Red Light Cameras a Blessing or teh Devil?

Most people are against red light cameras. Heckeven I’m against red light cameras. The long history of increased accidents upon installation of the cameras and the various scammer like activities from the local authorities in doling out tickets certainly don’t make things better for the advocates of those cameras.

So what exactly is a “red light camera?” It’s not a camera by your local red light district, nor is it a special infrared camera and it certainly does not remove the “red eye” effect. A red light camera is an actively computer monitoring system that snaps pictures of the license plates and sometimes, faces of the drivers in the event of a violation – more specifically, running a red light. They’ve already been banned out of Minneapolis-St Paul due the ruling that they were unconstitutional after a slew of tickets were mailed out to supposed violators.

Usually, RLC (Red Light Cameras) are placed at 4-way intersections with 4 cameras … one facing each side of the street. Do note that the cameras in question are mounted up high on tall structures like lamp-posts. They’re usually not situated by the traffic lights themselves so don’t go thinking every infrared sensor (used by cops and emergency vehicles to alter traffic lights) is an RLC. Also, the cameras look like the regular security cameras you see at government locations. For more info on RLCs, click here.

Below are 2 RLC locations in St Cloud, Minnesota, which in my opinion has definitely shortened the AMBER/YELLOW light times. Both locations are notorious for their rather long RED lights especially if you’re heading NORTH-SOUTH (or vice versa) on either 9th Ave S or 5th Ave S.

If you’re heading north on 9th Ave S (Great River Rd) and attempting to make a LEFT on 10th St S, you’re SOL during rush because the GREEN light arrow pointing LEFT changes to AMBER in 3 seconds which takes under 3 seconds to turn RED. Otherwise, both locations have now improved the RED light waiting period. I don’t have to dread driving near it because I know that it will turn GREEN soon. The short AMBER/YELLOW light period is annoying but nearly not as the waiting periods for the RED to turn GREEN from days of yore.

This article on Autoblog highlights six cities that were caught red-handed for shortening the yellow light wait period to snare unsuspecting drivers with fines. Rumor is that the companies that install those cameras charge the cities a boatload of fees and the only way those cities can recoup the costs was by increasing the number of violators.

So the question remains, are Red Light Cameras a “Blessing” or teh “Devil?” I guess only time will tell but for now, let’s just hop on that bandwagon to vilify our cold-hearted robotic overlords.

The Chinese are offended

It’s been on the news lately that there’s been a lot of chaos in the capital city of Tibet, Lhasa. Shops and vehicles burned down. Ethnic Chinese beaten by angry mobs. Some deaths (4-7) have occurred also. The Chinese community in the USA are outraged at the savagery of the once peaceful Tibetans. Well at least one certain student going to Hamline University – SangJun Kim.

Well apparently students at Hamline staged a mock Olympic 1st 2nd 3rd podium with medals stating “genocide”, “oppression”, “torture” which led Kim to file an official complaint against the student-run SFT (Students for a Free Tibet) organization. Kim alleged that this protest was “against Hamline’s diversity policy.” Obviously for the poor ignoramus, the approach was too harsh for his sensitive feelings.

After all the 50+ years of suppressive rule by Communist China over a once independent nation, murders of innocent people which outnumber the infamous Holocaust of WWII, and continued destruction of a society and culture totally separate from the rest of China, why do the students at Hamline University need to tone down their message? Well if you’re a commie lover for one. Mr Kim. Take into consideration that tourists who left Tibet during the time of disturbance reported hundreds of military transport vehicles filled to the brim with Chinese soldiers headed towards Lhasa. It has been reported that there have been around 80-100 deaths at the hands of the military on the Tibetans in the past few days for the riots. Not the best way to prepare for the Olympics.

Chinese people are no strangers to oppression so they should use this moment to bring democracy to the world’s largest manufacturer of goods and the final bastion of hard-line Communism and Fascism that is a military threat to the planet. So I ask all Chinese students, professors, businessmen, politicians, activists, and illegal migrants to seize upon this opportunity to unite with the rest of the world and bring democracy to red China.

1. Can’t stand clicking on links on your Google searches with a “blocked” message?

2. Are you sick of having personal property (houses/apt/etc) taken over by the government in the name of modernization?

3. Those CCTV’s (closed-circuit television) on every street creep you out? Wait. The national tv station goes by that same name. Talk about irony.

4. Do you hate being called a commie?

5. Should your sex-life be governed by your government?

If you answer YES to all or any of the above, join the movement in bringing democracy to your “motherland” and free Tibet from the clutches of an antiquated group of elite politicians and the Chinese military. Every person counts. Hopefully the international court gets a chance to try Hu Jintao or the bigwigs out there in Communist China. Have a good night!

EDIT: By the way, a friend emailed me this picture below. Apparently the cause of the complaint. Can’t see why anyone would be offended by the truth. People are strange.

Give em an inch and they’ll take a mile.

I found this quite interesting quote on a few websites in respect to our political climate especially with the way the right-wing government tries to intrude in the lives of their citizens and also for trying to protect corporations from their clients even if the corporations were breaking the law. Has it come to that stage where the government has broken down enough rules that the citizens need to step up and revolt? This is much worse than the Nixon-Watergate scandal of yore if you ask me.

When the Nazis came for the communists,

I remained silent;

I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,

I remained silent;

I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,

I did not speak out;

I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,

I remained silent;

I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me,

there was no one left to speak out.

 

-Martin Niemöller

 

2000: The Age of Ignorance?

It’s hard to make out much of this millennium other than the attacks of 9-11, war in Afganistan, tightening of “homeland security” projects and a splurging on weapons, war in Iraq, lack of WMDs found, Republican scandals rocking the news back-to-back every few months ranging from corruption and bribery to adultery and misuse of power, the constant use of the terms “God Bless America” to justify one’s patriotism regardless of real intent, the recession, sky-high unemployment coupled with loss of jobs to nations overseas, increased violent crimes within our nation, the negative tagging of “flip-flopping” to Democratic contenders to the White House in 2004, worsening international diplomatic relations, the constant theme of “you’re with us or against us” floating around everywhere in the media, the “liberal” media when it’s actually used to broadcast “conservative” values, the hanging of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was a good way to balance out the mid-east because of his perennial hatred towards the ultra-conservative Iran, …

Not a happy picture at all. Today we are in a seat to choose whether we want to drive the same car that gave us all those problems or try out something different. Something that can bring back the good memories of the roaring ’90s. Sometimes, it takes quite a bit to jolt people back into their senses and maybe we can all forget the dark 2000s with a change in leadership.

Looking at the Republican line-up, John McCain is in the lead to head the nomination for the GOP. If we look back in the 2000 elections where Bush Jr was up against McCain, Bush was able to take out McCain with all the negative advertising done back then claiming McCain was too liberal and questioning his patriotism (similar to John Kerry’s situation in 2004). Voters flocked over to Bush’s koolaid and landed us in this fine mess. So in 8 years, have the people who voted against McCain forgotten their hatred towards him? Are they hailing him as the new hero? I wonder who’s flip-flopping now or is flip-flopping actually a good thing?

When you think about it, Right-Whiners are always whining about wanting to “stay the same” but what were they doing when the government they voted for made all the changes that have left us in this current situation.

My conclusion is that if you blindly take a politicians words for the truth, you are a most probably a “conservative” and in essence, a Republican. All politicians use sugar coated words during their speeches along with a fair bit of acting and role playing. We know this but why do people always fall for their lies? We should all know now that the right-whiner party is extremely adept in the arts of media manipulation so why should we take their words for granted?

Somethings right-whiners need to observe:
– Jobs moved overseas under Republican Congress and White House.
– Improvement of the economies of the nations that got those jobs.
– People in those nations are now switching to cars due to their prosperity.
– Energy costs back at home, are sky rocketing due to shortage of supply versus demand.

I’m seeing a lot of fingers being pointed at the now Democratic Congress for the follies of a Republican led Congress and White House. Isn’t that moronic?

When Congress looks for ways to make our domestic automakers more competitive in the global market by forcing them to make more fuel efficient cars and investing in R&D, the folks out in the Republican Red corner believe that’s a BAD move.

When Congress is looking for ways to lower insurance costs for citizens by undoing the damage set by the Republican led government who allowed those companies to trample on hospitals and doctors thus affecting the citizens, the folks out in the Republican Red corner believe that’s a BAD move.

When Congress tries to make our nation more efficient by advising us to purchase CFL bulbs instead of the standard inefficient and short-life-spanned incandescent bulb, the folks out in the Republican Red corner believe that’s a BAD move. Why is it a BAD move? Will switching from regular light bulbs to CFL mean we are abandoning our heritage? Maybe we should get rid of GPS, the internet, HDTV cuz those sure did change our lifestyles over the years. Switching to more energy efficient lighting is important these days because households nowadays use more electronic devices than ever ranging from power hungry HDTVs to powerful computers running resource hungry OS (operating systems) like Vista and Mac OS X. We can’t afford to have black-outs here.

Then the boys in the Red corner say “We can’t afford Congress anymore” because the truth is we really can’t afford Congress if we do NOT make the changes soon. In fact, we might not be able to afford anything at the rate this inflation is kicking in. Interest rates are lower than ever, inflation is high, the government wants you to save money for a retirement, yet they also want you to spend money. This is more than a simple case of flip-flop in my opinion but take it however way you see fit.

To summarize it all, the boys in the Red corner believe that innovation and technology are a waste of time and money. If there’s something wrong and can’t be fixed by bombing other nations, then it can’t be fixed. Hence the defeatist mentality of many Republicans but they are more than happy to shoulder the blame on their “liberal” counterparts as well as the “defeatist” tag. As in the case of the current economy, for some reason, the blame goes to the “liberals” even if the problems were created by the direct actions of the “conservative” government.

Are people getting dumber or do they just have a very short memory span? McCain from unpatriotic villain to GOP savior? The depressed economy of 2000s under a Republican government and still some people seem to support those very same people? There’s so much more that can be added but truth be told, people hate to read long blogs and for that, this rant ends now with a question – 2000: The Age of Ignorance?

In China, CCTV owns joo!

According to Reuters, a CCTV (closed circuit tv – security camera) operator in Shanghai China called his buddies over for a LIVE video of a couple making out at a subway station. Somehow, it was recorded and leaked out to the internet in the form of the ever so reliable YouTube and some other video sharing websites. The couple are now looking at legal options against the operator.

China is well known for spying on their own citizens through all means. They started out in the electronic age with the CCTV and strangely enough, even their most popular tv station goes by the same name (but it probably stands for “Closed China Television”). So you walk on the streets, there’s CCTV, you go home and turn on the TV and there’s CCTV again. So in conclusion, we can admit that in China, CCTV owns joo (pronounced YOU)!

Liberals are Hippies and Conservatives are Terrorists

That’s the general consensus I get when I think about broad stereotypes in the grand American political spectrum. Conservatives (or Republican supporters) usually taunt libs (aka liberals) as “hippies” which is true in some sense but the most liberals can do is call conservatives “greedy” or something childish. In essence, very poor attempts by the hapless libs is all I can think of.

To tackle on my title, there’s a disturbing trend I’ve noticed with conservatives and that is their weird fascination with a love for weapons and killing living creatures. Of course, we are talking about very broad generalizations in both liberals and conservatives. Not all liberals are hippies and not all conservatives like to kill things. It’s jus the extreme left and right which seem to bring out all the negatives in either ideology.

There are quite a few left-leaning famous personalities assassinated by right-wing zealots. As far as I can remember, it goes back to the days of Abe Lincoln and on with the Kennedy’s and on and on and now recently, the lunatic who placed explosives in Hillary Clinton’s campaign offices and unsuccessfully tried to lure Hillary there. There was that gun-control US Attorney also. Then how about the homegrown “white” terrorist – Ryan Anderson – who is a Bush supporter and was getting deployed to Iraq but at the same time, was plotting to spill military tactics to the enemy. The strong destructive element in right-wing zealots needs to be kept in check. Send them to mental asylums or Guantanamo Bay or some boot camp. Boot Camp would be perfect since most of them like to picture themselves as soldiers but when it comes to the real stuff, they back out of it instead putting up yellow ribbon or stars n stripes stickers made in Communistic China. Very patriotic but clearly not in their right minds.

So what is it really with conservatives and weapons and all that crap? Is it fine to assume that most politically conservative leaning folks out here have some sort of mental imbalance that makes them want to prefer violence measures over peace? Anything to do with helping the community is looked upon with deep suspicion. There’s an old saying that the guy who farts usually is the first one to smell it. If you’re knee deep in corrupt behavior, you’re most likely to assume that everybody else’s intentions are similar to yours.

Now with all the scary shit that cops and the government does, I’m feeling more pro-gun than ever but then the thought of actual psychos or conservatives owning guns makes me queasy and go back into the gun-control faction. I’d like to see sensible and caring people owning guns. Lack of gun control is why idiots keep popping innocent people around this nation. It’s like handing over WMDs to the Iranian President, Ahmenadijad (sic). Sorry. Just a rant.

One more question. Why do conservatives always look like the typical schmuck? I (and most of my friends) can usually spot them a mile away even if we’ve never met them before. Strange how that works out.

Some strange/funny news from around

Oct 14: Anti-Gay rights Republican Idaho Senator, Larry “I am not gay” Craig, fresh out of his gay-sex scandal in the Minneapolis Airport (MSP) mens restroom got honored in Idaho. I’m assuming they’re now planning on making changes to the name of the state by adding a “mo” at the end of “Idaho” as in which case would resonate well with the Republican-stronghold’s leading political hypocrite. How can you be tell the world that you were looking for gay sex in court in front of the world and then a week later tell them all that you were never gay?

Oct 17: Some fat nerd/geek behind a computer screams out Ron Paul and a million nerds scream out the same name. Then they go around telling other fat easily gullible fools that Ron Paul is the answer to our nations problems as though we need another 4 years under Republican rule. These clowns must’ve read this story and believed every word of it. ROFL!

Oct 19: The “best broadband service” Comcast, one of the tier 1 Internet Service Providers here blocked test attempts made by the Associated Press to download the Bible through the popular p2p (peer to peer) file sharing technology, BitTorrent. First they denied any hand in the slowdown of torrent file sharing over the internet. Then a week later, they admitted to it. Later when talks about Comcast getting sued were on the air, Comcast denied blocking p2p torrent exchanging. Later, Congressman Rick Boucher slaps Comcasts wrists with a warning. Insiders reveal that Comcast uses Sandvine to do their dirty work. Comcast denies. Proof of Sandvine’s involvement in the issue comes out on their own website. Comcast still in denial to the public. Comcast’s profits drop 54%. I say karma is doing a wonderful job here.

Oct 23: Report uncovers that the 67 year old meat company, Topps Meat Co, reduced meat inspection levels and mixed foreign and domestic meat to meet (no pun intended) an unexpectedly high demand from Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart customers not too long before customers got sick eating that shit. The discovery of the E.Coli virus which is found in matters pertaining to the fecal kind, left the company with massive lawsuits and an instant collapse amidst a 22 million pound frozen beef patty recall. It is believed that contaminated meat is still being sold at Wal-Marts and Sam’s Clubs around the nation. I knew food at Sam’s Club and Wal-Marts were shit but didn’t quite think of it in literal terms. I guess that makes a lot of people shit-eaters. *pukes*

Oct 23: Gap finds out child-labor was used in India to make their products. I mean how long does it take to figure that out? The trim quality of Gap has suffered immeasurably in recent years. You can see poorly cut clothes and shitty stitchings on almost any Gap product. Clearly, this is the work of children, not machines or professionals. For the price of your clothes, you have to hire either one of the last 2 suggestions.

Oct 24: Arsonists suspected in the Southern California fires. Who the fck are these people and why the hell are they burning up houses and property? As if insurance rates and pollution levels weren’t quite high enough out in Cali, some clowns decided to take on the task of increasing our renter’s insurance (property insurance) and global warming. We’re assuming these people whoever they may be are not planning on living in Cali for long due to the possibility that either the ocean might reclaim the land, pollution and smog kills the living, or Gah-buh-nuh Arnie pumps more iron than green into the economy.

Oct 28: Hollywood revenues declined for the 6th straight week. Not surprising with a declining middle-income class, faltering dollar strength, and the rich preferring to pour their money into the volatile stock market as the right-wing party wants us to believe. In reality, rich people prefer investing in stocks that can return a profit as in Asian stocks out in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo. Time to get all the rich people to go out and watch all the movies you pour out, Hollywood!

Oct 28: Philip Morris, the giant cigarette/tobacco company off loaded $350 million and opened a new research center for “products to reduce the risk of tobacco use.” WTF did I just hear? That’s like saying Hollywood will invest millions of dollars to produce movies that make people not want to watch it on their television sets. Oh wait. That’s already in the process. So is Philip Morris actually speaking the truth? “Thank You for Smoking” is a good movie about these bastards although I did want to strangle the smart-ass kid of the main character.

War President greets Peace Leader

The last time 2 completely opposite forces met, it ended in the formation of mud. Earth and Water. Only this time it’s the 43rd President of the United States and the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet (occupied by the Peoples Republic of Communist China). So what do you get when 2 leaders who represent completely different ideologies meet, greet, and exchange awards?

One is known for corporate greed, lack of common sense, and wars. The other is ummm well far from that but good news is that they share one thing in common – they both strive to detach themselves from something.

Bush – detachment from the the average American and common sense.
Dalai Lama – detachment from worldly goods and stupidity.

One attacked nations with guns and bombs. The other had his country invaded in 1949 with guns and bombs, and has been in hiding since. WOW! Enough disparity to create an entire show on tv based on those 2 characters.

On a more serious note, Bush is expected to award the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal today (Wednesday) which needed 2/3 of votes from the House and Senate. With the Democrats dominating those areas, the choice was no big surprise but China wasn’t happy with all this Dalai Lama goodwill shown by our “War President”.

Not surprisingly enough, China was actually “furious” and “offended” that George Dubya Bush decided to show some signs of maturity. In response to Bush’s meeting with the pro-peace Tibetan leader-in-exile, China withdrew from a multi-national peace negotiation meeting for Iran. An unofficial report from Beijing stated that China already followed the “middle path” since too much good couldn’t be good. So, one of the “good” had to be unplugged and the red commies were glad to oblige. China pulled-out a similar tactic (annual human rights dialog) after Germany’s Chancellor Merkel’s meeting with the Dalai Lama.

The Communist state’s one-sided foreign minister Ying Yang demanded “the US cancel the extremely wrong arrangements” and insisted that “If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world.”

Seriously. What the hell is Yang smoking? Not enough Ying for the Yang? Is Bush coming to his senses? Did the Senate finally start working? Are we going to see a new Duke Nukem game? Who will win the Ping Pong championship next time around? When will I get money to buy the Nintendo Wii? How many more completely senseless questions are we going to see?

Click here to read more on crazy China and the epic Bush Lama meeting.

Best Simpsons and Family Guy show

Simpsons (400th Episode – Season 18 Episode 22)

Haven’t seen the movie but the Simpsons show tonight (Aug 19 – originally aired May 20) definitely hit all the right notes. I wonder what’s going on in the minds of the Fox execs. The whole show basically revolves around the current trend of reporters and news agencies afraid to report the truth because of the fear that they might get branded as the “liberal media” by the ugly powerful right-wing fascists. Kent Brockman, the local Springfield newscaster gets canned for slipping out a swear-word and even with nobody watching, the ever-righteous Ned Flanders stumbles upon it in a recorded tape and sends it out to the FCC. Brockman along with the help of Lisa Simpson comes to the conclusion that the media is always succumbing to the money from the big dogs like Fox. Then the truth comes out – Fox does not hesitate to flaunt itself as the “Fair and Balanced” source of news and then also go out to make all conservative viewers happy by siding that it’s also “biased”. Then again, the raunchiest tv shows are almost always on Fox. How can they pull that off? Watch the episode (below) if you’re able to! I loved the ending.

American Dad

Nothing. The show stinks.

Family Guy

Hilarity is almost always ensured in Family Guy as Brian and Peter Griffin use the services of Death to go back in time and enjoy life as a teen. Unfortunately for Peter, ignoring a young Lois leads to a different future. Quagmire ends up marrying Lois. The best part was when the news in the future/present headlines with Dick Cheney shooting Karl Rove and Tucker Carlson (from MSNBC) in a hunting accident. The future/present also had Al Gore as President and who kills Bin Laden with his bare-hands. Poor Brian is left in a dilemma. I would be too but it’s one of the best Family Guy shows. It’s based on Ray Bradbury’s “Sound of Thunder” short story on the accidental killing of a butterfly. This may be a rerun but I’d never seen it. Go watch it!

More disasters hit Minnesota

A dreary weekend capped by another disaster striking Minnesota overshadowing the work in the I-35W recovery section. The last bodies have been found and one identified as Blaine resident Scott Sathers who sadly worked with one of my close friends

While shit goes on around the nation like the hurricane that just about missed the Big Island on Hawaii and Dean making it’s rounds towards the southern gulf region, the Utah mine deaths, the increasing smog in more cities, and random fires, Minnesota is having it’s own bout of bad luck.

So what has struck Minnesota this time? Scorching heat? Power outages? Deadly lightning storms? Golf-ball sized hail storms? Tornados? Bridge collapses? This time it’s flooding in the South-Eastern Mn regions like Owatona, Winona, Stockton, etc. At least 4 confirmed dead and many more missing. Lots of roads/bridges damaged.

Once again, we see Tim Paulenty’s face on the media complaining about costs to help fix the state. Like the stunt he pulled right after the 35W bridge disaster, we might see his face again claiming that he was “reaching out with an olive branch” to the Democrats and agreeing to the tax increase in gas tax. I hate how he can pull off such childish acts like that on public tv and have a lot of Republicans agree even when he’s lying out of his ass. Unfortunately, the gas tax might be used to funnel funds to other government projects like how they always turn out.

The small government ideaology held by Republicans … is a false dream. Wonder what religious people think about all these problems inflicting this nation. Is God punishing us? Not being a religious person, I’d say this is a combination of both Global Warming and the low priority given to an aged infrastructure.