Ray, a drop of Golden Sun

OH MY GOD! I can't believe that there are any rays of golden sun in the days following the election, but today there are some. The most unbelievable of them comes from the most unbelievable source. Arlen Specter, whom I prayed wouldn't be re-elected, has surfaced with a warning for President Elect.

Second terms for Presidents often comes with changes in cabinet positions. Though it's way too early to be sure it will happen, THIS gives me hope. Though they say, be careful what you wish for, the next one up could be convinced the world is flat. Nothing would surprise me. It looks like for now we'll have more of "SuperHawk" Rumsfield but the possible demise of Condoleezza "Exxon Supertanker" Rice.

Those of you who know Mattie, and his upcoming move westward, this AP article about the new Mayor of San Diego shows that Louisiana style politics are possible anywhere.

In complete other news, I am a procrastinator. I put things off often, forgetting about them, ignoring them and one of those things is parking tickets. I knew I had several of them out there but was definitely surprised to find a big orange boot on my car today when I left to go buy dog food. I called the office of parking administration and found out I have 10 unpaid tickets. 10! I won't go into the amount that I had to pay but suffice to say I'm poor again. It's my own fault of course so I wasn't really that upset. I mean, being mad at someone else was silly and hey, I can forgive myself quite easily.

I was struck by something about this whole ordeal. Given the number of tickets and boots I see on a daily basis in the quarter, how can this city not be paving the streets with gold. Let's just do a little math. Every Tuesday and Thursday the streets of the French quarter are cleaned ( if you can believe that.) Let's just say for shits and giggles that 30 cars are towed each of those two days. This is an EXTREMELY low estimate. Each one of those cars pays a 25 dollar ticket plus a 75 dollar tow fee. 100 bucks X 30 X 2 = $6,000 a WEEK! That comes out to $312,000 a year, not to mention the massive number of tows and things that go up during holiday weekends when people park everywhere and get towed away. Then there are the tickets. Let's just say that in the Quarter alone the city issues 100 tickets a day, seven days a week. Again, this is an extremely low estimate. 20 bucks a pop, 100 tickets a day, there are some free days so let's say 350 days a year nets an additional $700,000 a year. A million bucks a year just from the French quarter alone. I've been here five years and this summer has been the first time I have ever seen ANY street work done around here. Now I know that they have to pay all these people and from the looks of the meter Nazis, they are paid well. Nobody could be that fat on low pay or pay that much for a weave.

Against my better judgment I'm off to work. I have made the decision not to discuss politics, either pro nor con when alcohol is involved for the time being. I'm sure I will not keep this promise to myself but it was made more to prevent me from becoming upset and despondent about the election. I was trying to come up with a name for my feelings but my best effort (and please, your comments about a good name would be appreciated) was PETSD (Post Election Traumatic Stress Disorder.) This article from gadfly was also well received by me today.