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!

I know, you hardly noticed I was gone.

Well, except for those of you who were kind enough to leave comments, and I thank you for expressing your concern.

All is well, except that there’s a mulatto socialist in the White House now, the Isrealis promised to stop beating on the hamas cowards, the stock market continues it’s nosedive and, horror of horrors, the Arizona Cardinals are going to be in the Superbowl in Tampa.

Talk about end times…

I used the time away to rethink and get some personal things taken care of. Another thing I did was upgrade WordPress to 2.7. You, the reader, probably didn’t even notice. It sure looks different from this end. It’s also slower and clunkier, but maybe I’ll get used to that and it will seem normal after a while. Maybe.

A round of holidays and birthdays has come to an end. Between November and January, my extended family has about forty three birthdays and at least four anniversaries that I can remember; add in Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s and the party just never stops.

I’ll be working up to posting on a regular basis again, and possibly even getting the BlogTalkRadio show going again. I know that I will be putting a lot of time into the family history side, and that will take precedence for a while. It may eventually even take over this site as the primary reason for existing. Maybe.

At any rate – I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday season.

I’ll chat with you 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!

There won’t be a BlogTalkRadio “The O Word” this Friday – with TMBWitW on vacation, and us wanting to spend some family time together, the extra-curricular activities had to be curtailed.

I am feeling much better, having gotten the upper hand on this cold-virus-respiratory thingy happening. Thanks for the prayers and well-wishes.

Blogging will resume on Tuesday. Maybe.

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!

I’m wearing “Rolling Thunder” – are YOU wearing red?

Today on The O Word:Bill Hanshaw, original PGR AZ member, passed away 12/08/2008 and his services are today in Mesa – AnnieB Tries to make Cary collapse with Guitarzan – The Big 3 Bailout collapses due to the greed of the UAW – “Blago” and the like-new, barely used Senate Seat of Barack HUSSEIN Obama – KB Toys in Chapter 11 (again!) and likely to liquidate this time – Tasers in Canada – Sheriff Joe Arpaio – A Day in the Life of a Pastor

If you missed today’s show, you can listen to it in archive (don’t forget to vote!) or through the player on the sidebar.

Have a blessed weekend!

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!

Tuesday, I drove cab all day and all night (with breaks – but those were for sleeping. the only computer I was near didn’t have internet access). Wednesday, TMBWitW worked from home. Somewhere in the middle of that I caught the mother of all rhino viruses and have been out of it.

Sorry, no round-ups today. Amazing that a little cold can kick your butt this thoroughly.

Talk amongst yourselves, and tune in to BlogTalkRadio – The O Word Friday morning at 0700 MST to see if I’ve gotten over the cold. First caller that sends me into a coughing fit wins a prize.

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!