Another Reason Texas is Superior to New Mexico

You know, there was a time a couple of years ago when I didn't know a single New Mexican that had a paying job. Mind you, back then I only knew my buddy Holmes's common law wife, one of her friends, and I met some chick in an airport bar in Phoenix. Granted, the chick in the airport bar in Phoenix was a housewife and yadda yadda yadda so she certainly had a job. But not a paying one. Look, I had a worldview to feed!


What's my point? I didn't have one, other than New Mexicans are suspect. And if you insist on not clicking the link to the article, then reading said article, here's the first line of it: "(Santa Fe-AP) – The House has approved a measure that would require ignition interlocks on every vehicle sold in New Mexico." Not knowing anything about New Mexico's legislative arrangement, I'm assuming it's bicameral.


I'm also assuming (remember that worldview!) that the House plays burned Phish CD's all day long, or maybe some bluegrass. Assuming also that they conduct their debates under clouds of heavy aromatic smoke, and instead the sound of a gavel banging, action in that legislative body is punctuated by the telltale burble of a bong hit.


This thing's laughable. A sign of MADD gone mad. "The measure’s sponsor, Grants Democrat Ken Martinez, says it would save lives." That cudgel again. But Rupe, you say, if it saves Just One Life, wouldn't... No. Stop that line of thought. If we're going to work under those conditions, here's the cost of a human life: The liberty lost to keep that life in service.


Am I saying blowing into a little device before you can start your car is too onerous a task to reasonably expect people to perform? Nope. What do I care? The kind of nanny-staters that would consider this a viable chunk of policy don't care because of that One Life we were talking about. They're not worried about cost in dollars so they're certainly not concerned about, let's face it, a herculean inconvenience.


But that few hundred/few thousand dollars per car for these devices might be better suited to other keeping-people-alive tasks. Maybe the cost of 50 of these devices, including retrofits and redesigns, could pay for a state trooper for a year. And there are the trickle-down economic effects--these what-ifs are always fun. I'm sure there are a couple of manufacturers that would simply write off the already-worthless NM market. I hear there are a couple of states close by that wouldn't have stupid breathalyzer requirements for their cars. Let's see, there's saintly Texas, Colorado I think, Arizona, Utah. All full of car dealerships with comparatively inexpensive cars that don't take an few seconds to start up, assuming you (or the kids riding with you) get a good read on that first blow. Ouch... that one hurts.


Bye, Lots of NM Car Dealerships. Good thing they're all owned by rich people! Of course, by the time all this comes around the state will be subsidizing all the devices anyway (Look, you know it's true...) so there will be less money to actually spend on those out-of-state cars.


So let's hope that state Senate rolls its collective eyes, puts the bong down, and uses this bill in the bottom of the Senate Birdcage.

Ms. Frizzle Addict

Let's be clear here. I am, for lack of a better term, allergic to teachers. Not in the cute sneezy way, but the way some people are allergic to smokers. It's not that I'm actually allergic to them, I just prefer not to be around them. My exposure's only been to public school teachers (and administrators... grr...) and I would say the default setting for Rupe when it comes to teacher encounters is... oh hey there it is, "grr."

So imagine my surprise when I found Ms. Frizzle's blog wandering about. I haven't seen any whining about unions, pay, benefits, funding, hours... you know, the usual stuff that teachers worry about before they mention, what was it? Oh yes, those kids they're supposed to be teaching. Come to think of it, I'm related to (sigh) about a dozen teachers and two principals and I don't think I've ever heard one mention, what was it? Oh yes, those kids they're supposed to be teaching. I can forgive my cousin JG for that since I just want her to hook me up with hot young teachers (look, don't get on my ass about consistency). But the others... I work with a lot of government employees, but educational types are generally the whiniest.

So it's good to see this person that calls herself Ms. Frizzle out there. Not her real name--it's the teacher's name from the Magic School Bus series. I don't blame anyone for going under a nom, so don't hold that against her.

I'll descend into Howard Stern territory here and wonder aloud: Is she hot?

This is Embarrassing

I got the neatest thing from America's favorite and most hated franchise yesterday. Their instruction booklet! It's about a 10-minute read, deconstructing the various options with info on how to throw all the terms together for a meaningful, reasonably priced cup of coffee. On the one hand, I'm a little annoyed (as is everyone) that it takes a well-written, well-researched pamphlet to buy things from Starbuck's. On the other hand, I like how they assume a basic level of literacy before you can get into the complicated stuff.

I didn't have a lot of opportunity to try out all the coffee options and such while I was in college. A little phobic and incredibly shy, and I was poor. I also think I was in college before coffee shops moved from the Disgruntled Intellectuals to the General Public. I mostly didn't want to be around those people. But it's okay now except that I still don't want to be around those people*. This isn't all that much an issue now that little espresso shots in various forms of milk are a mass-market thing.

I still gotta lay off that stuff. Fattening and expensive. Well, the Target I go to is going to be trashed by mid-May anyhow so it won't be an issue. More on that later.

*Except for one with the initials CMC.

Voter Fraud? Here? No...

Do the math here:

"It happens in nearly every election, and it's just near impossible to investigate," said Cliff Herberg, chief of the district attorney's white-collar division.

Plus:

"That's the important thing to stress here," Bexar County Elections Administrator Cliff Borofsky said. "No ballots were sent out to deceased individuals. No dead person voted."

Reporter Ihosvani Rodriguez notes: "But they tried."

Yeah, that's the important thing. I'm sure it's nothing out of the ordinary in any town where more than 2 Democrats live, and the story says as much (minus the sidelong shot at Democrats). But it's fun reading about this stuff in your backyard.

My First Softball Game

I went to my first softball game last night. My Little Sister's Team (MLST) versus The Opponents. I think it's class AAA high school stuff. Not particularly, you know, exciting, but that's not unusual for a baseball game and I'm sure it's even less unusual for softball. Since it was HS softball I was only allowed to yell "positive encouragement," the stupidest UIL rule ever. The pitcher-taunts from MLST were pretty shrill and kind of complex. I thought they'd need lyric sheets or something. Kind of like they were finally able to synthesize intra-female evilness and deliver a concentrated form of it to one fat girl that kept throwing a softball.

My sister didn't disgrace the family name or anything. She got on base because of that 3rd strike rule, which runs about like most of my family's luck.

In short, only go to softball games if your sister or significant other is playing.