He Who Dies With The Most Untaxed Toys, Wins

I don’t know the state law, but I hope NY takes a big fat bite out of his fortune – we need the money. Fucking Nixon-donatin’ law-breakin’ asshole.

@blogenfreude: How much did the good taxpayers of NYC dump into Yankee Stadium?

@nojo:
I don’t know, but it was a lot (NYC can thank 9ud1) so that A-Rod and gang can play in absolute luxury.

For RML.

What is up with that?

@nojo: Also controversial was the price tag of $2.3 billion, including $1.2 billion in taxpayer subsidies.

Even worse, because if I gave a shit about baseball I’d be a Mets fan.

Jesus, between today’s news and some other shit going on, today is really testing my resolve to not drink martinis on school nights. Helps that there is no clear alcohol in the house.

@Tommmcat Still Gets Carly Confused With Meg: Basically, the “sovereignty” possessed by federally recognized Indian tribes is limited and subject to control per the plenary power of Congress over Indian affairs. Basically, Indian tribes can’t have their own foreign policies, have their own currencies, or raise their own armies. Many aspects of tribal life are directly regulated by federal law, including disposal of land and interests in land, access to health care, education, etc.

Some tribes, factions or individuals are trying to push the boundaries of what is subject to regulation by the feds. For example, the Seneca and other bands have members who are huge in the sale of non-state taxed cigarettes over the interwebs. Interestingly, some of these bands are involved in the passport thing. So yes, a confederation of bands can create an Iriquios passport, and no, it won’t be recognized as being the equivalent of one issued by the US or Canadia. Some tribes are beginning to issue their own license plates, but regulation motor vehicles is not the same as running your own international relations, much as Arizona is attempting to do.

@redmanlaw: I don’t think Arizona should be trusted to regulate motor vehicles. I’ve had a fair number of dealings with parts of their bureaucracy. At their best, they couldn’t be relied on to walk and chew gum at the same time.

With Jan Brewer and the immigration fun and games, they are certainly not at the best.

@Walking Still: Seriously, why is the DMV the armpit of hell of state government bureaucracies?

@redmanlaw: Disconnect between money/power source and service provided. In most bureaucracies, good treatment is provided to those that provide the sugar (speaking as a bureaucrat).

Those people shuffling in the endless lines aren’t helping the DMV employees get better pay or working conditions.

I bet MMS gave just dandy customer care to the drillers and oil oligarchs that keep them rolling in it.

@SanFranLefty: If you were here in NYC, it’d be a martini w/ a dash of bitters (b/c that’s that only way to do it) AND, maybe, cocktail onions, but I remain open to suggestion.

@Tommmcat Still Gets Carly Confused With Meg: Fuckin’ limeys.

@blogenfreude: My opinion is that any vegetable in a martini, whether it be an onion or an olive, or for that matter, a fruity twist, is just taking up valuable space in the glass that could be better filled with alcohol. My corollary is that vermouth also takes up valuable space, so the best way to use the vermouth is to open the bottle and wave it over the glass. My grandma had this awesome Mad Men style 1950s vermouth spritzer that was cut crystal, she used to let me or my sister spray the “just half of a squirt, sweetie” on her and grandpa’s martinis. I was devastated that when my parents put her in the nursing home – plus, then all her shit was sold off in an estate sale to pay for said nursing home and my folks didn’t pull the vermouth spritzer out for me. That and the 1950s Western Airlines travel bag that my grandpa used as his doop bag.

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: They are the scum of the earth.

@SanFranLefty: See, I take the position that garnishing my drinks is what separates me from the real alcoholics, like accessorizing is what separates us from the apes.

@Mistress Cynica: Oh, now you have to go like that and make me feel like I have a problem. I have no problem if the garnish is on the *side* of the glass, like a lime wedge on the rim of the margarita, it’s just when it’s inside the glass I get nervous.

I am on Day 3 of the martini moratorium, I’ll have you know… and did you see the post upstream about how the condo/our kitty died last week? It’s a wonder I’m not drinking a bottle of vodka a night when I go outside and look for him and then realize he’s in the litter box in the sky.

@SanFranLefty: I did see that, and I am so very, very sorry. This week and next are hellish work-wise and I haven’t had time to comment and respond.
Garnishes outside the glass count. So do cute cocktail napkins. And special glasses–martini, highball, old fashioned, etc. Besides, you don’t have a problem; you’re simply a minimalist. It’s very chic.

@Mistress Cynica: Oh, thanks darling. For the kitteh sympathies and the garnish explanation. I figure if I have martini moratorium on school nights, it excuses not having onions/olives when I drink a martini or two on a non-school night! ;)

@SanFranLefty:
my sympathies too. i was wondering last night: what happened to your tweeker neighbor? i worry.
on alcohol
i have developed a taste for the mojito. we have a project underway, to go to every bar on the island and crown one Best Mojito. early results:
do not let anyone talk you into a slushy frozen one. blended mint? it’s very very wrong.

@Benedick:

i love a limey. my bff in israel was a neighbor, stoner and fantastic singer and geetar player. i was a groupy following him around the club circuit.
interesting story. he left limeyland 20 years ago to fight in some or another war, and stayed. when he picked me up in the drug store line, he spoke to me in hebrew. i told him i don’t speak it, and to my surprise and delight, responded in perfect english with a lime accent no less!
and you know how madly in love i am with benedick…….

@redmanlaw:

Here in OH, it’s gone one worse – DMV *aren’t* state government anymore. There’s some sort of silly-ass “private contractor” setup, where the state has a bunch of DMV franchises. The net result is that all the DMV shops have ended up in dodgy stripmalls out in the suburbs – after all, it’s not like people can *not* register, so why bother having a nice location?

@baked: Still there, still there.

@al2o3cr: Wait until they privatize the provision of prisons, Medicaid and foster care in your state – that’s just been a total clusterfuck in every state that has tried it. You think privatizing garbage pick up and the DMV is a disaster, think about what happens with a prison or foster home. It’s just not a good idea to add a profit motive to social services, we’ve all seen what has happened with a profit motive in the nation’s health care system. Not to mention the supposedly “more competitive” and cheaper privatized social and criminal justice services always end up costing more and making their profits on the backs of the “clients” of the service.

@baked: Chewing on mint leaves is one of the great things about a good mojito. Fortunately, we have a great mojito source within walking/tottering distance of our house.

@SanFranLefty: So sorry to hear of the kitteh. The passing of ours a couple years ago will be with me the rest of my days.

@al2o3cr: It used to be worth the “processing fee” to pay for quick service at the private DMV express (MVD in New Mexico, which sounds more Stalinist) but everyone who could flocked there, which jammed up the service. Took an hour (on my second try) to get a replacement driver’s license a couple of months ago. That, and the clerk I dealt with was snippy enough to require an intervention by the manager.

My mother in law said the state DMV is absolutely hellish these days – long, long, long lines, two out of three clerks at lunch or on break during peak hours. People are going to the rural DMV offices in surrounding one horse towns, which may be staffed by a friend of a friend or relative if you’re lucky.

Developing here in New Mexico – armed assholes are now robbing hikers and backpackers in the nearby national forest. A lawyer who rents space in our building said she and her group ran into seven drunk locals on horses with guns, firing randomly. I fear that someone may end of raped or dead in the not too distant future.

@blogenfreude: yes, bitters, but not angostura bitters, its supposed to be another kind of bitters thats impossible to find. But yes, there is bitters in the oldest recipes.

@Mistress Cynica: Agree 1000% on your rationalization/denial mechanism re: garnishes, and ceremony. Alcoholism? But I don’t drink Gallo Port from a paper bag in the gutter, look at this frosted glass and jalapeno-stuffed olive, pierced with a little plastic sword, I am not an alcoholic, I am sophisticated. And I have four martini glasses in the freezer, so there is always another ready.

Here is my free gag for the Daily Show writers: “Cheney plans to spend time in the immediate future relaxing by quail-hunting with tissue-matched lawyers.” You’re welcome, Jon.