Monday, November 21, 2011

Monday's Odds and Ends

How Not to Conduct a Traffic Stop - This Huntersville Police Department Officer needs some rudimentary basic training. Look closely, he is hanging on the passenger side window with both arms and his head stuck inside the car. Felon? Friend? Threat? No Threat? Regardless EVER EVER DO THIS! If you let your guard down the next thing you know is your name is on a memorial plaque. Nuff Said.


Photo Credit The General

Newt Gingrich - Was asked to elaborate on his opinion of the Occupy Wall Street Protester so he quoted Thomas Jefferson and John Smith, the latter particularly telling settlers they could not eat if they did not work, which, to Gingrich, embedded a “deep sense of responsibility” in the American psyche.

In contrast, Gingrich argued that Occupy movement was grounded in entitlement– “all the Occupy movement starts with the premise that we all owe them everything.” With that in mind, Gingrich explained that their point was to “self-righteously explain that they are the paragons of virtue to which we owe everything,” which was indicative of “how the left has collapsed as a moral system.” Gingrich concluded with a flourish that the group needs to “go get a job after you take a bath” to raucous applause, and the praise of federal candidate Herman Cain.

Is Charlotte Ready for DNC 2012? - I can't imagine why any city would want a convention Democrat or Republican.




Panthers - D'Oh!

Andy Dulin - Cedar Posts rarely agrees with Andy Dulin. But as he tells the Charlotte Observer, Duke Energy is taking the city for a ride when it comes to our street lights. I have to agree far too many of our street lights are not working. The contract the city has with Duke Energy offers no incentive whatsoever to insure burned out or broken street lights are fixed in a reasonable amount to time. Duke is paid even if a street light doesn't work.

The Observer story is here.

Cedar's Counter Point: However, I think Andy Dulin is missing one fact. Duke owns the light which means the $10.00 per month is not just for the juice to power the light, it also covers the cost of the bulb, the wires, the pole, the fixture mounted on the pole and the cost of some guy to replace the bulb.

Just a guess, but I'd say the cost to "power" the lamp is about $1.50 per month maybe less. So if you use the high end of CDOT 3% outage number you get 2100 lights out at any given time, times the $1.50 "real" value number you get $3,150.00 per month. Still money but not big enough to get in a rage about.

Speaking of Republicans with Cooksey and Dulin the only republicans on City Council taxpayers need to brace themselves by this time next year the city will be on the skids and they will look to your wallet to fix the problem.

The First Lady Gets Booed at NASCAR Race - Yes that's rude but it is NASCAR! What were they thinking?




Patsy Kinsey Says Charlotte City Council Has The Votes For Domestic Partner Benefits, - and other protections long sought by community advocates

Matt Comer over at QNotes is reporting that City Council member Patsy Kinsey said on Sunday that the council will have the votes to pass a benefits plan for same-sex partners of city employees.

The District 1 council member’s announcement came during an LGBT community memorial service for transgender hate-crime victims.

“We’re almost close enough now that the city council will have the votes to pass domestic partner benefits,” Kinsey told an audience of about 75 gathered at the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte. The rest of Matt's posting is here.

Cedar's Take: I'm in that small percentage of "don't ask - don't tell" people who could care less if you are gay or straight. I don't want you to tell me and I don't need to ask. If we are going to provide "domestic partner benefits" to LGBT partners then I'm going to say that's fine as long as it doesn't cost the taxpayers a penny and long as this applies to unmarried heterosexual partners as well.

With the rate increase the CMPD officers are going to pay for family coverage I don't know how they are going to make ends meet. The last thing we should be doing is giving coverage to an at rick group like LGBT. You know the increase will be on the backs of young officers with families.


A Personal Note - I'm not a prude or a bible waving Christian, but I've grown tired of OMG and even more so of OMFG!

I don't care about your freedom of speech nor do I care that you have personally decided that 3rd of the ten commandments doesn't apply to you. But at the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney I have no idea why kids these days think it is OK to text or tweet Oh My God! It is not and doing so, shows you have a very limited vocabulary.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

On Dulin - I think Dulin is right we have way too many street lights not working. And Cedar you are also right it is not as big a deal as Dulin is trying to make it.

On OMG - You are right it is wrong to say that even if its just OMG.

Anonymous said...

Never had a problem with Duke fixing a burned out residential street light. 48 hours and it's done. Maybe the problem is sitting on one's arse and letting someone else make the call which seems to be the way things are trending in Charlotte. Passing the buck. OMG!

Anonymous said...

OMG! The 2008 DNC Video is scary.

Anonymous said...

I think with the Dems owning cltcc it should be a gay and lez feeding frenzy. And they will see this as validation of their sick lifestyle a really sad day for Charlotte.

Anonymous said...

Cedar maybe the cop knew the people in the car and they were just disabled? Doesn't look to bright but I doubt the cop would do that if he didn't know them.

Anonymous said...

Cedar-That is the correct way to conduct a traffic stop. I think there are a handful of cars w/o power windows. If no power window, make them open the door, better view. More people are right handed than left handed. Try aiming out the passenger window with the seat in the way. I can conceal a gun until the last minute w/ my right hand and even lean out the driver's window if I want to shoot a cop.

More importantly, he may be the victim on a car striking him vs. being shot. We have seen the youtube videos.

The best reason to approach from the right. If you are going to ambush a cop, you can see him exit his car and approaching in the driver's side mirror. When you exit a patrol car, you move to the rear around you car and up right side. You are in the blind spot until you reach the B pillar on the right side - surprise - with a full view of the car.

Head in the window, hands on the wheel or in view.

I have idiots say they would win their ticket in court because I approached on the right side. It was just wrong!

Rea Road Neighborhood Coalition said...

Anonymous 8:55 My bad, I should have been more clear. I'm all for the right hand side of the car.

What I don't like is he has both hands on the roof and his head "inside" the car. He's totally defenseless kinda like the Panthers.

Anonymous said...

The right side approach is okay. The standing in the window like that is dead wrong. No way in the world would I ever stand in the window like that, too easy to get shot. You stay by the B pillar and lean in, not full frame in the window.

Anonymous said...

Really, Gingrich can question ANYBODIES morals, when he was screwing his present wife for six years while he was still married to his LAST wife? He has the moras of an alley cat! And I think he had done that to yet another wife, lost track and count.

And how about that Tiffany's charge bill?

Anonymous said...

Cedar have you sent your thoughts on the street light issue to Andy Dulin? I think he's right to be concerned but I also thing he's made a mountain out of an ant hill.

Anonymous said...

I thought I heard the light outage average was 10%, but nonetheless I agree with Dulin.

When the lights don't work, they have zero value to us, regardless of how much Duke saves in bulbs, power and replacement man hours.

Duke knows how many hours those bulbs last and should have them scheduled for replacement accordingly. They don't because they save money in man hours, bulbs and power while waiting for someone to call it in. It may not seem like a ton of savings per month, but on all of their contracts over a year, it is quite a nice bonus for being slack.