Fellow speeders: Sonny does it too!

Anyone in Georgia may remember the 2006 political campaign commercials for Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue with the slogan "Sonny did" as in Sonny Perdue "did" so much for the state.

Well, Sonny is doing it again. Wasting time in some laim bad ass idea of "cracking down on speeding drivers". And I just heard the governor himself say in a news conference that he is one of the average Georgia drivers that exceeds the speed limit.

Yes, Sonny does that too!

I drive a lot for work and I drive within the flow of traffic. If everyone is going 80 on a rural stretch of an interstate, I am not the slow poke to break the flow! If I were, then I am creating a safety hazard.

SPEED LIMITS ARE REVENUE SOURCES!

In my business I drive hundreds of miles a day traveling throuout the state. I frequent long stretches of I-75, I-16, US 341, Georgia 300 and Georgia 96. And I can tell you that the speed limits are a JOKE in many areas. They only exist to create revenue for local governments. Why else would the town of Byron Georgia police give tickets on an interstate hwy that has one exit on the edge of their town?

Why is there a 45 mph speed limit through the town of Warwick GA (home of the national GRITS festival!) on a 4 lane GA-300? So their lone police officer could raise revenue to make up for the meager income the tiny town gets from its Dollar General store? This highway has a 65 speed limit and a 55 speed limit as you enter Albany. But Warwick is special and you must slow down as you BYPASS the actual town (which is off the highway)

Georgia hwy 96 between Ft. Valley and Columbus is a newly widened open 4 lane highway with a short one mile section that runs through the town of Reynolds. Appropiately, the speed limit through Renynolds is reduced. But 10 miles west, this highway BYPASSES the town of Butler. And this open road remains at 55 mph while clearly designed for 65 mph or higher.

How much revenue does the Taylor county Sheriff's dept and Butler police raise from HWY 96 in a county that still has segregated high school proms? (I had to throw that in!)

ARE POLITICIANS EXEMPT FROM SPEED LIMITS?

I challenge anyone driving along a Georgia interstate to look at the license plates of the vehicle that just passed you like you were standing still. Does that vehicle have one of those special license plates with a CAPITAL symbol on it? It could be a "State representive" or other state or US political office identified on the bottom of the license plate.

Find a license plate like I just described on an unmarked Crown Victoria or on some large SUV or European Luxury car and notice that person is not only exceeding the speed limit but yapping on their cell phone at the same time. And one of those politicians just had a press conference announcing his plan to crack down on speeding and unsafe drivers.

What @#$%#$ hyprocracy!


Im keeping my cruise control set! I never had a speeding ticket before and I want to keep it that way! They want to double the fines!

News article below!

Crackdown on 'Super Speeders'
(WSB Radio) -- Saying speed is responsible for 20 percent of Georgia's fatal automobile accidents, the rising cost of trauma care and traffic congestion, Governor Sonny Perdue is proposing increasing the fines paid by drivers who violate the state's speed limit.

Perdue wants "hundreds of dollars" tacked on to the punishment handed out to motorists who get pulled over going more than 85 miles an hour on interstate and four lane highways and 75 miles an hour on two lane roads.

Perdue says "Georgia's drivers are among the fastest in the nation, and we've got to stop the excessive speeding."

The money collected through the fines would help offset costs at the state's fifteen trauma care centers.

Law enforcement also backs Perdue's proposal. Georgia State Patrol spokesman Larry Schnall says "we support anything to get people's attention and slow them down."

Statistics show the average Georgia motorist drives 20 miles an hour over the posted speed limit.

Too early for Christmas music!

I am growing more and more into a serious Grinch every year.

And I am not alone in my feelings on one topic, the playing of Christmas music too early. Read blog in Atlanta Journal Constitution (you may need to register and log in).

If you read the comment section of the blog, in which I posted a comment, you'll find that many think we should celebrate one holiday at a time. But then there are the "Christmas fanatics" too.

I discovered on NOVEMBER 14TH that another local radio station has gone ALL-CHRISTMAS 24-7. If you live in Warner Robins Georgia and points south, 99.9 FM radio is playing all Christmas music. They join 96.5 in Macon in playing Christmas music WAY TOO DAMN EARLY!

I work and travel all over Georgia and so far only ONE city had their Christmas lights actually turned ON. And that dubious honor goes to the city of Macon, who on VETRANS DAY November 11th, had the downtown Christmas lights turned on.

Other towns started putting up their decorations recently including the city where I live, but the lights are not yet turned on. (and they better not turn them on before we digest our Thanksgiving Turkey)

Now we know the retail stores are already in Christmas mode. After all, this is THEIR time of the year. And Christmas has become nothing more than a marketing season. It is all about ringing sales and turning profits. The only "birthday" that most will celebrate will be the people who were actually born on December 25th themselves or they know someone who was born on that day. And even then it may not be a big deal. But will any of these people, and that includes those who call themselves "christians" remember any other birthday in December? Don't bet on it. Cause it's really all about the gifts.

I was in Columbus, Ga last night (for the third time in a week) and before driving home I needed to do some shopping. I decided to shop for non-perishables before making my 90 minute drive home and in front of 10 different stores in the same shopping complex was a Salvation Army bell ringer. And half of them were wearing Santa hats. It was NOVEMBER 14TH!

Next week, there is a day that is called Thanksgiving. That day is nothing more than a dinner date now.

Bon Appite

Danny Rolling's execution- 16 years too late!

In Florida, someone will be executed by lethal injection for the murders of 5 college students. His name is Danny Rolling. He was sentenced to death in 1994 after pleading guilty for killing college students in Gainesville, Florida. They were students of the University of Florida and SantaFe Community College in Gainesville.

Click below for news on this subject

THE GAINESVILLE MURDERS-DANNY ROLLING TIMELINE FROM FLORIDA NEWS WEBSITE

The disgusting events happened near Labor Day in 1990. SIXTEEN YEARS AGO! And it does seem like it was yesterday to me. I remember the time so vividly as many people are remembering the time when the city of Gainesville and residents from all over the state were scared almost into a panic over the brutal murders of college students near the University of Florida campus.

Everyone in Florida either had someone or knew someone with ties to the college town of Gainesville and we all feared for the safety of loved ones and friends as the bodies of five college students were found during this killing spree.

One of the murder victims was Sonja Larson, who I did not know personally but she attended the same high school with my sister and they were the same age. My sister did not know her directly. Also, the Larson family attended the same church we attended growing up. Although we never knew the Larsons, we knew or worked with many people in Pompano Beach who did know members of the Larson family and experienced the saddness with everyone around us. This was so senseless.

I had three friends who were attending college in Gainesville at the time of this murder spree. One of them lived in the same apartment complex where one of the murders occurred. I remember one of my friends as a staunch beliver of gun control suddenly finding herself taking gun safety classes with her boyfriend and seriously considering buying a firearm for personal protection. Those gun safety classes along with karate classes were suddenly overbooked with people wanting to find any way to protect themselves from what at that time was an unknown murderer killing young college students in their apartments.

Some people were so scared at the time they moved out of Gainesville. Others were pulled out of college there by frantic parents not wanting to take any chances.

There was one suspect arrested for the crime but he was cleared and considered to be somewhat mentally challenged ("slow") and he did not match any of the DNA testing that was done at the time. But DNA tests did match with Danny Rolling and he was indicted for the murders in 1991.

Three years passed then Danny Rolling pleaded guilty in early 1994 and was sentenced to death a couple months later. By then I was living in Tampa and still had two of my friends living in Gainesville. I was making regular trips to Gainesville and I remember that the events of August and September 1990 were more than still fresh on the minds of the residents and students in that city. There was a roadside wall that was made into a memorial for the murder victims with spray painted names and images that remained for many years.

Now SIXTEEN YEARS after FIVE young college students were murdered, the person convicted of the crime will be put to death.

Excuse me for saying this, but this is 16 years too damn late! Danny Rolling was allowed to outlive his murder victims and it is disgusting that the taxpayers of Florida, expecially the families of the victims paid taxes that helped to support 16 years of room and board and legal proceedings that kept that piece of shit alive longer than necessary.

Reading and watching the news of the victims families today, you see that they are still hurting. They had to endure this pain for 16 years and the execution of Danny Rolling will not bring closure nor bring back the lost lives.

I am not a mean spirited person but if only criminals who murder could suffer the same type of demise they put upon their victims. It is just not right for Danny Rolling to be put COMFORTABLY to death with a needle and some fluids. He should die the way his victims did or in a more painful fashion.

No, I don't have any personal connection to this but I am still angry that someone could get away with murdering of innocent people who were there to get an education and hoping to grow and prosper. Those five victims could be outstanding citizens today. They would all be in their mid 30's now, living and working their chosen careers. They could be raising families and living the American dream. The simple fact that the five victims were college students show that they were more accomplished and valuable to society at age 18 through 22 than that worthless Danny Rolling was at twice their age.

I can't help but wonder what anyone could have done with themselves if they were alive today and at the same time I am also looking back at what I could have done for myself during those 16 years. I am fortunate to still be here. But that is for anothe

The Mayor JACKass of Macon Georgia

Mayor Jack(ass) Ellis
I just happened to be online when the TV news came on and the "H-M-I-C" (Head Mayor In Charge) of Macon Georgia, also known as Mayor Jack Ellis is on a rampage ranting about how he is going to clean up crime in the city.

That idiot has been the mayor of Macon since 1999. Excuse me, he believes he is king of Macon. And now he is concerned about crime, after some 14 year old girl gets raped in a vacant house?

Why all of the sudden is he so concerned? Could it be because George Bush is coming to town tomorrow for a fundraiser and there may be some out of town media present? Could it be that yet another corruption scandal is about to come out? Why now does this lame duck (term limited) Mayor jackass give a damn about crime and vacant buildings in blighted areas of the city? Don't tell me he just now discovered theres a problem.

That Mayor Jackass is considering a run for congress once he is out as Mayor of Macon. And if the same idiots who re-elected him for a second term actually vote for him in 2008, then the entire city deserves to crumble into the Okmulgee River.

Sorry for the rant. I cringe every time I see Jack Ellis on TV and I want to thow a shoe at the screen. He is a patronizing parasite. A true example of a politician with nothing but snakes up his sleeves. BS promises and games and then acts like everyone should bow at his feet and kiss his ass.

And thank god I don't live in Macon city limits. I would be totally ashamed to have such a pathetic grandstanding ASSHOLE for a mayor.

WHEW!

I feel better now that I got that off my chest.

Chevrolet Corvette

Today I had a great treat.

I mentioned to some that I was treating myself to a Corvette. Yes, the Chevrolet Corvette sports car that I have loved for a lifetime.

Well, I did treat myself to a Corvette today. Actually several Corvettes!

(What, did you think I was actually going to buy one? Whatever gave you that idea LOL!)

I spent a few hours at the NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM in Bowling Green Kentucky. Which is across the street from the General Motors Factory that builds the Chevrolet Corvette and now also builds the Cadillac XLR roadster.


I had been wanting to go to Bowling Green for a very long time having promised myself that if I ever travel close enough to area (within 100 miles or passing by) then I would have to stop at this museum and spend a couple hours with some fantastic cars.

I attended a wedding in Nashville on Saturday, Bowling Green is about an hour away. So Today was finally the day. Sadly, I could not include the actual tour of the automobile factory as they don't have tours on weekends. But I took photos of the area. Cameras are NOT allowed inside the factory.


Also not allowed are cars made by other manufacturers. Luckily I only drive GM vehicles as my own personal preference. So if I visit the plant, I could park closer to the building.



NON General Motors vehicles have to use designated parking that is FAR from the building. I compare it to banishing smokers to the far reaches of the property. It sucks to be a Ford doesn't it? LOL (sorry)

At least the "Non GM" parking lot is paved.

Inside the museum were lots of Corvettes from concept cars, to each model and body style. There were also personal customized cars on loan to the museum and a special section called "The Corvette Nursery" where someone purchasing a brand new Corvette can accept delivery of their very own car FROM the museum. It is the closest thing to picking up the car from the factory itself.

There is also a theatre presentation and a gift shop. And there are many events for Corvette car clubs and memberships to the museum itself.

The National Corvette Museum is a true haven for fans of the Chevrolet Corvette. Here are some of the photos I took during my near three hour visit.

NEW Vettes waiting for their owners to accept delivery.
The museum had a owner delivery presentation program. You order your new car, fly in to Bowling Green and your new car is presented to you (almost) directly from the factory across the street.


Below are some of the cars on display and my favorate exhibits.

Individuals and clubs can STILL purchase specially engraved bricks for placement in the sidewalk in front of the National Corvette Museum

I found this sidewalk brick from the area where I live.

I definitely plan to return to the museum as the cars on display change often. And I want to spend a great amount of money at the museum gift shop. Also across the street is a car dealership that specializes in classic American Muscle Cars. More to dream about.


And most definitely, I have to return at a time when the assembly plant is open for tours.

Sadly, I did not get to take one of the Vette's home. But I did enjoy my road trip companion, the 2007 Chevrolet Malibu LTZ with the V-6 engine and nearly everything including OnStar and Remote start.

This Malibu is a NICE CAR! And if given a chance, this car will run circles around those Camry's and Accords. It really is that good.

Janet Jackson: Whispering under the BOOM

I'm no music critic. But I do want to share this opinion as I have been so greatly aggravated by a this new song. "Call on Me" by Janet Jackson featuring Nelly

Janet Jackson: Why don't you go buy a one-way ticket to see your brother in whatever country that is he moved (exiled) to. Yes I said ONE-WAY! And please take any recordings you have made since Rythym Nation with you. Bury them in the desert sand and never, NEVA, NEVEAH, EVA, EVER, EVER, EVER curse my speakers with your whiny moan over bassed noise again.

OMFG (you know I have to be really annoyed to say the "F" word) this new song from Janet Jackson and Nelly is HORRIBLE!

I have heard this shit played on the only radio broadcast show I listen to daily, The Tom Joyner Morning show, and even the majority of the show's cast hates the song. (they must be paying Tom Joyner to play that song) or it serves as joke material.

How is it that the rapper (Nelly) sings better than the singer (Janet) in this case? Cause the rapper actually sings while the "singer" mumbles whisper moans through the entire damn song which is straight out of the early 1990's when so-called music contained so much bass that could trigger earthquakes. I hated that over bassed crap back then and MISS JACKSON reminds me that I still hate that BOOM BUMP BOOM drowning out real music and her lame attempts at singing....excuse me, "whisper moaning".

Janet oughta be whipped like her mama whipped Penny with the iron on Good Times back in the day for putting this mess out. (Yeah I said it!)

Now, do my comments help you understand how much I hate this song?


Click on the link below and listen for yourself if you dare.

"Call On Me" by Janet Jackson featuring Nelly FROM AOL MUSIC

Ode to IBM

If it were not for a company called International Business Machines, aka IBM, where would this world be?

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to IBM for the technology that rules our lives today. Everything we do in our daily lives as well as everything we have to put up with in our daily lives is in some way because of IBM.

Typewriters (remember them) were taken to the peak level thanks to an electric typewriter manufactured by IBM.

Data storage and processing made possible because of IBM

IBM brought the first personal computer (The PC) into our homes some 25 years ago. That revolution has evolved into a major part of our daily lives at home and at work. Our ability to communicate online by your reading this blog that I am writing is only one of many small things we can thank IBM for. Or you can curse IBM for it, depending on your opinion. I can thank IBM for my ability to express my thoughts about the good, the bad and the amusing results of their actions.

So I guess you are wondering what the hell am I talking about.

IBM made shopping as we know it today very easy. They invented the first supermarket scanner so you don’t have to read little price stickers and manually punch in the numbers. Most retailers have cash registers manufactured by IBM or use programs created by IBM. Those cash registers make it so easy for the person paid to use the machine. The machine tells the so-called “cashiers” the prices, the total and even how much change to give back to the customer.

So what happens when technology has a little malfunction? The “cashier” actually has to think for themselves. Oh what a tragedy! The cashier may have to do something so difficult like figuring out how much change to give to the customer. They may have know how to count! Oh the humanity.

I had to witness a great ordeal tonight while shopping at the “mega mart super center” place where you can buy everything from food to underwear to cat food or goldfish to feed to the cat. (kidding) You know the place. I am avoiding saying the name of the store, but by now anyone with an eighth of a brain should know what store I am talking about. And that “eighth of a brain” person may just be more intelligent than the average employee of the “mega mart super center”.

An employee of this store had a meltdown tonight. Everything went well right until I gave this person some money. The total was $6.10 and I gave the employee $6.25. And for some reason the cashier’s little fat fingers entered $66.25 as my payment and the IBM cash register told the employee that my change would be $60.15. Somehow this confused the employee who knew that she did not owe me $60.00 in change. (glad she knew that much) but it took a few minutes of frustration before the cashier realized that she only owed me FIFTEEN CENTS.

The sad thing is that I encounter situations like this all of the time. One time, I remember a cashier actually borrowing a calculator to figure out the exact change for a $9.00 order from a $10 bill. Or what about the store clerk who struggled to figure out 6% sales tax on a $10 order. (I am not making this up)

IBM has made it possible for a stores to hire a complete mathematical idiots (or idiots in general). People who can’t understand simple math enough to make change when needed.

Thanks IBM for making life what it is today. Convenient and amusing at the same time.

"Goodbye" Cynthia McKinney

On this morning after the Georgia runoff elections I imagine that Congressional clown Cynthia McKinney is sitting quietly on the floor of her living room feeling sad and blue and taking a break in seclusion with a good drink and listening to her old 45rpm records. You know, the ones she enjoyed when she was a young black girl in Atlanta having a crush on the young (formerly black) boy singing this song.

"Never Can Say Goodbye" by The Jackson Five (1971)

Peeking through the living room window you might see Cynthia McKinney sitting by her stereo, drink in hand, swaying slowly from side to side and contemplating her future as her relationship with the voters is "a little strained". She mumbles to herself "Those evil Republicans crossed over and voted me out".

The night the lights went out

Today is the 29th anniversary of the electricity "Blackout" in New York City.


Where were YOU when the lights went out in New York City on July 13, 1977?





I was living in South Florida and watching TV after 9pm when the three networks ABC, CBS & NBC interrupted TV shows to report that the electricity was out in all of New York City. The "Blackout" as it was called had left millions stuck in Elevators and Subway trains. People were in high rise buildings without air conditioning and some went wild by LOOTING businesses.

My Grandmother lived in Queens NY at the time and we called her to see if she was ok. She was fine and eating watermelon on her front porch. It was a very hot summer time and the city was without electricity for 25 hours. When food began to thaw because of the power outage, my Grandmother and her neighbors pulled out the charcoal grills and barbequed.

Meanwhile I also had a cousin named Brenda who was pregnant at age 17. She gave birth to her daughter during the blackout.

Bernica is now 29 years old....Happy Birthday "Little B"!

And speaking of Babies. There are a lot of 27 year old native New Yorkers that owe their existance to "Con Edison" (the NY Power company) as many people found an intimate way to spend their time in the dark.

There is a song that tells the story of the time when the lights went out in New York City, July 13th, 1977.



"The Night The Lights Went Out" by The Trammps
Was a Disco dance club hit in the fall of 1977.
Written about the July 13, 1977 Electrical BLACKOUT in New York City

To read more about the 1977 New York City Blackout,
go to this wikipedia site.

The AMC July "Movie of the Month"

It is the Independence Day holiday and millions of people are headed to the beaches. And some may turn on the TV and come across the AMC channel and what does AMC offer as their July "Movie of the Month" during the prime beach season?

"Jaws"

Yes, that legendary 1975 film that scared the shit out of of beachgoers back in the day. And still scares some of us today! AMC is so wrong for showing this film during the prime beach season.

Every time this movie comes on I am reminded of the excitement I had as a child wanting to see this movie when it was new. There was a lot of hype over this film before it appeared and it was the great talk at school. Then on a Friday night in South Florida my family was out with some neighbors.

We did our usual family night out. Dinner somewhere and then we were off to the Drive In to see a movie. We always shared our family night with another family, either the Fredricks, my friend Peter and his mom Melissa, or with my mother's best friends, Doris and John and their son Bernard.

This time it was the single/divorced moms and their kids. That being me, my mother, Melissa and her son Peter who was 2 years younger than me and my sister who was the baby of the group at age 4. And we were all especially eager to see Jaws on its premiere night.

That evening before dark we ate dinner at SAMBO'S. Yes I said Sambo's and for those who don't know, it was a restaurant chain very simular to what we know as Denny's today. The chain was named as a combination of the founders names. One was named Sam and the other's last name was BOnnert. But many associated the name with a book about the African character "Little Black Sambo" and people thought the use of "Sambo's" was racist. The restaurants did try to capitalize on the Sambo theme but they were out of business by the 1980's. Many Sambo's locations became Denny's since the type of restaurants were nearly identical. Same type of food, open 24 hours, great breakfast food all the time and lots of toys and characters for the kids.

Anyway, we ate at Sambo's and went to the GOLD COAST DRIVE-IN in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The former drive-in is now the location of a shopping center that includes Office Depot, Winn-Dixie.....and a Denny's.

I even remember the car we were in that night. We were driving Melissa's pea-green Ford Maverick just weeks before she traded it in for a new Ford Mustang II.

Oh the cars of the 1970's

I watched "Jaws" from the back seat of the Maverick. I usually like to walk around some as I did like to play the pinball near the snack bar. But I watched every bit of this movie that night. And I enjoyed it right until a scene when a man slipped of the boat and right into the shark's mouth. Thats when I suddely lost it. I kicked and screamed and nearly created a sunroof in the Maverick. And I wasn't the only one screaming! There was the woman in the van parked next to us. She was screaming too.

No wait! I don't think she was "watching" the movie. (sorry)

Actually everyone reacted to that scene in the film and we were all a bit nervous about going to the beach for a while after that. Melissa and Peter loved to go to the beach and since Melissa was also an occasional babysitter of me and my sister, we always went to the beach together. She was especially protective of us at the beach after we saw Jaws. And whenever I watch the movie I have this automatic reaction to several scenes of the film. When that shark opens his mouth, my size 15 feet rise from the floor! It's almost as if the shark is coming out of the carpet to get me!

THATS HOW MUCH THE MOVIE "JAWS" SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME! And I would never watch any of the sequels. Especially "Jaws 3-D". I feared that watching "Jaws" in 3-D would just make me pee. This would not be a good thing for a teenager to do. So I never took the chance of watching hungry sharks in 3D.

So every time I see that Jaws is on TV I have these memories. And 31 years later I still cannot watch the movie with my feet on the floor.

So I admit one fear today. I am not ashamed. But when they show the movies "Ben" or "Willard" I will most likely keep my fear of rats to myself . (I wouldn't want you to think I am a wuss.) Instead I might blog about how passionate Michael Jackson sang the theme song about his love of the rat "Ben" while wondering why anyone is so surprised about how that kid turned out.