Mr. Foley's Shooting

Steve Foley, the ex-Charger, who was shot by an off duty police officer has been charged with misdemeanor drunk driving, or as they call it now, under the influence. He might be guilty, he might not, the courts will decide.

The charges against his girlfriend should never have been filed, why add fuel to a fire when you can just let her go.

The off duty police officer that shot him, he should have already been fired. His actions in noticing the erratic driving and calling for backup were fine. His confronting Mr. Foley resulting in the off-duty officer in a civilian vehicle feeling trapped at the end of a cul-de-sac requiring him to shoot Mr. Foley shows at best sheer incompetence. He screwed up bad and needs to face the consequences or once again the public loses their faith in law enforcement.

I know nothing about this officer other then what the newspapers have reported and these are bare facts with nothing about his personality and goals in life. I will say that the situtation he finds himself in is the exactly the sort of situation I told my father an officer in his hometown was likely to end up in. That officer is very gung ho and willing to charge in and do anything. He manages to get mentioned in the papers for virtually every major police story in the town. Seems odd with something like 28 officers one is mentioned well over 50% of the time.

Police have a tough job that gets little recognition. Like many jobs they are expected to do it perfectly. Anything less is a failure and recognition is hard to come by since how do you surpass perfection? But within their ranks they have to watch out for those that are a bit too gung-ho and jeopardize the respect and admiration required for police to do their job effectively.

Steve Irwin's Death

I feel very sorry for the family of Steve Irwin as I would for any family who suffers a loss such as theirs. My curiosity is aroused by the news media once again though. Why is his wife always described as American born?

Do the Australians consider that a mark of honor? A traitorous act? Is it the greedy Americans trying to take credit in some small way for Steve Irwin? Is that all she has going for her?

If some white guy were to die and the media started reporting that his black wife was flying home with the kids there would be rioting in the streets.

How fickle we are.