Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Truck You

Yesterday I wrote about flying during the Thanksgiving holiday. Today I have another pet peeve that relates to driving. Look what I get to deal with after work tonight, on the "busiest travel day of the year":

Truck crash closes I-95

I realize that the accident hasn't been thoroughly investigated yet, but really, who else is going to be at fault in a single-vehicle accident? And this is the second single-vehicle big rig accident in two weeks in my area that's closed a stretch of major highway.

Let's compare the trucker for just a moment to a medical doctor--just two gentlemen (or ladies) of a similar ilk. If a doctor makes a mistake as egregious as some of the moving violations the truckers who cause these accidents get cited for, he loses his license for a long time--sometimes forever. Now consider this: a doctor has considerably more complex safety considerations to remember than a trucker does, and a doctor's mistake endangers only one person at a time. A trucker's error endangers everyone around them and can kill many people in one fell swoop. Why aren't truck drivers held to the same safety standards as other professionals, so that we can get the bad ones off the roads? I wonder if it has anything to do with the millions of dollars that the Teamsters Union "donates" to politicians every year.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Standing Pat

Tomorrow's the unofficial "getaway day" for Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm glad as hell that I don't have to fly anywhere. If I did, I'd probably get arrested for kicking the living crap out of one of the snarky little douchebags taking part in the "don't look at my pathetic little genitals" protest that's supposedly going to happen tomorrow. What's the matter, you crybabies--that the TSA is keeping you too safe? Look, there are two ways to ensure that air travel is safe from demented individuals who think nothing of horrifically killing themselves and others to make a political point. One is to keep dangerous people off the planes, and the other is to keep dangerous items off the planes. We've tried to do the former, but that gets the "You-Can't-Say-That-Even-If-It's-True" Gestapo mobilized, so this is what you're left with. I don't care if the monitors are being watched and the pat-down searches are being conducted by Ricky Martin himself (and let's face it, your screener is far more likely to resemble Bruce Vilanch). I'd rather have my junk fondled a million times over than be on the plane where someone managed to slip a weapon through.

Friday, November 05, 2010

Don't Tase Me Bro

Delaware police: Death renews outcry against use of Taser

Attention all felons, miscreants, and members of oppressed minority groups: here's a foolproof method to not get killed by a taser:

OBEY ALL INSTRUCTIONS FROM POLICE OFFICERS.

Simple. Police do a dangerous job, where they're never sure who's going to be the lunatic who pulls a gun, knife, broken bottle, sharpened toothbrush, or whatever, and try to seriously maim or kill them. Their choices are to risk death and dismemberment themselves, put a bullet into the suspect, or drop them with a taser. The taser is a compromise between options 1 and 2. The way to let them know that you're not going to be that maniac who's going to put them in danger? Obey the police. Think you're being singled out for no good reason? Obey the police anyway. The time to redress violations of your civil liberties is with your lawyer, after whatever situation you're part of has passed. You have the benefit of over 200 years of refinement of police procedures and your rights that have put numerous remedies in place for dealing with police misconduct, whether negligent or malicious. Don't fight the cops. Don't get tased. Don't be the guy with an undiagnosed heart condition who gets killed by the taser. It really is that simple.