Friday, November 30, 2007
Steady Pimpin’
Oh geez...
Ron Paul wears studded high heels.
Get Your Own Road
Cause you’re not welcome on mine.
If I were the LA County Fire Department, I would send this schmuck a bill the next time he needs assistance.
When Engine Company No. 116 received a $100 bill from a toll road agency, firefighters figured it was just a misunderstanding.
Capt. Bob Viers of the Los Angeles County Fire Department was tasked to sort it out with the Transportation Corridor Agencies. An L.A. engine had traversed the 133 Freeway without paying last month on an assumption that emergency vehicles are exempt from paying such tolls.
“You know this is a fire truck,” Viers told a tollroad representative. “I can’t believe you’re fining us for it or even chasing it.”
But the toll road agency didn’t back down. The firefighters would have to pay.
“I’m trying to understand how you’re in Carson and end up on the 133 to go to San Diego,” said Frank Barbagallo, deputy director of toll compliance. “This individual was expecting not to pay a toll merely because he was an (emergency) plated vehicle.”
Barbagallo said no emergency vehicles paid tolls when the wild fires raged throughout the region.
“We waived all emergency vehicles and tried to make sure that none of them got any violations whatsoever,” he said.
The engine company, based in Carson, fought the Mt. Palomar Fire in San Diego for nearly a week. Viers said the truck that used the 133 was either on the way down to the fires or attending a fireman’s funeral. The specific L.A. engine, however, had used the toll roads to go to a funeral, Barbagallo said, citing a conversion a tollroad manager had with Viers.
L.A. County Fire Department engines do not have free access unless they are fighting fires in the vicinity or have a reason to be on the toll roads, he said.
The California Highway Patrol, state Department of Transportation, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Orange County Fire Authority and some police departments have free access. The Orange County Transportation Authority’s transit vehicles are also exempt on the Foothill Eastern.
The TCA assesses a $47.50 processing fee on top of the toll amount due if notices are ignored. A subsequent violation notice tacks on an additional $47.50 fine.
Viers talked to a manager, who said the firefighters had to pay $20 instead of $100.
“I still thought that was ridiculous,” Viers said.
Ultimately, Viers had the fine knocked down to $5 and charged it to his credit card.
“I just thought that was kind of strange,” he said. “For me the easier way to get rid of the hassle was to pay the guy.”
I forget where I read it, although it might have been Barry who wrote about it, but this begins the debate about the privatization of public utilities. I’m a big fan of subcontracting various public necessities to private agencies. Private agencies do it faster, for less money, and in most cases, for better quality. Government employees have no incentive to do good work anymore. Their pay sucks (or they’re paid a boatload to do nothing, thus allowing for them to wallow in their own wealth), they’re rarely appreciated, and the new hires tend to be those who cannot get a job anywhere else. Making it a two-way road, no one wants to work for the government, so the only choice that government agencies have is to hire from the bottom of the bucket.
In other words, it’s not hard to understand why the streets in Los Angeles are in the same shape as the dirt paths in third-world countries. They completely suck. Orange County got smart and contracted with private firms to build toll roads that have little or not traffic, and traverse through areas, thus allowing for people to get to places much faster than before. Instead of taking five freeways that end up leaving one hundred miles on your odometer, you’re now taking one toll road that is a straight twenty-five mile quest.
However, by completely shelling the system out to a private firm, we now see a complete abuse of power by the private agencies, as with the situation in the above article. The toll road is owned by a private company, so they can technically do what they want and fine who they want, but common sense is also telling me that in the case of emergencies, state law supercedes the desires of the private firms, and the open road becomes an open road. The LA City Fire engine was from Carson (a small city in the south side of Los Angeles, an area commonly and formerly known as “South Central Los Angeles), and any fool with half a brain could come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be in Orange County for a simple joyride, but to fight the fires that ravaged all of Southern California for an entire week. Even high school kids know and understand about mutual aid. This Carson engine was on the way to a funeral, and anyone who has ever been in a caravan of law enforcement and fire vehicles for a funeral knows that it is related to our duties, as the peace officer or firefighter was a victim of our chosen profession. To me, that counts as being in the line of duty.
The only conclusion that I’m sure of is that Frank Barbagallo of Transportation Corridor Agencies is a major jerk.
Update to the winners
I mailed out your prizes yesterday, so please let me know when you get them, so that I will quit worrying, m’kay?
In other news, I have a general question.
I saw two security guards yesterday, handling what appeared to be several thousand dollars, and one of the guards - the one carrying the money - had an empty holster! No gun anywhere, as far as I could see, although she appeared to have several clips of ammo, a can of mace, a small Maglite, and even a pair of cuffs, but no gun!
Other than an unloaded gun, is there anything on the Earth more useless than an empty holster? (Yeah, I thought of them, too, but at least they break up the blankness of the male chest.)
Think it over and get back to me…
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Mohammed Bobblehead Toy
I love it!
In reaction to this, I present this:
To celebrate an ancient religion that is incompatible with the rest of the world, I suggest we all get bobbleheads of their infamous prophet and place him in cool locations… such as the front of the hood of our car. “I drive a Ford Mohammedhead.” Sounds great!
This teacher wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, nor the brightest bulb in the box. She went to a third world country dominated by a religion that hates everyone and everything. As proof of that, she’s getting lashed for naming a teddy bear after their fearless leader [who raped young boys]. The actions is hardly deserving of the punishment.
Liberals are going to continue defending Islam and the Islamic terrorists around the world, and I’m going to keep dissing Islam every chance I get. This will be especially true when Islam does things like in the article above, which proves that it is ancient and unworthy of modern society.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Regarding Heroes
I mean the TV show.
Just two words regarding the episode just finished.
Holy. Shit.
Anthropogenic Climate Change
It’s the purest nonsense, of course.
For the tree-huggers out there who are going ape-shit about Global warming, I have just a few questions.
1. What is the single largest source of heat energy for our planet, and how do you propose to moderate its influence? (It doesn’t do us any good to stop the greenhouse gases trapping the heat if it is still arriving faster than we can get rid of it, and there is evidence that Mars is getting warmer, too...)
2. Given that climate scientists admit that we are coming out of a period of glaciation (since Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist), doesn’t it make sense that snow and ice are disappearing, just as they do every spring when it gets warmer?
3. Given that the Earth has been both much warmer and much cooler (as well as much wetter and much drier) than it is now (all recorded in written records, and all within the last dozen centuries or so), what would be considered an appropriate average temperature for the planet, and on what data do you base that figure?
Since I don’t keep personal data
I need the three of you to send me a mailing address, as before. Any domestic mailing address will do.
Drop me a line, and you should all have my e-mail address by now. If not, it’s drmwstr - at - gmail - dot - com.
I will be out of town for a few days, but I will be checking my e-mail regularly, and I will mail off the USPS money orders while on the road if I get those addresses quickly enough. The sooner I get them, the sooner you get your shopping money
JT gets $125, working man gets $75, and pskouson gets $50. JT and working man also get additional $25 bonuses (bonusi?) for perfect scores (having nothing to do with my fuckup).
Contest results
Well, it seems pretty clear who the winners are, given that there were only the three of them, but the question remains as to who got the most correct answers. I mean to settle the controversy right now.
Errors are bolded. I forgave most spelling mistakes, but I couldn’t ignore some of them… 
JT-MI’s final entry arrived in my e-mail box on November 19 at 5:50 pm.
1 - “Springtime for Hitler” by The Producers
2 - “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell
3 - “Pump Up the Volume” by M|A|R|R|S
4 - “In the Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” by Zager & Evans
5 - “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin
6 - “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” by Vicky Lawrence
7 - “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-dot Bikini” by Brian Hyland
8 - “Car Wash” by Rose Royce
9 - “These Boots Were Made For Walking” by Nancy Sinatra
10 - “Volare” by Gipsy Kings
11 - “Wierd Science” by Oingo Boingo
12 - “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” by Dr. Elmo
13 - “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” by Crystal Gayle
14 - “Ladylike” by Storm Large and the Balls
15 - “You Never Even Called Me By My Name!” by David Allen Coe
16 - “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor” by Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group
17 - “Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina and The Waves
18 - “If I Can’t Have You Lyrics” by Yvonne Elliman
19 - “Hot Rod Lincoln” by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen
20 - “Tie Me Kangaroo Down” by Rolf Harris
21 - “One Night in Bangkok” by Murray Head
22 - “Alone Again (Naturally)” by Gilbert O’Sullivan
23 - “Afternoon Delight” by The Starland Vocal Band
24 - “Breakout” by Swing Out Sister
25 - “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” by Herman’s Hermits
26 - “American Pie” by Don McLean
27 - “Smoke From a Distant Fire” by Sanford-Townsend Band
28 - “Major Tom (Coming Home)” by Peter Schilling
29 - “Hey Paula” by Paul & Paula
30 - “The Name Game” by Shirley Ellis (with Lincoln Chase)
Total score: 29 out of 30 and one half-correct 30 out of 30. 
Working man’s arrived in the comment section on November 20 at 1:27 pm.
1. The Producers Original Soundtrack from 1968 (Composed and Conducted by John Morris) - Spring Time for Hitler
2. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
3. M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up The Volume
4. Zager and Evans - In The Year 2525
5. Bobby Mcferrin - Don’t Worry, Be Happy
6. Vickie Lawrence - The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia
7. Brian Hyland - Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
8. Rose Royce - Car Wash
9. Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Were Made for Walkin
10. Gypsy Kings - Volare
11. Oingo Boingo - Weird Science
12. Elmo and Patsy - Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer
13. Crystal Gayle - Don’t It Make MY Brown Eyes Blue
14. Storm Large - Ladylike
15. David Allen Coe - You Never Even Called Me By Name
16. Lonnie Donegan - Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On the Bedpost Over Night)
17. Katrina and the Waves - I’m Walking on Sunshine
18. Yvonne Elliman - If I Can’t Have You
19. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen - Hot Rod Lincoln
20. Rolf Harris - Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport
21. Murray Head - One Night in Bangkok
22. Gilbert O’Sullivan - Alone Again (Naturally)
23. Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon Delight
24. Swingout Sister - Breakout
25. Herman’s Hermits - I’m Henry the VIII, I Am
26. Dan McLean - American Pie
27. Sanford-Townsend Band - Smoke From a Distant Fire
28. Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Coming Home)
29. Paul and Paula - Hey Paula
30. Shirley Ellis - The Name Game
Total score: 29 out of 30 and 1 half-correct 30 out of 30
Pskouson’s arrived on November 25 at 8:38 pm
1. Springtime for Hitler from The Producers
2. Tainted Love by Softcell
3. Pump of the Volume by M|A|R|R|S
4. In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus) by Zager and Evans
5. Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin
6. The Night the Lights went out in Georgia by Vicki Lawrence
7. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by Brian Hyland
8. Car Wash by Missy Elliot
9. These Boots are Made for Walking by Nancy Sinatra
10. Volaré by The Gypsy Kings
11. Weird Science by Oingo Boingo
12. Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer by The Shropshires
13. Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue by Crystal Gayle
14. Ladylike by Storm Large
15. You Never Even Called My By My Name by David Allen Coe
16. Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight by Lonnie Donegan and His Skiffle Group
17. I’m Walking on Sunshine by Katrina And The Waves
18. If I Can’t Have You by Yvonne Elfman
19. Hot Rod Lincoln by Charlie Ryan
20. Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport by Rolf Harris
21. One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head
22. Alone Again by Gilbert O’Sullivan
23. Afternoon Delight by the Starland Vocal Band
24. Breakout by Swing Out Sister
25. “I’m Henery the Eighth, I Am” by Herman’s Hermits (original version spelled Henery, Herman’s version spelled Henry, apparently)
26. American Pie by Don McLean
27. Smoke From A Distant Fire by The Sanford – Townsend Band
28. Major Tom by Peter Schilling
29. “Hey Paula” by Paul & Paula
30. The Name Game by Shirley Ellis
Total Score: 26 out of 30 with four half-correct answers.
That brings us to the winner’s list, so with no further hairdo… 
First prize - JT-MI (sorry, no “Perfect Score” bonus) *Perfect Score Bonus!*
Second prize - working man *Perfect Score Bonus!* (but coming in second due to time-stamped entry)
Third prize - pskouson
UPDATE: Hold all tickets… An appeal to the judges has been made, and it turns out that they are I am completely wrong. The relative positions of the winners do not change, but that extra bonus for a perfect score does go to both JT-MI and working man, for BOTH coming up with perfect scores, while working entirely independent of each other (as near as I can tell, since one e-mailed and the other posted).
Correct answers below the fold…
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Headline of the Day
Hoe! Hoe! Hoe! There’s one over there!
Some things are just so stupid they make me laugh.
Santas warned ‘ho ho ho’ offensive to women
You can read the whole article if you want to.
Seriously disappointed
Not that I’m going to lose from it, since any unawarded prizes go straight back into my pocket, but I thought there was more interest than this.
Only two people have made an entry in the contest, and there are barely 18 hours left to submit an entry. Count ‘em - TWO.
Last warning, folks. 
Friday, November 23, 2007
Environmentalists: Humans Are Evil
And...?
I could write a long rant about how that article about environmentalists not wanting to reproduce because they believe that kids are bad for the earth is just more proof about their lunacy, but Greg Gutfeld felt like doing it for me.
So, there was an article in a British paper about some women getting themselves sterilized because they feel that children are bad for the planet. These women are your basic, run-of-the-mill environmentalists, so in a sense they’re half right. Children aren’t bad for the environment - only their children.
One particular woman, Toni Vernelli, was sterilized at age 27, and she says that living people use too much land, eat too much food, and kill too many trees. In her mind, people are evil. But in my mind, people who believe people are evil should not produce more people. If they are so consumed by the evils of consumption, however, then they should go a step further.
First, she could reduce her carbon footprint, by walking off a bridge. Or she can go one step further - and offset the consumption of food from other environmentalists by allowing them to eat her. After all, the only solution to overpopulation and carbon footprinting, is to remove those who make the carbon footprints - and turn them into fuel. Face it, folks: radical environmentalism is moving toward the only final solution they can stomach, and it rhymes with “Soylent Green.”
I certainly hope it tastes like chicken.
Yeah, what he said.
UPDATE: Oh crap, here is more proof that human beings are eeeeeeevil.
Forget about the threat that mankind poses to the Earth: our activities may be shortening the life of the universe too.
The startling claim is made by a pair of American cosmologists investigating the consequences for the cosmos of quantum theory, the most successful theory we have. Over the past few years, cosmologists have taken this powerful theory of what happens at the level of subatomic particles and tried to extend it to understand the universe, since it began in the subatomic realm during the Big Bang.
There you go: definitive proof that human beings are bad, and that we should all kill ourselves to save the universe.
Environmentalists, I hate you all.
Death and Taxes
The only things we can be sure of.
I hate taxes. I have yet to see anything worthwhile come from the government, courtesy of the large portion of my paycheck that is missing due to the taxes that are taken out. Over $2000 dollars is taken out of my paycheck every month for taxes. That means I pay the government at least $24,000 dollars a year in taxes. Considering the fact that I’m in the California/Los Angeles income bracket of “middle class”, common sense is telling me that the vast majority of people pay that same amount every year. With all of that money that the government makes, why in the world cannot they not cut spending and start paying off some debt?
There has got to be a straightforward answer to this. I’m currently paying for all of my living expenses, my truck, the insurance for the truck, the best gas the Middle East has to offer to the tune of $65 dollars per tank (twice a week), and all of the other little crap that life throws at all of us on a daily basis. This leaves me with very little per month that I can use as spending cash. To put this into perspective, I had to switch to generic items at the store as a necessity, not because I thought it would be a neat experiment in thriftiness.
I don’t have a problem paying for things that government needs, such as the military, government agencies, infrastructure, and the like. But as a government employee, I’ll be the first to tell you that my kind are infamous for being lazy and non-productive. In the law enforcement realm we have been getting many new cops in the past ten years that care more about the paycheck than saving lives. They waste eight hours a day, and then sign up for an extra eight hours of overtime, citing the need to finish their work and fill empty spots. In other areas of the government you will see government employees who do nothing all day long. Instead of firing them and hiring someone new who will sit there and do their fair share of the work throughout the day, government agencies will hire without firing, thus paying two paychecks for only one pile of work that is getting done.
There is an example I use over and over to demonstrate government incompetence. If you get a flat tire on your car, common sense tells you that you’re going to go to the nearest shop and get a new tire. The government does not believe in new tires. The government will get a crew, pick up brand new parts, and take six months to add a new wheel to the car, leaving the old blown out tire still on the car. Now you have a car with five wheels, one of which is blown out, and one of which is brand new and placed in an area that makes no sense at a cost that makes no sense.
I have a plain and simple answer as to how we can solve the problem of government waste - hire good government employees. Demand the best, pay them an excellent salary that will be hardcore competition to the private sector, and let them know that incompetence will not be tolerated. While the hiring is going on, pass out pink slips and walking papers to anyone who is not pulling their own weight and demand full accountability for all budgets. This should be done for all local, state, and federal employers. If taxpayer money is used to fill paychecks, then full accountability should be expected.
She said YES!!!
Shalom, friends. I know that it has been a long time since I have posted, but so much has happened. I no longer drive truck, I’m living at home with my kids, and, as of yesterday morning, I’m engaged to be married!
Her name is Terry and I’ve mentioned her before (though not by name). She’s a few years older than I (older women make beautiful lovers), a nurse, and loves me and my kids. I’ve included one of our engagement photos that were taken just this afternoon below the fold.
I don’t really know what else to say, so I’ll just sign off for now.
Shalom,
Jason
This is rich….
Way back in March, I filed my accursed income tax, complete with one for my little rental LLC (three whole properties) and got info from the tax service that we would be receiving a refund of around $2900. We don’t make a lot of money (either the business or household....my wife and I brought home around $54K), so the refund would go towards the Catholic school tuition we choose to pay.
Well, come June, and no refund. So, the first week of June, I called the IRS toll-free number, and as opposed to talking to a human, I was stepped through a voice-recognition, push-button cacophony, before they told me they would send me the proper form to fill out.
Grrrr.
So, we got the form, and I filled it out, sending it in as soon as I got it.
Nothing. So, in late July, I called in again, went through the same phone-based crap, and got another form. I filled it in and sent it back. Finally, in August, two months after tuition was due, we got the refund check.
Of course, today I get a notification that I was sent two checks, and both were cashed, and I owe the IRS $2,970.
Now, I could tell you what I think was happening (someone either got the first check out of our mailbox and cashed it, or there is a bureaucratic error in the line somewhere), but two things piss me right the hell off:
1. The budget of the IRS is $10.59 billion, but why can’t they have a human being answer the damned phone during business hours? Mind you, I wasn’t calling Washington DC on the 14th of April, but in the middle of a fiscal quarter at 12:00 or so in the afternoon. WTF? I bet I could have gotten a better solution if I could have spoken to a human being.
2. This demand for money ticks me off. They informed me that I won’t have to pay interest if I pay them the money I didn’t get by the 18th of December. If they would have done their homework, they would have found out a few facts:
a. I don’t ‘cash’ my IRS checks...haven’t done so in 10 or 11 years. They are usually deposited whole into my checking or savings account.
b. I have all of my cash accounts in one bank, and have had them there for over a decade. There was no deposit, or cashing of a check that size, in my account information. It would cost, what, $10 or so, to do a little research into my spending and money habits. Since they have their little federal/IRS fingers into everything, what would it take to trace the two checks? Maybe the ID of the person who cashed the errant check (if someone actually cashed it)? I sign all my checks....me or my wife. If they know I cashed it, they know if I signed it, or if my wife signed it.
Well, to put a fine point on it, I’m not paying those SOB’s a frackin’ dime. Period. They can suck up and bust. I’m calling the number they gave me, I’m talking to a human, and I’m gonna be nice, but I’m going to gently suggest to them that they do their research.
I’ll take any and all suggestions.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Cloverfield HD Trailer
Excellent!
This is the final trailer for the movie formally known as 1-18-08, and now officially known as Cloverfield.