Humpday Happenings...
A Happy Wednesday to all you "Mobsters" out there...
(that's what the MSM and the Dems have been calling the PEOPLE who show up at townhall meetings to ASK PERTINENT QUESTIONS of our members of government, or referring to ANYONE who doesn't share the "vision" of a socialized AmeriKa).
Hope you're all working on your "Mob Name".
I already got mine, kapeesh?
You can call me SAL...Sal Manella...!
I was thinking of "Vinnie the Pipe", or Rocco, but since I KNOW people with those names ALREADY, I didn't want to infringe on copyrights...it's a SOUTH PHILLY thing, 'ya know?
Well, unless you've been vacationing with Pink Floyd on the dark side of the moon (damn good album, btw), you MUST have seen some of the latest bouts of arrogance being shown to "everyday people" attending political town hall meetings, by those "illustrious" (rolls eyes) members of our Congress and Senate. Senator Arlen Specter got an earful at a recent event he attended. Needless to say, shouting erupted.
Cripes, James Bond had an easier time getting HIS point across to the nemesis known as SPECTRE, than average citizens did with ARLEN SPECTER. And Bond had a license to kill.
I never trusted Specter as far as I could toss the Statue of Liberty, and that was when I lived back in Philly. The guy was nothing short of an "empty suit" to me, and that meant he talked the talk, but couldn't walk the walk (he took the car instead).
I can see t-shirts with the slogan "NOW, WAIT A MINUTE" emblazoned on them showing up all over in the near future...LOL!
But that isn't ALL that's been occurring...there is always MORE...
** GM, in it's infinite, bailed-out wisdom to create an "ultimate" green car, has unveiled their 2010 Chevrolet VOLT sedan.
The GOOD news, is that they're on the right track...sort of.
The BAD news, is that THIS car looks NOTHING like that concept vehicle we saw two years ago (pictured left), and has relatively little in common with that vehicle except that...it's ELECTRIC (boogie-oogie-oogie-oogie)...sorry, couldn't pass up THAT one.
I want you to remember some NUMBERS concerning this vehicle:
230 - 40 - 40
Got it? Good.
The car is "said" to get 230 MILES per gallon of gas.
(But I thought it was ELECTRIC, Bob?).
Right you are...mostly.
The "new" car (read Prius wannabe) has a small GAS ENGINE to recharge the battery when power gets low.
Which brings me to the NEXT number...
The car ONLY gets 40 MILES travelling distance on ELECTRIC POWER.
(and that's OK...*if* you only travel short distances...like within a city or to the suburbs)
I know...you're thinking that's not all that great...and you're right.
But if you think THAT number sucks, wait until the LAST number...
The car will cost about $40,000! There's the other *40*.
SO, lemme get this figured out...I should run right out and buy a car that costs AS MUCH as a 2 year-old, pre-owned LEXUS, has a range of LESS than 1/5th of a Presidential Limo (which gets less than TEN miles per gallon due to ALL the armor weight), BUT has an electric motor (like my vacuum cleaner or power drill)...wow, how "cute".
Well, it DOES only cost about 40 CENTS to charge back up (from the wall outlet which supplies electricity to MY HOUSE from all those COAL-FIRED PLANTS on the grid)....now THAT just yells out "Environmentally-Friendly" to ME.
Tell you what...I'll keep my 26 year-old, 20-25 MPG Pontiac...YOU keep the glitz, the schmaltz, the BS, and this tech...UNTIL you can provide ME with something that gets OVER 50 MPG, doesn't pollute, and has a range of OVER 500 miles...and that's with the A/C running full-tilt, going UPHILL, OK?
Whatever happened to that PURDUE professor that was working on that WATER ENGINE anyway, hmm?
Now THAT has real promise, doesn't it?
Or we can go HYDROGEN-fueled...
** Once in a great while, something born from our ever-increasing pile of "technocrap" spawns an item that deserves praise.
And here is a story regarding the craze we call TWITTER.
Here's the link to the entire article:
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090812/NEWS11/308129932
Now who could have known that TWITTER could be used as an adjunct to a Neighborhood Watch program?
That's damn inventive.
I mean, the drug dealers are ALREADY probably using it to alert the "bruthas" about the "PO-lease" in the area.
So, turnabout IS fair play here.
I did like the one statement a block captain made:
"This is OUR neighborhood. Why should we allow people to FORCE us out of here?"
Gee, that sure sounds just a wee bit FAMILIAR (to me)...
Oh, wait...I've been saying THAT for YEARS down here (as the ghetto fleas keep moving in and taking over).
Hell, I can't even get the "locals" to keep their music turned down, so my walls don't shake...and that's WITH police intervention. The perps never remain round LONG enough to have the PD answer this (low-priority) run.
Then again, the FWPD hasn't tried my "idea" to catch these loudasses.
It's a damn shame, because this neighborhood COULD be a nice place to raise a family...if it were not for the "tolerance" of bad behavior by too many, or the rampant apathy displayed by all those defrauding the welfare system while pushing out babies from different men every 9 months as another "entitlement" amendment.
It's a shame that too many good people have ALREADY BEEN FORCED from this area, supplanted by what we would call the dregs of society, but the city must feel the "need" to have a ghetto, and all the OTHER parts of the city don't want one, so we're kind of stuck then.
Welcome to our world...
And that brings me to the last item on tap for today...
** Our City Council voted 8-1 to turn down a city ordinance which would stop payments for retired officers and firefighters health care.
Quaintly enough, about FIFTY members of the FWPD and FWFD were at council last night for the vote...now that's solidarity.
Wish I could dredge that up in my neighborhood.
As far as I'm concerned, when you have a city that has been developing "issues" like MAJOR cities have had for decades, the LAST thing you want to screw with is PUBLIC SAFETY, and if our tax money goes for retired officers or firefighters, who put their LIVES on the line DAILY for us and this city for 20 or more years...I'm OK with that.
At least the city isn't "dipping in" to that fund, like OTHER cities have, thereby dicking over the police and fire ranks when they DO retire. Some cities have pension funds (including health care) that are damn near bankrupt, and that doesn't bode well for ANY LEO or firefighter thinking of eventually retiring, does it?
We need not go down THAT road.
Let any policy changes in the future fall on the shoulders of the negotiators when the time comes for contractual talks...the city needs to butt OUT of it...period. They have enough to worry about (that they never seen to address) as it is.
Like CRIME on the S/E side...
Or street REPAIR..or housing issues, or code violations...the list goes on and never gets shorter.
And to think that Fort Wayne is 1/10th the SIZE of Philly (population-wise), but has damn near AS MANY problems AS Philly...amazing how relativistic that is.
Still, we could ALWAYS attend a townhall meeting somewhere...and get ignored THERE (again), right?
That mindset of the politicians WILL change... and WE will change it for them.
In the meantime...
Stay safe out there, America.