Monday, February 25, 2008

Meet the Handicap! Illegal ID’s and NM wins!

Never Forget

Before anyone gets too excited by the polls showing likely nominee Sen. Barack Obama handily beating likely nominee Sen. John McCain, it would wise to shave that margin down to compensate for the perennial waste of a vote – Ralph Nadar. In a year where good looks and smooth words bring out record numbers of supporters a new chiseled face with a slick tongue has emerged.

Just as Rep. Dennis Kucinich likes to play with the big boys each year during the primaries, Nadar likes to tag along and sneak into the spot light during the general election. Citing the lack of press his name has received since the fourth time Americans laughed at his presidential candidacy, he tossed his crumpled hat into ring and proclaimed ‘by god, if Mike Gravel can get on CNN for a debate, why the hell can’t I?’

Tim Russert was the first television newsman to surrender valuable program time to allow Nadar to announce his desire to be loved by America and showered with the attention other real presidential candidates are receiving.

Many people have begun to forget about 2000 when he cost Al Gore and the Democratic Party the presidency and the war that was waged by the winner of that election. What better time to rekindle a political career and thwart another Democrat’s shot at the White House than now? Anyone who knows anything about government knows that the only office capable of doing good is the Oval Office and vying for anything less would be an insult to all that he’s done.

Never Remember

Since the days of fighting for unions and worker, the dark side has taken a hold of his political aspirations and he has developed an unhealthy obsession with public attention. Much like a stray dog begging for a morsel of food, the best way to deal with this pest is to give him no attention. Don’t acknowledge his presence. He’s not a candidate and should not be considered as such. With that being said, let us never mention or vote for his name again.


Is this thing sideways?

In the nation with one of the highest drinking ages, New Mexico has found a way to post-pone a 21-year-olds rite of passage a few extra days. Across Albuquerque many new patrons are finding their money unaccepted as they attempt to enjoy their first beer of their legal drinking career. Bouncers and bartenders have united in opposition to accepting vertically oriented ID’s and insist drinkers prove their old age with a document printed in a landscape orientation.

Missing in the article was a decent reason as to why a bouncer would be unable to read the ID’s made for persons not yet of age. The vertically printed ID’s are legal documents. They are still valid. They are printed by the state of New Mexico (and many others practice this same segregation of minors and geezers). They highlight in bold red print the date the person turns 18 as well as 21.

The only excuse the Journal offered was that bouncers couldn’t keep up and there was confusion between the dates for “Not 18 Until. . .” and “Not 21 Until. . .” Are the bouncers that are unable to add 21 to 1987 also unable to tell if the person looks like the picture on the ID? How are these same people able to determine a fake ID from a real one? And wouldn’t a daring underage drinker be wise enough to make his or her fake ID in the landscape layout? While this opposition to vertical ID’s was based upon the idea that it would be easier to tell a fake from a real ID, if anything, it will make it easier for fake ID’s to slip through a bouncer’s hands as they hurried to get the masses inside and bellied-up to the bar. After all, this was done because the bouncers and doormen couldn’t keep up.

Aside from the minor inconvenience of spending an afternoon at the DMV to get a replacement ID for the valid ID in your pocket, who pays for the 21-year-old’s new ID? Most birthday boys and girls still have an ID that is valid for a few more years -- should they be forced to buy a new one when their ID is still perfectly legal? During my last visit to the DMV, I witnessed one girl go through this same conversation with a clerk. The lady at the desk happily told her “if you don’t like the law maybe you can get the legislators to change it.”

. . . While we’re up there, we’ll be sure to get all of the clerks raises and longer breaks, too.


And the winner is New Mexico!

The state of New Mexico was able to indirectly brag as many locally filmed features took racked up nominations and awards at the Oscars. A program that began as a mechanism to create great job growth numbers in New Mexico had multiple nominees in most categories with No Country For Old Men leading the way.

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