Saturday, June 16, 2012

Not Fully Bulleted Thoughts

--When the President speaks in his role as President, it is not cool to heckle or disrupt, OK?
He is the President, elected according to our system. The Office he holds should be properly respected.
It wasn't cool for Code Pink to crash President Bush's State Of The Union (or whatever it was he was doing), and it's not cool to heckle the current idiot either.
On the campaign trail? Yeah, have at it.

--It always amazes me how startled rabbits will dart out under moving tires instead of just staying on the side of the road, safe where they are.

--The last true traffic ticket I got was in 1989.
Sure, there is that one passing through Alabama in 97 that 'stayed in Alabama', so to speak; one in Anaheim that I successfully fought in 98, and the Red Light Camera notice from 3yrs ago that went unresponded to. These do not count as they matter not.
Two weeks ago, I got popped for triple-digits on the way to work at a 2a.m.
I know that I wasn't going that fast. If he wrote down "90", I'd be grudgingly at peace with it.
But he didn't.
A a cop's word vs. mine in a court of law carries more weight, so I just accept that there is not much I can do about it...  short of bending over.
It's going to hurt.

--On the positive side: I bluffed my way out of a failure to stop citation today.
Got pulled over for a stop sign that I did  (almost mostly) stop for.
Yes, Officer. What's the problem?
"You don't know?"
I asked, didn't I?
"You have no idea why I stopped you?"
NO, I don't. Please tell.
"You failed to stop before making that left turn two blocks back."
I did stop.
"No, Sir. You did not."
Yes, I did. You just didn't see me from your vantage point half a block away, because that is where you were when I saw you after I had made the turn and then you started following me... after I had made yet another turn that puts us both right here.
"Sir, I saw you run the stop sign."
From where? When you saw me after the turn from around the corner and half a block away? Or is there an imaginary stop sign somewhere else around the corner that maybe I missed?
If so, I want to see it.
"Wait right here, please."
You going to show me where that sign is?
"Wait right here, please."
Do what you will.

I thought I was going to get another cite.
Inside I'm thinking: I'll fight this fucker, win or lose.
Not taking this one laying down.
No way...
I can even take the pics I need for my defense before I leave the scene.

The cop took my license and stood behind my car for a very long time. I was watching him in my rear view and listened as he called me in.
Noticed that his ticket book was not in his hand, which meant: 'he's not writing.'
That is a good sign. Maybe I bluffed him.
Damn, I hope my license comes up clean.

After several tense (for me) minutes, he returned, handed me my license saying "Please, drive safely Mr. R******.)
Enjoy your day, Officer.

Ha! I beat him.
Sometimes, I'm awesome like that.

--Duran Duran, the fetish of 80's pop afficianados, only made one good song. And it was released in the 90's. Go figure...
I never liked them anyway (too gay for me) 'cept for that one good song.

--Syria
It's always sad to me when innocent Arabs die for want of something better. Such an uber-cool people and culture deserves so much more.
I hope the revolution ends soon and Assad's body is properly dragged naked through the streets, as it should be...




7 comments:

Mr. D said...

Nice job with the cop. Well done.

Mrs. D said...

Gino,
Mr. D actually went to court a number of years ago, fought his ticket and won!!

Happy Father's Day. Hope you enjoy your special day.

Gino said...

retraced my steps today, and yeah... aint no way in hell he saw me roll that stop.

i was clear, from his point, that i did judging by my momentum through the intersection.
but thats not good enough in CA. the cop has to witness the infraction.

good job Mr D. its always good to win in court because the cop has all the advantage going in.

Night Writer said...

Barenaked Ladies had a toss-in verse before "Million Dollars" that went, "I had a blue and red Adidas bag and an enormous binder, trying hard not to look like a minor-niner; went out for the football team to prove that I'm a man, guess I shouldn't told them that I like Duran-Duran."

John said...

I am reminded of two things. The first is this argument made by someone from University of San Diego. http://www.physicscentral.com/buzz/blog/index.cfm?postid=4656335810518469535

The second is the explanation my wife used as she argued with a NC trooper after she came to a full stop and made a LEFT turn on a red light. "But officer I didn't run the light, I came to a full stop before I turned left" -- After he issued the ticket she called her cousin (also a cop) to seek advice on how to challenge it. His response was pay the fine and don't turn left on red.

Mr. D said...

The incident that Mrs. D mentioned happened back in 1995, a few months before the Benster was born. I had come to a stoplight at a fairly busy intersection and there was road construction. The intersection had a left-hand turn lane and signal. I had meant to be in the left lane that was traveling forward, but this old guy who was coming up the right hand lane swung over into almost the middle of the road, forcing me over to a point where I was halfway in the turn lane and halfway in the left lane.

The light at the intersection was red, but there was a green arrow for the left-hand turn lane. There was a guy behind me who wanted to turn left and he was honking his horn to get me to turn left, and the cop was right behind him. I waited for the regular light to turn green and proceeded forward, waiting for the old dude to get out of the way. The old dude continued down the road, driving erratically -- to this day I think he was drunk, but we'll never know. The guy behind me turned left (there was no oncoming traffic) and the cop pulled me over for an illegal lane change.

I beat it because of the construction at the intersection. The road was being resurfaced and they had not yet painted the lane markers on the road. I told the judge that, as a motorist, I have to rely on not only the traffic lights, but also the lane markings on the road in order to drive lawfully. Since there were no lane markers, I argued that the officer pulling me over was arbitrary. The judge looked at me, looked at the cop and said "I agree, sir. Case dismissed." The cop (a woman) was pissed.

It would have only been a $71 fine, but it was the principle of the thing.

Gino said...

mine was similar. they had reconstruction on the street, and the painted markings didnt match the signage that was just placed the day before. the day after, they restriped to match the signage.
i had pictures and everything.

after stating my case, the cop spoke up: 'I move to dismiss, yer Honor...' or something like that.