Town of Pantego (Can you afford to visit)

Pantego Texas Pull Over Trap In Action

Ever been driving through a small town in the middle of Arlington Texas called Pantego? Recently, their city council started pushing a new “Shop Pantego” campaign. I think the city is nice and the residential areas are attractive but as a citizen of Arlington I think its safe to say that the Pantego Police have stolen enough of our money to finance their city and operations for years to come. If, you live in Arlington then you have learned that Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens are two cities in the middle of your city that you should attempt to keep a low profile in as you drive through.  ”Surely, if your tags are current, you obey the speed limit and you have insurance you have nothing to worry about, right?” If only that were true but if you are an Arlington resident you have several things to concern yourself with regarding the Pantego Meter Maid Brigade.

First, there have been several incidents of Pantego Patrol cars waiting for violators near Shelton’s Beauty School and Salon on the east edge of Pantego and Arlington on Park Row. In an effort to catch violators, but not disturb their own city with chasing down motorists in it, officers have been seen careening out of the parking lot to chase drivers up the hill into Arlington. That is their prerogative and it is legal for them to do it. However, it is a very dangerous stretch of road on a good day and several times motorists have almost been hit or severely rattled by the large cruisers suddenly leaping out of Shelton’s to chase hapless motorists up the hill.

Second there are several other locations marked in red on the attached map that indicate other Pantego money making centers.  The interesting thing is that most people do not realize that the local Tom Thumb is not in Pantego; so you can shop there unmolested.

Third is the drive by trap.  Sadly, many Arlington residents drop off kids at Bailey Junior High in Arlignton and then visit businesses in Pantego such as the Red Oven, Jade Cafe, Patty’s Pantry and ElChico but thanks to Pantego pull over trap the “Shop Now” campaign has now become the “Can you afford to shop here” campaign. In the parking lots of these businesses the Pantego police department drives or walks from their station to set up drive-by, pull over locations to write up those that dare to drive back and forth on Bowen Road near Bailey Junior High. Again, this should be no problem if you are doing nothing wrong but that is no longer the case.  Recently, drivers have been waved over by standing officers into the parking lots of Jade Cafe and SuperCuts. In some instances, motorists were told that while they were doing nothing wrong at the time, another officer had seen them causing a violation on a previous drive through and then the citation was written up for an even more expensive offense than the one they were accused of committing. At this point, we have moved beyond a city buying new computers (like last year), hiring new officers and buying BMW police bikes; into the new realm of cheating motorists out of their money.

Lastly, there is hope for those that wish to drop off kids at Bailey.  On the attached map, the danger zones are outlined and the major drive by traps are in yellow/orange. If you look, you will see several routes that you can take that will never wind up with Arlington citizens having to roll the dice with the Pantego Police while they get their kids to school on time.  It will probably force you to do a u-turn on Winewood but if the school and residents do not like it they can talk to their neighbors across the street about why it is now necessary. If you want to shop in Pantego then the map also has a blue box on it so you can find the police station to pay your trumped up tickets faster.

All this said, I have had great experiences with several Pantego Officers that were doing more than just hitting a monthly quota.  The sad part is that these professional’s talents are lost on a city that seems more interested in bilking the passerby and neighboring citizen than getting people to go shop in their town and letting their officers do the real police work they are trained and qualified to do.

Sad Addendum: On 12/2/09 the Bank of America on Bowen Road which sits 30 feet from Pantego in Arlington was robbed with the Pantego Police Station less than two minutes away. Maybe, Pantego should get its hands out of its neighbors pockets long enough to stop crime on their doorstep.

Craigslist Caves In

craigslist caves in

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has said today that, ”a blatant Internet brothel” — has been accused by law enforcement officials across the United States of promoting prostitution through its erotic ads.

“Craigslist is heeding our clear call for conscience and common sense, sending a strong signal that Internet sites must police themselves to protect others,” Blumenthal said.

“As head of the multistate attorney general task force,” Blumenthal said, “I was informed by Craigslist late last night that it will eliminate the ‘erotic services’ section within seven days, create a new section called ‘adult services,’ and manually review every ad posted there to bar flagrant prostitution and pornography.”

Well, that’s just fantastic a multi-state attorney general task force can go forth with their heads held high and hold internet sites to the task of policing the content their members and users post. The problem is its unconstitutional and if by some chance it is ruled constitutional we should think carefully about what it really means.

Try this scenario on for size. A woman wants her husband dead. For argument’s sake let’s not speculate why, she just does. She drives to her local home improvement store and proceeds to buy liquid drain cleaner. That night she gives her husband a massive dose of the cleaner in his drink.  He dies in agony within mere moments with her looking on. Later, the local district attorney has all the evidence he needs to prosecute a case against her and he will win without question. The D.A. even has a signed confession from her. So, he prosecutes the home improvement store for providing the materials necessary to murder the man and convinces his state’s attorney general to fight to get drain cleaner removed from home improvement stores. Future crimes of this nature will be stifled as a result of the new muti-state task force that proceeds to have drain cleaner removed from all of the home improvements stores across the country. In a small town in East Texas another woman sits in her kitchen loathing her husband, wanting him dead. She goes to her local home improvement store and buys rat poison to kill him. Soon we find Americans using the restroom in pits because their toilets are stopped up and we can look forward to being overrun by rats.

Any simpleton that believes it is good to start censoring Craigslist users better think again. This is not the end, next you will hear more public officials looking to waste your time and money going after site owners that have users posting profiles on dating sites that have false information.  Now, as an internet web site owner you no longer provide tools for your customer to use, you have to censor and observe your users to determine wether or not they buying insecticide, rat poison or drain cleaner because they may abuse it. Better yet, as a web site owner you probably need to visit with every person that uses your site, perhaps you can even make users fill out an ‘internet use evaluation form’ and if it appears that they are unstable after independent review you can deny them access to your site. Even better, the federal government can make us all apply for an internet use license to generate jobs, steal more money from us and violate our rights further.

Maybe, just maybe, Blumenthal could get back to the work of actually taking care of criminals instead of interjecting his immature and unconstitutional ideas on an unsuspecting population that really has no idea just how deep this can go. I hear lot’s of cons (conservatives) whining about President Obama taking away their civil liberties but once again the double standard applies. I have read that many support Democratic Attorney General Bluementhal in this matter. The question for most cons is not, “How should we protect our civil liberties” No, the real question is, “which civil liberties are okay to lose to make America the way they want,” instead of the America we were promised. In-between the libs and the cons, sit ordinary people clinging to our few remaining civil liberties as they get hammered to pieces by both sides. We watch helpless as they both turn us into a socialist regime faster than we can hand over another trillion dollars to save more international banks or hire another thousand undocumented workers to treat as indentured servants. We should all stock up on drain cleaner because its already getting messy

Senator Jim Moran Fights Viagra Ads: Getting It Up For Nothing

Don't get it up in prime time

“Democratic Congressman Jim Moran has proposed a bill to keep erectile dysfunction commercials from airing between 6am and 10pm to protect our kids.”

I sat on this for a week watching postings around the internet. I knew where I stood on this proposed legislation but what did others think and would it change my mind and it did. I felt that this was pointless legislation devised to keep Americans off an economy that has been flagging and timed to coincide with the demise of ‘Swine Flu Fest’ in the media. Amongst the cries to ‘save the children from sex’, there was a posting that really caught my attention and solidified my feelings on this.

A gentleman wrote in to the ‘Sound Off’ section on CNN regarding this news topic.  His point was that he did not like having to explain to his kids what the Cialis ad during the SuperBowl was. I did not remember the ad and went to look it up. I found an ad for 2008 and not 2009 but the terms erectile dysfunction and erection were mentioned while watching elderly couples smiling and eventually sitting in separate bath tubs overlooking an ocean. From a standpoint of amazing SuperBowl ads, this one was lame.  The shots were poor and it was cut together badly but I got his point which was junior sitting next to him was being subjected to an E.D. ad. It would appear from what I read that many Americans would agree with him. ESPN sports events and other prime time viewing arenas were running these distasteful ads. Then I saw the other ads running in the 2008 and 2009 SuperBowls and realized that people were okay with Danica Patrick thrusting her body on the TV with some models in tow for GoDaddy. I gasped, “what if junior was sitting on Daddy’s lap in the commercials with the pretty ladies and wondered about Dad’s sudden lack of erectile dysfunction”? Yet Dad did not complain about those ads, merely the ads that seemed to threaten his ability to get it up. In a nutshell, it appears Americans are okay letting their kids watch grown men beat each other senseless in a violent sport that frequently causes life altering injuries tossed in with gratuitous scenes of sexy women. Violence and arousing women equal good manly entertainment and are acceptable. Thoughts of uncomfortable male issues are bad.

So, here we go again with the double standard. Sex is bad and people should not do it without the approved safeguards and conventions in place but watching an episode of ‘Fringe’ or ‘Lost’ with an eight year old is just fine without the sex ads. It makes mommy and daddy all nervous to think that they might have to explain that grandpa has to take drugs to ‘get wood’ but a melting body or guy suffering to death behind a curtain from a failed mercy killing…. hey that’s appropriate. I dream but know the day will never come when the average American looks at sex and thinks its natural and should be talked about because some day their children will do it; instead of cranking on the tube and watching someone unnaturally explode in a diner and spray body parts all over the windows.

Of course, these are the same kinds of people that put about two hundred pink and blue crosses in front of my daughter’s private school.  She was six years old and when she asked her teacher what they were, she was told they were for the little boys and girls that were never born because their mommies and daddies did not want them and had them killed while they were still in their mommies tummies. I suspect the talk I had with her about that bit of unsolicited exposure and wisdom was a bit longer than most of you have had to have with your kids about erectile dysfunction. However, I bet most people would rather subject their six year olds to that; than ads that you can turn off or gloss over with a child.

Condoms and the White Hat Guy

YAOUNDE, Cameroon – Pope Benedict XVI said condoms are not the answer to the AIDS epidemic in Africa and can make the problem worse, setting off criticism Tuesday as he began a weeklong trip to the continent where some 22 million people are living with HIV.

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane heading to Yaounde. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”  The pope said a responsible and moral attitude toward sex would help fight the disease, as he answered questions submitted in advance by reporters traveling on the plane. His response was presumably also prepared in advance.

Well, if the guy in the white hat says so, it must be right.  He is a messenger from God and he tells millions around the world what to do to get into heaven. He holds the boarding pass and the church in the past 100 years has shaped up to do some good things for a change, even though the Catholic Church has a bloody and cruel past that would rival any radical Muslim philosophy currently being taught. That said, maybe it hasn’t grown up so much that it has shaken off its self-serving roots.

A lot of Catholics I have listened to seem to think that if you have sex outside of marriage and you get HIV; then its really God’s punishment in a way for being immoral. Hey, the pope pretty much said so and it is the church’s position on how to avoid it.  Sure, that might work to an extent if everyone was Catholic but with true religious myopia the, “if you aren’t doing what we tell you too then it sucks to be you,” philosophy is in full effect.

I watched a really great young man die of full blown AIDS in the late 1980’s. He was gay and had the misfortune of being one of the first waves to be hit with HIV. We barely understood what the virus did back then and his very Christian conservative parents came to him on his death bed.  He was blind and going to die soon. Their words of comfort were as follows, “If you repent and stop being gay, God will heal you of this disease that you have been given because of your sinful life.” He did not repent, they walked out, never said another word to him and he died knowing that his parents did not really care about him. They were concerned with just how it looked to God that their “fag” son was dying of a gay disease and probably more worried about how God would judge them.  Well, I believe they should be concerned with how they will be judged and if not in the afterlife, they should be condemned in this one.

With that story written down I feel that the Pope’s statements should be condemned in this life. HIV is not a disease you get because you were bad and the Catholic churches outmoded concept of, “be fruitful and multiply” is tantamount to criminal. Has he stopped and looked at Africa? They cannot feed the people they have so let’s not only expose those faithful to the trauma of committing sin by using condoms to stay a little more safe but let’s increase the population further. The Catholic church is known to donate more money than any private organization to helping those with HIV but at what costs to the people they help? Population explosions among the faithful and increased HIV cases?

When I stop and think about it I think I get what the real point is and just like the parent’s of the young man I mentioned, it’s about appearances. It works something like this:

1. Catholic church takes the moral high ground on immoral sex and God is happy
2. Catholic church teaches the fruitful and multiply business and God is happy (forget that whole eat pork and shellfish stuff its all about pick and choose your beliefs)
3. More people get HIV as a result
4. Catholic church can do more good deeds by helping the sick
5. More children grow up without parents and need church support
6. More people die than before but at least they are Catholic and in the end God is all about the bottom line and they are sending more people to heaven

So, it is easy to deduce that God is so simple that these blatant attempts at currying favor work no matter how large or small the scale. Its about getting the best ledger with the higher powers that be. If that is untrue, which I suspect it is, then its about controlling people in this life through expanded misery. I prefer to believe that the real punishment to be had is for not being smart enough to use a condom; even if a little guy in a white hat is working on the control angle instead of really caring about his flock.

Campbell Brown on Divas

Campbell Brown anchors CNN’s “Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull” and let me make it clear before I get started that I like her. I really do. She is intelligent and her show is a wonderful addition to a region of cable news that has been dominated by the likes of Bill O’Reilly and his ‘All Spin Zone’ program on Fox or the left wing crazy running the slot on MSNBC. Here comes the patented, “but”.

Today she wrote an article about Sarah Palin and the recent comments from the McCain advisors calling her a diva. I agree with 90% of her article but one spot in it irks me, “Let’s just start with the word diva. It is obviously a sexist slight — a term that is only applied to women, almost always in a derogatory way.”, writes Campbell. To paraphrase the subject of her article, “Say it ain’t so, Brown.”.  Diva is not a term used only in reference to women. I and others in the computer industry have used it many times over to describe programmers and graphic designers that think the world should bow before their usually mediocre prowess. A lot of these people having the term used to describe them are men. Another fun term used is ‘prima donna’ but its used to describe men too. I have no doubt that the term was used in a derogatory fashion about Palin I just doubt the scope of her article’s explanation of the word.

I spoke to someone at lunch today that pointed out that a lot of her gay friends use the term to describe one another as though its a word going out of style. I guess that would make the term not only sexist but also stereotypical amongst some that have certain sexual preferences. However, the claim is that the term can only be used on women, yet I suspect the aforementioned people are often men. 

I get that Campbell wants to show her opinions as balanced but this piece tried to stereotype those that use the term, diva. Sadly, it is untrue in its explanation that those that use ‘Diva’ are only using it on women.  Campbell was funny on John Stewart the other night and has a great show of her own. I hope she does not muddy a good thing by trying to define the Webster’s Dictionary for us. Maybe, if she tells her audience what words mean she should actually ask around and find out who really uses them and how.

Barack the Wealth Spender

Sarah Palin has coined a new phrase.  Its in the media and the new play on words is, “Barack the Wealth Spender”.  I guess Caribou Barbie has decided that she is now capable of making those catch phrases that the media gobbles up. Unfortunately, she isn’t good at it. ‘Joe the Plumber’ is a common phrase used all over the country and it was an easy and natural phrase for people to accept and a good one for the Presidential Candidates to use if they wanted brand recognition; so to speak.

‘Tito the Builder’ is a more recent Palin concoction and has some racial inferences that have escaped the media thus far. If she starts saying things like “Ling the Laundry Lady” and “Guido the Fixer” I bet the media will see she is making immature racial stereotypes. This is a very base attempt to tie in to ‘Joe the Plumber’. Palin is not creating any new ideas at even this most base level, she is just riding the coattails of others and is not being original at all, that much is obvious.  A seventh grade cheerleader thinks up more original and catch worthy phrases than Caribou on a daily basis.

The Barack phrase she dreamt up is too long to be of any real use; unless Peter Jackson makes another Lord of the Rings movie.  At that point it starts to sound good, “Frodo we must save Middle America (Middle Earth does not work here) from the evil lord, Barack the Wealth Spender! Lead our loyal followers to victory from his evil socialist tyranny. I call forth the the valiant leader Joe the Plumber and the powerful Tito the Builder. What, those are made up fictitious titles? Crap, Middle America is screwed!”

Perhaps, the thing the McCain and Palin campaign need is that seventh grade cheerleader that thinks up cute and interesting catch phrases for games and events. A kid like that would add an element of autheticity, originality, intelligence and maturity that they seem to be lacking in their campaign at this point.

Go Caribou Barbie!

Presidential Debate Desires: Part 5

 

This is installment five of the things that people would not like to hear at the McCain and Obama debate this week and number ten finishes off the list. I was a day late getting it updated, sorry for breaking the chain.

 

10. Act like the future president of the United States of America.

If you stand there laughing at the other candidate or sneering at their responses you both illicit two distinct and yet similar feelings from us. These emotions you inspire are that of an old man or a disrespectful youth. Either way, the last thing we want to see is a president that can’t act professional with someone he disagrees with.  We are the United States, act like you represent the best we have to offer.  From these debates we will decide if you will act like a leader in control that other nations had better listen to, “Joe six-pack” after two cases of beer or “Biff the fratboy” that acts like a know it all jerk. 

After all these and many other valid points, it would be great to have a straight up debate that lets us learn about the two of you and allows us to feel good about whatever choice we do make.  It would be good to not feel like having to settle for the lesser of two evils yet again.

Presidential Debate Desires: Part 4

This is installment four of the things that people would not like to hear at the McCain and Obama debate next week and number nine on this list is my personal favorite.

8. We now understand that voting records are skewed by necessity at times.

We get that both of you have voted against good measures thanks to “pork” in bills. You both end up voting ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to really good bills because you do not want the ridiculous stuff in them or you have to take the bad to get to the good. The “He said” and “She said” game is boring and the only ones buying this blindly are the ones that are still taped in those small rooms in their houses because of item two on this list.

9. The Presidential Candidates should not waste their time protecting their Vice Presidential running mates.

You two picked real winners for the number two spots.  If we have to choose which of you we want based on the two V.P. hopefuls we are in trouble.  One of them has a grin after every witticism he uses that reminds us of a used car, insurance or aluminum siding salesman and the other one sounds like she has been coached to spit out facts and uses colloquialisms like any member of a losing seventh grade debate team.  We get it, you both picked poorly and if something happens to either of you we are well and truly hosed.  Please, avoid this topic. You both had great choices and reached into the hamster bin at the pet store and handed us handfuls of hamster poop. Gee, thanks!

Presidential Debate Desires: Part 3

This is installment three of the things that people would not like to hear at the McCain and Obama debate next week.

6. None of you should take credit for solving or causing the financial crisis.

You either were in office when it got rolling, weren’t in office but supported some of it or are in some way a part of the problem. The only thing we can be sure of is that neither of you whisking back to Washington in the crisis did anything but slow up the process on the Republican side or look like you needed to be there because the other candidate was. Neither of you “solved” it and if anything it slowed the process just enough to thrash some more American’s retirement dreams.  This was not a success for either of you, run from the topic before we figure that fact out.

7. Stop saying you are a better friend of Israel than the other candidate.

Honestly, are you running for election there or here?  We get that they are our ally, we get that neither of you will desert them and we know that like any other country they do both good and bad things. We will never allow another Holocaust to happen for the Jewish people but you might want to address the acts of genocide we allow for other apparently less desirable people around the globe.

Six and seven down, just three more things that people have asked not to hear at the next Obama and McCain debate.

Presidential Debate Desires: Part 2

I said there would be a follow up with more points and ideas people have expressed and written in advance of the Presidential Debate next week between McCain and Obama. To that end, here are numbers four and five.

 

4. Stop trying to get us to relate to your home town.

We all have a home town and for most of us you did not, nor do you, live there. You want to relate to us; then stop telling us how you relate and listen to us tell you what its like and what we want in our towns and cities. Then again, we overwhelmingly said we did not want a seven hundred billion dollar bailout that wouldn’t work and you guys both voted for it anyway. We are also aware that you did it for our own good because we are too stupid to know what we are saying and somehow you two are financial geniuses and not beholden to your constituents.

5. Stop talking about gay marriage.

The odds are good you will never pass a Constitutional Amendment for or against gay marriage in the next four years and the states seem to be addressing the issue by themselves for now. Besides, we all get that you guys are stuck on the fence. Equal rights but not the right to get married. It’s not really an answer but if you look at item one in this list which talks about not really giving answers; then you get that we do not expect you to give an answer anyway.

That gets the list to number five and some of the best ones are to come.  Check back here tomorrow to see more of what people have been writing and thinking about what they do and do not want in a Presidential Debate next week.