I had an unusual fare Saturday evening. (not that there are “usual” fares when you drive a cab, but…) I picked up this lady who had called for a cab rather than drive home from a bar in Peoria. She is a bit older than I am, and she had very securely tied one on. She was unusual in a couple of aspects.

First – she declared that she called a cab only because she didn’t want to drive all the way home. Not that she would ever face a DUI ticket – she claimed to have diplomatic immunity (New Zealand citizen). I kept my mouth shut.

Second – she started rambling about really enjoying her evening out, since it was more a trip down memory lane than anything else. Seems she and her recently exed husband used to hang at the bar where she was pickled picked up. Everyone kept asking her where “the big guy” was, and she says she patiently explained the most intimate details of the divorce to one and all, including the fact that her big brute of a VietNam Veteran Marine husband of hers just couldn’t seem to handle his physical failings – the strokes just really “creeped [her] out.” I kept my mouth shut.

Third – she then tangented off to the new administration. (My thoughts on this subject are posted in the comment section of Texas Fred’s post, “MY Free Speech Regarding Barack Hussein Obama“) Her main point was that she could not understand how in the world the Americans could just stand by and let this happen to their country. I posited that we didn’t let it happen, so much as we had it rammed down our throats by the Defeatist, Elitist Media (h/t: BZ). She insisted that we “let it happen” so I went back to keeping my mouth shut.

Fourth – and this is the kicker – she waxed poetic about her adopted country (here in the US of A) and how she longed for the old days when she was in high school and college, and “they” would all gather together and demonstrate against the administration, that nasty war they had saddled us with, and generally Made Things Happen.

I could no longer keep my mouth shut.

We were near her address, so I opened up a bit. I told her in no uncertain terms that her attitude about the citizens of this country was misplaced – the anger should be towards her post-hippie, leftist leaning groupies from her college years, since they are the ones shouting longest and loudest about how The Messiah, TEH ONE, this Halfrican Wunderkind is going to Save This Country from itself.

I lit into her about her attitude about her husband – how as a Marine, he was used to being the one who took care of others, and abandoning him just because he was having trouble adjusting to being the one who was being taken care OF was extremely selfish of HER.

I then told her in no uncertain terms that BRAGGING about demonstrating against VietNam and helping the enemy by being the catalyst to subverting the drive of this country was just out and out STUPID, and I bet out loud that she also thought the War on Terror was a waste of time, too – when she started getting upset that I had attacked this un-named bastion of her belief, I had had enough. I told her that it was HER attitude that was leading this country down the well-paved path to Hell, not the conservatives who were trying to keep this country’s head above water. She got kind of pissy after that – after all, I had just killed her buzz – and she paid her fare and stomped into her townhouse.

For some reason, I didn’t get a tip from her.

However, I was led to consider some of what she had said. Yes, we do have a socialist politician in the White House now – but we will get through this. One thing she kept on about was how the Americans she ran into were all “oh, this will pass” and didn’t appear to be too worried about our future. My reply to that was “Do not mistake my calm demeanor for not caring, anymore than you would mistake a duck on the river as not being very active.” In her drunken state, she missed the analogy. But know this – even though we appear to be calm in person, blogs such as most of the ones you will find in my sidebar are an indication (to me, anyway) that this country’s patriots are far from complacent about the direction this country is headed.

I must say that once her townhouse sells (good luck with that, in this market) and her current position is completed, that this country will perhaps be better off without her attitude – which I cannot peg as anti-American so much as pro-defeatist-American.

On a side note – I’ll try to get more cab stories up. Remind me to tell you about the two guys I picked up in The District who got to walk home after all…

I’ll chat with you more later.

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – which would be a priority in a Congress of this country?

A – securing the borders and ensuring that no unauthorized persons would be able to enter, or

B – legislation that would protect private industry in the event of a stupid consumer.

The correct answer, in this bizarro time and place, would be “B” – that is, at the urging of the Rubber Manufacturers Association Congress made it illegal for any retailer of tires to handle, adjust, mount, or repair any tire more than ten years old. At the same time, they have been tightening up the regulations for repairing tires in general.

I found this out the hard way today. I was lucky enough to pick up not one but two nails in the right rear tire. They happened to be about an inch and a half apart, well within the “repairable area” as defined by earlier legislation. However, due to other regulations, because they were within ninety degrees of each other, the tire could not be patched by the company I bought them from (not wanting to give them bad publicity since it’s not their fault that Congress is too interested in private industry, I will refer to them as “Biscount Tires”). However, since I had bought the road hazard warranty, they would replace the tire for free. Good thing – the tires on the beast run about $160 each. Roughly. Of course, “free” doesn’t include a new road hazard warranty, or lifetime balancing and valve stems, or the environmental fee, so the “free” tire costs about $40.00.

The tire was not in stock, so they offered to put my spare on and I could come back in a day or two to get the new tire mounted up. The offer to put my spare on was made prior to them looking at my spare, and with the caveat that if it was in bad shape they would have to do something else.

(a little background here – when i replaced all four of the tires about a year and a half ago, i asked them to take the best of the old set and put it on as my spare. the shop told me that the spare i had was in better shape than any of the ones i was replacing, so the spare was left alone)

When they checked the DOT number on the spare, it turned out that what I had was, in fact, the factory spare from the 1998 model year. They informed me that they could not install the spare as it would violate the “ten year old” rule. They were, however, nice enough to “loan” me a used tire from out back. Hmm – I know the spare is good, as I’ve had occasion to use it (I run over nails a lot) and have not had reason to question it’s road-worthiness. But, they were willing to mount up a used tire from their junk pile and put THAT on my vehicle. I felt so secure with that knowledge…

In talking to the manager of that particular Biscount Tire store, I found out that Wal-Mart won’t even be selling tires after 2010 or ’11 due to the new laws. The “ten year old” rule came about around one or two years ago, and I must have gotten my tires replaced just before it was implemented.

“Free” does not mean “no cost” anymore.

We’ll chat more later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – the Bailout of the Big Three didn’t pass muster with Congress. Good. Looks like UAW didn’t want to take a well-deserved pay-cut to put their members on par with Toyota factory workers, who seem to be able to put out economical models in a lean and mean manufacturing process.

Bush and Co. are trying to work a run-around so the Big Three can be put back into lean, mean, economical running again. Uh, yeah.

Now, for the “No, There’s no Connection” item:

From the Arizona Republic (no guarantee as to how long the link will last):

Chandler taxpayers paid $32,000 to buy Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn a 2009 Toyota Camry hybrid, The Arizona Republic has learned.

The car replaces the mayor’s 2004 Chevy Malibu with about 70,000 miles about two months ago, city spokeswoman Nachie Marquez confirmed Friday.

Well, gee – with only 70,000 miles on it, that seems like a waste of a perfectly good Malibu, wouldn’t you say? I wonder why they would dump an American Icon-Made automobile for one of those darned Japanese cars (which, by the way, really are made in America, not assembled in Mexico and shipped here)? Let’s read on, shall we?

Assistant City Manager Pat McDermott said the city opted to buy the new car because the Malibu was having some repetitive maintenance problems and becoming unreliable. It’s not immediately known how much in repairs the city has spent on the vehicle.
[snip]
“I think it was appropriate. He has a car that was breaking down. We saw the repair record and it was way more than it should be for a car with 70,000 miles. Partly because it was a pain-in-the-butt car, we started looking at an alternative.”

The city is keeping the Malibu despite its mechanical problems. It will remain in the city’s fleet.

Presumably, the vehicle won’t be used much and is sitting out it’s time until it is fully depreciated before the city sells it.

But, let’s take a look there – an American Made car, with an unacceptable level of repairs, being removed from the Mayor’s use in exchange for a car that (from personal experience) won’t even be fully broken in until it hits the 150,000 mile mark. Plus, it’s a hybrid vehicle, which means that it won’t be idling at all the ill-timed stop lights in town (thanks to the new and wonderful streetcar light rail that is due to come on line on December 27) when the Mayor does drive from Chandler to Phoenix. I don’t see any problems here.

The only problem I do see is the fact that the city is hanging on to the Malibu, even though it’s a piece of junk. I say, sell the rattle trap and get it off the city’s books. That would be the economical and environmentally sound decision.

Oh, wait – they did make the sound decision to trade up to a Camry, so I guess we should hold on to that thought. Can’t expect them to make a whole lot of changes at once, ya know…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Sometimes, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is very short, ar at least seems that way. Like this year.

Yesterday, after church, the Praise and Worship leader asked those of us who sing what we wanted to do for the Christmas program. After all, we only have one day a week when everyone is available for rehearsal (Sunday evening) and there are only two more of those before Christmas… so we decided to brush up on Carol of the Bells along with the traditional songs.

With that in mind, and the closeness of Christmas getting more prounounced every day, I offer these two messages:

First, to my friends on the right, who adhere to the mantra “Common Sense, Please”:

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

And, to those who wander in here from the left-leaning areas of the world, where common sense isn’t:

Best wishes for a stress-free, non-addictive, gender-neutral, socially responsible and environmentally conscious winter solstice holiday. These wishes are sent without regard to race, gender, religion, creed, color or economic strata. The wish granting party, hereinafter referred to as “I” does grant the wish receiver, hereinafter referred to as “you” the freedom to accept or reject these wishes as determined by you on your own terms; that is, with regard to how you practice your religious or non-religious traditions of this time of year with the proviso that your practices are not to interfere with or abrogate the traditions of those around you who may or may not share the same traditions as you. Also, it is understood that these wishes are not an implicit permission to force others to share your religion, nor is it permission to allow others to share their religion (or lack thereof) with you. Additionally, these wishes are extended insofar that a fiscally successful, medically uncomplicated and personally fulfilling recognition of the generally accepted calendar year of 2009 would be enjoyed by you, but not without realizing that not all people recognize the same calendar and certainly not without recognizing the contributions of other cultures and societies as they have contributed to the time-measurement device known as the “Judeao-Christian Calendar System” which generally accounts for a one-year term involving twelve individual and inherently different months grouped in a repeating pattern for traditional reasons. (Disclaimer to note: This greeting and the additional wishes are subject to clarification or withdrawal, depending on the recipients’ attitude. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes, nor does it require the wish recipient to actively engage in the fulfillment of said wishes. The wisher assumes no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings and/or wishes may or may not have incurred upon those who are not caught up in the spirit of the holiday or, for whatever reason, simply do not celebrate this time, other than to tell you to put a band-aid on your owie and call a waaaahmbulance. Losers.)

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Are YOU wearing red to show your support for our troops?

Today on The O Word on BlogTalkRadio we talked about history, heard President Roosevelt’s December 8, 1941 address to the joint session of Congress, talked about CPT Rob Yllescas, Squatters in Foreclosed Homes, Arizona Speed Cameras, the District of Columbia wanting Congressional Representation, the Supreme Court and Obama’s citizenship, WWII Code Talkers; and we heard from AnnieB, prying1, and sixgees4u. Catch the show in archive and rate it!

Quick reminder for those able to get there – Handel’s Messiah will be performed by the Rancho Music Association at Temecula United Methodist Church, 42690 Margarita Rd., Temecula, CA 92592 on Sunday, December 7th, 2008 at 4:00 pm (PST) – get there early for the best seats. Admission is free, a good-will offering will be taken. More detail is available here.

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!