When times get tough...the Tough write more tickets...

The city of Denham Springs, LA, has a problem. As in many other municipalities, things are a little short in the inbound money department. Most people understand that--times are tough all the way around. Just as families, small businesses and corporations are having to tighten-up the spending, a lot of cities find themselves with revenue not matching expenditure.



This has led the afflicted municipalities to do the things that you'd expect an entity with cash-flow issues do: cut services, attempt to increase fees and/or taxes, lay-off employees. Rational, responsible steps that everyone can probably be alright with. However, Denham Springs mayor Jimmy Durbin and police chief Jeff Wesley have a better idea: let's turn the police department in to a money making organization!!

Denham Springs Mayor, Jimmy Durbin

Now...those with heavy right feet have long held that speeding tickets are simply revenue vehicles for political subdivisions. I am former law enforcement, and I do have a heavy right foot, but I don't fully agree with that position. I think that traffic enforcement does have a legitimate public safety component and that most agencies utilize it as such. Of course, some sh*thole Louisiana towns will gig you for 1 mile per hour over the limit (which, I'd be willing to bet, is well within the margin of error for most speedometers), which tells you right then and there that safety isn't why they're writing you...most places, I've noticed, give enough leeway for traffic to move along and not get anyone's hackles up. (As a side note to this rant, Louisiana State Rep. Hollis Downs of Ruston, LA, proposed limiting the take on traffic tickets in last year's legislative session...of course, small town mayors came out against quite vocally.)

Now, speeding tickets are one thing, but what Jimmy and Jeff are doing is an absolute abomination. I'm not sure how it is in the rest of the United States, but vehicle inspection stickers, in the state of Louisiana, are a joke. It's like "hey boy, hit ya horn, turn on ya lights and show me ya blinkers...oh yeah, step on your brakes and gimme $12--here's ya sticker..." And that's a THOROUGH inspection. The Motor Vehicle Inspection, in the state of Louisiana, is simply a $12 tax you pay, yearly, to operate a vehicle on the public roads. Here's the fun part--the TICKET for having an expired inspection sticker is $135. Cute huh...

Well, you certainly know where I'm headed, don't you?

That's right...Jimmy and Jeff are writing TONS of expired MVI tickets. And they're not just focusing on paying more attention to who's driving around with an expired MVI...they're actually dedicating up to 100% of the departments "on shift" resources to establishing MVI ROADBLOCKS (they call them "checkpoints," but checkpoint implies that they don't disrupt the flow of traffic...which they do).

So, let's see...teenagers going down Weeping Willow Drive (a 25 MPH zone) at 75...where are the cops? At the old Winn-Dixie, making money...

Idiots running the redlight at Hatchell Drive and US 190...and the cops are where? Yeah--At the Winn-Dixie, writing those high-dollar MVI tix...

One day, it's going to be: Three guys, armed to the teeth, knocking over the Regions Bank on Range....why did they get WELL away before the cops got there? Gee--they were hemmed in, writing MVI tickets downtown...

Okay--that was probably a little too extreme. But the point I'm getting at is--the people in Denham Springs, LA, pay their taxes and expect SERVICE from the municipal government. They don't WANT or DESERVE to have the city employ public safety officials as fund-raisers because the city is in a crack, financially. It's "Protect and Service," not "Protect and Collect."

If you read this and it gets you a little pissed, especially if you live in Denham Springs and it gets you a little pissed, here are Jimmy and Jeff's contact information...give 'em a call and or shoot 'em an email and let 'em know how you feel.

Mayor Jimmy Durbin
225.665.8121
jimmydurbin@bellsouth.net

Chief Jeff Wesley
225.665.5106
Contact Form can be found here!

Who's a Douche?

I'll call this installment one of "Who's a Douche?"

Periodically, someone will just get under my skin and win the "douche of the moment" label. I just had the misfortune of reading an article about how John "I'm smarter than everyone on the planet, but my wife is still an ugly bitch" Kerry thinks that banning "assault" weapons will fix the drug violence erupting along the U.S.-Mexican border.

No, douche, Marines killing drug cartel-type Mexicans will fix the problem. It would probably also go a long way toward stemming the flow of illegals across the border. ("man...we don't wanna cross...those Marines might think we're drug cartel-type Mexicans and shoot us too..." I like solutions that fix more than one problem at a time.)

So, since he's drawn my ire recently, John Kerry gets the coveted "douche" label for this go-round.

Compare and Contrast

Oooooh....bias, bias everywhere. Even Wikipedia.....what are we to do??

Compare and contrast both the tone AND the presentation of factual elements in the following two Wikipedia entries:

A) Bobby Jindal

and

B) Barack Hussein Obama

North Louisiana Has Gas....

And, apparently, a lot of it....

Natural gas should be the fuel of the immediate future...it's abundant and relatively easy to get to. Of course, there are portability issues...but that's being worked on. (Liquefied Natural Gas--starting to be the standard for natural gas portability, is big business...the terminals are just plain big--and provide a lot of construction jobs, up front, and high-paying, high-benefit operator jobs on the back end.)

The portability issues don't necessarily play into development for land-based reservoirs...which really makes domestic production a no-brainer. The latest, domestic, land-based find that's been in the news is the Haynesville Shale, located primarily in north Louisiana:

(From Geology.com--a totally kick-ass website!)

Which is why a lot of us in the oil and gas industry are baffled when the Prez (or, anyone else, for that matter) says he wants to limit our dependence on foreign sources of energy and, take the next breath, not allow and/or severely limit domestic exploration and production activities. Cake and eat it, too? Or, maybe, talking out of both sides of one's mouth?

I could rant on until I was nauseated about WHY the domestic oil and gas industry is good for the country--but if you want to get down to brass thingies--domestic energy equals domestic jobs. And not minimum-wage, no-benefit, burger-flipping jobs either. It's easy and plain to see what is actually going on...

It's part of the left's master plan: kiss the green wackos' asses, raise the price on energy until it becomes prohibitive to use, take money out of the working man's pocket and, ultimately, try to get everyone beholden to Big Government for everything.

It's sickening.

Jindal Jetting Around

Michelle Millhollon, queen of Baton Rouge muckrakers (or, perhaps, muckrakerettes), has yet another article trying to paint Governor Jindal in a less-than-flattering light.

She may actually have a point this time.

What we really need to ask is this: is the Governor of the State of Louisiana SOOOOO important and SOOOOO vulnerable that he needs Secret Service-like security, everywhere he goes? Granted, this has been going on a long time, so Jindal certainly isn't the first, but really...is this necessary? Considering 90% (or more) of Americans couldn't not identify Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States, if shown a picture, do we really need to kid ourselves (or stoke the Governor's ego--whoever that Governor may be) by thinking that the Governor of Louisiana is a big target and needs some of Louisiana's finest quickstepping behind him where ever he goes?

I think not.

I had a friend, a trooper, who got assigned to Blanco's protective detail when she was still the Lieutenant Governor...he walked around with his chest poked out (more so than your average ticket-writing, overbearing, egotistical Louisiana State Trooper) and the Aviators on, thinking he was the stink...we periodically had to remind him that A) no one knew, even in the state of Louisiana, who Kathleen Blanco was, B) no one cared (and, in fact, did not, till she botched the Katrina gig) and C) taking a bullet for ANY Louisiana pol pretty much demonstrated that you're as dumb as you look.

So, let's start saving Louisiana some money and tell Governors to hire their own security for out-of-state, personal trips--hell, Huey did it.

(oh, and Miss Millhollon, if you SERIOUSLY think Kathleen Blanco's overseas trips were to lobby foreign businesses and not really just a chance for Coach to get out of the house, you're as dumb as we think you are...)