Category: Politicians Suck

Apparently the State of California doesn’t have much respect for them. There a guy in my neighborhood that has a giant boat in his driveway. I don’t mean a small outboard motor boat, I mean a rather large vessel, that’s been up on blocks for several years. Various thoughts go through my mind about this huge eyesore in my neighborhood:

• Is he expecting one day the Neshaminy Creek will actually flood that high?
• Christmas is coming, is he going to decorate the boat?
• I wonder if the paint chipping off it is lead based?

But one thing I woudln’t presume to do is ask the government to force him to remove it. It’s his driveway. I wouldn’t even presume to ask him to remove it privately. I certainly wouldn’t dream of asking the government to trespass on a man’s property to ticket it.

Of course, I doubt anyone asked. They just decided. No doubt parking ticket revenue dried up when they banned overnight parking, forcing them to seek out new sources of banditry revenue.

Standard weekly is running an article on the light bulb ban passed out of Congress and signed into law by President Bush recently, that I talked bout here and here.

Bitter is too busy to blog about Dave Albo’s latest attempt to stick it to the citizens of Virginia, but I’m glad TD did.  It needs to be told.

Justin has more information on the incandescent light ban passed by Congress.  Looks like halogen bulbs will be affected as well.  I’ve decided that when I get home, I will remove all my CF light bulbs in protest of Congress forcing me to use them.  Say no to CFL!  Say no to  Congress!

… when they pry them from my cold dead hands. And you can thank president Bush for signing this piece of garbage.

“In this bill, we ban by 2012 the famously inefficient 100-watt incandescent bulb,” said Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat who co-sponsored that provision.

You can go fuck yourself Jane Harman. Seriously.

The bill requires a fivefold increase – to 36 billion gallons – in the amount of alternative home-grown fuels, such as ethanol, that must be added to the nation’s gasoline supply by 2022.

Good to see the corn farmers got their hands in this. Corn farmers can go fuck themselves too! [No offense intended to any corn farmers who read this, and aren’t actively participating in the conspiracy to force their product onto the American consumer]

Folks, our government is out of control, and pretty clearly George W. Bush and the Republicans aren’t going to do a thing about it. I have no problem with compact florescent bulbs, but if they didn’t have problems, they wouldn’t need government intervention to beat standard incandescents in the marketplace. The government has banned toilets that actually flush decently, and now light bulbs that are actually…. bright. Am I the only one who is tired of this bullshit?

UPDATE: Joe has more to say here.

UPDATE: Ride Fast & Shoot Straight too.

Our attorney general is suing RJ Reynolds tobacco because he thinks they are pimping cigarettes to kids again. Corbett is filing suit because he believes it violates the shakedown racket settlement agreement the tobacco industry signed with the states to not use cartoons to market cigarettes.

I think anyone who looks at this ad, considers the magazine they were placed in, and concludes that clearly this ad was meant to appeal to children ought to stick their heads in their Cuisinart and hit “pulse”, because it seems pretty clear your brain are already pretty much puree.

To be sure, this is meant to target young adults. But last I checked, the legal age to buy cigarettes was eighteen, and I would imagine this ought to mean that it’s legal to market to this age group. It’s a damned shame that smoking is actually pretty bad for you, because I’d almost consider taking up the habit just because it upsets the right kind of people. We’re not supposed to smoke. Our betters have deemed it so.

UPDATE: Well, at least this year Rendell won’t get his smoking ban:

Raela Stabile works the day shift at Molly Brannigans in Harrisburg for one reason: she despises cigarette smoke.

“It’s not half as much smoke [as the night], so I can handle it,” the nonsmoker said in the pub’s smoking section. “I hate cigarette smoke.”

She looks forward to the day when a proposed indoor smoking ban becomes the law of the land, and hopes it will include bars and restaurants.

Hey Raela, no one is forcing you to work in a pub.  I don’t particularly like dealing with people, which is why a job in tech support isn’t something for me.  I choose my career according to my preferences, not try to get the state to pass a law saying everyone should be nice to tech support people.

… hit you in the ass on the way out, Senator.

Apparently he’s perusing “other opportunities”.  Like getting a head start on a lobbying career, as the new rules that require waiting two years after leaving office don’t kick in until 2008.  He claims that’s not the case, but I’m not buying it.

He’s the kind of establishment Republican I’ve had quite enough of.