from the throw-the-first-stone dept., yet another holier than thou moralist turns out to have the black stuff inside him just like everybody else. here

the right to privacy as a "lifestyle"?

SANTORUM: .... Again, it goes back to this moral relativism, which is very accepting of a variety of different lifestyles. And if you make the case that if you can do whatever you want to do, as long as it's in the privacy of your own home, this "right to privacy," then why be surprised that people are doing things that are deviant within their own home? If you say, there is no deviant as long as it's private, as long as it's consensual, then don't be surprised what you get. You're going to get a lot of things that you're sending signals that as long as you do it privately and consensually, we don't really care what you do. And that leads to a culture that is not one that is nurturing and necessarily healthy. I would make the argument in areas where you have that as an accepted lifestyle, don't be surprised that you get more of it.

AP: The right to privacy lifestyle?

SANTORUM: The right to privacy lifestyle.

welp, official word has just come over the phone and, as i have been beginning to realize would probably happen, my claim was refused.
i'm f'ed.

not really sure what to do now. i've called a salvage yard and from my description they said that it sounded like a $3-400 car. bah.
one dude dropped by the house and left his name and number. he was wondering if i would interested in selling it. i'll call him.

what it comes down to is proving negligence, i.e., that the city knowingly allowed to tree to rot, fall, die or remain damaged. at this point, if they have records that say the tree was trimmed at this date and seemed fine - i don't have much of a case.

here are some pics of the lovely red river gorge in kentucky. they were taken by my friend dom who hikes and camps in the area as often as he can.
the whole state is made out of limestone which, in additoin to the hills and small cliffs cut into the rocks seen here, lends itself to the making of the Mammoth Cave system.

Kelly Turner, a 28-year-old from Monterey, was visiting Modesto friends when she came to Starbucks, next to Barnes & Noble Booksellers on McHenry Avenue.

"I don't have a problem with (government surveillance). I don't have anything to hide," Turner said. "I wish there was more government monitoring. I want to know if somebody on my block is reading a book on how to build a bomb or if there is anyone reading 'Catcher in the Rye.' They say there's a link between that book and many serial killers."

The potential for that type of monitoring concerns some.

so yesterday, thursday, i got a second call ever from the city clerk's office.
the deputy clerk called me at werk to say that she had finally gotten in touch with the claims adjuster and that he said to her, he said, that he was currently reviewing the information with a colleague and that he would have an answer for her by tomorrow (currently today). by "answer" i'm assuming the final answer to my claim.
so she wanted to tell me this and to tell me that she would be calling him tomorrow, (today) if she did not hear from him.
could it be that this whole saga could reach a conclusion today?
i'm not gonna hold my breath.

today i will move the car across the street and buy a cheap cover for it.

more as it happens.

in other news, i have the day off so i have time to post some news that gold is the new brown.

wow, today has been almost too much to handle but, i am seemingly making it.

last i left i was waiting for a call back from the city clerks office. as per the usual i became tired of waiting and called 'em myself. this time, for the first time, the city clerk herself answered the phone, not her deputy. (!)
so i introduced myself and started talking about the latest developments in my saga when it quickly became apparent that she had know idea what i was talking about. none.
we were discussing the police notice about moving my car when she asked, "have you filed a claim form?"

it is almost funny at this point.

to make a stupid story short, she had never even received the letter that i mailed to her 9 days ago and had no idea whatsoever that any of this was happening.
it was awkward - kinda like a cold call - but i stumbled through telling of the tale in bits and pieces and she seemed genuinely concerned and even sympathetic.
i ended up sending her an email of the letter never received, with a new introduction with the hope that it would catch her up:

Hello Ms. Kilby,

Below is the text of the letter sent to you 9 days ago.
In regards to the current notice from the police, I do not have a place to move or store the vehicle. what I will do is move it across the street, directly in front of my house at 915, (it is currently across the street in front of a neighbor who I am in touch with, i.e. not complaining) and cover it with a car cover.

I really don't know what else I can do - the car is not driveable and I cannot afford to have it stored anywhere or pay some tow-yard a daily rate nor do I feel that I should. Regardless, I fear this won't satisfy the police.

I am glad to have talked to you directly, but feel a bit awkward and confused that this is the first time you have heard of my case/claim. It is true what I say in the letter below; any attention you could bring to this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
David Patton

a few hours later i get a phone call here at work from the deputy clerk. (!)
she has managed to find the letter i sent and read it as well as gave it to the city clerk - she expressed sympathy as well and had placed a call or two in with the claims adjuster who was, as always, "out in the field", and promised to follow up with him in the morning.
this could still all add up to a hill of beans, but it is the first contact with someone who has behaved like an actual human being and recognized me as such.

amazing.

as for the car - the cop capt. says its a state law, this 72 hour bullshit. i told the city clerk that i really, honestly don't have another place to put the damn thing - thats why i pay them $60/year to park on the street!
what will happen on saturday when they've threatened to tow it? who the fuck knows. for my part, i'm gonna push it to my side of the street and throw a car cover over it - maybe the pigs'll miss it and the nosy neighbor on my street with go f themselves.

welp, for those of you who thought that the soap opera entitled "my fucking destroyed mustang" was winding down, think again.
this morning, on the way to the new job, i noticed a "courtesy notice" on my car. this is a slip from the police saying that unless i move the car within 72 hours, it will be towed away.
a call to the city police department phone answerer determined that this is a state law, (nothing we can do about it) and when i mentioned that the car has been sitting this way since around feb. 12th i was told that this law is typically enforced when someone complains, like a neighbor.
i told the phone answerer that they can ticket it or tow it all they like, any bills are heading straight upstairs to the city clerk's office. the answerer seemed to hint that perhaps (whenever potentially legal talk is bandied about it is always in very general terms) there would be costs that i wouldn't be able to bill to the city.
i actually laughed out loud when she said this.

i have not called the city clerks desk since sending in my letter a week + ago, thought i would let them sit on that for a bit. but this demanded a call.
called 'em, told 'em what the cops told me and they told me they'd call me right back.
they sounded very concerned, but not regretting the fact that it was me on the other end of the phone.
still waiting for call back.

posting my become slightly lighter than normal, or maybe not, in the next few as i am starting a new job in approximately an hour.
for now, there is this.

"Some of the shows from the second incarnation of the band were more ridiculous than any of the shows from the first incarnation of the band. There were some shows with Jerry, like in Ohio, where I'm literally fighting the whole crowd. It was beyond anything like before, it was total fucking war."
an old interview with sean garrison, of driftin' luck and kinghorse.

brush up on yer notions of taxonomies. (via kottke)

heh. red, white and U.

charles dodgsen has another good salvo aimed at those with their faith in gun ownership.

meanwhile, back home:

Two members of a Louisville ghost research group checking on a supposedly haunted cemetery in Hardin County — a burial site also known as the Gates of Hell — made a gruesome discovery over the weekend.

almost fergot. today i wrote a letter to the city clerk and cc'd her boss, the city manager and his boss the mayor as well as the claims adjuster for my case. this idea was the advice of my neighbor, who is the wife of the treasurer of south pas. the thinking is to simply appeal to them to understand my frustration at the snail pace and mis-communication that has become all too common.
this, i reckon, as opposed to writing a letter full of fist-waving and legal threats. as you can see, it is almost in the form of, what we called in grade school, a 3.5 paper - five sections, an intro with three points touched, three paragraphs - one for each point and a synopsis.
what it really is can best be described by my friend dom who has done some commercial writing in the past: "people only read the first paragraph, so you tell them everything you are going to tell them in the beginning, then proceed to tell them what you just told them you were going to tell them and then sum up by telling them what you just told them." (actually i think he put it more like - tell them, tell them and then tell them again. most of the writing is mine with the "tell them what you are about to tell them" first paragraph basically laid out by dom, but the part about communication being tenuous at best was mine, but run by him as i wasn't sure if it would be unfair to characterize events, but he seemed to feel it rang acceptable, so i said 'fuck it' it stays). here is the letter:

April 7, 2003
City Clerk Sally Kilby
1414 Mission Street
South Pasadena, Ca. 91030

Dear Ms. Kilby:
On February 12th of this year, a city tree severely damaged my automobile. Within a week I submitted a claim form with an estimate of damages and the process of determining a resolution began. Six and 1/2 weeks later the city has not settled my claim. I am writing to seek your assistance in resolving this matter as communication between your office and the city’s claims adjuster seems tenuous at best.
On March 24th, the Deputy City Clerk told me that the final paperwork requested by the city’s claim adjuster (Carl Warren & Co. of Orange) was mailed from your office.
On Wednesday April 2nd, eight post days later, which included two days of the claims adjuster being “in the field” and unreachable by phone, I was finally told by the claims adjuster that the final paperwork had not arrived in the mail from South Pasadena. The claims adjuster offered to call the city in regards to the paperwork but had not yet called an hour later (approx. 4:30pm on the 2nd) when I called and asked the Deputy City Clerk to fax the final paperwork to Carl Warren.
Thursday the 3rd, I checked with the Deputy City Clerk to find that nothing had yet been faxed to the claims adjuster.
Communication by telephone, fax and the U.S. Mail seem to be failing.
Transportation has become a hardship.
I understand that these matters are not resolved overnight, but I fear that an already slow process is grinding to a halt.
Any attention you could bring to this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,

David L. Patton

cc: City Manager Sean Joyce
Mayor Michael Cacciotti
Claims Adjuster Charles Rijnders, Carl Warren & Co.

The faces on the police were evidence of a deep belief that the First Amendment can have nothing to do with these scruffy kids and a jobless squatter. If they try to pick it up and use it, then swing a big black billy club to squash it. Who are they to stomp along the street and call George Bush names? They ought to watch their betters on television and acquire class.

The following is from an immensely interesting transcript of Barbara Bush on an ABC-TV morning show. She was asked if she and her husband, the former president, watch television.

"He sits and listens and I read books because I know perfectly well that - don't take offense - that 90 percent of what I hear on television is supposition, when we're talking about the news. And he's not, not as understanding of my pettiness about that. But why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it's, not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? And watch him suffer."

amazing.

But he would not be alone, as 59% of all Americans believe that what is written in the Bible's Book of Revelations will come to pass.

spent yesterday at fontana at the superbike races. motoblog has a recap of the races and some thoughts about the recent rule changes and what not.

for my part, which is the never-beens-to-a-bike-race part, the event was f'in cool. we saw speed woobles, motards, a parking lot full, i mean FULL of bikes, lots of typical vendor booths, the BMW "clubhouse" that was their trailer and bike display where all the greybeards and i were sizing up the beautiful rides, and millions of hammerheads checking out the hotshot jap bikes (minus honda that is) and some foxy ladies riding around on new, and heretofor unseen, suzuki sv650s, a beautiful shoei helmet, last year's stock - discontinued and a size too small - in a wonderful traffic cone orange, past world champ kevin schwantz spotted right away in the pits, aprillia test rides that we couldn't do ( no helmets ), leather cat-suit solutions discussed, very nice older couple from texas, australian winner of the main event (dick-style "speech") and a growing desire to attend laguna seca.

on the insurance front: i took friday off. when, last wed, i found out that the mail had not reached orange county, i called the city and asked them to fax this paperwork to o.c.
when i called the city on thursday to make sure this had happened before calling the claims adjuster the city had "forgotten" to fax and would get to it right away.

...

so i reckon i kinda gave up for a bit.
today i finish writing a letter to the city clerk, cc'd to the city manager (her boss) and the mayor (everybodies boss) and the claims adjuster, explaining my exasperation with the seeming inability for basic communication to occur and asking for any attention needed to finish this process up. sheesh.

weird. the new issue of Love and Rockets (no. 7) is on the stands, and a post i sent to xamie is, in a slightly edited form, printed in the letter col!
hah.

waiting for a sars mask with the flag on it, or better yet the stars and bars, or better yet, the biker half-skull bandana, or united we stand in comic sans or...

"Now we can say that it attains a size larger than the giant squid. Giant squid is no longer the largest squid that's out there. We've got something that's even larger, and not just larger but an order of magnitude meaner." the colossal squid!

outstanding. the claims adjuster finally came back from being out in the "field", only to call and say that he has not received anything from the city of south pasadena - i.e., has not received the city's report on its tree, that was supposed to have been sent to orange county two mondays ago.

...

still "out in the field".
feh.

call to claims adjuster: out in the field this morning. "has he been in the office?" "he's out in the field, so i don't think he's been in yet this morning."