Alright, so I got a traffic ticket on post here a couple of months ago, for 'failing to stop at a stop sign'. I know...stupid. I love the POM police. The fine was $159! I know...ridiculous. When he did the whole 'Do you know why I stopped you?' schpeel (yes that's how you spell it--I looked it up), I had no idea what to say. When he told me why, I was a little irritated (I did stop, by the way), but I just took the ticket since I know better than to argue with a cop that pulls you over. When I saw the amount of the fine, I decided I would fight it, though I knew I would probably lose--but I'd rather fight and lose than just fork that kind of money over. Well, today was the court date, and I showed up on time and ready to fight! But it was anything but what I expected it would be. I got there, and it was like a mass hearing for 50 other alleged perps. The process was to go like this: a slew of public defenders would sit down with each of us to discuss our case and what we wanted the outcome to be, and then the PDs would go to the slew of prosecutors to try to work out a compromise. If a defendent insisted on pleading not guilty, he would have to make the plea to the judge, and then they would have to schedule ANOTHER court date to settle their ticket. Well, I leave Friday, so that was not going to be possible, so I began to think that I would be parting with $159 today whether I liked it or not. Well, the PD's started by calling one girl up with her mother. And then another PD called me up, and when I got up to him he said these glorious words: "Your ticket has been dismissed. You can go." And I was out. Oh the triumph! It was awesome. Yeah I know I dragged the story on a bit, but it's my blog so I can do that. ;)
As I mentioned before, I leave Friday (actually probably very early Saturday am) for Texas with young A1C SanAngelo. I've got a whole hell of a lot of stuff done for the move already, but there's still quite a bit left to do. I have to get an engine oil/fluids change, I have to weigh my car once empty, and once full of luggage to ensure I get all the pay from Uncle Sam that I'm entitled to for this move, teach SanAngelo how to drive a standard so that I don't have to do all of the driving, and do a few more small outprocessing formalities. But the really cool thing is that we are planning to stop at Six Flags Magic Mountain on our way to Texas--Oh it's going to be awesome! AND the park just happens to be open until midnight on Saturday! Goosebumps...everywhere....
Switching gears--The End of Faith, the book I read last week. Again, excellent book. I just really thought it was really well written, and it gave me a lot to think about personally. It basically just illustrates the influence religion in general has on society and war. The author discusses the fact that most believers' faith are based on elements that defy reason, and this makes any kind of intercommunication between believers of different faiths nearly impossible. I find that point ironic since many of today's larger religions are 'evangelical' in nature and require an ability to reason with nonbelievers in order to win new converts. The author also (again, contrary to what I had have expected) argues against religious pacifism and relativism. The problem I found with this book is the author's insistance that a person be able to show evidence to validate their beliefs. I agree with the concept, but I don't feel that it is practical. Can we legislate what makes valid evidence for religious belief? Is any kind of personal belief legislatable? I can't see how. Still, I see why he entertains the idea. We have people flying planes into buildings and blowing themselves up in large crowds of innocent people with the belief taught by their religious leaders that their actions will land them in a paradise with dozens of virgins just waiting to fulfill their every sexual desire. And unfortunately, such unfounded beliefs are not found only overseas. Anyway, though the subject matter is highly controversial and the author is fairly aggressive in his approach, I would still say that he has managed to handle the subject in a very respectful way. So if you're up for it, give it a read. Agree with it or not, it will make you think.
Okay, I'm out.
Reading: The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment