The TLC Rocks!!!

The NYC TLC - Taxi Limousine Commission (TLC) - revised their new ruling for the change-over to alternate fuel vehicles... They changed the date to 30 September 2008!!!! The new rules state (within about 50 pages)... Bad part of it is that a medallion (the badge on the top of the hood - TLC license) fee will now be $300,000 / car, but the good news is ... ... ...

"Below is a list of the only approved vehicles that may be hacked up as medallion taxicabs AFTER September 30, 2008, the effective date of the TLC’s new rules requiring that vehicles achieve a minimum of 25 mpg (city):

2008-Lexus RX400h-26mpg city

2008-09-Toyota Camry Hybrid-33 mpg city

2008-09-Toyota Prius-48 mpg city

2008-09-Toyota Highlander Hybrid-(4WD)-27 mpg City

2008-09-Saturn Vue Greenline-25 mpg

2008-09-Nissan Altima Hybrid-35mpg city

2008-09-Ford Escape Hybrid-2wd-34mpg city

2008-09-Mercury Mariner Hybrid-awd-29mpg"

That is great. After 30 September 2008, no-one can put a cab into service without it being a hybrid. WITH EXCEPTION for wheelchair access. The old gas-guzzlers will disappear. Many cabbies pushed the TLC to move-up the date so that they can use these new options - since many are independent owner-operators they've been feeling the pinch of the gas prices.

Other good news is that many hybrids will begin to be seen for dirt-cheap money in the next few years with 500,000+ miles on them...

Here are some photos of the only approved cars:

Fuel Prices

A zen-esque moment

http://www.chicken-ball.com/

The Brits have it correct

They haven't thrown out their Constitution. The British courts ruled yesterday that a 'significant international terrorist' deserves the same coverage under their laws as anyone else who is accused of crimes.

Therefore, Mr. Abu Qatada (aka Omar Othman) was released on Bail. Granted it is the most stringent bail ever set by the British court system. It pretty much puts him under house arrest without allowing him to use the internet or any cellular / telephone device except to call his lawyers.

Obama made a statement recently which supports my view. Paraphrasing my view: We have a constitution, we're are having our soldiers die to protect this. The constitution is
"our way of life" and is "our country." If we throw away the values instilled in this document then we might as well strike our colors (bring down our flag and put up a white flag).

If we had stood our ground on the constitution and everything it is about, then the Iraqi war aftermath would have gone so much smoother... The people in that nation would still think of us as liberators (like they did just after the "war")... People wouldn't be fighting against us. The prisons scandles, the lack of repair of infrastructure, and the treatment of prisoners sent to other nations lead people to believe that we are not who we say we are.

They think we're no better than what they had. And to some extent we are not. This becomes the source of new terrorists against us.

Most of this could have been prevented if we held to the rule of law and the constitution. I wonder why Bushie didn't hold to it... That's right, Bush has another opinion about the document -

"Stop thowing the Constitution in my face, it's just a goddammed piece of paper!" (stated Nov 2005)

The fact that his job is to UPHOLD and PROTECT the Constitution and nothing else, he should have immediately been impeached at that moment.

SIDE NOTE:
Oh well, he still hasn't had a BJ in the oval office for which prosecutors define every word - including "the" and "a", then try to catch him in a lie because he didn't have "sexual activities" (as LEGALLY defined by MR. Starr) but did have "sexual activies" as defined by pretty much anyone else... That is why they couldn't get the charges to stick. He didn't do anything wrong.

Judges and prosecutors are allowed to legally define words, if they believe that they can be misunderstood, etc. This was among the few times they changed the meaning from what the general population believe (the word "the" had a different meaning). Then when answering these questions, Clinton answered them correctly as a LAWYER given a legal definition of the words he used.

Protestors Arrested ILLEGALLY at 2nd Inaug.

Judge Ellen Huvelle ruled today that the arrest of 70+ protestors the night of Emperor George II's 2nd Inauguration. The police forced the crowd into an alley and then wouldn't allow them to leave. Because they didn't disperse they arrested them...

During the trial it slipped out that they were told (by the administration) not to allow them to leave and then arrest them anyway.

The protestors were accused of breaking windows and damaging autos; however, the crowd which was arrested was not the crowd which commited these crimes. This now opens DC up to legal actions by these protestors to claim damages.

DC said that they will appeal the decision.

First Arrests in SubPrime Mortgage Issue

Two Bear Stearns executives face charges, along with the arrest of 400 other property market players by the F.B.I.

Matthew Tannin and Ralph Cioffi were both arrested at their houses this morning. Both are charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and many SEC violations.

All I have to say is - ITS ABOUT TIME. The French took out their players within hours - arrested and have already begun the trials of their people. The Swiss have done the same. We're always the slowest moving nation on the planet...

Iowa as of Monday

Here are six select photographs of Iowa from Monday. I've seem many slides from the area and it is horrible - in my opinion much worse than New Orleans... But it isn't getting the press coverage to the level of that event...