To Die

I've never felt a dream so real.

It's in the future, as it seems to be lately. A spacious fuselage with large comfortable leather seats throughout, accented by dim neon. Air travel is posh, but I'm not any older than I am now; compared to the science fiction future age I appear to be in. This trip is going to be exciting. It feels like the plane is heading somewhere I have never been before, but I'm not sure.
The plane taxis and the neon accents turn off. Apparently in the future planes take off from a ramp, not unlike a roller coaster vertical. As the plane hits the ramp, at what feels like three times the force of gravity, it lurches left and we are suddenly in a sideways skid. The ramp is at the edge of a cliff...what a great engineering decision. This wreck is feeling surprisingly smooth so far.
After the plane crashes hundreds of feet to the ground I am able to look around and realize that I survived without much company. I can hear aid rushing to the scene as the sirens grow louder. Then, gunshots. Machine guns, pistols! What is going on? I can see through the window that the rescue crew is shooting down any survivors. Suddenly (as it so happens in dreams) I am outside on my knees asking to be left alive. Alas, I am shot in the head.

The scene following is a clean, white elevator without buttons or indication of its vertical location. I am alone and cannot tell what, if anything, I am wearing. My cell phone and wallet, which I compulsively check for in my waking life, are gone. The elevator jerks to a stop and the doors open to reveal an old street corner at dusk. The convenience store on the corner isn't out of business, but seems to have closed for the day minutes before. I exit the elevator, which then leaves my dreaming mind. Continued patting of my front blue jean pockets reveals no cell phone or wallet and I ask the man standing next to me, "Who am I?"
"You will have to start over from here," he says as the store's neon sign creates shadows to hide his identity. He continues, "You have no family, no friends, no past, no help; only your faith. Your life has telescoped into a new era."
He is nowhere to be found after a quick glance towards the convenience store. It's getting dark. I guess I should find a place to sleep for the night.

Fraud Enforced

The most convenient of all citations is by far the most fraudulent.

I received a standard-sized letter in the mail last week from the City of St. Louis Photo Enforcement Program. Nestling right in with the rest of law enforcement at our fine St. Louis City Hall is tricky, but it's somewhere this enforcement program doesn't belong.


Pictured above is the copy (certain censorship allowed) of my "Notice of Violation".
Let's examine it for what it is, and as it would be considered evidence against me in a court of law.

The left column shows what would typically be on a normal citation. All is normal--when, where, who, vehicle, what traffic code is allegedly in violation, and the officer issuing the citation, fine amount in dollars, and a prosecutor's signature. Apparently the robotic camera at Hampton and Wilson is named Kenneth Callmeyer...and it even gets a badge number. I'm going to be pretty cynical up front to get it out of the way, just so you know.

Notice how convenient they make it to pay this "violation". Just go to Violationinfo.com and pay. It's so easy, why wouldn't you just pay?

The images are the most troubling of all. There are two frames that are impossible to dispute that a silver VW Rabbit is running the red light in the intersection. Hey, I own one of those! But that's all it proves. The top right image is a crop of what we are supposed to believe comes from either or both of the frames below it. In reality, the crop of the license plate does not contain the same frame information (date/time/location) as the other two. It is a picture of the same license plate on my VW Rabbit, but it is impossible to prove it came from either of the indisputable frames of a VW running the red light.

If that isn't interesting enough, let's look at the type of violation this is. "This violation is a non-moving violation and no points will be assessed." Bingo! Ok, so what is it? Like a parking ticket? Nope. No proof of insurance? Sort of. Jaywalking? Almost. It's a "Safety Violation." Lower than than a speeding ticket, so it makes it impossible to plea bargain down like one would do by hiring the likes of Traffic Law Center. All of which, by the way, would cost well over $100. So just pay it, right? It's so convenient and doesn't hurt your record anyway. The worst they can do is turn it over to a collections agency.

Examining the violation, I'd lastly like to point out that my signature is nowhere to be found. Fitting too, because I completely reject such fraud.

Finally, I'd like to reference our United States Constitution's Sixth Amendment: "The defense must have an opportunity to 'confront' and cross-examine witnesses." Is that robotic camera going to show up in court? Or is officer Kenneth Callmeyer, badge 2747 going to be in its stead?

I love this city, and I want it to have all the revenue it needs to operate and keep us safe. But, do we even have to pay? Absolutely not.

“If you threw it in the trash,” says St. Louis Alderman Freeman Bosley Sr., chairman of the aldermanic Traffic Committee, “nothing would happen.”

The Post Dispatch quotes:

“The cameras are not sanctioned by the state, sometimes leaving cities to rely on model ordinances drafted by the for-profit camera companies — who get a slice of each ticket. [...]"

What about safety? Are we more likely to run non-surveillance red lights with less care knowing you can't get caught by a camera?

The first dozen cameras or so are already issuing 43 percent fewer tickets than they first went online. Is the city budgeting for this decline, or are they raking in the millions now only to find they successfully scared everyone into giving up their rights and not making near the same amount of cash?

Find the current camera locations here: http://www.photoenforced.com/missouri.html

The Rolling Stones

My band Via Dove performs a tribute set as The Rolling Stones

I Guess I'm Floating

Hello everyone! I wanted to share with you one of my every-day landing points when I get online: I Guess I'm Floating.
Safari v.4 makes it really easy to remember to head over to I Guess I'm Floating with their top sites feature...it just calls for me every time I open a new browser window! Conner and Nathaniel (not that I know them personally) write and review on [Stream], [MP3], [Video] content in a way that really relates to me and how I listen to and enjoy music. They research deep into each subject and post before putting it out: band members' past projects (if applicable), info and thoughts about the song and album; linking to MySpace, Mp3's, artists' websites, videos, even special offers from the artist or label. They do a great service to new music. So stop by and click on some ads ;)
Check it out for yourself: I Guess I'm Floating

I also enjoy Engadget...cuz I'm nerdy like that

Love,
-ReidB

An excerpt...

An excerpt from Outlaw Culture by Bell Hooks:

In this society, there is no powerful discourse on love emerging either from politically progressive radicals or from the Left. The absence of a sustained focus on love in progressive circles arises from a collective failure to acknowledge the needs of the spirit and an overdetermined emphasis on material concerns. Without love, our efforts to liberate ourselves and our world community from oppression and exploitation are doomed. As long as we refuse to address fully the place of love in struggles for liberation we will not be able to create a culture of conversion where there is a mass turning away from an ethic of domination.
-Bell Hooks

I love this.

Action of Freedom

The refusal to feel takes on a heavy toll. Not only is there an impoverishment of our emotional and sensory life, but this psychic numbing also impedes our capacity to process and respond to information. The energy expended in pushing down despair is diverted from more creative uses, depleting the resilience and imagination needed for fresh visions and strategies. The words of Martin Luther King Jr's declaration, "I have decided to love," emphasize choice. Once we choose love, we instinctively possess the inner resources to confront pain. Moving through the pain to the other side we find the joy, the freedom of spirit that a love ethic brings. When you open to the pain of the world you move, you act. That action is the testimony of love. That action is freedom.