Way to go Kansas City, MO. Police Department!

Kansas City, Missouri is one the most dangerous cities in the Country. According to Neighborhood Scout the crime index in Kansas City is 2, where 100 is the safest. What a selling tool that is. The chances of becoming the victim of a violent crime in Kansas City are 1 in 68.

The reason I bring this up is because on my way home from work this afternoon, there were 6 Kansas City police officers, 4 cars and 2 motorcycles, running a speed trap on a one mile stretch of road. No, I didn't get a ticket. Wouldn't you think with crime statistics like what I gave you above that these guys would have more important stuff to do than write speeding tickets?

Cleveland, Texas rape case...

In case you haven't heard, there is a big rape case being investigated in the small East Texas town of Cleveland. It appears at least 18 black males repeatedly raped an 11 year old hispanic girl over the course of several months.

Some of the accused are star athletes at the local high school the others appear to run of the mill thugs, most with criminal records. As you can imagine, the case has gone from bad to worse. The victim, an 11 year old child remember, is being accused of all sorts of things. It has been claimed that she made posts on social networking sites claiming she wanted all the sex she could get, etc.

Of course, the families of the accused have come out claiming they are all good boys. It was all the victim's fault. The head of the new black panther party from Houston, quanell x, has gotten involved. It is turning it to quite a circus. But then anything involving the black panthers usually does. At this point it wouldn't surprise me to see obama and eric holder get involved. Maybe saying the victim acted stupidly and dropping all charges.

You know, it doesn't matter at all what the victim did or didn't do. It wouldn't have mattered if she walked down the street completely naked, she is an 11 year old child. Every single one of these thugs, star athlete or not, should be convicted and sentenced to the maximum penalty that the law will allow. She is an 11 year old child! The accused range in age from 16 to mid 20's. Each and every one of them should do hard time for this.

I know the town of Cleveland well. I lived and worked there and in the vicinity for most of my life. When I read this story I was shocked. Cleveland is not a bad town. Or it wasn't 10 years ago. Many of the stories I have read on this have been followed up by comments from people who aren't from the area and most aren't even from Texas. There were some very hateful remarks made about the entire town. It's not fair. You can't blame the entire town for the actions of a few (well, around 20) scumbag thugs. These criminals will get what they have coming, one way or another, and life will go on. There are good people in Cleveland and they don't deserve the treatment they are getting.

I hate that "You're getting screwed" feeling...

Yesterday, after work, I decided to check the air pressure in my tires. I drug the compressor out of the garage and got it all warmed up. I checked the passenger side front, it was a little low so I added a few pounds. I got to the passenger side rear and the wierd metal cap wouldn't come off. It's been nasty here so I figured the mud and snow just had it stuck. A little persuasion with a pair of Channel Locks should do the trick...

Well, guess what? Gave it a little twist and it snapped off, launching the valve stem across the driveway. I watch the air rush out and the tire go flat.

I break out the floor jack and four way and put on my tiny ghetto spare. I don't care much for driving with those damn things. Don't trust them and I don't know why.

This morning, after a nervous drive to work, I go right down the street to NTB. I show the guy my problem, he says they can fix it, no problem, but that the new air pressure sensor valve stem would be like $168 bucks. WTF? He gives me a quote to fix the tire and balance the two front tires of a little better than $260 bucks. I started getting that "I'm getting screwed" feeling right about then.

I went back to work and called the Chevy dealer that I have done business with for 19 years. I didn't call them first because NTB was closer and like I said, I don't like those tiny spares.

The Service Writer at McCarthy Chevrolet told me he could do the work for about $115 bucks. So away I go.

As it turns out, they did it for $98 bucks and they did it while I waited.

The moral of this story, well, there are two, first, fuck NTB. I will NEVER do business with them in the future. I don't care if I have to drive another 100 miles to do business with their competitor that's what I will do. I could understand if there were $20 or $30 dollars difference in the price, but $162 is blatantly a rip off. And second, stick with what you know. In all the time I have been doing business with McCarthy Chevrolet, I have never felt I was being screwed over. I have purchased two new cars from them and had service done on 5 or 6 different vehicles.

On cars made before about 1975, I do my own work. I'm not an expert, but I can get most things done on the first or second try. But the newer ones, with computers and weird electronic stuff, I leave that to the experts. It's a whole lot cheaper to have them fix it than to have them fix it and all the other stuff I jacked up trying to fix it...