Wailing Into The Void

Ah, the collective wisdom of the internets.

Sure, the city claims that it doesn’t issue any kind of parking ticket quotas to its traffic cops, but if that’s the case it makes you wonder how something like this can happen:

Critics of the city’s enforcement policies say that some agents, under pressure to produce numbers, write bogus summonses by, for example, “dumping” them repeatedly on abandoned cars. City officials say such instances are isolated. But the data do present some curious situations, like the 267 tickets, all unpaid, issued to a 1989 Nissan that was parked near the Brooklyn Navy Yard for the past 17 months. Most of the tickets were issued by a police officer, although several traffic agents had also left summonses on the car. The fines now total $32,964.

City marshals and sheriffs are authorized to tow cars with at least $350 in delinquent parking tickets. But this car was tagged repeatedly for the same three or four violations, even after it had two flat tires and no visible license plate and was parked about two blocks from the Brooklyn Tow Pound.

After The Times began asking about the car, it was towed away by the police.

Doesn’t the Sci-Fi Channel have anything better to air than Mork & Mindy re-runs?

Here’s a little holiday story that’s sure to restore your faith in humanity:

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

I don’t know when or how this Black Friday mob frenzy mentality got started, but maybe it takes someone dying for retailers and the media to start putting a little less emphasis on all their ridiculous hype and start paying a little more attention to the unsafe environments they’re helping to foster.   I’m not holding my breath, though. 

Now Al-Qaida is bitching about it.  Look for references to Wright, Rezko and Ayers in bin Laden’s next video release.

Anti-government protesters have seized control of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.  One of the protesters’ main grievances is over vote-buying:

The protesters, a loose coalition of royalists, academics and members of the urban elite, say they are frustrated with years of vote-buying and corruption. Many are also skeptical of Thai democracy in its current form and propose a voting system that would lessen the representation of lower-income Thais, whom they say are particularly susceptible to vote-buying.

Those of you who follow current events in this country are well aware we have a similar problem here, where ACORN exchanges crack for votes.

There’s a lot of grumbling about the Citigroup bailout among the economically initiated.  To a layperson such as myself there seems to be more than a whiff of “we’re making this up as we go along” coming from Washington these days.

(via Paul Krugman)

Are we now in the midst of a bailout bubble?

No sign of the authorities yet.

I’m going to try to fix a flat tire on my bike tonight.  If you don’t hear from me in 24 hours notify the authorities.