There is no place like Washington, D.C., for "homies" displaying "in your face" arrogance, as they brazenly walk across the street, exhibiting no understanding of "rules of the Road." Lest anyone suppose that I'm making cryptic slurs aimed at African Americans, let me hasten to add that my ire is raised by the insufferable "Neo-Yuppies" who are pouring into Washington to buy homes and condos. These people are super-obnoxious.
They must be "loaded," as you can't buy a doghouse in the District of Columbia that's under 200 grand (that's right, Big Ones). Well, I may be exaggerating a bit here. You get the picture. Further, since the District is "filled to the brim" with overpaid politicians, the first order of business is raising taxes to finance higher salaries for the politicians. After all, they want to get the best people money can buy. (Why these people are constantly embezzling big bucks is a curiosity, as they seem well paid.) Since they are competing with "private companies" for talent, they have to offer desirable employees big bucks. Otherwise, they'll go elsewhere. Real estate is one of the politicians' favorite "patsy." It adds to the cost of dwelling in D.C.
As I said, they're pouring in. I'm the poorest person "chasing ambulances," I fancy. I try to calculate how many ambulances it would take to get a condo in D.C. One problem, they are all billed as "luxury" dwellings. Screw the hustling mensch seeking a good tort action. Another problem is that these "Neo-Yuppies" are ideological--almost in the sense of a religious priesthood. They all carry pictures of Albert Gore, Jr. in their wallets. Woe to anyone who doubts the Global Warming Theory. You are treated with more contempt than if you questioned evolution. They will not suffer any "tainted" soul in their presence.
Now, these newcomers are not to be confused with the homosexual urban pioneers of the seventies, who moved into the DuPont Circle/Adams-Morgan areas. Many of these have become very wealthy as the prices of their dwellings skyrocketed. They merged with and blended with the newcomers to some extent, as they all share similar values. These values have been fruitfully described as Baalism-Marxism.
They all share a rabid disdain for cars. Commuters and delivery people especially irk them. They want to assert a pedestrian "right-of-way" but fear of being "hit-n-hurt" makes "cowards of them all." So, in frustration they glare at the motorists. Polluters! Endangering the planet! Why can't Mayor Adrian Fenty do something! (He has purchased a two-seater, European "clown car" to putsch around DC in.) You know what I'm talking about? Those tiny cars at circuses that fifty clowns crawl out of. It costs the District about 18 grand. Better he should get a used Camry! Mayor Adrian Fenty is a man of the people. Now, just who those people are should be apparent. Neo-Yuppies.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Human Opossums?
I cannot speak for other urban areas, but the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area seems to have a high level of pedestrians struck by cars as the pedestrian(s) walk across a roadway. As this area is also the citadel of "anti-carism," few are surprised that ruling politicians and appointed experts "finger" the vehicles involved in such incidents as "guilty as sin" in such events. Immediately, these politicians and appointed experts are loudly bewailing the overabundance of cars and trucks on the area roadways. This, they would have you believe, is the source of the threat to the pedestrian population. At the minimum some sort of heavy fine should be imposed on any car travelling faster than 10 miles an hour, or other absurd legislation, is bruited about on radio and television news.
The possibility that they may be aiming their legislative "thundersticks" at the wrong target is not considered, period. Why? These people are part of an America-wide, informal association, who are "agents of change" specializing in destroying the rule of the individual car in America. In their view the masses deserve only mass transportation. Why else do you call them masses?
The scenes of injurious events between people and cars are carefully measured and analyzed by police experts. If the car is at fault, then the incident is loudly covered by radio and television stations. The local Mormon-controlled WTOP never stops gasping, moaning and weeping about the dangers to pedestrians posed by cars or ceases attempting to discuss an injury to a hapless pedestrian struck in such an event. However, if the pedestrian is at fault, the story, if it emerges at all, dies quickly.
Let me say this much. In this area there are a set of "heavy-footed" drivers for whom 90 miles an hour is the least acceptable speed limit. Anyone is in danger from them. Such people are utilized by politicians and appointed experts as a pretext to penalize all cars as a threat to civilized living. The larger game afoot is the attack, using any method available, upon the operation of individual cars. According to the thinking of these people, the continuance of life on earth is in balance. For such people cars are worse than rats, or other noisome rodents or pests. Cars, therefore, must be taken to a "car pound" and put to sleep--preferably as scrap metal to feed the building frenzy in downtown Washington, D.C., where new sources of tax revenue are constantly demanded, and property taxes are perfect means of funding needed legislation, such as improved menus at government facilities.
As for pedestrians struck by cars, there must be a correlation between: "jay-walking," walking at night in the center of roads, while wearing dark clothing, walking "unconsciously" across streets while "listening to the radio" (probably at high amplification), walking across the street jabbering animatedly on the cell phone without any concern for red lights, green lights, yellow lights, or no lights at all, and the almost willful arrogance by those walking across the street in a liesurely fashion, while smirking at drivers who are forced to stop under green light conditions to let the creep safely by, and the high rate of collisions with such pedestrians.
Furthermore, due to the large numbers of immigrants to this area, there is widespread ignorance about the rules of the road, which all pedestrians should know. Many of these people may not be able to read warnings, interpret colors used as "signals," which are intended to be a warning. A word to the wise should be sufficient, but if the "word" is meaningless to a pedestrian, then the condition necessary to have a collision event is present.
Locals (I'm one) may give some bad examples to immigrants. Although we may know what we are doing in our "shortcuts," the newcomer may not. Knowledge can determine whether an event is "safe" to execute. Where there is insufficient understanding, the "safe" event may become any thing but safe.
Additionally, we have the entirely peculiar situations of immigrants and other "newcomers," coming from essentially a bicycle culture (or even less mechanically advanced), and being thrown into a satuated vehicular culture, even as the political and intellectual elite try to compel the entire society back into a bicycle culture (or worse). Crazy times in America. Put on your seat belts, folks!
The possibility that they may be aiming their legislative "thundersticks" at the wrong target is not considered, period. Why? These people are part of an America-wide, informal association, who are "agents of change" specializing in destroying the rule of the individual car in America. In their view the masses deserve only mass transportation. Why else do you call them masses?
The scenes of injurious events between people and cars are carefully measured and analyzed by police experts. If the car is at fault, then the incident is loudly covered by radio and television stations. The local Mormon-controlled WTOP never stops gasping, moaning and weeping about the dangers to pedestrians posed by cars or ceases attempting to discuss an injury to a hapless pedestrian struck in such an event. However, if the pedestrian is at fault, the story, if it emerges at all, dies quickly.
Let me say this much. In this area there are a set of "heavy-footed" drivers for whom 90 miles an hour is the least acceptable speed limit. Anyone is in danger from them. Such people are utilized by politicians and appointed experts as a pretext to penalize all cars as a threat to civilized living. The larger game afoot is the attack, using any method available, upon the operation of individual cars. According to the thinking of these people, the continuance of life on earth is in balance. For such people cars are worse than rats, or other noisome rodents or pests. Cars, therefore, must be taken to a "car pound" and put to sleep--preferably as scrap metal to feed the building frenzy in downtown Washington, D.C., where new sources of tax revenue are constantly demanded, and property taxes are perfect means of funding needed legislation, such as improved menus at government facilities.
As for pedestrians struck by cars, there must be a correlation between: "jay-walking," walking at night in the center of roads, while wearing dark clothing, walking "unconsciously" across streets while "listening to the radio" (probably at high amplification), walking across the street jabbering animatedly on the cell phone without any concern for red lights, green lights, yellow lights, or no lights at all, and the almost willful arrogance by those walking across the street in a liesurely fashion, while smirking at drivers who are forced to stop under green light conditions to let the creep safely by, and the high rate of collisions with such pedestrians.
Furthermore, due to the large numbers of immigrants to this area, there is widespread ignorance about the rules of the road, which all pedestrians should know. Many of these people may not be able to read warnings, interpret colors used as "signals," which are intended to be a warning. A word to the wise should be sufficient, but if the "word" is meaningless to a pedestrian, then the condition necessary to have a collision event is present.
Locals (I'm one) may give some bad examples to immigrants. Although we may know what we are doing in our "shortcuts," the newcomer may not. Knowledge can determine whether an event is "safe" to execute. Where there is insufficient understanding, the "safe" event may become any thing but safe.
Additionally, we have the entirely peculiar situations of immigrants and other "newcomers," coming from essentially a bicycle culture (or even less mechanically advanced), and being thrown into a satuated vehicular culture, even as the political and intellectual elite try to compel the entire society back into a bicycle culture (or worse). Crazy times in America. Put on your seat belts, folks!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
The Great Oil Price "Rip Off"
Naturally, as a "man on the run," I don't care for these elevated gasoline prices. In my kind of profession--I should say my branch--it takes some time for the loot to roll in. There is a long, exacting "foreplay" before you can "cash in." I spend, spend, spend, just to get the opportunity to speak "tortmada," as we playfully term our legal snarework. Let's cut to the chase: I'm daily spending "big bucks" on gasoline--with nothing coming in to compensate. Some time in the future, the process may be justified. What if it's not? Not to kvetch!
Now, call me suspicious by nature, if you like. I just don't believe that there is any oil shortage in Nature. The shortage is man-made in so far that there is any at all. Why would statesmen, politicians, academicians, "think tankers," "big shot" lawyers, and top executives of business and banking want to do such an act against the general welfare? For if there is a shortage, these are the ones that put it over. Wall Street? Of course, once these vultures see the blood on the street, they are promptly driving the prices of everything in the area of commodities up. Most plan to sell out to the avaricious "little guy" following the "big birds of scavange."
There is a word for Wall Street's great "oil rush of 2008." Speculation. It eventually takes on a frenzied appearance. George Soros, for whom arrest warrants are outstanding in a hand-full of countries, was expert at driving up then, down a given country's currency. This is generally labeled currency manipulation. A nation's currency is treated as any commodity, such as oil, is treated. It has nothing to do with real supply and demand requirements. It is artificial.
Remember that word: artificial.
Americans have watched, as a herd of cows under a tree gazing forth incomprehendingly while chewing their cuds, as the New World Order constructed a connected global system. In this new system speculators preside, somewhat after the fashion of NYSE Specialists, except they have no interest in overseeing an orderly market. The great fortunes of the world are rarely injured by these events. In the case of a connected firm such as Baring Merchant Bank of Great Britain, it's demise was apparently acceptable to even better established firms. For even at this exalted level, a game of "musical chairs" is being played.
Why, you may ask, don't our politicians do something. About one third of the crowd on Capitol Hill are members of the global elite, or are their servants. They are not YOUR servants. About ninety percent of the rest are eagerly looking to eat what falls from these people's plates. Most of those who believe themselves far-sighted and responsible people are also people who key off their own special political favorites for hints as to the appropriate position to assume in public.
The issue is the price of a barrel of oil. This commodity is closely aligned with war and peace since the advent of the 20th century. It is still associated with oil and peace in the minds of many observers, of which I am one. Possession and/or control over it has generated strategic leverage for the few. This leverage creates both money and power. Henry Kissinger observed that "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." This puts power into a context that can bode ill for the general welfare.
One would also be wise to recall that to such elite individuals as the late Nelson Rockefeller and to such elite organizations as the Club of Rome, there are "too many people on earth" to rationally manage. Nelson Rockefeller is said to have believed that one billion people was the maximum acceptable number to properly manage. [Sounds like a global national socialism under the dictatorship of the "wise."] Others seem to belief that that figure of Nelson's is a bit high.
Well, with more than six billion on Earth now, plenty must go and not be replaced. Whose to go? That answer will probably be answered by a combination of pharmaceutical companies, certain academic and military scientists, and regulatory government bodies, which are able to mandate and con the people of the world into taking a vaccine to save them from a pandemic. Naturally, historians looking back on the great plague of the 21st century will call the unintended cause of the massive deaths: "The Jim Jones Vaccine."
The point is that there are numerous elements in the ruling circles of the world which may imagine a great good to come from the higher prices. Whether the "global warming" issue has been settled as legitimate or not, it does demonstrate the road toward global government (to confront such disasters), which is desired more or less uniformly by the global National Socialists. Outwardly, it may have a Democratic appearance, but it will be controlled by an iron fist of elitists.
Their troops may be seen in Mayor Fenty's Washington, D.C., where anticarism is everywhere apparent. You see, to the dogs of the elite, it is the ordinary people, driving their cars and trucks, who are the enemy. The paisano is always sheared by these people, and then they are blamed for current problems. Mayor Fenty & his regime will never see themselves as "sorceror's apprentices" mucking up everything they can get their hands on, while giving away as much of the city as possible to "sideshow impresarios."
This is a city that NEVER elected a mayor who could oversee the proper asphalting of a road. Always, the freshly asphalted roads begin to appear to be "black, undulating dunes." This is probably because the mix has been "shorted" to save money for the firm doing the work. This is a city that probably has more "meter maids" than well-trained teachers.
This is only one city. They are all across America now. The elite work their magic everywhere. Funny, it just doesn't look like magic. It looks like incompetence wedded to Potempkin villages being erected in all urban settings.
Members of Congress operate on the same standard of "half-baked" ideas, as is found in American cities. Consider:
"House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Democrats will use the pending farm bill to reduce the subsidy, while Republicans are looking to go further, rolling back government rules passed just four months ago that require blending ethanol into gasoline.
" 'The view was to look to alternatives and try to become more dependent on the Midwest than the Middle East. I mean, that was the theory. Obviously, sometimes there are unforseen or unintended consequences of actions,' Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, told reporters yesterday.
"Only a year ago, Congress and President Bush seemed to view ethanol as a near-magic solution to the nation's dependence on oil and counted on it to make a dent in greenhouse gas...." [THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Thursday, May 1, 2008, frontpage col. by Stephen Dinan]
These people are always apparently "a day late and a dollar short" or chasing the latest proposed solution to an alleged problem.
Although few politician on Capitol Hill, other than Rep. Ron Paul and a few others, perceive a ready solution to our immediate needs, there seems to be a relatively short-term fix. Consider:
" 'Crude oil is the currency of the world,' said Lindsey Williams...But Americans will never hear about huge oil and gas reserves in the United States, which, if ever tapped would bring today's fuel prices at least as low as $1.50 per gallon and make America more energy independent.
"As a Baptist missionary in the 1970s, Williams said he rubbed elbows with members of the world's power elite--who boasted of detailed 30-year and 50-year plans to control the flow of oil and information.
"A huge quantity of crude oil and natural gas exists under Gull Island, located in the waters of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, says Williams. He cited key British Petroleum memoranda and related the statements of upper echelon oil officials who told him that Gull Island would be kept under wraps, limiting domestic supplies so Americans would someday see prices hit up to $10 a gallon at the pump....
"The 30-year plan, which was first proposed three decades ago and is nearing fruition, included smug assurances from oil officials that the United States will triple its crude-oil usage and alternate fuels will not be allowed to gain enough ground to make a difference. They also noted that all foreign oil production will be scaled back to the United States and that Americans soon will pay $4 to $5 a gallon at the pump and could pay as much as $7 to $10 down the road.
"In the early 1960s crude oil was selected as a tool of world control, Williams said, adding, 'What we pay at the gas pump is a form of taxation.' The American consumer's dependence on crude oil thus far enabled people from foreign oil-producing nations to buy T-bills (U.S. treasury notes) in order to support the U.S. national debt and continued deficit spending. The need to support that debt puts the U.S. government in a bind, forcing Americans to remain dependent on foreign oil...." [AMERICAN FREE PRESS, August 14, 2006, p.14, article by Mark Anderson]
The important thing to remember is that an elite group, which is extra-national and which views ordinary Americans as ignorant paisano, has set up an artificial shortage to drive up prices for the purpose of forcing their ulterior set of goals upon the citizenry. They will seek to force new patterns which they believe will advance the New World Order. The media and educational system can be expected to act as an "amen corner" to help sponsor the "half-baked" ideas, which eventually set up the reality described in Revelation, as the whole unnatural contraption falls down, even as the merchants of the earth weep bitter tears and wail their sorrow.
In brief the American people are ruled by con men and thieves extraordinaire--and they love it. You see: It hurts so good. And the American people are the embodiment of the masochist. They consider pain a "blessing." Their preachers and priest tell them to be thankful because they are so blessed.
I am trying to figure out a way to chase after these people and make some money. There may be a "tortmada" involved. It hurts me too! Damn gas prices! Well, they say you have to spend money to make it.
Now, call me suspicious by nature, if you like. I just don't believe that there is any oil shortage in Nature. The shortage is man-made in so far that there is any at all. Why would statesmen, politicians, academicians, "think tankers," "big shot" lawyers, and top executives of business and banking want to do such an act against the general welfare? For if there is a shortage, these are the ones that put it over. Wall Street? Of course, once these vultures see the blood on the street, they are promptly driving the prices of everything in the area of commodities up. Most plan to sell out to the avaricious "little guy" following the "big birds of scavange."
There is a word for Wall Street's great "oil rush of 2008." Speculation. It eventually takes on a frenzied appearance. George Soros, for whom arrest warrants are outstanding in a hand-full of countries, was expert at driving up then, down a given country's currency. This is generally labeled currency manipulation. A nation's currency is treated as any commodity, such as oil, is treated. It has nothing to do with real supply and demand requirements. It is artificial.
Remember that word: artificial.
Americans have watched, as a herd of cows under a tree gazing forth incomprehendingly while chewing their cuds, as the New World Order constructed a connected global system. In this new system speculators preside, somewhat after the fashion of NYSE Specialists, except they have no interest in overseeing an orderly market. The great fortunes of the world are rarely injured by these events. In the case of a connected firm such as Baring Merchant Bank of Great Britain, it's demise was apparently acceptable to even better established firms. For even at this exalted level, a game of "musical chairs" is being played.
Why, you may ask, don't our politicians do something. About one third of the crowd on Capitol Hill are members of the global elite, or are their servants. They are not YOUR servants. About ninety percent of the rest are eagerly looking to eat what falls from these people's plates. Most of those who believe themselves far-sighted and responsible people are also people who key off their own special political favorites for hints as to the appropriate position to assume in public.
The issue is the price of a barrel of oil. This commodity is closely aligned with war and peace since the advent of the 20th century. It is still associated with oil and peace in the minds of many observers, of which I am one. Possession and/or control over it has generated strategic leverage for the few. This leverage creates both money and power. Henry Kissinger observed that "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." This puts power into a context that can bode ill for the general welfare.
One would also be wise to recall that to such elite individuals as the late Nelson Rockefeller and to such elite organizations as the Club of Rome, there are "too many people on earth" to rationally manage. Nelson Rockefeller is said to have believed that one billion people was the maximum acceptable number to properly manage. [Sounds like a global national socialism under the dictatorship of the "wise."] Others seem to belief that that figure of Nelson's is a bit high.
Well, with more than six billion on Earth now, plenty must go and not be replaced. Whose to go? That answer will probably be answered by a combination of pharmaceutical companies, certain academic and military scientists, and regulatory government bodies, which are able to mandate and con the people of the world into taking a vaccine to save them from a pandemic. Naturally, historians looking back on the great plague of the 21st century will call the unintended cause of the massive deaths: "The Jim Jones Vaccine."
The point is that there are numerous elements in the ruling circles of the world which may imagine a great good to come from the higher prices. Whether the "global warming" issue has been settled as legitimate or not, it does demonstrate the road toward global government (to confront such disasters), which is desired more or less uniformly by the global National Socialists. Outwardly, it may have a Democratic appearance, but it will be controlled by an iron fist of elitists.
Their troops may be seen in Mayor Fenty's Washington, D.C., where anticarism is everywhere apparent. You see, to the dogs of the elite, it is the ordinary people, driving their cars and trucks, who are the enemy. The paisano is always sheared by these people, and then they are blamed for current problems. Mayor Fenty & his regime will never see themselves as "sorceror's apprentices" mucking up everything they can get their hands on, while giving away as much of the city as possible to "sideshow impresarios."
This is a city that NEVER elected a mayor who could oversee the proper asphalting of a road. Always, the freshly asphalted roads begin to appear to be "black, undulating dunes." This is probably because the mix has been "shorted" to save money for the firm doing the work. This is a city that probably has more "meter maids" than well-trained teachers.
This is only one city. They are all across America now. The elite work their magic everywhere. Funny, it just doesn't look like magic. It looks like incompetence wedded to Potempkin villages being erected in all urban settings.
Members of Congress operate on the same standard of "half-baked" ideas, as is found in American cities. Consider:
"House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Democrats will use the pending farm bill to reduce the subsidy, while Republicans are looking to go further, rolling back government rules passed just four months ago that require blending ethanol into gasoline.
" 'The view was to look to alternatives and try to become more dependent on the Midwest than the Middle East. I mean, that was the theory. Obviously, sometimes there are unforseen or unintended consequences of actions,' Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, told reporters yesterday.
"Only a year ago, Congress and President Bush seemed to view ethanol as a near-magic solution to the nation's dependence on oil and counted on it to make a dent in greenhouse gas...." [THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Thursday, May 1, 2008, frontpage col. by Stephen Dinan]
These people are always apparently "a day late and a dollar short" or chasing the latest proposed solution to an alleged problem.
Although few politician on Capitol Hill, other than Rep. Ron Paul and a few others, perceive a ready solution to our immediate needs, there seems to be a relatively short-term fix. Consider:
" 'Crude oil is the currency of the world,' said Lindsey Williams...But Americans will never hear about huge oil and gas reserves in the United States, which, if ever tapped would bring today's fuel prices at least as low as $1.50 per gallon and make America more energy independent.
"As a Baptist missionary in the 1970s, Williams said he rubbed elbows with members of the world's power elite--who boasted of detailed 30-year and 50-year plans to control the flow of oil and information.
"A huge quantity of crude oil and natural gas exists under Gull Island, located in the waters of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, says Williams. He cited key British Petroleum memoranda and related the statements of upper echelon oil officials who told him that Gull Island would be kept under wraps, limiting domestic supplies so Americans would someday see prices hit up to $10 a gallon at the pump....
"The 30-year plan, which was first proposed three decades ago and is nearing fruition, included smug assurances from oil officials that the United States will triple its crude-oil usage and alternate fuels will not be allowed to gain enough ground to make a difference. They also noted that all foreign oil production will be scaled back to the United States and that Americans soon will pay $4 to $5 a gallon at the pump and could pay as much as $7 to $10 down the road.
"In the early 1960s crude oil was selected as a tool of world control, Williams said, adding, 'What we pay at the gas pump is a form of taxation.' The American consumer's dependence on crude oil thus far enabled people from foreign oil-producing nations to buy T-bills (U.S. treasury notes) in order to support the U.S. national debt and continued deficit spending. The need to support that debt puts the U.S. government in a bind, forcing Americans to remain dependent on foreign oil...." [AMERICAN FREE PRESS, August 14, 2006, p.14, article by Mark Anderson]
The important thing to remember is that an elite group, which is extra-national and which views ordinary Americans as ignorant paisano, has set up an artificial shortage to drive up prices for the purpose of forcing their ulterior set of goals upon the citizenry. They will seek to force new patterns which they believe will advance the New World Order. The media and educational system can be expected to act as an "amen corner" to help sponsor the "half-baked" ideas, which eventually set up the reality described in Revelation, as the whole unnatural contraption falls down, even as the merchants of the earth weep bitter tears and wail their sorrow.
In brief the American people are ruled by con men and thieves extraordinaire--and they love it. You see: It hurts so good. And the American people are the embodiment of the masochist. They consider pain a "blessing." Their preachers and priest tell them to be thankful because they are so blessed.
I am trying to figure out a way to chase after these people and make some money. There may be a "tortmada" involved. It hurts me too! Damn gas prices! Well, they say you have to spend money to make it.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
CAR BAD?
Here I am, riding along on my professional quest for ambulances, and listening to the radio. Suddenly, I hear a commercial. It is one apparently paid for by VRE, which stands for Virginia Railway Express [or something similar]. It is a male voice. He seems to be attempting a "hip" style of persuasion. I thought he sounded altogether "jive-turkey."
His pitch was that commuters who drove to the Washington Metro area for work from such relatively distant points as Fredericksburg, VA, would be wise to use the VRE service. He assures them that they could "read a newspaper," check their email, read a book, ogle the shapely chick just across the way, snooze, plan the day, or week, or year, or vacation, and so forth. He seems to be "pitching" quality time. The implication is that the commuters' travel would be quick and carefree, as opposed to the crawling torture of I95.
One never hears anything about "strangers on a train," nor insane bands of mujahideen running amok in the train, nor anything about "train jumps track" and crashes, nor anything about one's train being "rear-ended" by another train, nor, indeed, someone "puking" on you while you are trying to enjoy quality time. Emphasize the positive! That's the selling point.
The commercial ends with the pitchman saying: Car bad; VRE good.
Is this truth in packaging? I don't think so. It does indicate that politicians are working hard to end the era of the car. What comes next, after communal commuting? Kibbutz?
His pitch was that commuters who drove to the Washington Metro area for work from such relatively distant points as Fredericksburg, VA, would be wise to use the VRE service. He assures them that they could "read a newspaper," check their email, read a book, ogle the shapely chick just across the way, snooze, plan the day, or week, or year, or vacation, and so forth. He seems to be "pitching" quality time. The implication is that the commuters' travel would be quick and carefree, as opposed to the crawling torture of I95.
One never hears anything about "strangers on a train," nor insane bands of mujahideen running amok in the train, nor anything about "train jumps track" and crashes, nor anything about one's train being "rear-ended" by another train, nor, indeed, someone "puking" on you while you are trying to enjoy quality time. Emphasize the positive! That's the selling point.
The commercial ends with the pitchman saying: Car bad; VRE good.
Is this truth in packaging? I don't think so. It does indicate that politicians are working hard to end the era of the car. What comes next, after communal commuting? Kibbutz?
BOGUS RADIO ANALYSIS
Today, I was out driving , listening for the sounds of ambulances, police cars, and/or firetrucks, and listening to the "breaking news, traffic and weather" station. As it happened, there were radio-equivalent "talking heads" in colloquy, running through one of their obnoxious scripts on the subject of traffic and highway dangers. In these formats the "enemy" (other than cars, per se) is speed. The general thrust of their comments was that a return to a speed limit of 55 miles per hour on the highway was needed. The concluding view was that legislation was needed to put "teeth" in the matter.
To help usher in professional support, a trucking organization was cited, noting that truck drivers are fully in support of a 55 mile an hour limit. [Anyone who spends any time on the highways knows that truckers get their "big dogs" rolling 90 miles an hour, whenever the road shows some space.] They go slow at such notorious jam-spots as I95-I495 around Washington, D.C., due to the necessity. Nevertheless, these "pros" regularly get their rigs stuck under overpasses, which are clearly marked in regard to height tolerances. They also regularly "tip over" going up or down ramps. They also regularly "jack-knife" on these main arteries. For these pros other people are typically to blame. [It is part and parcel of the uniform "it's not my fault" syndrome in America. This syndrome gave birth to "no-fault" insurance.]
Folks, it is dangerous out there, but speed is not the issue; reckless driving and falling asleep at the wheel tend to be the main culprits. For sure, the Washington, D.C., area has a horde of dangerously foolish drivers, tail-gating and "cutting off" being considered normal by a significant percent of the drivers. High-speed weaving in semi-conjested roadways, "follow the leader" car-playing, and assuming other drivers are "dissing" them, when the other drivers are merely following posted traffic speeds, are some of the usual daily fare on "the beltway." Breaking-in-line driving is standard operating procedure for many.
No wonder that professional truckers voice support for slower speeds [for the non-truck drivers]. Their high fuel costs can also be helped by slower speeds, and they don't want to be the only ones playing the turtle. On the other hand the slow, stop-and-go driving during the lengthy "rush" hour periods can't be viewed as economical in regard to fuel.
In my view far worse than speed on the highway is the inequality of vehicular sizes. A driver in a compact-style car must run partially "blind" on many occasion in and about "the beltway," due to the tall profiles of trucks, recreation vehicles, vans, trucks, and buses. Likewise, each of these other vehicles may have vision problems, when a "bigger boy" is in front of him. There is nothing more perilous to safe driving than the big three: driver having a heart-attack, "big dog" mechanically malfunctioning, and poor visibility. The disasters which occur in thick fog are regularly featured on tv news-programs and photo-oriented media, such as newspapers and news magazines. In these cases speed adds to a disaster but doesn't actually introduce it.
Personally, I have no problem with 70-75 miles an hour travelling, IF road conditions warrant it. Stupidity, not speed, causes most avoidable wrecks. No legislative body can control highway safety by speed limits. Further, the important issue of inequality of vehicles cannot be readily repaired or adjusted. Since the problems involving highway safety tend to rest on the individuals who cannot tolerate "rules of the road," there seems little that can be done other than strengthening the licensing process [perhaps including effective psychological profiling] and taking a very strict approach to malefactors who are guilty of breaking the most important of the "rules of the road."
At this time where all jurisdictions whine about "lack of money," no expenditures are going to be made to fix anything permanently--or anything approaching that. Therefore, the desperate ideas flung about radio news are sure to be misconceived "Hail Mary" shots. Hence, my advice is: Protect yourself at all times. You the doctor. You the lawyer. You the man [or woman].
To help usher in professional support, a trucking organization was cited, noting that truck drivers are fully in support of a 55 mile an hour limit. [Anyone who spends any time on the highways knows that truckers get their "big dogs" rolling 90 miles an hour, whenever the road shows some space.] They go slow at such notorious jam-spots as I95-I495 around Washington, D.C., due to the necessity. Nevertheless, these "pros" regularly get their rigs stuck under overpasses, which are clearly marked in regard to height tolerances. They also regularly "tip over" going up or down ramps. They also regularly "jack-knife" on these main arteries. For these pros other people are typically to blame. [It is part and parcel of the uniform "it's not my fault" syndrome in America. This syndrome gave birth to "no-fault" insurance.]
Folks, it is dangerous out there, but speed is not the issue; reckless driving and falling asleep at the wheel tend to be the main culprits. For sure, the Washington, D.C., area has a horde of dangerously foolish drivers, tail-gating and "cutting off" being considered normal by a significant percent of the drivers. High-speed weaving in semi-conjested roadways, "follow the leader" car-playing, and assuming other drivers are "dissing" them, when the other drivers are merely following posted traffic speeds, are some of the usual daily fare on "the beltway." Breaking-in-line driving is standard operating procedure for many.
No wonder that professional truckers voice support for slower speeds [for the non-truck drivers]. Their high fuel costs can also be helped by slower speeds, and they don't want to be the only ones playing the turtle. On the other hand the slow, stop-and-go driving during the lengthy "rush" hour periods can't be viewed as economical in regard to fuel.
In my view far worse than speed on the highway is the inequality of vehicular sizes. A driver in a compact-style car must run partially "blind" on many occasion in and about "the beltway," due to the tall profiles of trucks, recreation vehicles, vans, trucks, and buses. Likewise, each of these other vehicles may have vision problems, when a "bigger boy" is in front of him. There is nothing more perilous to safe driving than the big three: driver having a heart-attack, "big dog" mechanically malfunctioning, and poor visibility. The disasters which occur in thick fog are regularly featured on tv news-programs and photo-oriented media, such as newspapers and news magazines. In these cases speed adds to a disaster but doesn't actually introduce it.
Personally, I have no problem with 70-75 miles an hour travelling, IF road conditions warrant it. Stupidity, not speed, causes most avoidable wrecks. No legislative body can control highway safety by speed limits. Further, the important issue of inequality of vehicles cannot be readily repaired or adjusted. Since the problems involving highway safety tend to rest on the individuals who cannot tolerate "rules of the road," there seems little that can be done other than strengthening the licensing process [perhaps including effective psychological profiling] and taking a very strict approach to malefactors who are guilty of breaking the most important of the "rules of the road."
At this time where all jurisdictions whine about "lack of money," no expenditures are going to be made to fix anything permanently--or anything approaching that. Therefore, the desperate ideas flung about radio news are sure to be misconceived "Hail Mary" shots. Hence, my advice is: Protect yourself at all times. You the doctor. You the lawyer. You the man [or woman].
Thursday, February 21, 2008
GLOBAL LABOR MARKET?
Today, as I was driving in pursuit of my professional duties and listening to the traffic station of record, WTOP, I was forced to listen to one of their advertisements (infomercial?). A woman was encouraging listeners to prepare themselves for tomorrow's global labor market. What is she saying? Who are the people behind this march to global work force? Are we being craftily advised that the "dictatorship of the proletariat" is at hand? Can the federal government be one of the driving forces toward achievement of a "global labor force?" Is the invasion of America by people ostensibly seeking work, which work America's global corporations are rapidly deploying elsewhere, some sort of signal that "Uncle Sam" may as well be given a grave site at Arlington National Cemetery?
As a man of the law, I am trained in reasoning. I ask myself: If the world is experiencing a growing fuel crisis, is it wise to utilize expensive, diminishing fuel stocks to shuttle workers back and forth around the globe? How are ordinary workers expected to deploy themselves? Will enormous global corporations pay a building maintenance man's way to China to labor at one of its buildings there? And doesn't anyone stay home anymore?
Or does the expression "global labor market" only apply to people trained at the best universities in business management and in debt mongering? The remaining "serfs" would naturally be attached to one of the looming latifundia, none of which are going anywhere (and neither are they).
Ordinary Americans, at this time, have a narrowing window of opportunity to halt the deconstruction of America and restore those guiding principles and rules of law and procedure which oversaw this people's rise to greatness. This opportunity will certainly fail if they continue to elect members in good standing of the Resident Evil which presently issues the diabolical policies and decisions which are killing our sovereign--we ourselves!--symbolized by Uncle Sam.
Do you want to get laid? In Arlington National Cemetery with Uncle Sam?
As a man of the law, I am trained in reasoning. I ask myself: If the world is experiencing a growing fuel crisis, is it wise to utilize expensive, diminishing fuel stocks to shuttle workers back and forth around the globe? How are ordinary workers expected to deploy themselves? Will enormous global corporations pay a building maintenance man's way to China to labor at one of its buildings there? And doesn't anyone stay home anymore?
Or does the expression "global labor market" only apply to people trained at the best universities in business management and in debt mongering? The remaining "serfs" would naturally be attached to one of the looming latifundia, none of which are going anywhere (and neither are they).
Ordinary Americans, at this time, have a narrowing window of opportunity to halt the deconstruction of America and restore those guiding principles and rules of law and procedure which oversaw this people's rise to greatness. This opportunity will certainly fail if they continue to elect members in good standing of the Resident Evil which presently issues the diabolical policies and decisions which are killing our sovereign--we ourselves!--symbolized by Uncle Sam.
Do you want to get laid? In Arlington National Cemetery with Uncle Sam?
Friday, February 15, 2008
ANTICARISM AND THE MISRULE OF LAW III
The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area is arguably the leading area of organized antagonism toward the automobile in general and car commuters particularly. There are frequent occasions in the District of Columbia, in particular, for overt hostility to be displayed by pedestrians and bicycle riders, both of whom show signs of disdain toward the lowly car commuters, as well as most any automobile driver. Glaring and verbal assaults are common weapons used by Green Revolutionaries and their fellow travellers against the harried car driver. Could hurled stones be far away? Spray-paint terrorism?
The "traffic and news" station of record in the area is WTOP. This is an organization which features such issues as pedestrians struck by vehicles, whether buses, trucks, and cars. The manner by which the reports are presented tend to point the finger of blame at the automobile driver, whatever its form.
From my experience the District of Columbia does have more than its share of "heavy-footed" drivers. Running red-lights is hardly infrequent.
There is never anything approaching enough free parking, nor is there any nominal payment parking (what general labor can afford to pay), probably because these people aren't desired in the increasingly gentrified D.C. anyway and under any circumstance, other than as less-than-minimum-wage servants.
Hence, "double parking" in two-lane roadways is common. This occlusion of the roadway tends to induce faster traffic, much as the occlusion of a waterway tends to make for faster-travelling water. However, the double-parked vehicles also tend to obstruct vision of both drivers and pedestrians.
In the District the nature of pedestrians is such that they will, due to some mysterious force, find the heightened danger of such situations compelling "reason" to cross at precisely that point in the road. Perhaps they reason that the double-parked vehicle will shield them.
Yet, the pedestrians are known to cross at any point in the road at any time. Further, the crossings are commonly done with multiple "jaywalkers," many not even looking for cars. As for the bicyclists, they recognize no rules of the road other than "me-first." Only the fragility of their vehicles ultimately makes them "back down." Many wait just a bit too long and get "gored" or worse.
There are plenty of occasions when the automobile driver will encounter people walking right across the roadway in the District, looking with a laughing arrogance, as if to say: If you hit me, I'll sue you and the District government will put your ass in jail for a long stretch to boot. All this in utter violation of the signal light applicable at the time. Few people want to run over anyone anyway. Yet, when you suddenly stop for such "jaywalking," you make yourself endangered by an increased chance of a rear-end collision from the vehicle following your vehicle, who is, perhaps, unaware that pedestrians have boldly walked right in front of the vehicle ahead of them.
There are few nocturnal pedestrians who seem aware that black or dark clothing will make them difficult to see. It is absolutely common to drive almost upon these "shadows" before just recognizing that they are humans and pulling one's automobile aside. Are they intoxicated? Frankly, that often is the problem, for not only are dark clothes worn but poor judgment exhibited by such pedestrians struck by a car. Unfortunately, the police are not too vigilant, when it comes to "walking while intoxicated" ("WWI") pedestrians. In effect these WWIs lurch, like deer, into the pathway of oncoming cars and get struck.
Often, when that happens, the driver keeps on going. My guess is that they are "heavy-footed" drivers, who don't figure they have a good excuse for hitting "Pedro." If caught, they'll serve a fairly heavy sentence. It is the truly blameless automobile driver who stops. Yet, he will still be blamed. Remember: In the District cardrivers are the enemy.
I used the expression "Pedro" advisedly, because many of those who are struck by cars seem to be Latinos and other immigrants. They do not seem to have experience with pedestrian-automobile "peaceful coexistence." There is no awareness of "rules of the road." They simply "ford" the roadway whenever and wherever whim instructs. Again, one is reminded of deer or, indeed, opossum.
Much mayhem can develop between car operator and bicyclist. The fault here may be recklessness by either party. However, increasingly under the sway of the misguided, Greenies' propaganda, The bicyclist may convince himself that there is a paramount issue of principle involved. He may feel that equality of modes of movement demand that he peddle his bike right in the center of a lane of roadway specifically constructed for cars. It is a new day, he may think. But the "big" tend to devour the "little," and so it goes with any confrontation between the two modes of movement.
Regardless of any reasoned peril, the Greenie proceeds truculently, glaring and mouthing insults at the automobile driver.
As a VRE (Virginia Railway Express) commercial goes on WTOP, car "bad! Railroad "good!"
The "traffic and news" station of record in the area is WTOP. This is an organization which features such issues as pedestrians struck by vehicles, whether buses, trucks, and cars. The manner by which the reports are presented tend to point the finger of blame at the automobile driver, whatever its form.
From my experience the District of Columbia does have more than its share of "heavy-footed" drivers. Running red-lights is hardly infrequent.
There is never anything approaching enough free parking, nor is there any nominal payment parking (what general labor can afford to pay), probably because these people aren't desired in the increasingly gentrified D.C. anyway and under any circumstance, other than as less-than-minimum-wage servants.
Hence, "double parking" in two-lane roadways is common. This occlusion of the roadway tends to induce faster traffic, much as the occlusion of a waterway tends to make for faster-travelling water. However, the double-parked vehicles also tend to obstruct vision of both drivers and pedestrians.
In the District the nature of pedestrians is such that they will, due to some mysterious force, find the heightened danger of such situations compelling "reason" to cross at precisely that point in the road. Perhaps they reason that the double-parked vehicle will shield them.
Yet, the pedestrians are known to cross at any point in the road at any time. Further, the crossings are commonly done with multiple "jaywalkers," many not even looking for cars. As for the bicyclists, they recognize no rules of the road other than "me-first." Only the fragility of their vehicles ultimately makes them "back down." Many wait just a bit too long and get "gored" or worse.
There are plenty of occasions when the automobile driver will encounter people walking right across the roadway in the District, looking with a laughing arrogance, as if to say: If you hit me, I'll sue you and the District government will put your ass in jail for a long stretch to boot. All this in utter violation of the signal light applicable at the time. Few people want to run over anyone anyway. Yet, when you suddenly stop for such "jaywalking," you make yourself endangered by an increased chance of a rear-end collision from the vehicle following your vehicle, who is, perhaps, unaware that pedestrians have boldly walked right in front of the vehicle ahead of them.
There are few nocturnal pedestrians who seem aware that black or dark clothing will make them difficult to see. It is absolutely common to drive almost upon these "shadows" before just recognizing that they are humans and pulling one's automobile aside. Are they intoxicated? Frankly, that often is the problem, for not only are dark clothes worn but poor judgment exhibited by such pedestrians struck by a car. Unfortunately, the police are not too vigilant, when it comes to "walking while intoxicated" ("WWI") pedestrians. In effect these WWIs lurch, like deer, into the pathway of oncoming cars and get struck.
Often, when that happens, the driver keeps on going. My guess is that they are "heavy-footed" drivers, who don't figure they have a good excuse for hitting "Pedro." If caught, they'll serve a fairly heavy sentence. It is the truly blameless automobile driver who stops. Yet, he will still be blamed. Remember: In the District cardrivers are the enemy.
I used the expression "Pedro" advisedly, because many of those who are struck by cars seem to be Latinos and other immigrants. They do not seem to have experience with pedestrian-automobile "peaceful coexistence." There is no awareness of "rules of the road." They simply "ford" the roadway whenever and wherever whim instructs. Again, one is reminded of deer or, indeed, opossum.
Much mayhem can develop between car operator and bicyclist. The fault here may be recklessness by either party. However, increasingly under the sway of the misguided, Greenies' propaganda, The bicyclist may convince himself that there is a paramount issue of principle involved. He may feel that equality of modes of movement demand that he peddle his bike right in the center of a lane of roadway specifically constructed for cars. It is a new day, he may think. But the "big" tend to devour the "little," and so it goes with any confrontation between the two modes of movement.
Regardless of any reasoned peril, the Greenie proceeds truculently, glaring and mouthing insults at the automobile driver.
As a VRE (Virginia Railway Express) commercial goes on WTOP, car "bad! Railroad "good!"
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