Quarterly Traffic Report

Well, here in Central New Jersey, the already crowded traffic conditions are being even further exacerbated by what seems to be a new infusion of really bad drivers. These road hazards come in every age, sex, nationality and ethnic category. In other words, poor driving cuts across almost every demographic known or extant.

Of course, I have a bias when I talk about poor driving. To me, good driving involves getting from point A to point B in the least amount of time safely practical. That means, if there is an empty road in front of you, you crowd the speed limit by five mph or so. It does not mean that you drive like a TransAm driver, it means that you go as fast as you can safely pilot your vehicle. (Note: “Safely” means avoiding both collisions with other objects and avoiding encounters with the police. Safe driving also means avoiding traffic tickets.)

I’ll admit that I tend to drive a little too fast. I’ve been lucky in that I have not actually gotten a speeding ticket in the past 30 years because there have been times when I’ve been caught pushing the envelope some. There have been a couple warnings and one instance where I was given a non-driving ticket (obscured license plate) in lieu of a speeding ticket…but I still have lucked out with 0 points against my license for over 30 years. However, for the most part, I drive well, if a little fast. I try to flatten corners and I try very hard to drive in the future. By that I mean that I am always thinking about what is coming up…what will I have to do or react to five seconds from now…or a minute from now.

Yesterday, I was driving on a multilane highway, when a car in the far left lane suddenly swerved across three lanes of traffic in order to make an exit that was well signed for the previous mile or so. The traffic circle that is between my home and my place of employment has at least a couple accidents a week because somebody does something stupid. I treat Yield signs with the utmost suspicion because most New Jersey drivers pay either little or no heed to them or far too much heed. Too often I see drivers sail through Yield signs with their eyes firmly fixed on the road in front of them, paying no attention to what is coming into the intersection. Either that scenario or the opposite where drivers treat Yield signs as a form of Stop sign. In either case, those drivers are asking to be involved in a collision. 

*sigh*

Driving used to be fun. It isn’t so much anymore….

E rides her bike

My granddaughter finally learned how to ride a bike. It took coercion. But, after considerable output from a world class drama queen, we got to see and then we got to see and finally, as her grandfather tried to keep up on foot All in all, a pretty good day.

The Evil Empire wins again.

OK, I admit that I am biased against Microsoft. I think they are too powerful and some products, like Vista, are deeply flawed. However, sometimes they do get it right. Windows Live Writer here, is a case in point. I now can open a blank window with just a mouse click. I can insert links and pictures into my post with just a few more mouse clicks. And, when I am finished, one more click publishes and brings up my blog in a separate window. Microsoft did, indeed, get this one right. I’m hooked…and this is from a confirmed Microsoft basher.

Pointy little heads

The “pointy headed” people were down in front of the post office yesterday. They had their signs beating on Obama and comparing him to Hitler…and they haven’t a clue that the conservative leaders are really the slave masters. These dupes have allowed themselves to be purchased, body, mind and soul, by the people who long for the good old days of feudalism when the lords of the manor (them) owned every thing and everyone else (us).

The more I see of the Tea Party movement, the more I think of the KKK in days gone by. These people are seeing the white America of their dreams (because that particular view of America never was a reality) fade even further into the mist, and they are watching their perceived grasp on the reins of power slip away. The laughable fact of the matter is, however, that they actually have much more in common with their perceived “enemies” (ie. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Indians (both kinds) than they do with their purported “leaders” (read: masters).

As an example, the cost of using mass transit in New Jersey is about to take a large step upwards. Mass transit is how large numbers of the white blue and white collars workers get to work. Their leaders get to work in limos or their own luxury SUVs, and they don’t care that gasoline will cost over $3.00 a gallon for regular this summer. Lower taxes, and the wealthy get most of the benefit while those lower on the wealth ladder end up paying the freight. But those poor, pathetic white males who make up most of the Tea Party just don’t see it.

So, you were wondering about the title of this blog….

I was up at my mother’s house the other day, when I happened to look out the window. What, you might wonder did I see? Well, how about this

or maybe his Momma

or perhaps his two siblings

Yep, we’ve got a family of a mom and three kits living under the swimming pool. A couple years ago, a family of groundhogs dug out a home there, but it seems the fox family has disposed them and taken up residence.

It’s going to be a good spring!

This is just plain wrong

So, I’m playing with Windows Live on the new ‘puter, and I stumble across this headline (I had to scroll down my home page to see that there were news headlines already there…) about J.P. Morgan’s 1st quarter profits. I think they are obscene. I also think that this is just another instance of wealth being withdrawn from the greater economy for the benefit of a very few. Personally, I would like to see these profits taxed at…oh, say about a 95% marginal rate for all profit over 100 million per quarter. Unless, of course, the bank can document that it has lent this money out at sub-prime interest rates to small businesses and to individuals to refinance toxic mortgages. If Morgan can prove that it is reinvesting these huge profits back in the economy where they are needed, then more power to them. If, on the other hand, they are using these profits to pay hugely obscene bonuses to a very few, then I say tax the profits and the bonuses at confiscatory rates. Screw ‘em!!