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.

Space Walking

In current news, Astronaut Michael Massimino walked into space to repair a portion of the Hubble Telescope. At one point he had to remove 111 tiny screws in order to access the area of the Hubble needing parts replaced. He had to count each one as it was placed into a disposal bag, being careful not to drop one or else it could become a tiny missile. Traveling at 17,600 mph, the smallest of object could end it all. In one hour the Hubble travels more than most Americans travel in a year in their automobiles.
Cool images here.
The Hubble is already 19 years old, but these repairs could keep it going for another 5-10 years. We are lucky to see results from its discoveries in our lifetime.
Dork, out.

Waiting on Inspiration...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

And the winner is...

It's not every day you can spend almost two hours in a record store laughing at album covers. Going to a record store is something I can do often, but if I were laughing out loud at album covers alone that might call for concern. Last time I found Sticky Fingers and It's Only RocknRoll by The Rolling Stones, and Tom Petty's Long After Dark. Recently, while nearly spilling frozen boba drink on valuable (and not-so-valuable) records and my companion, I found Black and Blue by the Stones and an original pressing of Dark Side of the Moon! Opening the case we find an unused Pink Floyd sticker, two original fold-out posters and a record in excellent condition! My shopping partner received the sticker as spoils, because she collects stickers, and it would end up being wasted in my hands.
Between boba drinks and scoring a rare record took place a little competition for the worst best album cover in the "foreign" section. First of all, "Hawaii" is not foreign, but it was right there with France and Germany! I wish I could find the album cover in digital form, but alas, because it was hilarious. A scantly-clad Hawaiian woman holding a gigantic sea shell. Weird.
Thanks for an enjoyable evening, formerly fast runner.
Updated: I went back and took a pic of the winning cover.

Repetition is the mother of education

I'm a pretty patient person, and today I am helping to roll out a software update at my work. Instructions are included with the download, but somehow I still have to answer the same question over and over, even though the answer is in the instructions. Maybe next time we won't print the instructions in Russian.

Rock-n-Rail

Usually I'm against huge amounts of government spending, but today I see a benefit. Obama announced his plan to expand high-speed rail in the U.S. A really exciting aspect is that Saint Louis could play a major/supporting role to one of the key hubs in Chicago.

Check it out!

http://online.wsj.com/video/train-advocates-vying-for-rail-stimulus-money/60450258-7D4F-4DF3-BE91-E017F9DEF23C.html

Just Because We Can

If you can always learn more, and Aquarius means "to knowledge", while Pisces means "to need", being in the age of Pisces, is the true new age when we turn from people of need to people of knowledge?
At what point can we say we know enough, though? Truth is, we can never know everything. Even if we discover the god particle or master quantum physics there is no end. So, would that be suffice to say that knowledge eventually leads to faith? If we can never know everything, then we will always have to believe in what we can't prove, and there will still be something we can try to find out.
Faith was available all along. We have to have faith that our decisions are of the hear and now and we are doing the right thing for this moment in time. Makes one wonder if our inter-connectivity runs as deep as the molecules, as theorized in quantum physics. How do our decisions effect the greater good? Because the only way to determine whether one outcome would be greater than the other would be if both outcomes were allowed to occur and you made a comparison- but only one can, or one will take precedence- so only that one can really be looked at in terms of effects but even then, who is to say what the greater good is? That's like saying we all have the same basic moral or ethical compass, which we don't. Take the H-Bomb on H-Town in 1945. Just because we can, should we? Would you have dropped the bomb? What lead you to making that decision? Because again, you can only have one outcome. You can't drop the bomb and not drop the bomb and weigh the outcomes. You can never know everything, so every step of the way is a step of faith. Live your life, be not afraid to love, follow your heart.

G.I. Joe Conspiracy

Do you ever think about conspiracies?
My brother and I were philosiphizing tonight and he found something in our past that shaped our generation into what it is today.

G.I. Joe: The world's elite military force with the mission to stop a terrorist group with goals of world domination. Sound familiar? The audience in those days are the same group of people now involved in the same conflict. If you believe in conspiracies of any variety they all can relate in that G.I. Joe provided conditioning and fear that there is a terrorist group of idealist set out to harm you, and without an elite military presence these terrorist would succeed. It takes it a step further into modern events in their public service announcements. No matter what situation you get in, the government will be there to save you. Bail you out. The PSAs covered everything from infrastructure, to health care, to public safety, to finances and welfare. This video is a good example.



Obviously, these kids could ride safely around the downed power wire and...but wait! G.I. Joe (the government) will come OUT OF NOWHERE and clear the path for you, rescue you from making a decision for yourself. A few questions to ask...how do the Joes always know the kids' names? How do the Joes know where the kids are at that time? Where do the Joes come from--literally appearing out of nowhere in some videos!?



Something was behind G.I. Joe. Conditioning you. Conditioning me. The Government's got your back.

Caeser Milan Visit

A friend of mine told me about a dream in which Caesar Milan (The Dog Whisperer) comforted her in her decision to deprive her dog of water in the early morning hours. After being annoyed for several minutes she drifted back asleep and was told by Milan not to do things for him when he whines because that will teach him that whining gets what he wants. And she lived happily ever after.

Stolen

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday that I thought I would pass on to my friends.

The historic inauguration day was tainted in my world by the burglary in the 2nd degree committed on my apartment and my belongings. Sometime between 8am and 6pm the front door was breeched and the robbers proceeded to steal pretty much everything I owned...except the large furniture and my drums. Most of the stuff I owned was electronics, computers and peripherals, TV, stereo, microphones, etc. The lesson learned is not to not live in 63110 or to add 7 locks to all doors. The lesson learned is documentation.

In the process of filing a claim to my insurance I learned I will have to provide proof that I owned everything I said I owned. I get it. This is harder than one would think. They do say that photos and videos of any nature provide proof. Receipts or original packaging are preferred, but they still provide proof.

Find your camera tonight and photograph everything you own. And don't store the photos on your computer, which would most likely be stolen, burn them to a CDR and keep in file. If you rent, purchase renter's insurance...usually as cheap as $300/year.

The theft was committed in broad daylight, but no fingerprints and no witnesses. Be vigilant. Cover your ass! Don't be an apathetic citizen!