News Mar 4, 2010 at 7:03 am

Comments

1
And in other news, the Jamaican Dogsled Team is getting ready to compete in this year's Iditarod race. No joke. Talk about "cool runnings."
2
"It's a good compromise," said [Dan] Roach. "It's not a Democrat and Republican issue. It's a personal-choice issue."

Oh really representative Roach? Any kind of cell phone use while driving kills innocent people. At least it's nice to hear that you're 'pro-choice'.

Bonus: Creepy cell phone banner picture at his website.
3
If they only risked killing themselves, Danger, I'd agree with him (I'm against seat belt and helmet laws for that reason). But, unfortunately, it doesn't work out that way.
4
Roy Ashburn (R) Bakersfield, CA is a busted right winger for drunk driving after picking up a guy in a gay club. Can we please have a psychological profile and category for this type of sick homo? Because his type of person intentetionally inflicts harm on gay families only to be exposed as some self loathing twisted sickie. This must be some kind of pathology caused by conservatives.
5
@3, people who aren't buckled in aren't only a danger to themselves. In an accident they become an airborne object that could kill anyone around them. When I was stationed in Germany, AFN (or maybe it was BBC) had a VERY graphic TV ad illustrating that. The Helmet laws are dumb; yes.
6
@3 Yeah I see where you're coming from 5280, but I generally come down in favor of seat-belt and helmet laws. Not because people need to be protected from themselves, but because it sets a better example for kids and may be less of a drain on health care systems.

That said I've never seen convincing numbers on either of these points so they're probably bullshit arguments. I'm pretty much on the fence about this.

As for Rep. Roach, he's just inconsistent in his application of personal freedoms. Crazy, huh?

By the way, you can get a helmet with an integrated bluetooth head set. Illegal to wear and not wear, it's a paradox!
7
Well, in 32 years on the force, I saw an absolutely unthinkable amount of carnage, but I never saw an un-belted person kill anybody but himself. Not to say it can't happen, but if it does, it doesn't happen much.

Examples to kids? Yeah, sure, I'll buy that. What about all those folks who don't have kids, though? Or are you one of those people who think bottles of Geritol should have child-proof caps?

Medical costs? Considering that, when you fuck up, you're dead a really high percentage of the time, I'm not sure that's an issue.
8
Never did much like Sting. Except in that Dune movie, that was funny as hell.
9
Well since I'm a fascist/communist I think your kids should be reporting you for not wearing a seat belt. If you don't have kids then the issue sorts itself out.

Geritol? "twice the iron in a pound of calf's liver"
It should probably have a person-proof cap.

10
@8: It's just too damned bad Herbert was dead by the time they made that movie. He would have had one hell of a lawsuit.
11
5280. WRONG.WRONG.WRONG.WRONG.WRONG.

David Lynch's Dune came out in 84. Herbert died in 86. He actually did participate in parts of the production.

From wiki:
"In the introduction for his 1985 short story collection Eye, Frank Herbert discussed the film's reception and his participation in the production, and listed scenes that were shot but left out of the released version.[5] Herbert stated he was satisfied with the final release, but expressed disappointment that some of the scenes he saw on the rough cuts of Dune failed to make the theatrical cut.[6]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28fil…
12
Interesting. That surprises me, because it's not at all true to the book on quite a few major levels.
13
Lynch's Dune was all style over substance.

For a much more true to the book version, I prefer the 2000 mini series that the sci-fi channel produced.
14
Sacramento
15
Roy Ashburn represents close to a QUARTER of the state of California in terms of geographical area: portions of Tulare, Kern, San Bernardino, and all if Inyo County. But it's a sparsely populated, backward, mainly conservative part of the state. So even if this incident cost him the election, he would probably just be replaced by another "family values" Republican--maybe not even a hypocritical one!

Ashburn did vote responsibly for significant tax increases in response to California's budget crisis in the 2008-9 legislative session, though, which probably already sealed his fate at the polls.
16
I've got a Frank Herbert-signed paperback copy of the movie edition of Dune from a signing he did in Tacoma just before the movie came out. So, yeah, definitely alive at the time. I still remember what a crushing disappointment the movie was after all the hype leading up to its release.
17
You missed the best part of the facebook flasher story: "Douglas, 45, allegedly went on to claim that he was dating "six or seven" other women, including one he considered his girlfriend. He allegedly told officers he hoped to meet that woman in person some day."
18
Seatbelt and helmet laws are all about insurance companies not wanting to pay out huge amounts of money for auto fatalities. The children! really don't factor into it.

@13,

The miniseries was better on pretty much every level, although the acting in the Lynch/DeLaurentis version is fucking hilarious.
19
Yeah, the Dune miniseries was way better, though the CG and costuming was absolutely terrible.

I how I wish so badly though that instead of a Toto soundtrack to the Lynch/DeLaurentis version, we had the originally planned Brian Eno soundtrack.
20
All sorts of typos in that post, but Eno >>>> Toto.

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