The Wonderful World of Mark

Saturday, May 31, 2003

The Unveiling of a Nuisance

I find this absolutely hilarious. The woman who is suing Florida because they want her to take her Muslim headdress off for a driver's license photo was discovered by The Smoking Gun to have been convicted of felony aggravated battery in 1999 (she converted to Isalm in 1997). Included on the site - a nice mugshot with , yes, her whole head exposed. A good compromise would be for Florida to just use this picture - heh.
Posted by Mark on 11:38 AM [+]
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The Traffic Menace

In the Washington metro area, there are two things that piss drivers off to no end: parking in a handicapped spot without a handicapped tag and single-drivers driving in the H.O.V. (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes. Now, it looks like police are looking to get tough about the latter.

I have a proposed solution that would perhaps solve the traffic crisis for the northern Virginia area, but I doubt it will be taken seriously. My solution is simple: get rid of the HOV lanes and create more regular lanes - especially along 395. If you look at the roads while driving along 395, if you remove the HOV lanes and instead add lanes to the existing highway, there is room for at least 3 lanes in both directions. This would expand much needed capacity on the regular highway, and at the same time close down a road that too few vehicles use to make it effective.
Posted by Mark on 8:49 PM [+]
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John Edward's America Previewed

Want to know how a sleazy trial lawyer will work to transform the American legal system? Well, in England, a bill has been introduced to make it more difficult for burglars to sue a homeownerwhen they are injured burlgarizing a home. In the story, the burglar is suing the homeowner after the owner shot him because he cannot find work. Boo-hoo.

Now, if John Edwards were president, you think he would actually support a bill like this protecting homeowners from frivilous lawsuits by criminals? Hell no. His campaign is baing bankrolled by trial lawyers, and if by chance he gets in the oval office, expect his administration to propose laws and adapt regulations to make it easier for trial lawyers to sue anyone for anything.
Posted by Mark on 7:43 PM [+]
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The little people gather in Iowa

Today the Little People democratic presidential candidates are in Iowa blasting away at Republicans. The meeting is sponsored by the big municipal employees union, so there is a lot of corporate bashing going on.

Yep, welcome to the democrat's America. Everyone is rich, no one should have a tax cut, business is inherently evil, and everything wrong with the world can be blamed on America. In other words, America sucks and the people who support Bush are to blame for it sucking. What petty little brats these people are.
Posted by Mark on 11:37 AM [+]
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Miss Manners help me!

I need help! The other day I was sitting on the Metro on my way to work and someone got on the train and sat next to me who offended my olfactory sense to no end (read: he stunk like hell). My question is: is it polite to get up and sit in another seat on the train, or should you go to another car altogether at the next stop? And, if the person asks you for an answer to why you got up, should you ignore him and walk away, or tell him in no uncertain terms that he smells like piss and you had to get away before your smells started sticking to your clothes?
Posted by Mark on 11:26 AM [+]
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The Washington Times gets a makeover

I must sai I am impressed with the new style of The Washington Times' website. Much better than the old format.
Posted by Mark on 10:40 AM [+]
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Damn that Keanu Reeves

The new fad among criminal defense attorneys may be to blame The Matrix for someone who commits murder. In Virginia, the article highlights an Oakton 19-year old boy adult as well as sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo. Elsewhere:

Just this week, in Ohio, a woman who told police that she lived in The Matrix and that "they commit a lot of crimes in The Matrix" was found not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of killing her landlord.

And in San Francisco, a man who believes he was sucked into The Matrix also was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges that he killed his landlord.

I cannot believe this crap. I have seen The Matrix (not the sequel yet), so forgive me if I missed the underlying message to kill my parents and landlord. Looks like The Matrix is going to get the same treatment as Jackass does whenever some dumbass kills or paralyzes himself "reinacting" a stunt. The danger is now we have juries that seem to buy these excuses and these people are let out on the street again after they are "cured."



Posted by Mark on 10:03 AM [+]
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The world of college football is a changin'

Syracuse, Miami, and Boston College were officially invited to join the ACC today, which would bring the membership of the ACC to 12 and, more importantly, would mean the loss of the automatic BCS bid for the Big East.

Meanwhile, the Mountain West Conference might expand in hopes of getting the Big East's BCS bowl bid.

Here in Virginia, there is going to be a bit of disgust that Virginia Tech was not invited to join the ACC. In the big picture, it does make more sense to invite Tech than, say, Boston College. If the ACC wants to raise its prowness in football, then taking Tech and Miami would be the solid choice. And Tech has the natural rivalry wih Virginia. Inviting Syracuse is purely for basketball reasons, and North Carolina and Duke are not too happy about it. Nor does it make much sense geographically. Syracuse being way up in upstate New York, having to travel, perhaps a few times a week, to North Carolina and Georgia to play games.
Posted by Mark on 9:50 AM [+]
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The Four Horsemen Horsepersons of the Idiopocalypse

Yep, idiots all
Posted by Mark on 9:08 PM [+]
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Long Live Oreos!

The assclown attorney who filed a lawsuit seeking to ban Oreo cookies has withdrawn the complaint. Sounds more and more like a cheap publicity stunt to me.
Posted by Mark on 9:04 PM [+]
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Dan Aykroyd is going to host the season finale of Saturday Night Live this Saturday night. I only bring it up to comment on the show. This season has been the worst in years. Darryl Hammond is the funniest personality they have, and he did not get nearly enough face time on the show. Instead, the "star" of the show this season has been Jimmy Fallon, whose presence on a comedy show alludes me, because he is not funny. And, if I have to see his damn "webcam" skits one more time, I'll go nuts. Don't get me started on Horatio Sanz - a Chris Farley wannabe fatboy who makes me want to change the channel when he even comes on my TV screen. Seriously, is this the best they can do?

The loss of Will Ferrell was huge. I thought that Hammond would keep the show funny, but his non-presence puts SNL into its worst position since before Hammond and Ferrell began.
Posted by Mark on 8:59 PM [+]
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Traffic - what is it good for?

The World Health Organization has issued a report saying that traffic, yes, traffic, is more lethal than war. Oh yes, I would much rather be in Iraq than stuck in rush hour, even if I happen to be in D.C.

Also in the report, more people apparently kill themselves than are murdered (referred to as "interpersonal violence" - heh). I do not buy this one, either. I am starting to think Canada was right in scorning this international organization when they warned us about facing eminent death by travelling to Toronto.
Posted by Mark on 8:48 PM [+]
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Way to go Neil

Neil Cavuto puts left-wing blowhard Paul Krugman of the New York Times in his place for questioning Cavuto's journalistic integrity in a recent column. I think anyone should be outraged if a columnist from the New York Times dared to question anyone's "journalistic ethics."
Posted by Mark on 8:23 PM [+]
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As Expected

A leftist lawyer in Belgium has filed a war crimes complaint against U.S. General Tommy Franks and another soldier. While the anti-American left cheers, some in Belgium are not amused:

Foreign Minister Louis Michel called Fermon's case "an abuse of the (Belgian) law." He said while the government can now refer the case to a U.S. court, it would first await a reaction from federal prosecutor's office.

If Belgium continues to allow such behavior, according to the article, it would jeopardize Belgium being a meeting place for NATO, among other things. I say good. The use of Belgium as some sort of international court system is even more outrageous than the so-called International Criminal Court.
Posted by Mark on 8:18 PM [+]
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Respect my authority!

I read this and cannot help but think about South Park's own Eric Cartman.
Posted by Mark on 9:30 PM [+]
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Parent goes wild at ballpark!

You have read how dads are sometimes obnoxious for pestering and sometimes even assaulting a referee or coach at their kid's little league game, right? Now the moms are getting into the act, like this mom, who assaulted another kid.
Posted by Mark on 9:20 PM [+]
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Wanted

Democrats have fled Texas rather than face a loss on a redistricting vote! Why cannot the congressional demorcats do the same?
Posted by Mark on 9:05 PM [+]
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Who are these guys

A CBS Poll says 66% of people have no idea who is running for the democratic nomination. Ironically, 75% said they knew John Kerry has served in Vietnam.
Posted by Mark on 8:59 PM [+]
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What about the sailors?

We know that all the democrats are up in arms about Bush's carrier landing. But what did the sailors feel about it? Here is what they thought.

Note to democrats: better start getting the lawyers to work on ways to exclude military votes ala 2000, cause there aren't any coming your way anytime soon.
Posted by Mark on 9:38 PM [+]
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Damn Trial Lawyers

Yeah, vote for John Edwards and we can expect more suits like this. They messed with the wrong cookie - I can sense the backlash now!
Posted by Mark on 9:09 PM [+]
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Top 10 Things I hate about Star Trek

Courtesy of Happy Fun Pundit. I am actually a fan of the original series and movies, but I'll pass on the neverending cycle of spinoffs.
Posted by Mark on 8:42 PM [+]
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Jayson Blair Affair

Looks like it gets worse for the punk reporter at the New York Times. Not only did he steal material from other newspapers, now it is discovered he just flat out made stuff up. I am surprised that he was forced out. I figured he would have been transferred to the editorial staff, where the writers there make stuff up all the time.
Posted by Mark on 10:53 AM [+]
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Hmmm...

Maybe this is why we have security agents drive elected officials around.
Posted by Mark on 6:33 PM [+]
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Dumbass Part 2

OK, some physchologist might be able to explain why someone would imitate a stunt on Jackass, but NO ONE can explain to me why in the hell someone would feel the need to stick a pipe bomb in their mouth.
Posted by Mark on 6:30 PM [+]
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