Click It or Ticket aka State Fundraising campaign wraps up

In New York, the State Troopers run these Click Or Ticket seat belt enforcement blitzes a few times per year. The campaigns coincide with major holiday weekends for maximum fundraising effect. Last week, I read this Click It or Ticket campaign wraps up – YNN, Your News Now on my local news site.1,600 seat belt tickets, 1,200 speeding tickets, and 60 DWI arrests. Do you realize know how much money the state and towns made off all those tickets? You have the cost of the ticket plus you get dinged with court costs on top of it. What a bunch of hooey.

Speeding, okay if you’re going over the speed limit you could be putting other lives in danger. DWI, definitely get them selfish idiots off the road.  Seat belts, come on! You’re not hurting anyone but yourself by not wearing a seat belt. That’s always been my bone of contention with seat belt laws. If I want to be an idiot and not use proper safety gear, what is it of anyone business but my own? Here is what always irked me; Who is the state to force me to wear a seat belt on one hand, yet on the other let me buy cigarettes so long as they get their cut in taxes? If the state was really out for it’s citizen’s good cigarettes and alcohol would be banned.

It infuriates me because there is lots of money to be made by putting BS laws on the books and ticketing people for not following them. That’s what seat belt laws are all about. It’s not about keeping citizens safe it’s simply about making money for the state. Nothing more, nothing less.

Weiner to seek professional help. Wha? Huh?

Reading through my feeds this morning, I came across this little gem: Weiner to seek professional help – YNN, Your News Now. Gimme a break! The guy was horny and trying to get a little action. Since when does that require ‘professional help’? It’s been going on since the dawn of time. Maybe I should seek professional help, if I counted the number of stupid things I did trying to win over chicks forget about it — I might even be committed. LOL

Who was other horndog that went to ‘sex rehab’, Tiger Woods? I don’t know but I find it ridiculous that a guy who gets caught trying to get some action all of a sudden has an addiction.

Chasing tail definitely isn’t the smartest thing to do when your married even less so when you’re a celebrity of some sort. It’s definetly reckless but I know a whole lot of people who do reckless, just plain stupid things, and don’t ‘seek professional help’.

It feels to me like this is all some PR firm at work. The idea is that seeking professional help is supposed to some how turn public opinion around, back in the persons favor, maybe even feel sorry for the guy. Not buying it here anyone who’s stupid enough to put half nude photos of themselves on Twitter, especially being in the public eye pretty much deserves what they can get.

Now, I do feel bad that the guy cannot chase tail in peace as he’s in the public eye BUT he chose politics so it’s a wash.

Recent Car Recalls

We’ve all heard about the Toyota floor mat recalls and more recently the Toyota recall that dealt with a stuck accelerator which wasn’t caused by the floor mat. Today on the news they’re reporting some that Honda’s being recalled for ‘squishy’ brakes which may not stop if not repaired.

A couple of things I’m wondering about the situation. In the Toyotas why weren’t there more fail safes? If the computer is controlling fuel injection which is based user input on the accelerator why aren’t there several check systems in place that the drivers foot is actually on the accelerator.

Secondly why couldn’t the driver just shift into neutral or kill the engine by turning the key? I’ve had older cars since I started driving and not one car ever prevented from changing gears while driving. It’s not a wise thing to do but quite a useful for safety.

With all the BS sensors in new cars, I mean seriously they have senors that tell you when to change the oil. Why aren’t car manufactures putting censors on important systems or upgrading the existing sensors? I’d rather start the car and have it not go anywhere because of a bad sensor then be driving along and have sudden acceleration that I cannot control or not be able to brake.

As much as I am a tech guy computers have made cars infinitely more complex for very little gain overall and when there’s a glitch in a cars computer it’s whooper of a bill to repair/replace.  Perhaps, it’s time to go back to the basics and just drive cars without all the bells and whistles afford by the integrated computer systems.