed address according to court records is:

Daniel Kannegiesser
2636 East Sharon Drive
Oak Creek, WI 53154

Our hearts go out to ALL victims, including both Ryan Hock, Daniel Kannegiesser, and their families.

A Warning from Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was concise in his early warning to the American nation, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

The American people HAVE allowed private banks to control the issuance of their currency. The private bank that is controling it is called the "Federal Reserve." There is nothing anymore "federal" about the Federal Reserve Bank than there is about Federal Express (aka "FedEx").

Now, my friends, 2009 will be the year of massive deflation followed by something called "hyper-inflation." The housing market which is already hurt, will collapse. The prices for most everything will collapse. The only problem is that wages will fall faster than prices for consumer goods and services. This will hurt our standard of living. People will lose their homes and will need to combine resources - and move back in with family members.

The Obama administration won't want to get caught with it's thumb up its butt, so it's going to try and "fix" things by only making them worse in the process. Good ol' Obama and Company will print up some more dollars on that printing press they have in the basement to try and counter deflation - and they will be so successful that hyper inflation will result. Towards the end of 2009 or early 2010, we will need to start buying wheel barrows. Why? You're going to need to fill it with money in order to buy a loaf of bread at the grocery store. The American dollar will be so worthless it will take many of them to buy something we now consider cheap.

How do you protect yourself from this grim future? Buy GOLD and SILVER. Buy it now and buy a lot. Then, have your friends and family do the same.

How Obama Stole the 2008 Election

President Elect Barack Obama stole the 2008 presidential election with just 22% of the American citizens voting for him.

"Wait?!?  What did he just say?  I thought Obama got 53% of the popular vote!"

Let me break the numbers down for you.  As of July 2008, the USA population is estimated to be 303,824,640 according to the US Census:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html

According to CNN, Obama got 66,882,230 votes:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/

This means that 4 out of 5 Americans either voted for somebody other than Obama (McCain & third party candidates) or they didn't vote at all.  No matter how you slice it, the numbers don't lie - Obama won the election with only 22% of Americans voting for him.  You can't debate that.

However, you can debate the reasons as to why some voters didn't vote at all.  Perhaps some people felt their vote wouldn't really make a difference.  Maybe voters thought their vote wouldn't be counted due to tampering of the votes.  Some voters had other obligations on election day while others were just simply too lazy to get out and vote.  Some people aren't eligible to vote (people under the age of 18 & felons for example).  Many potential voters didn't vote because they weren't happy with the choices the two big parties gave them.

The real problem here isn't that Obama stole the election with just 1 in 5 Americans voting for him, the real problem is that our government has been hijacked all in the name of "democracy."  Ask the average citizens what form of government the United States has and they will tell you we have a democracy...yet if you recite the Pledge of Allegiance, you'll know that's not the form of government we once had:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag...AND TO THE REPUBLIC...with liberty and justice for all."

Yes, that's right.  The United States was founded as a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC.   What's the difference between a constitutional republic and the democracy we have now?  In a democracy, the majority rules.  Put another way, 51% of the population controls the other 49% (or whatever the split may be at any given time).  In a constitutional republic, there are limits placed on the government in that no laws can be passed to control other people.  The purpose of a Constitutional Republic is to place limits on the tyranny of the majority.

Why is this relevant to the 2008 presidential election?  Simply put, the federal government and the executive branch specifically (the office of the president) has exceeded its power.  President Obama has too much power to pass laws that take freedom and liberty away from one group of people and give it to another.  Since 4 out of 5 Americans didn’t vote for him in the first place, this is a very dangerous situation we are in.  The only solution is to reduce the power of the federal government and return it to where it belongs: the people.

Why Tuition is Out of Control

Tuition is not only the most expensive it's ever been in history, it continues to rise exponentially, even faster than inflation.  In the past, students could pay for their education, food, and housing costs by working full-time during the summer - and sometimes also working part-time during the school year.  Upon graduation, those students would graduate with their degrees, debt free.  Why was this?

The universities simply could not charge more than what the students were able to make with their part-time jobs.  Effectively, the students ability to pay educational costs kept a limit on how much universities could charge.

Then, Uncle Sam stepped in.  Big government spenders decided to siphon money away from society to create huge financial aid packages.  While on it's surface, it seems like an equitable thing to do.  After all, the government was helping its young citizens get an education that could then be used to obtain higher paying jobs.  The problem is that now the students had access to much more money to spend on their educations.  Accordingly, the universities raised prices because the students now had more money to pay the tuition bill, even though it was borrowed money.

What did the universities do with all that extra money?  They squandered it of course!  The money goes to pay for silly things like $100,000-200,000 salaries for professors who teach 2 classes per week, leaving the other learning activities up to the teacher aids and students.  Universities also decide to add other luxuries like having a library in each building and spending millions and millions to update student unions and fancy landscaping.  Essentially, the if the school gets the money, they always find some silly way to spend it.

Now, when the student graduates, he is burdened with loads of debt.  Since Uncle Sam wasted so much money on educational programs, less money is available to for business investments.  Since business investment spending is lower, now the recent college graduate also has a hard time finding a job!

It’s time to stop the insanity.  I propose eliminating all government run education and educational programs.  Instead, a voucher should be given to each student to use at a private school of his or her choice.  The competition between schools will reduce costs and increase quality.

The Freedom of Speech is in Danger

At the District 5 Milwaukee Police Station, somebody reportedly drew a bullet on the picture of President-Elect Barrack Obama.  This drawning was found on a newspaper, in the trash.  Because of this, the police department has launched an internal investigation (presumably because the person that did this act was an employee of the police department) and the U.S. Secret Service has been notified.  Common Council President Willie Hines said "I think it really speaks poorly and badly of the coward that did the act."

What is this world comming to?  Somebody may have thought it would have been funny to edit the photo of Barrack Obama on the newspaper.  Maybe this person actually is disappointed with the recent election results.  Either way, this person is not intentionally harming anybody.  Afterall, after he or she drew the picture, it ended up in the garbage can anyway.  The United States Constitution protects freedom of speech in the first amendment.

Now, because this person choose to exercise their first amendment rights, he/she could be facing disciplinary action from his/her employer and possibly termination.  Having a black mark on this person's record would make it hard for him/her to find similar employment in another police agency, and could potentially remove his/her's ability to support his/her family.

Furthermore, because the U.S. Secret Service has been notified, this person could be facing criminal charges - all for harmlessly exercising their freedom of speech rights.  In the past, a crime didn't take place until the criminal actually committed a crime.  Now, your thoughts can be crimes.

Contact the Milwaukee Police Department and let them know YOUR opinion on this issue.  Anthony T. Smith is the captain and his phone number is 414-935-7250.  Then, contact the common council's president, Willie L. Hines, Jr. at whines@milwaukee.gov or 414-286-2221.