Elvis Lives, at the DMV

Friday was supposed to be my day to get off work at noon, zip by the DMV, get a new ID since mine has been expired since my birthday, back in August, and then have the rest of the day to play, play, play! I had it all planned out in my head. I haven't yet spent the birthday money from Wifester's grandma, and I so wanted to go shopping with that. I also had a walk at the park with the Sunny-dog in mind. Knowing the debates would be on in the evening, I wanted to pack my day with as much as possible, so that I could return home, fulfilled, happy, and ready to face the debacle that is our political system.
Wifester picked me up from work, and we headed over to our local DMV, which I looked up online before leaving work, just to make sure we knew where we were headed. We don't want to waste gas, what with the shortage around here these days, and the prices, sheeeesh! I found the web site and located the nearest place where I can pick up an ID only, since my neurologist won't allow me to drive, that's all I need. If I didn't have the driving restriction, I could have ordered it online, but nooooo... I have to go in. So off we go. Luckily for us, we thought, the DMV is right down the street from our neighborhood. We get there, and circle the building, not seeing any cars, except one in the back corner, with a questionable looking man talking on his cell phone, parked in the furthest corner. We finally locate the DMV office, and wouldn't you know, this office is closed on Fridays! Now you'd think that would be information that they would have placed on their web site! The sign on the door says to visit the other location, in the neighboring city, the one we passed, on the way home, to this one. So backtracking, we head out, passing the same questionable looking man, who now has company in the form of another car with another questionable looking man parked next to him. I'm not here to make assumptions, but I've lived a very full 35 years, and I've been in those cars in the back corners of parking lots that can't bee seen from the road, and I know what's usually happening in them, I'm just saying. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, this is not a DMV I want to come back to.
We finally make it to the other DMV, and upon entering, see a sign on the door that says, "Renewing or Replacing License or ID? Don't wait in line, use our SELF SERVICE KIOSK". Great! I thought, and head right on over to it, there was actually 5 kiosks, all of which were occupied, so I get in line and wait, and wait, and wait. Finally a gentleman leaves his kiosk, and I move in to get started. I realized he walked away without hitting "Submit" and he had an error message on the screen, so I called to him to notify him, "Yeah", he said, "I know" and dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I backed away, not wanting to peer at this gentleman's social security number and driver's license number and other personal information that he'd left on the screen, until finally the lovely DMV worker from the counter across the way cleared the screen so that I could start. I say lovely DMV worker, of course, in jest. This woman was by far the most vile human being ever placed on this planet. Honestly, if you hate your job so much, just do everyone a favor and shoot yourself. I looked at Wifester at one point and said " These are state employees, right?" "Yep" she answered. "So, we're paying them to talk shitty to us" "yeah, and they do it cause it's impossible to get fired from a state job" she replied. Wifester needs a job at the DMV. I think it would help her work out some pent up aggressions.
Where was I? Ah yes, well, I begin the process at the kiosk, entering all my info, which is a quite legnthy and detailed questionaire, by the way. And at the end, it tells me "You are not eligible to renew your ID at this station, please get in line"
YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!!
So I get in the line which has grown by at least 10 more people since I first got there, and when I finally made it up to the counter, Sweetie, the lovely DMV worker, says with utter and complete sarcasm"Yah, cause you're suspended, you can't use that". OK. Let me inject here, I am only suspended because I have a medical condition, epilepsy, and that I was only trying to renew my ID, not my license. And if the stupid kiosk will not allow these types of renewals, it should tell you that at the begining of the process, or on the friggin door sign that suggests anyone wanting a renewal to go to the kiosk! Am I wrong here? Maybe I'm just expecting too much. Maybe my logic is not the same as everyone else's.
So Miss. Smarty pants gives me an application, and a ticket with number 118. I look up at the "Now Serving" board, and they are on 92. Miss Smarty Pants says "It's gonna be like an hour and a half, have a seat, we'll get to you when we can."
As I'm walking away, she hollers out, to the waiting area "if you have one of my pens, bring it back! I've gone through two boxes today! If you're using my clipboards, be sure you return them here too, people!" She had one of those tones that made the tiny hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
As we sat in the waiting area, we looked around, and saw some interesting people. I love people watching. There was the young mom, who was more interested in the conversation she was having on her cell phone than watching her baby crawl around on the floor, try to eat the floor, grab her pack of cigarettes out of her purse, drop them on the floor, then place them in his mouth, you know, that kind of stuff. Aparently she was going to "kick it" with her friend, and needed to discuss in detail the arrangements and the liquor that needed to be purchased.
I couldn't bare to watch the little one wallow around on the nasty floor of the DMV so my eyes drifted over to what I though for a few moments was surely Ritchie Valens. In my head, I was singing "Oh, Donna....Oh, Donna..." then I giggled and elbowed the Wifester as we both saw Elvis enter the building!
He must have been hanging around outside when we entered, because we did see a car with "Elvis Lives" on the license plate, and surely this man went with that car...

And what's more, when they called number 108, he stepped up to the counter! Elvis's birthday was Jan. 8, coincidence? Well, most certainly so, but fun none the less!
They finally called my number, and I stepped up to counter 2 where a man with a gentle tone, which surprised me, after hearing the screaching bitch from hell all afternoon, who asked me why I didn't just use the kiosk. I explained that it would not allow me to renew, and he looks at his screen, and says to me, "Oooooh, well, do you know what you'll need to do to get your license back?" "Yeah," I said, "Get cured from epilepsy." He types a few times, and replies "Oh! yours is just a medical hold. Yeah, you just need clearance from your physician".
No duh!
It really gets old when people assume the worst when I have ID only. Even at the DMV. It' s bad enough when I go to buy a bottle of wine, and the clerk looks at me like "come on, lady, you've already lost your license" or when I'm out with Wifester and the waiter looks at it, then looks at me, then looks at it again, and I can see their wheels spinning..."What did she do? Was it a DUI? Was it tickets? What happened?" And it's always followed by that same condescending, what a pitty look. I hate that. I'm not saying I've been Miss. Perfect Angel all my life, by no means has that ever been me. But I have made it this far without and driving record due to being impared while behind the wheel. And I rather dislike the assumption.
Anywhoodle...
By the time I left the DMV, it was almost 4 oclock, and the day was spent. But I do have a new ID, in which I look as though I'm just about to wrap my hands around someone's neck and squeeze until their head pops off. On the up-side, I can vote at my new location come November worry free.
How was your Friday?

Sometimes Wow is all that can be said...

Watch CBS Videos Online

Wondering how they came up with $700,000,000 ?

photo from www.acf-fr.org/i/08-01-17_money8.jpg

It's not often that I'm left speechless. But upon reading, at Forbes.com, the about a spokesperson from the Treasury commenting on the $700,000,000 bailout plan, saying:

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

My jaw dropped, and my voice failed me.

Oh really? So that's how it works? No statistical data used, no analytical processes, no rhyme or reason...
just "We wanted to choose a really large number."

It's appalling, it's disgusting, and all I can say, my friends, is bend over and spread em', cause here it comes, like it or not, we're about to get screwed.

Wallstreet = Kids and Candy

A perfect analogy:




and I just heard McCain wants to postpone the debates?! And suspend his campaign so he can focus on the economic crisis?! Ha! Nice try. It's the political equivalent of "I'm taking my toys and going home!" We've seen World Wars I and II, and those candidates didn't suspend their campaigns...the show must go on...democracy must prevail. Maybe he's not a good multitasker.
Thank God Obama didn't take the bait, he says bring on the debates!

What's that? Could it be? Is there HOPE yet?? I read this at RockTheVote.com:

New Rock the Vote Poll

Today, Rock the Vote released the results of our latest poll of 18-29 year olds, the first to ask young people their thoughts on McCain-Palin vs. Obama-Biden and the most recent to ask young voters what issues are deciding their vote this fall.

Here are some interesting tidbits; you can check out the full results here.

The faltering economy is at the top of young voters' minds.

• 41% of those surveyed said the next president, whoever he is, should take action on the economy and jobs as his first move in office.
  
• 51% said "creating jobs" was a 10 on a scale of 1-10 (most important) in deciding for whom to vote in November - higher than anything else, although nearly tied with "gas prices/energy" at 50%.

We want more talk of issues in this presidential campaign.

• Health care, college affordability, jobs and the economy, the environment - for nearly every issue we asked about, young voters said the presidential candidates are spending "not enough time" talking about them.
  
• 63% want to hear more about creating jobs, 56% want to hear more about health care, and 64% want to hear more about college affordability. 54% want more on gas prices/energy and 50% want more on immigration.

Young voters are paying serious attention to this election, and know they will play a major role in a historic moment.

• 87% plan to vote in November (up from 82% in our February poll);
• 92% have talked with friends or family about the election;
  
• 57% are following the election extremely or very closely (up from 42% in February);
• 88% think that, as a group, young people have the power to change things in this country;
  
• 82% think this election is an opportunity to make history by electing the first African American president; 69% think this election is an opportunity to make history by electing the first woman vice president.
  

Young voters continue to trend Democratic.

• In today's poll, 50% of 18-29 year olds say they are Democrats, 29% say they are Republicans, and 12% say they are Independents.
  
• When asked for whom they will vote in November, 56% say Barack Obama and 29% say John McCain. 13% remain undecided.
  
• For Congress, 49% say they will vote for the Democratic candidate and 27% for the Republican candidate.

Clearly, young people are energized, paying attention, and keyed into top campaign issues - candidates from president on down to city council should get out there and talk to young voters. All signs point to 2008 being the third major election in a row with increased young voter turnout - and the more we see on the ground, from our polling, and online, the more likely it looks like we might hit record turnout levels on November 4th.

WWC - Modern and Primitive & Green La Vergne Update

This week's WWC words were a delight! Tink, over at Pickled Beef, challenged us to post our photo interpretations of the words Modern & Primitive.

Modern Software:

Primitave, notice it says it's compatible with Windows 3.1 and 95!!!

Primitave art

Modern

He looks Primitive, don't cha think?

And in unrelated events, as promised, here's my update on my Green LA Vergne Group's Booth we worked at our city's Old Timer's Day Parade and Festival this weekend.
We signed up a LOT of new members who are willing to volunteer to help us make our city litter free, cleaner, and greener and all around a more beautiful and earth friendly place to live. We made some new important contacts, and we were invited to run a booth at a local school's Fall Festival next month. Mission accomplished!
Here's the Green La Vergne gang, sans Wifester, as she was behind the camera...



The words for next week are:
Time
and
Place

Hmmmm....I better get busy working on that one. Don't forget to see Tink, if you're interested in joining.

What do Health Care and Wall Street Have In Common?

In the latest issue of , Contingencies, McCain's brilliant plan for health care reform is spelled out by the McCain party. To summarize, McCain's plan is to make the health care system more akin to the finance industry that he worked so hard with Bush to destroy. You heard me right. More like the finance industry! In the words of Kyle's mom, "What?!What?!What?!"

"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

Now there's a plan.
Hey, wait, is that not that the industry that's in the process of imploding right now? Oh, yeah, yeah, it is.

McCain's health care plan would create a situation in which millions of working families would begin paying a new tax on health benefits, millions more would be dropped from their existing coverage, and an unregulated insurance industry would be left to offer absurdly expensive, exclusive, or inadequate coverage in their policies. Therefore, potentially and most likely, creating even more uninsured Americans than we have today.

Great! Sign me up!

A study, conducted by the economist, over at Health Affairs, estimates that 20 million Americans could lose their current health coverage under McCain's ingenious plan. They further acknowledge that with 160 million people receiving coverage through employers, effects could be even larger, devastating, I believe was the word they used. Under McCain's plan, employer's would be given incentives to drop coverage and push workers into the private market, a market which would be unregulated.

Unregulated. Let that marinate a while.

To put into perspective, in the private market, you can be turned down for a pre-existing condition, or any "health issue" that the insurer deems too costly to them. I have epilepsy. I'd be screwed. He says he wants to actually decrease protections for consumers. Decrease protections for consumers? That makes it even harder to get care. All I can say to this is WTF???!!!

I actually saw a McCain/Palin bumper sticker on a car today, right next to a W sticker. I just don't get it. If the past eight years hasn't been enough, what will?

Is it any wonder I am a bundle of nerves these days?

Passing it Along...

I saw this over at Knight's and had to share it.