Glass Houses and Flying Stones....

For any of you who may not live in Arizona, this may not make sense, so I'll give you the run-down. We have cameras set up on the freeways that take pictures of speeders who are then cited for the offense. Simple enough... don't speed... don't have to pay. Unfortunately, society is stupid. It's been called everything from a revenue machine to infringement on free speech. Yes, free speech. Apparently hauling ass down the road should count as rebellion against government or some other crap.

There are a lot of people out there that claim these cameras are illegal. They aren't. These are probably the same folks that claimed the cams that caught red light runners were illegal. The cams are a law enforcement tool. It's just like a cop on the side of the road with a radar gun. Don't break the law, and you don't get busted.

As far as the speed cams are concerned, I've met a lot of folks who hate them. But, of all those who hate them, 100% have been busted by them. I have yet to meet anyone who hates the cams that obeys the laws of the road. Yes, it is a money gathering idea. And it will make money because people will always haul ass down the road. I wish I would've thought of the idea and leased cams to the state.

I'm not innocent in all of this, I do speed sometimes. But I usually only do 5 mph or so over the limit. And when the limit changes, so does my speed. People whine and cry about the cams being placed strategically to catch people when the limits change. Sometimes this is true. But if you pay attention, put down the phone, and actually observe the road as you should, you'd see the signs before the cam flash goes off.

In my opinion, I say leave them. Hell, put more up. Put them on residential streets. Put them in parking lots. If people can't be responsible, and at least be moderately safe on their own, make it so they have to. Otherwise, they'll haul ass down the roads all the time and the time they screw up and kill someone, they'll sue the state for not having better laws for the road.

I still say leave the cams up. And I also say they should set up a website so people can view the pics. Freewayscofflawsdotcom or something.

I'm done for tonight.

Goodnight / Good Morning
Just go away....

-B-

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes."

--Jack Handey

A Tale of Two Glasses....

One of the most common ways to judge somebody's outlook on life is the process of their reaction towards a half-filled glass. Is it halfway full? Or is it halfway empty? Of course, the few times I've been asked if I'm a "Glass Half-full or a Glass Half-empty" guy, I usually say something like "It all depends on who's buying," or "Who's been drinking out of my glass?!?"

Unfortunately, a person's outlook on life can't be bottled into one of two categories. We all have our days of Half-full, and our days of "Who's been drinking my Kool-aid?" In my years on this planet I've never met anyone who is consistently positive or negative. I know plenty who reside on either side for the majority, but never completely.

I, myself, am one of those who have tended to focus more on the negative side of things for a while. As I've aged I've become more jaded, cynical and angry at everything. I believe almost all politicians are whores, selling themselves to the highest bidder regardless of what their constituents want. As long as they get re-elected, its good business. I also believe the government, as a whole, needs fixing. Businesses can be "too big to fail", and are propped up by our tax dollars, so the rich folks don't stop getting their spa treatments. Yet small businesses get no relief whatsoever. Small businesses that are Owner-operated, and usually staffed with people trying to start a career. The those small businesses fail. And all their employees can't pay their bills. They lose their homes, their cars, their everything. Why? Because of the F'd-up banks. The same F'd-up banks that were given money specifically to loan to these small businesses. The banks thought it better to hang on to the money or send it overseas as investments.

It's hard for anyone these days not to have a negative outlook. We're in a financial crisis that is the worst that the majority of us have ever experienced. Caused by the people that received the most backing from the government. It's not right, and if it isn't illegal, it should be.

But, all of that aside, there are a lot of positives to all of this. Points I try to focus on to avoid being a negative person. All over the globe we have communities banding together, families pulling in and helping each other, and in some places a wonderful sense of camaraderie.

People joining together, to help each other no matter what. It's a good theory. But unfortunately not likely to happen in the US. We're too political. One side wants to work, be responsible for oneself, support oneself. The other side believes people are entitled to the basics of life, or hand-outs.

With all this in-fighting, greed, selfishness, and animosity, how can we not have a bitter opinion of the world around us? Actually, that's an easy question to answer.

Look around you. Look at all the people you care about. Think of all they've done for you, and all you've done for them. And all that you're willing to do for each other in the future.

And if you're lucky like me, there might be a couple people that you know you can count on, no matter what. That's all I need.


I'm done.

Goodnight / Good Day / Whatever

-B-


"To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man - and also a nation." -- Adlai Stevenson

These Times... They are a'changin....

It is now 2010. And the biggest question of the day is how you will say that? Is it "Twenty-Ten," "Two Thousand and Ten," "Ought-Ten," or "O-Ten." I prefer to follow the practice that has been in use for years. It's 20-10 for me. I mean, c'mon, all throughout our lives we've been saying stuff like "Nineteen Ninety Eight" and so on and so forth. Why not continue that tradition? Do we recognize our date of Independence as "The year One Thousand, Seven Hundred, Seventy Six." Or do we say we gained independence in "Seventeen Seventy-six?" Or even better, a rhyme we all learned in grade school.... "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in the year of... One Thousand, Four Hundred Ninety Two?"

Seriously, I really don't care how you choose to say it. Today is a new page. Make your resolutions if you want, follow them if you wish, but know that it is a new year. Any and all failings or mis-steps you made are now in the past. It's time to start over. And I really hope you all can make a change that you really want to make.

I'm done for tonight.

Goodnight / Good Morning / Whatever...

-B-

"Where's my bat? That friggin car-alarm is driving me nuts...." -BLR-