Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Eye in the Sky...

Listening to KNX Radio (yes, the Republicans are right on one thing:  the media is an evil influence...)  On comes an ad touting the new version of GARMIN...that wonderful little GPS/Direction/Best-Chinese-Restaurant-in-the-current-neighborhood device...

One of the main new features?  "It also displays your speed," the announcer joyfully said.  Hmmm...

Won't be long now before the same is said about ONSTAR, or any of the other little mamas-little-helper devices on our dashboards or hanging from our visors...  Then it's only a matter of time
before Big Brother really becomes Oz, the man behind the curtain, and starts to subcontract
things like speed violation enforcement, outsourcing them to Raytheon and friends...

After all, your subscription to the service means they have your id info, probably your
car's VIN and registration, and a credit card or bank account on file for payment...

It's a short leap to sending that info about you doing 45 in a 35 on Highland to Culver City Police,
and a nice prepaid ticket arriving at your home address...

Let's not forget that info is already being gathered by insurance companies ("Snapshot" being an example) and it plays a large role in your renewal premiums...  So, double whammy, your insurance premiums skyrocket...

BUY A MAP, STUDY IT...DO A GOOGLE EARTH SEARCH...then take off for your location.
Screw Garmin...half the time it gives you instructions to make a left at a no-turn intersection anyway.

Just a thought...

From my cold dead hands...

Watching the "progressive" cable channel "Current"--a documentary on the guns being used by the Mexican drug cartels which are purchased here in the US...mostly at "gun shows" without any type of background check or documentation...and hearing the comments of the "gun lobby" about not constricting our SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS (which have to do with militias, not individuals) to curtail the murders in Juarez...

I am so sick to death of hearing this "2nd amendment" argument as an excuse for our flooding our streets, and those of neighboring countries, with automatic weapons...  Seven dead in Oakland yesterday...five wounded in Mississippi...Thirty-five dead in one swoop in Juarez...  "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" is the most lame of all the platitudes mouthed by these John-Wayne-wannabes...  The NRA with its nearly-billion-dollar lobbying is the most insidious organization since the SS...

I think it's ironic that the AK-47, the favorite weapon of my friends in the NLF who (luckily) shot at us with bad aim in Nam, is the sweetheart weapon of the NRA right here at home.  Thanks to those cretins, we are more likely to be killed here than we were flying over the DMZ...  Thanks, guys.  Love you, too...