Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Skeptics Day Parade

In honor of yesterday being Skeptics Day ( I had to do a little research on that, I wasn't sure I believed Oct 13th really was ever established as skeptics day) I think we ought to have a parade.

I'll be the majorette, you all fall in step and leave your parade of skeptical thoughts in the comments section.

I don't believe for even 2 minutes that the reason for photo radar is safety. What is safe about bright flashing strobe lights at night which blind drivers and cause them to stand up on their brakes because they're not sure what just happened? Did a UFO just land? Is that an emergency vehicle coming up behind me? Did a deranged mountain man just launch an RPG at me? Photo radar is not about safety. Its about INCOME. What better way to get a little extrta cash than to post a little ol' camera out in the middle of nowhere? Now, I'm not saying anybody has the right to speed. Speeding is done with an inherent risk, including the risk of getting caught. What I'm saying is, when cities and states install these things in areas where they know they'll get hits, its not because they're hoping they don't catch anybody speeding and that all they find is drivers proceeding cautiously. They can't pay for the camera if it never generates a fine. It can only generate a fine if it catches a speeder. These cameras are liked becuase they are the shakedown bots of King Richard. I know they are used to shake people down because your fine is delivered to you in an unmarked envelope, with nothing more than your picture and a bill. No contact info, no "how to fight this" info, nothing. Just your picture and a statement of how much money to send if you want the blackmail to stop. What will be the next step? They show your husband?...oh...Or maybe...your husband hired them to catch you in the act!

***Nobody has correctly Named that Household Item yet...anymore guesses? I know ya'll are dyin to win a red-plastic hinged thingamabobber to add to your household treasures...The "contest" will be open till Wednesday at 12:00noon. Common people, take this seriously! *said with all the enthusiasm of a circus clown.

18 comments:

Jillene said...

Hahahahahahahaha!! Very funny!!

Anonymous said...

I don't believe for a second that "sin taxes" are put in place for anybody's welfare. (Uh-oh, as I type this, I realize that I was just inspired by what you posted.) Having just left the life-style-gestapo of the country (unless you're homosexual) I got SO tired of proposals to tax this and ban that all in the name of public health. I hate cigarette smoke, but I hate cigarette taxes even more because it does not keep people from smoking and we begin to rely on that tax money for government programs that I also hate. And if folks really DID quit somking, the coffers would run dry, and I'd be left with the tab of said gov't program. If government REALLY wanted to EVER fix ANYTHING, I'd only believe it if a tax or fee was not the solution.

Oo, oo--can I do another? I don't believe in global warming for a second. And I don't believe that all of the idiots out there causing a fuss about it believe it either. Just another way to gain control and bring in revenue.

The man's just trying to keep us down ....

Anonymous said...

That felt good. Thanks, Lisa.

Goob said...

The "Man"...oooh, love it when we get goin' on "the Man"...( Gabe has a T-shirt that says My Dad's The Man..we LOVE the double entendre with that one.)

carrhop said...

It does have a Big Brother feel, doesn't it? Trying to remember if Orwell wrote anything about this...

Okay, the household item--is it a hamburger press?

Blessings~

Goob said...

ohhh, here's one Mina, "I don't believe"... the Clorox Company cares two hoots about the earth...Petroleum is the first ingredient in their new product that's in a green bottle with flowers all over it.

Anonymous said...

You want to know what's SOOO funny about Clorox green? In the mountains where we lived, we were surrounded by leftist, vegan environmentalist wackos. (They were great, though--many of them were my friends...) Anyway, my friend owned a gym up there and was mentioning to a member how she was so excited to have found that product to use for cleaning the bathrooms, equipment, etc. Well, the woman said something to the effect of, "Yeah, you can even find 'green' products at WalMart now." Like a slam. Like, if you can get something somewhere as mainstream and pedestrian as WalMart, it's value diminishes. In other words, if EVERYONE goes green, how will we be elite anymore?

Kristina P. said...

Lisa, you live in AZ, correct?

My brother lived in Mesa for a long time, and he would tell me story after story about these.

If they had these in Utah, I would be broke.

Brittany Marie said...

Speaking of going green (and complaining), I hate hybrid cars. I think people only buy them in order to tout their own wonderfulness. If you couldn't specifically tell (from 100 feet away) that a car was a hybrid, it woudln't sell.

Goob said...

oh oh oh! And actually, I heard a guy on NPR several weeks back who was an executive at Toyota (I think...it was a company who's got a famous hybrid anyways) saying that if you traded in your conventional truck or SUV on a hybrid in order to save gas money, it would take over 10 years to make up the difference in cost for the vehicle in gas money saved. ( in other words, the only real reason to get a hybrid was if your earth friendly sensibilities told you so...but it really only just adds another vehicle to the road, it doesn't get rid of one, unless you want to put your old one in a landfill...lol) Going Green is a marketing ploy, and boy is it working! Its not all bad, but if we really wanted to :Go green: we could use hot water and re-usable rags to clean, we could walk or bike to places we needed to go, and we would all have our own gardens and livestock. You can't really go green AND be a consumer. They don't work together, but corporate America doesn't want you to think that deeply about it, they just want you to see pretty flowers and buy buy buy.

Erin said...

I'm sure I'm skeptical about a lot of things, but apparently my brain is not turned on this morning because I have been sitting here for five minutes and I can't think of anything to write! Lame, I know. As soon as I push "publish comment" something will probably come to me. Until then, you just have to endure this ridiculous comment. Sorry!

Whitney R said...

Hmmm skepticalism.


I'm a little skeptical about that household item. I really think it's a hamburger shaper. Or a round sandwhich maker. Or a mini space ship.

Unknown said...

I am very skeptical of the Olsen Twins. What if there is really only one of them, and it has been a marketing ploy all along? What if they just do it so she can have more skanky boyfriends?

It wouldn't be the first time the media has lead us astray.....

Anonymous said...

You know that infomercial guy, Tommy Mayes, or Willie Hayes, or something like that? He sells EVERYthing. Well, a few months back I saw him selling some sort of insurance or some other non-miracle-working product. I'm skeptical about a "real" company who'd hire him! Not to mention being skeptical about that putty that can pull the weight of a semi truck!

Goob said...

2 Words Ramona-Milli Vanilli

April said...

Okay, first paragraph was the funniest ever...

BTW, I got your comment on that show you saw with the lady who was preggers and didn't know it.

Sometimes I look down at my belly and poke it to make sure there aren't any babies in there. Alas no - it's just mush. But wouldn't that be cool?

So I am not THAT fat...all in all I am pretty small, so I would be able to tell if a baby were in there. Especially one from my 6'4" husband. Whew!

P.S. Anything with the sheepskin/fur that is so popular these days (i.e. Uggs etc...) my husband precedes with the title "The clan of the cave bear..." For example: "Honey are you wearing your clan of the cave bear boots today?" or "Which purse? The clan of the cave bear one?" Hee hee.

Wendy said...

ahhhh, I lived in Arizona for the last 3 winters and those camera's on the freeway are so dangerous!! especially at night! I agree with you.

Goob said...

Today, we had 2 very serious accidents. I believe both accidents required the freeway to be shut down. Lifeflight responded to at least one of them. Both accidents were on the same stretch of freeway. Tonight, I get on the Freeway, and lo-and-behold there's a photo-radar truck parked right there a few yards from where the accidents occurred. My theory? People saw the photo-trucks and stood up on their brakes, causeing accidents behind them. I don't know for a fact, but I feel very strongly that those accidents would not likely have happened if people weren't being idiots just because they didn't want to get caught speeding.
SO***(maybe I should save this for my next 3 rants and a rave) if you see a photo-radar-truck, just take the ticket!!! Its not worth being responsible for killing somebody if you stamp on your brakes.