California county legalizes crime

Scary stuff coming out of California. The District Attorney of Contra Costa County (located just east of San Francisco) has announced that his office will stop prosecuting many misdemeanor crimes including assault, theft, and burglary. He will also stop prosecuting drug felonies involving “small” amounts of certain narcotics.

One shop owner who has had problems with theft summed it up correctly, “”If [criminals] know they’re not going to be prosecuted, there’s going to be a lot more shoplifting.”

Now I think this announcement is the DA’s attempt at playing hardball with the county supervisors for cutting his budget. I bet it will be effective. The public outrage at the DA for effectively legalizing a number of crimes will likely push the county supervisors to give him what he wants – an increased budget.

Even if the county supervisors reconsider, expect a jump in crime there. Good luck shop owners and home owners in California’s Contra Costa County. Your DA just declared open season on your property and safety.

(Hat tip: The Anchoress)

The truth will set you free

It’s been years since I worked in a restaurant and I no longer feel obligated to secrecy. So here is the truth.

Today’s chicken casserole is yesterday’s leftover fried chicken. And you do not want to see what gets filtered out of the fryer.

Next week: how a magician cuts a woman in half…

Score 1 for me

In Decemeber I predicted that global cooling will be viewed as more proof of global warming.

The U.K.’s Telegraph didn’t let me down with their headline yesterday that read, “Snow is consistent with global warming, say scientists.” This headline is in response to a week that saw the biggest snowfall in London since the 1960’s.

The money quote:

But despite this extreme weather, scientists say that the current cold snap does not mean that climate change is going into reverse. In fact, the surprise with which we have greeted the extreme conditions only reinforces how our climate has changed over the years.

The globe is not warming, at least not in ways outside of natural variations that have taken place for millennia. That is why the alarmists have changed terms from “global warming” to “climate change.” That way they can continue shout alarms and call for government control no matter which way the weather turns.

Most useless emergency exit…ever

Actual emergency exit sign at Denver International Airport:
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I can’t help but think of the worst case scenario. How long must 15 seconds be if a fire is spreading through the room? Even worse, what if a gunman is shooting people? (Eveyone else in this area would have already been disarmed.)

If you are looking for a way so that people will not be able to get to safety, I think this would have to be it.

Less than six degrees

Two days ago I was just about to walk out the door to leave for work when my wife told me that our neighbor called to tell us there was a police officer in front of our house with a gun.

I looked out our kitchen window to see the officer walking up my driveway pointing an assault rifle in front of him. I saw another one on the other side of the street. When he looked satisfied that no one was hiding in our carport, my wife opened the door. He told us they were looking for two fleeing felons and to call 911.

We found out later that police had made a traffic stop and an man and woman. When the officer got out of his car, the suspects took off. A chase ensued ending in a crash a few blocks from my house. The two suspects fled on foot but the woman was captured later (after the search on our street) two blocks away from us.

The man has still not been caught. The news reported his name as James Herrera.

This is where it gets weird. “Jimmy” has a brother named Jason (not me). Jason has a good friend named Kevin. Kevin works with me. Unsurprisingly, Kevin tells me that Jimmy seems to have a drug problem. I believe he used the word “loser”.

But I already own that

I think the top two most successful marketing schemes in the past fifty years are bottled water and ringtones.

Bottled water is amazing. Americans buy about 28 billion bottles of water per year. In doing so, we pay extra money for something we already get out of the tap.

The second is an even bigger scam – ringtones. Cellphone companies have convinced their customers to pay up to $3.00 or more for songs (really small pieces of songs) that they generally already own in their music collection. Wireless providers have so far gotten away with crippling the phone you own by locking down the software so that you can’t load your own song (or piece thereof) onto your own hardware. They do this so you pay more for a ring tone than you do the whole song. Ingenious!

Not for me thank you. But what is a person who wants a customized ringtone to do? Well now that person (um, me) can use Myxertones. Upload your own song, choose which section you want as a ringtone, and they’ll send it to you via text message.

I’ve got my ringtone now. Sweet.

Another book club selection

In November 2007, Keith Sampson who is a maintanence man and student at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis was reading a book during his break. A coworker who was black said she was offended by the book.

Sampson’s shop steward later told him the book was like bringing pornography to work. The university’s Affirmative Action Office “investigated” Sampson and wrote him a letter saying that he “demonstrated disdain and insensitivity to [his] coworkers” and ordered him not to read the book in their presence.

So what is this racially offensive book that is so inflammatory as to be considered contraband at an institution of “higher” learning? Well that would be Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan by Todd Tucker.

The problem that IUPUI has is that the book is not advocating support of the KKK. It describes events that occured in May 1924 where Notre Dame students got into a street fight with the KKK. Apparently IUPUI doesn’t understand that the KKK is religiously biggotted as well as racially biggotted. And that a book that documents a defeat of the KKK is not a book advocating KKK positions. Idiots.

So with great enthusiasm I have selected my next pick for Jason’s Super-Fantastic Bookclub!TM. Go pick up Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan and read it. You’ll be a rebel because it turns out that it is a banned book by at least one university.

Update:
I just searched IUPUI’s library catalog. Tucker’s book is part of the university collection. Currently it is checked out until 3/31/08. Makes me worry for that patron. He or she may be next in line for a harrassment investigation.

S&1+!

My boss of five years got fired today.

He is one of the best managers I’ve ever worked for and definitely my favorite. I’m not sure the employees know what they might be in for. As coworker of mine said, “people need to be careful what they wish for.”

If you see this, good luck boss. I pray you land someplace where they will appreciate what you do (and will pay you A LOT of money for doing it). I miss working for you already.