I'm just two generations removed from Germany and so is my wife. We still have "folks" of the Austrian and Bavarian persuasions so let's just say we have some mildly vested interest in this situation. UPI reports that violent protests have broken out last week in Germany amid massive peaceful assemblies that sought to derail the G8 summit in the city of Rostock. It seems that although many "leaders" of the demonstrations have attempted to quell the passions of their followers, those efforts have been at least temporarily futile.

It is no surprise to me that certain of the demonstrators have become majorly unglued. When one considers that the protest movement itself is so heavily left leaning, it's surprising to me that they have retained any order and control of themselves at all. Socialists, liberalists, anti-capitalists and anarchists, that's who most of these rioters are. I can almost hear them from here saying, "We don't like what we have so chaos is our last vestige of control."

I don't stand in the way of any person's right to protest, in fact, the democratic nations of the world have made provision for that. What I can't seem to bring myself to grips with is this wimp-like, face hiding, hood raised, pansy-assed style of rock throwing, car burning protest. What a bunch of puppies they are. They're all full of big words of hatred and world upheaval, but they choose to deliver their message from behind goofy masks. Back in my day, if you had a message to deliver to the establishment, you got right in a cop's face, close enough so he could smell your breath, you locked eyes with him and delivered your message firmly and in person within earshot of the press. If the cop was a man (or lady), they'd accept your message straight-faced and wait for you to move on. If the cop was an establishment fascist, you generally got grabbed by the collar, were given a set of stainless steel bracelets and spent the night in the tank. Either way, your message got through and there was no measurable property damage.

Protests can be the vehicles of change. Riots are just plain blatant stupidity. Anonymous rioters are criminals of the worst sort. Common sense and history dictate that peaceful demonstrations have the greatest effect over time. I have no other more effective solutions than that to offer.

G8 protests get ugly in Germany: What a bunch of Dachshund puppies. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

By now, the criminals in Nigeria and other similar vermin must be thoroughly convinced that we here in America are a bunch of rich fools waiting to be parted from our money. The reason I write this is because yet another round of siphoning loose green backs has begun and some well meaning people have been sucked in for as much as $1500. This time though the scam in question has a special twist to the bait. Internet scammers are soliciting your dollars to assist in the rescue of hapless puppies trapped in third world countries.

The scammers offer the poor canines for free but of course every rescue mission comes with it's price. The puppies will need shots, visas, passports, luggage, boarding passes and such. What boggles the mind here is that kind hearted people are sending money to these solicitors with out even checking their claims out first. It is as if they have nothing better to do than send money to every stranger with a sob story.

Please, if you are inclined to answer any solicitation which asks for your money without first providing substantial basis for your trust, find several people or organizations that you do trust and ask them about it. Blindly sending cash in answer to a slick presentation is like paying money for a car that the salesman promises is kept in a special secret garage on the other side of town. Your best bet is to restrict your philanthropic efforts to projects which are close to your home. There are hundreds of organizations in every city and every state which are completely worthy of your donations. Find one and give it an amount that you are comfortable with.

Nigerian email scam uses puppies to steal money originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 May 2007 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.